Battalion
O
pinion
Page 15 ‘Thursday, Septembers, 1998
iAot«»PAS ticket option offers Aggies taste of culture
women
.1 tor years the summer
il now, hour is the lap, on
nnufacturers ednesduys it
e form of e'ii w inkies, on
1 liere, cttii^ ;ends. Nortfi
d tears. and this sea
‘ pdfs prove it is high
expertssr: f 0 r culture.
>uld possib lis semester
egg fromiir. ae first time,
e wall - )pera and
i embno jrming Arts Society of the
"i embryo isr
I growing, th
ill have not
U-486.
oth-
some type of balance to the
er” side of adolescence.
However, since field trips are
rarer in college and since Mom
and Dad are not here to encour
age students to partake in a little
culture, there is now a way to
counter the lack of civilization so
often enjoyed by Aggies.
For many students, the
CORRIB
CAULEY
hours la
lorial Student Center of-
I the student season tickets
m fee to all students upon
tration.
I DA sad: pe new option offers stu-
:'5 perce: s an exciting and conve-
- of taking t new way to enjoy the per-
linglarts.
he option, which is added to
's ents’ fees during registration
vs students to purchase tick-
i advance and guarantees
i tickets to the selected per-
Aiiancp of their choice,
illjlhe fee option costs $140 and
ides students with six
?t vouchers they may re-
n for tickets to the OPAS
armances throughout
/earl Students are al-
?d to use up to two of
e six vouchers on any
le performance,
he new option not only
rs students entertain-
/ it, but provides them
i the dosage of culture es
pial for the less-than-civi-
Ei college student.
|£i high school, field trips to
symphony, art museums and
cultural institutions were
““ ned to make sure there was
acking
e Dow
iSESi
thought of sitting through an
opera is about as appealing as
having teeth pulled, but the ex
posure and experience often
prove unforgettable.
In past seasons, OPAS has
been responsible for bringing in
several world-class productions,
including the national tour of
“Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat” and
the Broadway productions
of “Crazy for You” and
“Cats”.
This season promises
to be another outstand
ing year for OPAS with
twelve different perfor
mances including
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe,”
the St. Petersburg
State Symphony Or
chestra, the Russian
National Ballet’s per
formance of “The Sleep
ing Beauty,” “Fiddler on
the Roof,” the NYC Opera
National Company’s per
formance of “Madama
Butterfly” and the sea
son finale performance
of “Les Miserables.”
The performing
arts provide some
thing for everyone
— inspiration for
the dreamer, a
unique dating expe
rience for couples,
an excuse for girls to
wear something more
than the usual t-shirt
and shorts and a reason
for guys to finally do
their laundry.
It was once said that if a man
could not be moved by music,
he had no soul at all. The up
coming OPAS performances are
sure to enlighten, inspire, enter
tain and move.
Theater and opera are not just
for pansies anymore. So for the
guy living by the stereotype that
men have no culture, a date to
“Les Miserables” is sure to
bring about compromise — if
you go with her to the show,
next weekend she will let you go
fishing, right?
The new student option fee
offers a new convenient way for
students to enjoy the season’s
OPAS productions.
But whether Aggies purchased
the new ticket option during reg
istration or they choose purchase
tickets individually throughout
the season, students should defi
nitely take advantage of the many
incredible performances coming
to A&M.
It is not often that one has the
opportunity to see Broadway
plays and Russian ballets, and
OPAS has brought them straight
to the A&M campus.
Culture 101 is not a college
course, and unless students take
advantage of options like the
OPAS student season tickets, they
will not make the most of the col
lege experience.
It is important to balance cul
ture with studying, class and the
rest of college life in order to ulti
mately have “class.”
Carrie Canley is a senior
journalism major.
EDITORIAL
have a lonj
j to a 12-ye;
Battalion
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect
1 views of the editorials board members. They
not necessarily reflect the opinions of other
ttalion staff members, the Texas A&M student
dy, regents, administration, faculty or staff,
lumns, guest columns, cartoons and letters ex-
?ss the opinions of the authors.
Editorials Board
MANDY CATER
Editor in Chief
AARON MEIER
■ Managing-Editor ■
DAVE JOHNSTON
Opinion Editor
Political scandals remove focus
from important world affairs
^ Motor Madness
diversity Drive construction shows
>or planning and disregard for students
LEN
Students returning to Texas
M each year can always count
a few certainties. Classes will
igger, fees will increase, fresh-
n will be walking aimlessly
>und campus with maps and
ne seemingly unnecessary con-
action will cause more
tdaches than it is worth.
