University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, April 16, 1993 Page: 3 of 8
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University Press
Lamar University
Editorial
Friday, April 16, 1993
Page 3
Dear Students:
First I would like to take
this opportunity to thank
everyone for the privilege of
serving as president of student
government and to say that,
even though many challenges
still face SGA, I have the
utmost confidence in Eric
Boutte, with the help and
input of the student body, to
tackle these problems head
on. So I challenge everyone to
offer their opinions and wish
Eric the best of luck!
That being said, I turn my
attention to the fee increases
passed at last Thursday’s
(April 8) board of regents
meeting. After much delibera-
tion with the executive coun-
cil of our campus and with
SGA, Interim President
Brentlinger recommended to
the board that our general use
fee be increased from $10 to
$12 with the cap remaining at
$150. This was the smallest
increase possible to maintain
our current levels and still off-
set the anticipated drop in
enrollment due to increased
admission standards.
However, the board perceived
this differently. They felt the
cap should be raised to $180,
as they did with the Port
Arthur and Orange campus-
es, to solve all of our prob-
lems.
I would like to acknowl-
edge and thank Dr.
Brentlinger, Dr. Sethna and
the rest of our campus admin-
istration for looking past
Lamar’s pocketbook and to
the morale of the campus for
solutions. They should be rec-
ognized for seeing the value of
trust, confidence and good will
as integral parts of a campus’s
health and future.
With Cardinal Pride,
Rob Whitmarsh
1992-93 SGA president
Lake Jackson senior
Symbolic ribbons draw attention, not action
Why, I wondered, was Denzel
Washington wearing a purple ribbon
on his lapel at the Academy Awards?
Just about everyone else at the gala
was wearing a red ribbon, which
about everyone who has ever seen a
Hollywood awards show or a Jerry
Brown campaign rally knows is a
politically correct symbol for AIDS
awareness.
But, what’s the deal with the pur-
ple ribbon? Did Washington, nomi-
nated for his starring role in Spike
Lee’s “Malcolm X,” arrive late at
the ribbon store? Were all the reds
sold out? Was he protesting the way
the Oscars passed over “The Color
Purple”? Was it a black thing? Was it
a hip-hop thing? Was it a Denzel
thing? What’s up?
A call to that fount of all autho-
rized wisdom about Denzel
Washington, his press agent, cleared
up the mystery. The purple ribbon
is for “urban violence,” I was told.
Soon I received by return fax a copy
of a letter from actor Sheryl Lee
Ralph and Robert L. Johnson, presi-
dent of the Black Entertainment
Television cable TV network.
Better known for comedy, Ms.
Ralph was dead serious as she sug-
gested everyone wear purple rib-
bons, the color of royalty and mourn-
ing, in recognition of how homicide
has become a leading killer of urban
children.
The ribbons, she hopes, will help
bring awareness to “young people
who died in the cross fire of self-
hatred. Young men who died
because no one loved them like their
gang. Children who saw no sense in
the long climb up the ladder of suc-
cess but accepted the short-term
high of street corner drug sales.”
In a postscript, Bob Johnson
adds, “The red ribbon worn by
entertainers on television award
shows has been effectively used to
dramatize the fight against AIDS.
“As African-Americans, we can
effectively use this purple ribbon to
draw national attention to an equally
dreadful epidemic, the epidemic of
violence that is decimating our
younger generation. This is the least
we can do.”
Yet, another ribbon? Well, why
not? We Americans are almost
unique in having not just the free-
dom to speak out but also a national
sense of obligation to use it, whether
by bumper stickers, lapel pins, T-
shirts, word-of-mouth or ribbons.
It began with yellow ribbons for
Americans held hostage in Iran dur-
ing President Carter’s last days.
Inspired by Tony Orlando’s sappy
1970s hit song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon
Round the Old Oak Tree,” they
emerged again during the Bush years
as a show of support for troops in the
Persian Gulf. Soon red ribbons sym-
bolizing AIDS awareness made their
first big appearance on the chests of
presenters at the 1991 Tony awards.
Then advocates of breast cancer
research and prevention adopted
pink ribbons to promote their cause.
And, of course, none of this
should be confused with the red rib-
bons that Mothers Against Drunk
Drivers have for years encouraged
drivers to tie around their car anten-
nas during the holiday season.
MADD had ribbons when ribbons
weren’t cool or, at least, not this cool.
So, why not purple ribbons? Like
others, it can get people talking and
maybe they’ll do some good. It was
quite too little talking, after all, that
led to apathy, disinvestment, unem-
ployment, benign neglect, social
alienation and all the other root caus-
es of urban violence today. Perhaps
purple ribbons can, at least, reverse
that trend by getting people to talk
about it It worked for me (and this
column), anyway.
But, Bob Johnson is right.
Wearing a ribbon and talking is the
least we can do. We need action. I
can’t think of a better place for
Hollywood’s elite to start than close
to home. If they really want to do
something about urban violence,
they can begin by putting their
money where their ribbons are:
Refuse to participate, traffic or profit
in films, tapes or CDs that contain
excessively violent scenes or lyrics.
