mber 3,1997
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Wednesday • September 3, 1997
O The Battalion
PINION
The Aggie Code of Honor
\ggie thieves defame
OPENiadition of morality
I indicates unseeded
\ gg‘es
A lie .
[ xcheat
nd steal,
nd they
lost cer-
| jinlytoler-
le those
(ho do.
Lying?
11st ask any
adet if'haz-
ig still goes
min the
Joshua
Hill
columnist
I iorps. Cheating has been a rec-
piized dilemma at Texas A&M
| nryears. And according to State
Aliomptroller’s Office figures, as
Mjuoted by lYrone Meighan and
ge of doing jusfieve Ray of the Harte-Hanks
>y Sampras orriustin bureau, Aggies are the
rehand was anlusiest thieves in all of Texas,
phatically byonj The tell-tale numbers for fiscal
:ourt backhanlear 1996 are as follows: 902
und the inside(| ms re p or t e( i missing/stolen
. ferns and valued at $2.79 million,
is delayed twice# [ n ca t e gory, Aggieland
1( to ‘ u : ‘’^Secidedly stole the spotlight
and into lhetf lh , Wilh ilbo | ul
4-0 when KoC r ," en l s ? t< > l f n ' t
and cross-coJ ,s A&M lhe P™'
f Sampras' Texas university for klep-
;orda camerislit ' '' dggesl sinkhole lor
i of his own, hf ooe y through theft of all
nts later, Kord9 rXas sta ^ e ^ ns ^hutions.
a service winner. ^ e *ghan and Ray s re-
; his first in six' arch < 83 percent of the $13.5
)ras since the 1993 : ‘ lllion in missing/stolen
ended SamprasPpment reported by state
ind Slam tourna-picies in 1996 came from
ir — he won thaigher education,
id Wimbledon-] Ironically, many step-Aggie
ior of his careeqjchools in the A&M system re
put him one bepted few or no items stolen.
Roy Emerson. Thtmalady is apparently quar-
linded me ot my tied in Aggieland.
lex Corretja last Perhaps the Aggie Code of
lid. 1 ended upUmor was started by a wishful
id winning thicker to continued by wish-
is time I l os ^|thinkers. Then again, perhaps
s around come [ was actually revered back in 01’
imy days. Whichever the case,
ieCode isn’t revered today, due
)the extinction of the concept
[accountability.
From its inception, A&M was
^ -i- ^owed with a sense of unity.
1 f~lTT i Everyone’s purpose was sup-
used to be education and beat-
igthe ever-livin’ out of t.u.
iirough the Aggie Code of Hon
or, everyone was supposed to be
accountable for one another.
Now, it is generally under
stood that no one is accountable
to anyone else.
Unfortunately, this tolerance has
extended to include kleptomaniacs.
Aggies wink at the crime on
campus because it is the easy
way out. Nabbing the vandals,
thieves and cheaters who
everyone knows is the uncom
fortable and difficult duty that
almost everyone avoids — it
just isn’t cool.
But now that the problem
has escalated, the conse
quences of indifference may be
even less cool.
According to Meighan and Ryan,
the fastest disappearing items were
computers, with lab science equip
ment at a close second.
“At Texas A&M, a $ 1,440 Sony
video camera disappeared less
than two months after it was re
ceived, and two printers — one
worth $376 and the other $488
— both were reported missing
within 14 days,” Meighan and
Ray said.
They quoted Bob Wiatt, direc
tor of campus police at A&M:
“Computers are a coveted
item and they are targeted quite
a bit. We haven’t had too many
break-ins but most of the rooms
are left unlocked because stu
dents and employees need 24-
hour access.”
If the situation doesn’t
change, the most probable re
sult of Aggies “tolerating those
who do” will be the reduction of
privileges. The Board of Regents
could initiate a special security
charge on the fee statement to
guard computer labs day and
night, or they could just close
everything down.
If students value their liberty
to use University equipment al
most all hours of the day, they
must take care of it.
The difference will come out
of students’ hides one way or an
other if Aggies don’t stop whimp
ing out of their duties to their
school and their society.
