Memory Lane, Pt.2

Speaking of Lobbyists...

From The Auburn Plainsman, circa 1996

Bo Jackson was the first one I saw. You know, those diamond-shaped plaques in the sidewalk at Toomer's Corner? It was the beginning of our own little Walk of Fame, like getting one of those stars in Hollywood.

I could already see the next square hole being cut out in front of Toomer's Drugs. Who's diamond would it be?

Whenever someone asks you about Auburn University, talk almost always turns to Bo Jackson and Charles Barkley. Or coach Bowden, Pat Dye or Shug Jordan. But standing there in front of Big Beat Records, I couldn't think of who our stars would be, other than our athletes.

I can name a few now. Victoria Jackson, of Saturday Night Live fame, is a former Auburn student. Ken Mattingly, played by Gary Sinise in Apollo 13, is one of many Auburn astronauts.

Everyone in the country knows than an athlete from Auburn is going to be world class. Auburn football is "the pipeline to the NFL," and our women's basketball players and swimmers are tops. But what about a student from Auburn?

The better your school's reputation, the better your chances of getting a good job. Who wouldn't want a degree from Harvard or Yale? The only way to make sure a degree from Auburn University matter[s] is to turn out Charles Barkleys and Bo Jacksons in academics. And the only way to turn them out is to bring them in. This is where Auburn is fighting a losing battle.

Did you know that Auburn's freshmen class has higher ACTs, SATs and GPAs than the University of Alabama's? It's true. But year after year, Bama attracts more of the very best students than we do. Why? One word: Money.

Think about these numbers. Auburn has 4,000 more students than Alabama. But when it comes to recruiting National Merit Scholars, Bama beat Auburn 44-22 last year. That's not good.

When top students go to college, they usually join honors programs. But Auburn's honors program only gets half the funding per student that Bama's gets, and only about one dollar in three that goes for each honors student at the University of South Carolina. Another statistic to think about: at the University of Alabama, 80 percent of honors students are on scholarship; at South Carolina the figure is 85 percent. The University of Georgia has twice the percentage of honors students that Auburn does (1,100 versus 464), and every one of them has a scholarship. Only a third of Auburn honors students get scholarships. We must do better.

Author's note: From 1995 to 2005, Auburn ranked 77th in the number of National Merit Scholar Finalists, averaging 28 per year. Alabama? 52nd, at 44 per year.

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Personal Best

From The Auburn Plainsman, circa April/May 1993.

People just don't have an ounce of sense these days.

We live in a world of fetus-waving, Trade Center-bombing, tree-hugging, Waco-compounding, ethnic cleansing, holier-than-thou nuts.

That's the conclusion you would come to, watching television and reading newspapers nowadays.

The press, always hungry for a good soundbite, tend to cover only the most gaudy and sensationalistic stories.

What makes this so dangerous is there are a lot of people who get their ideas from the media.

Anyone who opposes abortion must want to kill the doctors performing abortions, they think.

On the other hand, people who support abortion rights must hate babies.

In this country we are fostering a culture of hatred and sterotypes, and many good people are getting hurt because of it. I recently met one such person.

Roger (not his real name) teaches classes here at Auburn. He was one of the many people who read James Foster's column, "If homosexuals behaved with dignity, people would respect them," in this paper last week.

Earlier this week, Roger sent a letter to The Auburn Plainsman responding to Foster's column. It was not published because he requested his name not be given with the letter, which is against this paper's policy.

I was touched by what he wrote, and decided to seek him out. After some hesitation, he decided to talk to me.

Roger is a homosexual. Because of his position at Auburn, he doesn't want people to know of his sexual orientation. I asked him what it was like coming to grips with it.

"I've fought with myself for years to try to be 'normal', but it has just made me feel hopeless," he said.

He told me he grew up in an abusive atmosphere, and only found acceptance from other males. "At eleven years old I didn't know any better."

I was surprised he didn't sympathize with the gay rights marchers in Washington, D.C. Roger agreed with Foster that they showed little dignity.

"Mr. Foster was entirely justified in his opinion," he said. However, Roger thought it had nothing to do with homosexuality.

"Homosexual or straight, scenes like those should never be for public display," he said. "They should stay behind closed doors."

I started to get angry myself. Why did the press show the freaks, rather than the perfectly normal people who marched? The truth is we tend to have respect for anyone who acts with dignity, homosexual or not.

Sure, the weirdos make great pictures, but what stereotypes do they promote?

Since I don't know any homosexuals (at least I don't know if I do), I wondered what it was like dealing with people's prejudices. Roger found it particularly hard because he considers himself to be a conservative Christian. "I am definitely not homosexual by choice!" he said emphatically. "It was more like a process that led me to where I am." It made sense to me. I mean, does anyone decide their sexual orientation?

That was when I first started thinking about the harm we writers and reporters do by catering to the public's stereotypes. What wants to read a story about a normal gay guy?

But tell him to hold a whip and chains, and then maybe we'll listen to him.

And quote him.

Roger seemed to agree. "Not all homosexuals are queers who dress in leather and spank other people on national TV.

Many of us are just people trying to make it through life in peace with God, ourselves and others."

It's inexcusable the way we treat each other sometimes. Sure, the extremists yell louder and look weirder, but when we think and talk only about them, we reinforce the stereotypes.

Those stereotypes and the hatred that comes so easily from them are hurting people in our own community.

"The Auburn Family" can certainly treat its brothers and sisters better.

Author's note: This was the only column to get rejected (twice) by my editor, and the only one that I know to have made a personal difference in someone's life.