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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2000)
Page 9 v v yV THE BATTALION iOkBreak should start Wednesday before Thanksgiving; students could use rest Mi m.. t is time to get ready eward for Thanks- e? Playit -giiing — time to lowl. ®ke that perfect let the RtsHean pie and make vere subs .w best travel plans. Citrus anb>'fl Strangely, figuring 'lew Year out travel plans is ac he in tte itgally much more dif- npionshif Jicult than making that perfect pie be- hem up i.^use Texas A&M does not acknowledge d thev all tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving, ich Rands ^ an official school holiday, en thesdfl hhc idea of having school on the day I play in®fore Thanksgiving seems normal be- do 7 Bus 6 *t has always been that way, but it is ^1 „ noi fair and certainly nothing to be thank- ' frnm - tV i° r - is T xasll ^* ien proclaimed the day an of- ’ ^Kial holiday last year, it was an under- stii idable decision. ' M Looking at the reasoning behind the i “SSffiMministration’s decision to cancel school 1 . fg jat Wednesday, last year was a time of h is heads Extreme circumstance, lichigan. jj ie jjgy was student body tor theCnm ec ] e( j t o be with family and needed to as a re ' al i® s t because many students were exhaust- ames. At:; ec i physically, emotionally and spiritually. trusandO.il Extra precautions were taken so that mostpresi .fhey could recover and have the opportu- the Ctaplty to spend the holiday with their fami- to Noi# dies in peace. aioState Last year’s situation may have been even If ., extraordinary, but the exhaustion of the -3 in thei: students was not unusual and the extra /ildcats'f precautions should become the norm, n surpix -rather than the exception, we are st While it may not seem an important thwesters; -pnn of making academic decisions on this : Missootiipmpus, the Texas A&M and University HfTexas-Austin game should not be over- urselves looked. If A&M is going to make a big rlectionc ^ ea ' about the football game, someone i take tisi ^uld take into consideration the extra we' r esees Panning it requires. >t fitted for I' .■ Lor many students. Thanksgiving i to theAli f ee ^ enc * entails an extensive amount of •it game” ! r ' v ’ n S ' n c i rc l es between College Sta ll tion, Austin and their families’ homes, ince p.flaking the students leave one day later lakes them more tired on the roads — a rike against the best interest of the ealth of this student body. Instead of giving the students an extra iy off, these rules force many students to be on the roads late at night in traffic. Hurriedly driving home and arriving ex hausted is common. To assume that all students are from Houston or Dallas, or even Texas, is in considerate to many students. Many fami lies traditional Thanksgiving plans must be altered to work around one day of classes. The truth of the situation is that stu dents never know whether they will have class and are left in limbo until the week of Thanksgiving, which is too late to buy plane tickets. To justify having school on that Wednesday by claiming that people work ing in “the real world’’ must be at work that day is unfair as well. Those people are not exhausted from three months of classes with no breaks and, above all, are not preparing for finals that could determine their semester grades. Worse than having the day be a regular school day is the way that some teachers could take advantage of the opportunity to sabotage students who choose to miss class. Some students must decide whether to fly day early or stay in town for 50 min utes of class. This is the difference between spend ing quality time with family members who are rarely seen and showing up right as the turkey is being carved. This problem is not exclusive to the A&M campus. UT has school on Wednesday, but Texas Tech does not. Tu- lane University, a private school in Louisiana, has school that day, but Berry College, a private school in Georgia, does not. Do Texas Tech or Berry College stu dents need the day off more than Aggies do, or does their administration simply grant them a little extra respect? And the potential solution to this problem at oth er schools is the same as it is here. Kevin Kasten, a junior at Trini ty University, said, “I think we’re lucky to even get Thursday and Friday q off as holidays.” Whatever the reasoning behind the administration’s decision not to make Wednesday an official school holiday, it is not worth the detrimental ef fect it has on the student body. Finally, if the rea soning has any thing to do with the required amount of school days, stu dents would rather have this day off and give up one dead day that very few people use pro ductively. Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and the way col leges and universities make it difficult to celebrate is ruining it for many people. If A&M would consider this an official school holi day, students would not be faced with a decision and the extra stress that accompanies it — that truly would be some thing to be thankful for. Melissa Bedsole is a junior psychology major. ranee ie i the Rod 1996, and fi! 97 Citrus 8: is Bowl BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion used tote] lar thing.'