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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Students misrepresented
Residence Hall Association too concerned with unimportant internal matters
I t's one of the largest student organizations
at Texas A&M. Every student who has ever
lived on campus has been a member of it,
yet few people have heard of it, and those who
have often don't have a clue as to what the
organization does.
The name of this gigantic yet seldom-
heard-of organization is the Residence Hall
Association. In its constitution, RHA claims as
its members the more than 8,500 students cur
rently living in residence halls, and defines its
purpose to include representing on-campus students
and helping residence halls to govern themselves. Yet
lately, RHA has become more concerned
with unimportant internal matters and
projecting a positive image than
actually passing productive legislation.
RHA meets biweekly in general assemblies
and requires each residence hall to have two
members of its hall council in attendance.
According to its Web site, rha.tamu.edu, RHA
voted last semester on six resolutions, yet only
one of these dealt with non-internal matters;
those that would directly affect the people
RHA represents. The remaining resolutions
dealt with the structure of the RHA bureaucra
cy and its official stance on issues irrelevant to
on-campus students or anyone not on the hall council.
This hardly fulfills RHA’s mission of representing its
constituents.
This semester is no different, as RHA has passed
only one resolution beneficial to its public, concerning
Muster. The remaining resolution proposals, too, were
of little consequence to on-campus students. When an
organization spends more time arguing over itself than
doing things that really matter, something is wrong.
Sadly, RHA’s work this school year has had very lit
tle to do with its original reason for existence, and is
instead an example of what happens when bureaucracy
becomes so rampant within an organization that no
actual work is accomplished.
Over the years, the RHA bureaucracy has grown to
include a Board of Directors that contains more than
20 positions, most of which are appointed by an exec
utive board. Almost all of these are voting positions,
which detracts from the influence and voice of the
representatives each residence hall sends to RHA
meetings.
Last semester, some within RHA were upset with
the growing influence the Board of Directors was hav
ing and presented a resolution to take away the voting
rights of non-elected positions, thus taking a first step
toward eliminating the weight of the bureaucracy. Not
surprisingly, the resolution was defeated, likely
because those who would have had their voting rights
removed voted on the resolution.
Along with becoming too much of a bureaucracy to
get useful things done, this year, RHA has focused too
much energy on making people think it is important
instead of truly doing important things. Last semester,
it established and enforced a controversial business
casual dress code that was never voted on at a general
assembly. When opposition to the imposed dress code
mounted, RHA Vice President of Relations Chris
Mahaffey sent out an e-mail to the RHA listserv stat
ing, “We are aiming to be the premier organization at
this university, and I'm afraid that looking ratty isn’t
going to cut it.”
While trying to project this aura of importance,
RHA has also become more of a nuisance to some
hall councils and on-campus residents than any
thing else.
Clements Hall's RHA Delegate Alex Metcalf
said he could not recall a single thing that
RHA did in the past year and a half that has
had a positive impact on his hall.
RHA forces halls to do its bidding,
regardless of halls' wishes. For exam
ple, if a hall accumulates three
unexcused absences from general
assemblies, RHA will issue a
request to have that hall's financial
accounts frozen.
Each hall is required to send two
delegates to a leadership retreat this
semester and must give $160 of its hall
council's money to RHA to do so. This
$160 could be used much more effective
ly on programs for each hall's residents. If
a hall council does not comply by giving
RHA $160 and sending two delegates, it
faces the penalty of not being a recognized
student organization next year. Metcalf
said RHA has to “use threats and coer
cion to get participation shows just how
unnecessary it is.”
RHA was created with a worth
while purpose. Over time, it has devi
ated from what it should be doing and
concerned itself with more superficial
matters.
Thousands of students live on campus
and need a way to voice their concerns and
opinions, and RHA is an appropriate forum
for this. RHA needs to realize this and make
a concerted effort to become this forum. It
should remove the voting rights of appointed
officers and stop dominating meetings with
internal arguments. It can attain the renowned
status it strives for, but first it must cut through
its bureaucracy and focus more on providing
services to on-campus residents. Then, and only
then, will RHA become the voice for on-campus
residents that it used to be.
