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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2002)
.1 the JPOU B «T«1, ible itchu ahoma defense. Butfe two °f its first | v ing some a week earlier,Ta ' n dr 've inthefoni Opinion The Battalion Page 5B • Thursday, October 17, 2002 oventry should accept challenge Student body president should debate merit of off-campus bonfire with the Unity Project drive was puncjj r'ards or more, than 100 yards, A 1 A. RICHARD BRAY t the Sept. 26 Student Senate meeting. Unity Project spokesman Luke lid his team Jbeatham challenged Student st Oklahoma. Jody President Zac Coventry to an ampus debate concerning an defense on the Jff-campus bonfire. However, Coventry has refused such a ebate. For Coventry to avoid discussing an issue of such I, 1-1) will havtj nportance to the student body is to shirk the responsibility of sleadership position. Since Bonfire collapsed in 1999, Texas A&M students have )lems State. The Will > the challenge, st step back inti said. “There's .. but there’s no you ’re not goiii 'k I ahoma Stale t ondered about the future of A&M’s most beloved tradition, ards passingaitill arious organizations have been created with the intention of l from quarteita ™]g m g Bonfire back in some form, and former Student Body esident Schuyler Houser created the Fall Activities Council to >roles also ran® an( l fill the void left by Bonfire’s demise, and the Wildn These organizations are indicative of the interest stu- iuchdownsonpln ®l stiave in bringing Bonfire back. The issue is cer- r longer. inly controversial on campus and. as a result of this y do is keep poiiiK mtroversy, public discussion about Bonfire should be ding you and pen ne of Coventry’s goals. Byrefusing the Unity Project’s request for an on- wand he can i'o® m P us debate. Coventry deprives the student body of opportunity to hear leaders on both sides of the aid Texas must® sue v °i ce ^ reasoning behind their positions. Many g game. Heeqs irent A&M students were not present when Bonfire what Oklahoma >H a P se d and do not fully understand the issue. A tbatecan help these students come closer to understand- igboth Coventry and Cheatham’s positions. Coventry said he refused to debate the issue because the >e one thins out "ity Project is not a University-recognized organization. As an &M student body representative, Coventry does not see a need debate the merits of an organization that exists outside of the niversity’s realm. However, this view ignores how important this matter is to &M students. Although the Unity Project is not associated iththe University, its goals revolve around A&M and its great- ;t strength — tradition. Regardless of whether the Unity Project is officially recog- zed by the University, it is an organization composed of ggies that is associated with A&M due to both its member- ip and its goals. To ignore that association in the public’s e is a failure to understand that the issues the Unity Project tags up and the issues that would be discussed in a debate are issues which will have an impact on the University in the years to come. Two of the four Student Government Association (SGA) goals outlined by Coventry in his State of the University speech were active communication and increasing SGA’s presence at A&M. Accepting Cheatham’s request would be a step towards meeting both these objectives. Not only would Coventry be communicating with the students on an important issue, but he and the SGA would increase their presence on campus in the process. SGA and Coventry stand to gain from a debate with the JOSH DARWIN • THE BATTALION Unity Project. It is Coventry’s responsibility as student body president to address the concerns of the students he represents. In refusing to respond to the issues, he is ignoring the interests of the students and failing to adequately perform his duties. If Coventry truly wants to be a representative of the students, he should accept the Unity Project’s challenge for a public debate. Richard Bray is a senior journalism major. 1 Zimbabwe a victim to racial reparations Violent seizure of land from white farmers is destroying nation's economy order ur: I I am-1 Opm I I am-10:30pm ay: I 2pm-1 OpfL T he international communi ty stands by as ethnic cleansing under the guise I of reparations takes place per the lorders of Zimbabwe President • Robert Mugabe. You won’t read I this in an American newspaper or hear it from |Ae United Nations. The world has turned a I deaf ear to the cries of suffering from jSouthern Africa, both white and black. Mugabe came to power in 1981 as the first >d only black Zimbabwean president after I the end of white apartheid. Since that time, he I as molded the once prosperous democracy I toto a communist dictatorship. His most recent I a uses of power include using the military to intimidate opponents at and away from the Polls, expatriating the media for his own use, an forcing members of the independent judi- pia branch to quit. Zimbabwe, once the bread- as , and tourist mecca of Southern Africa, now laces the starvation of more than 6 mil- 10n of its people, according to Refugees ^'national. As Zimbabwe’s problems emanating from Potism and mismanagement have grown, so as the Zimbawean people's disapproval of u ?abe. In 2000, as his popularity reached an MATTHEW MADDOX all-time low, according to iafrica.com, Mugabe turned on the same scapegoats he had used his previous two decades in power: whites. In an attempt to deflect personal responsibility for the country’s woes, Mugabe claimed white ownership of commercial farms in Zimbabwe were to blame. He called for reparations in the form of farm seizures from whites to be given to the country’s poor, black citizens. Despite the defeat of a constitutional amendment to allow such action, Mugabe instituted the confiscations through brute force. Reuters reports that armed young mili tants, under the direction of Mugabe, have repeatedly stormed farm property. The latest figures from the South African newspaper, the Sunday Independent, show only 400 white farmers remain in Zimbabwe versus 4,500 just two years ago. The effects of the attacks are not limited to Zimbabwe. The violence against farmers has been spreading to nearby South Africa and Namibia. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum says that Mugabe thugs have left hundreds dead, thousands beaten and raped, hundreds of thou sands jobless and millions on the brink of star vation. The ugly proof can be viewed at www.africancrisis.org/Photos.asp. Ironically, the named beneficiaries of the land program are hurt the most. As commercial farms are destroyed, thousands of local black laborers who live and work there lose their homes and livelihoods. In a continent already stricken by AIDS, Zimbabwe’s lack of agricul tural production has placed the price of food beyond the reach of most. Food aid given by international organizations and other countries to help the starving has been intercepted by the Zimbabwe government, according to the Associated Press. Similar to Somalia in 1993, food is being withheld as a weapon against political opponents of Mugabe. Those who believe “the end justifies the means” should know even those causing the violence are unhappy. ZWNews.com says the majority of confiscated lands have gone to wealthy political allies of Mugabe. This has angered many of Mugabe's followers, who believed they had terrorized for their own ben efit, according to allafrica.com. Neck-deep in civil rights violations, Mugabe has received international acclaim rather than criticism. Participants in the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development gave a deafening applause after President Mugabe defended his “land reform” program. The African Descendants World Conference Against Racism this month in Barbados issued this statement: “'Be it resolved that we applaud and support the courage and foresight of President Mugabe for embarking upon the land reform program.” That is not surprising coming from a group that on the same day expelled all non blacks from its conference hall. U.S. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, forbidden to enter Britain for inciting racial hatred, counts himself as a Mugabe enthusiast. The Zimbabwe Independent also lists the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America as supporters. While it is not the job of the U.S. military to “nation-build,” if there ever was a use for the United Nations, the situation in Zimbabwe is it. Mugabe is a despot in the tradition of Stalin, Pol Pot and Pinochet. The world and the media must wake up and recognize tyrants of all stripes. Matthew Maddox is a senior management major. R students should intern as economy lags hternships help students obtain jobs as unemployment rate increases across the country m Ployers report that they expect to hire 3.6 percent ye a r . ewer college graduates this lional A^ 108 t0 a Study by the and Emii SSOClation of Colleges tmpbyers (NACE). “Last LINDSAY AIELLO Se arch C °** e ^ e S rac * s experienced a difficult time in their job Marik’ a ? d il looks ,ike this year will also be challenging,” said goin e , T Iackes on the NACE Web site. “The class of 2003 is Emni aCC a ^ ot competition for jobs." econo 0yers ’ sentiments reflect the current bleak state ol the pntc ? y nadona l unemployment rate in September was 5.6 they (,’ t e highest it’s been in nearly a decade, according to even h i Uleau Statistics. Texas’ unemployment rate was g aer than the national average at 6.1 percent, studem leSU * t These dismal numbers, Aggies and othei college mUSt realize that they desperately need an edge over the student! 1011 tke y hope to get jobs upon graduating. To do this. Imp- to bn< d internships in their fields, nation i nsil P s §i v e a competitive edge to job-seekers attei gmc - ec ause many employers look for candidates with rele vant work experience. The Internship Bible, a resource guide put out yearly by The Princeton Review, reports a study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. In the study, more than 4,000 employers were asked, “When you consider hiring a new non-supervisory or production worker, how important were the following in your decision to hire?” With a list of 1 1 choices, prior work experience, which can be provided through internships, was cited as the third most important charac teristic to have, ahead of such qualities as years of completed schooling, test scores, grades and reputation of applicant’s school. The only traits ranked higher than previous work experience were applicant’s attitude and communication skills. Additionally, internships have other benefits that can increase job potential. For example, internships enhance students’ skills and facilitate networking contacts. Ramon Johnston, a junior forestry major, spent his summer working as an intern in Washington, D.C. “I learned more in three months than I have in all my classes combined, because I got so much hands-on expe rience,” he said. Johnston spent one day in D.C. at a job fair for interns. “I got three job offers for when I graduate, just because I was doing an internship,” he said. According to The Internship Bible, many companies hire a large percent of their interns to permanent positions once they have finished schooling. For example. Chevron and accounting firm Ernst & Young report that 50 percent of new hires each year are former interns. Hewlett-Packard reports nearly 70 per cent of their interns are offered permanent employment. If an internship is unpaid and students can afford to go with out pay, they should take the position nonetheless. Many non- paid internships could provide more benefits than paid ones in the long run. This is because employers will often offer unique opportunities to unpaid employees as “payment.” Furthermore, it is much more difficult to obtain a paid internship than an unpaid one. Since an internship will increase the chance of getting a job later, one should not pass up an unpaid internship if that is what is offered. The benefits to this will outweigh the costs. Lindsay Aiello is a sophomore journalism major.