This year’s obvious example is
construction on University Dri-
one of the most highly trafficked
jjbets in the Bryan-College Station
f a. It is one of only four true ac-
s streets to campus, and thanks
)oor planning by the City of Col-
e Station, it is virtually closed.
Tearing up University Drive in
gust seemed a bad plan from
get-go. Students were already
ginning to mill back from sum-
r breaks, and summer school
dents were still trying to get to
ss. If the city was going to tear
a major road, it should have
rted as early in the summer as
;sible, before the massive return
students. If the city planners
re doing their jobs, the con-
jction would have been slated
the week after the spring se-
ster classes were completed.
The real question, though, is
y all the construction was nec-
ary in the first place. University
ve was not a street in serious dis-
air; it was in fairly good shape,
ertainly did not require the mas-
overhaul currently underway.
The current chaos that is Uni
versity Drive is a problem on more
levels than just poor planning,
though. First and foremost it is a
traffic nightmare. As if traffic near
the University was not bad enough,
the major access road is limited to
one-way traffic to and from cam
pus. Second, the construction is a
dangerous situation. With cars
backing up and getting stuck in in
tersections during light changes, the
situation is begging for an automo
bile pile-up or worse — not to men
tion that pedestrians attempting to
cross these jumbled crosswalks are
literally racing for their lives.
The city never should have be
gun such a massive undertaking
anywhere near the time of fall
classes. No date should have been
scheduled which might have pos
sibly, with any complications, con
tinued to the start of this semester.
The University is welcoming one
of its largest freshman classes, not
to mention the tens of thousands
of students who already called
A&M home, and the city is making
a mess even messier.
The city often chooses to forget
that students are in fact residents of
this community, and makes this at
titude clear with decisions such as
closing Munson Street earlier this
summer. The catastrophe on Uni
versity has only further indicated
the city’s complete disregard of the
student residents of College Station.
O ver the past six years the
American people have been
treated to the newest and
hottest soap opera in the history of
man—the American Presidency.
The Clinton Presidency has
brought scandal after scandal to the
American people, and they have,
for the most part, refused to take <-411 a wav
notice. Not until the Monica Lewin-
sky matter brought the American
people into the president’s most private quarters did
they begin to take notice and exception.
Americans have become too comfortable and ob
sessed with their bank accounts. Things are pretty
good from a financial standpoint, so the president
has been in good graces with the American people.
This is what Political Scientists refer to as a pock-
etbook presidency.
The thing that the here-and-now, immediate grat
ification society does not understand is that deci
sions made long before Bill Clinton became the pres
ident are primarily responsible for the American
economy’s current level of comfort and stability.
If something does not deal with sex or immorality
then Americans are just not interested. There are is
sues that present cause for much greater concern
than that the Jones/Lewinsky scandals.
America needs to get its act together and come to
the realization that matters of national security have
been missed by this society of relatively poorly in
formed people.
The American people have heard little blurbs
about Travelgate, Filegate, Whitewater, Paula Jones,
Monica Lewinsky, Dick Morris and several other
facets of the Clinton presidency and for the most
part they have exhibited apathy.
Americans cannot continue to ignore issues
awaiting ther attention simply because there is no
tantalizing hook phrase or racy subject matter. Does
anyone still think the American way of life is a
provocative concept worth worrying about?
Today, Americans as a people, are confronted by
threats from all sides of the globe and they choose to
sit in awe of the president’s sexual appetite and pen
chant for non-truths.
America is being passive about our own contin
ued dominance in the world and it does not take
long for catastrophe to strike.
As a society, Americans are hunted and plagued
by terrorists and defiant zealots in the Middle East.
The lobby of an American-owned hotel franchise in
Teheran, Iran boasts a brass placard in the lobby de
manding “Death to America” to all that enter, and
mock American flags are burned in the streets of
several nations on a daily basis.
The financial markets in Asia are teetering on the
brink of disaster and our president is accused of al
lowing the sale of technology to the largest remain
ing communist force on the planet.
In addition, in the international arena, Russian
President Boris Yeltsin is about to lose control to a
communist regime. Surely that situation coupled
with the failing Russian economy will have ramifica
tions here at home. America, naturally, is on the
outs with the waiting-in-the-wings communist party.
