:talion
Op
inion
Page 15 •Wednesday, September 9, 1998
lays ctujking violations
‘ mini iOW immaturity
Duma would k •
CHRIS
HUFFINES
ould...
tiissoK ing the . average
!° n ' l1iu ^ ^ mission
would , e at
tluoughout Rus &M y n i
n was typi s 18
la ! k j Ir011 ' Zva d . That
|'j ^ ^ acconi
I'l-tme tor Rus- ie laws ot
sta’s crippiinc ted
almost
1,11 ' u 'lt~!n Jn udent at
lii^ governme iversity has achieved the
and none or mature adult.
Dunu |ever, by the actions of
whit h has con Students in recent days, it
; maturity has disap-
blocked ec Student cars are parked
nomu reforms aut everywhere one looks
strengthened ely between the little lines
Among stjiiec fine a parking space. Stu-
radical overhc. round here need to grow
collection svs begin parking legally,
tiononlandov littedly, parking at A&M is
that would tor:- feet; A search through the
declare bankrc: sations at Sbisa, the Com-
The poss:f >r Duncan Dining Halls, or
economic an : t scan of back issues of The
< ould s['illover in will quickly reveal that
on the mindsi ts are very unhappy with
Alexy II,: 'king situation on campus.
Russian On r pretty good reasons. Most
proved for [hu { ^ ots are located across a
icon, Our Lid\ 16 street and a very busy
central \k - 1 of railroad tracks. “Taking
' Civil war, fe in your hands” is not too
m the truth.
ms could brim: -ourse, the dining hall
blood a I wavs A ic that identifies these
Presidential
■ms fails to mention the
Se’ cei Yistrehr 3115 s y stem and other mea-
" unlikciv the Department of Parking,
; and Iransportation Ser
nas taken to ensure stu-
afety. Nor does it mention
ct that every major univer-
aywhere near the size of
, , , , has similar — and usually
m the Iegi? bmr - }
was
date for prime
Wednesday. Tht
speculation inth
idem was trying
i a a r mfrontdti
lature'
— problems. The situa-
; not as bad as Aggies
it out to be.
is year, things seem far
than they really are, with
traduction of hundreds of
reshmen. On-campus park-
m is become something that
A |y resembles po apt x
— | Los Angeles freeway,
w e parking lots nearest to
Icampus are stuffed to the
1 l In response, cars are park-
’Cfc OUl^ the aisles and through-
making their own
es” and blocking traffic,
/ acres of empty parking
1 n lots farther out.
is is the vehicular equiva-
A /NI rfif / a tem P er t a ntrum. Aggie
All lA /( s seem t0 he saying, “I’m
ECMl,
:ei a Kinjsim i«i>-ristian outreach
mfessi,in,ii in-oic sn fanatical
W spa
udenl II) (o qualifj
de loday!
ru
lor TO THE *T«**
j°since 1984
VIM!
ICC!
system qi
Marble +
aonse to the Sept. 8 mail call:
st want to say “amen” to
ail call from Sept. 8. An-
[Baley’s optimistic view of
:ianity ignored all its nega-
ects.
iat about the psycho airport
^.ians and the pamphlets that
ally appear on your wind
going to park here, even if you
say I can’t.”
Tom Williams, Director of
PTTS, said Parking Area 63, be
hind Olsen Field, and the Reed
Arena parking lots almost al
ways have spaces. Also, buses
leave from within 200 yards of
each space in both of those lots.
In other words, there is no good
reason not to park where there
are spaces available and conve
nient access to campus.
The most convenient solution
for PTTS and students every
where is for Aggies to begin
parking only where they are sup
posed to park, instead of wher
ever they please.
This would solve the problem.
The forces of realism, however,
say this is not to be.
After all, this is the same cul
ture where studies show soccer
moms are more likely to run stop
signs (and potentially hit another
soccer mom’s child) and where
Geraldo Rivera aspires to legiti
macy. It is an imperfect world,
and the most intelligent thing to
do is almost never done.
