The Battalion
hursday # July 17, 1997
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Back in the saddle again
OJ. Simpson returns to the public eye; deserves no societal acclaim
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renthal James Simpson
who? Just when it was safe
to watch CNN, O.J. returns
tom the nether region of social
mtcasts. In the months following
he verdict in the civil trial, little
jj ladbeen reported about him un-
ilthis past week. It turned out to
ic a banner coming out. First
here were the reports of his last
lourathis Rockingham Estate,
fimpson greeted guests and
alkedwith the members of the media and
assing tourists, who only a short time
owere comparing him to Satan.
This was followed by reports of the
action of his home for failing to make
nortgage payments. The starting price of
12.5million would do little to help pay
he Goldmans, even if the money was go
ng to them.
The weekend was topped off with his
irst interview since the trials. CNN’s new
egalwhiz, Greta Van Susteren, made her
lame with commentary about the trials. It
only fitting that she should be the scav-
nger to pick over the bones of this case.
At the conclusion of the civil trial,
iimpson had become the most hated
nan in America. No person, with the ex-
eption of his family and close friends,
ranted anything to do with him. Now
impossible has begun: the remaking
ifO.J. The man who was completely os-
Columnist
Dan Cone
Sophomore economic major
tracized from society is now try
ing to make a return. With the
smile and congenial attitude
that were his trademarks, he is
attempting to once again be
come a regular “Joe” to America
and the world.
This action should outrage
everyone who believes the sys
tem failed Nicole Brown and Ron
Goldman, but it shouldn’t sur
prise anyone. With time comes
apathy and forgetful minds. It is
easy to allow Simpson back into society
because time makes people forget.
Life goes on for everyone, and now he
wants to recapture some of his past glory.
With $33.5 million owed to the Goldmans
and Browns, he had better find some of
that magic soon.
For over two years, a day didn’t go by
without some reporter having to cover
Simpson and the case against him. CNN
devoted much of its time and energy to
covering the developments in the case. A
person would have had to have been in a
coma not to have known the case by
heart. Finally, after too much coverage
and excessive commentary, it was over.
Now, unfortunately, Simpson has re
turned, and is trying to once again be
come a member of the society that con
sidered him a monster only a few short
months ago.
The rebuilding of Simpson’s social im
age is going to be a mammoth undertak
ing. Only with time and public apathy, he
will be able to find an acceptable niche in
the public.
It would not be surprising to hear of his
next movie project being the story of the
murder of his former wife and Goldman.
With no further threat of criminal action,
he could easily do a project and make up
some story to legitimize his involvement
in the murders.
If there was to be a movie with Simpson
portraying himself, there would be no way
to estimate the profits that could be
made. If only to hear him admit to the
crime, even in a film depiction, every red-
blooded American would be glued to the
television or be willing to pay for tickets to
go to the theater.
One of the reasons for the fall of Rome
was that the public became more inter
ested in being entertained than being in
formed. The same is becoming true in
our society. Americans want to be enter
tained and forget the inequities in the
world around them. This has led to the
rise and acceptance of people such as
O.J. Simpson.
There is no way to legitimize the return
of Simpson to the forefront of the news.
The only place he deserves to be is in a
shack in the middle of nowhere, where he
can never be heard from again.
University rules, regulations
serve no practical purpose
fol
|be£
I
T oo many people
work for Texas
A&M University.
Apparently many of
them have nothing bet
ter to do than sit
wound and think of
wjstomake students’
: livesharder. There are
{omrules,, regulations
andrestnotions on this
campus that serve no
practical purpose, and they should
be abolished.
All students are required by
theUniversity to take at least four
semesters of kinesiology classes.
Ihe purpose for this requirement
isto introduce students to differ
ent activities that they can con
tinue throughout their lives. This
"hll hopefully ward off the “fresh
man 15” and perhaps make Ag
gies more physically fit after they
leave school.
All of this sounds like a wonder
ful idea. Then, some party crasher-
decided that there must be written
tests in these classes. And, of
course, these tests are guaranteed
to occur in the same week as at
least two other tests — probably
physics and that advanced genetic
engineering class which proved to
be a bad idea from the beginning.