Joshua Hill is a junior
English major.
Good morals should
define A&M attitudes
A
Dave
Johnston
columnist
BRAD GRAEBER/The Battalion
ggies
do not
lie,
cheat, steal
nor tolerate
those who do.
Yeah, right.
Maybe
some of these
lies sound fa
miliar: “Yes,
I’m over 21,”
“I didn’t
know it was a
30-minute spot,” or the age-old, “All
our problems are due to the assis
tant coaches.”
Sure Aggies don’t cheat, but
they do counterfeit parking tags or
have classmates sign the roll sheet
for them when they are absent
from lectures.
If Aggies don’t steal, why is every
bicycle on campus securely fas
tened to an immovable hunk of
metal or concrete?
This ethics void is not limited to
the college campus. A recent study
of the American workforce shows
that 48 percent of U.S. employees
admit to committing illegal or un
ethical acts within the past year. The
list of acts varied from calling in sick
when they feel fine to accepting
kickbacks or forging signatures.
Americans have become callous
toward many unscrupulous deeds.
People flippantly give their word
without even considering whether
they intend to keep the commit
ment. Everyone knows people who
schedule appointments with no in
tention of being punctual. This has
become such a common occur
rence that these late-comers are
rarely chastised for failing to keep
their commitment.
The biggest cause of this ethics
void is pure selfishness. Employees
embezzle funds because they feel
they need the money more than
big corporations. Because people
have no regard for someone else’s
schedule, they don’t mind “forget
ting” an appointment.
The prime example of how self
ishness leads to poor moral choices
is the prevalence of prenuptial agree
ments. This agr eement says, “Since I
may be lying about ‘until death do us
part,’ I want to be sure I get the best
deal if I do break my word.”
The flip-side of the wide-spread
selfishness is a lack of consideration
for others. Customers don’t care if
they get extra change from a store
clerk, even though cash drawer
shortages often come from the em
ployee’s paycheck. Few people will
correct a waiter when the bill was in
correctly figured in the diner’s favor.
America is facing a real problem.
Some employee screening firms es
timate that retail stores lose more
money to employee theft than
shoplifting. But then, the mere exis
tence of employee screening firms
is alarming. Falsified resumes are so
common that some companies pay
employees to verify information
provided by job applicants.
No one seems to care about poor
moral character anymore. Ameri
cans expect politicians to lie. Our
president has been assaulted by so
many allegations of wrongdoing
that they are no longer newsworthy.
In today’s society, individuals are
not even willing to accept blame
when they do something wr ong.
Current society has lost the art of
apology. Frequently, when a person
does apologize, they manage to
place the blame on someone else.
For example, “I’m sorry that you
were upset,” or “I’m sorry but my
boss was giving me a hard time.”
More often, however, apologies
never materialize. People seem
much more fond of excuses. When
A1 Gore was accused of soliciting
campaign funds using govern
ment resources, he claimed “there
was no controlling legal body.” He
did not apologize. He did not
claim to have acted within the law.
He invented a brand new defense
— there’s no one to get me in trou
ble, so it’s not a problem. This is an
extreme of the ancient “no one
caught me, so it’s okay.”
The Aggie Code of Honor is a
good start. If only students stick to
it. The key to encouraging others to
maintain ethical standards is “not
tolerating” unscrupulous acts. Po
litely let people know when you feel
they have done something unac
ceptable. Encourage better morals
by example. Perhaps if someone
notices that a friend doesn’t steal
towels from hotel rooms, he or she
will begin to wonder if such theft is
a bad idea. Sometimes a person
needs to be reminded that some
thing is not “right” just because it’s
socially acceptable.
Dave Johnston is a senior
inath major.
Aggies’ defined by more than just paying fee statements
:y would switch
hey realign,
includes more
;. The balanced
:e 1977 and the
aying each op|
lately the santl
n
, • •
I wish the University was
n’t so cheap. I realize
there are a lot of students
|on campus, and Texas A&M
is not a charity, but is it really
too much to ask to have e-
imail over the summer, even
if (gasp) I am not currently
enrolled in classes?
