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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1997)
The Battalion PIN10 M Page 9 Thursday • February 20, 1997 ontinue ing strei !, Okla. and Adrian Petes ir damage in ttiei esday night, tej State to a 72-55 A&M. ; (1441,6-7 Bi[ n in the second ooint lead, 1) get within se o lost to Oklalu Saturday, areO games this seas ored 14 of his econd half, ng the 14-0 led with 18 nission. led the Agg Id Brown adde; erson 11 vas ugly froir s began by go : floor, some n the opening ond half, tate shot on! st half, buttha: 31 percent b, shed at 39 per vl was just 32 Tom the field. om Page 7 ;il for this seaso and enjoy mi ck,” Fojtik ■ I’d get so sin do so well thai id because I’d re on myself. :z said despitf Fojtik has to :h time conies hingTeribriif s a meet comf< wicz said. ‘4 ill go t the week and r she may not meet timei lerform." fruth and Consequences oumalism is quickly becoming obsessed with being politically correct erfectly politically correct: The asi nine and destructive goal of the 21st century. American society is slowly bending over for those who clothe themselves with the robes of victimization, and it is crushing the national spirit. Journalists must face the pressure more than most. Each group of hyphenated Americans has one “cor rect” title and any number of “hurtful” ones. Journal- ists are forced to memo- Opinion Editor Alex Walters Senior journalism major THEBE IE NO ^n'.T 5 s) ^i ciwory! rize these “correct” titles or face the wrath of amalgamated groups of self-appointed victims whose only goal is revenge. As the wave of the national guilt trip crests, the profession of news wr iting is becoming porous and brittle. Journalists can no longer report the news. Now they must color and taint daily events to reduce the risk of offend ing the masses. Well, wake up. News is not always sun shine and lollipops. If a black man goes berserk on a New York subway and kills 17 people, it is news. Regardless of the perpetrator’s race, it is news. It would still be news if an affluent white male committed the same crime. Susan Smith and Darlie Routier, both white women, were convicted of murdering their sons. Their reputa tions are ruined, not because of a me dia bias, but because American soci ety doesn’t respect those who kill in cold blood. OJ. Simpson, a black man, was found li able for the deaths of his wife and her male friend. His reputation is ruined because he made an ass of himself by playing golf after his original acquittal instead of earnestly searching for the “real” murderer as he vowed he would. If Smith and Routier were black, Hispanic or Asian, their stories would still be news. If Simpson were white, it would still be news. The Simpson case was prevalent because he was a Heisman Trophy-win ning sports hero, not because he was a black man. The job of a journalist is to report the news completely, accurately and without bias. A jour nalist is not an elected guardian of the personal feel ings of the masses, nor is he a scapegoat for the prob lems of society. This special treatment “oppressed groups” expect is absolutely absurd. A black man cannot be called a black man — he is African-American. Homosexuals are not homosexu als — they are gay or lesbian. (It is especially odd to consider the accepted terms for gays and lesbians are sex-specific.) Women are women — not ladies. Mexi can-born residents of this country are Hispanic- Americans, Latinos or Chicano-Americans — not Mexican (despite the fact Mexican is exactly what they are.) Human nature dictates what people find interest ing and therefore newsworthy. Unfortunately, those things are often grotesque and appalling in an out-of- the-ordinary way. When a minister is found to be an adulterer, it is news because society has the notion ministers are infallible. But instead of clinging to the Biblical principle he is devoted to — such as “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 — the fallen minister will seek to regain his image in the eyes of man, rather than in the eyes of God. This happens more often than one would think — just read the newspaper. Even Martin Luther King Jr. was accused of be ing (however, not proven to be) an adulterer. Yet when these accusations made the papers, it was just another case of white men in power trying to oppress black men in the midst of struggle. In 1964, that may well have been the case, but it would not have been responsible journalism to ig nore the accusations. The journalism department at this university, offers a “Women and Minorities in the Mass Me dia” course. Unfortunately, the class is not about women and minorities, but how the media has consistently per petrated a nationwide scheme to portray black men and women as criminals in the eyes of the public. The textbook for another journalism course, “Editing for the Mass Media,” includes a list of the correct words for various “victim” groups. In class Tuesday, the news coverage of Shannon Lucid’s four-month stay in the Mir space station was discussed. The class debated whether the media was bi ased because each story had some degree of focus on Lucid’s motherhood and how her family dealt with her absence, not on her role as an astronaut. The instructor dismissed the issue by saying that Lucid didn’t care if the media focused on her fami ly because her family was of great value to her. Bottom line — Lucid approved of what the me dia found to