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WEDNESDAY
June 12, 1996
OPINION
Page 5
5
i
Nonregs invade the Quad
T he inva
sion
came
slowly. In a
week’s time
they had infil
trated the
whole area,
and before we
knew it —
they had tak
en over.
No, I’m not
talking about
some militia group taking over
Hickville, Texas. Even worse,
nonregs have taken over the
Quad — our Quad. As a mem
ber of the Corps of Cadets, I
feel violated. Thousands of
“nasty nonregs” have taken
over my home.
When I first heard on-cam
pus housing for the summer
was going to be on the Quad, I
was actually excited. I had pic
tures dancing in my head of
good-looking girls wearing butt-
floss bikinis roller-blading
down the Quad, or sunning
themselves in the cool grass in
front of the dorms.
Then my roommate slapped
me. “David, you’re drooling,”
he said, and reality woke me
up. I realized that most of the
summer residents were going
to be guys — including Corps
haters from Northside. Oh no,
not them!
But how did the other CTs
on the Quad feel? After all, I’m
living with Summer Recruiting
Company, which consists en
tirely of cadets and resides un
der the rules of the Comman
dants Office, not RHA rules. So
I asked a few of them.
“The freshmen are clueless,
but everyone seems pretty cool.
The thing that sucks is the
rules,” said Lyle Gordon, a se
nior in Company E-2.
Others had a more philosoph
ical approach. “Nonregs and CTs
co-existing on the Quad seems to
break the conflict by everyone
getting to know each other,” said
Ken Reinertson, a senior in
Company C-2, “but most of the
rules are bulls—t.”
To my surprise, nonregs and
CTs seem to get along quite
well. However, not being al
lowed to have lofts, use cinder
blocks or open their windows
are rules that Corps members
are not very keen on following
— as well as strict visitation
hours and drinking restrictions.
“A lot of R. A.s look to bust CTs
because they think they are
prone to break rules,” says Cliff
Murphy, a nonreg senior living
in dorm six.
But Jerry Blum, a second-
floor resident advisor, had this
to say: “We don’t have any
problems, because we are all
nonregs and we are all CTs
this summer because the Corps
isn’t active.”
Well, whether the resident
advisors treat nonregs and
Cadets differently is question
able, but there’s no question
that the rules they must en
force are ludicrous.For exam
ple, both the Quad invaders
and the organization residing
there since it was built are told
that opening the windows will
hurt the air conditioning sys
tems, which will cause conden
sation, which will grow mildew
and make everyone sick.
Oh really? Well, in my three
years living on the Quad, I’ve
never seen such a phenomenon.
Perhaps I’m just lucky.
Senior cadets living in dorm
six this summer have been told
they can’t bring their sabers
into the dorm — a part of the
uniform that is not a weapon,
but designed for show (most
sabers are too dull to cut
through butter). And why can’t
anyone have lofts or even cin
der blocks in the summer?
Representatives of Corps
Area Housing say, “It’s just
University policy,” and when
asked the reason for the policy,
they say, “It’s just University
policy.” Well, since when is a
policy justified without a rea
son? Those of us living here un
der Corps rules have been per
mitted to have these luxuries.
Why can’t anyone else?
Maybe the invasion is not so
bad after all. It seems that this
co-existence has bonded Cadets
and nonregs together. Enduring
seemingly pointless rules seems
to do that. Why do you think
Cadets are so tight?
So I guess we’ll let these
nonreg invaders stay for a few
months. No reason to break out
the camouflage and the face
paint just yet. After all, they do
sort of outnumber us.
David Boldt is a Class of ’97
marketing major
DAVID
BOLDT
Columnist
Arafat hinders peace in Israel
The Battalion
Editorials Board
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 members, the Texas A&M student body, regents,
administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of
the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guesLcolumns.
Stacy Stanton
Editor in Chief
Jason Brown
Opinion Editor
Shannon Halbrook
Assistant Opinion Editor
Faculty Infighting
Faculty members should stop behaving childishly in
discussing changes to the Faculty Senate.
Although some degree of tension can be ex
pected in any representative body, the recent be
havior of current and former Faculty Senate
members has been so childish, it has tarnished
the credibility of the organization.
The bickering has surfaced over some pro
posed changes by physics professor Roland AJlen
to the Faculty Senate that would turn it into a
Faculty Council. Allen, a former senator, recom
mends that representatives be elected over E-
mail, the Senate be smaller and representatives
serve one-year terms. The purpose of these and
other suggestions is to make the body more rep
resentative and more responsive of the faculty.
