Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2003)
won THE BATTAlI ? of etnergeum Opinion The Battalion Page 11 • Tuesday, April 1,2003 ite quarantines , or SARS, has rapidly spra worldwide. With about 60 usands of people are unde T for the cure of the outbres 1 death) ses Jrltaln-3 iwitxarland- lermany-^ Chlna-8 , j • ••••it •••••ii • ••••i Breaking the glass ceiling Census Bureau report oversimplifies discrepancy in wages IVi Thailand omen of Texas A&M be wary. Fox News, citing || f Taiwan a recent Census Bureau ; ] L*. Hong rep ort, declares that even Kong 1 : w l en education is taken •••••n •••••• j nt , account, women still viemair ma ^ e l ess money than •••• men. Apparently, neither Singapore ^ f ern j n j st rnovement of NEWS IN BRIEF d to Hong Kong ocxunwd in a a the 1960s and 70s, nor the National Committee on Pay Equity’s annual “Equal Pay Day” — dMarchso 31 ° April 15 this year — has been able to close the , 7“ gap. Currently, the Census Bureau report sug- ger ts that women generally make only 70 per- lent block. It s only twe cei t 0 f w h a t men make. However, during the lents. but from lk>or zero jglj 4Q y earSi these studies have misrepresented facts and oversimplified a vastly complex issue, ffected, but most of tlie®^ mon g ot h er things, studies such as this distort the facts by failing to account for spe- nall area of that apar ° r , , , ,cif c educational differences. For example, uilding, virologist , . , , „ . r ’ tohr said at WHO headqi studies have lum P ed together all majors as if , Geneva eat h was worth the same in the marketplace. That differs from the; ^ ut college educations are not necessarily “en earlier at the Metr 2<li |a l-One need only ask a student in the Otei, where the disease Clllege of Education whether he believes that, >read to Hong Kong. Tupon graduation, he will command the same jests staying on the ninth salary as a student in the College of ;came infected. Engineering. It should come as little surprise “That was horizontal, hit a petroleum engineer is going to demand a >w you have a vertical coi^gher salary than a high school teacher, m.’ Stohr said, ‘'tou caijYhether this is fair fails to change its validity. Kiut water pipes and se< lg ut where the Census Bureau’s report erred, ivs. about ill,ills which tpaj^i g Heckler’s study compensated. n ‘ 1 . 1 s Published in 1998, Heckler’s study surveyed 'he differences in incomes between men and s that are being looked in ., . „ „ „ fhe °4() residents undc vonien Wlth the same college major ’ 0vera11 ’ lartment quarantine have 1 * 8 stud y sa ggested that the 30 percent gap was dered to stay inside until ndeed P resent between men and women, eht on April 9. However, when individual majors were com- Dared, Heckler found that half the women sur- /eyed earned at least 87 percent of what men Bned. Moreover, he found that the 13-percent i iiscrepancy decreased even further when grad- eguiators approve level educations were compared. The Ian tO Unite airlifl^uJy even went 80 f ar as to Show, for instance, l/VASHINGTON (AP) - Fec ; ^ at wornen a masters degree in the area gulators gave the go-aP^ sciences actually made about 27 percent onday for Delta, Northwest more than men in the same field. Suddenly the mtinental airlines to sell sinfamous wage gap seems to be dwindling and i each other's flights. fhe Nos. 3, 4 and 5 aiil ached an agreement msportation Department ils after regulators expreConolCV Can't force ncerns that the "code-sL ^ , ... in would stifle competition!^CUIty tO Q6ny religion Tie airlines agreed to givf port gates and agreed to so In response to Brieanne Porter's t not all, restrictions on March 31 column: ?y can market joint contraoi vel agents and corporation Everyone at A&M, staff included, has the right to express their opin ions. I have no problem with that, anted for murdei i do have a problem when some- IELCRADE, Serbia-MonW® ne ' lik « Con ° le Y' decides ,ha ''' is J ) — Police sought an inte ' ,er r| g^^ f orce someone else, rial arrest warrant Mondai^ch as Crouse, to express a polit- bodan Milosevic's wife, a ically correct opinion and stifle her involvement in the their own, especially when it vio- a political rival, but dates a certain ethic or moral held nounced the warrant ( by said person. >sia as a political ploy. Asking Dr. Crouse to "promote lirjana Markoyic, believec anc j celebrate" the homosexual hiding in Russia, wrote alt |jf est y| e W ould be like asking him lying she had any part in t0 p romo te and celebrate premar- )0 slaying of Ivan Stamb j ta j sex ose body was found in a If Ar . . ., c ., As a Christian, he can not do ered grave in northern Sf , week On Sunday, herdaf tha : and should not be censored said Markovic would notli i0r ired ^ or adhering to his stan- earlier request that she rei dards. I applaud both parties for questioning. Fighting for their causes, but Dr. fficials began the proce^Conoley can not be allowed to :ing the warrant Monday, silence the opposition, whether she is in the "oppressed minority" or not. looking more like a myth. Yet a discrepancy between men and women’s earnings remains, and Dr. Patricia Hausman, behavioral sci entist and member of the Independent Women’s Forum, offers up some reasoning. Citing the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Hausman suggests that