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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1997)
The Battalion Page 11 Tuesday • April 8, 1997 aby on board hildren add challenges to student life Insensitivity improves campus ome students at Texas A&M are more than just students — they’re parents, too. However, in [the bustle of being students, trying [get papers written and preparing :exams, they should not forget to lerish early moments in their son or lughter’s life. On Dec. 19, 1996, at 2:56 a.m., at ['“j ^age of 22,1 became the father of 8 pound, 11 ounce son, Benjamin vicr. As a student, I run into a lot of Columnist ^ ople my age who are thinking * out having children in the future. ^ eyask many questions and I am always sur- 55 ised at what they ask and how they think to ngs are supposed to be (I know I certainly iTO d misconceptions). Now, it’s different for Id's eryone, but this is how things are for me. Feb. 19, 1997 — Since becoming a parent I’ve ized progress is a fickle and fragile thing, at seems like progress often slips into lission — end of progress. Benjamin, being only two nths old, typically sleeps for |oto three hours at a time ring the night. However, Ispast Friday he slept six hours straight. My band I thought it was a ke. We joked he would [mpensate the next night waking up every hour. But on Saturday he slept seven hours straight, uld it be true? Our lives would radically changed — no more ing to reason a way out of ding him; no more stumbling t of bed in the dark to warm his ttle; no more spilling milk; no [ore going to bed at midnight, waking at9 a.m., and only sleeping six urs; no more feeling tired all [etime. We had blissful minterrupted sleep, ike we used to get. ■mJ 1 But Monday night 'he was back to deeping in three- fur shifts — total tission. End of logress. [Acouple of feks ago 1 shared [thmy wife the Jlization that I had It been peed Ion in three weeks, [dnot pooped on in tost a month. [There were only two bping incidents: once my favorite flannel „ J ;|rtand another time my Nine Inch Nails t- F ,s lirt. The poop on my ■ rea |nnel shirt was disheart- Ing but was nothing in mparison to the blood ^ m Benjamin’s heelsticks. I e poop on my NIN shirt was •around less tragic, blending Shtin with the other poop-like tins that are part of the design. Uhe other hand, I’ve been peed on Chad White Senior English major I I Ineli 19/2 Custodial, food service workers ensure smooth day-to-day operation at A&M f resp lout is. countless times. His timing always struck me as high ly ironic. Almost invariably he would pee when we were changing his diaper and giving him a bath, thereby thwart ing our efforts to keep him clean. I remember on one occasion while I was changing him that he peed and I blocked, deflecting his pee back onto him. This, of course, resulted in a bath for him. During the bath, I lowered my defenses thinking that he was out of ammo, and he fired again. This, of course, resulted in a bath for me. Anyway, after weeks of not peeing on anyone while I was changing his diaper, he misfired and sprayed himself in the face. He was immediate ly incensed, no doubt because the pee was burning his eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that justice had been served. Mean while, my wife rushed over and started wiping him off and stripping him for a bath. During the bath, Benjamin peed on his mother. Again, end of progress. This past week Benjamin went through a period of constipation where he would strain most of the day to have only a couple of bowel movements — a couple of atomic bowel movements. Yester day was no different, except that after straining all day, he explod ed three times within two hours, dirtying three outfits. This morn ing, my wife woke up wet; she sleeps with Benjamin lying on her chest and somehow he had man aged to mysti cally pee through his di aper all over him self and her. My wife read in Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care that momen tous changes frequent ly are preceded by a loss of bodily con- • trol. She’s sure that he’s on the verge of some thing, but I’m not excited yet. I’m sure that whatever it is will come and then go. I’ll wait for it to come around again, and even then I’ll be skeptical about this thing called “progress” — perhaps preferring him without it. So, those of you who s are in my shoes, and those who might al ready wear them, re member to not be pre occupied with your studies or work, and to stop and smell the poop. Y outh is a time to experiment and make mistakes — mistakes that prove to be valuable learn ing experiences. In a university set ting, students and ad ministrators should tolerate mistakes, even when some stu dents fail to be politi cally correct or to show proper sensitivi ty to a certain person or group. While many college campuses might accept unconventional ideas from socialism to drug le galization, others tend to have no patience for political incor rectness. Students and