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Page Design • MATT RICNEY
MAttifeCALL
The new parking plan is a mistake
TS might have made the biggest bonehead move I’ve ever seen.
Last year I could park wherever I wanted. I never had a problem un
less I tried to get the closest possible lot and then I have to wait 10
minutes for a spot. Now, parking at the farthest spot possible is a
challenge, and then I walk past the closer lots only to find them less
than half full.
Last year, I would park at Reed Arena and not complain one bit.
However, I was parking on the West Campus side of Reed Arena and
not out by the intramural fields fighting through traffic to find a spot.
Reed Arena was like a circus today. TS has it gated off for reasons I
cannot explain. These gates have people turning U-turns, not just a
couple, I am talking a line of 10, 15 or 20 cars pulling U-turns which
I only adds to the traffic jam that is Reed Arena parking.
I realize it’s too late for TS to fix its colossal mistake now, but this is
going to be a long year in terms of parking.
Byron Gee si in
Class of 2006
Changes were approved by students
In response to an Aug. 31 mail call:
As of today, no lot has been oversold. No residency lot will be over
sold this year and only after occupancy counts of the other lots will
they be oversold or brought up to capacity. The decision not to over
sell lots came at the request of students and TS honored the request.
For example, currently the Zachry lot at peak occupancy times has
between 300 and 400 empty spaces. After the count in the next few
weeks the approximately 250 seniors, who have never previously pur
chased a parking permit, waiting on the list to park in Zachary Lot
will be able to park there. This will be a trend occur in all the lots on
campus in the same manner.
Future increases in permit prices will come at the expense of fac
ulty and staff who refused to accept the new plan and relinquish their
numbered reserved spaces. Since the majority of students and major
ity of their representatives in SGA chose to endorse the plan they will
not see a future rise in their permit prices.
This plan was devised by the best transportation professionals in
the nation and only after hours of input by students and SGA represen
tatives was it put into place. It’s time for 6th year students and other
naysayers to stop being part of the problem they created with their
inability to work with others and start being part of a solution.
Jeff Graham
Class of 2005
TS is trying to improve old practices
As a senior, maybe Ms. Wilson should realize that every year
something new occurs at BusOps/Transit and that they never inform
or advertise.
If she and everybody else took a proactive role in their transport
to school, there would not be half as many problems. Should Transit
attempt to notify the students about changes? Yes. Was that done this
semester? Not enough. How can that effectively be done?
Transit has gone through a change in management less than a week
before school started and our new managers are very promising and
face an uphill battle to turn our image and our practices around.
Daryl Pratho
Class of 2003
Student Bus Driver
There are always two sides to issues
In response to Joshua Dwyer’s Aug. 31 column:
Why does America insist on maintaining that we are doing nothing
wrong? Yes, this is an amazing country, and yes we have innumerable
positive aspects, but for some reason it has become taboo and “unpa
triotic" to say that there is something wrong with our country.
Mr. Dwyer is content to amble along in his column and pretend that
we live in a magical kingdom overseen by a benevolent ruler who can
come to no fault. Yes, his point is valid, people do come to America for
freedom, but if he is naive enough to believe that the people who come
to this country agree with the way it is run, I truly feel sorry for him.
A fight always has two sides, and both harbor some blame for start
ing or continuing the fight. Condemning diplomacy and negotiation is
absolute gun-hugging, apocalyptic, ridiculousness and does nothing
but reanimate the once dead monster that was MAD (mutually as
sured destruction).
It’s time for people like Mr. Dwyer and others who so reverently hold
America free from all blame to realize that if we want to change the
world, we have to allow the world to change us as well.
Daniel Nammour
Class of 2007
Hazardous to your business
Jim Foreman fumes over Ireland s ban
on smoking cigarettes in the workplace
E arlier this year, Ireland’s govern
ment implemented a ban on smok
ing in any enclosed workplace. This
includes not only offices and shops, but
restaurants and bars as well. This blanket
ban is intended to dissuade people from
picking up the habit and to protect from
the effects of second-hand smoke.
Since the ban was put in place, there
have been numerous complaints about
decreases in business. According to the
Sunday Times Ireland, many Irish smok
ers spend their wecKcnds in Scotland
Where they can smoke freely. Pub own
ers, or Publicans, have suffered as much
as a 60 percent drop in business. While
some fight the ban through lawsuits or re
bellion, and others close their pubs alto
gether, almost all have reported a decline
in sales.
Another problem is while Ireland’s
smoking ban may keep smoke out of
public places, it is not deterring the act.
Cigarette and beer companies have not
reported losses since the ban was imple
mented. Cantrell & Cochrane, an Irish
food and drink company, reported it ac
tually expects a small rise in sales in the
next month. The Irish are still smoking
and drinking; they're just not doing it
in pubs.
Although the ban is of noble intent, it
would have several negative effects if the
United States were to follow suit. A smok
ing ban would especially harm cities such
as College Station, where bars make up a
hefty portion of the economy. Many bars,
such as those on Northgate, make profits
from drink sales. Since many bar-hoppers
choose to smoke when they drink, such
a ban would make them turn to drinking
at home.
