The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 68, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 8, 1989 Page: 2 of 8
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ommentaiy
Cheap and easy
Amnesty test saves money
Under the 1986 immigration law, applicants for
amnesty had to show an understanding of American
history and English to become permanent U.S.
residents. Now there is a much easier and less
expensive way of accomplishing the same goal.
Until recently, to meet the educational requirements
for residency, applicants had to complete immigration
and naturalization service-approved classes such as
those offered by the Dallas school district.
As of last week, applicants were given the oppor-
tunity to take a newly devised standardized exam to
fulfill their educational requirements. The test was
developed by the Educational Testing Service, the
same corporation that administers the SAT college
entrace exam.
The test for residency includes 20 multiple-choice
questions and a writing exercise. An applicant must
correctly answer a minimum of 12 questions to pass.
The questions may ask such things as: A pres-
ident is elected every how many years? And: When
the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United
States entered what war?
Field tests in Texas, California and New York
showed that 70 percent of the 455 legalization
Lobbying for the future
applicants passed the exam with little training.
Those who do not pass may retake the test at
each available session. They also have the opportunity
to take the test the following month, if not at the
next session, and they will be given a guide to help
them study.
A residency test seems preferable over taking
classes for a number of reasons. First, the test is
administered by public service agencies and is
therefore cheaper than the classes.
Since most of the immigrants will meet the re-
quirements for permanent residency whether they take
the classes or the test, it seems logical that the test
would be the quicker and more appropriate means
of gaining residency.
The fact that 70 percent of the applicants can pass
the test with little or no training indicates that the
educational phase (be it classes or the exam) of the
amnesty program serves only as a formality.
The INS should do away with the test and simply
grant residency to immigrants if the test is not going
to be a challenge to those who take it, however. If a
test is going to be administered, it should have some
substance to it, and not be just a “speed bump'
on the road to acquiring pemanent residency.
NTO incorporates students
The idea of a group on campus set up specifically
to lobby comes at a tune when representation for
higher education is needed most. The group, to be
called North Texas Organization, would give NT
lobbyists an opportunity to officially represent
students’ interests across the state.
As proposed, NTO would be a branch of the
Student Association funded for the first year as a
line-item from the SA budget. It it is approved by
the Student Service Fee Committee this semester, it
could become an official organization by the fall
semester of 1989.
SA President Will Hehxon said Monday that the
organization would be open to any student who was
interested in lobbying, as long as they met minimum
grade and course load requirements.
“Those who are really interested in lobbying
would,” he said.
It is admirable that SA plans to give all students
interested in the organization a chance to lobby.
However, to ensure accountability of the lobbyists
to the students, they should be elected by those they
they will claim to represent.
Just as prospective SA representatives and officers
campaign by using a platform of beliefs and goals,
so should NT student lobbyists. In this way the
students would have a better understanding of w'hat
the candidates w anted to accomplish and could speak
Distressed institutions
as a collective voice by voting for those whose
objectives were the closest to their own.
In addition, an adviser from the political science
department could be incorporated into the program
so that the novice lobbyists would have some pro-
fessional guidance. The adviser would not mandate
their efforts, but would instead make suggestions
about politicking and tactics that are helpful in
persuading legislators. Preferably, this would be a
faculty member whose specialty was local politics.
Helixon said NTO would probably travel to
Austin at least once a week during the legislative
sessions. During the off years, since the Texas
Legislature meets biennially except when special
sessions are called, NTO would work to inform state
representatives about the continuing needs of NT.
Helixon said they would also monitor local political
affairs by attending council meetings and other
government functions.
As an emerging research institution, NT needs to
increase its effectiveness in all areas, including
higher education representation. Who better to
represent students' need than students themselves?
The SA proposal is an excellent way to represent
the university and also give students experience in
governmental politics. Used correctly, it could become
a valuable teaching device and an influential power
in Austin.
Clients deserve dignity
Alarming statistics indicate that little is being done
to combat physical and verbal abuse at state mental
facilities in Texas.
Cases of abuse and neglect at Texas hospitals and
centers increased 59 percent in 1988. According to
the Texas Board of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation, the number of abuse cases in Texas
has increased from 325 in 1987 to 519 in 1988.
Patients’ families invest their money and trust in
state care facilities expecting their loved ones to be
safe. Their improvement should be the only concern,
not the possibility of abuse and neglect.
