O The Battalion
PINION
9, 1997
Monday • September 29, 1997
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Acknowledging the problem
Students should not tolerate alcohol abuse; taskforce aims to decrease consumption
H
Dierker is
leirrecoJ^T T ell °’ niy name is
e pitched I—I Texas A&MUniver-
erker sail 1 -L sity, and I have I
ther w Jtanking problem,
t then While the wording wasn’t
thejiiuites 0 dramatic, the mes-
’t hitting, ag e conveyed was essentially
it pitchelihe same.
is a ques- Two weeks ago, Dr. J. Mal-
latcan tbemSoutherland released a
red. statement addressing the
>r whatevjjegative effects of alcohol on
ason, wl^s University.
able t| what’s impressive about
lown the|j out | ier i anc i>s statement, however, isn’t the startling
John
Lemons
columnist
;e and fi
reason,
hews about A&M’s obsession with the “sauce,” but
when w | t t iatsome b , ody is going to do something about it.
it’s beel^ ut ^ er * an ^ * s a PP°* nt ing a task force of students,
ibbed Poo| staffand l aci dty to study alcohol abuse at A&M. It is
we caught^ 63 w hose time has come, as alcohol is A&M’s
and 1 hoiIfe est problem.
! Aggies know alcohol. In fact, Aggies know alcohol
3 get som&least as well as they know calculus, Shakespeare
f workinjind the other academic trivialities that cross their
llesks between Thursday night drinking binges,
psychologj As evidence of Aggies’ expertise in imbibing the
» about t&pirits, consider the University Police Department’s
ce finisheiliiiimbers on alcohol related citations over the last
tear. Between September ’96 to August ’97, UPD
issued 181 MIP citations, 76 pubic intoxication ci
tations, 34 providing alcohol to a minor citations
and 49 DWIs.
What is interesting about these numbers, though,
isthat they do not represent all Aggies because only
about a quarter of A&M students live on campus.
Numerous clashes with law by Aggies, exposes the
often ignored problem of alcohol abuse on campus.
One of the factors that encourages alcohol abuse at
it make thi
is,” Dierka
y favored i
issment tt
i beat then
an beat us. 1
ves will fee
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ximont sail
/ho haveth l&M is that there is very little stigma attached to stu-
’ve been
ies and wo customed to seeing their peers stumble back home in
anship.”
IRE!
as
dents drinking excessively. Aggies have become so ac-
idrunken stupor that they accept the behavior as the
norm. Furthermore, many Aggies are proud of their
drinking behavior. It is not uncommon to see walls of
Aggies rooms lined with empty alcohol bottles.
A&M’s alcohol problem, however, is not caused by
alcohol. Instead, it stems from individuals who are
unable to use alcohol responsibly.
Kristin Sayre, associate director of the Department
afStudent Life, said alcohol is problematic because
tudents’ behaviors related to alcohol are not healthy.
“From my perspective, it’s (alcohol) our biggest
ampus problem,” Sayre said.
Unfortunately, the use of alcohol at A&M is seme
mes accompanied by negative behavior. As Dr.
Southerland so astutely pointed out in his announce
ment of the alcohol task force, “The majority of viola
tions of Texas A&M rules such as hazing, vandalism,
assault and sexual assault involve alcohol.”
Frighteningly, many students are unable or unwill
ing to acknowledge the strong connection between
alcohol and negative behavior at this university.
At the heart of A&M’s alcohol problem is students’
attitudes and beliefs about alcohol.
Dr. Dennis Reardon, coordinator of the Depart
ment of Student Life Alcohol and Drug Education
Programs, said that college students seem to buy
into the myth that alcohol abuse is part of the nor
mal college experience.
“One of the things we have to do from this office is
de-emphasize the misconception students have
about drinking,” Reardon said, “The reality is less
than a third of college students abuse alcohol.”
Hopefully, the alcohol task force will make rec
ommendations that are effective in encouraging Ag
gies to use alcohol responsibly. To that end, here are
some ways in which alcohol abuse can be combated
at A&M:
• First, student leaders need to take action on the
issue. For example, the Yell Leaders could designate
one midnight yell practice as a “dry” yell practice.
