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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2002)
Opinion mam The Battalion le, including »i ncan Green Bsk njuiing 25 olheis. Oct 3 eo P | e are inddM •rtland. Ore, lor ’ging to a tenors nd trying tojciia. a to fight U.S. s. Four were ted in the Unite) s and a fifth in r'sia. Thesrxlhisal I sought, Oct. 6 zee ra receives an; leasts an audo of Osama bin n speaking. |f$ ar when it was Oct. 8 Jdiotapeofbin n’s top deputy 5 ating. U S oHoas was made in st at the earliest, ore likely n the las reeks. II makes inces to seveia t events and dan aden is alive, Oct 8 <uwaiti gunmen < two separate ie units in Kuw. one Marine and ig another. U.S ils say they are icted of ties to a- campus Students should take advantage of Corps escorts SARA FOLEY 'called the num ber for the first time, and felt sitant to do so. 1 ild the voice on the rone where 1 was, here I needed to go and in about ten minutes I saw khaki uniform coming towards me along the iserted street. He told me his name, and 1 managed to fabricate a ary to explain why I was in front of Zachary in the of the night on a weekend. We made small Ik,and 1 realized 1 shouldn’t have been so skeptical loutthe whole process. About halfway along our alk.ltold him I might have tricked him a bit. wasn’t in need of an escort. 1 was just testing emto find out if calling for an escort is as big a alas I had'thought. I don’t think I’m the only one ho might feel doubtful or childish about calling a orps escort, but I can say it was better than what have happened to me had I been walking lone that night. It would be nice if students could safely ilk anywhere they pleased without worrying lout being assaulted. Many women at Texas A&M ignore the pos- illity of crime, live under a blanket of false curity and choose to gamble with their safe- However, crimes occur on campus and will ontinue to, so it is in the best interest of female Indents to use the Corps escort service when tcessary. Between January and August 2002, there * ere three rape offenses reported, accord- Tunisia, a fa ig to the University Police Department, killed 16peofii here were 39 incidents of harassment and ocases of aggravated assault. >een linked loi i&M might be safe when com- ared to universities of similar size, t he saw as B udiasthe University of Texas, he United /hich reported 24 rape offenses and nst Iraq, to aggravated assaults in 2001. ^ 1ft H ° WeVer ’ i , t is the belief “ nothin g wil1 rad" W^ome' that breeds victims. he sai4.v|® onalcrimes g° unreported, so ie supremac^jr. v uenc y ot crim e on campus Higher than one might suspect, eescort service helps prevent tacks by dissuading potential lackers. On weekends, there are sometimes up to 200 calls a night RUBEN DELUNA o countries; and its depis at their crimes led," he said." o make a Palestine, ^nesting escorts, according to Larry Boykin of Company D- AfghanistanAlthough the guard room receives a number of prank calls e Muslim st®|iidcalls from women who might think of the service as a way ‘meeting dates instead of assuring safety, the service proba- contributes to the lower campus crime rates. At any given 3 authorities. :ampaign refe* the census, mes or revealiij me, six cadets are working in the guard room and are avail- m to accompany any females walking on campus. However, something stops many women from using the THE BATTALION service. Whether it be confidence that she can make it alone, reluctance to wait for the escort to arrive, or discomfort at the thought of actually calling and requesting one, something stops the usage of the service, and these inhibitions may lead to tragedy. Students must be willing to place their own safety above their inhibitions and take advantage of this valuable service. Sara Foley is a sophomore journalism major. Page 5B • Thursday, October 10, 2002 Musical brings reality to A&M P eople don’t usually think of Texas A&M as a campus whose members would associate themselves with the issues of homosexuality, sexual diseases and lower-class America, but Oct. 29 and 30 will bring these issues into the minds of many Aggies and the College Station community. MSC Opas has brought the hit Broadway musical “Rent” to the stage at Rudder Auditorium. Students should take this opportunity to witness the brutal honesty and sheer beauty in this production. Many people coincide conservative with close-mindedness. Yes, A&M is a conservative campus, but this does not translate to intolerant or oblivious to some issues - at least it shouldn’t. Being conservative should mean basing views on the accumu lation of knowledge you have gathered. Bringing “Rent” to the campus can stand as a movement to project a more tolerable appearance to the outside world. “Rent” follows the lives of two roommates, Mark and Roger. The characters are faced with small issues such as pay ing the week’s rent and dating woes. But they are also forced to battle more serious issues — Mark’s girlfriend leaves him for another woman and Roger has a continuing battle with AIDS. The musical also includes the character Angel, who is a homo sexual plagued with AIDS and appears as a woman in a couple of scenes. This isn’t a raunchy display of taboo topics. “Rent” closely relates these characters to the audience, immediately connecting them in the beginning. Of course, there are serious moments, but the overall atmos phere of the play is more fun and “true-to-life” than anything. Christina Nelson, director of publicity and advertising for MSC Opas, said, “‘Rent’ is something students have wanted to come to A&M. We’re considered a conservative campus.” Apparently, students are ready to embrace what is typically considered liberal views in the form of entertainment, and maybe some education will be thrown in as well. The play was previewed by several members, staff and student leaders of Opas on their trip to New York in January. In the playbills from previous Opas plays. Nelson said there was positive response for “Rent” in the surveys that asked for student input. So far, there has been no negative feedback from anyone on campus or around town, and MSC Opas doesn’t expect any. “Everyone seems to be excited on campus, especially since they get a chance to see ‘Rent’ and ‘La Boheme’ here in the same season,” Nelson