A recent article in the Houston Chronicle mentions Isabel Nart, who led a movement of change-craving college students in the 1970s as a vice president of the Texas Student Association. While at Lamar University in Beaumont, Nart and her peers rallied for student voting and dealt with the fallout from Vietnam. But one of the most controversial issues the group grappled with was obtaining special desks built for left-handed students, a proposal that faced great opposition. "People said it was frivolous," Nart told a reincarnation of the group on July 19.
The University, and the UT System Board of Regents, could learn a little about frivolity from the history of the TSA. The regents are set to convene in Austin on Thursday, and one of the items on their agenda is approving the University's proposal to name sections of Royal Stadium after mega-donors Red McCombs and Frank Denius. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the center of the stadium's new north end zone will be named the "Red Zone" in honor of McCombs, who has given more than $50 million to UT. The stadium's veterans' plaza will be deemed the Frank Denius Veterans Memorial Plaza, and will include a bronze statue of Denius, a World War II veteran.
When it comes to UT's donors, there's a gray area between honor and bombastic recognition. Our sports facilities are the largest and loudest vehicle for acknowledgment on campus, and evidently, the University has no reservations about going over the top to give the guys with the deepest of pockets a pat on the back. But what good is a patch of grass named for Red McCombs going to do for the University? In what way is the cheeky moniker "the red zone" a tribute to his generosity or the greater good of UT students?
Thirty years ago, the TSA aimed to give powerful voices to Texas students. But past its heyday, participation waned; the group has been out of commission for six years. This recent galvanization comes at a particularly poignant time for Texas students. We are faced with the staggering costs of an education and a buffet of pressing issues, none of which we can handle effectively if we remain silent and fragmented. The reinstatement of the TSA, if organized thoughtfully and successfully, could provide a valuable outlet for Texas' frustrated students, and prove to regent boards and administrations that the needs and concerns of a student body are more pressing - and impressive - than football stadium ornamentation.
Students, bonded together, have the right and responsibility to tell their university what matters. There's no place too small to start. At UT, we can start in the Red Zone, which seems to us far more frivolous than some left-handed desks.
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