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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2001)
THE BATTALION brsday, November 8, 2001 Page 5B mei etween the lines diversity Drive is a dangerous crossing i features one ii arises againsti'-:) ». A&M hass ne, while Ok!;-1 ntrol to al ne. Both leadfe.B A s safety-minded as Texas A&M has jories. I /\ become, one potential danger is over- m the first \-looked on University Drive at earns, 2-0,onOcHthgate. On an y given night, students risk cer Complex,Is fii’ lives by haphazardly crossing University to get to the bars or returning to their cars after a night of party ing. This is an accident waiting to happen. Crossing six lanes of traffic is always a risk, but on University, this risk is compounded signifi cantly. Many of the bar-goers have been drinking, as have many of the drivers. ird againsiOl ime, A&M first 11 minute own the pace, ne of the conic s in sophomof; was one of fi d to the All- feam. She ha- with 13 goal he danger mainly stems from students’ tied with AillBrch for free parking. Parking at Northgate will 1 Linsey Jot pays be a hassle, no matter how many garages ■ built or spaces are made available. Students iurnament on^Be learned to seek alternatives because : flrthgatc parking remains expensive, and the I lice strictly enforce parking violations. •■The most popular alternative is to park in I CC|Icampus parking lots near the Northside res- ^•^^^Wllnce halls. On weekends, they provide free, le parking for Northgate patrons. The only No. 40. ancl 1 E stan( ^ n g between the students and the Hedberg and bars is six lanes of traffic. Nedorostova, \ competing aga:: teams inc > team of senior L ind sophomore . No. 13. aggies will be riday morning: singles and dr on. xumament, whid Sunday aftemo* al action of the fall the Aggie woi : fall season is tk he year in >rds are kept. Students seem aware of the danger, as it is An discussed informally. Talking about it, tiduever, is not enough — it is the responsibili- ^of students to make this a pertinent issue, so )per measures may prevent fatal accidents, len the bars close, and bar patrons run back oss the street to their vehicles, even more e must be taken. Although crossing University is a visible blem, little has been done to solve it, because one is specifically at fault. There may not be ^entity or organization to blame, but the ponsibility to find a solution falls on many bultlers. ■ Most importantly, it is the Northgate-goers’ Joblem. Students who enjoy Northgate must be Vocal with city officials to ensure proper action is taken. Aggies look out for each other, and it takes mfc effort to ,say something to students who are pVu to run carelessly across University. It is i at!unspoken responsibility of students to keep others from endangering their lives. It also is important to remember that it is not only students crossing University who are in danger. Continued emphasis on the use of a designated driver drastically can reduce the risk of an accident. Responsibility also lies on the shoulders of the Student Government Association. Student leaders must take the initiative to inform their peers of the risks that exist while crossing University. For similar reasons, it is the Texas A&M administration’s problem. If they are going to push risk management requirements on campus, it would be hypocritical not to address this issue. After all, students are parking on campus and crossing to Northgate from there. It also is a problem for the city of College Station. The city’s park ing rates are part of the reason that students seek cheaper alterna tives. Indirectly and unintentionally, the city’s current system results in students endan gering their lives. Hopefully, city officials will work with student leaders and administrators to make University Drive safe at night. For the present, students should set an example for each other and make a concerted effort to cross at designated crosswalks. As basic and silly as this seems, it is the least students can do to look out for each other. Mariano Castillo is a senior journalism and international studies major. RUBEN DELUNA •THE BATTALION tudents ai'mg constitutes a large part of the everyday college student's life. This fhas become associated with social activities, and it is no differ ent at Texas A&M..Many students meet friends and classmates for lunch or din ner during the week. Sometimes, students gather at Poor Yorrick’s for a quick cup of coffee before a class or to study while enjoying ' an iced mocha. Before this emester, it was possible for a student to use imeal credit in exchange for $4 worth of 'ood at dining facilities on campus. However, as many observant Aggies have loted, AMCs are no longer an option, and cer should respect Food Services tain Outbound meal sizes have downsized yet prices have remained the same. Students around campus have become irate, mumbling that the University has found another way to extract as much money as possible from students. The Department of Food Services is operating on limited resources and has come to a conclusion that has allowed prices to remain the same while having essentially the same options. Students need to respect this decision. Each meal cost ranges from about $4.20 to $6.95. What many students are not aware of is that not all of that money pays for the food. Almost half of each meal plan pur chased goes to the labor and overhead costs of maintaining dining facilities on campus. Regardless of whether students eat there, the building remains open and utilities and over head costs must be paid. Food Services is not funded by the state; it is an independent auxiliary enterprise. With the cost of utilities tripling last year and