! years,’ 1 ; weird to*' 1 never-ending debt to society Felons should be able to vote after serving time miring laij , who any people have heard ,,, . - that con- ired/ Hjicted felons are ostlts ; permanently Stripped of their ted Hite a share it;' ould hate ,yoting rights. [hat is, they can- 6ot vote in elec- 1 C- 111 lions for the rest of their lives. lous ; e ii This statement is not totally sald wire. In 41 states, a felon’s right to Tote is suspended only during his sentence, probation or parole. However, nine states restrict elons from voting even after they the Wi« e season. ave served their prison term. 1 W f To disenfranchise felons perma- a y ,.j ftently — as Alabama, Florida, Jowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, n nntJl^ eva ^ a ’ ^ ew M ex i co > Virginia e A|jjMnd Wyoming do — is wrong, us ii' ' states should realize that ^tese restrictions violate felons’ civil rights, and make attempts to everse them. Committing a felony offense in •hese states, even if a person does ot serve jail time, means that it is then plait r s (1991-) -96), ft’ irt of 1$ 997) andi in r b i percent i 102 ste ■' h impossible for that person to vote again. The logic in this is echoed in “Jim Crow” laws to restrict certain elements of the population that the government does not want to vote. In states such as Texas, only felony prisoners are restricted from voting. This makes sense. If people choose to ignore the laws by which they are governed and become in carcerated, they should lose the right to choose how they are gov erned when they are in prison. Jonathan Silber, a columnist for the Boston Herald, said, “There is no reason, in principle, why a pris oner should not lose the right to •vote along with other liberties.” “The right to walk free on the streets is even more fundamental than the right to vote, yet even the briefest jail term revokes the right to walk the streets.” In Alabama, however, the phi losophy of “commit the crime, do the time and then some” reigns. Almost 8 percent of adults in Al- RUBEN DELONAfr.'ii-Battalion abama are ineligible to vote be cause they have been convicted of felonies. The right of a state to disenfran chise felons comes from the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court case Richard son v. Ramirez. The Supreme Court said that in the 14th Amendment, a state is not allowed to deny a citizen’s right to vote “except for participation in rebellion, or other crime.” That “other crime” is taken to mean almost any felony conviction. March Mauer, assistant direc- ior for the Sentencing Project, a prisoner advocacy group, said, “More than 95 percent of the people sentenced to prison will be someday going home, and it is in society’s interest that they come back as law-abiding citizens.” “We should be encouraging some sense of responsibility and obligation to the community on their part.” Some incarcerated felons feel they should be able to vote while in jail, as Maine and Vermont allow. Mail Call David Fischer, an inmate in a New Hampshire prison, agrees. He filed suit in state court a year ago and won the right to vote. Howev er, the state court threw out the judgment. “I guess the theory behind in mates being denied the right to vote is that people are afraid how we will vote. They think we will vote for the candidate that will not do the most good. A similar argu ment was made .when women wanted to vote and black people wanted to vote,” said Fischer. Felons’ rights vary throughout the county — some states perma nently bar prisoners from voting and some states allow felons to vote from jail. The route to follow is down the middle, a plan that most states have followed — restrict voting while convicted felons are in jail, but allow them to vote once their debts have been paid. Reid Bader is a junior political science major. ...CJ :ame Visibly upset-, shaking and crying.... The ax murder sc^ne is a Keeper«... ry, Vizte Astros- based ^ neaffte team's* iHoLLfWOOD] ght-lte ter Roy Os*' eft-b " Tarlosl andtf fi Blood donations down from last year’s post-Bonfire rush Shame on you, Ags. The turnout for blood donations this time last year as a result of the Bonfire tragedy was an incredibly positive and humanitarian reaction. Thankfully, the student population turned out in force to ensure the reserve was there. Now, a year later, the Red Cross is back to square one with critically low stocks of every type of blood. There has been a plea to the students of A&M to memorialize their fallen classmates by again donating in force, and that plea has gone unheeded. The goal of the Association of Former Students was to collect 12,000 units of blood statewide. As of the third day, approximately 1,270 have been col lected on campus. Where is the spirit for this noble cause? Let us all show the true Aggie spirit by donating blood, not only to help our fellow Aggies, but to help a great or ganization with a true humanitarian cause. By starting such a great tradition, we can ensure that the Aggie spirit will live on, not to mention infuse a little maroon blood into all of our fellow Texans. Josh Bartosh Class of '99 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 person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 014 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University 1111TAMU College Station, Texas 77843 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (979) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com Columns and letters appearing in The Battalion express the opinion of the authors only. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff mem bers, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administrators, faculty or staff.