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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Get rid of emotional baggage
College is a time to branch out and explore opportunities in the dating field
HE BATTAUOX
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SARA FOLEY
he high school
sweetheart:
They have
known you since
you had braces, a
squeaky voice
md skinny legs.
They were with you when you
applied to college and when you got
your acceptance letter into A&M. The
problem is, they are still there.
You walk to class together and meet for
lunch. They accompany you to date par
ties and Ring Dance and will one day
walk down the aisle with you.
You still laugh at the same jokes, talk
to the same people and visit home
together.
In fact, you haven’t changed a bit since
you went on that first date with them so
long ago. Therein lies the problem.
During the years when students are sup
posed to mature the most and experience new
things, a lengthy relationship inhibits people from
exploring their options and confines them from developing.
Dating various people during college helps form impor
tant social skills, define exactly what is desired in a spouse
and broaden horizons in a way that dating one person
throughout college could not supply.
College Station seems to be any single person’s ideal
location. For the most part, everyone is within a few years
of your age and single.
No other time in life will present so many opportunities,
which is why a constant restrictive relationship is ridiculous.
By giving more people a chance, keeping an open
mind and refraining from becoming too serious too
soon, you can bring new people into your life and
with that, new ideas and interests. Being single
should mean being focused on attaining personal
goals and socializing with friends and meeting new
people instead of desperately searching for a soul
mate.
Some students get so panicked at the
thought of being alone that they rush into
relationships for the sake of security.
This can lead to staying trapped in a
relationship that was never intended to
last. When students settle for someone
and the relationship ends, they often
realize that all they really miss is hav
ing a companion, rather than missing
the actual person.
Dating should be a good experience
— a time in a student’s life before mar- . ®
riage with the chance to see who is out
there.
While all dates are not exciting, and not all
people deserve a second date, it only makes true
love all the more important.
Although in later years one might date for mar
riage, now is a time to date simply for fun and
meeting new people. There is no reason to risk the
emotional damage of getting into a long relation
ship now.
While some people may find contentment in
dating one person exclusively during college, the
rest of us should open our minds to new people.
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Sara Foley is a sophomore
journalism major.
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Institutionalized racism continues at A&M
Sociology professor’s book will continue tradition of racist ideology on campus
MATTHEW MADDOX
T he first year of college is a
unique learning experience
for an Aggie freshman, and
nothing sets Texas A&M apart
like our traditions. New students
will likely learn of the 12th Man
tor the first time and of Bonfire's tragic past, yet critical future.
Sadly, many new Aggies will also learn of A&M's latest “tradi
tion” that administrators surprisingly refuse to give up despite
not being “forever safe.” A&M’s tradition of focusing on race
•s a terrible mentality to teach a new generation. Dr. Eduardo
Bonilla-Silva’s book White Supremacy & Racism in the Post-
Civil Rights Era is the latest evolution in this ritual that should
have collapsed with the 1960s.
Dr. Bonilla-Silva is a professor in the sociology department
at A&M. He teaches Sociology 317, a course which requires
students to read his book. Most of Dr. Bonilla-Silva’s book is
devoted to selling his idea that there is an “elusive phenome
non, a white conspiracy that works in the shadows to “keep
blacks in their place.”
Bonilla-Silva’s book says whites “develop a set of social
practices and an ideology to maintain the advantages that they
receive based on their racial classification, that is, they develop
a structure to reproduce their systematic advantages.”
From this, Bonilla-Silva derives an aberration called “color
blind racism.” He is attacking Dr. Martin Luther King’s philos
ophy of judging people based on the content of their character
rather than on the color of their skin. Bonilla-Silva further
barms racial harmony with his characterization of whites as
the enemy” because they oppose giving up their “wages of
whiteness.” This outlook is indicative of the mindset white stu
dents face at A&M.
Any student who has heard an administrator speak or has
read the school newspaper knows that those in charge of A&M
worship at a pagan altar called “diversity.” Since administrators
will go to the trouble of making the disclaimer that diversity is
not a race issue, let us review how the administration has pro
posed to “increase diversity” in its Vision 2020 report.
The full report calls for the use of the League of United
Latin American Citizens and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People in recruitment, while at the
same time insisting on “enhanced” recruitment activities for
students and high schools “representative” of the state’s demo
graphics (page 76). This is followed by “Sponsor high school
(with large minority enrollments) visits to university activities”
and “Establish Texas A&M University ‘university relations’
centers at selected high schools and community colleges with
large percentages of minority students” (page 89). Prospective
student centers in the lower Rio Grande Valley and South Oak
Cliff are under development for this objective.
Prescribed on page 85 is the need for “...specialized student
groups-such as ethnic residential theme houses, support cen
ters, and academic departments.” In this theme, implied segre
gation is the operating mode for University-sponsored groups
such as the African American Student Coalition, the Hispanic
Business Student Association, MEDALS, ExCel, and the
minority open house known as Nu House.
Even more recent examples of Texas A&M race talk have
been diversity training initiatives in the Student Senate and at
The Battalion.
If placing value on a person’s skin color is academically
irrelevant and is racist by definition, where does the adminis
tration’s brand of “diversity” fit into higher education? I am
sure that I am not the only white student to question his own
worth in the eyes of administrators when one criticizes A&M
for not being “diverse.” By stating in Vision 2020 that we can
not be a top university without a change in the “diversity” of
the students attending here, administrators reduce the value of
each student to their appearance.
