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Opimon
The Battalion
Page 5 • Wednes<
Bleak future for education
kxual orientation is not a basis to segregate students in public high schools
MIKE WARD
O nce an alternative education
program within the New
York City educational sys
tem, the Harvey Milk School will
open its doors this fall as a fully-
accredited public high school. But
the fledgling school is being over
shadowed by controversy. Other than sharing similar interests
in music, clothes and dating, the students of Harvey Milk will
share something else - they will be gay.
According to the New York Post, William Salzman will pre
side over an “academically rigorous school that will specialize in
computer technology, arts and a culinary pro
gram.’’ With its new identity as the nation’s
first accredited public school for homosexu
als, Salzman said, “This school will be a
model for the country and possibly the ,
world.” But does the world want a future
for which this school would be a model? |
The primary goal of the school is to
promote “an opportunity to obtain a 0
secondary education in a safe and .Ml
supportive environment,” according
to the Hetrick-Martin Institute,
which is the home of the Harvey
Milk School. As the Hetrick-Martin fl
Institute reports, homosexuals are
taunted in school. They suffer
from depression, are more
likely to attempt suicide and \
are regularly the targets of
disparaging slurs.
With respect to homosexu
ality’s effect on the psyche of ^
a teenager, the Harvey Milk
School would most certainly help
lower these statistics, however the
cost is considerable.
The school touts itself as an open,
accepting environment - exactly what
every public school in the nation asserts - yet
it focuses specifically on homosexuals as if
their high school experience is somehow distorted beyond that
of what other minority groups face every day. Any child who
does not fit the elusive, if not illusionary, model of “popularity
is taunted and teased just like his homosexual peers. High
school is such a singular and irrational environment that
not even the Harvey Milk School will overcome it
Whether it is bias or a simple miscalcula
tion, the Harvey Milk School is forgetting
that, as a high school, it will be subject to
the same environment that engulfs other
high schools. Be they public, parochial, sin
gle-sex or coed, all high schools are subject to
rampant hormones, acne and superficiality.
If, as the homosexual community sug
gests, gay people are just different only
with respect to sexual orientation,
there will be just as many
taunters at the Harvey Milk
| School as there are at any
|r other high schools in the
nation. Sexual orientation
§§111^ may be off the table, but one
' can be sure that weight, looks
and intelligence will not be.
One’s sexuality may not
cause depression at the Harvey
Milk School, but the isolation and
fears that are in every high school student
will most certainly be preyed upon by
their peers - whether the school claims to
offer an accepting environment or not.
While the school will be trying to offer
its pseudo-utopian society, it will most
certainly face a political fight as well.
There is something troubling about a public
school moving forward with this initiative. If
the Harvey Milk School was private, the same previous
ly-stated issues would still ring true; however, its public
stature is what causes one to pause.
The Augusta National Golf Club caused a stir among certain
people with its adamant refusal to allow female members. As a
private organization, it can let whomever it wants join. The
Harvey Milk School borders on doing much the
same, but with money from the public New
k> York City Education Department.
New York city taxpayers have spent
more than $3 million - $30,000 per
student - to renovate a school whose
vision and philosophy is as
myopic and self-delusional as
southern public schools were
50 years ago.
While the Harvey Milk
School acknowledges
that any student may
apply regardless of
sexual orientation the
school is self-
described as one for
gay, lesbian and
bisexual students.
I And with its inaugu
ral year enrolling only
100 students - surely
the sexual orientation
will play a factor in the
school’s selection process.
Separating students based
on certain characteristics is
nothing new. Whether it’s isolat
ing groups because of skin color or
sexual orientation, it’s still segregation
and it has no place in the public sector. Unlike Augusta
National, the Harvey Milk School has no right to facilitate the
isolation of students in New York City.
Exuding ignorance and discrimination, the Harvey Milk
School will begin classes this fall. With the intangible costs for
society far exceeding the $3 miWion price tag, the school pres
ents a bleak future for American education.
Mike Ward is a senior
history major.
Graphic by Grade Arenas
‘Good government’ bill is wrong for Texas
Hurt feelings led to cut funds for an independent state regulatory agency
I n a democratic system like that
of the United States,’ separation
of power plays a key part in the
effective functioning of govern
ment and its survival. But here in
Texas, the Legislature has forgot
ten the importance of this concept.
It has passed legislation removing the power of
independent audits from the state comptroller’s
office and given this power to the Legislative
Budget Board.
This is like asking one hand to watch what the
other is doing. In the name of “good government”
- the very thing this bill supposedly encourage -
the Legislature is doing real harm to Texas.
The state is suffering from a severe budget
shortfall, but there is no reason why the comptrol
ler’s office suffered such drastic cuts. Other state
agencies are undergoing staff and funding cuts as
well. For example, the State Department of Health
will have to cut 240 jobs, as will the Texas
Education Agency and Department of Public
Safety, according to The Houston Chronicle. '
These are cuts that will affect services received by
Texans across the state.
But Senate Bill 22, which passed
in the Senate and is currently await
ing approval in the House, will have
an even more fundamental impact
on the way Texas government func
tions and on the quality and quantity
of services received. The bill provides for the
movement of the e-Texas, the arm of the comp
troller’s office that conducts audits, and school
audit divisions, which monitors the finances of
school districts, of the office to the control of the
Legislative Budget Board.
State Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhom told
the Chronicle that the school audits had saved
$9.5 billion for taxpayers and $503 million for
school districts just in her tenure as comptroller.
Part of conducting such audits is looking over the
spending and appropriations habits of the
Legislature itself, which is why the idea of trans-
ferring such functions to the LBB is absurd.
The LBB will now be asked to watch over
state spending as a whole and do school audits on
top of its regular work.
