Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1989)
The Battalion he Battalh or happy halls Yes, whether we like the way it sounds or not, those of us living on cam pus are residence hall residents. Why? Because they said so and who am I to disagree. I just live there. Juliette Rizzo Opinion Page Editor AUSTIN ( [hool finance early enough nts in rich « e Texas Su jope,” the prc Monday. Sid Pruitt, a larado school loted that the pnds” of $20( lillionin 199( Those sum: ■nee, “are onl) lion bucket. In €)?m va&m Mail Call Relive students’ nightmare EDITOR: I was a student in France. I was a student in Ireland. And now, I am eventually a student at Texas A&M. My little experience has shown me that the bigger the distance, the lesser people feel concern. For the summer semester, 1,500 students were registered. However, how many people showed up to the candle lighting for the students killed on the other side of Earth? were peacefully resisting one of the most powerful armies in the world. I hope The Battalion is going to publish this letter once or several times because I won’t do much advertising on the subject. I am an average student. I am an average student working days and nights, but for sure I’ll do this for them. Remember, they were like us . Sunday, Bloody, Sunday . Igor Carron Graduate Student We should all be aware that these people had guts. I wonder if I would have had such courage in such circumstances. People probably still haven’t realized the magnitude of the horror on Tiananmen Square on the day of the massacre. Photographs weren’t taken and, in a sense, it attenuated the horror of the massacre in our minds. The number killed in China is just another number, whereas photographs of the Matamoros farm are still engraved in our subconscious. Except for the Chinese community, who probably had some friends over there, we really didn’t feel the pain. Rights shouldn’t be ragged on EDITOR: In my youth, I was impressed by antinuclear rallies where the protesters lay downlike dead people simulating what could be the World ’The day after’. Here is what I am going to do: at 12:15 p.m. WEDNESDAY JUNE 21,1 am going to lie down on the field between the meteorological tower and the architecture building. Take a guess. I expect others to do the same with me. The picture we are going to get from this will be sent to the press. This won’t be some sort of spectacle, because by lying down we will all feel what they felt — betrayal. Moreover, we will prove to the Chinese government that forbidding the media to show us what it did, did not erase its crimes. Do you think I am crazy? Maybe I am, but I do really feel that these Could- Have-Been-Friends were crazier than me because they In response to the many letters of recent days criticizing The Battalion’s advertising of a local memorial service for Khomeini, I would like to point out the opposing view, namely, that the Battalion should be congratulated for acting objectively and in accordance - with the right of free speech guaranteed by this nation’s constitution. I am neither Islamic nor a supporter of Khomeini; however, it is the right of such persons, all persons in fact, to assemble peaceably and to advertise assembly when necessary. It is this very right, as well as the right to criticize such an assembly, which separates this nation from one like revolutionary Iran. 1 hope those who write future letters to the editor will consider this fact before openly urging the censorship of any group. Robert R. Ray ’91 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff re serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the clas sification, address and telephone number of the writer. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words. Actually, I think the phrase residence hall resident sounds kind of repetitive, but I figure I better keep repeating it to myself, considering the fact that I am going to remain a resident hall resident until I graduate next May (or until I complete the decade plan I’ve got my self on). The rest of you better start get ting used to saying the phrase also. errors to cease, more people at Ai! need to be made aware that the wor: hall is preferred in reference to on-ait pus housing. I am now attempting HOUSTON make everyone aware of this change, tries'o^tbr Bals who have It’s going to take me some time to Ac that result used to saying I live in a hall, thougfc 1,763 recorde To me, a hall is a small, narrow spit! fcrsayithasn you can do everything but live t (Maybe, I feel this way because 1 prat cally live at The Batt and am neveri: The spreat Houston and ihe hospitaliz; aking in F The Residence Hall Association has requested that the word dormitory be omitted from the vocabulary of students because the word dorm has limited meaning. They proclaim that the letters in the word stand for “Dismal Ordinary Room of Mine.” Hall, on the contrary, “Houses an Abundance of Life and Lo ve.” my room anyway). I think that, reganiBian 100 new less of what you call it, the place uKach week which you live is what you makeiill 11 the most Whether it be a hall or a dorm, lovelycF 1 . 635 ^ Fri(ia dismal, my dorm room is still mineati| |uM 1Vt tas< it’s going to be hard for me to call it a ' r |pv a y-x. thing but what I was brought up toaj rC it. According to the Journal of College and University Student Housing, the word dormitory is outdated. Dormitory staffs are concerned with providing the necessities of shelter and security. Resi dence hall staffs, on the other hand, ex tend their duties to provide more than just a secure building to live in. Hall staffs foster a sense of belonging and community through implementing hall programming that appeals to one’s so cial needs. I guess what I’m trying to say is I life ^LL AS (A the word dorm because it’s so fainftr ^, ntrnesls ’ sounding, so traditional. 1 he worQ |a ar - 0 ld East derived from its Latin root dormird phone in the nc sleep. And that’s exactly what 1 doiniE 1 tearing, dorm room. I use the word dormitef because it’s specific. Everybody knot I m DAR1 what a dormitory is. As a hall resident, I agree with the ba sic philosophy behind what the resi dence halls have to offer, but I don’t feel that the word dormitory is so archaic that it should be erased from our vocab ularies. Is this change in terminology really necessary or does it just sound more advanced? |Though he fiovie “Star W To call my residence a dormitory jansit line by i force of habit. I learned it that way‘ And while hur call it otherwise is a matter of opini® Itass transit d It’s just like determining the differed |^^‘ n j us between calling your house a houseot®^ ^ ^ home. past, I am writng this column in response to a letter we received at The Battalion last week. The letter addressed the fact that the word dormitory was improperly used in place of the word hall in a staff story. I figured that in order for such Until Webster’s deletes the from its pages, I’ll probably still slip and call it a dorm. However, I hopet- column will promote awareness of it new word usage on campus. It may® time for “residence hall” to sink though. You have to admit, it’s han erase something that’s almost pet nently ingrained in your mind, h can be done. Live and learn. Ar TT Juliette Rizzo is a junior journal 1 -' major and opinion page editor Battalion. forft 1 President Bush’s lack of eloquence pathetic Since George Bush has finally done something right in coming up with a strong plan to cut air pollution, it may be time to give him a half-cheer, but even with the much-touted clean-air ini tiative that the White House publicity machine has been touting and hyping for a week now, you have to watch out for the legal presumption of “unreaso nable risk” that would allow polluters to continue their endless delays in doing anything about the 2.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals they pump into the air every year. “Political paralysis has plagued fur ther progress against air pollution,” he declared. Right, . . . what was the name of that president who thought trees caused air pollution? Don’t recall ever expecting much of Bush as president, I ceased placing any credence in his promise of a “kinder, gentler nation” after the campaign he ran, and we see his favorite hatchet man, Lee Atwater, is still up to his usual scurrilous tricks. That Bush often seems awkward or 1 i Molly Ivins l-\ In Syndicated Columnist even transcendentally dorky is just a fa miliar part of his personality to those who know him, as much amusing as anything else. His notorious inability to express himself clearly is likewise apt to be either endearing or comic. But I can not ever recall seeing his, . . . his in adequacy so clearly demonstrated as in the matter of the slaughter of the de mocracy movement in China. have their place in the most trying times. But a crime and a tragedy as great as the one in Beijing should call from our national leader something more eloquent than the tinny yap of out rage that was all George Bush could manage. Language has always been the tool of statesmen, and as often as it is used to deceive and to manipulate, it can still be a noble tool as well. In the hands of a Churchill or a Daniel Webster, words can become a mighty organ, sounding chords that call to the best in all of us -- to our honor and our decency, to our justice and our compassion. In times of tragedy, to hear our sorrow well ex pressed is all we ask from our leaders. But high eloquence is not a gift given to many nor is it required in a leader. 1 hmk of Harry Truman, of Joe Stilwell, ot all the blunt, plain-spoken, profane leaders the world has seen. You can say as much in a simple, straightforward fashion — no fancy words or Reag 311 ' que tremolo are required — as y oU in grandiloquent prose. But Bush® only manage this crippled, jargon den bluster. It doesn’t matter w 11 most of the time, but when the su Jjj 1 ’ as tragic as the events in Beijing) “ sounds so painfully feeble. It s em rassing. It’s pathetic. It could be worse. It could be b Quayle trying to express a co ei thought. For all I know, Bush’s policy toward China at this point could be perfectly correct — maybe we don’t want to cut off all ties, maybe it would be coun terproductive. Prudence and caution The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Ellen Hobbs, Editor Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor Fiona Soltes, City Editor Drew Leder, Chuck Squatriglia, News Editors Steven Merritt, Sports Editor Kathy Haveman, Art Director Hal Hammons, Makeup Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Carat 4.01 1.80 1.61 1.51 1.44 1.43 1.20 1.18 1.17 1.11 1.09 1.06 1.03 1.03 1.03 1.03 1.01 1.00 .95 .93 .91 .91 .89 .85 .84 .83 .81 •76 .73 .72 ■72 .71 •70 .70 .69 .65 •64 .64 .58 55 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4111. THoHAS ©