onday, July 2, 2001
O
PINION
Page 5
THE BATTALION
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forcement offi-
|ers, Deputy
)avid Gay and Sgt. Greg Palm,
ere recently fired because of their
'wn e Academy'!! Jnembership in the Ku Klux Klan
and be-; KKK). While the KKK’s beliefs
eworid. Onste md actions are repulsive to most
eling, student Atari j; 1
While the KKK's beliefs
and actions are
repulsive to most
people, membership in
the organization is not
illegal. If these officers
have done nothing
wrong besides belong
to the KKK, they
should be reinstated.
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eople, membership in the organi-
ation is not illegal. If these officers
have done nothing wrong other
than belong to the KKK, they
should be reinstated.
Membership in the KKK is not a
jvalid reason to fire these men. If the
men acted on their beliefs and violat
ed the law or their oath of office,
[ then firing the officers was justified.
! In America, those people whose be-
I liefs put them in a minority are just
as protected as people who share the
majorities’ beliefs — and that in-
i eludes members of the KKK.
According to The Dallas Morn-
iingNetVs, “Sheriff’s department
iofficials said no complaints had
jibeen filed against Deputy Gay or
Sgt. Palm dealing with racial dis
crimination.”
If these men did not violate the
rights of others, these men did not
deserve to be fired. There are many
people who hold jobs that conflict
with their beliefs, and like the two
officers, are able to perform their du
ties without incident.
The officers did not flaunt their
beliefs. It was only when a fellow of
ficer acted as if he shared those same
beliefs that Deputy Gay gave him a
KKK application.
“Deputy Gay said he had recently
attempted to boost the KKK’s mem
bership by giving an application to
another deputy he thought shared
his ‘white, Christian, heterosexual
values,’ ” according to an article in
The Dallas Morning News. The offi
cer was working undercover after in
vestigators were told by an unidenti
fied deputy that Gay and Palm were
involved with the KKK.
The men had done nothing illegal
to warrant such an investigation, be
sides being members of a group that
has a history of illegal activities. This
does not mean that these men were
involved in any of these activities.
There are people who are members
of the Teamsters Union and the Neo
Nazi Party, groups diat do not have a
clean past, who are not fired because
of their group affiliation.
If the officers in question were
only fired because they are on the
roll sheet of the KKK, then their fir
ing was not justified, and they should
be reinstated.
While the group is unsavory to
the general public, these officers are
within their rights to be members of
the KKK, as long as they did not
commit any illegal acts.
Brieanne Porter is a junior
political science major.
RUBEN DELUNA/7he BATTALlbi^
College is time to enjoy our nerdiness
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(U-WIRE) CHAM
PAIGN, Ill. — I cannot go on
living this lie any longer. I’m
not fooling anyone but myself.
The time has arrived for me to
come out of the closet.
I am...a nerd. (Webster de
fines “nerd” as “the type of
person who looks the word
I ‘nerd’ up in a dictionary”).
Always have been, too. The
I symptoms were all there: I
I collected Garbage Pail Kids,
[worshiped Batman and played
j Super Mario Kart for hours
Ion end - even in high school.
|In fact, I still show all of these
[symptoms, plus a few more.
|There’s no denying it.
And yet, for some reason, I
have been denying my nerd
roots for years. Arriving in
Champaign-Urbana my fresh
man year, I hoped to start
anew - you know, tabula rasa
and all that crap. My theory:
“If I sing along to Nirvana,
they’ll never suspect I have
every They Might Be Giants
CD in my room,” or some
thing to that effect.
But as time went by, I
gradually learned that nearly
everyone in college has some
sort of nerd (or dork or even
dweeb) aspects of their past.
Whether it be band camp,
Scholastic Bowl or the debate
team, most people are trying
to keep something about
their history quiet. There’s no
hiding from it, and eventually
the truth will be uncovered in
some horribly embarrassing
moment, much like in Mrs.
Douhtfire, only completely
different.
There is another way, how
ever. If you admit to being a
nerd without hesitation or re
gret, it’s all good. Seeing your
confidence, your peers might
soon expose their own nerd
qualities and you’ll all be bet
ter off. You may even start re
visiting past activities that
have long gone avoided; I my
self recently began playing
chess again, Pm proud to say
(it’s a manly game about war!).
