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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2003)
•i ATTAUO! HS6 dn| abuses nesdayto iustfyThe ^erhaulte osea emptionfee ihort-lerm isactionslo outage ket timing. ian other ra :ir re the'ipji ireciate tfa cost," a leputy fc s invests (ion. omelli s» iver.havinf rice a ay butte; ivei: it,” < coffee si ! , said si* en she Ihfi in genen Opinion The Battalion Page 7B • Thursday, December 4, Broadenin Hispanic studies department would benefi Di iversity seems to be the word on every body’s lips recently. Racial and ethnic diversity, socio-economic diversity, religious diversity, diversity of sexual orienta tion are all hot topics of debate and discussion in the realm of academia. However, often overlooked is the need for academic diversity at Texas A&M, a school that focuses so many of its resources on a few select programs while neglecting others. The proposed addi tion of a Hispanic studies department reflects anew-found drive to remedy this problem. A&M, while renowned for agriculture, engineering, architec ture and business degrees, has a less-than-stellar though slowly improving reputation for liberal arts, which leads many out standing students to choose the University of Texas instead. If students do choose to attend A&M, they end up grumbling in frustration over the lack of liberal arts class offerings. For instance, UT boasts 650 Spanish majors compared to A&M’s , as well as more Spanish professors and graduate students, as reported in the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Granted, liberal arts students did elect to attend a Texas agri- ultural and mechanical university. Nonetheless, as A&M oves toward a more well-rounded curriculum to compete as one of the top-10 public schools in the nation, deficiencies such as the anticipated lack of a journalism department, inadequate representation in the fine arts and relatively limited language lasses hinder this goal. Imperative Four of Vision 2020 recognizes all of these needs and shortcomings with the acknowledgment that “the best pub ic universities have stronger and deeper liberal arts programs and a fuller range of such programs with a significantly higher nstitutional commitment ... It is abundantly clear that we will never be seen as a premier institution nationally without a far itronger letters, arts and sciences program.’’ While a far cry from a complete solution, the possible addi- ion of a Hispanic studies department constitutes a positive ndkeepita nove towards realizing some of A&M President Robert M. Gates’ goals by building a program that contributes to academic egoingdiversity. Currently, a Hispanic studies minor is available, which the new department will encompass and augment by ncluding courses on the Spanish language, Hispanic political and cultural issues and a University first, courses in Portuguese, according to the Eagle. The new department will create addi- ional Hispanic studies classes, and an interdisciplinary doctoral program offered in cooperation with other A&M System universities in Laredo, Corpus Christi and Kingsville. The creation of this new department aptly addresses the increasing focus on diversity as well as the need for stronger add liberal arts program. Dr. Craig Kallendorf, interim head of the modern and classical languages department, told the Eagle that sub- par language studies will “become his tory fairly soon.” Already, two new Hispanic studies professors have joined the faculty, and Kallendorf antici pates that in combination with the teaching assistantships created by the graduate program, these measures will begin to assuage overcrowding experienced in undergraduate classes. Still, more progress is being made. Last year, Italian I was only offered during the fall semester, with Italian II in the spring. An average of 60 A&M students travel to the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, each semester on A&M programs in the humanities, social sciences, business and archi tecture, according to the Santa Chiara Web site. It seems that greater efforts would be made to make begin ning Italian readily available in the spring, which would especially benefit students attending the summer program. For the upcoming spring semester, one section each of both Italian I and II is offered, a marked improvement, but still of Liberal Arts lagging behind the number of sections offered in German, Russian, French and Spanish. These positive changes assure current and prospective students and faculty that A&M does indeed have a place for liberal arts. However, an increase in Italian I sections or the opportunity to earn a doctorate in Hispanic studies may do lit tle to ease the doubts of journalism students, an increasingly rare species of Aggie that is doomed to be extinct. With only 14 theater classes and 10 music classes at the undergraduate level for next semester, fine arts students may be equally skeptical about the University’s commit ment to liberal arts. Although the name of the university is now sim ply Texas A&M, shortening agricultural and mechanical cannot hide the fact that these are still the emphasized aspects of academics. Programs like the Hispanic studies department will help alleviate this, but don’t expect another letter added to the name anytime soon. Cracie Arenas - THE BATTALION Lindsay Orman is a senior English major. :|lo, WllO I* oerywheit i City resin I ), is won* Aggie ancestors would be proud In response to a Dec. 2 mail call: isIduL |f Aggie ancestors that Mr. this way - Chandler cites were aiming for a homogenous mass of docile and un thinking students, then I would agree with him; they would not think favor ably of the “lack of satisfaction” cur rently seen on campus. However, I do not think this is what our Aggie ancestors wanted. Coming from the University of Houston, I am perhaps not as well schooled in Aggie traditions as most, but it seems to me that this institu tion was founded to be an intellectual forum, where diverse ideas could be disseminated to and discussed by a free-thinking student body. Contrary to Mr. Chandler’s concern, I think Sul Ross or Bum Bright would be quite happy with the recent debates on campus. The “happy-go-lucky, every thing is great” message that you advocate not only reveals his own apathy, but has dangerous implica tions for that most cherished of liber ties, freedom of speech. *0f!1 jse