No one bothers to explain why
students must study for two days for
a test in a one hour class, nor will
anyone offer any reason why physi
cal tests are not sufficient for a grade
in a physical education class. The
truth is that there is no good reason.
Someone in the kinesiology depart
ment just got bored one day and,
poof, there were written tests in
strength training and soccer.
Another ridiculous requirement
is encountered by many students
Columnist
Chris Brooks
Senior physics major
in classes such as PHYS
218. Although it is true
that many of the equa
tions students are re
quired to memorize can
be derived from scratch,
(no, the professors aren’t
just engaging in intellec
tual masturbation when
they derive those formu
las) deriving an equation
on a test eats up valuable
time, and the alternative
of memorizing takes away time
that could be used for working
practice problems.
There is no logical reason to re
quire students to memorize an
equation that could very easily be
provided by the professor. If any
one in academia, research or in
dustry were to look up an equation
before applying it to his or her
work, no one would come along
and beat the offender with a stick.
It is good to be careful, especial
ly when a misplaced negative can
change the orbit of a space craft or
drop a roof on someone’s head.
What, then, is the reason for asking
students to spend valuable time
memorizing equations for a test?
Ah, high school. Hopefully
some day it will be a fond memory.
For now, it seems too close to reali
ty. Back in the days of high school
incarceration, the schools got
money based on how many stu
dents occupied desks. In college,
however, the schools get money up
front. Professors and administra
tion officials should not care
whether or not students show up
to class. What a great system. Wait
a minute — someone forgot to tell
the University.
For some reason, many depart
ments see the need to require that
students attend class. It does not
matter if the professor barely
speaks English, and students are
better off spending class time at
home reading their texts. So stu
dents are trapped in a classroom
for 50 to 75 minutes suppressing
the urge to ask the professor when
he or she is going to take up the
lunch money. If attending class is
important, the students who want
to do well will attend, and the rest
should be able to exercise their
right to do poorly if they wish.
The “piece de resistance," and
this one must have taken the Uni
versity a while to come up with, is
another hold over from the high
school era. “Honey, be home by 10
p.m.” It must be at the top of the
list in the Parents’ Handbook.
While the University hasn’t
quite taken its meddling to that
level, it has chosen the next best
thing. “Honey, be sure to have that
nasty boy (or girl) out of your
room by 10 p.m. You don’t know
where he’s (or she’s) been.” While
the University officials were at it,
they banned toasters (“We don’t
want you to hurt yourself.”), crock
pots — for some completely un
known reason — and cooking
meat in microwaves.
The only good explanation for
ail of this, with the possible excep
tion of some sick desire to treat
students like children, is that the
University has too much time on
its hands.
The only solution to this med
dling is to cull the herds here at
A&M. If that is not acceptable,
then find everyone some real work
to do. Either way, it is high time
that the University stopped amus
ing itself with creating pointless
rules at students’ expenses.
TteN CbtSTlKiUES
TO IT?AW. DESPITE
His SUSPENSION...
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Mail Call
Enrollment figures
reveal A&M problem
In response to James Francis’
July 15 column:
I think Francis makes sever
al valid points when dis
cussing attitudes toward stu
dent representation, but I also
feel that he fails to recognize
the significance of the num
bers, statistics and percent
ages which reflect the decline
in minority enrollment.
With this continued de
crease in minority enroll
ment, these individual
“specks of paint” that are so
beautiful in their collabora
tion will begin to blend to
gether into a homogeneous
one-dimensional picture.
I don’t think George Seu
rat’s painting would have been
labeled a masterpiece if he
had only used one or two col
ors, and this will be the case if
something is not done to
combat this problem.
Francis says that we are all in
the same boat, but what the
statistics show is that it is hard
er for some of us to get on this
maroon and white boat.
Jesse Harrison III
Class of’97
PTTS should face
students, businesses
In response to a Battalion news
story written about PTTS:
Last year The Battalion
published an article which, if
memory serves me, reported
that PTTS made about $3 mil
lion a year in citations.
