The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 17, 1998, Image 7

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    idnesday • June 17,1998
The Battalion
PINION
ail:
iment:
laying by the rules
|xas A&M students should have to sign a written Aggie Code of Honor
J tl " - L A ' 1 ’ ’ amosaid.
It seems odd that the Virginia, a
ggi es not He, cheat,
|ling. W/ \ steal, nor tolerate those
yo. ilf/- A.who do." It is the phrase
|do," ygies love to spout off as they ex-
in the code of honor that binds all
gie
at Q
Ht as the
st: :atistics
■ m the office
|said student
^^■ct Reso-
I d ay “ion Services
told Inter (SCRS)
1 witli :fv, talk is
lied at:-?ap. While
Put 1\ M's may
|)von* tlH or steal,
iyc efinitely
I sh:[M students
irivinga
e orr let ouble living by the Aggie Code
Bnor, maybe it is time to put
IdtkHmuscle behind the phrase. The
|an to m Code of Honor needs to be put
writing for all A&M students to
oording to SCRS, there were
jhl eases of scholastic dishonesty
^Hded throughout the 1997-98
Ibl year — six in the fall and two
■ spring. Although these num-
1 , Hav no means constitute an epi-
■ |c of cheating, they do show
eating is occurring on campus.
'‘ 0 g i - emust also remember that these
<\ Vi ' ||cases occurred when an instruc-
Ifered^Btually caught a student cheating
id then initiated the University's
ds iiol.istic dishonesty process —
hov peisno telling how many students
ong ;J| U a .V w ' t: ^ scholastic dishonesty
the last year.
fitting the Aggie Code of Honor
rtpa per, however, is not meant to
. Hpeut all cheating, but to hold
, sp
Aggies accountable to the code.
Having students sign the Aggie
Code of Honor amounts to forming a
written contract between students
and the University. A written contract
will always be stronger than a verbal
agreement.
Not every university is as lax as
A&M in encouraging students to act
honorably. The University of Virginia
uses an honor system that is consid
erably more muscular than the Aggie
code of honor. A&M could learn a
thing or two from Virginia's honor
system.
At Virginia, most instructors re
quire their students to sign a state
ment with the every test they take.
The statement reads, "I, (student), do
hereby certify on my honor that I
have derived no assistance during
the time of this examination from any
source whatsoever."
If an instructor or student
charges that a student has violat
ed Virginia's honor code by lying,
cheating or stealing, the Universi
ty's student-run honor system
handles the case. Cases are inves
tigated by students, arraigned by
students and heard by student ju
rors. If a student is found guilty of
lying, cheating or stealing, the
student receives the honor sys
tem's single sanction — expulsion
from the university.
Nicole Eramo is the Assistant to
the Honor Committee, the group that
coordinates Virginia's honor system.
Eramo said the Honor Committee
processed about 50 cases per semes
ter during the 1997-98 school year.
Out of those cases between 20 and 30
students go to trial each semester.
"About 75 to 80 percent [of cases]
involved scholastic dishonesty," Er-
school roughly half the size of A&M,
has so many more scholastic dishon
esty cases than A&M. Unless, that is.
Aggies are getting away with cheat
ing because A&M does not take the
issue seriously enough.
The first step to taking honor
more seriously at A&M is quite sim
ple — have students sign a statement
agreeing to follow the Aggie Code of
Honor. Students could sign this state
ment in each of their classes at the be
ginning of each semester or with
every test they take, much like stu
dents at Virginia.
There are privileges that come
witli the responsibility of a beefed up
honor system. Students at Virginia
frequently enjoy the option of take-
home tests. Furthermore, trust flour
ishes in an environment where honor
is treasured.
"I think it [the honor system]
makes people more comfortable that
their word is going to be trusted by a
professor," Eramo said.
Requiring students to sign the
Aggie Code of Honor is about
equivalent to a mother nagging
her children. Yes, nagging is irri
tating, but it works. Had their
mothers not nagged them when
they were children, many Aggies
would not brush their teeth, eat
their vegetables or make their
beds today. Nagging can be a very
good thing.
And putting the Aggie Code of
Honor in writing may just be the
kind of nagging Aggies could use.
John Lemons is a graduate student
in electrical engineering.
[lievt
Taking a walk
on the wild side
J
r i»* & v
121
Students hassle with buses, parking at Bush Library
Len
Callaway
columnist
- . s
Photo By Jake Schrickling/The Battalion
I got a little riddle for ya Ags.
IFs 105 degrees with 90-plus
percent humidity.
IFs high noon, sweat is running
down your back, you've been out
side for 30 minutes and your sun-
bum is about to lead to sponta
neous human combustion.
A Parking, Traffic and Trans
portation Services officer is lean
ing on a moped or sitting under a
shade tree sucking down
Gatorade and glaring at students
like iFs Nazi era Germany and
they want to see your "papers."
OK — what are you doing?
ThaFs right (you guys are so smart) you're waiting for
a bus at the George Bush Presidential Library Complex.
Over the course of the past couple of semesters, PTTS
has begun to control the parking lots at the Bush Complex
by assigning two full-time staffers to all-day duty writing
tickets and turning people away from the Presidential Li
brary and the Bush School.
The transportation difficulties to and from the Bush
School are only compounded by being forced to deal with
the less than pleasant demeanors of the parking lot moni
tors.
One finds it difficult to hold these employees responsi
ble for their negative and, at times, hateful approaches to
customer service. They dislike being made to stand in the
heat all day as much as the students do and at times their
understandable frustration shows.
