Pagt
November 26
i
retrieve
: saucer, called all
I riday. That night,!
rol and the astror!
nervously as thej
;d to within 10 ft
s cockpit. But it I
e danger passed,
nductor film jus
thickness of a hi
grown atom b\M ■ Ihe state of Texas leads the
ck of the Wake SB I nation in the number of vi
)er-pure vacuuml olent criminals put to
wake. Beath. Texas may soon claim an
ts grew seven wafeBther top ranking by helping to
lirst time they aca save more prisoners’ souls than
I their objectives jlny other state.
flights of the hi——— —
Columnist
The Battalion
Opinion
Page 11
Tuesday • November 26, 1996
rogram turns convicts into converts
1994 and 1995,11
satellite malfunctiJ
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ie film should be!
produced on Earl
ted in transistorJ
onics.
Jeremy Valdez
Senior chemical
engineering major
ter
thin
tary,
inter
Last
week, the
Texas
Board of
Criminal
Justice
made a de
cision that
could ben
efit both
convicts
and the
law-abid
ing public.
In an unex-
■ected and controversial move,
■ie board cautiously agreed to
Bllocate prison space and re-
Bources to a Christian gospel-
■riented rehabilitation program.
I Even more surprising is that
■iere have been few protests from
■ther interest groups. Jay Jacobsen,
h ;al director for the Austin office
ol the American Civil Liberties
| Union, said the program most like-
!ly doesn’t violate the constitutional
Provision for separation of church
■nd state unless the state treats
Biose in the Christian project bet
ter than other inmates.
I Jacobsen might as well start
■ling a lawsuit now because, by
design, the new Christian-cen
tered program will provide in
mates with a better chance of re
habilitation than current
non-religious efforts.
I The problem with secular
prison rehabilitation is that there
basically is none. With our judi
cial system’s revolving-door pa
role policy, prisons are only tem
porary holding pens for thieves,
drug dealers and rapists.
But even when criminals are in-
arcerated long enough to need a
shave, the “correctional” institu
tion doesn’t adequately provide in
mates with the skills they need to
be productive members of society.
I Texas prisons can’t even instill
the golden rule into the hearts and
minds of their prisoners because
too many inmates have no reason
to believe the rule works. They
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Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the
views of the editorials board members. They do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Bat
talion 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 guest columns.
Editorials Board
Michael Landauer
Editor in Chief
Amy Collier
Executive Editor
Gretchen Perrenot
Executive Editor
Heather Pace
Opinion Editor
Listening Up
Bowen should be commended for
listening to student input.
have seen what others have done
to them, or they have eked out a
survival through a childhood full of
neglect. This doesn’t excuse crimi
nal actions, but in many cases it
explains them.
The ministry’s mission state
ment says inmates will focus on
“restoration with their family,
community and Jesus Christ.” It
is a reconciliation with these
three entities that will provide
convicts with reasons to turn
themselves around.
In an increasingly hostile po
litical environment, Christians
are going public with a list of is
sues they feel strongly about.
But when religious Americans
cry out over domestic policies,
they are accused of hypocrisy,
shortsightedness and inaction.
In the case of prison reform,
people are putting their actions
where their faith is.
Prison Fellowship Ministries,
the group that will oversee the pro
gram, is a private volunteer organi
zation. It was founded by Charles
Colson, an aide in the Nixon ad
ministration who himself found
religion while imprisoned for his
involvement in Watergate.
The project benefits from
Colson’s sincerity. Far from be
ing a hypocrite, Colson knows
firsthand how religious faith can
change a person’s life.
The ministry has pledged to
provide eight permanent workers
and 350 volunteers to staff a two-
year pilot project in the Houston
area. About 200 of the inmates
who apply will participate.
One reason groups like the
ACLU are slow to complain is
because no state money will be
used for the program. Despite a
formidable estimated price tag
of $1.5 million over the next two
years, the ministry has promised-
to raise its own funding.
If successful, the ministry hopes
to eventually receive subsidies from
the state. But it probably won’t get
any, since Texas legislators hardly
want to fork over any money they
don’t have to. And they want a con
stitutional lawsuit even less.
“We just need to be aware of
what are the results. Are people
who attend [Christian rehabilita
tion], are they given special privi
leges as far as parole or status?”
Jacobsen said.
“No one will be penalized for
not being of that religious ilk, and
no one will be rewarded either. If
[the Christian project] works, it
may be expanded to other faiths,”
said Allan Pollunsky, chair of the
Texas Board of Criminal Justice.