Eighty percent of Americans are
deeply troubled by violence in enter-
tainment and think it harms society,
according to a Times Mirror poll
released last month. Another poll,
taken by the Los Angeles Times,
found 71 percent favor a TV violence
rating system similar to the codes
used on movies, tapes and CDs.
Responsible industry leaders are
looking for answers.
Time runs out in December on a
three-year exemption from antitrust
laws that Congress granted to the
television networks so they could
work together on the issue of vio-
lence. Significantly, the legislation
was initiated after Sen. Paul Simon
turned on a television in a rural
Illinois county and saw a woman
being attacked by a chainsaw. Like
the good senator, a former newspaper
editor, I oppose censorship. What we
need is responsible editing.
The industry has found ways in
recent years to tone down or elimi-
nate the casual use of tobacco, drugs
and alcohol in its creative works.
Perhaps now, as Sheryl Lee Ralph’s
open letter suggests, quoting a 1977
Marvin Gaye hit, “What’s Going
On,” the industry can help “find a
way to bring some loving here
today.”
Letters to the Editor
Editor;
Discriminate (verb): To act on
the basis of prejudice.
Prejudice (noun): A strong feel-
ing for or against something formed
before one knows the facts; bias.
I’ve begun this response to
Phillip Laird’s April 2 reply to my
letter printed March 26 with these
definitions because Mr. Laird obvi-
ously assumes that we don’t know
meanings of these words since he
instructs us to use our dictionary for
a definition. Mr. Laird, your
response to my letter is an excellent
example of the ignorance of some
members of our society today, and
I’d like to address some of its points.
Many of the problems in our
society stem from an assumption
that it is acceptable for one to push
what he or she thinks is right and
wrong on the rest of society. As long
as actions of another person don’t
hurt you or anyone else, then you
have no right to try to impose your
system of morals on that other per-
son. When you say in your letter that
sleeping with someone of your own
sex is wrong, it may very well be
wrong for you. But that does not
mean it'Ms wrong for me. Just
because your conscience tells you
something is wrong for you does not
tfnean it is wrong for everyone else.
What is wrong is for you to perse-
cute another person simply because
you believe that which is wrong for
you is also wrong for him or her,
especially when what he or she is
doing doesn’t hurt you in the least.
Adolf Hitler thought that 6 million
Jewish people were wrong, so he
tortured and murdered them. The
Catholic church during the time of
the Inquisition thought people were
wrong not to become Catholic, so
they were tortured and killed.
Homophobes who are persecuting
gay men and women either physical-
ly or verbally only because they
think being gay is wrong can count
themselves in fairly despicable com-
pany.
In your letter, you made a com-
ment about gay-bashing and dis-
s*
the same thing. I agree with you that
gay-bashing is a hate crime. And,
yes, hate crimes in some states are
given a special classification under
the law with a tougher punishment,
which I think is a good thing. This
may deter someone from maiming
or killing a person just because that
person happens to have been born
different. In your letter, however,
you state that gay-bashing is “not a
discrimination.” Well, Mr. Laird, as
you can see, according to the
American Heritage dictionary
definiton that I’ve included, gay-
bashing is a direct result of discrimi-
nation. Unfortunately for gay people
today, some acts based on prejudice
include beating, maiming and
killing. Because of discrimination
based on prejudice, gay men and
women must deal with a type of
physical and/or verbal abuse termed
bashing. So you see, Mr. Laird,
whenever a person is “bashed,”
whether physically or verbally,
because of his or her sexual orienta-
tion, he or she has been discriminat-
ed against.
You seem to have missed the
point I was making in my letter
about the responsible use of the
right to free speech. While I com-
pletely believe in the rights of
Lamar University’s faculty and staff
to free speech, I would expect the
faculty and staff, as the university’s
representative, and role models for
its students, to show a more tolerant,
enlightened and less hate-inspired
way of thinking. The student body
here at Lamar is diverse, and an
atmosphere tolerant to that diversity
should be promoted by the faculty
and staff. Also, we students are pay-
ing their salary, and I don’t think gay
students want to pay for verbal
abuse.
I may be writing this letter to the
editor of this paper, Mr. Laird, but I
am writing it for the students, facul-
ty and staff of the university who
have not yet closed their minds, or
been blinded by hatred. I’m hoping
that these people can see how dis-
crimination, persecution and violent
verbal or physical abuse against any-
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is wrong. You may not agree with my
sexual orientation, and it may be
wrong for you; but you must under-
stand that it is not wrong for every-
one else in the world only because it
is wrong for you. Homosexuality is
an absolutely normal state of being.
It may not be right for you, but just
because it isn’t doesn’t make it
wrong, and certainly doesn’t give
you any right to hurt those for whom
it is right If we could all learn to live
and let live, the world would be a
much better place.
Robert Moreau Jr.
Lamar student
Editor:
I would like to resond to “Lamar
student experiences discrimination"
in your March 26 issue. I am more
than a little tired of people thinking
that people who believe in God
should accept the immoral and
repulsive acts of those who arc “dif-
ferent" (as he referred to himself in
the article). Why should we? I am
thankful for a school which, accord-
ing to the LU general catalog (p. 23),
“recognizes its commitment to the
emotional and physical well-being of
its students, faculty and staff.” Too
many times the people who are “dif-
ferent” think that everyone should
be committed to their well-being
alone but should forget the well-
being of those who are not “differ-
ent.” Well, I want those people to
know that my emotional well-being
is injured when I have to see things
that promote wrongful acts, accord-
ing to God. Homosexual acts are
described by God in Romans 1:24-
32. Due to lack of space, only part is
quoted, “For this cause God gave
them up unto vile affections: for
even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against
nature: And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one
toward another: men with men
working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recom-
pense of their error .... Who knowing
judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of
death.” And in Leviticus 20:13, God
says that homosexuals “have com-
mitted an abomination: they shall
surely be put to death.” He goes on
to tell us that we are not to walk with
them that commit these things.
God feels that strongly against
homosexuals, so why should we,
whether student or faculty, have to
be subjected to the advertisement
(HOPE) of such repulsive acts? It
absolutely turns my stomach, and
then I have to go and sit in a class
feeling so nauseousl
Kathleen McGalin
Lamar student
Editor:
Yesterday I drove the full length
of the student parking area next to
the Montagne Center. After emerg-
ing from a pothole only slightly
smaller than a buffalo wallow, I sud-
denly remembered something from
last fall. At that time I was told that
parking fees had been increased
nearly 75 percent, from $15 to $26,
for the sole purpose of repairing that
very parking lot It seemed a reason-
able thing to do, since visitors to the
Montagne Center often see nothing
else of the campus. Improving the
parking area would improve the uni-
versity’s image.
In light of recent revelations, I
wonder if our extra fees are drawing
interest in a narking construction
account, or fueling some question-
able enterprise. Three candidates
come to mind. The John Gray
Institute, our neighborhood low-
octane think tank, seems to be living
beyond its means. If that option is
eliminated, there is always “the sys-
tem,” science’s only example of an
epiphenomenon that consumes
resources. Or. perhaps, we were per-
mitted to fund the recent journey of
our local Revolutionary Council of
Mullahs into the hills tp meditate.
Maybe we won’t get any better
answer than the state Legislature
did, but it’s still worth asking the
question.
Thomas Reid
Lamar student
Editor:
Before the spring semester slips
away, I want to express my apprecia-
tion and respect for two campus
groups which have acquitted them-
selves well during the past difficult
year.
The first of these groups is the
LU Press staff itself. Through news
articles and editorials the Press has
consistently proven itself alert,
resourceful and intelligent. You have
functioned effectively as a news pre-
senter and a source of comment.
Thanks and congratulations to youl
The second group is Lamar’s stu-
dent body and its leaders. I know of
no time in my 20 years at this insti-
tution when Lamar’s students have
demonstrated more powerfully their
intelligence, courage and commit-
ment to improving the institution.
The Student Government
Association maintained its indepen-
dence, conducted its own inquiry,
and made its own decisions. It was
nobody’s lackey. The fact that its
interpretation of events was general-
ly consistent with that of alumni,
faculty, staff and administrators sim-
ply testifies to the glaring nature of
those administrative ills that we are
perhaps at present beginning to
address successfully.
Congratulations, then, to both of
these groups in the roles that they
have played in the events of the past
year. Of the many things about
Lamar in which we can justly take
pride, its student body and leaders
and its press are certainly high on
the list
Tim Summerlin
English and foreign languages
Editor:
I feel I must speak out on what I
see to be a problem on our campus.
As a woman in the field of engineer-
ing, it is sometimes suggested that I
will find employment, scholarship
money, and even good grades more
easily than a male student. This is
quite an insult. I feel I have worked
hard to be where I am, and my suc-
cess has NOTHING to do with being
female.
Last semester, I participated in
the selection process for an honor
society. I was appalled when one
adviser suggested that the criteria be
lowered to allow a Hispanic student
to join. I felt the adviser insulted the
student in question by implying that
Hispanic people were not smart
enough to be selected by their own
merit.
This bothered me.
I have been made avyare that stu-
dents of non-white races have
received academic scholarships
denied to white students with higher
SAT scores. Is this equality? I write
these things with no malice. Without
scholarships, I wouldn’t be here
either.
I just hate thinking that there are
people out there who “feel sorry” for
women (or blacks or Hispanics) and
then degrade the whole group by pro-
moting lower standards for some. It
insults those of us who DO work hard
to be successful.
I was greatly inspired by a man I
worked with this summer. He is a
division manager in a well-known
chemical company who worked his
way up from third-shift janitor. He
does his job well and expects the
same quality of work from every
member of his staff. He is black, but I
was not constantly reminded of that
fact while working with him. I have
great respect for this man, and I hope
to hold the same personal standard
and attitude in my career that he has
in his.
Donna Hughes
Friendswood senior
I
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Bankston, Mark. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, April 16, 1993, newspaper, April 16, 1993; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499948/m1/3/?q=music: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.