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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1998)
^ s s 8 : SeiD-t. - talion pinion Page 11 • Friday, September 4, 1998 ' v '“'tting involved, making a difference C committees offer students experience and training ne to 1 We will be : ay from 2 to 6 p.m. 'esentatives from idreds of campus or- ans will flood the the MSC as they ad- heir groups and re- n members. /ISC’s Open House is ting undertaking. It all task to assemble /ide range of clubs DAVE JOHNSTON capat Our gives afternoon, but the project is just one lany tasks of the organization known lemorial Student Center. dSC is comprised of 24 committees, , areas from performing arts to leader- ning programs. The committees in- er 1,800 Aggies, creating a collection rces unparalleled on the A&M campus. Sunday, those committees will be re- >u ^ alongside other campus organizations, • : ’ r lents should make a point of learning T y can get involved with the MSC. ::: all its assets, the MSC has a lot to of- o: f ?nts|Although anyone can attend an )gram. Aggies have the opportunity to iting experiences by helping to pro- :>se same programs. USi Hurd, a senior computer science and international studies major and this year’s MSC president, said the MSC provides stu dents with a real learning experience. “Students are involved from generating the ideas to putting on the programs,” Hurd said. The MSC hosts many highly visible events. The Film Society brings a variety of films to Rudder Auditorium, MSC Cepheid Variable plans a large science-fiction convention each year, and several committees such as MSC Wi ley Lecture Series bring interesting or big- name speakers to campus. Besides allowing students to hear speakers like Margaret Thatcher and Colin Powell, the MSC also offers members an opportunity to plan these same major campus events. MSC committees vary in size from 40 stu dents to about 200. Here students work to gether and can develop skills that will help them later in life — such as working in teams. Besides hosting productions, the MSC has committees dedicated to creating leadership programs to help students. MSC members are given a variety of opportunities to extend their abilities as leaders through both experi ence and training. The MSC offers programs designed for many different groups, including several pro grams just for freshmen; Aggie Leaders of To morrow, Aggie Fish Club, the Freshman Lead ership Organization and others. But freshmen are encouraged to get involved with any MSC committee. There is an MSC committee for al most every interest, and Open House is a great time to get involved. Students interested in joining an MSC com mittee should talk to fellow Aggies at Open House and find a committee that interests them. Each committee will hold an informa tional meeting in the near future, allowing stu dents to get more information on any commit tees they are considering joining. Once a student has decided on a commit tee, they must apply to join. Committee chairs review applications to find Aggies who are motivated and will remain involved through out the year. MSC members should be hard workers who are committed to making a dif ference on the campus. The MSC encompasses so many programs that it can affect almost every Aggie — if they choose to allow it. Opportunities extend be yond the surface. Aggies have more options than just hearing a lecture or attending a pro gram, they can also get involved and help make a difference. Dave Johnston is a senior mathematics major. nice to ot of peoph d get into • mode for ' nfet C :e play.' UJRIE CORBEL :,a , y, t . 1 ? 1 e , SC Open House: diversity on display mt features smorgasbord of campus student organizations ial will be- M V0LLEYBAL1 , just has COACH /ery se since time ■"■“■■^"“■orial. Ea- „ lents will i needing e Memori- the Agg - nt Ce p {e f fj rst rt , assaulted ive of CHRIS HUFFINES season . , , sight and spiel. !ih | ,, ^ 0 : four hours of deafening . ' . rowded hallways and re- ..q u! pressure, these students l u> j' 1 ve under the heavy burden , ; ', ' louts, somehow believing [’jfi "■ s a worthwhile experience. ^ „ /ever, despite whatever _ good co. _ T , . , I tournair s Open House grants stu- , ( , , nd student organizations, s a major overhaul.^^^™ rnance U people littedly, a forum such as mode fo louse is necessary. With )0 student organizations ' llu ^ A&M campus, ranging onors recruiting to skydiv- DPAS, there needs to be a r prospective members to re them. Open House per- that admirably. dll O sma ^ er organizations v nnot advertise or plaster , Lftipus with fliers need to, at l^TTHUlUiriefiy, appeal to the entire t body. Open House also a excellent job in this de- mt, by keeping all organiza itherineKelleinequalfootiiig. , , .. ,, , these benefits are out- >hley Kelly weighed by Open House’s flaws. It is hot, noisy and crowded. Aside from the purely physi cal, Open House also asks stu dents to contrast a wide range of organizations. There are not just apples and oranges to compare, but bananas and kiwis and can taloupes, too. Also, only half or less of all stu dent organizations can physically fit into the MSC for Open House. This, unfortunately, cuts in to Open House’s benefits of compar ing all the student organizations and helping smaller ones get their 15 minutes. And, as the number of student organizations grows, this problem will only get worse. There are solutions. Open House should be moved into a larger space and should be divid ed so different groups are split into mini-Open Houses. Since the MSC cannot hold even the number of groups it does now comfortably, it should be moved to a larger space, such as Reed Arena. The main floor of Reed Arena has 25,000 square feet of exhibit space, plus an additional 10 meet ing rooms that range from in size 600 to 6,000 square feet. That is not an insignificant portion of real estate. In addition, the sheer size of the rooms will cut down