The Bush School is an excellent resource for students
but it must become easier to travel to and from. Although
the application of parking mles and bus routes is the re
sponsibility of PTTS, it is the administration's responsibili
ty to give PTTS the resources it needs.
As much as we would like to blame the problem on
Tom Williams and his band of parking nay sayers, it is re
ally not his fault. The real responsibility for the parking
and transportation woes faced by students at the Bush
School belongs with the high-level administrators that
play key roles in bringing new additions like the Bush
Complex to A&M. These administrators have big-time
lives and take home even bigger salaries to keep A&M on
the cutting edge of Texas higher education. These "power
players" use A&M's amenity list as a resume and they
flourish or flounder by their record of success.
Their desire to bring the Bush Complex to A&M was
an incredibly sound decision that will prove to be a long
term benefit to the A&M community. The poor part of that
decision, much like so many other decisions made by the
administration, was made with no regard for the students
of Texas A&M and the way the facility would be used.
Sure, the Bush Complex has tremendous resources to offer
students and this argument is valid;however, the resources
cannot be utilized if students cannot get to them in a rela
tively timely manner.
Time and again the administration makes decisions
in order to bring a new facility or service to A&M so
that our collective calling card will be more impres
sive. Then, the administration worries about the par
ticulars — particulars like whether the students can ef
fectively use the new service.
All of that being said, it is time to leave the ranting be
hind and look for positive alternatives to the current situa
tion.
There are so many different stories floating around
out there in administration land as to who owns the
land the Bush Complex occupies and the relevant
parking lots that there is really no way to know who
owns or leases what. Call some administrators and ask
them what the deal is — they will all tell you some
thing different.
All sorts of alternatives have been discussed but the
same answer always comes back from the administration
— "not gonna do it."
Now it appears as if PTTS is asking for a $30 per se
mester raise in the student services fee so that it may
refurbish the older buses and purchase new ones.
They never say "not gonna do it" when it comes to
taking our money.
Parking lots may be out of the question but students at
least have the right to timely and reliable transportation to
and from their classes.
In addition to specialized bus routes around highly vis
ited areas of campus like the Wehner shuttle and the Bush
School-Trigon shuttle, PTTS needs to conduct a realistic
survey of what it will take to make a noticeable difference
in on-campus transportation and then lobby students for
the correct amount.
There may not be an easy solution to the transportation
problems on our 5,200 acre campus, but if we are willing
to pay for it, the least the administration can do is put forth
some effort to make it come to fruition.
Len Callaway is a senior journalism major.
Mail call
ubmissive, not
ferior old logic
\lutn° nSe Towery's June 11,
m a j 0r t ^ le Past couple of days I have
f ib’ ' nterest: ing points on the
| J ect of: a certain female pastor. I
PPen to be a Unitarian Universal-
ist, and the church that I was raised
in specializes in freedom of thought
and religious expression.
Growing up we taught all the ma
jor religions of the world so we could
gain an understanding of our own
spirituality. No one is persecuted for
what they believe, so in keeping with
this 1 can not pass any judgement
against anyone else. However, there
seems to be some flaws in the submis
sion of women in the Christian faith.
The first sects of Christianity, be
fore Rome had adopted Christiani
ty, did in fact have female priests
along with male priests.
Over time this practice had been
denounced. Also, if a woman ac
cording to the Bible needs to be lead
by a man in matters of finance and
household decisions, what does a
good Christian woman living alone
do? Does she need to consult her
brother, or father on how to spend
her income?
Since a woman who does not defer
to men is considered to be false in her
teachings, why would any good
Christian man want to marry such a
heretic?
Submissive, but not inferior
seems to remind me of a certain time
period of our history, when separate
but equal was considered just and
right.
After all, is putting " tradition" be
fore professional merit really going to
improve the quality of your faith?
Amy Taylor
Class of '00
Columnist fails
to support idea
In response to April Towery's June 11,
column:
You'll forgive me if I'm a bit unclear
on Toweiy's phrase "societal adapta
tion" and what exactly constitutes one
and what doesn't. In her column, she
describes such an adaptation as men
no longer kissing one another in
church or Israelites choosing whether
or not to eat rabbit. OK.
But how can she argue that allow
ing women to become pastors is not
such an adaptation by society? I be
lieve that at the time of this and the
other epistles' writings, women were
unequal in the eyes of the male-domi
nated society.
Any women who acted otherwise
would obviously be a harlot, heretic, or
another undesirable person.
In today's society (a completely dif
ferent time, country, etc.), most educat
ed persons recognize that women
should not be considered inferior to
men and do have the ability to become
whatever they desire.
My main problem with her argu
ment is that she states 'The issue is au
thority. Women should not be in a po
sition of authority in the church" and
never gives any credible reasons why
this should be the case.
She says that every male on this
campus can out bench-press her —
well, thank God preaching and minis
tering don't depend on physical
strength.
The quote from Brauch's book ap
pears to undercut her claim, saying
"The prohibition against their teaching
is occasioned by their involvement in
false teaching"
Of course false teachers, men and
women, should be reprimanded —
but what about those thousands of
women pastors who are not "false
teachers," who actually preach the
Word of God accurately and lovingly
to thousands of parishioners?
Should they be denied the oppor
tunity to tell the story of Christ merely
because they lack a Y chromosome?
According to my interpretation, no. To
do so would be placing the lamp un
der the bowl (Luke 11:33-36).
Mike Williams
Class of '94
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 right to
edit tetters 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
01.3 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station,
77843-1111
Campus Mail: 1.1.11
Fax: (409) 845-2647