Monday, October 6,2(i
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 11 • Monday, October 6, 2003
y • THE BATTALION
4, is owned by the
travels with the
Cookie crumble
Shutting down affirmative action bake sale violated students’ free speech
Paul Wilson • THE BATTALION
I t was like any other bake sale, with
one exception. Prices were not based
on items sold but on the race of the
person buying them. It was unfair, dis
criminatory and capricious, and that is
exactly the point the Young Conservatives
of Texas at Southern Methodist University
were trying to make.
The idea of an affirmative action bake
sale originated at the University of
jmjQ California at Los Angeles and has
m g been imitated by conservative groups at college campuses
MM across the country, including Texas A&M. However,
jM administrators at SMU shut down the Sept. 24 demonstra-
“ tion, claiming the practice was discriminatory.
Administrators and the two students who filed complaints
against the organization missed the point. The idea behind the
bake sales is to demonstrate the unfairness of race-based
admission procedures, and the sales illustrate that in a clear
way. The price of a cookie is higher for those seen as less
desirable for entrance into colleges by admissions offices.
SMU students charged $1 for white males, 75 cents for white
females, 50 cents for Hispanics and 25 cents for blacks.
1 If the administration protests the student organization’s
practices, it should also criticize its own. Instituting race as a
deciding factor into the admission process invokes a reversed
form of discrimination that hurts those who are not minorities,
potentially leading to a decreased standard of academic excel
lence at universities which admissions personnel are just trying
to meet their quotas.
SMU’s decision to shut down the protest reiterates the
biased practices of university administrations. When a protest
gets out of hand, the logical solution is to enforce prior-stated
rules to allow for police control or to provide an avenue for
those disagreeing with the protesters to express their ideas.
Eliminating the option to express one’s beliefs only stifles the
problem. Young Conservatives of Texas at SMU chairman
David Rushing said the event didn't get out of hand, which was
the reason cited by the student center director for closing the
event, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Young Conservatives at A&M held a similar sale on Sept. 5
outside the Memorial Student Center, but the group encoun
tered numerous obstacles as well. Mark McCaig, communica
tions director for Young Conservatives, said administrators told
members they “had no free speech rights,” and the director of
the scheduling office in the MSC told them they could not hold
the bake sale or distribute literature. The group continued with
the activity nonetheless but had administrators from the
Department of Multicultural Services monitor it.
Administrators at SMU and A&M ignored the fact that each
student group has the right to express its opinions, regardless of
the potential for people getting offended. Protests, demonstra
tions and political groups serve the purpose of sending a dra
matic and impacting message, and to blindly assume that no
one will disagree is ignoring the nature of the situation.
Young Conservatives of Texas chairman Rushing stated in a
press release that the event was purely symbolic and the intent
was not to set up a bakery, but to prove a point. But for SMU,
along with schools around the country, the discrimination is no!
symbolic. Race-based admission policies award or punish appli
cants based on their race. More than just a cookie is at stake.
Minorities not only get preferential treatment for admission,
but their ideas and organizations are taken with special consid
eration as well, as evidenced by the discrimination and censor
ship of the Young Conservative’s ideas. SMU hypocritically
reprimands the basis of race for the price of things, but simulta
neously gives minorities special privileges and considerations
when applying to college and when they express their ideas on
campus. Furthermore, if other organizations recruit members
solely based on race, they should be subject to the same super
vision and punishment as the Young Conservatives have been.
The incidents at the affirmative action bake sales raise ques
tions that remain unanswered. Universities suppress and ignore
the message the demonstrations send while choosing to imple
ment a racial discrimination double standard.
Sara Foley is a junior
journalism major.
t/niversities
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ths hold, not for rue
dford,” Chambliss
t to come back into
the progress.”
Marx tells his university col
leagues in 1932’s “ Horse
Feathers,” “we’re neglecting
football for an education ...
Have we got a football team?
Have we got a college? Well
we can’t support both.
Tomorrow we start tearing
down the college.” “But pro
fessor,” his colleagues remind
him, “where will the students sleep?” To which
Groucho replies, “Where they always sleep —
in the classroom.”
And with mercurial wit, Groucho sums up
not only the relationship between sports and aca
demia of his time, but sadly, the present as well.
Intercollegiate athletics today are precisely
what they were never supposed to become:
big, bulky and increasingly out of control.
Their original intent — to give the academic
student a chance to compete athletically — has
perversely morphed into just the opposite. The
athlete now furthers his athletic career and, on
the side, receives an education.
But who can blame him? When academic
institutions are willing to exploit their
resources for athletics rather than intellectual
•’pursuits, it is time for these institutions to
• either refocus their goals or re-evaluate their
' place in academia.
Tulane and Vanderbilt raised eyebrows ear-
; Her this summer when they critically reviewed
1 their sports programs. Vanderbilt dismantled
should rethink emphasis on athletics
its athletic department, though the president
stressed that the school would remain competi
tive in Division 1-A. Tulane similarly decided
to keep its football program but is taking to
task collegiate institutions such as the Bowl
Championship Series.
Both schools danced around the issue rather
than facing it head on. They took the first step
in refocusing or re-evaluating their place in
academia but failed to con
tinue the journey.
The next step of this
process begins with removing
the preferential treatment
given to intercollegiate ath
letes, which is most grossly
illustrated by the athletic
scholarship, a blatant oxy
moron that sends the wrong
message to both current and
prospective students.
Students should compete
for college admission based
on scholastics. Of course,
extracurricular activities
such as sports denote a more three-dimensional
student — something college admissions offi
cers should be looking for. However, too often
the desire to contend athletically has overshad
owed the desire to excel academically.
