Page 11
Monday • March 3, 1997
prudent education
ush school opens doors of opportunity for A&M
hisyear, Texas A&M will
witness one of the greatest
moments in College Sta-
history since the double-
/single-strap controversy.
The Bush Presidential Li-
Complex will open in
iptember of this year, occu-
ring90 of the 5,200 acres of
he Bauauon W&M campus. Along with
, lelibrary comes the George
9[!'. an lush School of Government
!ft tasW .(Public Service.
From an undergraduate
lerspective, the Bush school might ap-
Diederidifcartobe nothing more than an isolat-
ormSatur- ^graduate program. Much like the Vet
,the Medical school and Easter-
roodAirport, many undergraduates vi-
on towerplize the Bush school as another in-
tresting part of A&M — with no direct
impact on their academic lives.
Donald Deere, associate director for
icademic programs at the Bush
School, said undergraduates will bene-
itmuch from the school.
“There is a unique aspect to what
fere doing,” Deere said. “This is the
mlyfacility with a school, a presidential
Irary, and a former president who is
mthusiastic and has the ability to at-
tactnational and international world
iaders to A&M.”
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Stephen Llano
Senior
history major
A&M will stand apart from
other presidential libraries
which do not have these pro
grams, such as the Carter,
Reagan, and Ford libraries.
Such a unique combina
tion of resources also will im
prove the academic environ
ment for everyone at A&M.
The school is in the
process of selecting the first
class of Bush School students
from 75 applicants.
“Some of these students will
be from Texas A&M,” Deere
said. “Odiers will have a wide variety of
backgrounds with fresh perspectives.”
As far as the undergraduate popula
tion of A&M is concerned, there are nu
merous reasons why students should be
interested in visiting the Bush Complex.
“Eventually, it’s not going to be just
for graduates,” Deere said. “There will
be a constant influx of exciting ideas
and important perspectives. Under
graduates will be exposed to things
they would not otherwise get.”
The Bush Library exemplifies this.
When the library is completed, it will
place A&M on the map because of its
national archives. Any student could
jump on the shuttle bus and visit a col
lection of important artifacts and docu
ments from Bush’s four years as the
leader of our country.
The Bush school also will host confer
ences and help students build relationships
with potential employers. The presence and
relationship with these employers will be an
advantage to undergraduates who may have
the chance to capitalize on many new job
opportunities because of the Bush school.
Having a presidential library on cam
pus also will improve the national per
ception of A&M.
“There will be an unprecedented
amount of visitors (to the Bush Library),”
Deere said. “At the opening in September,
Presidents Clinton, Carter, Ford and Bush
will be here along with other international
and‘Rational leaders.”
With the current president, as well as his
predecessors coming to campus, A&M will
receive a high volume of media attention
that will improve the reputation of A&M
graduates.
“We know that we (A&M) are doing a good
job and in the state many employers know,”
Deere said. “This will ensure that the rest of the
world will know too.”
The Bush School provides a thorough and
challenging program for graduate students.
But undergraduates should not ignore or be
complacent about this event which might cat
apult A&M, along with its students, to a new
level of national prestige and recognition.
;now what
1. “Now, as
ithusiasm
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IE BATI AUOS
II dives off
500-yard
npionships
Selling foreign-made products cheapens honor of MSC
T he Memorial Stu
dent Center is de
voted to the
memories of brave men
who gave their lives in
defense of liberty. But
it's hard to believe that,
considering the prod
ucts sold inside.
MostAmericans say
the United States is a
nation that cherishes
freedom and individ-
wlliberties. However,
these sentiments are
not evident in America’s trade
practices. Every year, billions of
dollars in goods are imported
into the United States, much of
dfrom nations with less than
Jcceptable human rights and la-
tor practices.
At Texas A&M, 60 percent of the
Nothing sold in the MSC Book
store is made in foreign nations
such as Mexico, Taiwan,
India, Jamaica, Oman,
Indonesia,, Costa Rica,
Malaysia, Singapore and
El Salvador.
Although some of
these countries have
relatively clean industri
al and human rights
records, many of them
are guilty of an entire
laundry list of sins
against humanity.