What interest of PTTS
would be served by alleviating
the parking situation, and
thereby reducing a revenue of
$3 million? Consider that this
is $3 million less to be spent at
local shops.
Perhaps this is enough mon
ey to get the retail business
community involved. After all,
Texas A&M does claim to have a
good neighbor policy.
Pressure from both students
and businesses would be much
harder to resist than either
group alone.
John Ferguson
Graduate Student
Texas tuition fund
helps middle-class
In response to General
Franklin’s July 16 column:
Franklin’s column bad-
mouths the Texas Tomorrow
Fund, because he claims it dis
criminates against the lower
class. Does he also think that
need-based scholarships dis
criminate against the middle
and upper class?
I wish I had a nickel for
every scholarship that I wasn’t
eligible for because it was
“need-based.” This way I could
have paid for college.
The Texas Tomorrow Fund is
a fantastic idea for families
which are not eligible for need-
based scholarships, but still
can’t afford college tuition and
fees — it’s a pretty big group.
My twin brother and I are
both in Texas state universities.
This is a huge drain on our
family, but we still don’t qualify
for need-based scholarships. I
wish the Texas Tomorrow Fund
had been around when we
were small, and for my mom
and dad, too.
It is ridiculous for Franklin
to claim that the lower class is
saddled with paying for college
for middle-class kids. Everyone
knows the truth, which is that
the middle class has the biggest
tax burden, and it receives the
fewest benefits.
There are scholarships avail
able for lower-class kids. Just
about anybody who makes de
cent grades in high school, and
does well on the SAT can go to
college — as long as the family
income is below the “need-
based” cutoff point.
It’s those of us who don’t
qualify for need-based assis
tance, but aren’t rich either, who
really get stuck in the mud
when trying to pay for college.
The Texas Tomorrow Fund is
a godsend for all of us here in
the middle. It’s probably how I’ll
send my kids to college.
Rebecca Pedersen
Class of '98
Prepaid tuition plan
deserves support
In response to General
Franklin’s July 16 column:
I was disappointed to read
Franklin’s column. Franklin in
sists that the prepaid tuition
plan should be done away
with. He preaches against class
bias. Those who speak in de
fense of the poor should be
ware of taking that path.
The poor are much better off
than they would otherwise be
because of class bias. Poor citi
zens receive free and/or dis
counted food, housing, job
placement assistance, educa
tion, etc., all funded by an in
herently class-biased society.
The prepaid tuition plan
was not created to help the
poor. It was created to help
the lower-middle class, those
individuals who often cannot
afford to pay for college, but
who make just enough money
to be unable to receive need-
based scholarships.
I herald the program as an
undeniable success. As for the
notion that the poor are fund
ing the rich in their education
al endeavors, Franklin should
seriously reexamine the situa
tion. Tax dollars come dispro
portionately from the wealthy.
And these tax dollars help fund
universities and graduate
schools alike.
Franklin is correct about one
thing: The poor should have
every opportunity to attend a
good university, and education
is the great equalizer.
Americans should support
any program that makes sure
that everyone can afford the
opportunity for a good educa
tion. But the class warfare on
both ends of the spectrum
needs to be done away with.
Joseph Donley
Class of’99 'r.
Washington officials
must guard America
Last year, World magazine
wrote an important article on
the lack of a United States na
tional missile defense system.
The article noted that North
Korea would have ICBMs
which could hit the U.S. by the
year 1999.
Last May, the Washington
Times warned Americans that
communist China would soon
have ICBMs which could strike
the western United States, in
cluding California and many
Rocky Mountain states.
With the proliferation of nu
clear missile technology
among rogue nations and pos
sibly terrorist groups, a nu
clear strike against the U.S. is
not the elaborate fiction of a
Tom Clancy novel, but a very
real danger.
America is vulnerable to in
coming missiles which might
carry nuclear, biological or
chemical weapons. There is a
complete lack of domestic mis
sile defenses to shoot down in
coming missiles targeted for
American soil.
Why does Washington refuse
to protect its citizens?
Steven A. Costello
Lake Jackson, TX
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