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O PINION
Page 15 •Thursday, September 16, 1999
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^According to the National
[hway Traffic Safety Adminis-
lation, studies show automobile
[vers are four times more like-
jto be in an accident if one of
drivers is talking on a cell
ihone.
That is almost as high an ac
cident rate as for drunken dri-
ing. Numbers like that are bad.
Cell phones were a significant
factor in 57 fatal crashes in
The problem is people are just
trying to do too much while dri
ving. While almost all drivers do
realize driving requires atten
tion, many do not realize driving
requires a lot of attention.
The modern automobile is, in
fact, a highly complex machine
weighing in excess of 3,000
pounds, capable of not only
reaching speeds in the triple dig
its, but also of flattening other
cars on the road like a whoopee
cushion under a sumo wrestler.
Automobiles can be multi-ton
death machines.
Driving while talking on a cell
phone is not like walking and
chewing gum, it is like chewing
gum and trying to tie a cherry
stem into a knot with one’s
tongue.
Both driving and speaking re
quire motor control, analytical
thought, interpretation of out
side stimulus and undivided at
tention. If distractions exist,
wires are bound to get crossed
and accidents are bound to hap
pen.
What makes the problem
even more severe is that many of
the people who talk and drive
tend to “talk with their hands,”
even while on the phone.
Aside from the obvious prob
lem of conveying hand gestures
over the phone, swerving into
nearby lanes because one is ar
guing with one’s spouse is some
thing that should be avoided.
If there is already a fight going
on, wrecking the car is certainly
not going to make things better
at home.
Cell phones do make a state
ment. Carrying a cell phone tells
the world that the wearer is im
portant — a man or woman who
must be available to make criti
cal decisions that might affect
millions at the drop of a hat.
Cell phones declare, “The per
son who owns me and is fash
ionably toting me around has
status! ”
Cell phones are also emer-
geiTcy tools par excellence.
Losing a tire or “Cher-
nobyling” the engine while on
the back roads of Texas is a bad
experience that can be lessened
knowing help is on the way —
courtesy of the cell phone and
the 911 system.
But there is a difference be
tween carrying a cell phone for
emergencies and gabbing around
on the phone while driving. The
difference is that those who car
ry a cell phone for emergencies
carry one to protect themselves
from dangerous situations.
Those who carry cell phones
to socialize while driving put
other drivers into an emergency
situation.
Paramedics like to be bored.
Put the cell phones away while
behind the wheel, or at least pull
over to the side.
Anything else can and will
put everyone on the road at risk.
Chris Huffines is a senior
speech communication major.
CPKSRATS) CUftoH GRAFTED
VOU CLEOOENCY! SfYWT[Y\CVE
wearing that BUTTON i
MAIL CALL
Bowen’s policy
not Inclusive’
I find it very ironic that Texas
A&M University President Dr. Ray
M. Bowen states that this univer
sity is “an inclusive institution that
provides broad-based support.”
I think Dr. Bowen needs to real
ize that his choice not to support
the addition of sexual orientation
to the non-discrimination clause
does not match his words in this
article. How can he expect gay,
lesbian, bisexual ortransgendered
Aggies to feel they are part of “an
inclusive institution” if they are
still not fully protected from dis
crimination at A&M?
It is time for Dr. Bowen, Dr.
Southerland and the administra
tion at Texas A&M to start acting
instead of speaking.
If someone does not believe
A&M is the 3rd least gay-friendly
institution in the nation, then all
he or she has to do is look at the
administration.
Jeffrey B. Bell
Class of ’00
U.S. implicated in
East Timor crisis
The United States is inaccu
rately portrayed in the media as
merely an innocent bystander in
the recent elections in East Timor.
President Gerald Ford and Sec
retary of State Henry Kissinger
were in Jakarta the day before the
Indonesian invasion of East Timor
in 1975 and gave the green light
for the invasion.
U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations Daniel Patrick Moynihan
blocked implementation of all
U.N. resolutions against the inva
sion. U.S. military aid and training
of Indonesian soldiers increased
following the invasion.
The fighter jets and helicopter
gun ships, which bombed and
strafed East Timorese fleeing to
the mountains, came from the
United States.
At the height of the atrocities
in 1978, when an estimated
200,000 East Timorese had been
killed out of a total population of
600,000, coverage of this geno
cide in the U.S. media dropped to
zero. Now, over 20 years later,
when Indonesian death squads
are again rampaging through. East
Timor, another media whitewash
of the U.S. role is in progress.
Gary Sudborough
Bellflower, Calif.
The Battalion encourages letters to.the
editor. Letters must be 300 words or less
and include 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 per
son at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid stu
dent ID. Letters may also be mailed to:
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E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com
Haircut ^
1 Highlit I
Savings)
olor-blind admission policies
better than affirmative action
■144 Ipexas Attorney
' 7S y fi General John
For ^ . Cornyn’s reinter-
-tation of the Hop-
>0 d decision has
ened a new can of
ttiiis regarding affir
fltve action in Texas. mariano
lually, it is more like CASTILLO
fan of maggots be
Tse it stinks.
His predecessor, Dan Morales, left no
for confusion about the role race
°uld play in admission, scholarship
d financial aid decisions. The role was
solutely none.
Hut Cornyn’s rescinding of the deci-
m gives public universities in Texas the
tion to bring back affirmative action
ticies regarding financial aid and
ulyath* holarship decisions.
If schools like Texas A&M, the Univer-
V of Texas and Texas Tech University
an ge their policies, they will be paint-
8 huge bull’s-eyes on themselves, be-
l:5 o«^ ,n Ung targets for reverse-discrimination
SoS^ivsuits and for outspoken minority
wer groups.
Cornyn’s idea is a step backward on
e road to racial equality. His reinterpre-
tion is based on the same argument
‘at UT used in its court case.
The university defended affirmative
tion on the grounds that it is “needed
c °rnpensate for past discrimination
ld fo ensure diversity.”
The logic behind this argument goes
If race returns as a determining factor in financial aid and
scholarship applications, there will always be discrimination.
Photo illustration by GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
against one of the most basic sayings
learned in childhood: “Two wrongs do
not make a right.” It is’true that minori
ties were wronged in the past because of
discrimination in scholarship and finan
cial aid applications.
But the solution should not be to give
minorities an advantage over white ap
plicants as “compensation” for past in
justices. If race returns as a determining
factor in financial aid and scholarship ap
plications, there will always be
discrimination — either against white ap
plicants who lose out coveted spots to
minorities with easier entrance require
ments or against minorities who might
lose spots due to racism.
The only compensation minorities
should expect is equality and justice. The
affirmative action policies that Cornyn
wants to bring back teach minorities that
when life gets tough, the government
will pity you and give you a handout.
In such a society, everyone loses. It
will only be a matter of time before a
white student who applied for a scholar
ship sues a university for losing out to a
Hispanic student who is not as qualified.
And like Cheryl Hop wood, this stu
dent has every right to sue and win.
And it is not just white students who
should get riled up about Cornyn’s deci
sion. Affirmative action policies are
strange phenomena in this way — they
are discriminatory to both the majority
and minority.
Any self-respecting minority student
ought to be offended at the idea that just
because of their race, the standards to get
a scholarship or financial aid are being
lowered for them. Even if it improves mi
nority’s chances to get money, it is at the
cost of being singled out from the rest of
the applicants and never knowing if the
reward was truly earned or if it was just
to fill a quota.
Another argument for Cornyn’s rein
terpretation is that having a diverse cam
pus is more important than having every
student score above a certain SAT grade.
This idea is also severely flawed. It is
wrong to artificially make Texas public
schools diverse.
Scholarships are designed to aid and
reward students for involvement and aca
demic excellence during high school, not
for being a certain color.
If school officials truly believe a di
verse campus is a better campus, then
they should take the initiative to make it
happen. Public universities can become
diverse without lowering standards.
Of course it is easier to admit second-
class minority students than to go around
and actively recruit top minority scholars
from Texas and the rest of the nation. But
that does not justify undoing what the
Hopwood case settled.
Besides, the effects of the Hopwood
decision that drove Cornyn to change it
have been blown out of proportion.
Since the 1996 decision, advocates of
affirmative action have claimed campus
es became less diverse.
However, enrollment of African-Amer
icans at UT only went down 1 percent,
from 3 to 2, and Hispanic enrollment
barely fell from 14 percent to 12.
In the 1998 Hopwood conference
proceedings, University President Dr.
Ray M. Bowen said the effect on this
school was similar.
“For Hispanics, my recollection of the
number at Texas A&M is essentially the
same; for African-Americans, it went
down, and we think there is a reason for
that,” he said. “So, admission is not a
huge problem for us. ”
The main repercussion of Cornyn’s
reinterpretation is that it kills the model
Morales had formed. Morales did not
take his power too far, as some claim,
when he banished affirmative action. He
was totally in his jurisdiction to interpret
the court’s ruling as he did. As tempting
as the anti-Hopwood ideas sound, they
are unfair to all parties involved.
Mariano Castillo is a sophomore
international studies major.