Only sober individuals would be invited to attend the
yell practice.
Imagine a yell practice where the crowd is swaying
because of the wobbly bleachers at Kyle Field instead
of their inability to maintain their drunken balance.
• Members of student organizations which have al
cohol at any of their social events could be required to
attend a mandatory alcohol education program.
• Furthermore, successful programs like the “Keep
Alcohol from Shattering the Tradition” education pro
gram that occurs during Bonfire could be expanded
to other campus activities like Rush ahd football
games.
Real changes in Aggies’ behavior toward alcohol,
however, will not occur until the majority of students
who do not abuse alcohol decide they will not toler
ate alcohol abuse among their peers. For too long, Ag
gies have treated alcohol recklessly and frivolously.
Fortunately, A&M is beginning to realize it.
John Lemons is an electrical
engineer i ng graduate studen t.
Mail Call
Oolumnists should
challenge students
k response to John Burton's Sept. 25
Voodoo Lounge column:
Finally, The Battalion has
ceased its reign as the Texas A&M
eight wing propaganda machine
and moved into the realm of
quasi-journalism.
After a year of hard-right wing
column after hard-right wing col
umn, Burton’s humorous observa-
S Fri, Sept 26,
Austin
jditoriura.
7 p.m. in
at. Oct 4,
ime Favorites
iation.tamu.eiii 11
C Film Societ)-
: for special ntfk
if« ,«■ jjiions about the George Bush Li-
|j rar y are a we ] come change.
s more
■ty"
/ash
Although we might not all agree
With the diverse opinions of
dumnists like John Burton, Mike
Schaub and even Donny Ferguson
probably all members of the Aggie
femocrats disagree), the Opinion
Page should strengthen our beliefs
^challenging them, not by shov
ing them deeper down our throats.
Jeff Miller
Class of'98
Football remarks
show disrespect
In response to Michelle Voss’Sept.
26 Passing the Pigskin column:
Her remarks that football
fans are brainless, beer-bong-
ing, puking fanatics is just
plain ignorant. Neither I, nor
the tens of thousands of other
Aggies and millions of Ameri
cans who watch football fit that
description.
Second, Voss seems to think
that the University should fund
music and arts majors rather
than renovate Kyle Field.
I could write a half page col
umn with a myriad of impressive
vocabulary words and creative
little comments about that, like
she did with football.
I could make statements say
ing all arts and music majors are
a bunch of espresso-chugging,
tree-hugging, whimpering losers
who can’t even do long division
but they sure can philosophize
about not having a job.
But I do not do that because
comments such as those not only
show a lack of intelligence, but
more importantly, they show a
lack of respect for others, whose
only fault is having interests that
differ from yours.
Cecil Cheshier
Class of’96
Graglia comments
warrant response
The columns about Professor
Lino Graglia brought up the issue
of race and free speech.
After reading Michael Saw-
ilowsky’s Mail Call letter and hear
ing Graglia’s comments, I remem
bered an old saying about racism:
The more things change, the more
they remain the same.
Since Graglia and Sawilowsky
have a hard time noticing Mexican
and African-American achieve
ment, allow me to describe a pre
dominately African-American
school that is 45 miles west of
Houston — Prairie View A&M.
Throughout the years Prairie
View A&M has competed against
other schools in various competi
tions and has consistently finished
at or near the top.
As demonstrated by its stu
dents and alumni, it is a top-
notch institution. Those are just
a few accomplishments of the
school, and people representing
different ethnic backgrounds,
including Mexican-Americans,
attend the school.
On free speech, those protesters
have as much of a constitutional
right to denounce Graglia’s state
ments as he did in making them.
Earl Smith
graduate student
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Switching currency from paper
to coins will help America grow
I n this
coun
try, we
are look
ing the fu
ture right
in the
eyes, and
glancing
shyly away
because
it’s not po
lite to
stare.
Meanwhile, the past is sneaki
ly tapping us on the shoulder,
trying to give good advice. In
this country and others
around the world, paper mon
ey is becoming obsolete.
