The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 09, 2003, Image 13

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The Battalion
Page 13 • Tuesday, December 9, 2(
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Money: It's a
U.S. Treasury Department wastes what it pitches hf advertising the $
MIDHAT
FAROOQI
L ast month, the U.S. Treasury
Department's Bureau
of Engraving and
Printing issued a new $20
bill. The new notes feature a
colored background along
with a new watermark and
security thread in an attempt
to thwart counterfeiters.
Curiously, the debut of
this redesigned currency
was accompanied by a huge
marketing campaign — at a
reported cost of $32 million. The money paid
for such excesses as media events, print ads,
an interactive Web site and even TV commer
cials. The entire effort is quite useless: There
is no need to sell money.
If they haven't seen the Web site, most
Aggies have probably seen the TV ads by now.
In one of the commercials, a man with glasses
withdraws some money from an ATM. The
upbeat background music suggests that this no
ordinary event and, indeed, the machine gives
him a stack of new $20 bills. The man pauses
and raises one bill in the air to further study it.
An announcer says, “You can see right away
that things are different” as a smile of satisfac
tion appears on the man’s face. “We've added
color,” the announcer says, “and changed the
portrait.” Next, the announcer assures us that
this $20 bill, like the old one, is still worth
$20. He then concludes with the new money’s
slogan: “Safer, smarter, more secure.”
The second ad has Mr. Glasses buying some
CDs and receiving the new $20 bill in change.
As the announcer talks about details such as
the “embedded security thread,” the guy does
an elaborate and unbelievable series of special-
effects-aided tricks with the bill, spinning it on
his finger and so forth. The man leaves, and
the woman behind him steps up to the register
and eagerly asks, “Can I get a new $20?”
While the campaign seems as though it
wants to sell money, it really seeks to notify
everyone that a change in currency is taking
place. The government is saying that, “The /
new bill has some color and new design ele
ments to discourage counterfeiters, but it’s
real, so don’t panic.” Such announcements are
not unprecedented: The introduction of the
Euro a few years ago was accompanied by an
“awareness” campaign, too.
However, it is not government’s responsibil
ity to build immediate awareness among the
cash-handling public. That job belongs to the
media. Bureau officials claim the ad campaign
was needed to prevent confusion for cashiers,
foreign businesses and programming of domes
tic vending machines. But allowing journalists
to report on the new changes would have been
equally effective and virtually cost-free.
Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against
Government Waste, said he feels Bureau offi
cials overestimated the amount of confusion
the revised $20 bill would cause. “Either the
government thinks Americans are pot suffi
ciently intelligent to believe that a bill with
Andrew Jackson’s picture, the words ‘Federal
Reserve Note,’ the signature of the U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury and the number 20
on it is a $20 bill, or Washington just has far
too much money to spend,” he
said.
New designs for the $50 and
$100 notes are scheduled for
2004 and 2005, and the Treasury
department plans to spend an
additional $21 million in promot
ing them. Bureau officials should
learn from their current $32 mil
lion mistake and get rid of the
flamboyant introductions JS
planned for the $50 and $100
bills.
Such needless expenditures \
are just what Uncle Sam needs %j
to avoid with a record $374 bil- ®
lion deficit in the 2003 fiscal year 1
and a projected $480 billion deficit
in 2004. Interestingly enough, the
$32 million cost of the govern
ment’s current ad campaign is equal
to 74 percent of all the counterfeit
money that was circulated in the
United States in 2002.
The bottom line is that
Americans don’t really have a
choice in whether to use the
money. Anyone who wants to par
ticipate in buying or selling things
is going to have a clear incentive
for accepting the new notes. Here,
at last, is one product that truly
sells itself.
Midhat Farooqi s a senior
genetics major.