In “The Game of Life: College Sports and
Educational Values,” President Emeritus of
Princeton University William Bowen argues,
“Say you’re an admissions officer and you
have two applications from tennis players with
the same SAT score. One says, ‘Tennis is my
life — this is it.’ The other says, T love to play
tennis; it’s a great sport, but this college has a
great philosophy program, and I want to major
in philosophy.’ (The admissions officers and
coach) will pick the first but I would argue stu
dent B is the one you want.”
While Bowen's report is largely an indict
ment against the Ivy
League, public institu
tions are the main cul
prit. A glance at the
current ranking of
various collegiate
sports reveals a preva
lence of public rather
than private institu
tions.
Blame it on the
cult of celebrity, but
notoriety and prestige
have poisoned these
academic institutions.
It’s as if they are in
Kubler-Ross’ third stage of grief: bargaining.
Having acknowledged, for whatever reason, an
inability to compete academically with private
institutions, they have chosen instead to carve
their niche out of athleticism.
Granted, while President Robert M. Gates
says Texas A&M is lucky enough to have one
of the few athletic programs that pays for
itself, the institution is still shelling out free
tickets for an A&M education to students who
too often could not compete on their scholastic
credentials alone.
This is not to say that all — or even most —
intercollegiate athletes are subpar students.
Nonetheless, even if athletes were stellar stu
dents, they would still be granted a scholarship
based on their athletic prowess and not their
mind. And that is just not what college is about.
Academics are an exercise of the mind. And
while we recognize that the body must be pow
erful and capable, it need not be proven to be
so with a Big 12 or National Championship.
Intercollegiate college athletics needs to be
brought home. The fame gained by facing top
opponents across the country is illusionary and
corrupt if only insofar as it diminishes the
focus on academics.
Athletics do have a place in academia — on
the intramural field, for instance, pitting schol
ars from Southside against those from
Northside. The concrete coliseums aren’t need
ed to espouse the virtues inherent in athletics.
All one needs is a weathered track or a used
pigskin and a bunch of college students who
want a break from their studies. The Aggies
don’t need to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers
to learn the life lessons found between the
hashes. They just need some more Aggies.
Michael Ward is a senior
history major.
When academics institutions
are willing to exploit their
resources for athletic rather than
intellectual pursuits, it is time for
these institutions to either refocus
their goals or re-evaluate their
place in academia.
MAIL CALL
n in
cally receive
tew issue.
s Calendar
it’s free.
Diversity about more
than race
In response to Sarah Szuminski’s
Sept. 29 article:
I agree with Dr. Gates that diversity
is necessary for Texas A&M to
improve the quality of education pro
vided. However, I disagree with the
terms that are carelessly flung around
to define the goal.
Obviously diversity is necessary for
students to be able to take from a
wide variety of perspectives that they
otherwise could not encounter. This
means that skin color should not be
the decisive factor; rather the new cul
tural perspective one could contribute
to Aggie culture is important.
Why not say that A&M is lopsided
with traditional suburban and rural stu
dents and needs more students from
urban backgrounds or with immigrant
parents that still practice their culture:
brown, black, white or pink? Is not a
black student that grows up in subur
bia and has suburban perspectives no
different from his white counterpart?
Are my white friends who grew up in
urban neighborhoods and have the
accompanying culture unable to add
to A&M’s diversity? Would not the
students laugh if Vision 2020
required more red-haired students
because they are a minority? And
please do not say that my white skin
gives this great University an unac
ceptable status.
Let’s set ourselves apart by not
making these superficial judgements.
Nathan Blalock
Class of 2005
Frivolous lawsuits
driving up drug prices
In response to Lauren Esposito’s
Oct. 2 column:
I would simply like to point out that
another cause in the rise of drug
prices is the increase in the number
of lawsuits involving drug compa
nies, as well as malpractice suits.
Frivolous lawsuits have become an
increasing problem in the medical
community as a whole and are driv
ing the prices of health care upwards
at an alarming rate.
Dan Marek
Class of 2003
Bonfire is about
building Aggie Spirit
In response to Oct. 2 mail call:
Student Bonfire (formerly known
as Unity Project) would like to thank
Mr. Cleland for bringing up the
important issue of Bonfire and the
grass-roots effort to rebuild the tra
dition, despite his misunderstanding
of the facts involved.
Mr. Cleland must not have any
experience with building Bonfire
since he claimed that it is all about
one night. Bonfire is and has always
been about building camaraderie,
building friendships and building the
Aggie Spirit through months of work.
Bonfire is not just about the fire
itself, but what it takes to get to burn.
Mr. Cleland falsely asserts that
the $26,000 in donations required
to build Bonfire last year was too
steep a price for saving one of
A&M’s finest traditions.
Lastly, Mr. Cleland is wrong when
he states that Student Bonfire is
working against the administration.
We requested to meet with
President Gates last year and were
turned down. Student Bonfire is
always willing to work with the
administration to return Bonfire to
the students of Texas A&M.
Kerri Ward
Co-Leader, Student Bonfire
More important
issues to focus on
With the continuing hostilities in
Iraq, the nuclear provocations from
North Korea, economic problems on
the homefront, unemployment, the
ever-present threats of terrorism
and the upcoming presidential elec
tion, it was great to see the majority
of students chose to focus on the
really important issues — uncover
ing for yells, booing the referees
and leaving football games early.
It is refreshing to know that stu
dents still get passionate about the
things that really matter.
Jon Apgar
Class of 1999
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 submitted 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 77843-1 111. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcall@thebattalion.net