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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2000)
OPINION dnesday, March 29, 2000 THE BATTALION Page 13 isguidance counselors }uality, accountability ofA&M’s academic advisers need improvement for students’sake s an incoming fresh man to Texas A&M, many students ask stions such as “Which ses should I take?” |ow do I form my degree i?” “What is the best ^ to arrange my sched- ?” and “What kinds of can I be qualified for hthis major?” Unfortunately, many students at a loss for the answers to these questions :ause of unsatisfactory academic advising. One does not have to be a part of student life &M very long to hear complaints about de mental advisers. Often students believe se faculty and staff members are not as help er knowledgeable as expected, or they sim- do not have time to spend with students. Aggies are assumed to be bright individuals. >’nal championship in iwever, even A&M students have academic > the Final l our in 19%k estions they cannot find answers to and make stakes planning their schedules. As a result, yrely on advisers who frequently are busy th teaching and administrative work. Upon listening to the repeated complaints 1're just glad when it wr.lout various departmental advisers, many i because there are alouii istrations arise in the mind of a student who mntry, as there are incite s often experienced similar difficulties w'ith make sacrifices and w ademic advisers. At a university as large as kM, it is difficult to ensure qualified advis- Advisers’ qualifications and levels of ex- irience differ by department, which makes Jfficult the task of pinpointing the cause of various problems that arise. Questions surface concerning the percentage time advisers spend immersed in administra- paperwork and the actual time spent with TI idents.Whatarethcotherobligalionsthatad- sers must fill that cause them to often seem obusy to assist the students they are supposed be helping? Many department advisers are lecturers or Slid administrative positions, such as depart- lent head. They may also be involved in re- Jarch or be required to fulfill other obligations etw een natural rivals lib to the University. These other commitments, I Raiders, Giants and Jets,® nd Dolphins. eague also is making j this week on realigning! en the new Houston fit STL for the 2002 seasor! mment has been one homiest problems. Those nd for the last major resting : L-NFL merger in fficulties. hardest thing I’ve done.) he league,” Baltimore II says. alignment, which is sti[ lied by June l,2001,mij cult. n, which lost the Oileistol i ted the opportunity of be; Semeka Randall said, her is Connecticut, whicl citing back again. Despite; d over the last fouryears.it: mecticut player hasappe -bur. t get an opportunity na said. “So when it si eally, really happy forte leduling t topic at L meetini 1 BEACH, Fla. (AP)-l lave dropped plans ford while admirable, distract time and energy from the job students depend on advisers to do. In addition, some departmental advisers do not seem very knowledgeable concerning pro fessors, classes or curriculum in other depart ments or colleges. This lack of familiarity with the entire University system is damaging to stu dents if a mistake is made in scheduling or pre requisite requirements. If students cannot trust the guidance of an adviser whose job it is to help with degree plans and scheduling, whom can they turn to? It seems easy to place the blame for acade mic planning mistakes on students by saying that they should have done more research or paid more attention in scheduling their classes. However, after consulting with advisers, students usually take their advice at face value. After all, is that not their job? If students cannot trust the guidance of an adviser whose job it is to help with degree plans and scheduling, whom can they turn to? Groups such as the University Advisers and Counselors are taking strides to improve the quality of advisers on campus with events such as an annual one-day symposium. This seminar informs advisers of University policies and serves as a professional development day. In addition, a telephone survey conducted by Measurement and Research Services is polling approximately 6,000 Aggies to evalu ate their advisers. Programs such as these are definitely moving in the right direction, but more needs to be done to ensure that students are paired with advisers who are in formed and sensitive to the needs of students. A student in the College of Education report ed that she constantly is frustrated with the situa tion in her department because has a different ad viser almost every year. This situation results in a lack of continuity for education ma jors, and advisers often misin form them because they are not familiar with intrade- partmental activities and requirements. For example, one kinesiol ogy student said that he was almost forced to graduate a semester later than he had planned because he was not notified about a prerequisite that he had not fulfilled. Again, advisers are often too busy, misin formed, or simply not qualified for the role they are intended to fill. Currently, there is no exist ing formal training program for University ad visers and no means for students to evaluate them. Many mem bers of A&M faculty and staff do an excellent job in work ing with students and provide the much needed assistance, but others simply do not meet the standards that should be required at A&M. Departmental advisers ultimately must be come accountable to students. This is an im portant issue that needs to be addressed by students and faculty in order to prevent further academic planning and scheduling mistakes. Summer Hicks isa senior English major. GABRIEL RUENES/Thk Battalion Gore’s new push for campaign finance eform a vapid, hypocritical gesture Are you a student worker? The