The Battalion
Opinion
Page 11
Thursday • April 1 7, 1997
ead-on collision
'edestrians put themselves at risk on campus
Columnist
John Lemon
Engineering
graduate student
fyou have ever
thought a bullseye
was painted on
iur chest, now would
the time to check
dn. Walking the nar-
n streets of Texas
M, students be-
Ime moving targets.
|Every day is open
Ison on pedestrians
at \&M. Students who
Ire walk around
â– mpus are assailed
constantly by bicycle-delivery persons des-
i perately trying to stay on schedule. More
'â– ngerous are automobile drivers, navigat
ing through throngs of students trying to get
â– class. Unfortunately, pedestrian stupidity
abd reckless drivers make cars a hazard to
Jy campus pedestrian.
T Last week, the Environmental Working Group
Id the Surface Transportation Policy Project re-
Jsed a report showing that pedestrians
(the United States are almost twice as
po be run over by a stranger dh-
hg a car as be sbot by a stranger
p a gun. Although this fact
Jgjit merely make a student wary
‘■strangers, the truth is most peo-
j§ fear guns more than they do
^'Itomobili's. Still, cars pose a
later threat to personal safety,
d although guns are banned
m campus, cars
ound.
According to the
W liversity Police De-
] ® rtment, there have
en six pedestrian-
tomobile acci-
reb nts over the past
tee years. Further-
lo jtfre, close calls be-
â– een cars and
gdestrians happen
|utjieryday. Many of
iflese near-accidents
b--are caused by care-
i !| lets pedestrians.
â– TheU.S. Depart-
IhaiM
ment of Transportation’s National Highway Safety
Administration reports that 75 percent of fatal
pedestrian-automobile accidents are caused by
pedestrian error. Pedestrian behavior at A&M sup
ports this fact.
Students step into streets oblivious to oncoming
traffic, expecting cars to slow down or stop for
diem. Obviously, students do not understand basic
physics. The kinetic energy stored in several hun
dred pounds of an automobile moving at upwards
of 30 miles per hour can easily kill a pedestrian.
Sgt. Allan Baron of UPD said jaywalking on
campus is a violation of traffic safety laws.
“That’s a misconception, that pedestrians al
ways have the right of way,” Baron said. “They only
have the right of way in crosswalks.”
Although pedestrians outnumber cars on
campus, road
ways are not ,
democratic.
The minority
of cars rules
the streets.
Conversely,
â– ill
drivers also should be blamed for the risky busi
ness of walking on campus. The old adage claims
Highway 6 runs both ways. So do the streets of the
A&M campus. However, the difference between
Highway 6 and A&M is Highway 6 has DPS troop
ers to control speeding.
Despite a campus speed limit of 30 miles per
hour, drivers’ reckless speeding endangers stu
dents on campus.
Lt. Bert Kretzschmar of UPD said the University
is fortunate not to have pedestrian fatalities.
“The streets are so narrow, so well-traveled and
walked on that if you’re speeding, the results could
be dangerous,” Kretzschmar said.
Spence Street, which runs between Zachary
and the Engineering Physics Building, is particu
larly dangerous. Cars on this long, straight street
have a tendency to speed down the
road, narrowly missing students
and proceeding to make illegal
left turns onto University Dri
ve.
The “Spence Speedway” is
dangerous because it puts engi
neering students, a notably uncoor
dinated lot, in close proximity with
speeding automobiles. While conspira
cy theorists may read this as an attempt
by the College of Engineering to reduce
numbers, everyone can agree this is a bad
situation.
“Common courtesy is the key,” Kret
zschmar said. “Pedestrians have to
watch out for bicyclists and cars. Cars
have to watch
out for bicy
clists and
pedestrians.”
Tragically,
drivers on
campus will
not slow down,
and pedestri
ans are unlikely
to stop behav
ing foolishly
until someone
gets killed.
Courtesy is ex
actly what is
missing from
Social Security Numbers rule students' lives
Hr:
tTexas A&M, stu
dent ID numbers
show up on every-
ingffom registration
ms to test forms and
lilts to the display
eens seen when enter-
theRec Center. There
i countless computer
:sand pieces of paper
th ID numbers printed
ithem. This compro-
ises students’ security as
izens and consumers
cause their ID numbers
Columnist
dec
lev
Hal-
Robby Ray
Junior speech
communication major
2 also the Social Security numbers.