The nerd element hasn’t
been suppressed in college
life, just modified. Students
often play Trivial Pursuit, only
now as a drinking game;
knowledge about hiyioiy and
philosophy is admirable, but
usually only when incorporat
ed into conversations con
ducted after 3 a.m.; and “The
Simpsons,” once a nerd cult
classic, has become the most
quoted TV show of all time.
Here, Weezer reigns
supreme over the radio, The
Onion is king of the Internet
and Monty Python movies
are the crown jewel of any
video collection.
Bullies, for the most part,
are no longer around to both
er you: When your academic
career gave you a ticket out of
whatever town you were
spawned in, you left them be
hind as well to pump gas or
molest goats or do whatever it
is they do when all their tar
gets have grown up and left.
You’ll always have to deal
with mockery, but at least in
college nerds have safety in
numbers.
And seriously, even though
Judd Nelson stole the show in
The Breakfast Club, three out of
every four of you readers know
that you relate much better to
Anthony Michael Hall.
So embrace the nerd within
you, and encourage others to -
do the same. Incorporate your'
less socially acceptable behav
iors into your daily life: play a
game of chess in a bar, play
Tetris on a date, or start up an
Empire Strikes Back versus Re
turn ofthejedi debate at your
next party.
Make these socially unac
ceptable behaviors more ubiq
uitous. Start using words like
“ubiquitous.” We have the
majority, and we should take
advantage of that.
Now, who’s with me?
Shachar Meroh
Daily Illini
U. of Illinois
Test; Hope Pra
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TUs Rtc>c>N\vf-<D
Finding life partner in
college not unlikely
In response to Jeff Kempf's
June 28 column.
I am writing in response to the
hormone-driven June 28 column
of "Sex and the Rural College
Town." Although the basis of the
article is sound, a few of the points
were off base.
I am one of Kempf's few that
have found my life partner. After
only one month here at A&M I
found my soulmate and in no way
have I "missed out" on my youth
or the so-called college experi
ence. In fact, sharing this time
with my significant other has only
enriched it. As Kempf obviously
has not experienced, having your
soul mate by your side makes
every moment worthwhile.
With only two semesters left, I
think I can say I've "focused" on
graduation, unlike some. I don't
have to play the field to make my
college days here worthwhile. But if
he thinks his options are limited in
this town and would rather gamble
with the risks that are found on that
famous playing field, the cards are
all his. I was extremely disgusted,
however, with his comment
"Maybe your wedding dress will
not be white, but who wants to
marry a virgin?"
I am sorry this question puzzles
you Mr. Kempf, but here's your
answer — any person with respect
for themselves and for the one
they love. As I truly hope you find
out one day, finding and loving
your soul mate has very little to do
with sex. Some people can con
trol their urges and honor their
partner and their wishes. You
seem to speak for the mass but I
think it's clear that some of us ma
ture much faster than others.
v Brooke Handlin
Class of '03
The space in The Battalion allot
ted for Kempf's column is severely
wasted. Instead of using this
space to promote safe and re
sponsible sexual practices in a col
lege town that so desperately
needs it, he promotes promiscuity
and distorts the intended function
of sex. Sex is a gift from God to
be shared within the confines of
marriage for several reasons that
Christians and non-Christians
alike must recognize.
However, Kempf's column out
wardly suggests that people are not
interested in marrying virgins any
more, so we should go out and
"sow our wild oats" while we can.
Kempf's socially irresponsible
comments fail to recognize that
STDs such as herpes and chlamydia
currently are reaching epidemic lev
els in the U.S., College Station in
cluded. "Sowing your wild oats"
additionally opens the possibility of
unplanned pregnancies that often
force doomed marriages, leaving
children in the crossfire.
I am embarrassed for the par
ents who brought their freshman
to New Student Conference today
only to hear Kempf telling their
children that in College Station we
have fun by running to the bar
and dropping our virginity with
whoever is willing.
Marissa Reynolds
Class of '02