Nicholas Neumann is a graduate
computer science major.
Gays denied rights
M arla Dukler, a 17-year-
old high school honor
student, and the
American Civil Liberties Union
are suing Klein Independent
School District in Harris County
for its failure to approve a pro
posal to form a Gay-Straight
Alliance, according to The New
York Times. The school district
has been sitting on the proposal
since October, despite a federal law guar
anteeing students the right to form such a
club if other non-curricular clubs already
exist at the school.
The ACLU claims Klein High School
is violating federal law and Dukler's First
Amendment right to free speech, which
the school clearly is. There is no legiti
mate or rational reason to stop the GSA
club from forming.
The Equal Access Act, passed ini 984,
states “schools cannot deny equal access
to students who wish to conduct a meet
ing if the basis for the denial is the con
tent of the speech at such meetings.” This
applies to all public schools that receive
federal money and have allowed other
non-curricular-based clubs to form,
according to Lambda Legal, a national
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
advocacy group. So, if a school allows a
Bible club or any other club not directly
related to the curriculum to form, it must
allow a GSA.
According to The New York Times,
some parents in fairly conservative
Klein, do not want the club to form
because it would be promoting homosex
uality and just might turn their kids into
homosexuals.
This same paranoid and illogical
homophobia is what led to another
ACLU lawsuit involving Boyd County
High School in Kentucky. According to
The New York Times, in October,
Superintendent Dr. Bill Capehart finally
allowed a GSA to form after being threat
ened with legal action. Ten to 20 students
began meeting every week with an
English teacher and a certified counselor
as their sponsor.
Some community members started
protesting, so to get rid of the Boyd GSA,
Capehart banned every other club meeting
at die school. The ACLU sued to reinstate
the GSA. According to the lawsuit, he has
continued to allow other clubs,
including the drama club, student
council, the Beta Club, and
cheerleading and sports teams, to
continue to meet.
The Rev. Tim York of the
Heritage Temple Free Will
Baptist Church was the club’s
most ardent critic, and organized
protests against the club. York
fears the GSAs are recruiting
high school students to become homosex
uals, according to The New York Times.
This paranoia is so pronounced in some
members of the community that the
club’s sponsor is even prohibited from
saying hello to one student whose parents
feel he could be turned gay.
These people really need to be rea
sonable. GSA clubs are about tolerance
and not about sex or “recruiting.” They
are about making GLBT students feel
safe and accepted. If students come out
as a result of a GSA club, it is not
because they were “turned” gay; they
already were, but were just too insecure
to admit it.
According to Dukler, Klein High
School needs something to help promote
tolerance “to make it bearable to walk
down the hallway.” She told The New
York Times about a day in December
when she was shoved into a wall of
lockers and called a “dyke” and a “fag
got.” She says, “There is verbal abuse
everywhere.”
Schools have a responsibility to make
sure all of their students feel safe and are
not attacked while walking down the
hallway. If supporting a GSA will help to
promote a little tolerance, then that's what
the school should do, nevermind that it’s
required to do it. The school’s main focus
should be its students, not the homopho
bia of parents or community leaders.
The opening of a GSA will not lead to
a sadomasochism or bigamy club, as Bill
O'Reilly on Fox News recently suggested
when he interviewed Capehart. It will not
lead to students turning gay and having
sex in the hallways. It will, however, lead
to GLBT students having some allies dur
ing a very difficult part of their lives,
which is the most important thing.
Jenelle Wilson is a senior
political science major.
JENEI.LE
WILSON
Title IX hurts men’s sports
T itle IX, a law banning
sexual discrimination
in collegiate and high
school sports, has aided many
female athletic departments in
getting recognition and fund
ing for teams that might not
exist without it. Since its
enactment in 1972, women’s
athletic programs have grown
exponentially, from less than
30,000 NCAA female athletes in 1972
to almost 151,000 in 2000, according
to Washingtonpost.com. From the per
spective of women athletes, coaches,
supporters and equality activists, this
program has forced universities and
secondary schools to provide women
and men with the same opportunities,
as well as assuring that women’s inter
ests are being met.