Battalion is accepting letters from student workers wishing to express their thoughts and concerns about the potential end of their early registration. Letters must be submitted by 5 p.m. Wed., March 29 and should be 300 words or less. All submissions should include author’s name, class and place of employment. Drop off: 013 Reed McDonald, Email: battletters@hotmail.com, Fax: (409) 845-2647 Editor reserves the right to edit for content, length, style and accuracy 1 Gore, the man who single- .handedly Jrought you the Inter- |et, was the primary xirce for the book llove Story” and found .r the 1996 season, will i#e pollution problems AFC. That will givefhdf#t Love Canal, is back airing one team to movci pi work. Since the MARK PASSWATERS strongest candidate isSe ; only thing being disiu« Ikywalker (Sen. John McCain, Jedi Knight) s the scheduling formatt* 1 p, which will include;; Jpickup his role as a true supporter of divisions. >st likely plan is one gh owner Dan Rooney. ampaign finance reform. Unfortunately for the vice president, this tantamount to McDonald’s attempting to Id include home-and-fe vin a popularity contest by saying they lin each division, a totals ater to vegetarians. When it comes to is- against teams inai ues of campaign finance, there is a word n the conference and t liatfits Gore perfectly. It is not “reformer” Inst teams in a division® 1 xence. iwners wanted the extra : natural geographic rival® it is “liar.” If Gore’s abrupt switch to backing cam- )aign finance reform was not so disgusting, (would be hilarious. However, Gore’s own Id be played annual!). ^ rack record shows that he, himself, cannot enough ofthemtomalp lossibly believe a word he is saying. It is /hat AFC team, forexaaf nore likely that Gore is attempting to norph himself into some sort of campaign inance gum to take attention away from his ast fund-raising activities, which were bla- antly illegal. Ironically enough. Gore’s ac- ions during the 1996 presidential campaign natural rival for GreenB- said Tuesday the bably would be rength, similar to thee# it means the first-i tow. J East, for example, mr# Dallas, Philadelphia,!''' the New York Giants"! 1 •izona. The Cardinals® 1 hat, but that’s to be exp# ire going to be hurt 0 'U do it,” said Tampa an NFC Southeast dir a, New Orleans and All# i develop new rivalries 'ears when you playt# contending for a hanges everything. My nember that Cleveland |iS JFC. played any teams in# o you do then?” he as# darch 7 departure of the political Luke - the political C-3PO — has decided :rusade for reform. By now, most people know that Vice would play first-placed i re the primary reason McCain started his livisions, second-placet; second-place teams and# alignment, the mostpoL ’resident Gore went to a Buddhist temple in keep several divisions® 1996 f or a fund-raiser. These monks, who tad taken vows of religious poverty, some- tow gave $110,000 to the Clinton/Gore re jection campaign. It is illegal to solicit do nations from a religious group. It is even nore illegal to launder money through indi viduals that actually came from foreign na- , which is what happened in this case. The coordinator of the fund raiser, Maria Gore did not? The possibility that Gore might be so dense and yet think he can be president should be enough to scare the wits out of the American public. It is more likely, however, that Gore knew exactly what he was doing. He has an established track record of lame excus es when confronted with campaign irregu larities. When he and President Clinton were accused of making fund-raising calls from the White House (which is illegal) to foreign nationals (which is also illegal). Gore pronounced that “there is no control ling legal authority” over how money is raised for campaigns. Organizations varying from The New’ York Times to “The Drudge Report” have said that Gore was actively involved in a planning session in the White House to raise “hard” money (donations to an individual’s campaign). Gore’s alibi was that he drank a lot of iced tea that day and was in the bath room when those conversations took place. He must have really had to go; the meetings lasted more than two hours. Now, details of a memo by Charles LaBel- la, chief of the Campaign Finance Investiga tion unit of the Department of Justice, have been leaked to the media. This memo indicates that Gore’s actions in both of these circum stances were clearly illegal and warrant further investigation. While Gore refutes the idea that he has done anything illegal, he also claims to have seen the light. He said that he made “mis- takes” in the past, and has learned from them. NteUckovdi , Gore has picked up the mantle of cam paign finance reformer from the defeated John McCain, and is attempting to run with it. He said he will make the issue “the cor nerstone” of his campaign. It is far more likely that Gore is attempting to use it as a smokescreen instead of a comerstone. Gore, himself, said that he is “an imper fect proponent” of campaign finance reform. No kidding. “Seeing the light” now is not a sufficient excuse to make up for his repeated abuses of the law to further his political career. Gore may be an enlightened sinner, but he is a sinner just the same. And his sins would get an average citizen thrown in jail. The American people should not be fooled by Gore’s supposed stance on cam paign finance reform. He is more interested in covering his own backside than in cover ing the problems of “soft” money. By show ing that he knows he was a naughty boy and wants to make everything better, Gore hopes that people will ignore his small boo- boos from the past. x The problem for Gore is that these inci dents were not small, nor were they boo- boos. They were a systematic work in vio lation of federal law. If the American people think that such a man is presidential material, they are making more