Joseph Abel Graduate Student Aggies of all types can whoop together I have to say 1 am a bit confused about the issue of diversifying A&M and how that would cause a loss in tra ditions. Can a black person not whoop? Can a homosexual not stand as the Twelfth Man? Can a Jewish person not participate in Elephant Walk? Can a woman not be in the Corps? The answer is clearly “no” to all those questions. So how does diversi ty change traditions? Participating in traditions is purely a matter of person al choice. Sure, this University started with only white men, but that does not mean every white man wants to take part in our honored traditions. I guar antee that there is a big group of them who go to that school in Austin that couldn’t care less. We can all be differ ent people who all love A&M. Leslie Higgins Class of 2006 Analogy does not represent economy In response to Mike Walters’ Dec. 1 column: Mr. Walters’ analogy of McDonald’s bundling sodas with their meals is grossly inaccurate. To make it a valid analogy here would be the case: McDonald’s would be the only place where you could purchase a lunch meal, and people only drank a soda with their lunch meal. Then if McDonald’s started to bundle sodas with the meal, it is clear that would be using their monopoly in one market to perform unfair and anti-competitive behavior by jumping into the soda market. His description of free mar kets is accurate, but that assumes a healthy market with viable competi tors where the consumer has a choice. Exceptions must be made when a monopoly is involved or else the consumer is the one that will be hurt in the end. Brandon Green Class of 2006 Football players shouldn't talk trash As I sat watching the game Friday afternoon, I saw one of the poorest displays of sportsmanship I have ever seen from an Aggie player. It involved the much touted “Real Deal.” Mr. McNeal scored a touch down and proceeded to drop the horns down hand signal on the fans and the ABC telecast. As much as I were in favor of the dismissal of R.C. Slocum, the things I could always count on from him and his players was class and dignity. There were very few times where players on an R.C. Slocum coached team showed up players on another team or talked trash. That was one of my favorite attributes of Aggie football teams throughout the years. I felt that it always separated us from the mouthy Longhorns. Maybe it has less to do with the coach and more to do with the play ers themselves. My feeling is that this team had nothing to celebrate MAIL CALL this season. Pathetic performance after pathetic performance does not give players the right to celebrate like that. Steven Rasch Class of 1997 Passing train ruins mood of Silver Taps Silver Taps stirred two emotions in me last night. One emotion, intended by the ceremony, was a sense of loss, as this time the Aggie honored was closer to me than the stereotyp ical sixth degree of separation. The second was anger directed at Union Pacific Railroad for disturbing and almost destroying the solemn ness of the occasion. After the rifle volley, the buglers began to play as usual. A fourth bugler joined in a few seconds later, though this one was not atop the Academic Building like his fellows. He was driving the train down the tracks straight through Bryan-College Station. Through about half of the bugle call of Taps, the fourth bugler was the only one to be heard. After the second set, I almost turned to leave because I thought the Bandsmen had finished. This problem has occurred before. It will occur again if nothing is done. Why can’t Traditions Council contact UPRR and work something out with them? I have a maximum of eight remaining Silver Taps before I gradu ate. I hope there are none, but for those that are necessary, I hope that they are uninterrupted, undisturbed and properly solemn. Albert Archer and Christina Gilliam Classes of 2004 and 2005 Bake sale divides student body In response to a Dec. 1 mail call: It is sad that the YCT wants to sug- arcoat its practices as ‘peaceful protesting and debate,’ but from what I saw, the bake sale was anything but “peaceful.” The recent fliers incident just goes to show how people are highly offended by what your organi zation did, and this is from people of all races. Instead of trying to divide the Aggie family, it is imperative that we stick together and celebrate differences and the fact that people here are get ting opportunities they wouldn’t have in the past. To be honest, the YCT bake sale was in vain, all it did was spark anger but it actually did not facilitate any change in the decision to increase diversity. The YCT has to understand that what happened has greatly embarrassed Texas A&M so much that President Gates had to send out a letter denouncing such useless protests. As an African American student at Texas A&M, I was embarrassed to have to explain to my peers at other universities what the bake sale was all about. I just advise that next time before the YCT has another “peaceful” protest, they should think about it a little longer. Onyinyechi Okoro Class of 2006 Larger sized shirts were printed In response to a Dec. 3 mail call: We would just like to apologize on behalf of Class Councils for the mis information given regarding the avail ability of certain T-shirt sizes. We did have, in fact, XXLs on sale in the MSC from Nov. 10 to Nov. 24 and then on site on Nov. 25 (the day of the event) and did not sell out until sometime that day with the rest of the T-shirt sizes. We’re sorry that you were unable to purchase the shirts you desired. In the future, if anyone has any questions regarding a Class Councils event, please call the Class Centers or come visit us in the MSC, as we are always glad to accommo date the needs of our constituents. Class Councils is here to serve the class in any way that is possible, and we are terribly sorry that you felt that we were not living up to our duties. At this time we would like to thank all the students who attended Jr. E-Walk. You showed this campus the kind of unity that exists within the Class of 2005 as well as at Texas A&M. Hayley Henderson Junior E-Walk Director Tim Soeken Class of 2005 President Cindy Smith Executive Director Kristy Tyler Public Relations Director Cynthia Heredia Diversity Director The Battalion encourages letters to the edi tor. 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: maiicall(S)thebattalion.net