• November; Spi Bri The Battalion rnmm Mg^mtasai _ j ^# sS88s «^, SSfS ^^^. «W8Ba IN ■ : IN Page 7 Friday • November 22, 1996 [s openir against! A&M Womep : open its regui-— e against Sol m niveratyto#: THE BATTALION Aggies were iy and are a\; dct game oriBls appearing in The Battalion reflect the ' ’s pf the editorials board members. They do :ats are led necessarily reflect the opinions of other Bat- Sarah Wagon staff members, the Texas A&M student fame and 3‘y> regents, administration, faculty or staff. jmrs, guest columns, cartoons and letters n three-point ! , ess me opinions of the authors. ie the first n tact the opinion editor for information on nd A&M mining guest columns. Memories of Kennedy make impression Established in 1893 Editorials Board Michael Landauer Editor in Chief Amy Collier Executive Editor Gretchen Perrenot Executive Editor Heather Pace Opinion Editor Baske top reel Pay Raise fhe University should continue to raise faculty salaries As we grow older, we realize how much our parents have left to teach us. For me, today rep resents yet another example of what l can learn from my mom. She was in col lege in Washington, D.C., when John E Michael Landauer Kennedy was shot, 33 Senior journalism major years ago today. And this is her story: M Men's Ba h Tony Ban signing of TJ n., Thursday The proposed General Use Fee io is a 6-foo:.rease has been authorized sole- ged 17.2 pc for salary raises for Texas A&M 1.6 steals a r ulty. Rightfully so. A&M’s facul- leading his a pay is 8 percent below the na- ls. 3 Hi average, and if A&M’s pay is rilled toadd. ptjin the basement, the school’s is TJ. to ourTafd-winning professors may “We love his tdljobs elsewhere. To retain its he hastoert :ulty, A&M should remain com- ittpd to the pay raise. But the < Basket*? :rsity shouldn’t stop there. * _ This fee increase will go toward inoiS rer° peparate faculty raises next , _H— a 2 percent raise in March .d an additional 3 percent raise and / Se|)tember. Together, they will >amantha j se ( j le avera g e professor’s salary d from Joliet )m S 71,568 to just over $75,000. ' Joliet, "1.^ Tp students, this may seem ntentlhuN )0C | enou gh. But the average averagec ar jy p a y f or p ro f essors j s a C om- and seve ir ^ti ve iy whopping $76,393 at a junior. S: e University of Texas at Austin, state tour , en a f ter p le ra i se) a&M will still ■hort of its rival school, i is the t>. t,, remedy this, the adminis- be success jtjon should offer faculty a raise ey said. S y ear to a&M competi- le floorwe ve if the money magicians er -" 'Uld muster a 5 percent increase , r a few years, pushing A&M pro- 3nniS Sl^ sors ’ salaries above the nation- average, the situation would be Onal pl3)hproved. And if the average Men's Tenm iss annoi ffl den and J national day. senior pla) £ se A&M ovei ;ional citcoi! d No. 3 it T flat-out /ery agg'e-' a good backh at return.” e nations! s player . player over Cass er progra 111 /lexico. salary could be kept above the national average — compensat ing for inflation and cost of living increases — A&M would look that much more attractive to top- notch professors. The problem is money. The University does what it can with what it is given by the Texas Legis lature. The Legislature gets its money from the taxpayers, who are hardly a bottomless pit of cash. But there’s more coming. Last year, the Legislature passed a bill increasing tuition by $2 per year until the year 2000; by then, it will be $40 per hour. And the General Use Fee will most likely be raised to equal that amount. In addition, A&M, UT, the Uni versity of Houston and Texas Tech are petitioning the Legislature for over $900 million. Although the cash, if approved, would be split among the four schools, it would still bring a good-sized chunk of needed funds to A&M. This should give the administration some money to work with — money that should be directed to ward keeping A&M financially competitive. Education spending by the Legislature has gradually tapered off over the last decade; it’s time the trend was reversed. I ’remember one and only one class that I took in college, but to this day I can see the room . and exactly where I was sitting. Someone came in and said Kennedy had been shot, and we all sat there in total shock and, for the most part, silence, waiting to hear if it was really true. Our teacher left, and when she returned she was sobbing and said that she had heard he was shot in the head and that it didn’t look good. Everyone just started wandering out of class even though it wasn’t over, and we no ticed that students in other classes were doing the same. People were crying everywhere. Rumors were flying: “The Russians did it;’’ “There was a takeover;” All sorts of crazy things. We went back to the “smoker” in our dorm (where all the girls met to socialize). The TV was on and 20 or 30 girls were crowded around it. When it was announced Kennedy was dead, people just hung onto each other sobbing. After we calmed down, we de cided to head straight for the city. I don’t remember much, except that my best friend and I were standing at the fence in front of the White House and watching helicopters come and go all night. Like any city in a catastrophe, every person you met was a neighbor, and every one was talking to everyone. That night the city was one large, wild traffic jam. The next thing I remember was going to the funeral. We debated where the best place to see the caisson would be and finally decided to go to the church, but we soon realized that was a bad idea, since there were wall to wall bod ies for blocks and blocks around it. So we made our way back along the route that the caisson would take. It was slow going because we couldn’t get through the crush of humanity, ten or fifteen deep, on the sidewalks. At times I remember ducking down and climbing between legs because there was more room there than at eye level. Somehow, we finally wound up on a part of the route that wasn’t as packed and climbed through legs until we were in front. Then we flirted with a young police man who was trying to keep us back. I think he was overcome by my friend’s charm and let us stand just be hind him, which was about two arms’ length from the cars going by on the motorcade. At first, it seemed almost fun because it was such a challenge to get a good spot. Then we all heard something that changed everyone’s attitude: that sim ple drum sound. As soon as we heard it, a block or more away, there was a silence that was so eerie I will never forget it as long as I live. There were millions upon millions of people as far as the eye could see, but all you could hear was the drum. As it passed, I had one clear thought that I still believe today. Somehow we were burying a dream, an era of inno cence that could never be resurrected. I think something that today’s college-aged generation can’t even begin to imagine is the deep respect most people had for the office of president and the pride in our country we all shared. I think that’s what we put in the grave that day. Mail ensive opinion justly printed Columnist ) be a D # He’s young'| Jcwfctf fox* tHe n&vr x»ecrxut to experience or. He cash— eally strong more, Spit Tse push fo^’L the 500-p first time{ t t js interesting hievinghisp I that only partic- > every gan ,f u j ar et }-, n j c Ithough 0U p S r jot when ves meoti jjething occurs t j iat lave turn lyjisggj-ge w jth,” •' i „ jJted John Paul !\ c in . h | 0 right, a columnist for Lid 01 '^ ^ 86 Mason Univer- r trunning) T student paper, the ies behind r' oadside - “Perhaps it hose guysl# twiseofme to 'eoolemiss-'H ihese humans are