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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1998)
Monday • June 15,1998 The Battalion PINION »nsl 87 1 )m the tj ^rforma:; its) and h quarts he Jaz2 ; shots n 3 yed aht; iiroffe mi '-pointer left, and making: "ids left, sequei play of and me to ig conta fil hehacl ily eigh | three • ' minuirl lain, lad l.vi pd seve: nds as It. pons ( ihelpti (last h, Rod-. 1 pn ira | ne togirl I free ay [poke Isistec be bao |nd si' | see London, I see France . makes for an experience consisting of more than academic credit tudying abroad represents a unique Steven Gyeszly columnist p) -| [cored i tie it hoffi oppor tunity to ob serve a for eign culture first hand. Yet for many Aggies, inter national edu cation means learning nev er to eat from a roadside fa jita stand during spring break in Mata- moros. With an increasing num ber of reasons, as well as oppor tunities, more Texas A&M students should consider study ing abroad. The intangible benefits of be ing immersed in a foreign culture are as irreplaceable as the memo ries. Just as important, after liv ing in a foreign culture, it is much easier to appreciate one's home environment all the more. But even if the thought of doing your part to create a deeper un derstanding among nations sounds too Disney-esque, re member, nothing starts a story off better than, "So I was at this bar in London . . ." Obviously, the social aspect is an integral part of studying abroad. Social interaction with people from around the world al lows one to discover that long- held international stereotypes are not necessarily true, or that in some cases, they have some basis in reality. After the bland ness of high school, remember how interesting it was to meet people from other states at A&M? Just think about what someone from a different conti nent can show you. As the designation suggests, studying abroad also demands academic development. You can learn anywhere. But how and what you learn will be complete ly different depending on where you go. Learning about architec ture by watching a 45-minute slide show in class is education al. Standing five feet away from the Great Pyramid is an experi ence. in addition to the experiences providing a new perspective within a major that has become a bit too familiar, studying abroad allows one to take classes unique to the locale. No other university in the world could duplicate a course such as Meats 307. At the same time, nowhere in the Texas A&M University Course Catalog are there courses titled "Cultural Trends of the Carpathian Basin" or "The City and Art in the 20th Century," but there are at the Budapest Univer sity of Economic Sciences. The reasons to study abroad are as endless as the opportuni ties. However, instead of taking the opportunity, students seem to find excuses not to go. Per haps one of the most common excuses used is the fear that col lege is not the best time to spend abroad. Yet, what other point in our lives will be as convenient as now? By the age when one has enough spare time to travel over seas, the most exciting thing about visiting St. Paul's Cathe dral will be the fact that it has pews where you can sit down and rest. The Study Abroad Office in Bizzell Hall offers a substantial amount of information and assis tance on a diverse range of lo- ! cales, costs and programs. Options range from staying in a hotel with the use of one's own car to living in former army bar- - racks and getting to school in a donkey cart. Along with helping on where to go, the Study Abroad Office offers numerous university-sup ported study abroad scholar ships each year and can guide in terested parties to national scholarships. Studying abroad is not merely about dating someone from Switzerland or gaining academic “ credit. In fact, it is about both and more. After all, it is hard to be part of a world-class universi ty if you never leave the country. Steven Gyeszly is a junior . finance major. < ResLife should advocate he students it is serving Low-fat foods equal low taste l tew very year, fearful parents entrust their precious chil- — dren to the tender, loving "j ii|§ re °f the Department of Resi- donce Life. After living two se- !lli ‘ roosters in a “•se? Chris Huffines columnist ^'psidence ■II, these ■ me pre- f; cfous chil- :i djvn emerge ,„ rM J arred and i rkiJs bi tte red ' to.vard the P r y depart- roent en trusted with Jeir care. This "oblem is rosed by the apathy and lack - , respect for students' needs !? rec ently displayed by the De- U e: | ar tment of Residence Life. In I Mf I P ast ^ ew y ears ' it appears f nil ^ ^ ^ >e P ar tment of Resi- II f nce h as become so con- pned with not causing con- let, they are neglecting Indents in favor of