The LBB must prepare audits that may not be
friendly to the actions of the Legislature. The bill
that contained this provision was promoted as a
“good government” bill, designed to limit waste
and streamline the state bureaucracy. The elimina
tion of an independent watchdog for the
Legislature is an act contradictory to that goal.
It appears that the real reason for the provision
in the bill has more to do with hurt feelings than
good government.
Many believe the attempt to gut the comptrol
ler’s office is because some legislators dislike
Strayhom. She accused them of having a “spend
ing party” in the last session and has used her
office’s power of audit in an independent fashion.
Strayhom herself accused Lt. Gov. David
Dewhurst of “shepherding” Bill 22 through the
Senate, according to the Chronicle.
But Dewhurst is not alone in his support for the
bill. The measure’s author, Sen. Rodney Ellis,
appears to have his own axe to grind.
In 2001-2002, Ellis was the chairman of the
Senate Appropriation Committee, and would be
one of those chiefly responsible for Strayhom’s
“spending party” accusation. Ellis is quoted by the
Chronicle as saying, “I would say she had more
notice than I had back when I was finance chair
before she called a press conference to say we’re
having a party.”
Ellis, Dewhurst and others who seem to have
grown tired of Strayhom’s grandstanding style
and her pesky independent audits look like they
have banded together to swat her political mos
quito once and for all. Sen. Eddie Lucio of
Brownsville told the Chronicle, “They’re trying
to stop her because she’s a powerful state offi
cial, and removing these two areas guts the heart
and soul of her agency.”
This is a case where hurt feelings and displeas
ure with an auditor not under their control has
spurred the Legislature into action - to dispose of
the problem by killing the offending agency.
Sadly, the cause of good government in Texas will
likely suffer from the results of this vengeful
“good government” bill.
David Shoemaker is a junior
management major.
DAVID SHOEMAKER
Pentagon’s futures market was reprehensible
(U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Do you happen to have the
uncanny ability to predict assassinations of world political leaders?
Are you able to prophesize the dates of suicide bomber attacks in
the West Bank? Or are you simply enamored by the thought of prof
iting from the misery of others? If you answered yes to any or all of
three questions, you may find this bit of news interesting.
On July 28, the Pentagon reported that they had developed a plan
for an online futures market that would allow people to make money
off of worldwide political unrest. I wish I was making this up.
Here’s how it works: You can tell from recent news that the
leader of the country Roontopia, King Kelly Rooney, has incited tur
moil amongst his people and is on a one way train to getting himself
assassinated. You buy futures contracts for a buck each predicting
his demise, and when he is finally killed, the payoff would be some
thing like $5 per future.
I apologize for the supremely goofy scenario, but this is some
thing very real. The plan was to have 1,000 anonymous traders reg
istered by last Friday. The market that coldly gambles on the lives of
leaders and civilians alike was veiled under the professional and
governmental sounding name of “Policy Analysis Market.” While
the Pentagon seemed pretty thrilled by their new futures market,
Congress, thankfully, was utterly shocked.
The two outspoken critics of the program, Sens. Byron L.
Morgan, D-N.D., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., brought this program
upon the Senate floor July 28, and expressed disgust and disap
proval of gambling on people’s lives. A mere day later, members
of the Senate of both parties were in an outrage and called for the
immediate end of the program.
Though we can all take a collective sigh of relief, there remain
the unresolved issues of dealing with the creators of the program
und finding who approved the funding for such a reprehensible idea.
The Pentagon justified the Policy Analysis Market in stating that
it was the “broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist
attacks.” Their defense included reminding us that futures trading
has been effective in predicting oil prices and movie ticket sales.
Maybe I just don’t get it, but isn’t there a world of difference
between making money on predicting box office sales for “Gigli”
and profiting off the death of political leaders?
The greatest scrutiny has come over the project’s developers: an
a
I can’t be the only person freaked by a
program that seems like it’sjrom a
George Orwell novel
advanced projects unit of the Pentagon called Darpa. You may know
Darpa best for their creation of Terrorism Information Awareness, a
program created to fight terrorism by going into computer databases
to collect information like credit records, medical records and travel
records, just to name a few.
A key developer of both the Policy Analysis Market and the
Terrorism Information Awareness is retired Rear Admiral John M.
Poindexter, a man with an interesting past indeed. His resume high
lights include being Reagan’s national security adviser, being a part
of the Iran-contra scandal (when the Reagan administration funded
anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua with the proceeds of selling
weapons to Iran) and being convicted of lying to Congress, which
was later overturned.
How much funding has gone towards Darpa you may ask? Well,
The New York Times reported that the Bush administration has
sought $8 million through 2005 for the Policy Analysis Market
alone. Another New York Times article stated that the terrorism
futures market program have already cost taxpayers a nice $3 mil
lion.
OK, so I’m happy that the Senate defeated this program and that
Darpa is under close examination, but I’m not satisfied with officials
who let these programs become developed without any skepticism.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz stated he only found
out about the Policy Analysis Market in recent news reports. He
declared, “I share your shock at this kind of program. We’ll find out
about it, but it is being terminated.”
With this big of an uproar it’s no surprise that the people over
seeing defense spending are quick to disassociate themselves
from the program.
So, where do we go from here? For starters, let’s hope that the
media coverage and scrutiny of Darpa triggers a similar disgust to
the Terrorism Information Awareness. I can’t be the only person
freaked by a program that seems like it’s from a George Orwell
novel.
Also, there needs to be a push to remove Adm. Poindexter from
his office. What kind of sick person actually thinks that the way to
fight terrorism is to have people sinisterly gambling money on the
lives of political leaders? Well, we know the answer to that question.
Senators Dorgan and Wyden summed it up best, “The American
people want the federal government to use its resources enhancing
our security, not gambling on it.”
Kelly Rooney is a columnist
at the University of Illinois.