Cracie Arenas • THE BATTALION
Students’ political apathy hurts A&M, perpetuates stigma
I f you are standing up right now, perhaps on
the perpetually crowded Wehner Express, or
heading to your biology class in Heldenfels,
take a moment to sit down and relax. You’ll
need to after you read this next sentence. Texas
A&M is not a conservative school. There, it’s
been said. And if you haven't yet scoffed,
thrown the newspaper down, huffed and kept
walking, feel free to read the next few para
graphs and find out why.
A&M may not be all that conservative and,
for that matter, it’s not very liberal either. It is, however, what
Residence Hall Association President Chris Mahaffey mentioned
a few weeks ago in his Forum column: apathetic.
Case in point: One of the largest protests on this campus in the
last five years occurred last month. The Young Conservatives of
Texas organized a satirical bake sale supposedly to facilitate dia
logue on the issues of diversity and the installation of the new
vice president and associate provost for institutional assessment
and diversity. Dr. James Anderson.
Given his lukewarm reception, he’s in for a rude awakening if
he believes, as The Eagle quoted him, that “students (at A&M)
are not apathetic about their political views.”
This protest, centered around the key issue on campus —
diversity — brought out .045 percent of the student population. It
seems as though apathy wraps around this campus like a thick
blanket on a cold day. Perhaps only a ritual effigy burning of
University of Texas football coach Mack Brown and University of
Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops in the Academic Plaza (a
viable tradition to replace Aggie Bonfire?) would have brought
out more students.
There is no sense of proportion on this campus. A minute
fraction of the A&M populace protests affirmative action and
suddenly A&M is, once again, too conservative. Never mind that
most of those who attended the bake sale were voicing criticism,
not support.
Similarly, last week disparaging remarks were made to
prospective students. The ignorance was met with little sympa
thy as University President Robert M. Gates and various student
leaders lambasted the slurs and the assault on an otherwise wel
coming community.
Yet, a sense of the conservative majority hits A&M students. If
a handful of conservatives band together
for a cause — whatever it may be — the
opposition points to it and says “See,
A&M is so backwards.” In reality, the
dissension, as well as the rest of A&M,
should be thankful that 10 students got
together for a cause in the first place.
That’s what’s backwards at this school,
not the conservative ideas. As it is, the
unfettered action of a vocal minority, the
YCT, perpetuates the conservative myth
because of the inaction and silence of
the rest of the campus.
Those who have castigated A&M’s
“conservatism” have offered little, if anything, in opposition. One
finds that the clanging rhetoric from the young right it is met with
what amounts to chirping crickets from the young left. However,
added together — the noise and the silence — the political
activism on this campus, in general, is pathetically low compared
to other schools.
For instance, while the University of California at Berkeley
boasts 156 various political student organizations, according to
the Berkeley student organization Web site. A&M offers a pal
try 18. And though the school is stereotyped as liberal as A&M
a
There is no sense of
proportion on this campus. A
minute fraction of the A&M
populace protests affirmative
action and suddenly A&M is,
once again, too conservative
is conservative, the republican movement at Berkeley is 10
times larger than A&M’s. And, for that matter, so is the demo
cratic faction - suggesting just how politically disinterested
A&M students are.
With 10,000 fewer students than A&M, UC-Berkeley manages
to engage more than 10 times the number of students in various
political activities than A&M does — a discrepancy that is mir
rored around the country at peer institutions. Driven by indiffer
ence toward the status quo at A&M, much of the blame rests on
the shoulders of its students.
But not all of it.
The lack of faculty engagement with students,
reflected in surveys such as the Princeton Review
and the horrendous student/teacher ratio on this
campus, facilitates a stagnant student intelligentsia
— a population both wanting for encouragement
and enthusiasm and simply wanting to get a degree
and get out. With such an abundance of resources,
both mental and financial, there is no reason that
A&M’s student body should rest in the doldrums
of activism. But it does.
Call it what you want: indifference, apathy or
inaction. The life of this school is withering away.
Tens of thousands of maroon zombies float from one overcrowd
ed seminar to the next; the degree has become the focus, rather
than the path to earning it. As activism slowly dies on this cam
pus, those who are to be held responsible are the only ones who
can revive it — the administration, the faculty and the students.