among childless women aged 27 to 33, the pay gap is only 2 per cent. Clearly, this shows that there are differ ences between men and women that were not taken into account by the Census Bureau’s study, nor NCPE’s statistics. Science, progressive as it is, has yet to suc cessfully implant a uterus into a man - leaving mankind’s better half to bring life into the world. And as millions of young women decide to have children, they must decide between a full-time career and a full-time career raising their children. “Study after study,’’ writes Hausman, “finds that women with children work fewer hours, accumulate less experience, and take more extended leaves... all of which limits their advancement.” Many feminists would argue that taking absences for children is a sacrifice women should not make, yet why should it be viewed as a sacrifice at all? Motherhood is a far more noble pursuit than climbing the corporate ladder, yet in today’s time, nobility seems to be measured more by one’s SoHo apartment or new BMW lease than one’s benefit to society. Hausman concurs, saying that “these are often choices gladly made by women who consider being with their children more important than maximizing earnings.” However, careful scrutiny of the facts does reveal that, all things being equal with respect to family situations and educations, women make 2 percent less a year than men in the same field. Could this tiny percentage be a product of sex discrimination? Of course. But more likely it is the result of gender differences MAIL CALL v between men and women. Research has shown that men and women make career decisions based on differ ent notions. Hausman makes note of this in her essay. While men and women have the ability to negotiate comparable salaries, women are more likely to settle for less — their decisions usu ally are not based on money. So, a minute discrepancy of 2 percent arises. Though there may be other valid reasons for the inconsis tency, sexual discrimination is difficult to believe given the circumstances. So, female Aggies out there, rest assured that if you have the education and the drive to achieve monetarily what your male counterpart is achieving, it can be done regardless of what one might hear on Fox News or see when perusing NOW’s Web site.. “Equal Pay for Equal Work” is here so long as one is willing to make certain decisions about one’s career. lilosevic's wife Kris Schaeffler Class of 2003 Column an example of anti-gay sentiment In response to Matt Maddox's March 31 column: Matthew Maddox showed his utter ignorance of the facts sur rounding anti-gay violence when he wrote, "This theorized oppres sion of homosexuals appears to be a charade when contrasted with the threats of firing leveled against Christian faculty." First, any comparison between the continued oppression of homosexuals on this campus or anywhere else to threats of being fired is ludicrous. There were 1,592 victims of anti-gay violence last year according to the FBI's offi cial crime statistics; offenses listed only include murder, assault and rape. Maddox apparently does not think any of those three could be weighed against the largest offense of all: a threat of being fired. In Maddox's narrow system of values, oppression of a people because of life choices isn't as important as having a job. He ignores the fact that around the country and here at Texas A&M many people are denied jobs and fired because of their sexual orien tation every day. Second, this is not the most open of campuses and many qual ified minority students avoid it because of that and people like Maddox. Maddox complains of T- shirts on campus that promote homosexuality (I've yet to see one), however, variations on the saying, "Texas A&M: where men like women and women like men" are rather popular. Apparently, the First Amendment only applies to people that agree with him. I think, unfortunately, Maddox speaks for a majority of this cam pus; something (hopefully) the new administration will change. Jennifer Harvey Class of 2005 Militant Christians campus' biggest threat In response to Matt Maddox's March 31 column: "Loving the sinner while hating the sin (is an) empty rhetorical gesture at best and a cover for per secution at worst." These are the words of Jane Conoley as quoted by Matt Maddox. "Only Christians go to heaven when they die." These are the words of George W. Bush in 1993. As a person of the Jewish faith, I have to concur with Dr. Conoley's statement and might I add that Christian militants pose a far greater threat to the stability and well being of this nation than does any foreign terrorist group or ele ment. I am sure that Bush will vindicate my assertions. Erik J. Seidel Class of 2005 Students are paying a needless fee I went to Student Financial Services today and spoke with a supervisor. I was told that if you signed up for the installment pay ment service and do not use that service, you will still be charged $15. You will be charged $15 every semester that you are in school until you go to Student Financial Services and ask them to take your name off the list. I just wanted my fellow Aggies who signed up for the service and are not using it to go and ask Student Financial Services to take your name off the list because they will charge you whether you use it or not. If your billing statement