Ignorance of proper medical care allegedly con-
tributed to the deaths of 16 clients at the Denton
State School between September 1987 and July 1988.
Better monitoring of patients or a more caring staff
could have prevented such senseless deaths. Not
enough time is being taken to educate the employees
of patients' needs.
The state agency is targeting abuse by reinforcing
the growing workforce’s training to identify physical
and verbal abuse.
Only training can ensure that the staff recognizes,
“I’m going to hit you if you don’t ...” as verbal
abuse. Cursing or threatening clients is considered
verbal abuse.
Some of the increase in abuse and neglect can be
attributed to a 13 percent increase in employees over
a short period of time. This sudden employee increase
has not allowed enough time to successfully train
the new workforce.
Given the rapid training of the grow ing workforce,
increasing abuse and neglect is an inevitable factor.
Lana Norwood, coordinator of client abuse in
Austin, said increased training includes a more intense
focus on staff and clients, new video tapes and
manuals, and more specified definitions of abuse.
However, many mental health workers are not allowed
enough time to successfully learn the material.
State agency actions have also been taken to
broaden the def inition of neglect and abuse to include
any failure to follow an individual's treatment plan.
The result of this action is a more thorough job of
identifying and reporting any incidents of abuse.
The efforts are admirable but still not enough.
When statistics show that 34 percent of the abusive
employees are young males with little experience, it
is obvious that increased emphasis must be placed
on standards of employment and continual training.
More action must be taken against abusive em-
ployees. Upgrading procedures and qualifications are
not only necessary, but manditory, for treating clients
with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
The North Texas Daily
72nd Year
University of North Texas
Southwestern Journalism Congress
Denton, Texas
NATIONAL PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
REGIONAL PACEMAKER 1 TIME
ALL-AMERICAN 80 TIMES
The North Texas Daily, student newspaper of the
University of North Texas, is published Tuesday through
Friday during the fall and spring semesters and is
published weekly during the summer sessions The Daily
is not published during review and examination periods
The Daily a non-profit newspaper, provides information,
commentary, and entertainment for the NT community.
HEIDI KUKIS, editor
WENDE ZOMNIR, advertising manager
It serves as a laboratory experience for reporting, writing,
editing, advertising and photography students in the
journalism department. Students receive grades ac-
cording to the quality of work performed for The Daily.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE—$17 00 annually or $8 00 per
long semester and $4 00 per summer session
The North Texas Daily
Page 2
Wednesday, February 8, 1989
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Raise invokes bad feelings
So, members of Congress are in line
to get a 50 percent pay raise without
having to stand up and be counted as
to how they feel about sticking the
taxpayers for more bucks.
What a gig. These guys and gals have
jobs most of us can only dream about.
Here is a U.S. senator or represen-
tative asking for a raise:
"My paltry $89,500 annual paycheck
sure is small. It’s hard to squeeze by
on such a little amount, so I think I'll
ask for a raise. What’s a good, round
figure? / think 50 percent is good. It
sure will make accounting easy."
Here is a normal worker asking for
a raise.
"Mr. Boss, my kid is going to need
money for college in a few years and I
was hoping I could get a 4 percent
raise to keep up with the cost o) in-
flation / think we could afford it if she
worked while she was there and maybe
got a loan."
It is this kind of political mentality
that has caused our staggering national
deficit.
As it stands now, members of Con-
gress are paid nearly $90,000 in base
salary. They arc also allowed to earn
an additional $35,800 for speaking
engagements, consultations and writing.
If the pay raise goes through, con-
gressional members will earn almost
$126,(XX) a year and will not be able
to get the additional $35,800 honor-
ariums.
Brian
* t Boney
Some Congress members have said
the pay raise is necessary to make sure
legislators “are responsible to one
master: the American people.”
There is nothing wrong with them
earning extra money for speaking en-
gagements. They are getting a huge
amount of additional money, enough
to "squeak by," and taxpayers arc
not having to pay for it.
How many people at one time in their
lives have had to take on extra duties
to help themselves financially? 1 have
and 1 know many others who have as
well.
Members of Congress have limits on
how much extra money they can earn,
so the chance of congressmen returning
favors to the groups that pay them to
consult or lecture is small
The part of this quagmire that stinks
the most is the state of national affairs
Wc have a huge national deficit, a
devastated savings and loan industry and
unsafe nuclear plants. We have people
living on our streets and in our alleys,
we have streams and rivers that are so
polluted that people can’t swim in them,
and we have people unable to afford a
decent education.
