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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2001)
Mondav\ f^Jy, March 5, 2001 ion Opi NION Page 11 THE BATTALION ian Nolan. "JJ very poll J -have had diffij nd being •stern rider Qa;.. -r dominance!; : and open hoi e only Aggie J tor Zone, SoJ ed fourth in J p, just 1 nderage does not mean stupid \nti-tobacco groups should stay focused on facts when educating teenagers e 1990s were an im- ijportant decade for oppo- fients of cigarette smok- to have advaciglThey succeeded in elt good,”CaiBining numerous settle- ted. I set mytients from tobacco compa- hem. I had a kies, managed to kill Joe tship and did'amel and other tobacco ad- qualify, bute; : ertising campaigns aimed iward children, limited the places where good day,’' mokers could light yp, stopped tobacco ad- Rawon. “It ertising targeting teens and increased adver- )bviously,ThfiJsiIg against the use of tobacco. ' happy withit Wor the 21 st century, anti-tobacco advocates s have severs ppe.u to be even more determined to protect oare before Tenagers from the dangers of smoking. As a re ’s. ult, it is virtually impossible to turn on the tele- ision without seeing a commercial designed to ' Hvince teens that smoking is not cool. LSo far, all the resources used to teach teens C* TY1 About the dangers of smoking have done little *'*’“*■ ■H^bourb smoking. The incidence of first tobac- a iiB 156 increased by 30 percent and first daily itv* 86 ' mcreased by 50 percent between 1988 and i l J6, according to data from the National k. ■ (i lolisehold Survey on Drug Abuse. The Ameri- )ma Univers an ^ eart Association says that as of 2000, rsity Texas nore t ^ lan 6,000 people under 18 years old try ■sity* ofTexajEl c |§ arette eac h day, and more than 3,000 per- icdist Univer ;0ns under 18 years old become daily smokers Jniversity.M. :Ver y day. A survey conducted by the Harvard . WichitaStt'jcbool for Public Health in 1998 showed that Jniversity,® 'inoking among college students increased by liversity off38 percent between 1993 and 1997. Kansas, fewThese numbers would imply that anti- Universityofitmoking financial resources are not being ie teampoitioqpent in a way that deters teenage smoking, d ^^ a0stas ® s fact becomes even more evident when ind McKenzie® watches the latest round of anti-smoking 'dkleuv idvertising. TheTruth.corn’s recent advertising ■iTa usec * a num her of different gim- id said or d er to portray “Big Tobacco” in a us some conti® ative ]i g ht ’ including using a large pile of i as we bringtliffy bags to visualize how many people die orial.” t F 0m c ig arette smoking-related deaths in an average year. One commercial even portrayed anti-tobacco activists driving a truck through an upscale neighborhood where tobacco exec utives supposedly lived and pointing out how much money tobacco company executives make from selling cigarettes. These commercials underestimate the intelli gence of the average teen. It is terribly obvious that the people producing the commercials are fanatics, and it is difficult for anyone to accept the argument of someone who is so obsessed with their cause that they seem willing to do anything to convince the public that their view is correct. Rather than appearing as a voice of wis dom, they appear to be promoting blatant propa ganda, making them difficult to take seriously. They also do their best to make the tobacco industry’s advertising appear to be a devious at tempt to subconsciously trick the American pop ulation, especially teens, into smoking. This “Magic Bullet” mentality, which assumes that advertisements affects people in uniform, pow erful ways, is outdated, and this theory has since been discarded. However, TheTruth.com’s Website would have visitors believe that the tobacco industry is using its advertisements to force teens to smoke. The site also declares that tobacco companies are “good at what they do, but they are afraid of us discovering the truth about what they have done.” This kind of over-the-top language makes it difficult to take them seriously. Since anti-tobacco advertising is having little effect, anti-tobacco advocates must find new ways to spread their message. Simply annoying people with self-righteous commercials will not have the effect these advocates want — in fact, it may have the opposite effect. If they want to stop teen smoking, they need to better focus their resources by either replacing their current commercials with ones that will have an impact on teenage smoking or with an entirely different program altogether. Otherwise they might as well just light up the money they are wasting. Richard. Bray is a sophomore journalism major. * 4* -fc * <» * .» 4* « MU should not ) A. Ljy e benefits to gays :za hSt. 72 ast week. Southern ethodist Diversity |SMU) an- ounced plans . 3 extend med al benefits .nd reduced tu- tion to same-sex partners of em- iloyees. This controversial deci- ton comes at a time when the Jnited Methodist Church’s inter- lal disagreement over same-sex mions is threatening to segment he 8.5 million-member Christian lenomination. The benefits, which will in- lude medical and dental insur- ince and reduced tuition, are to be ivailable in 2002, according to the Associated Press. The Dallas-based SMU will be- ome one of about 150 of the ountry’s 3,300 higher learning in stitutions offering such benefits. The Human Rights Campaign dentified Rice University as the only other Texas university with a similar policy. Though SMU faculty and ad ministration may regard the new policy as more inclusive and therefore attractive to potential employees and students, it actu ally undermines the legitimacy of what should be a Christ-centered institution. Those familiar with the Christ ian faith know that it adheres to several ideological tenets, not the least of which forbids the practice of homosexuality. Willfully abandoning these tenets is equivalent to abandoning Christianity because they are in separable. SMU should not offer benefits to same-sex couples. By granting benefits reserved for mar ried couples to homosexual cou ples, SMU is acknowledging ho mosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, thereby com promising the values of the Christ ian university. SMU, as a Methodist universi ty, should reflect Christian values and the ideals delineated in the Bible. According to the book of Leviticus, a man should “not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” Morgan Olsen, SMU vice pres ident for business and finance, told The Dallas Morning News that the plan was a good business decision. “It was becoming clear that many employers nationally are offering this benefit,” he said. “This is necessary to ensure that SMU recruits and retains the best people.” However, some of the universi ty’s Christian students could be of fended by the new provision. Stu dents seeking an education at a Christian university might dislike the idea of benefits for partners of gay instructors, especially if these students consider homosexuality a moral wrong. SMU students were not even given any say in the is sue. Instead, the SMU Faculty Senate made the ruling. Homosexuality should not gain mass acceptance from the nation’s religious universities. When a uni versity like SMU condemns ho mosexuality as immoral, yet grants two men living together the same rights as a married couple, it is being hypocritical. Universities should be inclu sive and politically correct, but not so much so that they compromise their most fundamental values. George Deutsch is a sophomore journalism major. 