Opinion
The Battalion
Page 7B ♦ Thursday, April 22, 200^
Master disaster
de
atnpus Master Plan ignores students 7 voices and demolishes A&M 7 s history
SARA
FOLEY
n years to come, the
majority of current stu-
a mirfjHJLdents will come back
or, TM to College Station at one
save! time or another, whether for
wrqr alootball game, permanent
nd is: Ridence or to enroll their
Hit. children in classes. When
i, you 1 ;• tfy current students and
caose .^jiimni do eventually return
'tchol-: tlA&M. a dramatically different campus will
ASA|i: a»ait them.
■ The wheels were set in motion for an overall
renovation of A&M’s campus two years ago, a
,l R)ject headed by a team of faculty, staff and
ministrators. Their product, the Campus
ster Plan, was based on Vision 2020 and
sis guidelines for the renovation, demolition
, Id addition of many buildings on campus over
)reslft next 50 years. While the plan as a whole
a ds convenience and provides ways for the
whether
polite;
nha:
id to be utilized more efficiently, in the end
t e multitude of marginal disadvantages hurts
'indents and alumni seeking tradition, historical
llue and input in their campus during their
whence at A&M.
I bat til T* 10 emo, ' ona l ant * historical significance of
aj uilding is one that is difficult to measure.
Biddings closely associated with the
diversity’s identity, such as the Academic
flcanwlilding and the YMCA building, have renova-
tit is planned to improve their functionality.
tfjRwever, what is significant to some people is
t significant to others, and value judgments
sed on the opinions of faculty and adminis-
tion who are considered outsiders by many
ftiy not always reflect the opinions of the stu-
di it community.
lOf the 40 buildings set for demolition, many
of them are Northside residence halls.
■though many of thes.e residence halls are in
led of repairs, the history and tradition asso- •
(ufRted with them runs deeper thah the incon-
wnience of community bathrooms'that admin
istrators feel is outdated.
M
i polite
re ofttie
[fere as
med.
wort
“They aren’t the kind of buildings people
want to live in, the Corps-style residence halls
with the gang-style bathroom. Students are mov
ing away from that, and at some point in.the not-
too-distant future, students are not going to want
to live in them at all,” said Mary Miller,
chair of the Campus Master Plan
Steering Committee and associate vice T
president for administration.
The recent example of the
plan to close Hotard Hall and
the subsequent community
outcry that resulted contra
dicts Miller’s statement.
Northside Student Sen. Will
Hailey said he felt that stu
dents were not given equal
voice when decisions such
as these were made.
The Campus Master
k
Plan Steering Committee did hold three public
forums giving students the opportunity to voice
their concerns and will hold another on April
26, but no student representative sits on the. . .
committee nor has any measurable influence on
the decisions made.
Northside is more than a cluster of residence
halls on campus; it is associated with separate
traditions and a community that others know
little about. To replace this area with “more
desirable” housing might be economically
beneficial, but it has the potential to erase
the traditions and community that make
A&M special.
Another example of a scheduled dem
olition site is the Pavilion, which origi
nally had a dirt floor and housed rodeo
events. Tom Woodfin, coordinator of the
Campus Master Plan Steering
Committee and associate professor for architec
ture said the building is not being used for its
intended purpose and has subsequently suffered
due to'problems in'the foundation.-
Charles Sippial, vice president for adminis
tration, estimated the cost to make necessary
improvements on the Pavilion would be $6 mil
lion, but to tear it down and build something else
in its place would cost $15 million. Sippial said
he felt that a new building would be a better
economic investment.
While buildings such as the Pavilion may not
warrant salvation based on usefulness or feasi
bility and do not have a clear emotiohal appeal,
they nevertheless contribute to the campus his
tory, such as the Pavilion. Sippial said 5Q per
cent of buildings on campus are more than 50 •
years old and that the interior systems within *
the buildings are only functional for about ; 20
years, resulting in them to be outdated. The
Campus Master Plan focuses on the moderniza
tion of buildings in order to attain a newer and
more appealing campus.
.... The plan also has no spot, allotted for the
return of an'o'n-cafnpus Bonfire, something
administrators have not assured could come
back. However, if buildings are put in the placeis
available for Bonfire, it would be another
excuse to delay its return.
The Campus Master Plan provides outlines
for potential building sites, points out necessary
street improvements and adds needed renova
tions to some historical buildings on campus.
However, student input is needed to ensure the
salvation of many buildings and residence halls
that students feel affection for and to prevent the
change of the campus to a point that it would be
unrecognizable to aliynni.
. -SaraFoley is a junior
joUm'alism major.
Graphic by Paul Wilson
aking students wait to be
ill not stop birthday binge drinking
ichael Wagener, Class of 2000, died
on his 21st birthday from alcohol
poisoning, as reported by The
ittalion. His mother, Susan, said Wagener
;nt out with his friends at midnight on his
thday and began drinking, just like many
iiers his age. When the police found
agener in his apartment after the bars had
)sed that morning, his blood-alcohol level
s 0.48.