than a small boo-boo. Mark Passwaters is a senior electrical engineering major ™ Hsia ’ arran s ed for mone y that was actuall y tom agents of the government of China to )e “given” to these monks, who in turn, do nated it to the Clinton/Gore campaign. For ill her hard work, FIsia was sentenced to five fears in federal prison earlier this month. Gore has denied steadfastly that he did anything illegal during his trip to the tem- rnaiii problem withthe[f le ’ sa y ,n 8 that he thou g ht k was a commu nity outreach program. Perhaps the vice his proposal you maQ 3res ' dent could use a reminder that “out- br a wild-card berth '- reack ' usua lly means that the government u haven’t played and' - lves money to an individual, not the other Kay around. Schedules obtained by CNN The Washington Post show that the Se- c ret Service knew it was a fund-raiser; yet Judges underestimate teens’ ability to decide on abortion JESSICA CRUTCHER F our pregnant women un der the age of 18 recent ly appealed to the Texas Supreme Court for approval to have an abortion without noti fying their parents. A Texas law instated in January re quires women under 18 to no tify their parents before re ceiving an abortion, unless the minors gain a judicial bypass. The Supreme Court is deeply divided on the case; some justices feel the current notification law takes too much author ity away from parents, while others feel the current system is too strict. To gain a judicial bypass, a girl must prove she is educated in the potential medical and psycho logical consequences of an abortion. This issue of the education of a teen-aged girl is a main object of concern for abortion activists on both sides. The current judicial bypass law puts too little emphasis on how informed the pregnant girl is and leaves too much power in the personal preju dices of the judge. Texas Courts afe failing to rec ognize that many minors possess the maturity to make their own decisions. In addition, judges must keep in mind that if minors desperate for abortion will be prone to seek more drastic mea sures denied a safe, legal abortion. Chief Justice Tom Phillips wrote the majority opinion that to obtain a judicial bypass a minor “must demonstrate knowledge and appreciation of the various considerations involved in her deci sion.” Originally, this was interpreted to mean the girl had to be “educated” by anti-abortion organi zations. In February', this was altered by the Texas Supreme court. It stated that the girl does not have to read materials distributed by pro-life groups or by groups such as Planned Parenthood, but in stead the girl must prove “whether she has ob tained information on the relevant considerations from reliable sources ... that enable her to make a thoughtful and informed decision.” So the question are: What exactly are “relevant considerations” and who gets to decide whether the girl in question has made a “thoughtful and in formed” decision? The vagueness of the stipula tion is dangerous for all concerned parties. A pro- choice liberal judge might not feel it necessary to examine the pregnant girl’s situations, allowing her to easily gain a judicial bypass. On the other hand, a pro-life judge could have the power to ad minister an unreasonably difficult set of questions, then refuse a judicial bypass to the applicant on the arounds she is not “well infonned.” In order for the judicial bypass law to work ef ficiently, the bypass requirements should be more clearly stated and depend less on the individual in terpretation of judges. A written test requiring ba sic knowledge of abortion procedures and possible consequences should be sufficient. In calling for more drastic measures, certain Supreme Court jus tices are underestimating the maturity of many of the girls requesting bypasses. Justice Nathan Hecht, one of the court’s more conservative members, complained that “well in formed, for the court, means only that a minor has thought about what she knows, not that she knows what to think about.” Hecht is underesti mating the ability of a 17-year-old to make logi cal decisions on her own. There is not a niagical transformation in which one becomes mature and all-knowing on their 18th birthday. It is a gradual process, and there are many minors who are quite capable of functioning as adults. For example, one of the girls involved in the current legal case is 17, works part time and has a high B average in high school. She took the precaution of using birth control before becoming sexually active, but be came pregnant anyway. She has testified that her parents are “very against abortion,” but that having the baby would be “holding me back from ... what I want to be come.” The girl has considered other options, in cluding adoption, and has weighed the conse quences. There is no logical reason why she, and other girls display ing equal maturity, should be de nied an abortion. Obviously, a person who is will ing to bring her predicament before a court of law is serious about having an abortion — and equally serious about her need to not notify her parents. If minors are not granted a legal abortion, they will be prone to seek more dangerous alternatives. Be fore abortion was leg*alized, it was not unusual for women to seek unsafe abortion methods out of desperation. There is no reason to believe these girls will not result to the same measures if they are unable to gain court intervention. It is no easy task for a 15-, 16- or 17- year-old woman to take personal responsibility to educate herself about abortion procedures and conse quences, and then to take her case to court — all without the help of her parents. Texas courts should respect these efforts for the display of responsibility they are, and make a greater effort to help the teenagers instead of working only to regulate them. Jessica Crutcher is a sophomore journalism major.