And so, since the carrot will
not work, PTTS needs to turn to
the stick. Students found parked
in places they just should not be
parked, like the ends of rows
and aisles in the parking lots,
should be towed out to an empty
parking slot — preferably the
farthest one — and a boot
should be placed on the car until
the offending student pays the
usual fine.
Minor infractions like acci
dentally parking in the wrong
color lot or staying in 30-minute
parking for too long could be
handled normally.
This would do two things.
First, this technique would drive
home the lesson to students that
the only places that one can
legally park are between the
white lines. It would also re
move the offenders from every
one else’s way.
Students — who are supposed
to be adults, remember — have
created this situation through
their own thoughtlessness and
immaturity. It is a shame it may
take Draconian measures on the
part of the administration to
make parking accommodating for
all students.
Chris Huffines is a junior
speech communication major.
MAIL CALL
shield all the time? Did God bless
the world with fanatics?
I get enough harassment from
Christian fanatics at the mall
that I don’t need more of it at
school.
So, Hallelujah to you if you
have seen the light, but I person
ally like not belonging to a world
wide cult and not being harassed
for it.
Ann C. Tsao
Class of ’01
Culture, closed-mindedness and costumes
New restaurant’s ‘thematic’ dress code exploits stereotypes
A
t the 12th Man Interna
tional Food Court all of
.your favorite interna
tional foods are now being
served with a special side or
der of racial stereotyping.
The Department of Food
Services recently completed
extensive upgrades of on-
campus dining facilities.
Most of these changes, such
as updating Sbisa Dining Hall
from the disco era, are
positive revisions. Howev
er, there is one area where
the Department of Food
Services needs to rethink
their strategy.
On the main floor of the
MSC, where the 12th Man
Burgers and Snacks facility
used to be, is the newly-es
tablished 12th Man Interna
tional Food Court.
Among the three restau
rants in this food court is a
restaurant called Elephant
Wok, focusing on “Pan-
Asian” cuisine.
A food establishment
serving Asian food repre
sents an innovative on-cam-
pus dining experience. The
problem is, workers at this
restaurant are required to
wear Asian-themed uni
forms consisting of black
Oriental coats.
Who came up with such
an offensive idea? Appar
ently, someone has seen
one too many episodes of
“Bonanza.” Hop-Singh, the
stereotypical Chinese cook
on that television program,
was an insensitive carica
ture even when the televi
sion show originally aired,
let alone nowadays.
Granted, the Depart
ment of Food Services may
be trying to establish an
authentic international
eating experience, howev
er, if the food court is go
ing to be a recreation of
racial cliches, why not be
equally offensive to all
cultures?
Perhaps one of the
restaurants could serve typ
ical American food such as
Beenie-Weenies and maca
roni & cheese out of a repli
ca of a mobile home, ser
viced by employees
wearing jogging pants
and wife-beater T-shirts.
STEVEN
GYESZLY
Not surprisingly, many current Food Ser
vice employees working at the new food court
are not very happy about the new uniforms.
“I don’t like them at
all,” one employee
said. “The uni
forms bother
me be-
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
77843-1111
Campus Mail: 1113,
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu
j Elephant Wokfg
TODAYS special^!
Racial sterotypes
and cultural intolerance
cause it makes me wonder how I would feel if
1 had to wear something that made fun of my
own culture.”
The Asian-themed uniforms are not merely
insulting for what they portray, but they also
demean the employees.
Agriculture professors are not required to
teach class in overalls and a straw hat for the
amusement of the students, so why should
Food Service employees have to wear a cos
tume for the same reason?
If the idea of Asian-themed uniforms
seems repugnant to those who have
no direct ties to the culture, imag
ine how it must feel for those
whose racial heritage is be
ing imitated.
As one international
student who is a mem
ber of the China Club,
stated, “It’s hard enough
being stereotyped by
other students. But it is
even more painful when
the stereotyping is done
by my university.”
It is not just the stu
dents and faculty from
various countries that
could be offended by the-
uniforms. Visitors come
from around the world to
see A&M.
The University has pro
gressed to the point where
it can pride itself on its in
ternational relations and
cultural diversity.