Is there another Cold War around the corner?
Americans do not know much about that propo
sition, but they know who testified before the Grand
Jury in the Clinton matter yesterday.
They do not care about issues abroad and they do
nothing to change the focus of debate in the country
because somebody somewhere is having sex and
that is a hell of a lot more fun and interesting to lis
ten to than debating the finer points of presidential
ethics and national security.
The concerns about the president’s personal life
are warranted, but not at the expense of giving the
bank to the robbers.
To a large degree Americans have become a soci
ety captivated by junk. Hot, steamy, explicit — that
is all they seem to want.
America needs to get its head back in the prover
bial game and spend some time worrying about na
tional security and global standing. Hopefully, it will
not take a financial revolution and the threat of con
tinued international conflict to magically re-priori-
tize America.
Len Callaway is a senior journalism major.
Photo Illustration by Brandon Bollom/Thk Battalion
MANISHA
PAREKH
Textbook
prices soar
R oss Perot
was half
right; there
is a huge sucking
sound coming
from near Mexi
co, but it is not
the sound of
American jobs
going south — it _ B __ ii __ iiiiiiiiii _ ii _
is the sound from
Texas A&M students’ wallets after
buying textbooks.
With courses requiring fancy
new books each semester, the av
erage student can spend anywhere
from $200 to $600 on books for the
semester. That money could easily
pay for a lot of parking tickets. In
stead, the money goes into the
ever-growing cash cow known as
college bookstores.
One bookstore’s advertisements
claim that it has “a tradition of Ag
gies helping Aggies.” As many stu
dents can attest to after leaving this
establishment, and the other fine
bookstores, it seems more like “a
tradition of Aggies robbing Aggies.”
But many bookstores try to —
forgive the pun — pass the buck
and blame the publishers for the
insane textbook prices. According
to a pamphlet put out by Barnes &
Noble College Bookstores, 67 per
cent of the book price goes to the
publisher, nine percent to the au
thor and 2.5 percent to shipping.
But where does the other 21.5 per
cent go? That is correct — to the
bookstore (or university).
Barnes & Nobles tries to smooth
things over by writing, “though
textbooks are expensive, they are a
good value.” Maybe from the book
store end. But there is more. “But
faculty members also know that
even though they are expensive,
the textbooks you study are an im
portant part of your education, and
what you learn from them will stay
with you for a long time.” It is reas
suring to know that all A&M engi
neering majors will still always re
member that the Romans washed
their togas with urine.
Please, do not begin to believe
that book buy back will ease the
pain; it only makes the students
feel more like suckers.
There are are many “small
print” type things about book buy
back. First, there is no guarantee
that the textbook will actually be
bought back. With new editions
coming out faster than you can say
“overnight billionaires,” many stu
dents find their $100 books are
worth nothing in the span of sever
al months. Often, professors, hav
ing been wooed by a certain pub
lisher, will decide to use a different
textbook the next year. And while
the students are stuck with an in
vestment that is worth absolutely
nothing, professors are treated to a
new book, free of charge.
The second problem comes
when a bookstore does “buy” the
book back. Many bookstores post
signs claiming they offer the most
money for used textbooks. It is a
lovely statement that means very
little once students realize buy
back is simply a euphemism for
“taking college students for every
penny they are worth.” Of course,
that statement could be a little
harsh. After all, you can enjoy a
wonderful spread at McDonald’s
with the textbook buy-back money.
Perhaps if students stopped
simply complaining and started
doing something about this situa
tion, things might change.
So, here is the proposal: call
and e-mail your professors, your
faculty advisers and the adminis
tration about the textbook situa
tion. Let them know that enough
is enough. Talk to your Student
Senate representative and maybe
the Student Senate can, for once,
do something that actually bene
fits the Student Body.
It would certainly be quite an
achievement if Student Body Pres
ident Laurie Nickel actually man
aged to get the impotent student
government to do something be
sides passing toothless resolutions
and creating more committees.
If nothing else, student gov
ernment could sponsor a kind of
“book swap or sale” at which
students can sell their old books
to other students for a reason
able price.
There is no telling when this
massive scam will finally end. But
for the sake of students’ pocket-
books, it needs to end soon.
Manisha Parekh is a junior psy
chology and journalism major.