Battalion
O
PINION
Page 7 • Thursday, August 5, 1999
plOlympic showdown
icnext^ i r
fexas not suited for Olympic competition; Dallas should stop fighting Houston for bid
1 >
rd Pori' 1
ake Placid, Los Angeles, At
lanta, Salt Lake City and
Houston?
hat do these cities have in
ANTONIO common? Nothing except the
guard Terry pBnPjcs-
signing with Houston doesn t have
Spurs ^ p he Olympics yet, and hopefully
yesterday never but a11 the other
:ities have been awarded the
lonor of hosting the pinnacle of
nternational athletic competition.
Aaron
MEIER
purs and sever
lave courted
| l Julv e E» ow > not one ’ but two > Texas cities are vying for
n 'hjl' L , die!2012 Summer Olympic Games — Houston and
rnm tn cn' Dallas,
jl jjjfJ^Kord save us all.
Antonio°Ern ffi S ure ’ if the 01 y m P ics came to either town it
‘ would mean all sorts of honors being bestowed on
ition to the SI
lass
he state.
Jfake Atlanta, for instance. Before the 1996 games,
n was one of three things to people: the town
: , IU 'dose to Scarlett’s plantation, the city where the
, Braves play or the town Ted Thrner has turned into
1 ' ean 1 his own personal playground. Now, ask any Ameri
can about Atlanta and they will mention either the
ot some re ; « m Pi cs or prostitutes for Super Bowl players,
n from so® B at a ,g reat town.
s,” Marcus kj h ut t ace mots: the chances of Dallas or Houston
u’dget officer or 8 a 11 izers coaxing the Summer Olympics to the
executives ^ ne ^ tar State is about as likely as the Winter
ut which pkl m P ics being awarded to El Paso,
pport. Team K irst ’ there is a little thing Texans like to call hu-
tisunprofitablfp^’ , . . .
nodome MwPh things like heat indices and humidity factors
urs want a |fr wn i 1110 the 95-degree heat, no athlete in his/her
, / right mind is going to want to run a marathon
ied with h*\ ^ rou g.h downtown Houston, unless there is an air
A , conditioning unit duct taped to their back,
na for theSputiff ven ^ urin g the Atlanta games, athletes com-
, 7 plained that the humidity there hindered their per
formance and this resulted in fewer world records
being set as compared to past games.
ggAnother problem with the Olympics coming to
Texas is a complete and total lack of football, and I
I don’t mean soccer.
/\b\ u -.There a re two things Texans like to hear —
Lllllvnouchdown” and “free barbecue.” Texans are so ra
bid over football they would probably fill a high
school stadium just to watch a movie about football,
sse won its
hip.
such as Varsity Blues. Sure fans would watch a few
hours of 10-year old girls folding themselves in half
on the floor exercise competition, but as soon as a
football fan confused the rhythmic gymnastics ball
for a pig skin, there would be mayhem as little girls
are punted over the high bar for the extra point.
Besides that, what would either city do for the
opening ceremonies — the big spectacle that sets
the tone for the rest of the games?
Barcelona depicted the tale of Hercules on one of
his legendary journeys, founding the city.
Atlanta’s closing ceremonies metaphorically de
picted the destruction and rebirth of the city follow
ing the Civil War.
Maybe Houston should put forth the heroic tale
of Mattress Mac opening his first store so he can
“save you money.”
Perhaps it could have Marvin Zindler tell all the
attendees which restaurants in town had
“slime in the ice machine,” and then fol
low with Tommy TUne taking on Dolly
Parton’s role in “The Best Little Whore
House in Texas. ”
Not that Dallas has anything better to
offer. Reenacting the Kennedy assassina
tion would not really go over too well,
even if Oliver Stone produced it.
Another obstacle in the road to Olympic fever
is the recent Salt Lake City scandals.
Accusations of International Olympic Commit
tee corruption and city-sponsored kickbacks
in order acquire the 2002 Winter
Olympics have turned the town that
Brigham Young built into a laughing
stock, aside from the entire polygamy
thing.
But you shouldn’t send a bunch of Mor
mons to do what Texans have been doing since
the creation of the republic. How else would Lyn
don Johnson have been elected to the Senate?
The only conceivable way for either town to
win the Olympics in 2012 is for them to possibly
join forces and turn it into a statewide bid.
Heck, have George W. Bush lead the committee.
He is pretty good at being popular for absolutely no
reason.
