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Citation issued.
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5 • Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Ethical dilemma
Perry must not veto House Bill 1606, which promotes financial responsibility
T he recent commendable
work done by the Texas
Legislature will either go to
waste or help in the reformation
of crooked politics. What will
happen depends on whether Gov.
Rick Perry chooses to exercise his
power of veto over House Bill 1606, an ethics
bill that challenges city officials and various
other local leaders by holding them financially
accountable.
Despite the fact that the bill passed over
whelmingly in the House and Senate, those
whom the bill would affect, such as Lubbock
Mayor Marc McDougaL are calling for a veto,
according to the Houston Chronicle. However,
should Perry veto this bill, it would not only
encourage conflicts of interest, but would
remove the checks and balances that are neces
sary to ensure that no corruption of office is
taking place.
The bill requires local city officials, school
district trustees and port and sports authorities
in towns with populations of more than
100,000 to complete a personal financial dis
closure form that indicates other sources of
income such as real estate and stock invest
ments. It also monitors campaign funding,
requiring the identity of contributors to be
revealed as well as the cash balances.
Legislators who are lawyers are also prevented
from representing a client before a state
agency.
Nothing about this law is intrusive for indi
viduals who accept these roles. As a communi
ty leader, one should expect to be held to a
higher standing and to be in the public eye. As
a result of this, it should be known if an officer
is supporting a piece of legislation
merely because it benefits his own
real estate holdings or financial
condition, or if it benefits the
community as a whole. Conflicts
of interest should be avoided in all
areas of work, and while in the
realm of politics it might be impossible to
evade them completely, having them recog
nized would be an improvement. This bill
would restore public faith in government offi
cials and political campaigns; whereas, a veto
by Perry would be a stark affirmation that
deception in offices exists and will continue.
This bill would restore public
faith in government
officials and political
campaigns; whereas a veto
by Perry would be a stark
affirmation that deception
in offices exists and
will continue.
Those who have publicly opposed this bill,
such as McDougal and two other Lubbock city
councilmen, wrote letters to Perry vowing to
resign if the legislation passes. They are
protesting that the new legislation will discour
age people from running for low-paying or
part-time positions, according to the Chronicle.
Those who the public would desire to fill a
SARA FOLEY
position that requires public confidence
should be willing to gain trust by dis
closing financial information.
Furthermore, if a candidate has
something to hide, he is most like
ly unfit for office.
This law also monitors campaign
finance, a measure that is long over
due. It’s necessary not only to super
vise the funding of campaigns, but for
this supervision and monitoring to be an
openly known fact to discourage corrupt
dealings. The passage of this law would
show the integrity of the state government
by professing that it will not tolerate deceit
ful or crooked financial dealings.
Perry discloses all of his own financial deal
ings, according to the Chronicle, and
should expect no less from
those under him. A veto of
this bill would not only be
detrimental to the integrity of
local politics, but would fur
ther peoples’ distrust of
government officials.
Perry needs to uphold
the decision made by the
legislatures and sign the bill,
instead of allowing the possibility
of a vast improvement in politics to
dissolve. .
Sara Foley is a sophomore
journalism major.
Graphic by Seth Freeman.
Achieving diversity can be problematic
New vice president for institutionalized diversity must avoid others’ failures
B arring any
unforeseen
issues, Texas
A&M will take a step
forward this fall with
the installation of the
first vice president for
institutional diversity. This new posi
tion can, and should, bring sweeping
changes to the campus. However, the
path to diversity at A&M is built on
fragile ground — any misstep in the
process will undoubtedly cause more
harm than good.
Fortunately, yet somewhat unfor
tunately, this university has a clean
slate to meet the challenges of diver
sity with. Because this issue is one
that has been attacked aggressively
only in recent years, failures in the
process of diversification have not
occurred to such a degree as to hem
orrhage the campus community. But,
the failures that have occurred at
other schools have taken their toll on
those campuses, and A&M’s leaders
must learn from these mistakes.
Fox News recently reported that
universities across the
United States are
increasingly supporting
segregated student
events, stating that,
“Vanderbilt, Stanford
University, and the
University of California are among
those that offer separate graduation
ceremonies for minority students.
Other schools, including the
University of Michigan and
University of Pennsylvania, have
separate ‘celebratory events' for
black, Hispanic and Asian-American
students.” However, graduations are
not the only events that have become
distorted. Stop Hate on Campus, a
student organization at the
University of Colorado, held a work
shop last month in which white stu
dents were not allowed to attend.
