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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2001)
). This rate applies an additional 5 to end to qualify loi WANTED Engineer: Resp: all aspects of syt:- concept develops jn, and detail des: so include involve-.: sting, refinemem j p. A working u"; ■ ind rapid prototyp-; ly to work on muj dly understand the:, requirements of • While expenen:: c areas is not reqi i fuel cells, powersi| test equipment, »s ment, environnie-, onng equipment. ? lion equipment, r;; A minimum BS-'t. Physics or equiv;:' id fields: As and e», peeled to actively j';! Hopment, testing, t of prototype, der mmercial equips possess supems: chmcal writing at' on exp. Ssj or detailed info, 6ft >ch@lynntech.con:: 7610 Eastmaddfl 77840, Attn: Want 9-764-5794. Software Dev« ooking for an indh':. iftware design aiv • n32 systems in C- id in Active X'DCO AIL and MFC. Ik i a backgrounding:' ategies on embeds: bility to trouiXesfo: microcontrollers, r mbedded systermr- are required, Ann- Engineering, Phyw i or equivalent extf . 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Mus ; -d worker, Geos Call Wintergaif sk for Rick. S.M Bookstore If me help. Flex® al office, flexiS •9-255-2789. -1-time, restaurafij all 979-268-533:. d in exchange Id ren ages 9,6 S5 uired. Call 56'- jdents, Notes.h ig notetakerstol Apply at 701 Ifrl icross from tN 46-2255 fornwij ocal concessc Call 694-362f College Station: acility is seekin; endants. Dm; und check rf I 1 George Bus' on. perience nece: Anusara Yogs® 68-3838. r CLE 20,500mi, 01 $4,000. 2»l let stand, tan Filter include: d on page 6 | Wednesday, August I, 2001 Opinion THE BATTALION Expired food not just in our home I stopped to get lunch at the Bus Stop Snack Bar after my 10 a.m. class yester day — yo gurt and a half pint of choco late milk. I was ready to take my first bite as I licked the yo gurt off the underside of the lid and noticed it was a little wann. Even “cool” would have been a generous term, so at a whim, I glanced at the expira tion date on the lid — which, it turned out, had passed nine days ago. The sell-by date on my milk also had passed four days ago. This was not just bad luck on my part — I went back, checked and found more outdated yogurt in the cooler. At this point, one is forced to wonder what procedures the Texas A&M Department of Food Services uses to make sure it supplies stu dents with safe, non-spoiled food products. Although generalized guidelines for food disposal do exist, they have not been followed as strictly as they should. Summer temperatures in this area make the matter even more pressing, as food spoils much more quickly when ex posed to extreme tempera tures. Since Food Services em ployees have neglected to show concern for student health, it would be wise for students themselves to be very careful when purchasing per ishable items on campus. Products are supposed to be removed once they pass their sell-by date, said Cynthia Zaw- ieja, associate director of Food Services. According to Margo Reese, the facilities manager of North Campus Food Services, there are three checkpoints at which the freshness of the products is supposed to be checked. She said delivery peo ple are expected to check expi ration dates and remove out dated items from the shelves at delivery times. She also said Food Services employees are supposed to check for freshness on the days that deliveries do not arrive and when they do inventory. Reese said they tend to rely on vendors* because it is their policy to pick up expired products and credit the estab lishment in question. Zawieja stated otherwise, saying that employees should not rely on delivery persons to remove expired products, al though she said there was no formal policy. Perhaps one should be implemented. Obvi ously, with all these “check points” at which various work ers are supposed to be checking our food quality, they have become very adept at blaming other people involved. Even corporate grocery stores have the decency to no tify customers when they are about to buy an outdated product, usually by grouping the aging products together and offering them at a re duced price. Unfortunately, there is no legal basis for forcing Food Services to show more con cern for student health. "The sell-by and expiration dates on perishable products are suggestions, not mandatory dates at which marketers must remove the food from the shelves, according to Julie Anderson, the environmental health director for the Brazos County Health Department. However, she added that summer heat does call for ex tra concern, because higher temperatures result in a shorter shelf life. Although this is what cool ers are meant to prevent, the number of times these coolers are opened per day on a col lege campus also must be tak en into account. Needless to say, the storage temperatures will not be nearly as low as they would be, for example, in one’s home refrigerator. Whether through apathy or simple human error, A&M Food Services cannot be counted on to keep close track on tire age of its food. A formal policy is needed to ensure food quality, but since this is not legally required, it is safe to bet A&M will not develop one in the near future. In the mean time, students looking for a quick bite to eat should re member to check their own expiration dates and adopt die motto “buyer beware.” Jessica Crutcher is a junior journalism major. Open market needed Globalization, trade helps poorer countries T he fight against free trade is nothing new. But the hypocrisy of the argu ment against expanding of jfree trade recently has been richly demon strated at Harvard Uni versity. Beside the usual havens of the economic isolationists, in cluding many unions and their allies in Gettigress, the effort to discredit the free- tnftle policies of many world leaders has spread to some college campuses. Such groups, often led and organized by stu dents, identify such economic policy as low tariffs and lesser barriers to trade with in creased globalization. Js. common claim is that this exploits the poor in Third World countries. As the ri ots in Genoa at the G8 summit recently have demonstrated, when countries get to gether to discuss global economic trends and strategy, common sense can be thrown right out of the window in favor of vio lence and arguments as thin as a super model on a hunger strike. Contrary to protesters’ claims, pnore open trade helps the poor, betters the environment, raises workplace standards and promotes demo cratic ideas. Last spring, a group of students known as the Progressive Student Labor Move ment (PSLM) took over Harvard’s Massa chusetts Hall, demanding among other things that the university monitor the working conditions of the developing world more closely. Harvard, like many other