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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2002)
NT HH BATTai fort) pi tal: ‘lediune repor die nation’s hs ^jor systems j report •ors contnbu:: million inj deaths anm ire ss orkers ir study were set >rded errors i- of obscnr harmful r os erdoscs en nurses fair prescribed follow s the s recent annc safety starring in cdical errors gulatory a st of the nx Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Monday, September 9, 2002 Playboy models deserve punishment aylor students knew university would punish them for posing in magazine ne ir lings and stole S‘ sscs and sa». ml. defense li* icrdicl. "A:: liberated lor iHibt. W; jcneni Pm it until ' JENELLE WILSON ast month, Baylor University suspended the Sigma Phi Epsilon |raternity for appearing in ^ lay boy's October "Women of |he Big 12" issue. The stu- ients knew the university 'ould discipline anyone who appeared in the lagazine because this violates the Christian |deals Baylor students are expected to iphold. Ignoring the administration’s ishes was disrespectful and the frater- lity deserved to be suspended. The Associated Press said the photo jthat resulted in the suspension includ- ;d approximately 50 fraternity mem- ers wearing Sigma Phi Epsilon T- hirts and four women in bikinis on an iff-campus sand volleyball court. The stu ients in the picture were holding Baylor anners and flags. In addition to the fraternity’s one-year uspension. which prevents the fraternity rorn having any official activities or ecruiting, most of the students in the hoto were required to write a paper nd perform community service. One tudent who posed separately for the magazine was suspended. The fraternity contacted Playboy and [asked it not to publish the picture before lit was published, but, not surprisingly, \ Play boy refused. After all, the students all signed con [sent forms. The fraternity is currently appealing the suspension. This is not Baylor's first clash with Playboy. According to Baylor’s uni versity newspaper. The Lariat, in 1996. the last time Playboy pro duced a “Women of the Big 12” issue, Baylor officials warned any student who participated would be subject to expulsion. However, the two women who posed for the magazine were seniors at the time of the photo shoot and graduat ed before the magazine was published, and were unable to be expelled. In March, while Playboy was still accepting applications to pose, Baylor's Vice President of Student Life, Eileen Hulme, told The Lariat that participation in the magazine issue was not something the university administration would look favorably upon. She said it would fall under one definition of misconduct in the Student Handbook, which says misconduct is any “expression that is inappropriate in the setting of Baylor University and in opposition to the Christian ideals which it strives to uphold.” Larry Brumley, Baylor's associate vice president of exter nal relations, told the University of Texas' Daily Texan the students were disciplined because, “Posing for a magazine that exploits women and sells sex is a violation of that policy.” He said “Baylor officials were less than pleased with the presentation of the school's name and logo.” Baylor, as a private Baptist university, has every right to expect its students to follow the university's “Christian ideals." It has a right to not be associated with a magazine it feels is a violation of those ideals. The students who disregard the expressed wishes of their private Baptist university deserve to be punished. It does not matter that none of the students in the group photo were nude; they are still representatives of the university, and their actions reflect on Baylor. The fraternity did the right thing by trying to stop the photo from being published, but that was too little, too late, and now the students have to face the consequences. The punishments handed down by the university were extremely fair. Writing a paper and doing community service is a very mild punishment. No one was expelled, only one per son was suspended and the suspension of the fraternity is only for one year. According to its Web site, Baylor is the largest Baptist- affiliated University in the world and is trying to set an exam ple for other Protestant universities. University officials are clear about the university's mission and what they expect from Baylor students. Students know they are to represent the Christian values Baylor holds dear. The students in the photo knew they were violating school policy before they posed, but did it anyway. If students do not agree with the policies and proce dures of a private, religious university, they should not be attending. ANGELIQUE FORI) • THE BATTALION Jetielle Wilson is a junior political science major. ter a 1% 1994. uh. he did 95. but ilu Mien thr denied a sptf l* jeopardy e Service 'omfortable ;as ssan Parts ith/12,000 d Warranty e Gun industry should not be held accountable Gun manufacturers take reasonable precautions to prevent misuse of their products T he gun industry is becom ing legally protected from civil lawsuits across the nation. Laws have been passed blocking city governments from BRIEANNE PORTER suing gun companies in 30 states. Cities are accusing manufacturers and dealers of allowing guns to fall into the hands of criminals and juveniles. While guns are a hazard in the wrong hands, gun manufacturers and dealers are not responsible for the use of guns once they have been legally sold. Critics argue the gun industry is responsible for crimes com mitted with its product, similar to claims the tobacco industry is responsible for deaths caused by its product, but there is no basis for comparison between the two. The tobacco industry did not inform the public of the addictive quality of its product and withheld information concerning medical problems stem ming from smoking. Guns are not chemically addictive, unlike nicotine. The tobacco industry was at fault because it did not inform the public of the adverse side effects. The gun industry has never claimed there is no inherent danger from the product. In fact, the industry has repeatedly gone to lengths to detail proper use of its product. According to The New York Times, “New Orleans became the first of almost three dozen cities and counties to file suits against gun manufacturers and dealers. accusing them of being public nuisances and seeking huge damage awards in a campaign similar to that waged against the tobacco industry.” A notable example of the change of the legal tide is California. The California State Legislature recently passed a law repealing the gun industry immunity. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Supporters of the bill said gun makers should be held responsible for their products, as are the manufacturers of many other goods in California, from cribs to lawn mow ers.” The California legislature has forgotten one important issue. If someone does not use a lawn mower as instructed and hurts other people, those people cannot sue the lawn mower makers. Only when the product malfunctions as a result of a problem from the manufacturer can a person sue the manufac turer. In the same manner, as long as the gun does not malfunc tion and people are harmed from improper and illegal use, it is not the gun industry’s responsibility. Guns, similar to automobiles, have an inherent danger asso ciated with the equipment. In the same New York Times article, Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said “the gun industry deserved special protection because it is irresponsible to hold a legitimate industry respon sible for the criminal actions of a few people over which it has no control. We would not sue car manufacturers for injuries caused by a drunk driver.” Guns are used to commit terrible atrocities against humanity, but it is not the fault of the gun industry its product is used in these crimes. Many people owm guns and will never use them illegally. In Reuters News Service, Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, said in response to the new bill. “To the gun ban lobby, there is no such thing as any gun that is not a defective product. They want to debate - case by case, court room by courtroom - the social utility of a firearm. It’s a frivo lous position, but defending against it will cost the industry more than it can afford.” If America falls into the trap of blaming gun manufacturers for crimes in which guns were used, the next step would be to hold knife manufacturers responsible for the crimes in which a knife is used. From there it would become a downward spiral of all the legitimate businesses being held responsible for crimes in which its product is operated. These lawsuits neglect that there is a certain amount of responsibility on the part of the owner of a gun. IT the owner uses it illegally, the owner should be held accountable for their actions. As long as the gun industry is not specifically targeting their guns to criminals and children, it is not the industry’s responsibility. Brieanne Porter is a senior political science major. igsj >ol day ft eplay." in lay, I 2! 1124 Breast implants just another form of improvement O ops, we’ve done it again. It has been three years since then 17-year-old Britney Spears burst onto the pop music scene and prompted an international debate over the singer’s large chest. Yet as breast augmentation is quickly becoming the surgery of choice for young women, the public continues to denounce the procedure. With thousands of girls opting for saline implants instead ot padded bras each year, we should cheer this artificial esteem boost instead of shunning it. While Spears continues to maintain her assets are real, there is a growing number of college students who don’t make the same claim. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of women ages 19-34 who sought breast augmentation rose from 19,500 in 1992 to more than 108,000 in 2000. In 2001, breast augmentation was the sec ond most popular cosmetic surgery for the same age group, with 122,045 surgeries performed. Most controversial were sur geries performed on girls 18 and under, with 2,596 going under the knife in the United States in 2001. For them, this was one of the five most popular cosmetic surgical procedures. Girls should not base their self-worth on their chest size, but despite this, many young women face numbing insecurities each time they look in the mirror. If a woman has an extra $5,000 to spend and is willing to go through a painful surgical operation to attain a positive self-image, she should not be criticized. The media has been critiqued for providing young women with an unrealistic standard of beauty, one created by personal trainers, pro fessional lighting and airbrushing. While it is unreasonable to aim for a “perfect” figure, try ing to emulate the ideal standard of beauty has been the practice of women and men alike for a long time. No one criticizes teenagers who wear braces, as braces have become an “accept able” method of artificially enhancing one’s appearance. If someone is born with unusually crooked teeth, he may pay thousands of dollars to fix his smile and feel better about his appearance. Similarly, for the growing number of young women who undergo breast augmentation, they have the chance to add volume and proportion to their bodies, and are finally able to look in the mirror and feel feminine. Feminist author Naomi Wolf dismantles the “beauty myth” in her book, “The Beauty Myth," in which she poses the question of a female’s freedom to choose. “The real issue has nothing to do with whether women wear make-up or don’t, gain weight or lose it, have surgery or shun it, dress up or down, make our clothing and faces and bodies into works of art or ignore adorn ment altogether. The real problem is our lack of choice.” This idea accepts that some women do buy into the traditional “beauty myth” and will go to any lengths to achieve it. Some girls start feel ing self-conscious about their chests as early as elementary school, and for them to receive implants after their bodies finish developing is neither too soon nor too vain in their eyes. According to an article reported to CBSnews.com in 2000, while the number of teens receiving breast augmentation surgery has more than quadrupled in the past five years, most of the young patients are receiving smaller implants and quoting poor body image as the primary factor in their decisions to undergo surgery. With this in mind, most of these girls are not trying to look like Pamela Anderson or even Britney Spears. Most of them just want to feel comfortable and proportionate, and if it takes a couple of saline bags and a few thousand dol lars to accomplish this, then more power to the patients. Micala Proesch is a junior journalism and economics major. MICALA PROESCH