Counterfeiting is becoming
too prevalent and sophisticat
ed to allow paper bills to con
tinue to be manufactured. Mi
nor bills, $20 or less, should be
replaced with coins.
According to the Depart
ment of the Treasury, paper
money was not even issued
until the Civil War, and then
only due to a shortage of coins.
Apparently, people were
hoarding them in case their
side lost. During the war, this
shortage became such a prob
lem that the government print
ed bills as low as one cent.
Most paper money doesn’t
last that long, either. One-dol-
lar bills only last 18 months on
average. Five-doIIar bills last
about two years, $10 bills
three, and $20 bills only last
four years. In 1995, over four
billion new $1 bills had to be
printed, at a cost of over
$175,000,000.
Even with the new mea
sures taken to reduce counter
feiting — special inks, water
marks and plastic strips —
there remains the simple fact
that these can be duplicated,
and that implementing these
measures across the more
than 8.5 billion bills printed
yearly at $20 or less will in
crease the cost dramatically,
especially since none of these
bills last more than five years.
There are two solutions.
The first is to move complete
ly to debit cards, nation-wide
Aggiebucks. There are three
little problems here. The first
is that those card readers
come at about $ 1,500 apiece.
Just putting one in every store
in America could get a little
expensive politically, ensuring
the system will not be adopt-.
ed, unless for some strange
reason your friend A1 Gore
hitches up his horse-drawn
buggy to joy-ride on the Infor
mation Superhighway.
This would also require cut
ting out money completely,
which would make things like
taking tolls, mailing in PTTS
fines and having your pocket
picked quite interesting for the
consumer. The third problem
is that this simply relocates
counterfeiting to a new plane,
with the electronic bour
geoisie able to control money,
leaving the electronic prole
tariat, people who, like our
parents, can’t even program
their VCRs, at their mercy. Plus
magnetic coders are cheap,
cheaper than the printing
presses now used to counter
feit paper money.
The better solution is to
move to coin money in all de
nominations less than $50.
Fifty-dollar bills and higher
last 10 years or more, which
makes proofing them against
counterfeiters more cost-ef
fective. Coins, on the other
hand, last much longer, met
al being less susceptible to
the general wear and tear of
life than paper. Another ben
efit is that this would foil a lot
of counterfeiting.
Counterfeiting coins re
quires more skill and better
equipment than faking a bill,
which any backwoods hick
with the right paper, a color
copier and a lazy cashier can
pull off. Proofing coins against
counterfeiting is a low priority,
since currently coins aren’t
valuable enough to copy. How
ever, with the technical exper
tise that went into improving
the $100 and $50 bills, coins
can be stamped, making them
harder to duplicate by coun
terfeiters, and easier to use for
the general public.
Yes, coins are easier to use
for the general public. Aside
from the fact that it’s easier to
steal a quiet wallet than a jin
gling bunch of coins, coins are
more intuitive than bills. All .
bills look the same from more
than 10 feet away — a little
green rectangle with a dark
green border. Coins, with their
distinctive metals and sizes, are
much easier to tell apart. At 10
feet, a penny can be recognized
from a quarter or a dime. It also
is much easier to pick out four
quarters than to riffle through a
wallet looking for a dollar bill
among a jungle of green.
Most civilized countries
these days have moved to
coins to represent their small
est denominations. The Cana
dians have one- and two-dol-
lar coins, the British have
pound coins, the Germans
have the Deutschmark and so
on. Instead of letting our great
country languish in the third
world of currency develop
ment, the United States of
America should leap ahead of
our neighbors, converting
everything up to $20 bills into
coins. This would be an in
ternational one-up on a scale
not seen since the days of old
wartime victories.
Paper money may be
lighter, cheaper to make and
require 4,000 double-folds to
tear, but coins are harder to
counterfeit, they last a lot
longer and they are easier to
use. In almost every practical
area, coins are superior to
bills. This country should step
forward and embrace the fu
ture by throwing aside the vul
nerable, outdated paper bills
and moving toward the use of
coined money.
Chris Huffines is a sophomore
speech comunications major.
Chris
Huffines
columnist