Social Security Numbers came
to being with the Social Security
:tof 1935, and were intended for
ieonly by the Social Security Ad-
linistration. According to John Price
the B/CS Social Security office,
ey were never intended for use as a
tiversal identifier. The Privacy Act
1974 required any government
jatolency requesting your SSN to tell
)u three things: First, whether the
V ^closure is required or optional;
pond, what law authorizes them to
iforyour SSN; And third, how they
$ tend to use your SSN. Private orga-
Kations are not held to the same
id*
laws, but state universi
ties like A&M are.
The potential for mis
use of a student’s SSN is
enormous. Information
Technology Digest report
ed that with an SSN and
“a dose of computer
knowledge or a mod
icum of effort, one can
discover a person’s
grades, health status,
credit record, traffic tick
ets, retail spending
habits, and much more.”
According to the Registrar’s office,
the SSN is used as an identifier be
cause such things as credit hours
and financial aid information need
to be reported to the state and feder
al governments, which also use the
number to identify people.
The Registrar’s office also said the
only type of fraud reported on cam
pus has been students (usually dis
gruntled boyfriends or girlfriends)
getting into the computer system
and changing another student’s
schedule. While this can be irritating,
it is not all that dangerous, and is
usually dealt with quickly and se
verely. The main way to combat it is
to not share ID numbers with any
one. But there are other potential
problems which cannot be prevent
ed or solved so easily.
The first of diese concerns em
ployment. The Immigration Reform
Law, passed in 1986, requires all ap
plicants for employment to provide
their SSN in the application process.
Therefore illegal aliens must find a
valid SSN/name pair to fool the IRS
and INS. In Texas, a border state with
a large population of illegal aliens,
the result is an increased need for cit
izens to jealously guard their SSN’s.
Another possible area for abuse is
credit cards. Every student has seen
the plethora of applications for Visa,
American Express and Discover cards
posted across the campus. They ask
for your SSN, according to one com
pany, so they can check your credit
rating, which is also linked to you by
your SSN. In such cases, it is the com
pany’s responsibility to cross-check
the names and numbers with the So
cial Security Administration to make
sure they match.
A problem can arise if someone
gets your name and SSN off a docu
ment, such as a fee slip or test form.
He or she can then apply for a credit
card in your name, and it will show
up on your credit report.
The main security feature of cred
it cards, the use of the mother’s
maiden name as a password, is only
useful in protecting access to an es
tablished account.
A Citibank associate who refused
to be named said her husband had
just spent a year trying to correct
problems caused by someone’s theft
of his SSN and the resulting fraud on
his account.
Because of these security con
cerns, other major universities,
such as the University of Michigan,
have stopped using the SSN as an
identifier, opting instead to use a
random number having nothing to
do with the student’s personal in
formation. For government-report
ing purposes, Uof M’s system has a
cross-linked database connecting a
student’s ID number with his or her
Social Security Number.
Each time a Social Security Num
ber is written or used, it becomes
more likely it can be stolen and
fraudulently used. The University
should stop jeopardizing students’
privacy and security for the sake of
their own convenience.
American media should
follow examples set
by foreign neighbors
B y neglecting
the finer
points of de
tailed evaluation and
investigation, Ameri
can media is impart
ing a very disingenu
ous impression of
news which not only
harbors the disas
trous effect of apa
thy and inaction, but
leads to misin
formed perceptions
and averse consequences
borne of bad decisions.
Despite the emphasis on
entertainment in the media,
three German journalists be
lieve the media have the role
of focusing on more substan
tive issues, without under
mining the public’s appetite
for lighter material. In other
words, they encourages bal
ance between entertainment
values and serious matters so
as not to distort or marginalize
important events in society
and culture.
Three visiting journalists,
MandyAsbach, Phillip Velten
and Rudiger Bawman, are
part of an exchange program
initiated by German and
American media associations
to foster better understanding
and cooperation with foreign
media. The program arose
through a partnership of the
former American radio net
work, RJAS and the Radio In
American Sector with the
Berlin Commission of Radio
and Television.
