NE»s
29, 2004
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 1 1 • Wednesday, September 29, 2004
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Resident Gates and administration must remember what makes A&M
MIKE
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I he majority of
Aggies came to this
school not based
on a merit ranking some
ivory tower magazine
reviewer gave us. Aggies
don’t come here for the
food, the buildings or for
the surrounding town. The
real reason most Aggies
are attending this univer
sity is to be a part of that
“spirit which can ne’er be told.”
Sadly, that spirit and the will of the admin
istration seem to be at crossroads. While the
student body had high hopes for Texas A&M
President Robert M. Gates to make positive
changes to the school, it’s become clear he
does not understand what it means to be an
and would rather conform to other
than do right by the students.
In an article published by The Battalion on
Sept. 13 Gates said, “This business of ‘when
you’re on the inside you can’t explain A&M,
and when you’re on the outside you can’t
understand it needs to go by the wayside.” The
adage he quoted and tossed aside is one of the
famous phrases used to describe Ag-
A&M stands out among universities
asaplace where students can unite in camara-
dene and encourage important values such as
honesty, integrity and bravery.
Gates’ vision however, seeks only a spot
atthetop of school rankings, oblivious to the
fact that Aggies already stand out as some
thing special.
Visit Yell Practice, Muster, Silver Taps
ffldthe hallway in the MSC filled with Aggie
MedalofHonor plaques, and you will know
is something wonderful and different
about A&M, without forcing students to ac-
ceptrhetoric that says Ivy League schools are
bydefinition better.
Time and again, Gates has proven a
complete lack of understanding for Aggie
traditions. In a May 2004 article in Texas
Monthly, Gates said, “If, after 127 years, the
loyalty and love that Aggies so demonstrably
feeltoward their institution depends on resist-
ingchange that is necessary for the University
totakeits place among the nation’s best... it’s
»rable to ask whether traditions are worth
it after all.”
With that kind of attitude, is it any wonder
that he has failed to return Bonfire to campus?
The cry that “Old Army” Aggies are merely
resisting change, as they did when women
were first admitted, simply doesn’t apply
here. The changes Aggies resist are ones that
threaten our individuality by homogenizing
our school to fit a bland Ivy League ideal.
Aggie traditions — practices such as say
ing “Howdy” and building and burning Bon
fire — stand for higher values. Bonfire allows
the school to come together in hard work,
laughter and brotherhood. “Howdy” repre
sents a friendliness that the South is famous
for. These traditions aren’t just silly habits.
Yet Aggies have had to stand silently by as
Gates slowly sells off Aggieland in favor of
his own vision.
Gates also said improvement in diversity
recruiting was the primary objective for the
2003-04 school year. Once again, Gates has
an ignorant vision of what it means to be an
Aggie. Simply put, if anyone — of any race,
philosophy or background — wants to come
to A&M and can prove he is academically
worthy. Aggies should throw open their doors
and welcome him as a brother. Forcing certain
backgrounds and cultures into the student
population does little to help Aggies learn
about different experiences because every
person has a different experience from which
he can celebrate and share, regardless of his
skin color.
When it comes down to it, Gates presents
an antithetical vision to what most of us were
correctly taught as children: While you should
care about other people, you shouldn’t live
your life for their approval, but rather ac
cording to what is right for you. Life isn’t a
popularity contest, but often a contest be
tween right and wrong, between values and
conformity. Gates only sees an opportunity to
make this University conform to schools he
believes are better.
No one can deny that A&M will always
have change. It’s part of life. But if those
changes distort or destroy the Aggie spirit,
they must be opposed with the strength and
determination of Aggie reputation.
Mike Walters is a senior
psychology major.
Chris Griffin • THE BATTALION
Americans without health insurance isn’t a looming issue
JOSHUA
DWYER
I n all the political rhetoric in this election
year, one domestic issue that seems to get a
lot of coverage is the supposed catastrophe in
the health care system, specifically the number
of people without health insurance. Democrats
and Republicans have proposed several alterna
tives to improve health care, from tweaking
or reforming the current system to replacing it
completely with a taxpayer-funded universal
coverage system.
But before Americans allow the govern
ment to encroach upon their personal rights and
responsibilities, some facts should be discussed
about the current health care system. There is no crisis of uninsured,
and the problems that do exist are largely due to state and federal poli
cies that plague the system.
According to the Census Bureau, there are 44.9 million Americans
who lack health insurance. This translates to 15.6 percent of the popu-
i,the same as in 1996. What most media reports left out was that
more people have health insurance today than ever before.
One significant problem with the 44.9 million uninsured is how the
Census Bureau got the information. In its survey, the Bureau records
bow many people did not have insurance at any time in the previous
year. That means someone who changed jobs and had a temporary
Lecture lapse in insurance is treated the same as someone who couldn’t afford
t program > insurance all year long. According to the Pacific Research Institute, a
ool year C public policy research organization, “three-quarters of the uninsured
at 7 p,m.i remain so for less than a year.”
