:
THE BATTALION
Page 2 College Station, Texas Tuesday, April 9, 1968
\
Sound Off
A
. . When he said he’d look through my paper, I somehow
expected something more ... !”
City Looting, Racial
Hate Share Blame
During the past several years the President has been
fighting three wars. He has attempted to preserve a boom
ing economy, win some sort of victory in Vietnam, and stem
the tide of social and racial unrest.
Last Thursday’s assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King, an advocate of non-violence, was a symptom of the
most painful internal problem since the Civil War.
A society where stereotypes of minorities are as much
a part of early training as tying a shoe lace, cannot move
toward complete equality in one hot summer.
Dr. King’s assassination is an example of extreme re
action to social pressures which have demanded changes
“now”.
The white community has been asked to analyze its
inferiority complex which apparently needs whipping boys
among minorities to feel superior to something.
The assassin joins Lee Harvey Oswald as an ever
growing committee of killers who attempt to preserve the
status quo, slow social change and maintain a self-concept of
their manhood through murder.
But just as the implications of last Thursday’s murder
are far greater than the killer could even consider before
hand, so are the implications of wide-spread civil disorder,
burning and looting by a relatively small number of Negroes
who smile at cameras as they burglarize unmolested.
While making headlines, they destroy the already poor
communities in which they live. Most store owners will not
return. Business from outlying areas will decrease with
the net result that center city will become even more bleak.
While making headlines, they necessitate the mobiliza
tion of troops to restore order—22,000 Army and 34,000
National Guard troops during the past week. The result
feeds anti-American proprogandists.
While making headlines, they even sway “liberals” to
ward a more conservative view of civil rights, a view which
is becoming more impatient with Negroes who demand
equality under the law while blatantly disregarding that
law.
The pendulum which was swinging slowly away from
racial bigotry has been given a push in the other direction
by senseless murders and over reaction to those murders.
Rioting in the dozens of American cities this week can
only be attributed in part to the death of Dr. King and to
the frustration of economic conditions.
The burning and looting is a study in mob action where
there is limited awareness of present action and no realiza
tion of future implications.
Dr. King’s murder is the most disgusting form of racial
hatred, but a society which will not move without such
violence to shame and shock it into action is just as blame
worthy.
Editor,
The Battalion:
My, my. Seems as if some of us
human beings at this Institution
of Higher Learning on the Brazos
have gotten into an argument
over what kind of hair clippers
should be used when one is called
upon by his friendly lynch mob.
I claim no knowledge of the
“facts” concerning the “Rape of
the Lock” Incident (forgive me,
Alexander Pope), but I do have
some misgivings on Friday’s gold-
plated morality stand by Messrs.
Huddleston and Martindale.
From the top. The clothing
regulations do exist, and it is
said they should be enforced as
long as they are law. But look,
this man has hair and lots of it.
Being the exception rather than
the rule, we may judge that this
man does not have the “proper
haircut” as noted in Paragraph
58 of the University Regulations.
Therefore, he is in violation of
the law. He is flouting society.
He must be punished. So we jump
him at night and proceed to as
sault and battery him with sheep
shears. That’s good!
But whoa, fellas. Mustaches
are not mentioned as being hair
of the illegal variety. (Such
growths are quite common with
our men of the Navy.) Someone
in his blind anger to right the
wrong goofed. Overstepped
bounds on society’s part. Oh well,
it was done in the name of mo
rality.
Obscene insignias. Such atroci
ties. While we guzzle our beer
and read our pornographic litera
ture and guffaw at sheep paddock
jokes, this man has obscene mark
ings on his motorcycle helmet.
How low has this person’s moral
ity sunk? What a vile creature.
I refer the illegality of no
socks and ragged clothes with
shirttails hanging out to the Uni
versity Regulations (same place).
Yes, these “vigilantes” should be
turned out. My, how their dress
disgusts us. I’ll bet they don’t re
move their hats inside of build
ings, either. May they forever
walk in tobacco juice. And they
must really be rotten, mean, and
low with the huge records they
have. Nothing like pointing this
out when we judge a man for his
new crime of leaving his shirt-
tail out.
So much for my cynicism. The
remainder of Friday’s tirade
throws out the old song of such
people having lower moral stan
dards than us “good Ags,” about
how anyone who does not warp
his mind as Huddleston and Mar
tindale must be of a criminal
nature or be a dimwit. Of course
we can always leave if we happen
to think differently.
Don Parr
Editor,
The Battalion:
In the April 5th edition of The
Battalion there appeared a letter
by Huddleston and Martindale de
nouncing a previous letter which
defended individual rights. Their
AAUP CENSURE
(Continued From Page 1)
ing. We haven’t fired anybody.”
Dr. Gibbs said he had no idea
whether a move would be made
at the convention.
“BUT SINCE they took the
trouble to write the report, and
have it published in the bulletin,
I’m sure there will be some dis
cussion on it.”
Censure to the university could
mean a number of things, accord
ing to Dr. Krise.
“There are two ways to be cen
sured,” he said. “Like Sam Hous
ton State College, where the
board of directors was censured,
but the president was excluded;
or censureship could be invoked
on the whole administration.”
“Mainly,” Dr. Krise said, “cen
sure might affect recruiting of
faculty members and graduate
students.”
“And as seen in the midwinter
bulletin in the investigating com-
mitte’s report, Texas schools have
been having a bad time of it.”
THE REPORT included Sam
Houston on its current blacklist.
Texas Tech at Lubbock was re
moved from that list last year
after offering one of three pro
fessors who were fired a full
professorship with tenure.
“As for an institution’s
image, that blacklist is not the
place to be,” Dr. Krise said.
When asked what he expected
if A&M is censured, A&M Presi
dent Earl Rudder said, “I imagine
there will be a few who won’t
come here because of it. There
will also be a few who come here
in spite of it.”
“We’ve had some very fine pro
fessors join us since the bulletin
containing the Gibbs case was
published,” he said.
If the AAUP takes action on
Texas A&M, it will be influenced
by recent changes regarding the
State Coordinating Board’s poli
cies toward faculty members.
“THERE IS some hope that
the situation which brought us
to this stage of developments will
be rectified,” Dr. Krise said,
speaking of a recent decision of
the A&M System Board of Di
rectors.
In its report, the AAUP inves
tigating committee stated that,
“Though there may be some hope
from outside the university, for
example in the recommendations
of the Coordinating Board, the
inadequate faculty role in the
governance of the university
(A&M) . . . offers little hope
of early improvement in the cli
mate of academic freedom and
tenure.”
The Board of Directors has
since met with President Rudder,
and decided to “immediately im
plement the State Coordinating
Board’s statement on academic
Freedom, Responsibility and Ten
ure.”
letter, I felt, had one valid point.
This was in regard to the public
display of obscene insignias. How
ever, this in no way is related
to the individual’s right to wear
his hair and his clothes in any
unobscene manner that he so
desires regardless of how ridicu
lous it may look to anyone else.
Although Huddleston and Mar
tindale claim to be for an indi
vidual’s rights 1000% they at
the same time advocate subject
ing this person’s unalienable
rights to majority rule, popular
opinion, and mere value judg
ments. It often disheartens me
to see Aggies (who so strongly
profess to be patriotic Americans)
so badly misconstrue and have
so little understanding of the
one really important thing that
separates the United States from
Soviet Russia, the concept of un
alienable individual rights.
Huddleston and Martindale also
imply that individual and un
popular ideas on dress indicate
a low moral standard. Morals
have nothing to do with popular
opinion but are based upon the
principles of right conduct rather
than law or custom. Has no one
thought that in an effort to
change opinions, it might be mor
al to rebel against hypocritical
society values, especially if so
ciety is intent on trampling on
an individual’s rights in the pro
cess of sustaining these values?
Perhaps, if the letter defending
this man’s rights appeared one
sided, it is because it is a logically
moral fact that an individual’s
rights must not be compromised
if justice is to be achieved.
Not so much in the spirit of
vengeful judgment but rather in
the spirit of constructive criti
cism, if Huddleston and Martin
dale want to see a perfect ex
ample of a one-sided, little-
reasoned, “highway-six-runs-both-
ways” type of letter, they should
take a look at their own.
My views are adequately repre
sented in a statement by our
late President, Mr. John F. Ken
nedy, in reference to his book
Profiles in Courage, in which he
stated “These . . . are the stories
of such a democracy. Indeed,
there would be no such stories
had this nation not maintained
its heritage of free speech and
dissent, had it not fostered hon
est conflicts of opinion, had it
not encouraged tolerance for un
popular views.”
Larry Hembree ’68
Editor,
The Battalion:
Speaking as a member of the
hated minority — open-minded
people who think—I feel I must
co-mment on the atrocious act
which occurred at our University
a short time ago. Of course, I
am referring to the student who
got a forceable haircut and shave.
THE BATTALION
Opinions expressed in The Battalion
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Battalion is a non tax-supported non
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a university and community neivspaper.
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atter he - 5-
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Anyone who believes that this
action was justified, because it
was done to make him a “good
Aggie,” is the popular concept of
an Aggie, one who doesn’t need
to think in college, has a closed
mind, and does absolutely no
thinking.