said. “Rent” is the contemporary adapta tion of “La Boheme.” Issues like those in “Rent” are problems people in the world have to deal with every day, and whether or not it seems so, they are also issues that some Aggies deal with as well. Even if the audience is not dealing with a life-threatening disease, or hasn't had to deal with a drug problem or any other issue “Rent” encounters, this play still hits home in some way to all its audience. Hopefully Ags will be able to look beyond the drag costumes and drug talk to see the realistic, touching mas terpiece “Rent.” Maybe this is not the start of a new liberal view at A&M. However, it could serve as one way to show the rest of the world that Aggies may be conservative, but we are not closed off from the real world. Lenti Smith is a junior journalism and political science major. LENTI SMITH I second jobs i icrs break res j ri _ # ,nattheirpiacf|' r, t eorro//on only gives the C ° r ps negative news coverage I is to provide! ■ planning p® sions.Theystfi- the data will® res Ponse to Richard Bray's Oct. 9 column: )ha Pen unions Awareness!! * unfa ^ or P s certainly has its flaws, it is na/ f° cus on| y on the mistakes that it has m the past, especially one that happened l T ears a 8°- 1 have never seen a positive arti- K- i out jhe Corps - only things about alleged l anc * pictures of that hazing, which violate privac y °f the person being "hazed." Perhaps l 0(f be 'P the University's image if The hin ,0 ? an d The Eagle were to publish some- vA . ut how much money the Corps of Wiv i r ?L Ses * or tbe March of Dimes every year. J., t ” at never put in The Battalionl Is it ometh- 6n R'fhard Bray might be forced to say ln 8 positive about the Corps of Cadets? David Kahn r Class of 2004 ^dents have a right to sell °wn sports passes Response to an Oct. 9 mail call: 002 iroe, Texas N TEXAS festival-c 0 ” 1 [dokl °' d my sports pass in the past. I did n cioa ^ exas A&M, nor did 1 do it to buy be 0 i^ ettes ‘ * so ^ 't to help recoup some of tl ani to huy books this semester. 3football nC ^' ** 1 am not planning on attendii n't| Se || 8 ame tor whatever reason, why shoul den on ^ P ass anc l help ease the financial bi center? ^ ' anr, ily? Does this make me a two p< ''vith°R Sl !i^ 0U * :>t tbat tootball had anything do | belipv u r s ber °ics on Omaha in 1944. N ir at Sul| y would care one way or tl , , V* whether or not 1 sold my , . .V-. v-AI I ICJl I 3WICJ Illy tewas Tk^ be would know what a spo 'bought ' le Same holds true for E King Gill. ^ e UDmv my s P° rts P ass - It’s mine. If I choc <a nt ' C t 0Veted 8 "‘ ncb wide seat to someo didn't ^ m , ore tb an I do, I see no reason w fteproces: rna ^ e some much needed money Chris Dooley Class of 2005 MAIL CALL I must say that Tim Brendel sure has a talent for the dramatic. I'm not sure, however, that James Earl Rudder, Lawrence Sullivan Ross or E. King Gill could give a rip about students selling their sports passes. What in the world does landing in Normandy have to do with whether I want to attend a foot ball game? 1 paid for for my sports pass! I own it! I have every right to sell it if I'm not going to be in town. By Mr. Brendel’s reasoning, I'm sure James Earl Rudder didn't land in Normandy so Texas A&M could charge me $1.50 to park for an hour on campus. And I'll bet that Sully didn't fight to keep this college open so that people could complain about the football team. If you own a sports pass, and you're not going to the game, sell it! Get some of your money back. You bought that ticket, and you're not using it. If someone else wants it, they're going to be willing to pay for it. Welcome to the free market system, Mr. Brendel. Isn't capitalism great? Joey Humke Class of 2002 For those of us who are working to pay our own way through this university, it is not always possi ble to go to each and every football game. Each semester, I spend several thousand dollars of my money to attend this school, and as hard as I try, I cannot attend every sporting event. If I am unable to attend because I am working to pay my rent, there is nothing stopping me from selling my sports pass, not to buy "beer and cigarettes," but to buy groceries. Don't get me wrong. I'll be the first Aggie to give my sports pass to any of my friends who need it, but I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to cap italize on the fact that some Corps boy wants to take his high school girlfriend to the game so they can make out. Not everyone who attends this university is a spoiled rich kid whose parents pay for everything and who has no idea of the worth of a dollar. You should not be so quick to judge fellow Aggies by calling those of us who work the hardest to be here "heaps of trash." We are the 12th Man. Amanda K. Sexton Class of 2003 Defining race in terms of ideas rather than race is idealistic In response to an Oct. 9 mail call: While Mark Gorzycki’s points in his letter regarding diversity in terms of ideas and not race are noble, they are not very realistic. His arguments are very idealistic, and it's something that I wish for as well, but I know that in this world, it would not work out. The fact that we even have affirmative action poli cies points out that race is still an issue today and racism is still prevalent within American society. In the Corps of Cadets, I had a very good Vietnamese friend who was in the Corps at A&M- Galveston. His senior year, he was the Corps exec utive officer. He was more qualified and had more accomplishments than that year's corps com mander. Why didn't he get the job? Many peo ple, including whites, thought that the only reason the other guy got the job is because he "looked the part." It's instances like that which make minorities call for action. Even here in College Station, I have a hard time ignoring comments such as, "What're you doing here, Chinaman?" or "I didn't know we were in Chinatown" when I'm walking around campus or around Northgate. Technically, I'm not even Chinese! The only way to defeat racism is through educa tion and the willingness to open up your minds and your eyes. Ignorance is not bliss, although some say otherwise. The quality of education at A&M is dependent on diversity of thought, but unfortunately, not everyone is very diverse. Albert Nguyen Class of 2001