The journalists are especially
concerned with the “infotain
ment” approach pervasive in
American media and what
repercussions those influences
have on foreign media, which
emulate the standards of Amer
ican media a great deal. As they
see it, responding to consumer
demands by emphasizing
entertainment leads to the dilu
tion of serious news, conse
quently narrowing perspective
of broad and complex subjects
since everything is given the
same context and gravity.
Unfortunately, entertain
ment values do not allow view
ers to understand broader is
sues transcendent of society,
which may explain America’s
general apathy toward foreign
policy. In fact, the journalists
said in Germany the public is
keenly aware of foreign policy
because the media disseminate
information and ideas in a
highly relevant manner.
In contrast, American me
dia dilutes news by oversimpli
fying complex ideas or by fo
cusing on superficial aspects
of an issue, such as the strategy
of a political campaign rather
than candidates’ positions.
The sum influence of this re
duction is a general attitude of
indifference toward problems
and complacency toward the
Columnist
General Franklin
Sophomore
English major
formulization of so
lutions. Perhaps the
clearest example of
this oversimplifica
tion and lack of con
text is the conflict in
Bosnia. Although
viewers were con
stantly bombarded
with horrific images
of mass despair, a
proper understand
ing of the crisis was
limited by coverage
bereft of background and
analysis, vital to a country con
templating the consequences
of intervention, as we were.
The Germans said the fail
ure of instant media lies in the
fact television exposes but
does not necessarily inform.
CNN, the most pervasive of all
media outlets, exploits expo
sure at the expense of proper
context when it endeavors to
display every minute detail
without imparting a reflection
of the events. A prime exam
ple is a comparison of ABC’s
and CNN’s coverage of the San
Diego cult. While ABC at
tempted to balance its lurid
images with reflection and
background information,
CNN exploited the sensation
alism of the tragedy by expos
ing corpses and exploring the
. recesses of the compound.
In spite of the reproach the
journalists displayed towards
media, it is possible to envision
an optimistic future if certain
endeavors are pursued.
The primary solution is to
heighten the relevancy of large
ideas to common people by em
ploying more critical analysis,
background and explanation.
While it is not the media’s re
sponsibility to control thinking,
it certainly has the task of
equipping viewers, readers, and
listeners with the information
necessary to make choices and
pursue aggressive action. The
only way to combat the inertia
Americans approach some
complex problems is for the me
dia to translate the intricate
ideas into succinct, ordinary
terms important to all citizens
to catalyze interest and involve
ment on the part of the public.
Additionally, Americans
must become more savvy and
not allow themselves to be ma
nipulated by lurid or fanciful
images intended to incite
emotion without appealing to
logic, intellect, and knowledge.
Education has the capability to
broaden awareness and per
spective by allowing viewers to
discern good information from
bad by assigning importance
and priority on a relative basis.
In final analysis, as the jour
nalists concur, a more in
formed viewership would steer
the media from entertainment
and toward enlightenment
and illumination in a world
undergoing rapid and momen
tous change.
'0
Mail
Media coverage
misinforms public
reply to Brandon Hausen-
'ick’sApr 16 column on Amen
ds negativity toward the media:
In closing statements, the
ausenfluck claims, “that the
edia produces some trash,
at the benefits society gains
teatly outweigh the setbacks.”
True, the media is one of
p f e greatest forums for knowl-
but to say that only
|y|ome” trash is produced is a
'g understatement.
As with all things, positive
et> tributes come with equally
negative ones — kind of a yin-
yang thing. The media pro
vides information, a sense of
community and exposure.
Unfortunately, the media
also provides a lot of flawed in
formation, an abuse of power
and overexposure.
Personally, the problem I
see is media misuse, intention
ally and unintentionally.
One part of Hausenfluck’s
column quoted journalism de
partment head Dr. Charles
Self. Dr. Self said, “Our whole
picture of the world is pro
foundly shaped by the media.”
This is my point exactly.
People should learn to think
for themselves.
Our faith in the media,
namely television, has become
ridiculous. The TV has become
a new god.
Again, we can learn much
from the media, but power will
be abused. People should
keep everything in perspective.
Eric Anthamatten
Class of ’00
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