profes sors across the nation have been disciplined or forced to take sen sitivity classes because someone was offended by their words or actions. Texas A&M’s diversity task force announced last year it would not tolerate intolerance. Matters of insensitivity fre quently cause pain or alien ation, but so do other problems which Aggies accept every day. When any mistake is made, it affects people across this cam pus. Even a matter as simple as printing the wrong meeting time on a flier can cause problems for hundreds of students. While a politically incorrect act might offend a large group on campus, a personal attack can cause more pain than a general ized attack against a group. Be cause of the impact of a person alized attack, the pain runs deeper than a miscommunicated meeting time or an angry mes sage on the answering machine. Columnist David Johnston Junior mathematics major The University seems to reserve its largest punishments for political incorrect ness. When insensitive flyers are posted or a fraternity performs a racist skit in black face, administrators consider removal of the campus organiza tion and expulsion of its members. The Uni versity’s actions and the students’ reac tions to the incident are usually excessive and unwarranted. College is the one place stu dents can afford to be insensi tive. In school, a flippant remark directed to ward a super visor will not damage ca reer advance ment or have any other lasting impact - that is, un less the ad ministration takes drastic measures. It is proper to explain to of fenders why their actions might have been inappropriate or ill-re ceived, since someday students will have to fit in to a society con cerned about insensitivity. Any real punishment, however, does not show consistency on the part of the University. Even requiring students to attend cultural awareness classes shows the University is more concerned with political incorrectness than other prob lems the school faces. No one has requested religion aware- Matters of insensitivity frequently cause pain or alienation, but so do other problems which Aggies accept everyday Ajxicaficln Now ihyre bein^ too honest... ness classes for professors or speakers who offend other people’s faith. No one asked for accounting classes for A&M of ficials who came up several million dollars short on the Reed Arena. These priorities seem skewed. Even when students offend others repeatedly or intention ally, there seems little cause for disciplinary action. For one thing, their actions are likely protected as free speech. But even if punishment is legal, these offenders basically have a character flaw which no one approves. It hardly seems proper to punish someone for being offensive. This type of path could lead to punishing people who are just annoying. Universities are an environ ment for push ing the enve lope and developing new ideas. They should not be in the business of punishing students who legally and safely act outside social norms. Students who are insensitive to others eventually will suffer for their behavior. They will have a hard time communicat ing or getting their ideas ac cepted, and people will have a hard time getting along with them. This type of problem punishes itself. There is no rea son for a university which tries to encourage free thought to punish the insensitive. It’s time to show a little tolerance. i - : . ooks, professors, courses and parking tickets are what shape this institution and finteractions within it, but it is Earnest dedication and dili- iceof custodial and food service enters who transform the iron ttaucracy of college into a hos- able environment for over 9,000 Upas dwellers. Ike typical first impression of Sschool may seem daunting, cold 1 impersonal to the newcomer, to is* lo probably feels like a tiny part of uge monolith. But beneath die Columnist General Franklin Sophomore English major tion and procedure lies the stabi lizing influence of the other facul ty— the hundreds of custodial workers who toil at the most me nial of tasks to make Texas A&M more livable. This corps of diligent people in cludes janitors, groundskeepers, trash collectors, cleaning people, cooks and repairmen. Theirs is the important and often unheralded task of keeping the University functioning, not only as an institu tion of higher learning, but also as a home with running water, elec- stro;- ricate layers of bureaucracies, administra- tricity, immaculate bathrooms, dust-free car pets and plenty of food. Lost in all tire muttering of students about this service is the understanding and apprecia tion of how essential these duties are to the comfort of living on campus. While the work ers’ tasks may seem trivial, they provide the backbone of worry-free living which con tributes to a sanitary, positive and energetic at mosphere conducive to learning. After all, tasks such as toilet cleaning, vacuuming and food preparation are very tedious and would detract time from the social and intellectual