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1 he BATTA!
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 1 1 • Monday, September 16, 2002
he last days of college radio
ew royalty rates make it difficult for college radio stations to stay in business
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ar those who listen
to college radio, it is
a unique and won-
ful experience as col-
radio stations, such
KANM at Texas A&M,
la^ music by artists most
snstream stations won’t touch.
Ht’ollege radio stations are particularly known for play-
ng eclectic play lists over the Internet in what are known
^■webcasts.”All this may change soon if the greedy
ttsic industry armed with the Digital Millennium
op> right Act (DMCA) has its-way. The Recording
^■ustry Association of America (RIAA) has come to the
conclusion that radio webcasters have not been justly
conqrensating the copyright holders of the recordings
they broadcast over the Internet. According to CNN.com,
^■U.S. Copyright Office issued new royalty rates for
w®casters this June. Newsweek reports that the due date
to pay these bills is Oct. 20. These fees are so astronomi
cal that most college radio stations, which operate on
very limited budgets, will probably shut down.
Bl his is a glaring example of the music industry at its
worst. By instituting these new fees, the record companies
ar$ unfairly eliminating one of the few sources left for
original music. While copyright holders of music should
bepompensated for their work, college radio stations
deserve the right to continue operation.
■According to Salon.com. the DMCA, which was
parsed in 1998, gave record companies the right to col
lect fees for songs transmitted via the Internet. When
used appropriately, the DMCA is a fair piece of legisla
tion that justly compensates those involved in making
music. But when it is abused, the results can be disas
trous. Record companies used the DMCA as an argu
ment for the government to institute the new web radio
broadcasting royalties. According to a report issued by
the U.S. Copyright Office, the minimum fee for each
license will be $500. But because the DMCA was
passed in 1998, this fee and all others will be retroac
tive to 1998, which means college radio stations will
haj/e to pay a minimum of $2000, the fees they’ve
incurred since 1998.
■There are many ways to compensate copyright hold
ers without bankrupting college radio stations. For exam
ple. CNN.com reports that under the current system,
“webcasters and over-the-air radio stations already pay
composers and music publishers royalties for the music
the\ play, based typically on a percentage of their rev
enues.” Even if this model doesn’t satisfy all parties,
there are other ways to reimburse the appropriate people.
For instance, Wayne Coyne, a musician for The
Flaming Lips, which has been the number one group
on college radio according to Rolling Stone, told
CNN.com he would be willing to work on a sepa
rate compensation deal for college stations.
In addition to feeding the avarice of the
music industry, the new fees have the effect of
bullying college and other small radio stations.
While webcasters are burdened with these outra
geous fees, traditional over-the-air broadcasters
are considered exempt. The broadcasting lobby -
headed by the powerful National Association of
Broadcasters, successfully convinced Congress
they should not have to pay because they help to
promote music, according to both Newsweek and
CNN. Web radio serves the same purpose, but has
not been allowed the same exemption. As people
are listening on their computers, the title of the
song and the artist can usually be seen on
screen. Thus, listeners have an easier time
of identifying artists they enjoy and are
more enthusiastic to buy their music. ^
Newsweek reports one webcaster was able to
generate $20,000 in CD sales.
The underlying motivation of the music indus
try is apparently to stifle the emerging technology of
the Internet. The RIAA was justified in its shutdown
of Napster, but going after web radio is wrong. Many
people turn to college radio webcasts because they
want a legal way to hear new types of music. It is
shocking that the recording industry doesn't under
stand and embrace this.
There will be very few legal places for listeners to
access new music if college radio stations shut down
and that, perhaps, is the worst aspect of these new fees.
The music industry wants to prevent piracy, but desper
ate listeners who are tired of the cookie-cutter offerings
on traditional FM radio stations will probably turn to
file-sharing programs to access illegal music down
loads. Also, artists who produce music that isn't “main
stream” will not have an efficient avenue to promote
their work and may quit making music altogether, rob
bing the industry of much-needed creativity.