be newsworthy, “and that’s what is re ally important, isn’t it?” the instructor said. What is important is honest coverage of real events, no matter how gruesome, grotesque or dis heartening. Welcome to the real world. College curriculum enhances education ollege is a time to hone skills suitable for a career, but a closer look reveals the importance of overall educational development as in fluenced by Univer sity curriculum. Many students under about the ignificance of assroom abstrac tion in the mentali- om Page? door Confer^ , held this weft] Meb., willbe for Aggies to |ty of “The Job’’ everyone hopes (,AA Indoor ( 0 j an( j a f ter college. The cor- jplation between curriculum d career is ambiguous be- use curriculum is intended cultivate an intellectual owth which supersedes the ;cordsthis$! boundaries of profession and n, senior l and creates productive mem- psed the 35- ) 6rs 0 f society. The goal of all curriculum i to enhance skills of analysis, ommunication, collabora- on and evaluation. In other |fords, the purpose of educa- Columnist General Franklin Sophomore English major cords are) n the men's piads havessj irow record -8 3/4 and riault scored he pentathk 1 ' .mark. , jr _. j , le Canada auction is to equip students with Schrader sol the means to achieve whatev- ; season orT er ends desired, mada’s 24.86 j One complaint of students the 200-nietf 1 j B curriculum heavily empha- 3-poundwefBzes compulsory rather than ) Schrader^! conceptual material. Some- }/4. Bmes this material seems irrel- fevant or even impractical, rt Aggies There is a compulsory element : to Squad to education because a certain if A&M’strad core of knowledge is needed in iso particip^ the areas of mathematics, sci- lorts. ence, logic and social sciences to digest the complex con cepts which follow. Basically, you must have a foundation from which to ex pand your insight and comprehen sion of a particular discipline. Students must re alize the intense scrutiny and evalua tion the curriculum undergoes at the hands of the administration, faculty, and some students. In all cases of curriculum, the University has the essential role of balancing students’ interests with those of accreditation and profes sional agencies, which estab lish standards. Furthermore, this process needs to enhance vocational skills while shaping and challenging the minds of young adults. Additionally, it is important students take advantage now to develop skills of analysis and reasoning in the breadth of the curriculum. The tools of independent thinking and co operative interaction will greatly enhance development in major studies as well as in auxiliary courses. University curriculum shifts to maintain the precarious balance be tween vocation and indepen dent development. Beyond these elements, however, many students enjoy the freedom of tailoring a course load to fit their future interests. Claude Gibson, head of the Undergraduate Division of the English Department, said students with liberal arts majors are given great leeway in organizing a core of courses to suit their needs. Combined with the bare essentials man dated by the University, the student should be able to fulfill the dual purpose of developing career and intellectual skills. Since curriculum is not con stant, remedies exist to allow students, faculty and adminis trators to adapt curriculum to changing needs or demands. Standards for curriculum are set by state and national ac creditation associations before the curriculum reaches the University level. The virtue of their seal of approval makes a degree a powerful document at interview time. Also, there are curriculum committees within each col lege to assess course descrip tions as well as the legitimacy of material. A committee with in the College of Liberal Arts in spects curricular demands and delivers proper justification to amend course material. Since student input is essential, stu dent representatives on these undergraduate and graduate committees provide the ade quate flexibility necessary for knowledge in constant flux. Again, student involvement deserves emphasis as adminis tration sometimes loses con tact with students, whose inter ests are paramount to the task of enhancing or improving cur riculum. Because of these advi sory roles, as well as seats on the committees, students must make their feedback clear and candid to administration and faculty so curricula changes can be adaptive to their needs. Another method of improving the viability of curriculum to ca reer is faculty research. Amid the din of grumbles about seldom- seen professors, it is imperative to understand how important re search is to the dissemination of more relevant techniques, meth ods and principles. By allowing emphasis on research, curricu lum can become more compati ble to the field of study, since new knowledge can be integrated into the course. It is essential for students to recognize the importance cur riculum plays in the specific and general development of an indi vidual. Unfortunately, as one peer counselor revealed, most stu dents are obsessed with the con sequences of college, such as fi nancial success and job, rather than obtaining knowledge through course work. Further more, it is important to realize that the difference between ITT Tech and Texas A&M is the former provides vocational training, while the latter provides whole- University renovates -treated classrooms Columnist Brandon Hausenfluck