Several articles of ap
parel and many school
supply items in the bookstore are
made in China, a communist na
tion with a long, bloody history of
human rights crackdowns. Red
China is infamous for its steriliza
tion of women, forced abortions ,
torture and execution of pro
democracy dissidents. It is simply
disgusting and disappointing
when an institution such as the
Columnist
Donny Ferguson
Sophomore
political science major
MSC, created to preserve and cele
brate champions of freedom, sells
products manufactured under a
regime which despises and at
tempts to destroy such principles.
When Americans purchase Chi
nese-made products, they are sub
sidizing despotism.
Other nations such as Indone
sia and India are notorious for ex
ploitations of child labor in the
production of clothing.
Many of the children working
in Asian clothing factories suffer
deformities and poisoning from
grueling labor and toxic chemi
cals. According to the Depart
ment of Labor, nations such as
Bangladesh lock children in
warehouses supervised by
armed guards who force them to
work long hours for six to seven
days a week.
Sadly, students who purchase
foreign-manufactured clothing are
perpetuating this cruel practice.
Not to mention that imported
products cost American workers
their jobs, robbing them of liveli
hood. The Clinton administration
estimates for every $1 billion in
imports sold, 19,000 American
workers lose their jobs.
Leslie Fays Company, a Penn
sylvania dressmaking factory,
was forced to close four of its
plants because of foreign com
petition — 1,050 workers lost
their jobs. Lamenting over the
closure, Leslie Fays’ president
said, “We’ll just begin to make all
our goods offshore.”
Here in Texas, Brookshire
Knitting Mills of Dallas buckled
under the pressure of imported
textiles, laying off 125 workers in
1995 and terminating one-third
of its remaining workers this
year. Since then, the company
has moved to Mexico.
The MSC should do everything
it can to ensure the integrity of the
products it sells. One option
would be for the University Book
store to sell only American-made
products. It may cost a few pen
nies more, but children and work
ers would win in the end.
A total boycott of imported
apparel is an important first step
in ending tragic human rights
abuses like those seen in child
labor camps.
An admittedly more unique
idea is to place large fluorescent
orange stickers on foreign prod
ucts. The jumbo-sized eye-catch
ing label could read “WARNING -
This product was not made in
America,” followed by a picto-
graph of a crossed-out American
flag. It may sound far-fetched and
comical at first, but considering
the gravity of the issues of human
rights and child labor, it is the
least that could be done.
The simplest thing, however,
would be for students to refuse to
buy products made in foreign
countries. Check out the labels
on clothing before you buy an
item. A T-shirt made in El Sal
vador likely was sewn with tiny,
unwilling hands. Purchasing a
sweatshirt made in China
amounts to an endorsement of
communist brutality. In the end,
hard-working Americans suffer
when their jobs are sacrificed.
Clothes shopping should not
become an exercise in morality.
However, in an institution cre
ated to honor men dedicated to
preserving the principles of
freedom, there is a moral oblig
ation to do the right thing.
Stand up to human rights abus
es and stand up for American
workers by refusing to buy for
eign-made apparel.
ms
urn
opes to re
bytheeni
injury suf
game wil
in the firs 1
Encryption laws protect private interests of students.
\ /Tost students check their
Ail e-mail daily, if not every
IV tcouple of minutes, hop-
rga fellow Internet-addict has
Charles ® a new message or forwarded
lie “When I’m an Evil Overlord”
[J feklist. Finding an unoccupied
toninal in the campus computer
KJ te is nearly impossible because
Students who live for electronic
onimunication. Face it, e-mail is a
'art of life.
But what if other students are
hie to read your messages?
A Senate bill introduced last
f eek aims to overturn present export limits on
jtoiputer encryption technology, and open
to way for individuals and companies to pro-
tot their privacy. While the Clinton adminis-
fotion supports its own initiatives for increas-
ig widespread use of the Internet in business
Columnist
Jenne Hamlin
Senior
journalism major
and education, it disagrees with
the measures.
Congress should pass the “Pro
motion of Commerce Online in the
Digital Era Act” to protect privacy
in the Information Age.