Congress has failed to resolve any
of these problems, and now they want
a raise?
Employees should be cut it i led to a
raise if they consistently do their jobs
w'ell. Our highly paid employees have
only done one thing consistent)’ well:
bicker about what local pet projects their
constituents will get so they can keep
their cushy congressional jobs.
According to Congress, there is not
enough money to have things like decent
education, a strong military, or national
health insurance, but there is plenty of
money for them to have a six-figure
salary.
Having these people feel the financial
pressure most of us have to deal w ith
on a monthly basis might just make them
think twice when they are throwing
away billions of dollars of our money
Instead, they are taking the gutless
approach. They will pass partisan reso-
lutions saying their parties are against
the pay raise. The citizens of this coun
try will cry out against the raise for a
while, bul they will soon accept the fact
the government is bleeding them and
only a few grumblings wall be heard
That w ill last until the next election
Then Congress members will do what
they do best: Get up in front of huge
crowds and point the finger at someone
else for this indecent pay raise and say
that they were against it from the be
ginning
This is the kind of government we
will wind up paying for.
Readers’ Talk
Eighties woman has
mixed emotions
AFTER READING KIM
MOORE’S COLUMN about the
merits of being single, I was filled
with mixed thoughts. While I
congratulate her on her new-found
self esteem due to her marital status
(or lack of one), 1 can only wonder
at the fact that this concept is so
new to her.
Where did Ms. Moore come
from, the Middle Ages or perhaps
east Texas? The idea that a
woman’s true purpose in life is to
get married has long since been
outdated. She claims that society's
message, the importance of coupling
off, was coming at her from every
direction.
What has she been listening to?
I’m a “woman of the ’80s” and
the message I heard all my life was
wait to marry until I could handle
life on my own quite well Couples
in high school who were together
too long were looked down upon
for being so serious, and the
greatest mistake a girl could make
was to fall in love and get married
before she had a college education.
Ms. Moore also poses the ques-
tion, "Who could imagine being
24 years old and single .’'' I hate
to shock her, but if she textk a poll
among females on this campus, she
would probably find that most
women plan to marry in about It)
years, or approximately at the age
of 30. I don’t have any trouble
conceiving the idea of being single
when I graduate from college.
Ms. Moore’s techniques for at-
tracting members of the opposite sex
nauseated the rest of us as well as
herself.
Being true to oneself takes
priority over being true to a guy
you haven’t even met yet. I’m glad
the columnist has been enlightened
by a concerned friend and a
magazine article.
Way to go, Kim. You've just
joined the rest of the ladies at NT
who are here to get an education
and a career — not a husband.
I feel confident that the person
you will find inside yourself will
be far superior to the one you were
trying to be before.
And when you get lonely, as we
all do. remember that's what friends
are for. Don’t let your new freedom
turn you into a self-centered fem-
inist. It's all right to go gaga over
a great looking member of the male
species.
Or better yet. start looking at men
for their inside qualities just as you
would like them to do tor you. And
when you impress a guy, you’ll
know that he appreciates you for
yourself and not for whoever you
were pretending to be.
Denise McGill
Dallas freshman
Havoc wreakers want
their seats back
WE AS A GROUP of faithful
NT' basketball fans have finally been
pushed too far. For the last two
seasons and the first four home
games this year we have occupied
the same seats
Those scats just happen to be
behind the opposing team's bench.
We have "discreetly” shown our
support. Not only do we show tre-
mendous enthusiasm for our Eagles,
we wreak havoc on the opposing
teams’ starters and bench The
motive behind our constant abuse
of the opposing team is to establish
a home court advantage.
Unfortunately before our opening
conference game, we were informed
that our seats were reserved for the
"over abundant” number of sea-
son ticket holders By the way.
these seats during the game were
occupied by the Southwest Texas
State University ladies' basketball
team, who we arc almost certain did
not possess season tickets.
We hope that in the near future
the Super Pit will be filled to capa-
city, at which time we will be more
than happy to hang from the rafters
But until then, our group of 15-20
students would appreciate being
allowed to continue supporting the
NT basketball team behind our op-
ponent's bench
The efforts of this university to
promote NT athletes is in turn
driving off some very loyal fans
Justin Northrop
Bell Plaine, Iowa, junior
Greg Martin
Abilene senior
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The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 68, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 8, 1989, newspaper, February 8, 1989; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth723221/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.