The Battalion
WEDNESDAY
June 5, 1996
OPINION
Page 5
The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorials
board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff
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or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the
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Editorials Board
Stacy Stanton
Editor in Chief
Jason Brown
Opinion Editor
Shannon Halbrook
Assistant Opinion Editor
Regent Rejection
The Board of Regents should reconsider
and approve the Center for the Humanities.
Most major universities have a
center dedicated to humanities re
search, but because of a recent mis
guided Board of Regents decision,
Texas A&M will have to wait a
while longer for one of its own.
The Interdisciplinary Group for
Historical Literary Study has out
grown its origins in the Department
of English to include faculty from
several departments in the College
of Liberal Arts. To continue to flour
ish, the group needs to become an
extra-departmental organization di
rectly accountable to the dean of
Liberal Arts.
Two weeks ago the Board voted
to reject the IGHLS proposal, which
would require no additional funds,
to form such an entity.
The reasons for the Board’s rejec
tion are difficult to fathom. At least
one of the Regents has stated that
the Board is concerned that the new
Center for the Humanities might
engage in the revision of history.
Clearly, the College of Liberal
Arts should strive to find and de
fend an accurate representation of
the past.
But nothing in the group’s eight-
year record suggests its members
are aiming to rewrite history with
a politically correct slant. In fact,
regents have acknowledged that
the IGHLS has been doing out
standing work.
The words of praise for the group
don’t stop at the University’s gates
either. Respected academics from
across the nation have commended
IGHLS for its insightful ideas and
distinguished scholarship.
Unfortunately, the Board seems
to think that “if it ain’t broke, don’t
fix it.”
But allowing the group to form a
Center for the Humanities would
enable its researchers to seek addi
tional sources of funding outside
the University.
Also, Texas A&M would benefit
from having a distinct organization
that could attract graduate students
by offering associate fellowships.
Texas A&M has long been
known for excellence in agriculture
and engineering. Now, the rejec
tion of the proposal calls into ques
tion the University’s commitment
to the humanities.
By rejecting the proposal, the
Board is restricting academic free
dom. The University exists to pro
vide faculty and students with a fo
rum for thought and experimenta
tion. Preventing an already suc
cessful faculty group from growing
denies it this fundamental purpose.
Clearly, creating a Center for the
Humanities would benefit Texas
A&M as a whole.
In a misguided attempt to pre
vent the revision of history, the
Board has forgotten some history
— the IGHLS has an impressive
past, and the regents should re
verse their decision to encourage
the group’s continued excellence in
the future.
Quitting Senate might help
Dole get hired as president
Wi
’ell, he final
ly did it.
Bob Dole
took off his tie and
resigned from the
Senate, ending a
distinguished, 35-
year career in Con
gress. So now it’s all
or nothing for the
war hero from Rus
sell, Kansas.
But what does
this really mean for
Dole’s chances of ousting our
chameleon president?
Well, getting out of an extremely
unpopular institution can only help
Dole. Honestly, no one is getting extra
points for being a member of Congress
lately. These guys are wearing paper
bags over their heads as they walk up
the steps of the Capitol. (Well, maybe
not. But some of them ought to consid
er it. Listen up, Ted Kennedy.)
And not to offend any of my young
Republican readers out there, but Dole
had to get the hell away from Newt
Gingrich. Daily photo
ops with the controver
sial speaker of the
House weren’t helping
the Dole ’96 election
campaign. OT Newt started off strong,
but the self-appointed revolutionary
leader failed to maintain order. And
now his popularity ratings are down
there with Charles Manson.
Possibly the greatest benefit of
leaving Congress is that Dole can
now offer his vision for America with
out compromising it for the sake of
passing legislation. He is now free of
the constraints the role of majority
leader imposed.
The question is not whether he has a
personal vision for America. Rather, it’s
whether he can articulate his vision to
the common voter. Dole comes from a
generation marked by quiet caution.
Clinton, on the other hand, emerged
from an era of activism. If the ex-sena
tor plans on winning the election in No
vember, he’s got to speak up.
No, I’m not suggesting that he
should grab a picket and start chanti
ng rhymes in front of the White
House. But Dole has to get out there
and not be so ... well, stiff. Only A1
Gore is more wooden.
The content of Dole’s resignation
speech was a move in the right direc
tion. He was serious, but also reflective
and emotional. Gone was his trademark
monotone delivery. Very impressive.