I called the number that
appeared on the screen last
summer along with the mes
sage that my e-mail account
was inaccessible and posed that very question
to the lady who answered. I was sharply in
formed that the University is not a private e-
toail provider.
1 know that. However, I’m not some private
citizen off the street : I am a card-carrying Aggie.
Anna
Foster
columnist
How much can it possibly cost the University to
treat me as such, year-round?
Now that a password is required to do any
thing on the computers in the computer labs, e-
mail is just the beginning. The University has
more power than ever to monitor and shut off
computer access whenever it feels it is necessary.
This means that students who want to use
the University computer resources over the
summer or winter breaks could be shut out of
the system if the University decides to make it
policy to deny access to students not currently
enrolled in classes.
Judging from past experience, I am not hold
ing my breath that the University will keep ac
cess open for students between the spring and
fall semesters.
That raises the question, then, of whether or
not a student is truly an Aggie only if they are
paying tuition. The University certainly treats
students as if this were the case.
There are many privileges that come with be
ing an Aggie, only one of which is access to a
wide variety of computer resources. Many of the
privileges are intangible, like Aggie Spirit, and
are paid for with more than just our fee state
ments; they are paid for by the students in their
willingness to uphold the Aggie ideal, verbalized
most strongly in the Aggie Code of Honor.
As an Aggie student, I strive to uphold the
ideals of the Code of Honor, to “lead by exam
ple,” as our parking tags say — especially when
I’m away from campus, and all other Aggies will
be judged by my actions. The Aggie Spirit does
not take a vacation, and most students do not
go on a three-month lying, cheating and steal
ing spree during the summer.
However, the University gives the impression
that it is not accountable to the same standards
and only needs to treat students like Aggies
once they have paid off our fee statemen ts.
There should be some benefits to attending
the best university in the world that extend past
being able to say that one does.
It is hard to believe that a business as large as
A&M cannot afford to sponsor something as
simple as computer access for its students year-
round, especially as one drives past the Rec
Center, Reed Arena and the construction
around Kyle Field.
It would be a worthy investment for the
University, not only to make its current stu
dents happy, but also to give the impression to
the world that students still matter on the
A&M campus.
Anna Foster is a junior journalism major.
Card
ail Call
freek involvement
Snored in column
Response to Mancly Cater’sAug. 29
kmn on sororities:
First of all I would like to cont
ent on some of the more ignorant
»ts of the article. Sororities do not
nim” to be social and service orga-
fttions, they really are.
Not just sororities, but Greeks in
neral raise massive amounts of
toey for a large variety of charities.
»fairly certain that the benefac-
ts of these contributions do not
grudge us because we wear Greek
letters. Second, if you take a look
around campus, you’ll find that a lot
of the most involved Aggies also be
long to a sorority or fraternity.
Speaking on behalf of my sorori
ty alone, we have girls that are heav
ily involved in student government,
Fish Camp, T-camp, Howdy Camp,
MSC Hospitality, COSGA, Muster,
Parents Weekend, Aggie Hostesses,
30-Loes, Diamond Darlings, Aggie
Angels, Replant, Big Event, and even
The Battalion, all of which help to
perpetuate the fraditions of A&M.
So we’re not just about cute outfits
and bank statements.
I’m in a sorority and I will be the
first to admit that we have some su
perficial sides, but there is more to
us. I came to this school without
knowing a single person and I
thought joining a sorority would help
me to adjust. To coin a more popular
phrase, I decided to ‘just tri it’ and I
love it. I do not have the “sorority girl”
look (and there were no ‘fashion de
merits’ given), I don’t have a lot of
money, and I don’t even wear silver.
But I’ve made some of the closest
friends I’ve ever had and I don’t regret
a single moment. I do not feel that
I’m selling myself out or that I bought
my friends. Maybe joining a sorority
isn’t for everyone, but does an imma
ture and uninformed bashing of the
Greek system really make anti-
Greeks any better than us?
Jennie Whitman
Class of’99
Miteimtewk
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