a mandated personnel pay raise, Food Services had two options to stay in business. The first option was to raise prices for meal plans, which would have caused an uproar. The second choice was to cut down choices and find acceptable substitutes. The decision to take away the AMC option was based on the fact that not many students used it. Most students were not willing to get only $4 worth of food in exchange for a meal plan. Baked Lays are no longer an option as part of Outbound combos, and, as many stu dents have realized - , the chips are no longer the Big Grab variety but smaller sizes. Costs have increased drastically, and, to prevent an increase in meal plan costs, chip bag sizes were reduced. Unfortunately, Baked Lays do not come in this size. If students are insistent on getting some thing that is not part of the Outbound combo, there is the new Outbound Exchange option. With this option, up to $2 of food can be obtained in addition to the Outbound meal. While students have complained it is a rip-off and prefer the $4 value, only $2 of each meal plan goes to food. As Cindy Zaweija, associ ate director of food services said, “You’re pur chasing a service.” Ruby Lee is a sophomore computer science major. $UN< 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 accu racy. Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid stu dent ID. Letters also may be mailed to: The Battalion — Mail Call 014 Reed McDonald • MS 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (979) 845-2647 Mail Call: mailcall@thebatt.com Email: opinion@thebatt.com Submissions made to old hotmail.com accounts will not be published. Houser speaks out It saddens me to hear the asser tion of my silence and lack of par ticipation in furthering Bonfire. My extensive involvement in Bonfire in past years is clear evidence that I support the return of this tradition. I do want Bonfire to return, and I want students to be safe. For that reason, I have participat ed in many difficult meetings, talked with various student groups, answered countless emails, dis played plans in my office for com ment, made my contact informa tion readily available and wel comed students who would like to visit with me. In order to push forward, we need to be committed to all it will take to have a safe Bonfire. I fear that because of uninformed con demnations, the trust that we all need to make this happen could be dissolved. I am very glad that stu dents are again becoming interest ed in Bonfire. For many months, student feed back on Bonfire plans and partici pation at open forums and meet ings was worryingly low. Bonfire has surfaced again as a big issue, as it should be. This is a very seri ous project. I will not abandon the safety issue, but I certainly have MAIL not lost hope that Bonfire can return in 2002 and feel very opti mistic that we are moving closer and closer daily. A&M students should care, you should give your opinion, and you should ask questions. Hard work is going to make Bonfire return, and there are so many people who have and continue to work tirelessly to serve Texas A&M. I will continue to serve this student body and treas ure the opportunity to see this proj ect through its entirety. R. Schuyler Houser Class of 2001 Silver Taps, anyone? As a student, it saddens me to see the low number of students who attend Silver Taps. After the summer break, the first Silver Taps is very crowded, but as the semester rolls on, the numbers dwindle. Considering that the school we attend prides itself on traditions, it is shocking that so few Aggies show up. Tuesday, I not only saw stu dents walking past as if nothing was taking place, but also people leaving early. How many students stand in support for the football team each week compared to the L. L number of students who stand for our fellow fallen Ags each month? Silver Taps takes a mere 20 minutes. That is not a large amount of time taken out of your day. Ask yourself this would you go to Taps if it was your best friend who died? Sara Herbst Class of2002 School prayer should be a local matter In response to Christy Ruth’s Nov. 7 column: I cannot disagree more with Ruth regarding religion in schools. First, no one ever said prayer in school was mandatory. Some schools may choose to include a prayer in the morning, some may not. Similarly, a child may have been brought up with strict atheistic views and just not participate in the prayer. I find it ironic that a vocal minority that preaches tolerance would have such trouble display ing it. Using the argument of tol erance, a group is a group be it a minority or a majority, and it makes no sense to deny the majority an activity just because a vocal minority objects to its validity. If the vocal minority were allowed to set policy everywhere, how many freedoms would the people of America lose. Tolerance is fine, but it works both ways. I am sure that if he were Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Hindu or any other religion the prayer would've been much different. And as the sensible majority did then, they would have accepted his prayer as the sign of remorse and plea for strength that it was. In the end, everyone is dancing around the real issue which the author hinted at. Who decides what is acceptable in a state or locally administered agency, the federal, state or local govern ment? I believe that only the gov erning body with the most direct contact with the concerned area should have rule of law over such an intimate issue. Secondary to this is the fear that a child's right to chose is being infringed upon in some way. It is, but not in the way that Ruth seems to think. In fact, removing prayer simply removes a category of choices. Zach Cummings Class of 1999