Bonilla-Silva’s book goes even further with, “Treason to
whiteness is loyalty to humanity.” This is taken directly from
the rhetoric of infamous Harvard professor Noel Ignatiev who
recently published in his magazine Race Traitor that he plans
to “keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and
the females, too, until the social construct known as 'the white
race' is destroyed.” One can’t help but wonder if these two
instructors have found the game plan of the A&M administra
tion.
The closing chapter of Bonilla-Silva’s book revolves around
the message that the next generation, not yet exposed to
racism, must be recruited to fight on Dr. Bonilla-Silva’s side.
Perhaps I am just what University of Virginia professor Eric
Lott spoke of at a 2002 race forum here on campus when he
said, “When you're white, you don't have to think too much
about race ... that is the diseased white mind.”
However, it is an evil idea that innocent generations, born
far after slavery, Jim Crow, and the riots of the 1960s, be used
as fuel for fire of social destruction. Racism will continue as
long as new generations of all colors are chained to the institu
tionalized forms of racism and racial propaganda from charla
tans such as Bonilla-Silva. A&M must act now to end this tra
dition for all future Aggies.
Matthew Maddox is a junior
management major.
Not all disabilities are obvious
In response to George Deutsch's Sept. 27 column:
l am one of the 432 students registered with the
° f Services lor Students with Disabilities
D l ' to °k this article as a huge slap in the face. I
I y 7 ^e rules, and I have a state-issued hand-
P placard that I use to park on campus. Without
I , Wou ld not be physically able to walk to class.
l °. not have my disability tattooed on my fore-
n f or ev eryone to see. In fact, my disability is
a h ? ot ' cea hle to anyone on campus at all. 1 had
h a e ow knee amputation of my left leg and I
e to wear a prosthetic limb to get around.
Park' Ceor 8 e Deutsch to say that the students
t 0 L ln S on campus with placards are pretending
anrL ^ lsa hl e d, and that we all hop out of our cars
e to d^s is despicable and ignorant. I have
dent P r °hl em s in my life without having stu-
detp 5 * 31 ^ facu,t y stare at me with skepticism and
on w h er >ever 1 park in a handicapped space
arripus or around town.
MAIL CALL
Jaclyn Wettstein
Class of 2002
The
J ace s more
man the
average" legitimately handicapped person
“'tre undue stress, ridicule and torment
average person with no handicap.
After getting out of the critical care unit of the
hospital, I had to be escorted to the front doors of s
a store until my parents could find a wheelchair.
At the time, we had no handicapped tags and had
parked in a handicapped space. A rude and criti
cizing letter was left on our front windshield.
This illustrates the fallacy of assumption. Careful
consideration should be enforced when confront
ed with an unknown situation. Things aren't
always as they seem. Many handicapped individ
uals have tried hard to not appear handicapped.
They do not want to appear different and are
sometimes embarrassed and ashamed if they do.
Frank Dewey
Class of 2002
Coaches should "uncover" for
singing of Aggie War Hymn
Only one thing took away from the glory of the
outstanding win against Louisiana Tech last
Saturday night. As we all know, the band plays
the Aggie War Hymn between the first and second
quarters and again between the third and fourth
quarters. It is understood that when on the stu
dent side of Kyle Field, you get off the wood, and
that no matter where you are, you uncover.
Being with my parents in the Zone allowed me
my first ever true look at the coaching staff in
action. While I commend them on a job well
done, I am disappointed in their failure to remove
their caps during the playing of the War Hymn.
I cannot believe that the end of a quarter could
come as a surprise to them. Yet, what other rea
son could there be? 1 have yet to come
up with a satisfactory answer.
Removal of your cap during the War Hymn is
done as a measure of respect towards this fine
University, and the football staff should act
accordingly.
Michelle Bartkowski
Class of 2003
Gender is unrelated to one's
ability to nurture or protect
In response to Mark Wood's Oct. 1 column
Wood appears to have extreme gender biases
where women play the good housewife whose
job it is to raise the children while men are the
breadwinners who have total control over their
families. I hate to break it to him, but this type of
household rarely exists anymore. Today, there are
many families where the man and the woman
take equal part in both nurturing and providing
for their children. In my family, my mother plays a
dominant role in decision-making, and my father
is the one who taught me sensitivity and compas
sion. Are you telling me that my mother is mas
culine and my father is effeminate?
And what about single-parent families? Should
widows or widowers lose their children because
there is no longer both a man and a woman to act
as parents to these children as you say is
required? In many cases, the single parent takes
on the role of both mother and father, and socie
ty usually respects these parents for being able to
take on both roles.
It becomes quite apparent that gender roles are
obscure, and there is no black and white answer
concerning what makes a good mother or father.
Your assumption of assigned roles for men and
women needs to be reevaluated or you will lose
those willing to listen to your point of view.
Ashley Wagnon
Class of 2002
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters
must be 200 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 accuracy. Letters may
be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid
student ID. Letters also may be mailed to: 014 Reed
McDonald, MS 1111, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843-1111. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email:
mailcall@thebatt.com