Leaders in the field of diversity,
such as the co-director of Harvard
University’s Civil Rights Project,
Gary Orfield, believe these actions
are not only acceptable but com
mendable. Is this the new face of
“diversity” - an exclusionary, vile
ethos?
Even the poster child for college
diversity, The University of
California at Berkeley, is facing a
crisis on its campus. In UC
Berkeley’s student newspaper, the
Daily Californian, Jesse Gabriel,
president of the student government
association, offered some harsh criti
cisms of the current climate at
Berkeley.
“UC Berkeley often touts diversi
ty as one of its greatest strengths,
but such claims seem empty in the
context of the racial polarization that
exists on our campus,” he said.
“While embracing and celebrating
one’s cultural heritage is one of the
most important parts of the college
experience ... it is important that stu
dents realize that such activities and
cross-cultural interactions are not
mutually exclusive. In this respect,
the Balkanization of our campus is
disturbing in that it limits opportuni
ties for learning and for the creation
of a larger sense of community on
campus.
Is A&M poised to suffer the fate
of “Balkanization?”
But just as the various universi
ties’ acceptance of these events is a
grotesque perversion of anything
resembling a diverse campus, so too
is the backlash from white students
that has resulted. White-only schol
arships and graduations are just as
troublesome and disheartening to
race relations as their minority coun
terparts are. It is exactly this frus
trating polarization, or
“Balkanization,” that has engulfed
universities around the country and
could certainly strangle A&M if left
unchecked.
These events show that diversity
built on the ratios of the populace is
merely superficial. The fact that
Berkeley, for instance, can have far
superior numbers of racial minorities
than A&M, yet still have severe
racial problems on campus, proves
this. Simply increasing minority
enrollment at A&M will only
enlarge the self-segregated masses,
should A&M’s culture move in that
direction. However, A&M does not
have to follow other universities
whose paths to multiculturalism and
diversity have degenerated into seg
regation and squabble.
This university has something
rivaled by only a handful of other
major colleges around the nation:
spirit.
Many A&M students and teachers
may believe that this spirit is a trite
self-delusion, but no one can deny
that this campus is different. For bet
ter or for worse, A&M is a very
unique academic institution. Campus
leaders must build on the cama
raderie of being an Aggie. It is from
there that celebrating and elucidating
the differences among Aggies will
be most successful.
Michael Ward is a senior
history major.
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name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accuracy.
Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters also may be mailed to:
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Bush's tax cut will
work if given time
In response to Midhat
Farooqi's June W column:
The game of politics is just
that: a game.
Politicians such as George W.
Bush and Ari Fleischer are com
pelled to give speeches that
give hope to every American
even if they are not very edu
cated in economics, which
most are not. Therefore, the
statements they make cannot
be taken literally and analyzed
word for word.
Bush proposed his plan in a
manner that will hopefully get
him re-elected in 2004 so that
he can continue to be one of
the best presidents our country
has ever had. Bush has an MBA
from Han/ard and understands
economics better than anyone.
He recognizes that economic
change takes time and that the
benefits of his tax cut will not
be seen for several years.
By putting money in the
hands of the affluent, more
funds will be pumped into the
American economy, not saved
in a Swiss bank.
Those who earn a large
amount of money each year
earn it for a reason. They have
taken advantage of a capitalist
society and will continue to do
so in the future.
As a result, new businesses
and new jobs will be formed
giving middle and lower class
citizens better jobs and more
money. Once these jobs have
been secured, it is almost cer
tain that tax breaks will not be
given to the rich until the next
economic downturn occurs;
exactly when this type of action
is needed.
American workers are the
greatest economic strength, at
home and abroad. I'm not sure
which economic theory states
that lower income people will
spend tax cut dollars because it
is very false.
These people are much more
likely to save the money and
pay off their credit card bills
until they secure a better
future; a future that is created
by the entrepreneurs who saw
immediate fiscal benefits from
the tax cut.
Unlike most of us, million
aires are not concerned with
saving money, but prefer to
continue building empires
because they can have every
thing they ever wanted and
have enough funds left over to
be on the cover of Fortune. It is
only a matter of time before
Bush's tax cuts better the
economy.
Alex King
Class of 2003