The Internet era has provided a means of accessing
all types of musical tastes, and college radio has lead
the way. But unless listeners find some way to convince
the music industry and the U.S. Copyright Office other
wise, they will likely squash this revolution before it has
the chance to realize its full potential.
Collins Ezeanyim is a senior
computer engineeritig major.
JEFF SMITH • THE BATTALION
Kentucky should not
ban Satanism in prison
BRIEANNE PORTER
I n August, the
Kentucky
Department
of Corrections
(DOC) had a
Startling revela
tion — that preceding summer, prisoners had
begun holding weekly satanic worship services
that were a part of the religious calendar for
Cireen River, a medium-security prison. As
:fioon as the Kentucky DOC learned of this, it
ordered the prison to suspend services in order
to develop a statewide policy concerning these
Services. The policy Kentucky needs to enact
is one in which prisoners are able to worship
the religion they choose, even Satanism, and
Kentucky need not restrict the prisoners of
their fundamental right of freedom of religion
according to the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution.
Those opposed to allowing satanic services
argue that the religion promotes beliefs that
jeopardize the security of the prison and the
|||afety of the prisoners. In Texas, the DOC
does not allow satanic worship services based
on that fact. According to an article in The
Daily Telegraph, a London newspaper, Texas
prison chaplain Donald Kaspar said, “We've
Booked at the satanic bible and are convinced
that what it advocates would put our prisons at
risk. One of their tenets is revenge: if some
body hurts you, hurt them back.”
Any person familiar with the Christian
Bible knows the Bible also advocates a type of
Ijrevenge. The Book of Exodus promotes the
theory of revenge with the words, “but if there
jjis (any further injury) you shall appoint (as a
enalty) life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
ooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for
urn, wound for wound.” The Christian Bible
rgues the same belief as the satanic bible.
herefore, if satanic worship is not allowed, it
s hypocritical of the DOC to allow Christian
orship services.
According to an Associated Press article,
anager of government affairs for the
American Correctional Association Joe
Weedon said, “under federal law and U.S.
Supreme Court decisions, correctional institu
tions must allow inmates to exercise their reli
gious freedom, unless the practice of the rec
ognized religion threatens the safety of other
inmates or the staff.” It could be construed that
having Christian worship services could
endanger the prison staff and the inmates. Yet
the DOC does not find anything wrong with
the Christian worship services.
The inmates of the Kentucky prison have
the very same rights to have satanic worship
services as do any other religions. It is because
the religion is not as widespread as others that
it comes under scrutiny.
It cannot be argued that this belief is more
threatening than another. In a similar case in
1995 against the Texas DOC, the Executive
Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Texas, Jay Jacobson said,
“Religious freedom, the ability to choose one’s
own spiritual path, is at the core of our basic
American liberties,” according to an ACLU
news release.The freedom to practice a chosen
religion is protected by the Bill of Rights. The
First Amendment says the government shall
make no law prohibiting the free exercise of
religion. While it is prudent for the DOC to be
concerned about the safety of the inmates and
staff, there have not been any incidents in
which the exercise of the satanic religion has
caused safety and security problems for the
Green River prison. Therefore, the DOC has
no legal basis for not allowing the worship
services to continue. Only in the presence of
actual incidents sparked from these beliefs
does the DOC have the right to restrict the free
exercise of this religion, and such criteria has
not been met.
It is from our founding fathers’ fear of reli
gious oppression that the First Amendment
was ratified. It is not for society to decide
which religions are acceptable and which are
not. If the people practicing the religion harm
the lives of others, is it reasonable for the gov
ernment to restrict prisoners from practicing
the religion. However, the prisoners in
Kentucky have not threatened the lives of oth
ers and deserve the right to practice their reli
gion. The Kentucky DOC needs to heed the
First Amendment and allow the prisoners to
continue to practice their religion of choice.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights protect
religious freedom for not only the majority, but
for the minority, including the prisoners in
Green River prison.