When it comes to preventing people from
picking up the habit, a ban on smoking in
public places would do little good. Most
people do not start smoking from hanging
out in bars. Many, in fact, start doing it
because their parents or friends introduce
them to it. Either way, a ban on smoking in
public does not do much good.
However, there are exceptions to Ire
land’s smoking ban. Prisons, police sta
tion detention areas and psychiatric wards
are not required to enforce the ban. So a
smoker may not be able light up at his fa
vorite pub, but he can still get his fix if he
is arrested or committed.
Over the past decade, the United States
has seen a significant decrease in the num
ber of people who smoke. Anti-smoking
campaigns and lawsuits against the tobacco
industry have been successful as they con
tinue to discourage people from beginning
smoking. Hitting the issue at its root is
more effective than simply passing a law
that only affects those who already smoke.
Even Irish citizens do not approve of
the ban.
Des Johnston wrote a letter to the editor
of a newspaper in Dublin, Ireland, saying,
“The smoking ban has been in force now
for some three months, and as exercises in
social engineering go, this one has been an
unmitigated disaster.”
Smoking is an unhealthy habit, but
those who smoke should not be punished
for doing so. Offices, restaurants and bars
should have the option of banning smok
ing on their own accord if they feel it is
necessary. In fact, many places already
provide facilities for smokers. The gov
ernment should not step in and tell peo
ple what is not good for them.
Jim Foreman is a jutiior
mechanical engineering major.
Lindsye Forson sings praises
of high school AP involvement
ver the past 50
years, the Ad
vanced Place
ment Program has come a long way. The
program was originally designed to cater
to top students in select schools, but AP
classes are now taken by
nearly 1.1 million students,
compared to the 1,000
original, and are offered
by two-thirds of public
schools today, as opposed
to the charter few hundred,
according to CNN.
However, students
haven’t been the only ones
to notice and take advantage
of the program’s growth.
Universities are noticing
and taking advantage of the
program’s growth as well.
A 2003 survey found that
college admissions boards
consider a student’s performance in AP
classes more important than SAT score,
class rank, grade point average and a stu
dent’s essays, according to CNN.
However, many people contend that
the program has become too large and has
outlived its usefulness to students. There
is irony in the fact that a class intended to
give students an edge in college may help
prevent their acceptance to college but,
this notwithstanding, the classes have great
enough benefits that both students and uni
versities would be negligent to abstain from
what they offer.
AP classes and tests are a tremendous
bargain for students. Students who take AP
classes their junior and senior years of high
school can potentially place out of a num-
This issue is not
another high school
test question. Those
who prefer to remain
on the sidelines of this
issue cannot afford
to.
her of credit hours roughly equivalent to an
entire year of college, all this for the nomi
nal cost of about $80 per test. Each test can
exempt a student from three to 10 credit
hours, depending on the subject matter and
the university that one attends.
“The old philosophy
was that only the very
best students were sent
to AP courses. We’ve
changed that. We’re
going to be more in
clusive. We’re going
for the greater good,”
said Erick Hueck, head
of the AP program and
teacher of AP chemistry
at Miami Senior High,
according to The Asso-
ciated Press.
For many, eliminat-
ing a fourth of college
costs can be the differ
ence between whether one can afford to at
tend school. So while students may be un
der additional pressure to perform well in
these classes due to the increasing amount
of attention given to them by university se
lection committees, AP classes are unques
tionably worth their while for those eligible
to take them.
Similarly, it would be ridiculous for
universities to ignore AP classes. For
years, the SAT has been assailed with crit
icism for allegedly posing questions that
are racist, sexist or otherwise biased, but
the SAT has remained a sort of necessary
evil due to universities’ desire to predict
college performance.
The relationship between SAT score and
success in freshman-level classes is tenuous
at best. A 1992 study by the University of
Pennsylvania found that SAT I scores were
a poor predictor of future academic suc
cess, explaining only 4 percent of variation
in college grades. In this respect, the AP
program may be somewhat of a godsend.
After all, what could be a better predictor of
success in first-year courses than the grades
a student earns in these very classes, trans
planted onto a high school campus?
This logical connection seems to be
confirmed by research; students who have
taken at least two AP exams are more likely
to complete bachelor’s degrees than their
counterparts who lacked as much involve
ment in the program, according to CNN.
This issue is not another high school
test question. Those who prefer to remain
on the sidelines of the issue cannot afford
to; President Bush aims to double federal
spending on AP classes to $51.5 million
(this amount is in addition to state spending
on the program), according to CNN .
Symbiosis makes as much sense in the
animal kingdom as it does on a university
campus, because both involved parties stand
to benefit. Such is the case with the AP Pro
gram and universities; it saves students a
significant amount of time and money and
offers university admissions boards non-
hypothetical evidence of how a student will
perform in a college-level class. When the
program’s advantages are weighed against
any detriment it may cause to a college ap
plicant, the choice for students and univer
sities alike is a no-brainer.
Lindsye Forson is a senior
journalism major.