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Also, the Census Bureau appears to have trouble counting the num
ber of people on Medicaid who don’t qualify as uninsured. According
id! lotheBureau, 35 million people used Medicaid in 2003. However,
ihe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that 53 million
received Medicaid assistance. This means the Census
Bureau is counting people with Medicaid as uninsured, which creates
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an inaccurate picture of the situation.
A common misconception is that people without health insurance
lack health care. Even without considering community health clinics
and charities, this is not the case. According to
the National Center for Policy Analysis, there
are more than 40 federal health care programs
to help people in need, and as many as 14
million people who qualify have not enrolled
in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health
Insurance Programs. Furthermore, it is against
the law for hospitals to refuse emergency
treatment to anyone, regardless of insurance
status or ability to pay. As long as there is free
health care, one can expect there will always
be some people who are uninsured.
According to Sally Pipes, CEO of Pacific
Research Institute, doctors spend an aver
age of three hours per week treating patients
for free, and hospitals contribute $21 billion
worth of services to those who can’t pay. In
fact, Pipes states that uninsured patients of hospitals only pay 9 percent
of what their treatinent costs.
Even if the Census report were accurate, there are some people who
don’t want or need health insurance. According to Investor’s Business
Daily, one out of three uninsured individuals has a household income
of $50,000, and one in seven has a household income of $75,000 or
more. Surprisingly, more people in this income range are losing or
refusing insurance than those who make less. Half of the uninsured are
under 35, and half of those are under 24. Twenty percent of uninsured
workers offered group insurance declined it. In many cases, these are
people who don’t want health insurance because they would rather
spend their money on other things, or they don’t believe they will be
sick often enough to justify the expense.
Ironically, some of the high cost of health insurance can be at-
Reducing the number of
uninsured Americans in a goal
that can be accomplished by
not penalizing employees
who want to pay for private
insurance...
tributed to bad policies that state and federal governments force on
insurance providers and employers. One such policy that should be re
viewed is compelling insurance companies to cover certain treatments
or conditions. Not all of these mandates are
bad, but one study found that premiums rose
by 13 percent, partly because of one-size-
fits-all mandates, such as requiring men to
pay for insurance that included breast cancer
treatments, or forcing women’s insurance to
cover prostate exams. The Health Insurance
Association of America stated that these
policies could have caused 10 million people
not to have health insurance, many being
employees of small businesses.
Most would agree that citizens have a
moral obligation to help those in need, es
pecially when they get sick. Expanding out
dated government programs that encourage
people to remain uninsured and preserving
inefficient and impractical policies should
not be the solution. A universal coverage system that forces taxpayers
to pay for the health care of alcoholics, smokers and other people who
don’t want to take care of themselves is not the answer either.
Reducing the number of uninsured Americans is a goal that can be
accomplished by not penalizing employees who want to pay for pri
vate insurance and by offering tax credits to individuals and families.
Common sense suggests that this should be attempted before citizens
cede more of their rights to the government.
Joshua Dwyer is a junior
political science major.
MAIL^CALL
‘Customers’ should never
adapt to TS’s needs
In response to Jimmy Hissong’s Sept. 28
feature:
I may not be a business major, but I do think there
is something fundamental wrong with the position Rod
Weis takes in regard to his “customers." Weis states that
It's important for the customers of Transportation Ser
vices to understand the challenges we face."
)w I am a customer of many establishments in the
Bryan-College Station area. I get my cable from Cox, I eat
W at Taco C and I make midnight runs to Wal-Mart. The
lunny thing is that I cannot recall any one of these entities
over asking me to understand THEIR challenges and in
feet, more times than not, they are asking me questions
fe better understand MY challenges. Maybe that’s why I
^eep doing business with these places and can't wait for
fee day when I never have to deal with TS again!
Mark McSpadden II
Class of 2004
TS charges for services
that students can’t use
Mr. Weis claims the students at Texas A&M need
to understand him, instead of complaining about
his policies as director of Transportation Services.
Mr. Weis doesn’t realize that for students to be
able to understand him, first he must explain to
us what in the ever loving heck his policies are.
The bus system when I first came to A&M was
probably the quickest method of getting around
on campus. Now, it's faster for me to walk from
my class at the Chemistry Building to Wehner than
try to catch a bus, especially during the middle of
the day. The buses are crowded, overworked and
worthless to me now.
TS is the only business I’ve ever heard of that
charges you for its services, and then refuses to
give them to you. If I thought it’d make any differ
ence, I'd call up the Better Business Bureau.
James Ripps
Class of 2006
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