Michael Ward is a senior
history major.
uaranleed
J
OFF
\
MAIL CALL
New parking plan is just a
money-making scheme
In response to Natalie Younts’ Dec. 8 article:
I am confused how Mr. Weis’s plan works.
Everything looks great dn paper, and I’m sure it
will accomplish everything he claims. The prob
lem is that I’m not sure how this will benefit the
students and faculty.
Let’s give Mr. Weis the benefit of the doubt
and say that his overselling technique will not
prevent people from having spots. Will this plan
improve convenience?
The reduction of 30-minute areas and the
implementation of assigned lots would mean a
drop in vehicle access to certain parts of cam
pus for those who do not have permits for that
area. Also, some of my peers with current red
lot permits don’t leave their spots for fear of los
ing the front row spot they currently have. I pur
chased a garage spot to avoid this problem.
This rationale rules out convenience as a rea
son. What about the price of the permits? Weis
stated last month there was a chance of an
increase in price once his plan was implement
ed. Everything that I have seen concerning this
idea seems very speculative, and I do not see
it as anything more than a way to bring more
money to the University.
Kevin Thompson
Class of 2006
Selling numbers annoys
students trying to study
I am a student who lives on campus. Recently
I have been getting five to seven phone calls a
day from telemarketers trying to sell me things.
I was told that Texas A&M had sold the phone
numbers to these companies for additional
money. I think that is disgusting. Because the
school needed more money I have to deal with
these people calling me about a credit card
when I am trying to study. Something needs to
be done to stop this.
Kevin Metier
Class of 2007
Cays deserve the same
civil protection
In response to Matt Rigney’s Dec. 5 column:
It is time that monogamous homosexual cou
ples receive the same protections as hetero
sexual couples have.
One of the main reasons for anti-gay senti
ment is the belief that homosexuals are neces
sarily morally deviant. And yet, in the name of
that prejudice, conservatives wish to punish
precisely those gays who are seeking to livfe
the conservative ideal of marriage and family.
By excluding homosexuals from full participa
tion in American society, we entrench the very
deviancy for which we blame them.
Robert Garmong
Department of Philosophy
Being homosexual is not
as simple as a choice
People choose to be gay the same as we
choose our own race. I’m sure gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered people choose to
be discriminated against, made fun of and at
times even assaulted. They did not choose the
way that they feel; all they can do is to accept it
and live their lives to the fullest, just like every
one else. Do you expect them to suppress their
feelings to please you? Do you believe they
should just live their life as a lie? I have spoken
to many gay people, and they did not choose to
be gay. Some in fact have stated that if it were
up to them they would rather be straight, but
they know that that is not who they are and it
would be false to live their life as a lie. It is their
life, not yours, and whether you like that or not,
everyone deserves the right to marry the per
son they choose to love.
Michael Lisoski
Class of 2003
A loving home is the same,
regardless of orientation
In response to a Dec. 8 mail call:
So a loving relationship between two con
senting people should be banned, while the
rape (if it’s non-consensual, it’s rape) of an ani
mal should be condoned?
Let’s not forget, marriage was invented as an
economic and political event first, and a sacred
one second. Dowries and bride prices were
paid, family alliances were cemented and tax
breaks were given. It wasn’t until later that the
“marriage as a sacred union” and even love
were brought into the picture. Not only that, but
many marriages don’t even happen in religious
establishments, such as a common law mar
riage, and these people still get the tax benefits
and knowledge that they are joined until death
or divorce part them. I say let anyone, gay or
straight, marry whomever they wish. Give them
the same rights and benefits as any other cou
ple. Let them adopt children and give them a
stable, safe place to grow up. I don’t think con
sensual, responsible love is wrong. If you
enrich someone else’s life by providing them
support, understanding, trust, and wisdom, and
they return the favor, I think that’s right.
Lauren Salinas
Class of 2006