has an INSTALLMENT PMT SERVICE CHARGE under the 'Description' column and a $15 charge under the 'Charges' column, this means Mike Ward is a senior history major. Graphic by Leigh Richardson. you are signed up for the service. Another way to see if you are "signed up" for this installment plan, you can go to Student Financial Services located in the Pavilion in room 11$ and they will be glad to assist you. They will not refund the $15 from this semester or any previous paid. So please go and take care of this before it is too late and they charge you again for a service not rendered. Joe Nobles Class of 2004 Cheatham should be allowed in run-off I guess no one has noticed how the University has cheated Luke out of being in the run-off election. Being only 200 votes and 2 per cent away from the top, they should have allowed him the opportunity to try and win the final election. I feel the University is terrified of change. Because they know Luke will bring this University back to what it was. Robert Klepac Class of 2003 Assassination a setback to democracy S erbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was shot and killed earlier this month. The Serbian gov ernment has said that it sus pects the assassination was done by snipers, two of whom were shot and killed last Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Djindjic helped oust then- Yugoslav President Slobadan Milosevic from power after the United States led a NATO attack on Serbia. Prime Minister Djindjic was leading Serbia to a peaceful and democratic future, and his untimely death is a huge set back to democracy in Serbia. According to reports from CNN, the Serbian government suspects an underworld crime family called the “Zemun clan” in the murder of Djindjic. Crime boss Dusan Spasojevic, who has been linked to Milosevic, heads the Zemun clan. This link between the underworld and the past leader of Serbia reveals the former method of government rule. It was not by the people, nor was it for the people. Government rule was for the powerful and rich, and the assassination of Djindjic leaves the future of Serbian rule somewhat unclear. More than 400 people have reportedly been detained in the investigation, according to CNN. The Serbian government, currently using an emergency system of rule, must not alienate democracy and civil rights, or Serbia could lose more than a prime minister as a result of the assassination. Djindjic had proven himself an ally of the west by arresting and extraditing Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal. Serbian national ists oppose extraditing Serbians to the tribunal, according to CNN. By extraditing war crimi nals and holding them accountable, Djindjic strengthened the rule of law in Serbia, and the world. His fair system of governing will be missed. During the uprising against Milosevic in October of 2000, The Washington Post report ed that Milorad Lukovic, head of the Red Berets, switched allegiance from Milosevic to Djindjic and his democratic supporters. The Red Berets were accused of many atrocities in the wars during the 1990s. Lukovic’s switch appeared to have helped the uprising against Milosevic end relatively bloodless with Milosevic’s removal. Coups such as this in Serbia rarely end bloodless. Djindjic’s willingness to recommit himself to democracy by attacking the underworld proves what an adept leader he was. By not fighting Lukovic right away, Djindjic prevent ed bloodshed in the uprising and possibly secured the uprising’s success. As democracy stabilized, the strength and willingness to pur sue the underworld was attained. Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic revealed that the government was set to crackdown on under world crime syndicates. According to CNN, the crackdown could have been the motivating factor in Djindjic’s assassination. Violence in Serbia has spurred several con flicts, two that eventually involved the United States. World War I began when Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria- Hungary. Much later, the United States and NATO launched an air war against Serbia, led by Milosevic, to prevent a repeat of ethnic cleansing, this time in Kosovo. The air war proved to be a great success, but the next war in the region might not prove to be so easy and bloodless. It is because of the instability of the region that the United States and our allies should be ever vigilant and seek to keep demo cratic leaders such as Djindijic in power. Democracy and reform is the legacy that Djindjic leaves. However, it is up to the Serbian people to continue the change to a full-fledged democracy that promotes peace and disowns violence as a political tool. The United States must help this fledgling democ racy overcome the criminal underworld, which multiplies and festers in the open wound that is Serbia’s war-torn economy. The United States can help avert the fall of democracy, and a possible future military conflict, by giv ing aid and support to Serbia. A stable, peace ful and democratic Serbia will go a long way toward reaching peace in the Balkans region. Prime Minister Djindjic led the fight for a democratic Serbia, and with his assassination, the United States must be wary of a return of violence as the main political tool in Serbia. JONNY HAVENS Jonny Havens is a senior history major.
