The Battalion
ednesday • July 8,1998
PINION
coring an education
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ver the past several months Texas A&M stu
dents have been concerned about Reggie
Brown.
s some might recall, the
jprmer Aggie football stand
out and Detroit Lions line-
Len
Callaway
columnist
oalker sustained a career-end-
^neck injury this past
Reason.
The fear of paralysis ran
ipant until the oft-referred-
oress conference where he
jindoned wheelchair and let
| world know he was going
oe just fine.
Jow Reggie is back in Col
lege Station and looking to help out Ags in the
weight room and help himself out in the classroom,
t's right, he's come back to do a little healin'
finish his degree in economics .
BAlthough all reports indicate that he will be able
to Continue to earn a living via a disability insur-
e policy, he undoubtedly learned that there are
no guarantees in life and nothing can take the place
of a quality education.
■Brown should serve as an example to all stu
dents that the very premise stated above is true.
There are no guarantees in life and it's always bet
ter to be prepared.
■As one makes his or her way across campus dur
ing the summer it is difficult to miss the hundreds
of provisional freshmen, affectionately referred to
as "popcorn," trying to earn their way into our
beloved institution.
■ How many of these freshmen will leave A&M
before their tenure is over in search of greener
grass?
V Let's face it — unless a student a hotshot line
backer that is going to get drafted, paid several mil
lion dollars and then set up with an investment
counselor to recommend solid financial measures,
like purchasing disability insurance, there is no up
side to leaving school without a degree.
■ The Texas A&M Department of Athletics does
not have the highest graduation rate in the country,
nor is it as high as the administration would like for
MmraoRw
it to be. This set of circumstances is generally
brought about by the "pro-factor."
The NFL, NBA and MLB continue to reinforce
the ideal that education is not as important as talent
is to the respective leagues. They continually dip
into the college and sometimes high-school talent
pool through their annual drafts.
Their silver-tongued scouts do not spend much
time talking about spinal injuries, knee surgery or
my personal favorite — "wild-pitch-detached-reti-
na-affliction." Often, the players' agents do not take
the time to properly explain the dangers of leaving
school and the lifelong repercussions that could re
sult.
Sometimes, the agents do the right thing and
suggest athletes wait a year or so before entering
professional sports. Sometimes, they simply make
all the right moves and it all works out OK in the
end anyway.
Hence, the Reggie Brown situation.
In the case of athletes, the gamble lies in several
factors: talent, representation, projected longevity,
etc. Yet, in the case of regular students lacking ath
letic star quality, there really is no reason to leave
school without a degree.
How many students who are not star quality
athletes have the luxury of fouling up in life and
then personally financing a return to school full
time?
The fact is, most people who leave school will
never return, and those who do take forever to
graduate.
The bottom line is that it's much easier to get the
degree while still in school. Even if the agents will
not leave an athlete alone, even if an athlete has the
goods to be a true player, he or she should wait a
year or so until he or she can do the job the right
way.
Life does not offer any guarantees and it very
seldom offers second chances — make the most of it
while you can.
By the way — welcome back, Reggie.
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Len Callaway is a senior
journalism major.
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Graphic By Brad Graeber/The Battalion
Violent crime victims deserve
protection of U.S. Constitution
10^
!
MAIL CALL
(Comet's impact
aided existence
^response to Marium Mohiuddin's
iy 2, "The end is near" article:
The article by Marium Mohiud-
lin seems to present a few facts
nd a few theories explaining the
:onsequences of a comet's impact
vith earth.
Certainly, if a body large
enough hit earth, things would
>retty much be ruined for life on
I ^arth as we know it. Mohiuddin
id a good job of conveying that
tentiment. 1 also must congratulate
'er on her choice of sources to in-
•lude voices that speak of evolu-
'on. Evolution is good science.
However, Mohiuddin does get a
few points wrong. The dinosaurs
became extinct over 63 million
years ago, not 4 million as she
writes, and modern humans did
not evolve until about 125,000 to
200,000 years ago.