A&M has academic
partnerships with univer
sities in various Asian na
tions, and there is an In
stitute for Pacific Asia on
campus. And yet Food
Services, an official divi
sion within the University,
is apparently condoning
— and even requiring —
coolie-esque uniforms.
Sadly, this last fact will
taint any other image the
University may try to es- ;
tablish.
A&M students should
know as well as anyone
what it is like to fight
against a tired stereotype
that should have been put to
rest long ago. So why
should students tolerate any
kind of stereotyping on their
campus? Asian-themed uni
forms should only be seen at
one place — old reruns of
“Bonanza” on Nick-at-Nite.
Steven Gyeszly is a senior
finance major.
Moral absolutes, not public opinion,
should determine right and wrong
T
JOSH
MASKOW
there has
been
much
clamor recently
from the Clinton
defenders citing
opinion polls
that show the
president’s job
approval rating
remains high
despite his recent scandals.
Actions that once would have
drawn outrage and condemnation
from both secular and religious
American leaders are now ig
nored or defended simply be
cause the economy is strong.
Although it shames the coun
try — once known for its Puritan
ethics — that a president would
publicly admit — and express no
sorrow for — such immoral be
havior, it is even more troubling
to consider the manner in which
the opinion on Clinton’s actions
has been determined.
The idea that pure popular
consensus should be used to de
cide public policy is highly ques
tionable, and it is a notion that
was abhorrent to the writers of
the Constitution.
It is frightening that public
opinion alone should be used to
determine public morality. It is
an idea that can only wreak hav
oc on the practice of democracy
in America.
The Constitution was never in
tended to be a shroud for de
bauchery and criminality. The
founding fathers assumed that
certain actions were, by defini
tion, morally wrong and ought to
be punished regardless of the
criminal’s opinion on the matter.
Since the turn of the 20th cen
tury, radical individualism has
made inroads in elite political cir
cles (including the judiciary, orga
nized religion and the media).
The American culture as a
whole has shifted away from
standards of moral truth to a con
sensus opinion of moral rela
tivism as a tool to determine a
conduct’s absolute ethical value.
People who want to feel less
guilty and more “normal” resent
the moral codes and authorities
that “make” them feel guilty
about their behavior instead of
changing their behavior in accor
dance with the precepts they ap
parently hold.
Churches and other tradition
al strongholds of morality have
committed a sort of moral sur
render, and the consequences
are widespread.
Problems that would have
seemed unthinkable only a centu
ry ago — rampant illegitimacy,
unchecked crime and the culture
of brutality and sexuality so char
acteristic of our society today —
are now common and nearly im
possible to stop.
The founding fathers assumed
certain traditional moral institu
tions would enforce penalties for
irresponsible actions. They could
never have foreseen the major
Christian sects in America turning
a blind eye to immorality as they
have done today.
Instead of upholding stan
dards, many Christian denomi
nations have changed their
teachings regarding morality so
as not to alienate their “enlight
ened” members.
America’s churches of today
value popularity over morality.
In an attempt to achieve harmo
ny, the just condemnation of im
morality has become passe to
many church leaders. These
leaders apparently neglected
many of their own teachings.
America’s moral sickness is
not confined to religion. The are
na of politics is alive with accusa^
tion of a vast right-wing conspira
cy [of morality], in which a
supposedly radical faction of the
right wing intends to impose its
worldview upon others.
Any principled traditionalist is
labeled extremist, while Ameri
cans are led to believe the radical
individualist is somehow repre
sentative of the typical American
Politics has been described as
a “civil religion,” where those
who hold no supernatural convic
tions attempt to find fulfillment
through a clash of ideology in
tended to replace the fight be
tween moral good and evil.
Indeed, communism, fascism
and Nazism are all faith systems
of the moral relativist who seeks
meaning in a fantasy Utopia of
egalitarianism. The Constitution
does not guarantee equality or ab
solute safety.
This shift from moral absolutes
in the form of organized religion
to the moral relativism of secular
humanism and public consensus
is the chief characteristic of 20th
century thought. This trait will
continue to erode traditional val
ues until an Orwellian leader rec
ognizes the true potential of such
moral relativism.
Josh Maskow is a sophomore
computer science major.