And Dole’s public speaking will
improve as the presidential cam
paign heats up during the long sum
mer months.
This past Saturday, in fact, he de
livered an excellent speech at the
State Chairmen Meeting of the Repub
lican National Committee. He didn’t
sweat bullets or misread the
teleprompter — remember his re
sponse to the State of the Union Ad
dress? He didn’t even refer to himself
in the third person.
What he did was speak from the
heart about honesty and character. And
he took a few comical shots at his oppo
nent. Dole joked, ‘We don’t give out ad
vance copies of my speeches because
[Clinton] will give them before I do.”
But the long-serving senator from
Kansas who wants to “return integrity
to our government” is at least 16
points behind Clinton in the latest
polls. Many claim it’s an impossible
gap to close.
If the ex-senator plans on winning the elec
tion in November, he's got to speak up.
Clinton did it four years ago against
George Bush, though. And he wasn’t
even the favorite going into the Demo
cratic primaries. Before anyone could
say “Whitewater,” then-Govemor Clin
ton, leader of our nation’s only Third
World state, became President Clin
ton, leader of the Free World.
But no. I’m not bitter. Not at all.
By the convention, Republicans will
unite behind their presumptive nomi
nee and the ex-senator will now be
able to devote all his energy to defeat
ing Clinton.
The fight will be bloody. Both Dole
and Clinton are veteran campaigners.
They both know what it takes to win.
Dole had to resign to move ahead
•with his campaign. His seat in Congress
was holding him back, and he knew it.
No one understands more than Bob
Dole himself that this is his last
chance to capture the highest office in
the land. But then again, I’d rather
live in the White House than Russell,
Kansas, too.
Michael Heinroth is a Class of ’96
political science major
Summer reminds us to eat right
A s the tempera
ture soars into
triple digits
and classes literally
go on for hours, it
can mean only one
thing: summertime
in College Station.
With the on
slaught of summer
comes a marked in
crease in the heat,
surpassed only by
the fear of having to
appear in a swimsuit and showcasing
the body you have neglected all year.
At one point or another, all of us
have vowed to somehow erase the in
disputable proof of too many trips to
Taco Cabana and the buffet table at
Double Dave’s. We have all felt the re
gret that comes with using a baggy
sweatshirt as camouflage, and every
one has faced the painful realization
of attempting to slip into that certain
outfit that doesn’t quite fit the way it
did a few months ago.
Though the summertime can be
cruel in what it reveals, it is a good
time to actually fulfill the resolution
to eat right after devouring one too
many Super-Size Combo Meals.
One of the most important ways to
accomplish the goal of eating right can
be found at the front of the supermar
ket. We all know that fruits and veg
etables — those colorful things we
pass by in order to get to the ice cream
aisle — are actually good for us. Un
fortunately, because they are not al
ways on sale six-for-a-dollar like
generic macaroni and cheese, we tend
to avoid them. But even though it is
embarrassing to admit our junior high
P.E. coach/health teacher was right,
fruits and vegetables are a basic part
of any healthy diet.
Just as eating the right foods can
help in our diet, eating the wrong ones
can make us wish spandex was never
invented. We all have to satisfy that
craving for fast food or cure a junk
food fix by wolfing down something
greasy and unhealthy. But, if McDon
ald’s becomes less of a destination and
more of a hobby, or if the delivery per
son comes to your apartment so often
he chips in with the rent, then it is
time to change eating habits.
The two main arguments in favor of
continuing to eat unhealthy foods are
convenience and taste. In terms of
convenience, it takes just as little ef
fort to pour cereal into a bowl or cut
up vegetables as it does to rip open a
box of Ho-Ho’s. Besides, thinlc of it
this way — the healthier the food, the
shorter the guilt trip.
As for taste, there are substitutes
for every type of craving. Whether it
be low fat frozen yogurt instead of ice
cream or baked tortilla chips instead
of fried, alternatives are available for
most unhealthy foods. And though it
would be a lie to say that a boiled
potato will replace the urge for french
fries, keep up with the substitution
and sooner or later even Diet Coke
will taste as good as the regular kind.
Perhaps one of the most important
keys to healthy eating isn’t what you
eat, but when. Granted, no college ex
perience would be complete without
making a food run at two in the morn
ing — but guess where all the food
stays when you go to sleep an hour
later? Even though we all pretend
that we won’t eat breakfast the next
morning to compensate, the empty
Egg McMuffin cartons on the car
dashboard tell a different story.