not making ^ waves. I Tor example, entering fresh- |en cannot request current stu- ■pts as their roommates. This akes no sense. My older brother ^two years ahead of me in -tiool. He and I would make ood roommates. We know each her very well, respect each oth- r s space and are friendly toward J ch other, which is a far cry from 'e innumerable horror stories I ave been treated to in the past Vo years. jfet, according to ResLife poli ce and I could not be room- 'ates on campus, despite the fact 'at if we requested each other as Animates, we obviously want to J together. Should ResLife hold L 0 an outdated policy instead elpi n g crea t- e a 0 n-cam- Us atr nosphere? .Another apathy that affects P e nts is potluck roommates. L S '^ e does nothing when it I ^ es to matching roommates, f usually its matches are less pan ideal. J My first roommate and I L re , Personality-wise, just L° Ut com plete opposites. We L., 0 Might, like some other Uc ^ r oommates in my hall. Lm 't- 35 S 0 °d- We did have the J e first name, but that was the only similarity. The argument has been made that, in the real world, people don't always get their way, so deal with the roommate conflicts. That is an excuse, plain and sim ple. In the real world, roommates choose each other, or at least meet before becoming roommates. In the real world, roommates do not have to go through frigid media tion sessions before succumbing to reality and moving. ResLife is looking at the policy of pre-housing surveys to match roommates but are so concerned about possibly getting sued it has stalled the program. This kind of timidity is un doubtedly soothing to the Board of Regents and everyone else holding the University's check book, but it signals to the stu dent body that the University cares more about keeping out of trouble than about the students. Students who feel the Universi ty cares less about them than money are probably more likely to sue, by the way. ResLife does a good job, but the department needs to be come more forceful advocates for the students it was chartered to serve. ResLife bends over backward to avoid offending groups such as the administra tion, the Association of Former Students, and the Texas A&M Mothers Club. For example, there are no dorms at A&M. They are all "residence halls." Dorms are where you eat and sleep; resi dence halls are where you live and grow. The difference be tween dorms and residence halls is semantic at best. ResLife, instead of calling the dorms a different name and ig noring the problems, should work and fight tooth and nail to make the dorms a place to live and grow. The Department of Residence Life's motto states that it exists to "enhance the academic and educational mis sion of Texas A&M University." What is this continuous buck ling to other powers teaching students? Chris Huffines is a sophomore speech communications major. S hoppers, motoring along carefully with their carts while pleasantly humming to grocery tunes, approach diet-oriented foods. Boxes smile and scream out, "Pick me! I am fat free, low-calorie, first-rate, chemically- puffed garbage." An array of labels are marked on the boxes: Low moisture, naturally low-fat, 50 percent less fat and 100 percent deli cious, fructose-sweet ened, and sugar-free. These diet-enhanced ingredients allow the freedom to feed and the freedom to stuff, but are chemically bloated with artificial additives, preservatives and fla vors. Anything from Danish coffee cakes to cookie dough, the omnipresent diet foods lurch along the shelves. A random walk through the grocery store is reminiscent of the country's absurd obsession with the pubescent waif look. Diet foods are thickly dispersed throughout every aisle. The suggestion that the pressure women face to keep slim figures, or in fact, skeletal figures, is well intact. Through various media images and 6-foot tall, 115-pound malnourished supermodels, women are encouraged to devour cakes and sweets absent of flavor. Twinkles, the timeless treats, have been vic timized by this diet mantra. They have become the alternative twinkie of one's nightmares. Alison Lackey columnist The luscious-turned-vicious yellow cake and white icing is fat free and tastes just like it too. T he idea of the alternative fat-free twinkie sounds like the most important piece of infor mation one could receive in one day. Now, one can eat 26 in one sitting. This is not true. A little something called taste happens to get in the way of enjoying this pseudo-uftopian twinkie. Not only has this damnation of fat affected snack cakes, it also has altered the dairy aisle. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of tasting a slice of fat-free cheese, God bless you — keep it that way. That stuff should be ditched to the landfills of the world and nes tled among broken hubcaps, mildewed carpet and moldy potato peels. These foods have gone through so much processing, one has to wonder what the content of the food was originally. The original content of potato chips cooked in Olestra is virtually unknown. The new chem ically-puffed diet potato chips are the puffiest of them all. These snacks are fried in Olestra oil. Olestra is a fat substitute that has required a warning label on the back of every bag of chips. They "may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools," reads the label. Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vita mins and nutrients. The chips are chemically modified so that the digestive system can't properly break them down. The chips also con tain tocopherols to protect flavor. First of all, if one cannot pronounce the in gredients of the food they are eating, why eat it? Furthermore, any food that requires a warning label and harmfully affects well-being is defi nitely not worth eating. Fat-substitute oils deliver all pleasure and taste with serious side effects. These products should not have been approved by the FDA. However, after the products had a quick test run in three major cities that the Center for Sci ence in the Public Interest (CSPI) labeled as "the diarrhea capitals of the USA," fat-substitution oils were granted the go ahead. Olestra is presently rocking the bowels of America. Be an exception — don't "eat like a kid again," as the wholesome advertising campaign requests. Eat like a human again. Spare your toilet. There is nothing wrong with eating the foods you want then getting active to burn the fat and calories off. Eat naturally — get the full blown sour cream. Thank your body by re warding it with exercise. Don't swear by the lazy American way. We can't have our cake and eat the whole tub of ic ing too. Fat-substitute oils are controversial. Paying close attention to what consumers eat is vital to healthy living. In the immortal Web page words of Paul Penna, anti-olestra advocate, he contemplates the laxative existence of consumers ... Olestra is my Shepherd I shall not digest; It maketh me lie down on brown bed sheets. It leadeth me beside the still cesspool. It restoreth my stool. Alison Lackey is a senior English major. MAIL CALL Future pastor defends columnist In response to April Towery's July 11, col umn "Keep ’em in the kitchen": I want to give April Towery a standing ovation for her column "Keep 'em in the kitchen?" I greatly appreciate her courage to speak out with regard to a woman's right to pastor. I know many will bombard Mail Call with letters calling Towery a hypocrite and judgmental, or whatever word they remember from Sunday School. In her defense, she could not have been more Biblically accurate. To objectors, I ask, "Have you researched the Bible for yourself on this matter or do you simply dis agree with the Bible?" If the latter, who are you to claim the ability to choose or yourself what's true in the Bible? Do you claim equality with God? The essence of sin is that peo ple think they have rights before God. As a future pastor, I definitely want to be the leader for my church and fiance. But remember the same Bible that calls men to lead the church (and not women) also de fines leadership as servanthood. To lead in this manner is a great task. What woman or church would object to having a leader who serves with this kind of love? Thank you, April Towery, for not conforming like everyone else to what is politically correct. ... be cause then you would have been wrong. Brad Vaughn Class of'99 Marriages deserve equal treatment In response to John Lemons' July 11th col umn on same-sex marriage: If there is one issue that The Bat talion columnists always seem to be outspoken on, it's homosexuali ty. More often than not, the writers choose the intolerant side of the road instead of the side that accepts differences in people and cele brates them. John Lemons' July 11th column was written in opposition of same- sex marriage. He cited the tired old reasons that are always used: "fam ily values" and Bible verses. And so, I write to restate what's already been said against these arguments. It is absolutely illogical to say that any kind of marriage is de structive to family values. How is it possible that a loving, monoga mous partnership between two people is anything but right? Gays and lesbians are no less capable of love than are heterosexual people. Megan Wright Class of '01 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the nght to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station. TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1.11.1. Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu