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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1999)
tholic who :e May on a 1 lolland, onlytoll ie Battalion O PINION Page 15 • Tuesday, November 23, 1999 Catholic authorin Micliel Sabbah, )f about 100,00 ViEW POiNTS 'tajf reflections grew up in Saudi Arabia, and I am used to wind and sand blowing everywhere. Never are, though, have I been awak- d with a start by the feeling of d hitting my face and sand in eyes like 1 have for the past ee nights. TBMaybe it was because being pi fut at the Bonfire site did not re- d me of being in the middle of Saudi desert, but the middle ell. People walking around in aze, their minds numbed. Res crews valiantly struggling to to those who would survive those who would not. Hopes, ams and lives were crushed er the weight of those logs. One thing was not. The inex- ssible feeling of unity and fam- that lives on this campus re ins. Now, more than ever, that ing stays strong. How strong is this feeling? I did know any of the people that id, but I have grieved for them re than anyone before, includ- my infant godson who died summer. How rare is this feeling? It s not exist anywhere else. At ligh University, where I got undergraduate degree in his- , the average student could care less about the guy next im — only the individual ttered. Here, everyone matters veryone else. This is some- ng that outsiders don’t under- nd. This is the same thing that kes us Aggies. Thank you, each and every one of you. Thank you for let ting me be part of your family. — Mark Passwaters F riday night was the first time the thought came to me. I did not know any of the twelve. But all the same, I suddenly could not help but wonder: Had I passed any of them on campus on Wednesday? Did I say “hello”? Did I smile? Was 1 absorbed in my thoughts? Was I rudely rushing by? Whether I actually encoun tered them on their last day seems irrelevant to me. Because what seems powerfully impor tant is that these strangers, whom I never knew, do not feel like strangers now. Instead, they seem strangely like people I have known my en tire life. I only wish I had not seen their names for the first time on a list of the deceased. Grief has made us acquaint ed. I wish it had been a hand shake instead. And since they do not seem like strangers in death, I am con sumed with the worry that I treated them like strangers in life. All this thinking, all this grieving. It has all made me de cide I do not like the word “stranger.” It falls so far short of what they are to me now. My fallen friends have taught me this lesson: Tomorrow, I will brush shoulders with the world. Will I give it a cold shoulder? Or will I give it a shoulder to lean on? — Caleb McDaniel The Eyes of Texas Upon Us The following editorial appeared in The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas - Austin, on Friday. T oday is not a day for rival ries. Today, there are no Longhorns and there are no Aggies. There are only the millions across our state and our nation who mourn the loss of 11 stu dents killed in yesterday’s Bonfire collapse. Thursday’s events cast a pall across the entire UT campus as word quickly passed from one student to another in silent, sym pathetic whispers. Members of our community stayed glued to their radios and televisions as the day’s events unfolded, praying for the victims and their families. In the face of a human tragedy, a friendly rivalry be came completely insignificant. And that is the way it should be. Let us never forget that our 105-year-old relationship with Texas A&M is, in essence, a shared history. TYue, we are old rivals, but more importantly, we are old friends. And to our old friends, we of fer these words: The dignity and compassion with which you have conducted yourself in the darkest of hours is an inspiration to us all. It will never be forgotten, not by the millions who watched across the country as a commu nity became a family, and cer tainly not by victims’ friends and relatives who shall bear the true burden of this tragedy. Appropriately, the traditional Texas A&M Hex Rally has been replaced with a candlelight vigil; the Tower shall remain dark Monday night in honor of the dead; and flags on our campus will fly at half-staff. The respect and deference dis played by the University’s leader ship should continue into the coming weeks. This is obviously a time for all Texans to come together, regardless of university affiliation. Events like these render the arbitrary labels of “Longhorn” or “Aggie” totally meaningless. We encourage all students to ROBERT HYNECEK/Thh Battalion wear white ribbons — our shared school color — for one week as a demonstration of our support and sympathy for the Texas A&M community. Student leaders will be distrib uting these ribbons on the West Mall beginning Monday. On behalf of the UT student body, the Texan editorial board offers its deepest sympathies and prayers to all Texas A&M stu dents, faculty and staff. But we do so with the full knowledge that your community will not only heal, but persevere. We shall proudly stand beside you in this time of great tragedy. The following letter was received from the editorial board at The University Daily, the student news paper of Texas Tech University. W e are writing to express our sincere condolences to the students, families and friends of the victims in Thursday’s Bonfire accident at Texas A&M. In times of constant rivalry and competition, we want to extend to our fellow college students and friends at A&M the support need ed to help them cope with their losses. Although we cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering felt by those who lost loved ones, we can only sympathize and offer a caring embrace and a heart-felt “we’re thinking of you.” When it seems that the only form of con nection we have with one another is in the athletic arena, we want to let you know that it goes deep er than that. It exists in the form of great humility and admiration. Let this incident remind all of us that life is too precious and too short not to make the best of the time we have left. Your friends are looking down on you and are cheering you on to achieve better and go farther than ever before. The relationship Aggies have with one another is unfathomable to those of us on the outside, but we all kind of felt what it is like to be an Aggie this weekend as we shared your loss. On behalf of the Texas Tech student body, we give you our Guns Up. 3-IOt tint. i.-9 p.m.'i 30 p.m.) » Cash 17 ’ea.) :arly. cp 017, coo tudent Fees at the Supreme Court \tudents argue over funding university organizations they do not condone •ntsm ve $100 ir deposit! 222-5108 II free r apartment, res 12-31-99. cs. urrently before the Supreme Court, Board of Regents, 'ersity of Wisconsin v. worth may prove to "aground-breaking of litigation. It has otential of drastical- altering the finances of pent organizations at lie universities such as Texas A&M. ie University of Wisconsin argued last lay, as reported by CNN, that public ijersities should be allowed to use manda- tudent fees to finance various campus ps, even those with unpopular views, hose on abortion or gender issues. The suit was filed in response to the lent activity fee at the University of lonsin in 1996. It amounted to $165 |tudent, raising more than one mil- dollars campus-wide. ■ large group of students, who were airst such fees, listed 18 campus groups ey did not want their fees supporting. In- fided were the environmental Greens, esty International, the Campus bfnen’s Center, and the Lesbian, Gay and sexual Campus Center. y forcing students to fund organizations hey do not support, First Amendment ights are abridged. Obviously, the university did not agree >th the students’ claims and was in no po or to respond to their demands. “It is important to facilitate the speech of verse groups,” argued Susan Ullman, a 'isfconsin assistant attorney general. She irked out that such funding “furthers the ifersity’s educational mission.” inch a rationalization has been used to lify the disbursement of certain student ■to student organizations at A&M. It is too bad such an argument is flawed, ranted, the First Amendment guarantees e freedom of speech. In this case, it is the ■ch of the student organizations. However, that does not mean other stu- •’nts have to be forced into financing ^Veech they do not condone. iCIlClfu Ilr >agine African-American students be- g forced to pay a student fee that partially ded n{ ^ t ^ e act ivities of a “White Pride” ' udent organization. 999 w/this coup- ^ ow a b out a theist students being forced |!f , to partially funding the activities of a reli- ^ ous student organization? The legal oblig- -/ion is clear: The Supreme Court must rule is method of financing student organiza- tns as unconstitutional. >m — Oi mm By: $9 r.cP UTOCIRVC STCRIlIl* 1 L€nN Moimrn Stud* 5 Student organizations are a vital part of any university. They give students a voice, a platform to express their views and inter ests regardless of their popularity. The growth and prosperity of any stu dent organization should be encouraged as much as possible. Undoubtedly, many of the student orga nizations across campus would eventually suffer a hit in the pocketbook if the Supreme Court rules in Southworth’s fa vor. A&M would have to find other sources of funding for student organiza tions who draw funding from student fees. The University would have to offer partial fee refunds to objecting students and dras tically cut the student organizations’ bud gets. None of these actions are desirable. However, by forcing students to fund student organizations they do not support, the stu dents’ First Amendment rights are being seriously abridged. “The students have a First Amendment right not to speak,” and to be free of the “compelled speech” their financial contributions represent, Jordan Lorence, a lawyer representing University of Wiscon sin students who ob jected to the student fee system, said. The Univ. of Wisconsin “has a constitutional duty to respect the right of con science of the stu dents,” Lorence said. This echoes the opin ion of the lower appeals courts. “If a university can not discriminate in the disbursement of funds, it is impera tive that students not be compelled to fund organizations which engage in political and ideological activities. That is the way to protect the individ ual’s rights,” the federal appeals court ruled. The bot tom line is if Joe Aggie has a problem with his student fees funding certain student organizations, he has the right not to pay the fees that would associate himself with their agenda. As po litically incorrect and selfish as that may be, the First Amendment guarantees his right. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will re alize this and rule in Southworth’s favor. David Lee is a junior economics major. T GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion he question of whether students at public universi ties should be forced to pay mandatory activity fees has been renewed since Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin v. Southworth has reached the United States Supreme Court. The case has resulted from three law stu dents at the University of Michigan, self-described as “conservatives and Christians,” who want to withhold the $10 of their semester fees that goes to student activities from 18 liberal stu dent groups. The groups, who support such be liefs as environmental concerns, womens rights and homosexual rights, are 18 of the 125 assorted stu dent groups on campus. Currently, the 7th circuit court rul ing supports the students’ right to not pay the activity fees. The current appellate ruling sets dangerous precedents. A public university such as the University of Michigan is meant to be just that — public. This means that all have rights to their own opinions and lifestyles. The con servative students involved in South- worth seem to de sire partial freedom of speech — they want the right to express their beliefs freely, while simultane ously wanting the right to suppress con trasting beliefs. If these stu dents want to live in an environ ment that com monly expresses few liberal view points, they should transfer to a private Christian col lege as quickly as possible. The most recent case dealing with issues similar to those in South- worth is Rosenberg v. Rector, which dealt with the Uni versity of Virginia. It reached the United States Supreme Court in 1995. In Rosenberg, the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to exclude a Christian student newspaper from a share of the school’s activity funds. The court stated the government may not discriminate among speakers in a pub lic forum of expression, and a public uni versity is obviously a major public forum of expression. In Southworth, the lower courts were of the opinion that the First Amendment pro tected students from “compelled speech.” But the issue being addressed in Southworth is not an example of “com pelled speech.” The students paying the fees are not being forced to support any particular viewpoint. On the contrary, they are simply sup porting the public forum itself by giving both themselves and everyone else the op portunity to express their views. Currently, 125 student groups are re ceiving funding from the University of Michigan. The students involved in the lawsuit specifically object to 18 of these groups because of the “blatant political and ideological activism” the groups sup posedly express. Apparently, liberal groups exhibit these traits by simply existing. But the group of students responsible for the lawsuit are of course innocent of all “blatantly political activism.” If the Michigan students are deter mined not to pay their activity fees, they should not be forced to. Student fees are supporting a public forum by giving everyone the right to express their views. However, in not paying the fees, they give up all right to participate in student government or organizations. Paying a negligible activity fee to a uni versity is analogous to paying one’s taxes. Most rational people do not refuse to pay their taxes because they disagree with some minor part of government operations. Instead, they realize that although they may disagree with minor government functions, most of the money does sup port the common good. The disgruntled students should take the same view. Although they disagree with the plat forms of one-sixths of the student organi zations, apparently the other five-sixths are (in their opinion) not offensive. The 18 liberal student groups, which are obviously in the minority, have been courteous enough to not complain about their student fees supporting conservative, Christian groups. The conservative, Christian majority should grant the liberals the same respect. Jessica Crutcher is a sophomore journalism major. MAIL CALL The editor has received more than 500 letters since Thursday. Messages of condolence and grief have come from 18 states and six foreign countries, including Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela. A representative sample of these letters follows, but the sheer vol ume of response made selection difficult. From Austin ... It is with deep regret that I write of the sorrow that stu dents across the state and na tion feel today. To the Texas A&M communi ty: You are our friends, our fam ily and most, importantly, our peers. We travel together on a journey of education and walk together on paths of discovery. But Thursday’s lesson is still a senseless one, and one that causes more pain than any thing else. Please know that the Univer sity of Texas - Austin shares in your grieving and utter shock at the tragedy to your devoted students. The shadow of our ri valry falls shorter than the height of the respect we hold for you. Your campus has taught us many lessons — on the worth of community, on the impor tance of integrity, on the sig nificance of honor— all val ues which we place at the very core of our university’s mission. Today, once again, you have taught us the merits of courage. The students of our univer sity have an admiration for the students of Texas A&M that we do not express as often as we should. The reality is that we must stand united, together, in order to go on, together. And while we may have had glimpses of this reality in the past, today it stares us directly in the face. Members of the UT commu nity will be wearing white ribbons to help memorialize those stu dents injured and killed in the accident. Although nothing can fully articulate our sympathy, it will serve as a campus-wide gesture of our condolences. Parisa Fatehi President, Student Government UT - Austin see Mail Call on Page 16.