on the heat and noise, especially if sound dampeners are hung to kill echoes. Reed Arena also has good parking and is not as much of a maze as the MSC. Despite Reed Arena’s mon strous size, even it may not be able to hold every organization for Open House. Or, the MSC may decide to continue hosting the event on-site. Either way. Open House should be divided into a series of mini-Open Houses. Student orga nizations can be naturally divided into several different categories; categories that could each have their own Open House, eliminat ing the crowds and apple-orange comparisons that are currently plaguing Open House. For example, the sports-related organizations could hold Open House one day, with the academ ic organizations taking the next day and so on and so forth. One will not take away from the other, and this will cut the size of Open House dramatically each day, since some students will not attend every one of the the mini-Open Houses while, more importantly, the booths will take up much less space. Both of these will make the en tire Open House atmosphere much less claustrophobic. Here and now, the problems with Open House are obvious. It is too late to reform Sunday’s Open House, but for the spring, for the good of the student body, Open House must be changed. Chris Huffines is a junior speech communications major. Campus decisions made by pocketbooks T hey are tak ing away Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. For those stu dents who never got to participate in the subversive side of Disney World, joy-riding with Mr. Toad STEVEN GYESZLY meant “driving” a stolen car past various obstacles until getting hit head on by a train and going straight to hell. Surprisingly, Mr. Toad is not being replaced as part of Disney World’s ongoing effort to make a visit to the Magic Kingdom as wholesome as a trip to church, al beit without the free wine. The reason Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is go ing the way of the serving wench from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is purely business. Disney believes the Mr. Toad ride, based on a children’s book character several decades old, is not making nearly as much mon ey as a newer, more market- friendly attraction could. Despite the nostalgia that the Wild Ride evokes for an older generation, there is simply no way that popu lar sentiment can compete against the lure of higher profits. Money as the primary factor in decision making is not limited to large corporations. The influence of the almighty dollar has a key effect on students everyday here at Texas A&M University. Aggies came back to school this semester to find that parking on the side of George Bush Drive, one of the last bastions of free parking close to the University, is now illegal. Many students saw it as yet another fiendish plot hatched by the Parking, Traffic and Transportation Service to make students walk marathon like distances just to get to class. The truth is the City of College Station received a million-dollar federal transportation grant, and building bicycle paths throughout the city —- including installing bi cycle lanes along George Bush Dri ve — was merely one component of receiving the grant. One million dollars, or convenience for a small percentage of students and staff — to city planners, it was a very logi cal choice to make. Another example of the power of money in decision making can be seen on a tour of campus. Even with the most perfunctory glance, the differences between the facilities for the College of Business and the philosophy de partment are striking. The most convenient explanation is to pro claim a lack or respect towards certain academic fields. However, the reality is much simpler. The College of Business brings in much more money to the Uni versity through company dona tions as well as industry-funded research and consulting. Unfortu nately for the philosophy depart ment, Socrates is no longer around to endow a chair. That is the difference between a room where the screen electronically descends from the ceiling and a classroom where the chalkboard is barely attached to the wall. As students, it is easy to ratio nalize why things should go ex actly the way Aggies want them to. After all, there are several vari ations to their reasoning. “My tu ition is paying for his/her salary,” and “Last semester’s fees went to pay for this building” are all com mon refrains. These complaints are tempting, but unrealistic. A student taking 15 hours pays around $1,800 in tuition and fees to the University per semester. Granted, students, who have learned to subside on a Ramen- Noodles-and- Big-K-soda budget, consider this is a staggering amount. But also consider that a professors’ salary can range from $30,000 to well over $150,000, and the construction of a new building costs several millions of dollars. Students pay a small frac tion of what it costs to run the University and as such, get a small fraction of say in how the University is run. This may seem to be a very callous attitude, but to paraphrase Marlon Brando in The Godfather, it is nothing personal, just busi ness. No single institution is out to get college students; our needs are simply not the most valuable option. It is a harsh truth, but it works both ways. Students attend college because earning a college degree means earning a higher salary than going out into the work force with merely a high school diploma. So in the end, who uses who? Either way, Mr. Toad still isn’t coming back. Steven Gyeszly is a senior finance major. mbers! elissa Maine. v uanda Mansi / McCoy en McNeil Merritt Michael a Muggley O’Neal erine Owen: ea Peterson a Piotrows! r Piskun sa Roberts Roundtree ■rine SaranJ •ah Saundef e Savage anie Schafl' Shaver Sieger rtey Smith /n Stemmed Lynn Steven i Strube inie Tannen a Telotte I'hrogmortf! ;r Trogolo rly Twiggs Watkins ■ Weaver • Woodson aklin Yochim 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