The TBCJ is trying to have its
politically correct cake and eat it,
too. How does the board expect
to measure success apart from
the improved behavior and de
creased recidivism of the prison
ers? If prisoners do become better
people as a result of religious
study, that fact should be consid
ered at their parole hearings.
But the state seems deter
mined not to reward Bible-study-
ing convicts. The first half of Pol-
lunsky’s statement hints that
inmates who make no extraordi
nary effort to become better hu
man beings will have just as good
a chance at parole as any re
formed Christian prisoners.
That’s fine. Because even if
better people (who just happen to
be religious) don’t get preferential
parole status, many — most no
tably the inmates who volunteer
for the program — believe that a
chance at salvation is a good
enough reward alone.
Texas A&M president Dr. Ray
Bowen and the administration
have had to face significant ad
versity in dealing with the pro
posed General Use Fee increase.
However, Bowen has done a
good job of communicating
with the students as to the cur
rent situation with the pro
posed fee increase.
The proposed increase would
raise the GUF from $24 to $34
per semester in the fall of 1997.
As a result, the average pro
fessor’s salary would increase
from $71,568 to just over
$75,000. The rationale for the
increase is simple.
The average salary for profes
sors at Texas A&M is 8 percent
below the national average of
A&M’s peer institutions.
Raising salaries is critical not
only in recruiting top quality
professors, but also as an im
portant morale boost for cur
rent faculty, who have not re
ceived a pay raise in a year and
a half.
Students may remember the
proposed hike in the GUF last
year.
This proposed increase was
not directed entirely toward pro
fessor salaries.
Many students reacted nega
tively to the proposal, question
ing Bowen’s rationale and the
need for an increase at all.
As a result, the Board of Re
gents decided against instituting
the increase.
However, Bowen has now set
his sights not only on a reason
able direction for the money
collected from the increase, but
also on making sure students
voices are heard.
Bowen has said students’ sup
port of the proposal is of person
al interest to him.
Those who believe this kimd
of talk is simply rhetoric should
remember that Bowen changed
the focus of the GUF increase
solely to raising professors
salaries in response to student
opinion.
Students should realize Bowen
is in a difficult situation.
In one ear, the faculty is
screaming for a raise to ifs
abysmally low salaries.
In the other ear, students are
shouting against any increase
whatsoever in yet another in
crease in the cost of education.'
Currently, total fees at A&M
rank ninth in Big 12 universities.
Students are getting quite-a
deal at A&M, and should under
stand Bowen’s justifications for
an increase.
Bowen has also done a good
job in his attempts to educate
students about the need and ra
tionale of a GUF increase.
He has spoken to student
groups, made all informatioii
concerning the increase readily
available on the Internet and
held a GUF forum last night.
Criticism of the GUF increase
should therefore not be directed
at Bowen.
Bowen’s motivations are for
the benefit of the entire Univer
sity, and he has helped make the
GUF increase an easier pill to
swallow.
Mail
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Students shouldn’t criticize Bonfire if they don’t know the facts
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Heinroth’s column
induces nightmare
Regarding Michael Heinroth’s
Nov. 25 column, “Seven ‘-gates’of
Hell plague Clinton”:
After I read the column in the
Nov. 25 Battalion by Michael Hein-
roth, I took a nap. It made me
drowsy, as this type of immature,
misinformed, so-called journalism
usually does, but it bothered me far
more than I thought it did. You see,
it gave me a nightmare, or a nap-
mare, whatever the case may be.
I dreamt that I went back to my
hometown ofWashington, D.C.
and found myself entering the
Capitol. Instead of the beautiful
marbled walls and the high dome,
I found myself smelling the burn
ing of sulphur and heat on my face.
As I rounded the corner near Newt
Gingrich’s office, I saw that the
Speaker tried to hide his long red
tail and cover up his horns with
Ralph Reed’s hat. As I proceeded
down the hall, by now glowing like
red lava, I ran into the office of the
Bureau of Untruths and Lies, with
Phil Gramm behind the desk, as
his secretaries, Dick Armey and A1
D’Amato answered the phones.
I started running, but the hall
way just got longer. I ran by the Of
fice of Draft Deferments and saw
that Rush Limbaugh, Gingrich and
Jack Kemp had pictures on the
wall. Tricky Dick Nixon had anoth
er office. I ran by the Administra
tion of Senator Porn-Producers,
headed by Sen. Gramm.