Impacts made it possible for
mammals to inherit the Earth from
the dinosaurs. It is, however, true
that the first proto-humans
emerged from the line that now in
cludes the great apes about 4.6 mil
lion years ago.
Current anthropological theory
has it that a comet's impact may
have altered the Earth's climate in
such a way as to favor the evoltion
of upright-walking hominids in
Africa over 2 million years ago.
No impact, no human evolu
tion, so an impact favored our
species.
The asteroid that hit near
Flagstaff exploded perhaps 50,000
years ago in an area not then in
habited, but caused lots of damage,
regardless.
There is evidence that a comet
hit Scandanavia during the time of
St. Patrick in the 5th Century, and
this event may have favored the
fall of the Roman Empire.
Mohiuddin s point is well put;
however, impacts with Earth have
rocked the very foundations of life.
In evolutionary thought, this is
an important factor. "Cata-
strophism," as is it called, wipes
the slate clean of most lifeforms
and sets the stage for new bouts of
evolution.
However one chooses to at
tribute the impacts, the course of
life on Earth over the billions of
years owes much to this process.
George Villareal
graduate student
Mandy
Cater
managing editor
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O n Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee
made an all-important first step to protect
victims of violent crime
in the United States.
The Associated Press reports
that after several hours of de
bate, the panel gave the green
light for a constitutional crime
victim amendment. The 10-6
approval makes way for the
proposal to go to the Senate
floor. A similar proposal is
awaiting discussion in the
House.
The amendment would
make a long-needed attempt to
protect citizens victimized by
violent criminals. The rights, although seemingly
basic and one would think understood, are often ig
nored or overlooked by states in their attempts to
prosecute defendants.
If passed, the amendment would guarantee vio
lent-crime victims the constitutional right to be no
tified and be present at all public proceedings asso
ciated with the crimes. They also would be
guaranteed the right to make statements to the
court regarding the crimes.
Perhaps most importantly, victims would be no
tified of their assailant's release or escape from cus
tody, and judges would be required to consider vic
tims' safety before releasing a defendant.
Victims of violent crimes also would be awarded
the right to restitution from a convicted offender.
They also would have the constitutional right to be
notified of all the aforementioned rights.
This move is an enormous early victory for
crime victims and American justice as a whole. This
country was founded to ensure that its citizens
would be awarded life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. This amendment would make a strong
statement that the nation's political leaders are
making every attempt to carry this important
theme into the twenty-first century.
The passage of an amendment such as this
makes the bold statement that Congress is taking its
job seriously; that it truly wants to serve and pro
tect its constituency.
The implementation would require a two-thirds
approval in the House and Senate, as well as ratifi
cation by three-fourths of the states.
And, like anything in Washington, the amend
ment proposal is not without its opponents.
Many feel that protecting victims' rights does
not require such a formal step, that creating an
amendment is an unnecessary hassle. They believe
that the job of enforcement and protecting of such
rights should be left up to the states or some sort of
federal legislation.
Sen. Fred Thompson, for instance, told the Asso
ciated Press such an amendment would create
many problems.
"It is going to be very, very disruptive in ways
(that) there is no way we can possibly determine,"
Thompson said. "We are opening up a Pandora's
box."
The AP report said Thompson believed the
amendment might "make it more difficult to prop
erly prosecute defendants."
Although these concerns are legitimate, the amend
ment still should happen. Law-abiding American citi
zens deserve basic rights of protection.
As Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a proponent of the
amendment, said in the AP report, "The Constitu
tion outlines more than a dozen specific rights for
defendants and none for their victims."
Certainly victims deserve at least the same pro
tection under the law as defendants.
The Clinton administration supports granting
new rights to victims of violent crimes. Congress,
too, finally should do the same. Victims deserve to
be protected by the government that serves them. If
defendants' rights are important enough to merit
constitutional amendments, so should the rights of
victims of violent crimes.
Besides, these rights are not outlandish, unrea
sonable requests, but instead, are simple demands
of people who already have had their rights intrud
ed upon. Congress now has the chance to, in a
small but important way, amend these intrusions.
They should wake up and take it.
Mandy Cater is a graduate student in English.