The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 27, 1998, Image 7

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Pi/LKrom <v jvumam >• «s
Qjlay • March 27, 1998
The Battalion
PINION
tear
Arenty-first century demands creativity in job searches
Chris
Martin
columnist
ll8o: y the letter of the law,
lv. ours is a land of free
sire speech. That’s just
|p , ful, right?
- t while the spirit of
18 w prohibits someone
v gelling “fire” in a
| ■ led theater, it shame-
'anoermits anyone at
- ne to ask you “so
are you doing after
ation?”
tmple turn of this
|ini e to the average col-
1 snior is like a turn down one the shadiest
illeys of the human psyche, instantly inciting
iffs in the most genteel of souls,
ny students in their most desperate hour —
eing the first day post-graduate rent is due —
o the “hot job markets” issue of U.S. News,
\ probably extols the virtues of cyber-tele-
o-avatar-something or other engineering,
e problem with these up-and-coming trades
t by the time you read about them, practically
third classmate of yours has pasted fake
o-avatar intern experience into their resume,
tsing the job field competition, and killing off
Kp hanpe you had at getting in on the cutting
e real challenge is to beat everyone out of
ate and find a job just a little off that beat-
reet path.
1 ',reat poet once wrote (well, actually they
avc; it twice, but the first time was on a cocktail
•- in) “so much depends upon / the road not
i / beside the white chickens.”
: other words, you will never make money
2't poetry. The future, oh denizens of deadbeat
f;, lies in the following niches — sleeping now
like pupae, waiting to awaken as secure, well-paid
and well-dressed butterflies in the 21st century.
• Court Sketch Art Dealer
While the rest of the art world crumbles under
the weight of post-post-post modern baggage, the
brave traffickers of court art will be making a killing
from those pastel portraits of O.J. and Ted Bundy.
Fine art has Mona Lisa and the Sistine Chapel,
court art has Charles Manson and Lorena Bobbitt.
Get in now while the prices are low and the body
counts are high.
•Hybrid Disaster Movie Producer
Volcano? Earthquake? Twister? Shipwreck? As
teroid? That’s kid stuff in the future. After the gold
en era of disaster movies in the late ‘90s, audiences
will rise up and demand more action, more terror
and even more unbelievably lame plots candy
coated in computer graphic smoke and mirrors.
The solution? Major studio think tanks that can
combine two natural disasters into one.
Possibilities include “Fireclone,” about a horri
ble Midwest tornado made of pure lava, and “Ele-
conda,” about a mad genetically-engineered
pachyderm with a poisonous, man-eating snake
for a nose just stomping and eating everything in
its path. Mad fun for everyone.
•Loud, Pompous, Tommy Cologne Wearing,
Oversized Truck Driving Texan Whose Life is Per
ceived to be Better by the Strict Adherence to
One’s Own Kind
Oh wait, I think most Aggies are trying this al
ready.
•Shorn Headed, Gun Toting, America-Way-or-
No-Way Police of the World Memorexed Militia
Member
Oops, did it again.
•Library Tower Medieval Torturer
For all those puzzled by the bizarre tower being
erected between Evans Library and the new library
building, rest assured that it will be used to im
prison and torture delinquent library book bor-
rowers.The 25-cent fine was only the beginning,
like slowly turning up the heat on a frog in a kettle.
Applications are being accepted at the University
Human Relations Office — hunchbacks are a plus.
• “Dawson’s Creek” Memorabilia Archivist
If collecting spinoff bric-a-brac from network
television’s most popular show among female
teenagers isn’t a sure bet, I don’t know what is. TV
Guide covers, /. Crew catalog layouts, and the ex
clusive cast album featuring Pacey’s cover ofVan
Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” will garner top dollar at
future Dawson-cons.
• Texas Avenue Road Construction Worker.
Now that’s job security. Not only is it a guaran
teed job for decades to come, but it’s also a civil
and nurturing work environment.
Large groups of co-workers will selflessly sacri
fice hours of their own personal work time just to
watch you scrape blacktop.
The future isn’t so scary once you have the in
side track. And for those who fall through the
cracks there will always be grad school, the
Peace Corps or a life of crime — all good places
to work on your poetry.
“I think that I shall never see / A job with de
cent salary.”
Chris Martin is a junior journalism major.
ithTik
; Niff*
MPUS CONNECTION
W-L
|W-L
I •
r acing A&M’s....
iS
movement
4$ ^ ' 1
Ipf
'C<
.
■ ;-r
Jennifer
Jones
columnist
lea.
I r ,/f arch is
Hi Women’s
f'Jt History
r th. As univer-
*" > across the
; m celebrate
len’s contribu-
f, to society and
struggle for
[' ility it seems a
1 opportunity
fleet on the
3iy of women
is university.
,he history of women on the Texas
4 campus begins in 1893 with Ethel
|. f son, the daughter of a faculty member,
t> was the first woman to attend classes
te school as a “lecture student.” From
i point, women were allowed to attend
ttversity as “special students.” So-
and Mary Hutson, twin daughters of
English professor, registered for civil
jllineering in 1899 at age 14 and corn
ed their degrees at 17. But for all of
I I r work, neither was awarded a diplo-
n 1925, the first female to receive a
loma was Mary Evelyn Crawford. In
of that same year, however, the Texas
Board of Directors decide that after
t. 1, no girls or young women would be
wed to attend A&M. This was the first
lificant blow for women’s advance-
nt at A&M.
n 1933, the question of women at
M went before the Texas Supreme
irt. Judge W.C. Davis ruled in favor of
M in January of the next year, allow-
the continued exclusion of women
m A&M.