institutions, manufactures their athletic apparel abroad. The sit-ins were filled with anti-globaliza- tion rhetoric. The student newspaper’s editors at the Harvard Crimson supported the PSLM, stating that “Harvard must shoulder the responsibility to monitor workplace stan dards for those outside U.S. borders who work on its behalf.” Their anti-globaliza tion allegiance has hardly wavered — until recently. Last week, the newspaper made known that it will be hiring teams of Cam bodian typists to complete the online data base of its articles. The typists will earn 40 cents per hour, and there are no promises to oversee the work place environment. This decision is the right one, as the work ers themselves were happy to explain. The Associated Press quoted Khive Rotha as saying, “I’ve always wanted to use English and computers to earn a living, so this is a big success for my family.” Eng Naleak, who can type 30 words per minute despite being born with only three fingers on each hand, said, “My life was hopeless before this opportunity.” Disabled people have a difficult time finding work in Cam bodia, but not necessarily with foreigners looking to invest in a developing nation. Free trade benefits the poor in Third World countries because they are able to sell goods to a world market of consumers with the resources to pay. The protesters complain of American exploitation of the Third World. The wages, while extremely low by American standards, usually are well above the average income in a developing country. The typists for the Hai-vard Crim son, for example, will earn more the average hourly wage in Cambodia’s often haz ardous main industry of garment manufac turing. English lessons and medical care are also offered to the Cambodian workers. Foreign companies participating in globalization are much more likely to provide such benefits than any job to be found in the developing country. In addi tion, lower-income consumers in the United States benefit from the reduced costs to make a product or service. PSLM arguments that globalization and free trade harm the environment are like wise misleading. A very quick and effec tive method to improving environmental standards comes not from loud protesters or unenforceable treaties but from the creation of wealth. As growing middle class demands improved surroundings, the institutions will arise that can create that in a more efficient way than any gov ernment. President George W. Bush re peatedly has stated that trade is a force for democracy. As wealth and stability increases from foreign investment, Third World coun tries will naturally demand more democra cy to protect their freedoms, civil rights and material accumulation from the overextended reach of government. Now publications such as the Harvard Crimson are choosing to participate in the global markets, in contrast to providing the same tired arguments of opposition, perhaps some of the many appeals to free trade are beginning to take hold. Unfortunately, there is much opposition to overcome. In the meantime, some of the world’s poorest countries are waiting. Jonathan Jones is a senior political science major. RUBEN DELUNA/rwc Battalion The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the au thor's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may be sub mitted 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 College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (979) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com Hook-up culture destructive (U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa — My generation grew up in the age of feminism. Our mothers were the ones who led the campaigns in the 1960s and ‘70s. They started the first woman-centered organiza tions. They celebrated the FDA’s approval of the pill. They cheered when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in 1973’s “Battle of the Sexes.” They burned their bras. Ok, maybe some techniques were more symbolic than others. But they changed -this world to make it a person’s world, instead of a man’s world. I was lucky enough to grow up in the generation that followed, so I could feel the effects of the feminist movement. I am proud to be a woman. I can do anything I want. I cariTSe anything I want. I am woman, hear me roar. But I think my generation is tak ing feminism a step in the wrong direction. A nationwide survey conducted by Independent Women’s Forum released its results of a survey of 1,000 college women. According to the survey, 40 percent of college women prefer “hooking up” to tra ditional dating. In this survey, hook ing up is defined as any sexual en counter ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse where both par ticipants expect nothing further af terward. Ten percent of college women responded to the poll say ing they had hooked up more than six times. (So did they have sex with six different men or kiss six random guys? That seems like a big differ ence). In this survey, women said they were rarefy asked on dates, but rather hung out with their dates in informal settings. The poll also said 91 percent of college women reported what was described as “rampant hook-up cul ture” on their campuses. So why are countless college women partici pating in this self-destructive sexu al behavior? Why are they having sex and then not expecting the man to call them the next day? It all stems back to the feminist move ment. In order to prove to the world that women are in control of their ibodies, they have sex without strings attached. And what does that prove? In today’s world of hooking up, women end up hurting them selves emotionally and sexually, while men live the easy life of mean ingless sex in the cheap comfort of their own apartment. And women take the problem ly ing down. My female friends and I complain all the time about how we never go on dates. “What hap pened to dating?” we ask each oth er. Just once we want our men to plan a date with dinner and a movie, instead of inviting us to hang out and hook up in their apartments. Call me a dating prude, but I like traditional dating. I haven’t been on many because I let my feminist beliefs get in the way of having a good time. As a feminist, I feel like I’m ob ligated to argue with every man who has offered to pay for a date. I can’t let him pay because then I would be going against all my fem inist values. So I’m asking all the women of Iowa State to re-evalu ate their relationships. I want women to think about the long term heartache hooking up can cause and remember that women can be feminists without hooking up. College women, let a man pay every once in a while. It doesn’t mean you’re not a fem inist. It just means you have control of your life. And that’s what femi nism is all about. Michelle Kahn Iowa State Daily Iowa State University