Encryption used to be the stuff
of spy novels and James Bond
movies. Products which scram
bled information until it reached
its intended receiver were vital
during military conflicts and peri
ods of diplomatic tension, like the
Cold War.
With the advent of the Informa
tion Age, encryption has moved into the pub
lic sector. Companies now conduct business
over the bandwidth, needing encryption to
protect credit card accounts and other finan
cial information. Students use e-mail more
than the U.S. Postal Service. They need to se
cure their messages from a third party. Strong
encryption technology would solve both of
these issues.
Businesses transfer billions of dollars
electronically and store their corporate plans
and company secrets on computers. Infor
mation such as medical and employment
records also are kept on computer networks.
While providing convenience, networks are
susceptible to hacker attacks because of in
sufficient security measures.
Current U.S. encryption policies forbid the
export of products with key-lengths over 40
bits long. As a result, few companies incur the
expense of producing both domestic and ex
portable versions of software. But as several
college students with computers and spare
time have proven, exportable technology is
practically worthless.
Last month, a University of California grad
uate student broke the strongest encryption
code currently exportable in three and one half
hours, using a campus computer network.
What it takes one graduate student a few
hours to accomplish is possible in a fraction of
a second with the technology possessed by
large corporations and most countries’ intelli
gence agencies. Using 40-bit encryption is like
defending nuclear attacks with a water gun.
The administration increased the limit to
56-bit key-lengths, but with a catch — soft
ware companies had to give the government a
key to the code. Only three companies agreed
to this restriction.
The government has decided, in its infi
nite wisdom, to protect citizens from com
puter crimes by keeping a key to their
codes. While other key recovery measures
were turned down by Congress, the White
House tacked one onto the marginal in
crease in code strength.
A group of 17 Senators, including Kay Bai-
corporations
ley Hutchinson, introduced Pro-CODE to pro
tect privacy and help U.S. companies compete
in the global encryption market.
The bill would protect the unsuspecting
masses from hacker threats, both foreign and
domestic, prohibiting the government from
imposing key recovery policies on the do
mestic market and limiting the secretary of
commerce’s standard-setting authority for
encryption products.
Few people realize the danger involved
with leaving personal information virtually
unprotected by available technologies. While
one might assume it’s safer to keep everything
on computer, it’s easy for someone else to
crack into an electronically preserved life.
Congress has only one serious option. They
should pass Pro-CODE or buckle under a
White House only interested in establishing a
master computer key system, not in more rel
evant business of protecting public interests.
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Abortion sacrifices
child’s right to live
In response to Katy McIntosh’s let
ter to Mail Call on Feb. 25:
McIntosh writes about free
dom of speech, insisting that
“there are limits to this freedom.”
She asserts that the Supreme
Court ruling allowing anti-abor
tion activists to exercise their con
stitutional right “brings us one
step closer to having no real
choice at all.” McIntosh is sug
gesting that the rights of some
should be limited in order to pro
tect the rights of others.
Mail
Perhaps her suggestion merits
some consideration. Perhaps
some rights are more important
than others. There is no right more
important than the right to exist?
Americans have refused to pro
tect unborn children’s right to live
because they are somehow less
“human,” just as some people
once felt women and African
Americans were less human. Life
is generally believed to begin at
one of two points: conception or
birth. Determining life anywhere
in between is completely arbi
trary. Thus, termination of a preg
nancy immediately after concep
tion and one day before birth are
equivalent. It is not justifiable to
deny life to a child who is per
fectly formed and capable of
sustaining life only one day later,
upon birth?
Some insist this is a moral is
sue that cannot be determined by
the state. But who would argue
now with the moral decision of
the state that slavery is wrong and
should not be tolerated? Was the
state out of line then?
A woman should have the right
to choose what happens to her •
own body. An unborn child
should have the right to live. In
some instances, such as whether
a woman chooses to engage in
sexual intercourse or to use birth
control, there is no conflict.
However, when rights do con
flict with one another, as McIn
tosh points out, someone’s rights
must take precedence.
And I, for one, believe that the
right to live should come first.
Angela Johnson
Class of’98