However, there are two sides to
every story. Title IX is far from flaw
less, as many under-funded male ath
letes will attest to. The program has
transformed into having the reverse
effect on men’s sports, which have
experienced budget cuts or have had
their programs eliminated all together,
while women’s sports have grown in
numbers and funding without a signif
icant increase in student interest. The
law may have been necessary in 1972,
but with the advances it has made, it is
no longer needed. Changes are needed
to comply with the strong force of
women’s sports that does not need its
foot in the door, as it did 31 years ago.
Men’s teams have certainly noticed
the injustice this law has brought
about. The National Wrestling
Coaches Association filed a
lawsuit last year, protesting
the significant amount of
wrestling programs cut to
comply with equality figures
stated in Title IX. This, along
with many other complaints,
caused Education Secretary
Roderick R. Paige to establish
a commission to review the
current Title IX practices and
to possibly dilute the strength of this
contradictory law, according to
cnn.com.
The commission, which concluded
Jan. 31, provided Paige with a list of
suggestions, most of which were
geared at clarifying current proce
dures. One suggestion is to allow
campus surveys to gauge student
interest, and to establish programs
based on the results. The most contro
versial change would allow for as little
as 43 percent of the varsity slots to be
allocated for females, despite the per
centage of female students being high
er than that, according to
Washingtonpost.com. Although these
amendments might seem to be taking
a step backward, in actuality, they
would provide equality instead of a
growing preference toward women’s
sports, an unnatural partiality mandat
ed by law instead of real interest.
The original law involves a three-
part test, stating that either the male
and female participation in sports
must be proportionate to the student
body composition, that female athletic
opportunities must be added, or by
verifying that the interests of women
at the school are being met. The result
of this has been the continual addition
of sports programs for women on col
lege campuses and the elimination of
some male programs, due to budget
constraints. The law wasn’t designed
to put males at a disadvantage,
according to an interview Paige had
with the Washington Post.
Legislation demanding equality
will only bring about ineffective
results, such as the unnecessary addi
tion of women’s programs strictly for
the purpose of equality. While Title IX
has brought women significant strides
in equality, the necessity of the ruling
has timed out. Women’s sports will
continue to grow, with or without leg
islation to force its growth.
Considering the significance women’s
sports now hold. Title IX will give
women aid they don’t need at the
expense of men. This has already hap
pened on several college campuses,
such as Providence College, which
was forced to cut three men’s sports
programs to allow room in the budget
for female programs that have drawn
little interest, according to cnn.com.
The suggestions raised by the com
mission head in the right direction,
and are scheduled to be reviewed and
decided upon by Paige by the end of
February, according to
Washingtonpost.com. By adopting a
more relaxed attitude toward Title IX
enforcement, schools will take steps to
achieve equality instead of merely
proclaiming compliance with it.
Sara Foley is a sophomore
journalism major.
SARA
FOLEY
MAIL CALL
Protesters forget history
I was once again annoyed at seeing
the various articles in The Battalion
today about antiwar protests through
out the world. Nothing agitates me
more than young people assuming they
have all the answers and are the sole
source of wisdom. Consequently, it's not
coincidental at all that most of the anti
war protesters are young. I'll wager that
few of these people know why wars
happen. In their youthful idealism which
they disguise as cynical questioning of
the establishment, they do not realize
that the only worse alternative to a bru
tal war is a false peace that leads to a far
more brutal war later on. I am of course
talking of World War II.
These people have forgotten what
their grandparents have gone through.
They have never known what it is like
to hear rumors of German troop move
ments on the border on Monday and
have their country occupied on Friday.
Ever been to Blitzkrieged?
My grandparents have, and keep in
mind this was only 60 years ago and
both of them are alive and well with
very clear memories. It was practically
yesterday. WWII happened because
the established peace-keeping body,
the League of Nations, refused to take
a stand, assuming that the Kellog-
Briand pact, which supposedly out
lawed war, would restrain Germany.
Lars Doucet
Class of 2006