Unfortunately for the Wagener family, this
fi uld have been avoided. Had Michael made the right decisions
a d known when to stop, he might have lived. Susan Wagener
1 rees that her son’s death could have been avoided, but some of
| r ideas would inhibit College Station residents’ personal free-
ims to protect those who can’t make wise decisions.
Earlier this month Wagener testified before a Texas House
Immittee that is studying underage drinking, urging the legisla
te pass laws that would ban bars from serving customers until
ning hours on one’s 21st birthday, rather than at midnight.
Not only would this legislation be a blow to civil liberties
oyed by College Station residents, it wouldn’t solve the prob-
that students such as Michael Wagener faced.
Wagener’s mother told the committee that students are often
couraged by peers to drink at midnight on their 21st birthdays
a rite of passage.
As it stands now, bars can legally serve alcohol to people at
midnight on their 21st birthday. That is, after all, when the day
starts. Delaying the time at which a person can be served alco
hol by a mere 10 hours won’t have an effect on
the pressure he feels. That is something Susan
Wagener doesn’t understand.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD), the median age a child begins con
suming alcohol is 15.7 years old. That means the
average teen looks forward his 21st birthday for
more than five years.
Delaying this anticipation until 12 p.m. the
next day isn’t going to positively affect the way
in which students release their anticipation.
They have been waiting for five years, so what
is 10 more hours?
Society also plays a role in the pressure that
college students feel to consume alcohol.
Television, movies and music glorify drinking to minors, which
only adds to the pressure they feel from friends and family.
When students finally turn 21 and want to go out to
Northgate and exercise their right to be served alcohol, they’re
going to do it as soon as they can, whether at midnight, noon the
next day, three days later or at age 25. Delaying the inevitable is
not a solution to the problem.
If this law is passed, it could even have negative effects on the
Delaying the time
at which a person can
be served alcohol by a
mere 10 hours won't
have an effect on the
pressure he feels.
community. If a student was forced to celebrate his birthday at
noon, he would be leaving the bars three to five hours later —
right in the middle of rush-hour traffic. This is at a time when
CARPOOL doesn’t give free rides home. Although
most people realize driving drunk is not a wise
choice, neither is drinking until a blood-alcohol
level of 0.48 is reached. Some of these students
would drive drunk, and rush hour in College
Station is not a good time for that to happen.
What concerned parents such as Wagener’s
should be focusing on is instilling in their chil
dren the ability to make level-headed choices. If
Wagener had been aware of his condition, a sen
sible choice would have been to stop. Wagener’s
friends could also have seen when he had
enough and stopped him.
Although Susan Wagener’s intentions are
admirable, delaying the time at which students
can be served alcohol probably wouldn’t have saved her son, and
it won’t relieve the pressure that students face.
Matt Rigney is a junior
journalism major.
roposed rail line
jastes taxpayer money
vn response to the April 21 opinion by
\dy Sain:
I While the prospect of a 20-minute
tfvel time to Houston is appealing, Mr.
i has ignored some key facts,.the.
est of which is that the travel time
uld actually be greater than 20 min-
s. To reach Houston in 20 minutes,
rain would have to travel at well over
0 mph. The only operating high
eed rail line in the United States, the
ELA Express in the northeast, travels
approximately 150 mph.
r. Sain also indicates that the high-
ieed rail would alleviate fuel con-
tiaints. Did he assume the rides would
free? The fare to travel on the ACELA
—Press from Boston to New York is
i|28, well above the fuel cost to make
same trip by automobile. In addi
tion, travelers would still have to drive to
the train station and arrange for trans
portation once arriving at their destina
tion. It is doubtful that anyone would
pay these costs just to save a few min
utes on their travel time.
We should use the taxpayers’ money to
actually improve the transportation infra
structure .rather than simply squander it.
on an_unnecessary high- speed fail line.
Justin Winn
president, Texas A&M Institute of
Transportation Engineers
Class of 2003
Students aren’t seeing
benefits of state funding
President Robert M. Gates' letter
detailing the plan for a new research
facility sounded like a great idea until
you read where the funding for this facil
MAIL CALL
ity will come from. The funding will come
from the state Permanent University
Fund and from the Available University
Fund, both of which have been said to be
declining in amount in the past few
years. This decline is said to have been
part of the reasoning behind the need
for a tuition increase. I understand the
need for the” addition of hqw buildings
and new research faciliti'es;.yet I don't
understand.why,this has”,to come out of,,
the funding from'the state.
These research facilities do not add
any amount of revenue for the students.
It would not lower the cost of tuition or
fees. In fact, students would probably
have to pay a fee to use this new facility.
The Permanent University Fund was
set up to establish a school where peo
ple could come to get an education at
an understandable cost, not pay for
future research facilities. Having these
new facilities would follow with the plan
of Vision 2020, instead of focusing on
the students who attend this University.
Being as though the tuition increase
for the fall has already been passed, this
may seem like a futile attempt to argue
my point. I just wish that this adminis
tration would remember why this
University was created 128 years ago.
Ramon Johnston •
Class of.2004
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Reed McDonald,-MS 1111, Texas A&M
University, College Station;TX.77843-1111. Fax:
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