Although these changes are small and de
serve discussion, the hostility accompanying the
proposals has cast doubt on the ability of those
involved to discuss the ideas rationally.
For example, Allen’s letter to Texas A&M Pres
ident Ray Bowen, in which he proposes his ideas,
complains ad nauseam about one vote on a gay
and lesbian literature proposal, saying, “There is
no more a ‘gay and lesbian literature’ than there
is ‘gay and lesbian electrical engineering.’” Allen
uses this one instance as a primary example of
why the Faculty Senate should be dissolved.
Although he says that “I should not get into a
hissing contest with a skunk,” Allen does his
share of name-calling. In the letter, he accuses
Faculty Senate members of being “political ex
tremists” and the Senate’s actions as being
“ridiculous,” “destructive,” and “self-indulgent.”
Still, some current senators have joined the
mudslinging battle with Allen. Faculty Senate
Speaker Steven Oberhelman likened Allen to “a
young boy who loses in a game of marbles. Not
only does the boy go home, he takes the marbles
with him and doesn’t want the other boys to
have the opportunity to play the game either.”
Although senators have the right to be per
turbed with Allen’s complaints, snide remarks
do not contribute anything to the defense of the
Senate’s credibility. In fact, they only serve to
enforce Allen’s assertions that the Senate “ac
complishes almost nothing for the faculty and
this University.”
Rather than quibbling with each other over
whether the Faculty Senate is extreme, every
one should acknowledge that the Faculty Sen
ate is the representative body of the faculty
and that its decisions will not be popular with
every faculty member. If someone has a prob
lem with the way it works, he or she should
work within the system to effect constructive
changes. Suggestions to improve the Faculty
Senate should be respected by everyone and
not brushed off as sour grapes.
If Faculty Senate members cannot show re
spect for each other and other faculty members,
then it doesn’t matter whether it is a Faculty
Senate or a Faculty Council. Whatever it’s
called, it won’t deserve the respect of anyone.
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Community needs volunteer help
I t really
does amaze
me what a
terrorist gets
for his efforts
these days. It
used to be a a
noose, or a
blind-fold and
a cigarette.
But now
the current
“punishment”
for a terrorist
who has a lengthy record of bus
bombings and political assassi
nations is the painful torture of
getting his own little country.
Oh, the agony!
And they say crime doesn’t pay.
But just stop for a minute
and take a look at everyone’s
favorite Middle East terrorist,
Yasser Arafat. Well, OK, he did
finally denounce terrorism in
1988. But does that mean he’s
not a terrorist anymore?
If a murderer quits killing
people, we don’t call him a for
mer murderer, do we?
Anyway, after the Palestin
ian leader had spent years call
ing for the destruction of Israel,
he decided to calm down and
shake his enemy’s hand. Sud
denly, everyone forgot about OT
Yasser’s past just because he
picked up an olive branch.
The next thing we knew, he
Was at the White House with
President Clinton. After that,
he got his very own Nobel
Peace Prize. Not bad.
Then Israel decided to give
Yasser Arafat two fairly large
portions of its own territory — the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
There was even talk of sharing
Jerusalem. Hey, even better.
Things were really shaping
Pp for the infamous Palestinian.
But why was Israel the only
country that agreed to give
land to Arafat? Why weren’t
the Arab nations willing to
share some desert? Where were
Lebanon and Syria? Or Jordan
and Egypt?
Maybe they didn’t see Arafat
as the committed peacemaker
he claims to be.
It turns out that Arafat’s
peace with Israel is only a luxu
ry enjoyed by himself. It seems
he frequently uses his olive
branch as a whip on the Pales
tinian people when he thinks
no one is looking.
Apparently, Arafat now
reigns over the West Bank and
Gaza Strip with the same iron
fist and corruption with which
he led the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
Not surprisingly, he doesn’t
like dissenters among “his”
Palestinian people. He doesn’t
exactly encourage freedom of
speech — in fact, speaking
freely against the leader often
results in a quick trip to prison.
Ever
since gain
ing political
authority
over inter
nal affairs
in the West
Bank and Gaza, Arafat and his
motley crew of machine gun-
toting police have had a nasty
little habit of arbitrarily round
ing up political opponents.
Arafat’s excuse was relayed
through a spokesman who stat
ed that the Palestinian Author
ity is “serious about imple
menting law and order.” A lit
tle too serious, maybe?
Those accused of collaborating
with Israel are severely beaten.
The Palestinian Authority has ad
mitted that two men have died
while in custody. Who wants to
bet the number is higher?