Of course, the ultimate foil to
maintaining any semblance of a
healthy diet are the numerous all-
you-can-eat buffets. Sure, we tell our
selves that we are going to eat in
moderation, but by the third trip to
the buffet, all moderation is hidden
under a mountain of fried rice or piz
za crust. After leaving the restau
rant, everyone vows never to eat that
much again. So why not follow
through with that promise?
Obviously, the food we eat and the
way we eat it play an important role in
our health. No one should become a
Richard Simmons disciple and eat only
fruit and rice cakes three times a day.
Life isn’t worth living if it doesn’t in
clude a Twinkie now and then. By
watching what we eat and when we eat
it, however, we can fulfill the promise
of eating right we’ve all made — well,
all except for those combo meals.
Steven Gyeszly is a Class of ’99
finance and sociology major
STEVEN
GYESZLY
Columnist
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Hunger for money strikes all people
S chool sucks. I’ve been here for three
years and I have hardly learned any
thing I will actually use out in the
real world, academically that is. Sure, I
have done a lot of maturing and learned a
great deal of independence and leader
ship, but where does that show up on my
transcript? Don’t get me wrong; I love
Texas A&M with all my heart. I wouldn’t
trade my experiences here for anything. I
just hate classes.
Every semester, I have a week when I
have four tests, when every extracurricu
lar activity I’m in has an event, when I’m
out of money and my sort-of girlfriend calls me a meathead
for not taking her out. It is at these times every single se
mester that, while popping a whole box of Tagamet, I ask
myself the ever-nagging question: Why am I here? Why are
we all here? No, it’s not so we can go to the Chicken, get
drunk and play bones every night.
The real answer to this question is painfully obvious,
but no one wants to admit it. Unfortunately, as with
many wonders in our society, it all comes down to one
thing: money.
You may say you don’t care about money. Of course you
don’t; you have it. Whether from loans, financial aid, a job
or those good old parents, all of us here have money. Let
me tell you about two people — one who has more money
than most of us and one who has less —who both care very
much about money.
First there’s Brian, a homeless man I got to know while
parking cars on lower Greenville in Dallas three years ago.
Brian was an honest man; I would send him to buy things
for me from the corner store, and he would always bring
me back exact change. He had an honest fencing business
until bad luck and bad weather put him under and forced
him to beg for money to feed himself, his wife and his son.
He constantly applied for jobs, but he was never hired be
cause he stunk and wore dirty clothes. Some others and I
gave him what we could, but it was never enough.
Brian cared very much about money. He saw firsthand
what the lack of it could do to a family.
The other person I will call Ed. Ed is the CEO of a
multibillion-dollar electronics corporation. He fought to get
a patent on the diameter of the power cord plugs that run
his electronic equipment. That way, if the cord breaks, cus
tomers must order the part directly from Ed’s factory for
over twice the price a store like Radio Shack would sell it.
Ed fought for the right to make sure his multibillion-dol-
lar-a-year company would make just a little bit more.
Obviously, Ed also cared very much about money. His
greed made him think about it every day — just as Brian’s
hunger made him do the same.
The fact is that all of us at this school have dreams of
what we want our lives to be like in the future. No one
dreams of a life like Brian’s, so we all need money to make
our dreams of a comfortable life come true. I’m willing to
admit that I’d like to be rich someday and I think deep in
side most people wish for the same. But those who don’t
care to be rich certainly don’t want to be poor.
You may call me a snob and a yuppie and say that mon
ey doesn’t buy happiness. Well you’re right; it doesn’t buy
happiness. My rich and unhappy uncle is living proof of
that. But money does buy opportunities. Opportunities to
raise a family in a safe environment, opportunities to send
your kids to college and give them the economic boost to
get their lives going, opportunities to make your parents
comfortable in their last days on this earth.
The point is, the need for money is the hand society has
dealt us, and a good education is the most crucial step in
obtaining a full house. Even if you don’t learn anything
useful in class, the diploma will almost guarantee you a
better job than one you would have without it.
Why do you think distinction is made between blue-col
lar and white-collar workers? White-collar workers gener
ally have college degrees and make more money even
though blue-collar workers, who generally lack degrees and
make less money, often work just as hard.
Yes, money doesn’t equate happiness, but the lack of it
almost always equates suffering.
David Boldt is a Class of ’97 marketing major
DAVID
BOLDT
Columnist