High grades should be
hard to earn in college
W
MICALA PROESCH
Brieanne Porter is a senior
political science major.
'hen a
student
brings
home a transcript
with straight As,
he deserves to be
commended for his hard work. According to
official statistics kept by the Office of the
Registrar of Texas A&M University, 587 stu
dents enrolled in the spring of 2002 accom
plished this once awe-inspiring feat, compared
to only 97 students 12 years earlier. Getting all
As doesn’t seem to be quite the accomplishment
it used to be, which could be a sign of grade
inflation.
The recent trends at universities across the
nation are showing signs of grade inflation. An
article from the Aug. 25 edition of the Marquette
Tribune defines grade inflation as “an upward
swing in grade point averages without a corre
sponding increase in student achievement.” The
Ivy League schools are receiving most of the
press on this issue, yet most universities across
the nation are exhibiting increasing numbers in
relation to GPR, percentage of As given out and
students graduating with honors.
A comprehensive study conducted by the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
February 2002 showed 91 percent of Harvard
graduates graduated with a latin honors distinc
tion last year. These distinctions are meant to
separate and honor the top students at schools,
but Harvard graduates won’t feel honored gradu
ating Summa Cum Laude (which is supposed to
represent the top one percent of the graduating
class) if they are doing so along with half of
their classmates.
These practices are more extravagant at some
of the Ivy League schools, but the trend towards
grade inflation is being seen on the A&M campus
as well. In 1986, the average student’s GPR was
2.819, with 30.02 percent of grades given being
A’s. However, in the spring of 2002, the average
GPR had risen to 3.053 and 40.30 percent of the
grades handed out by professors were As.
What happened to the concept of Cs being
average? Grading systems are in place to distin
guish the incompetent from the ordinary and the
ordinary from the extraordinary. But an A can
not be extraordinary when 40 percent of students
are earning them.
The grade distributions at Texas A&M are
even more skewed in honors courses. While
there were no specific statistics available on
grade distributions in the entire Honors
Program, the statistics of the Office of the
Registrar shows grades in individual honors sec
tions imply a student has a much better shot at
making an A in these courses than they do in a
non-honors course. Grades below C are virtually
non-existent in honors classes, which raises the
question of why these honors students deserve to
claim such high grade distributions.
Dr. Finnic Coleman, associate director of the
office of honors programs and scholarships, said
high grade distributions in the Honors Program
are not indicative of grade inflation.
“When you take the best and the brightest
students, strictly in the sense of GPR, and put
them all in the same classroom, you have a
recipe for success. People often mistake rigor
and grade distributions as grade inflation, yet
these courses are not easy As; they are designed
for people to excel in, as they should be.”
Coleman sees nothing wrong with giving an
entire classroom full of students As if they all
work hard and excel at their assignments.
However, Harvard’s entire student body is com
posed of extremely bright students who excelled
in high school, and it is ridiculous to give every
bright, hard-working student there an A in every
class. When you gather the best and the bright
est, whether at an Ivy League school or in a uni
versity honors program, the standards of excel
lence should be raised to challenge the students
to go beyond their usual level of performance
and separate themselves from their equally
bright classmates. While honors classes at A&M
are challenging and rigorous, there is no sense
of competition pushing students to excel because
good grades are almost guaranteed.
As this trend increases, average students are
being awarded As when they clearly are not
excelling in their classes. Mysteriously, as grade
point averages are increasing, average SAT
scores and GRE scores are decreasing, indicat
ing that students are not necessarily getting
smarter — they are just getting good grades
more easily. Students work hard to distinguish
themselves in college so they can get into gradu
ate school or find a good job after they graduate.
However, with more and more people boasting
high GPRs, it is becoming harder to discriminate
the best from the rest.
Professors need to raise the standards of per
formance in their classes in order to separate
those who deserve good grades and those who
don’t. Getting good grades should be something
to be proud of, not something to expect.
Micala Proesch is a jut
journalism and economics me