Rabbi Peter Tarlow of A&M
Hillel characterized Arafat as a
“dictator.” He went on to add
that “Arafat’s terrorism is now
against his own people.”
So much for trips to the
White House and the Nobel
Peace Prize. It sounds like the \
terrorist-turned-dove is not as
peaceful as we all thought.
With this in mipd, should Is
rael shut the door on the Pales
tinian leader and kick him out
of its backyard?
Absolutely not.
With 90 percent of Israelis sup
porting the peace process, it is
hardly in danger of collapsing.
But hopefully, Israeli Prime
Minister-elect Benjamin Ne
tanyahu will force Arafat to re
form his methods of rule in the
West Bank and Gaza before
continuing the peace process.
The prime minister-to-be has
already promised a hard-line
approach with Arafat. Com
pared to the Labor Party of the
late Prime Minister Rabin and
Prime Minister Peres, Ne
tanyahu’s conservative Likud
Party is not likely to be as for
giving of Arafat’s record.
To survive politically, Arafat
will have no choice but to change
his ways once and for all.
And when he does, the fragile
region might finally know peace.
Michael Heinroth is a
Class of ’96 political science
A t one
time or
anoth
er, we have
all served as
volunteers.
We are eager
to “volun
teer” our ser
vices when it
comes to fin
ishing off the
last bottle of
alcohol or
giving notes to a person in our
class we are trying to impress.
But mentioning the words com
munity service and the first
question asked is, “How many
hours did the judge give you?”
However, one should not look at
community service as a sen
tence, but as an opportunity.
Volunteering isn’t usually
considered an integral part of
college life. Yet Texas A&M
and the surrounding communi
ty is our home for the next few
years, so why not make it a
better environment to live in?
The need for volunteers is
enormous, and the benefits are
even greater.
Carolyn Krauss, Program
Director of the RSVP Line, an
organization that monitors
and assists volunteering in
the Brazos Valley, said over
4,000 hours of volunteer labor
were performed in March. Un
fortunately, a national study
has determined that, on aver
age, the need for volunteers is
usually triple the amount ac
tually received.
This means that in the Bra
zos Valley, 8,000 more hours of
volunteering is needed. With
over 40,000 students, it’s easy
to assume that someone else
will fulfill this need — but
waiting for someone else is
what created this need in the
first place.
Finding an organization that
needs help is not a problem. In
fact, with so many associations
that need volunteers, the hard
part is choosing just which one
to join. With diverse organiza
tions such as the Big Broth-
er^/Big Sisters Program,
Planned Parenthood and nu
merous groups that help the
less fortunate, there is a group
for everyone. Realize that vol
unteering should be enjoyable
and beneficial at the same time,
and look for an organization
that will make you feel comfort
able as well as helpful.
Because it is voluntary la
bor, charity organizations need
people of all skill levels. This
means that whether someone
has the ability to change the
world with one hand tied be
hind his back or if he is still
attempting to master mere ex
istence, he is equally welcome.
Also, because the social ills of
this world do not follow any
master schedule, most volun
teer groups are flexible enough
to accommodate the schedule
of anyone, even those who live
and die by the day planner.
Just as the potential for vol
unteering is enormous, so are
the rewards. A major benefit is
the sensation one receives from
helping others. For those
would-be volunteers who need
more than a vague promise of
that warm, fuzzy feeling deep
inside, there are also substan
tial health benefits. In a recent
medical study, results showed
that a control group that volun
teered 10 hours a week record
ed a greater sense of self-worth,
along with lower stress and
blood pressure levels. Basically,
that means that after volun
teering for a short period of
time, that healthy glow doesn’t
just come from the halo.
Anyone with a remote inter
est in the surrounding commu
nity should want to help out,
because it can only serve to
benefit both the volunteer and
the area. As students, volun
teering our time and services
should be seen as an opportu
nity for us, as well as a way of
helping our adopted home.
Luckily, Texas A&M has nu
merous institutions that are
based on charitable intent.
Whether it be an organization
that informally helps a certain
charity or an occasion devoted
solely to community service, such
as Big Event, the University pro
vides a natural base of volunteer
ing opportunities. And although
volunteering isn’t a course re
quirement, with all the opportu
nities to do so, the only way to
avoid it is by really trying.
Steven Gyeszly is a
Class of ’99 finance and
sociology major
MICHAEL
HEINROTH
Columnist
It seems Arafat frequently uses his olive
branch as a whip on the Palestinian people
when he thinks no one is looking.
STEVEN
GYESZLY
Columnist