Finally in 1963, after continuous court
battles and significant alumni resistance,
women were allowed to attend and teach
at Texas A&M, but only under certain con
ditions. By 1965, all qualified women were
granted admission.
Although women were now able to en
roll, they still were unable to find equality
on campus.
The Corps of Cadets, in 1974, grudg
ingly opened its doors to females. But it
was not until 1978 that women in the
Corps were allowed to join their fellow
cadets at Bonfire cut. (Civilian women cut
at Bonfire for the first time in 1981.)
By 1994 the Corps became fully inte
grated, and in 1997 women’s enrollment
surpassed male enrollment (though as of
this spring there is a total enrollment of
21,323 male students and 17, 887 female
students).
And so goes the phrase, “You’ve come a
long way, baby.”
Texas A&M (even if while kicking and
screaming) has made continuous
progress in the advancement of women at
the University, and although women have
made tremendous strides over the past
100 years, there are unfortunately still ar
eas that warrant improvement.
BETTER RECRUITMENT AND
RETENTION OF FEMALE FACULTY
At the end of fiscal year 1995, there
were only 253 female faculty members
out of 1771 total positions, (check fig
ures/dates again) Although A&M is able
to attract female faculty initially, they
simply are not sticking around. Some are
not receiving tenure, others are unsatis
fied with the less than friendly atmos
phere toward women at A&M and filter
off to other universities.
MORE FEMALES IN LEADERSHIP
POSITIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY
Currendy there is one female dean and
a limited number of women in high-level
administration. The lack of females in dis
tinguished positions at A&M is not limited
to faculty or administration. When Brook
Leslie was elected Student Body President
in 1993, she was the first (and only so far)
female to be elected to the position. Fe
male leadership within the Corps is im
proving, but still remains low (as of 1997,
only 6.5 percent of the Corps is female.)
Beneath each of these areas lies the
deeper issue of negativity toward women. At
each turn, women were discouraged from
attending the University as both students
and faculty. A bitter administration was
forced to allow the admittance of women,
and, although this attitude has softened
over the years, there is still a potent trickle-
down effect from decades of resistance.
A&M is a school with a high regard for
history and tradition, honoring a past that
did not include women. Because women
were not included significantly at A&M
until a few decades ago, it is not surprising
that female students and faculty still are
struggling to find a comfortable place at
the University in 1998.
The bottom line is that there is a pitiful
lack of female role models at A&M. Al
though, female enrollment continues to
climb, there is no one for these new stu
dents to look to for advice or guidance.
The needs and values of women at A&M
are not reflected or validated on this cam
pus — not in the administration, not in
the faculty, not in the traditions, not in the
Corps.
A&M flaunts it recent increase in
women’s enrollment, but makes little ef
fort to contribute to a more female-friend
ly environment on campus. This does not
mean more flowers planted across campus
or pretty pink Corps uniforms.
It simply means that it is time to ac
knowledge the advancements and contri
butions women have made at A&M and to
give women a chance to achieve all they
are capable of without having to wade
through a sea of good ol’ boy bureaucracy
and mentality.
Jennifer Jones is a senior
psychology major.
MAIL CALL
\tanic subject matter
^serves respect
In response to James Francis’s
Jticle “ Titanic seeks ultimate
hrit with regurgitated storyline,”
we need to remember that many
people died in a terrible event that
has changed the world.
The creators of the movie strived
for the truth, and to remake even
the smallest details. Everything from
the recreation of paintings, look-a
like rooms, how people died, ru
mors that were overheard on the
decks, to the White Star Line china.
Titanic was a brilliant remake of
that cold night.
Even though I agree with Fran
cis’s view about A Night to Remem
ber being a great movie, I disagree
with it being “superior” to Titanic.
Titanic showed emotions and ex
periences that the black and white
movie did not.
The viewer, for the first time,
experiences the excitement,
hopes, and faith of the passengers.
Also the suicides, greed, and 1500
lifeless bodies. Yet, it’s not about
the magnitude of the movie, but
that 2 miles down on the cold At
lantic floor is a gravesite.
Francis also said, “The focus
on Titanic begins with the
cast...”. While the full cast was
admirable with many nomina
tions and 11 Oscars, director
James Cameron demonstrated
what the true focus was.
After winning for best picture he
asked for a few seconds of silence
for the lives lost on April 14,1912.
Sometimes the best w&y of say
ing something is to say nothing at
all. Maybe Francis should have a
moment of silence in prayer for the
individuals and families that suf
fered on that historic night.
Kelly McClendon
Class of’98
College experience
not just study, working
In response to April Towel’s March
24 column:
Gee, could we not think up a de
cent topic that went against the
grain, so we had to bash Spring
Break? She stated that students need
to “grow up” as they will “never again
be given the opportunity to take this
much time away from the daily
grind of school and work.” Of course
they won’t, that is the beauty of be
ing a college student.
College is not all about studies,
but rather the all around experi
ence of college activities that also
include Spring Break.
Students should be mature
enough to understand the value of
time management and plan accord
ingly. If that means they have a little
more work to complete the week af
ter spring break, then that is the
price you pay. It is ridiculous to say
you could have used the week to “get
in some extra hours at work or get
ahead on a project that is coming
up”. Of course you could have. Or
you could have could have removed
yourself from school for a week, re
laxed with friends in a location that
ordinarily wouldn’t go to and go a lit
tle nuts. Relax Towery, you will have
the rest of your life to be “mature
and responsible.”
Mike Marketos
Class of’95
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in
clude the author’s name, class, and phone
number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit
letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters
may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also
be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111