Just have him saunter into a few IOC meetings,
shake some hands, show pictures of him and dad at
Kennebunkport, and boom — the state will be
ink
— Diversity proven to help students
oi Kansas, is
more than 5!
se of the gradesgr 1
ts suspended I
academic
he 1996 1
Hopwood
decision.
vas in
Caleb
MCDANIEL
which abol
shed an affir-
-.ions «'4rs of
m mony i. School, did
met le^Jot sett i e the
tant a debate over race-weighted univer-
coacli jjty admissions.
^ ra , n ’ " V / nst ead, it has only unleashed
nally 0 firestorm of controversy over
blame tc/he justification of consciously ad-
ing Axtet mining minority members to di-
mat ' on ' , |£ rs 'fy a student population.
Accord Those ^0 disagree with Hop-
5 the sworn Bod's precedent have argued
1 mony, Owning from multicultural diver-
— through Sity is a crucial feature in a stu
ped his longtsfent’s education.
Axtell’s gradf ;: A report released yesterday by
tations. [he Civil Rights Project at Harvard
Leslie Parle University offered long-awaited
led her bwof that they are right.
ie document Researchers conducted a
Gallup Poll survey of 81 percent
l P acc epted rlFhe students enrolled in law
hipld blame fu 00 ^ at Harvard University and
S wsn®. ^"‘versity of Michigan.
• i/Tup cotildl Almost 65 percent of those
?hp tesl ; P0lled said ethnic and racial di-
r ] t ” Oran ; f ers ity in the classroom has im-
did it, era proved dasg discussions _
/A staggering 87 percent
|nanged their views about civil
Ehts because of interaction with
indents from diverse multicultur-
J , dents from di
/I P|P backgrounds.
The report, which offered re
sults similar to other studies gath
ering faculty opinions on campus
diversity, gives some important
quantitative support to race-based
admissions policies.
Its testimony should reinvigo
rate the debate over affirmative
action in law schools and univer
sities. This debate is desperately
in need of new insights.
The controversy has generally
stagnated into a stalemate be
tween merit being the sole factor
in admissions decisions and using
affirmative action to help minori
ty applicants.
The Harvard report should
shift the debate away from these
issues of fairness toward equally
important educational issues.
The prevailing question has
been whether affirmative action is
just, but the pressing question of
whether affirmative action en
hances the educational environ
ment has largely been ignored.
The pro-diversity responses of
nearly 90 percent of the surveyed
students should bring this ques
tion to the fore.
The debate can finally recenter
around the opinions of the most
interested party in the debate —
real students.
Thus far, those students who
have gone to court protesting the
unfairness of affirmative action
have dominated the discussion.
This report, however, reveals
these angry litigants are not nec
essarily representative of students
as a whole.
Some students may believe the
benefits of diversity outweigh the
disadvantages of affirmative ac
tion.
“It’s measuring the people
who most benefit from diversity,”
Mark Hass, a spokesperson for
the University of Michigan Law
School, told The New York Times.
“It’s asking the students about it.”
Far from being a blight, multi
cultural diversity offers an invalu
able contribution to the educa
tional experience. Universities
who recognize this by implement
ed race-weighted admissions poli
cies are merely doing what is best
for their students. Since they are
hired to be good educators, they
should be applauded.
Texas A&M, for the first time,
is taking really serious steps to
improve diversity on campus
through Vision 2020. University
officials should take note of this
research as a validation of their
efforts.
They should also consider sur
veying Aggie students by asking
similar questions about the im
pact of diversity on their academ
ic careers.
And like-minded officials
around the country should renew
efforts to diversify the college
classroom.
Caleb McDaniel is a junior
• history major.
very
dub?'w»;
> rs Chuck
out Low
imong b 1 --,,
iGtivatoranT
alent.
ninute
j him,
■ e> ” Aeros
ickto ex#!,
the NHiaf
or league
of H
c me the <1;
feel about
National k
said. M
This is aS
>ckey heap,
;oing t0
and
flooded with 10-gallon-hat wearers scarfing down fa
jitas and chili.
It would also make the creation of an official
Olympic mascot much easier. Get some A&M scien
tists to join forces with UT and create the first long
horned collie. They could call it Revo.
Jeff Smith/The Battalion
And what would happen if a Texan won a gold
medal. Would they play “The Star Spangled Banner”
or “Texas, Our Texas?”
Aaron Meier is a senior
political science major.
cbssTmntssff
AOL Instant Messenger policy
unfairly restricts competition
O
Mark
PASSWATERS
ver the
past
year,
the Justice De
partment has
taken aim at
the computer
software giant
Microsoft.
It has ac-
cused the
company of using strong-arm
tactics in an attempt to create a
monopoly over the industry.
While the Justice Depart
ment’s case has shown Mi
crosoft’s owner. Bill Gates, is a
not-so-nice guy, it has yet to
conclusively prove Microsoft is
in violation of federal anti-trust
laws.
If the Justice Department
does succeed in its battle with
Microsoft, then it may want to
consider making Internet giant
America Online (AOL) its next
target.
AOL has a history of using its
large share of the market (about
40 percent) to its advantage, and
its actions in the past couple of
weeks are as blatantly monopo
listic as anything Microsoft has
ever done.
Five years ago, AOL pio
neered the America Online In
stant Messenger (AIM) system,
which is one of the most popular
aspects of the Internet compa
ny’s service.
Instant Messages (IMs) allows
two people to communicate over
the Internet in real time, imitat
ing a conversation more closely
than e-mail messages.
Any AOL user can send an IM
to another AOL user, and the
company designed their software
so an AOL user may also send
IMs to non-AOL users who
download the program from the
Internet.
AOL has allowed other com
panies, such as Prodigy and Ya
hoo, to use some of the IM tech
nology for the past few years.
But this spirit of cooperation
vanished in an instant on July
25, when Microsoft introduced
its own version of the IM sys
tem, which would allow people
using Microsoft software to com
municate with people on AOL.
As soon as this happened,
AOL did the Internet version of
taking their ball and going home
by blocking anyone using mes
senger software from Microsoft,
Prodigy or Yahoo from sending
messages to people on AOL.
In one move, the nation’s
largest provider of Internet ser
vices eliminated the ability of
those not using the system to
contact those who were.
Of course, AOL users can still
send their IMs to AIM users on
the outside, giving AOL total
competitive advantage in the IM
market.
AOL has threatened to sue
Microsoft over its actions, saying
it is bombarding AOL’s 40 mil
lion users with unwanted mes
sages.
AOL’s “actions in
the past couple of
weeks are as
blatantly
monopolistic as
anything Microsoft
has ever done.”
In an ironic twist, Microsoft
has threatened to countersue,
saying AOL is acting in a fashion
which prevents the industry
from standardizing and is at
tempting to destroy other Inter
net Service Providers (ISPs) —
just like a monopoly.
The funny thing is that Mi
crosoft is right on the money.
Abishek Garni, an investment
analyst with William Blair & Co.
in Chicago said in a Washington
Post article, “Standardization re
ally isn’t in AOL’s best interest.”
With its IM program, AOL has
created the goose with the gold
en egg and does not want to give
it up.
Yahoo and Prodigy are very
small in terms of providing Inter
net service, so lending them IM
technology has done little to
damage their market share.
But when a behemoth like Mi
crosoft gets in the ring, the rules
are a little different.
AOL now fears it may have
some new competition and in
tends to do anything it can to get
rid of it.
Blocking Microsoft from using
IM technology also gives AOL a
pretext to cancel its deals with
Yahoo and Prodigy, thus ensur
ing its large market share.
While this dispute alone may
not be enough to warrant the in
spection of the Justice Depart
ment, AOL’s track record certain
ly does not help it out.
In the past, AOL has lost law
suits for price gouging (charging
customers for hours that they
were not online) and for not pro
viding proper access to cus
tomers who signed up for a flat
fee and then were unable to get
online.
It has also been threatened
with suits for attempting to
change terms of service for its
current customers.
While this is not in itself an
uncompetitive trade practice, it
does give an idea as to what
AOL would do if not properly
checked.
If the Justice Department is
concerned with Microsoft’s un
willingness to share its technolo
gy with potential competitors,
then AOL should be on the look
out for men in cheap suits with
badges showing up at its door.
AOL has a statue in its head
quarters in Reston, Va., of a pa
per Tyrannosaurus Rex which is
supposed to be Microsoft.
Apparently, AOL has decided
to be king of the ISPs, much like
Microsoft has tried to be the
king of the software providers.
If the Department of Justice is
truly interested in busting up
prospective trusts, it may want
to send a meteor toward AOL’s
little world.
Mark Passwaters is an electrical
engineering graduate student.