growth of college if not for those who give honor to such tedium through their patience and strength. Indeed, many of the custodians recognize the cohesion they add to campus by maintain ing the facilities with expert care. For this rea son, they are extremely proud and committed to their jobs and go to great lengths to accom modate the problems and unique situations of the students. Because of the importance of service work ers in the homeostasis of A&M, students should make more overt gestures of appreciation and gratitude towards the service workers of this campus. At the very least, be polite to them greet them—lest you find yourself responsible for a backed-up toilet or mildew-covered show er stalls. In these matters, the smallness of the tasks serve only to amplify the people behind the mops, brooms, spatulas, and wrenches who bring their hearts and minds to the task of providing a more human touch to the some times robotic function of the University. Since it is obvious how the role of these workers enrich the lives of students in some fundamental way, it is imperative the University and the students grant more than token appreciation and respect by paying them more. The woefully low salary of the service personnel is a huge factor in determining College Station’s terrible rankings in average income. If we are to truly maintain the highest standards of sanitation and comfortable living afforded us by these dedicated workers, we must back up their multitudes with much de served respect and gratitude. y fits team jrthe s unf nefits Mail volution, creation ibate continues |th * eference to Joshua Hill’s Apr. 4 col- com? \n on evolution. ring 1 -' While the idea of evolution vs. cre- he c* inism has plagued our society for ades, Hill’s false impressions on |resp c ilution taint the very idea of life par/ Existence. An open-minded person, one who has thoroughly listened to both sides of the argument could clearly draw certain conclusions, such as the fact that creationism and evolution can coincide. While evolution may not effec tively explain the origin of all life on this planet, creationism accomplish es this task perfectly. Evolution does, however, explain the reasons for such diverse species in the same class. Ac cording to creationism, a dog is a dog no matter what kind or breed, but evolution explains that one breed survived in one region, while differ ent breeds had characteristics to sur vive in a different region. Darwin did not develop “the theory as an at tempt to explain the world without God.” He was a theologist, which all scientists were at that time. It was when he traveled to the Galapagos Islands that he noticed several birds, finches, that looked similar but were also different. It was then he devel oped the ideas of evolution and nat ural selection. This debate will con tinue, but one should listen to the arguments of both sides and realize both have merit. As an institution built to further the knowledge and ideas of students, it is Texas A&M’s responsibility to teach students the scientific theory of evolution and natural selection. However, it is the student’s responsi bility to keep an open mind. Shalon Smith Class of’00 Like most creationist essays criti cal of evolutionary thought, Joshua Hill’s recent editorial resorts to out- of-context quotations and the same stale, inaccurate arguments such as the “lack” of transitional fossils and how evolution apparently “violates” the laws of thermodynamics. Hill ignored the compelling evi dence for evolution and has per sisted in perpetuating the canned creationist party line; only some one with a weak case would resort to such a fallacious approach. This is a disservice to evolutionary bi ology, religion and to the student body at Texas A&M University. Despite the creationist claim to the contrary, the fossil record is not indicative of “intelligent design.” This claim is based upon the well-known fact that the fossil record is incom plete; transitional forms between dif ferent groups are often unavailable. This is not surprising when one considers the nature of fos sil formation, preservation and discovery. Also, the “punctuated equilibrium” model can account for some of the apparent incom pleteness of the fossil record. According to this model, long periods of no change (evolution ary stasis) in species are “punc tuated" by periods of relatively rapid morphological change during speciation. Thus, the “lack” of transitional fossils may simply reflect the relatively short period of time in which transi tional forms exist. David W. Hale, Ph.D. Lecturer in Biology Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s Mail Call, Mike Spiller’s letter dealing with an apparent lack of dedication on the part of non-regs was incor rectly edited. The edited version of the letter implied Spiller is a member of the Corps of Cadets, therefore angering non-regs. Spiller is a non-reg who re sides off campus. We apologize for any misun derstanding.