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 - Mall Call 014 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1.1.11 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com HISD needs Hispanic leader E ver since Rod Paige was whisked off to Washing ton, D.C., by President Bush to fulfill his appoint ment as Education Secretary, there has been much grum bling in the Hispanic commu nity about who will succeed him as Houston Independent School District (HISD) su perintendent. The HISD board of trustees, in typical fashion, has no idea what they will do. Hispanic leaders are calling for the next super intendent to be Hispanic, and the community truly deserves a Hispanic superintendent. But if the past is a good litmus test, we can expect the board to hang Hispanics out to dry. Hispanic students now make up 54 percent of HISD’s students, and if present population growth trends continue, this number will in crease even more in coming years. One would think that with Hispanic students in the majori ty, their parents would have no problem being heard. However, as soon as it became clear the superintendent job was open, local Hispanic leaders began preparing for an all-out war with the board. Hispanics apparently have not forgotten the last time the board bungled its way through the superintendent selection process. In 1994, the board met behind closed doors for two hours be fore making the surprise announcement that there Mail Call would be no national search for a new superinten dent. Instead, the job was given to Paige, an African-American, thanks to a bloc vote of Cau casian and African- American board members. Many Hispanics felt completely left out of the process. Who could blame them? They were the most affected group and yet they had the least in fluence in the process. “They weren’t inclusive in allowing the community to be a part of the process,” said parent Rosemary Covalt. So this time around, Hispanics are naturally suspicious. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is not only requesting that the next superintendent be Hispanic, but is also form ing its own superintendent search committee. “Our mission and goal is still the same; we can’t let our guard down,” said LULAC spokesman Johnny Mata. LULAC may be treating this like a war, but it could be the only way to get some respect. Despite the obvious statistics showing the pre dominance of Hispanic students in the school system, the trustees show no signs of favoring a Hispanic superintendent. The board agrees that Hispanics deserve a su perintendent who is sensitive to Hispanic needs, but they seem to think that this person could be someone of any ethnicity. Even Paige has weighed in, saying his successor should be a per son “who cares about all people and can do the best job for all children,” regardless of ethnicity. Of course, this statement comes from a guy who was hand-picked for Bush’s diversity-friendly * cabinet. Despite the rhetoric, the next HISD superin- 7 tendent should be Hispanic. It sounds nice to j want a superintendent who is colorblind and » loves all children equally, but the fact remains 1 that the Hispanic community has special con cerns that are not shared by Caucasians and * African-Americans, like bilingual education and immigration issues. These problems will only grow as the per- * centage of Hispanic students rises. A Hispanic superintendent would be familiar with these is- ». sues and would be well equipped to handle them in a sensitive and understanding manner! In addition, a Hispanic superintendent wouM' provide Hispanic students with a much-needed * role model. At a time when there is a relative shortage of Hispanic leaders to African-Ameri- - can and Caucasian leaders, a Hispanic superin tendent could gp a long way toward inspiring Hispanic students to believe in themselves. HISD trustees should take advantage of this * opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic commu nity and show they are really interested in making the selection process a community decision. Making a decision behind closed doors is tanta- - mount to the smoke-filled rooms of early national political conventions and should not be tolerated. Matt Cannon is a senior biomedical science major. Evolution, creation are both unproven In response to Matt Cannon’s March 1 article. . Matt Cannon is right when he says, “Evolution is based on the same evidence that all other scientif ic theories are based upon.” He even seems to understand that “science relies on solid, empirical evidence,” yet he fails to provide any such evi dence for the theory of evolution. With remarkable consistency, he mix es theory with fact, science with sup position and emotion with reason. Evolution is, in fact, a theory. It is unproven. It is based on the same ev idence as the theory of creation, which is also unproven. Neither theo ry is provable using the scientific method, which, as Cannon admits, demands experimentation and obser vation. Nobody was around to ob serve the “big bang,” if it happened, or sample the “primordial soup.” Most sciences, in fact, suggest that the theory of evolution is se- CARTOON OF THE DAY verely flawed for example, the basic tenet of evolution depends upon a biogenesis, which has never been observed in nature or in a laborato ry. Likewise, evolution as a whole de pends on random beneficial net in crease in genetic information over time, which is exactly the opposite of what is shown by the solid, empiri cal evidence. Radiometric dating has been proven to be inaccurate when mea suring igneous rocks of known ages, and carbon dating is theoretically ac curate only to a few thousanql years. We have no way to scientific^ verify any dates older than a few thffijsand years because nobody was agfcmdJto take the measurements. Simply put, the scientific evidence against evolution is significant if not overwhelming. Yet, this fact is rarely, if ever, mentioned in textbooks. True science is ignored for the sake of propagating belief in a nice, clean, godless theory. This, in reality, is a re ligion in and of itself. It is called secu lar humanism. Jor\Qprdner Class of ’89 THE OF A \>£A»4 TWc OUc* Rt&c>Nwf-