Just as I was falling off the cliff,
toward my certain death at the
bottom of the Anti-Environmental
Protection Agency pit, I reached
into my pocket and found the au
tographs of Ann Richards, Mario-
Cuomo and Ted Kennedy, and I
knew I would be all right.
I woke up, I thought I was safe.
But then I realized I was not: I had
the folded Batt on my chest, and I
knew I’d have to read Heinroth’s
“columns” again.
George Chip Villarreal
Graduate Student
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer
and include the author's name, class, and
phone number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to
edit letters for length, style, and accuracy.
Letters may be submitted in person at 013
Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let
ters may also be mailed to:
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For more details on letter policy, please call ’ *
845-3313 and direct your question to the /
opinion editor.
here are many things in nature that
cannot be avoided. Lemmings jump
off cliffs, flies flock to campus dining
enters, and Battalion columnists can’t re-
ist writing about Bonfire.
In just a few hours, Bonfire will burn
^nce again, but the animosity toward one
if the most visible Aggie traditions has
>een burning strong all year. Many be-
ieve Bonfire to be a disgraceful waste of
ime, a misuse of resources and a horrible
%ht on the environment.
Not to mention that they think those
Associated with building Bonfire are dis
gusting rednecks, illiterate and insensitive to any
thing that a civilized society holds dear.
I’ll be the first to admit that Bonfire is not for
everybody. But the criticism of Bonfire seems to
come primarily from those who have not once put
on a pot, not once loaded a log, and not once been
on a stack shift.
But even without firsthand knowledge, the op
position to Bonfire continues to denounce the
Columnist
Stephen Llano
Senior history major
tradition for a multitude of reasons.
Environmental concern is an impor
tant argument. But how significant is
Bonfire in the environmental matrix?
According to a senior redpot, Bonfire
requires about 10,000 trees to be cut
from a site of less than 20 acres.
This sounds like a significant number,
but compare it to this statistic provided by
the Rain Forest Action Network: 150 acres
of rainforest are destroyed every minute.
By comparison, Bonfire seems of little con
cern in the global scheme of things.
Some say the cutting isn’t the real con
cern. They feel the logs would be better used in an
other endeavor. The trouble is, the wood is unsuit
able for any constructive purpose other than stack.
Most of it would be destroyed anyway to clear the
land for future use.
What about the harassment issue? Tales of over-
aggressive Crew Chiefs attacking and insulting any
one who doesn’t participate in Bonfire are blown out
of proportion. Walton Hall, where conventional wis
dom holds the worst Bonfire offenses are commit
ted, just doesn’t live up to that stereotype.
“There was only one incident this year regard
ing Bonfire,”said Thurman Schweitzer, resident
advisor at Walton Hall. “It involved banging axe
handles on University property.”
It would seem then that the participants in
Bonfire are exactly what they claim to be: actual
willing participants.
So where does that leave the critics?Unfortunate-
ly, it seems the zealousness over the harms of Bon
fire is nothing substantial.
But the real tragedy is the effort wasted on stop
ping it. Every minute spent trying to stop Bonfire
takes away from efforts to really make a difference
in the world’s environmental problems.
If that’s too large of a scope, how about local
community service?There are much more con
structive and beneficial activities to spend time
with that would improve our local environment so
cially — something that everyone can appreciate.
For all that people say it is, Bonfire is first and
foremost an exercise in leadership development.
Being active in Bonfire requires organizational skills
and time management. It is more than just building
a stack of wood.lt builds pride in those who partic-*
ipate. The skills needed to shape a good leader conjye
from a variety of different methods, and Bonfire is *
certainly one of the most intense.
Leadership development, in any form, is an es
sential function of the University experience. If C
this sort of development opportunity doesn’t ap;
peal to someone after trying it, participation is -
not required.
But the benefits of Bonfire extend across campus.
Even if not directly involved, functions such as Ele%
phant Walk or the Bevo Car Bash stem directly fronr
the healthy rivalry between Texas A&M and the Uni
versity of Texas. These great events would certainly
lose something if Bonfire didn’t exist.
Many will continue to disagree with what hap- '
pens tonight. If that is their decision after examining
all the evidence, they are justified. But spouting off;
the same tired old arguments against Bonfire year
after year is an exercise in futility against one of the
finest leadership training exercises anywhere.