Senior journalism major printer To)' 3 __ e Canada,^ e sprinter, ) A&M on a rship. jumper/hep' ora, an out' MAIL lie Lady Age 1 i the fall, h 2S to her resuu 11 ■ will atteiuP 1 ie third istory to iamond Darlings istreated by fans My apologies to Helen Curbello and her lends who were annoyed by a heckler at a |ecent baseball game. I am a fixture at Aggie baseball tames and also am routinely annoyed y comments. However, I am more annoyed by an ct that is common at games — the un willingness to return foul balls to the Di- mond Darlings. The Diamond Darlings have several unctions at Aggie baseball games, one fwhich is to retrieve foul balls from he stands. This task becomes difficult and some- F ies even upsetting for the Diamond Dar- gs when “fans” attempt to keep the balls. As college students, we all need to start acting as such. It is time everyone grows out of the high school pranks and let our fellow Aggies do the job they volunteered to do. So please, be an Aggie and help other Ag gies do their job successfully. Mark Leddy Class of’92 Sean Lambert Class of 98 Student Government works for students The Student Government is not guilty in any sense of deceiving their electorate. Since I have been at this University, the SGA has worked hard to insure proper representation. The SGA did not flat decide to disregard the students and ignore the mn-off bill. There were circumstances concerning mn-off turn out and majority winners which made the bill hard to justify, even with student support. The Senate was representing the stu dents in their best interest with better analy sis of the results of such a bill. Also, if some one came into your voting booth while you were voting for president, he could influ ence your vote and cause a bias in the voting turnout. This is what Jason Jaynes was trying to prevent by having rules against cam paigning in the MSG. The election commis sion was working to insure the voting proce dure was fair to both sides. The SGA did not deceive the student body by working in the students best interest. Bradley Angell Class of 98 F or a world class university, Texas A&M is plagued with shoddy classrooms. However, the rooms will be completely renovated within the next four years. Over 200 of nearly 350 classrooms on the A&M campus will get a well-de served facelift. The administration has rightfully allotted nearly $3 mil lion to fund the project. The money will be drawn from Gen- eral Use Fee (GUF) income and the Permanent University Fund (PUF). This is a good example of why the GUF is constantly on the rise. A constantly growing and changing university con sumes a lot of money. At the request of the Faculty Senate and other campus organizations, the A&M ad ministration first considered the massive classroom renovation project. After an evalu ation the classrooms on campus, the Class room Renovation Committee was formed to oversee the project. At least 50 classrooms will be refurbished each year until all classrooms are brought up to the “minimum standards” defined by the committee. New flooring and seating will be installed making classrooms more comfortable. Better sound systems will be added where needed and acoustics will be improved by adding such features as acoustical ceiling tiles. In response to complaints from students and faculty, dimmers will be added to the lighting systems in classrooms to enhance vi sual instmction. The death of out-of-focus overhead transparencies will occur once the installations of new screens and other visual instmction tools are completed. All classrooms will be wired for telephone and cable TV and will be connected to the Eth ernet, taking instmction into the 21st century. Classrooms in newer build ings on campus and those im proved within the last ten years will be exempt from the project. One of the reasons the class rooms need repair is their con stant abuse by students. Tobacco stains, spilled food and drinks, and disturbing graffiti are com monplace in classrooms. Cloth seats and carpeted floors are torn, stained and ripped to shreds. If the University plans to spend millions of dollars to improve our classrooms, then students need to learn to respect their surroundings. It should not be difficult for adults to keep their pens from documenting on desks who they love or what football team they worship. Nobody really cares. This kind of information is worthless. The committee will work with the Regis trar’s office to determine when classrooms will be vacant and available for renovation. During spring break teams of workers will tackle several classrooms. The work will be done in only one or two buildings at a time, so progress should be rapid. The renova tions in Blocker are near completion. The committee has done a fantastic job planning the project working with A&M President Ray Bowen. Dan Parker, Assistant Provost and committee chair, and Glen Dowling, Executive Director of Planning, Evaluation and Institution Re search, along with several other universi ty officials, have coordinated this project which is vitally important to enhancing instruction at A&M. Students need to respect and be grateful for the commitment these officials have made to improving their learning environ ments at A&M and they need to take care of the new equipment so future Aggies can benefit as well. WHERES THE Were on BREFK- 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 Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu