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EDITORIAL
Justice denied
Parsons Mounted Cavalry should face
hazing charges like any other group
In a tragic display of injustice, members of Parsons Mounted
Cavalry, a unit within the Corps of Cadets, will not face any
criminal charges for recent allegations of hazing. According to
the Bryan-College Station Eagle, County Attorney Jim Kuboviak
said that "even though he believed hazing occurred, he would
leave it to University officials to discipline the students."
These allegations of hazing included such actions as junior
cadets hitting sophomore cadets with axe handles and forcing
them to do exercises in excrement and urine. These actions
verge on assault, yet the county attorney did not feel the actions
were worthy of criminal charges. It is an atrocity to see the jus
tice system allow these perpetrators to go uncharged. Similar
actions from a campus fraternity would have unquestionably
met swifter and stricter penalties.
And while the county attorney has failed to charge these stu
dents, the University should not be so easy on them. These are
serious allegations, and Texas A&M must not allow acts of haz
ing to go unpunished. Hazing must not be allowed to be a part
of such honorable groups such as the Corps of Cadets and
Parsons Mounted Cavalry. Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne has thus far
been open and candid in addressing Corps issues, and we trust
he will work to stamp out hazing.
The students involved in these incidents of hazing must be
punished according to their involvement in the act. It is now
in the hands of the University to send a strong condemnation
of these acts to discourage future incidents of hazing from
occurring.
THE BATTALION
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor in Chief
Managing Editor
Opinion Editor
News Editor
Brandie Liffick
Sommer Bunge
George Deutsch
Rolando Garcia
Asst. News
Member
Member
Melissa Sullivan
Matt Maddox
Brieanne Porter
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 submit
ted 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
7784 3-1 1 11. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcall@thebatt.com. No attachments.
MAIL CALL
** when you
r, TOEFL*
arch 31 st
L4
or to enroll.
Bush's war decision
should be praised
I am tired of so many people in
this country, and many on cam
pus, "peacefully protesting" this
impending war and claiming that
their freedom of speech is violat
ed when they overstep their
bounds. You "code pink" wearing
protesters should speak your
peace (though I'm not listening)
and then shut up and go home.
Where are the patriots? No mat
ter what people say, peace can
not be achieved without war.
That's just a fact. This issue with
Iraq has been going on for far too
long.
Thank God we now have a
president who is ready, willing
and adamant about going in and
getting the job done. Regardless
of our opinions, whether we are
for or against this war, we, as free
Americans, must support the
troops.
Our protests are a slap in the
face to all those men and women
who have gone before, fighting to
protect this country, and those
who are continuing that same
fight at this very moment. We
need to put our political ties
aside and join in the common
good to rally behind our troops,
our President and all that this
country stands for. That's the least
we can do. God bless America.
Holly McGrow
Class of 2005
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Wednesday, Marcl'
Ethics courses needed
A&M business program one of few without ethics classes
Sbisa food fight not
an important issue
In response to Nicholas
Neumann's March 17 column:
I found Nicholas Neumann's
article on the Sbisa napkin inci
dent (or the lack thereof) to be
completely absurd. He claims
that Food Services employees
were out of line in taking precau
tion to prevent an utterly irre
sponsible and juvenile act.
One of the organizers of the
napkin extravaganza was quoted
as saying "the fight was meant to
bring tradition and fun to the
Sbisa dining experience." I doubt
that the Food Services employees
who would have been responsi
ble for picking up more than 800
"Sbisa balls" would have found
the fight to be very much "fun."
Students need to have a greater
appreciation for the workers who
put food on their plates and wipe
up the messes they leave behind.
So how about establishing
respect and compassion for fel
low human beings as an Aggie
tradition instead? I am sure it will
have a much more positive effect
than a balled up napkin upside
the head. No dining establish
ment that I know of would
accommodate napkin fights, so
why should Sbisa? If you want to
be treated as a mature adult,
then step up and act like one.
Jocelyn Baron
Class of 2003
T exas A&M is one of the
most prominent public uni
versities that does not
require ethics courses for its busi
ness students, according to The
Houston Chronicle. While this
may have been acceptable before
the revelation of corporate
shenanigans at companies such as
WorldCom and Enron, it is clear
that institutions that teach business
students market savvy must also work to
bring conscience into their classrooms.
This includes A&M, which should require
future business students, both undergradu
ates and MBA candidates, to take ethics
courses.
If for no other reason, A&M should
require ethics classes to compete with other
prominent institutions of higher learning in
Texas. The University of Texas at Austin
will require ethics courses for the first time
this fall, according to The Houston
Chronicle. The Chronicle also reported that
Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of
Management already mandates that stu
dents take courses in ethics.
Of course, some Aggies might argue
that Aggies are more honorable and trust
worthy than their peers in other schools.
Therefore, there is no chance of an Aggie
executive participating in a corporate scan
dal such as those seen at Tyco or
WorldCom.
The notion that Aggies do not lie, cheat
or steal is nice, but untrue. Especially in
light of a 1997 academic integrity survey
that showed an astonishing 88 percent of
Aggies cheated in some form at least once,
according to The Battalion. Unfortunately,
even Aggies could use assistance in dealing
with ethical dilemmas that are likely to
occur in the workplace.
According to the results of a
BusinessWeek reader survey released Jan.
21, 64 percent of the respondents said they
“think that ethics should be a required,
stand-alone course for MBA students.”
Also, Gov. Rick Perry, Class of 1972, has
set up a task force that will examine how
public universities in Texas can improve
the teaching of business ethics, according
to The Houston Chronicle.
Some may argue that emphasis should
be placed on interweaving ethics into
accounting, marketing and finance classes.
There is no doubt that implemented cor
rectly, this method can be quite effective.
For example, Dr. L. Murphy Smith, CPA,
and a professor in the accounting
department, explains his method of
teaching ethics, “incorporates
ethics dilemmas/cases into my lec
tures throughout the semester. In
addition, I have a one-day focused
lecture on ethics, which I've pre
sented to over 50 classes and in
other settings.”
Unfortunately, not all faculty
members are like Smith, who
believes ethics should be integrated into all
courses, and explains, “Regrettably, for
various reasons, many faculty do not inte
grate ethics into their courses. Faculty may
feel there is not time enough to include
ethics in a course already packed with
technical topics.” Smith adds, “Some fac
ulty may feel uncomfortable or ill-pre
pared to discuss ethics. Ethics can be a
sensitive topic.”
If business school faculty members feel
uncomfortable discussing ethical issues
with their students or they feel such discus
sions get in the way of the technical details
of the classes, one possible solution is to
hire faculty members who are experts in
teaching ethics and offer a separate,
stand-alone class that focuses solely on
business ethics.
Aggie engineers are already required
to take a stand-alone course on ethics,
“Ethics and Engineering.” This is neces
sary because future engineers
must be taught the possible
consequences when engi
neers act unethically. The
engineering ethics page on
the A&M Web site,
ethics.tamu.edu, lists
examples of technologi
cal and ecological dis
asters that may occur
when engineers per
form their jobs in an
unethical and
unprofessional
manner. Examples
on the Web site
include the Jan. 28,
1986 Challenger
shuttle disaster that
killed seven astronauts;
the July 17, 1981
Kansas City Hyatt-
Regency Hotel walk
way collapse that
killed 114 people;
and the infamous
Exxon oil spill.
But in the wake of a myriad of corpo
rate scandals, it is clear that there are
severe consequences when business people
disregard ethics. Thousands of people lost
their jobs domestically and overseas in the
wake of the Enron and WorldCom scan
dals, according to BBC News and The
Guardian Unlimited.
In the Business Week reader survey, 75
percent of respondents believed ethics were
best taught at home by parents. This is
undoubtedly true, but business ethics class
es will allow students to relate these home-
taught ethics to issues in the business
world. Besides being in a new and disturb
ing age of corporate scandal, it is obvious
that there is no such thing as someone
being too ethical.
Collins Ezeanyim is a senior
computer engineering major.
Achieving a diverse University
I t is no secret that
one of Texas
A&M’s top priori
ties is to make the
University more
diverse. According to
the A&M Web site, in
trying to achieve this
goal, A&M President john david
Robert M. Gates and blakley
University officials
have been focusing on Vision
2020 diversity initiatives to
target minorities.
Gates will be working under
restraints set forth by the
Hopwood v. Texas decision, but
he plans to adopt innovative
minority recruitment programs
and to provide additional schol
arship money for minorities,
according to a Jan. 15 Battalion
article on Gates’ top priorities.
However, diversity will
remain only a goal and forever
short of reality until the admin
istration and students grasp the
importance of cultural diversity.
In a Feb. 18 Battalion arti
cle, during a student-faculty
panel discussion, Gates said
diversity is needed at A&M
because corporate America and
other schools will not look
kindly upon a flagship universi
ty that fails to change with the
times. It is true that A&M is
standing still in a progressive
nation in regard to its diversity,
and unless this changes, the
University will continue to be
viewed as a conservative repel
lent to minorities. However,
statistical representation alone
is not a just reason for increas
ing the population of certain
minorities.
What must be considered is
the strength and knowledge
found in a diverse population. It
must be understood that differ
ent cultures bring a widening of
the mind and spirit. Because
A&M students are for
the most part surround
ed by people of the
same race and culture,
they only get variations
of the same race and
culture. They cannot
experience the values
and views that other
cultures hold, which, if
experienced, can help
college students expand beyond
the values and views to which
they have been exclusively
exposed.
University officials and stu
dents must realize the value a
person of a different ethnic
group, creed, gender or sexuali
ty brings, differences not found
in any textbook. It is knowl
edge that is especially vital out
side College Station’s city lim
its, and is necessary for achiev
ing success in any field. During
the Civil Rights movement,
Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“Men hate each other because
they fear each other, and they
fear each other because they
don’t know each other, and they
don’t know each other because
they are often separated from
each other.” One cannot imag
ine a much greater separation
of people than is seen at A&M.
The value of diversity cannot
be stymied by opposition to the
means of achieving it.
Diversity, whether it is achieved
by racial preference, more
scholarship money for minori
ties or rigorous recruitment, is
crucial for any university
atmosphere.
If A&M is to become
diverse, both administrators and
students must realize the
importance of cultural diversity
beyond outside appearance. Of
course, “ghetto” parties thrown
by students, which degrade
blacks, and stereotypical politi
cal cartoons drawn by students
cannot be considered welcom
ing by college applicants of
minority status.
But there are several other
factors; in particular, the
Southern Heritage Society
bearing shirts displaying the
Confederate flag. These shirts
have been questioned since last
March, when The Battalion ran
a news article and several mail
calls voicing the opinions of
people who associate the flag
with hate, especially on a cam
pus with such a tumultuous
racial history. The Confederate
flag is a symbol of the Old
South and the denial of equali
ty and basic human rights of
blacks, unless Southern
Heritage Society is now mak
ing a bold statement for the
rights of states to nullify
federal law.
It would be presumptuous to
assume that the members of
this organization with such
shirts are racist, and no one can
deny these students the rights to
wear shirts with Confederate
flags, just as people have the .
right to criticize them for wear
ing such shirts. But how would
many white A&M students
know how blacks feel when,
according to the Texas A&M
Office of Institutional Studies
and Planning, not even three
out of every 100 students they
see on campus are black?
Members of the Southern
Heritage Society likely fail to
consider that the Confederate
states were fighting for, among
other things, the loathsome
right to keep blacks in bondage.
Because this southern culture
has resulted in decades of
social oppression still extant
today, the Confederate flag is
nothing short of repugnant and
painful to the eyes of blacks.
But this is the mindset when
people at a university, or any
where, are surrounded only by
those culturally similar to
themselves. A&M students are
being deprived of the cultural
understanding obtained in a
diverse population. During a
Feb. 17 panel on diversity,
Mathew Maddox, president of
the Young Conservatives at
A&M, personified opposition
against university programs
aiding the progress of diversity,
citing that such plans go against
having a color-blind society
and that no attention should be
given to differences between
races. It is true that the eyes of
the law should be blind to such
attributes as race, gender and
creed, but is being color-blind
necessarily good in relation
ships between people? Being
blind to race implies disregard
for the different cultures dictat
ed by race. However, these dis
similarities should not only be
noticed, but celebrated. One
should not pretend these cultur
al differences do not exist, but
should realize each culture is
valuable for being unique.
Until the Aggie community
recognizes what it can gain by
opening its arms to all types of
people, the educational experi
ence A&M provides will con
tinue to lack the entirety it
should, and is capable of,
obtaining. In the words of for
mer President Kennedy, “The
price of the democratic way of
life is a growing appreciation of
people’s differences, not merely
as tolerable, but as the essence
of a rich and rewarding human
experience.”
John David Blakley is a jreshman
political science major.