This action was inexcusable and
I am sorry to say that this act
• as perpetrate by the kind of
Aggie who is in the majority on
this campus. I am speaking of the
non-thinking fool.
The students of this school must
remember we are not all in the
Corps and therefore, some of us
are forced to think. But it will
only be when the fools try to
think open-mindedly that we can
call our University a great Uni-
verstiy on all levels.
Charles McClain
Freshman
“free speech,” as Mr. Bernard[i
it, we will need to see a fe»
changes away from the currti;
situation. Before Paranoia (*,
comes that organ, it must chanj.
its format and style. Until thtt
Mr. Bernard might well heal
less enthusiastic.
Tom Sathre
Editor,
The Battalion:
It’s a real shame that Aggie
have not been afforded the oppoi
tunity to obtain a complete edut;.
cation. Our university is recog.
nized as one of the top aeadenit
centers in the United tSates. Ig
it seems that the education!
system begins and ends withiatli
confines of the classroom.
Editor,
The Battalion:
This is to protest Ryan Ber
nard’s letter (in your April 5
issue), in which he applauded the
appearance of Paranoia, Texas
A&M’s current off-campus news
paper. Mr. Bertxard seemed to
think that Paranoia’s advent
marks and end to the “unthinking
stagnancy which engulfs this
campus.” He has overstated his
case. He ignored the fact that
Paranoia is not the work of a
majority of the students on this
campus—not even a dozen people
were involved in its production.
Paranoia is not the result Of a
grassroots movement — not even
after its publication did it cap
ture the attention of the student
body.
Did Mr. Bernard forget or just
fail to notice that Paranoia can
hardly call itself a newspaper,
since it did not get around to re
porting both sides of the issues it
treated ? In its one issue to date,
Paranoia pretended that the Ad
ministration had no opinion about
Professor Gibbs’ situation in the
School of Veterinary Medicine,
and it presented only the dove’s
side of the Viet Nam issue. An
attempt to “re-examine every
thing that has been taught” would
be more honest if it did not have
its own head in the sand.
The issue of Paranoia that I
saw was very shoddily composed
and noticeably poorly edited. I
would remind Mr. Bernard that to
sustain its reader’s interest a
newspaper must not ignore the
canons of good journalism, and I
would submit to him that a com
petent artist would be a valuable
addition to Paranoia’s staff.
Before we have an organ of
The Memorial Student Ceuta
has been successful in bridgitt
part of the educational gap wit!
student organizations like Studeg
Conference on National Affair;
(SCONA), Great Issues,
Town Hall. But even these fi«
programs fail to bring the stafc
an essential phase of his educa
tion. This essential is the Arts
It is essential in that it is amedi.
um by which ideas may be ex
changed.
Too often we fail to thoroughly
appreciate the artistic attempt
for we have not had the chaats
to become familiar with art forms
and their development. It is
through this familiarization that
the viewer is able to draw certaii
accurate conclusions about ths
worth of an art object.
Because A&M has been pri
marily an all-male institution il
has realized little need for things
associated with the art realm
is the desire of the Contemporary
Arts Committee (CAC) to changs
all this. CAC has incorporate
four programs to meet the stn
dents’ needs. They are Literary
Arts (a program designed
bring prominent lecturers anl
writers to our campus), Fine Art
(set up to bring the theater
music, and dance to A&M), thi
Exhibits Committee (designed ti
bring art displays from all over
the North American Continent!
and the Film Series (brings to
A&M art films, foreign and do
mestic). Each of these commit
tees has a strong desire to sent
the students and faculty in thi;
worthy capacity, but they neei
your active support. Anyone in
terested in perpetuating the Art
on the A&M campus should con
tact Tom Ellis, c/o Contemporary
Arts Committee, MSC, Texas
A&M University; or call 846- 1
Tom Ellis
CAC Chairman
For all your insurance needs
Wl 1 * See U. M. Alexander, Jr. ’40
221 S. Main, Bryan
823 - 3616
State Farm Insurance Companies - Home Office*: Bloomington, 111,
Congratulations
FISH DRILL TEAM!
UNIVERSITY SHOE REPAIR
North Gate
EXCHANGE STORE HOURS
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The Exchange Store will be closed for
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the 15th of April.
PEANUTS
By Charles M. Schulz
PEANUTS
HERE'S THE WORLD
^ . FAMOUS 60LF-PR0
(X5k= RECEIVING HIS
INVITATION TO PLAY
IN THE MASTERS
AH, WHAT A THRILL'f
GEORGIA IN THE SPRING'
HE HAG BEEN INVITED TO PLAY IN THE
MASTERS 60LF TOURNAMENT..
I CAN SEE MYSELF NOW
STANDING ON THE FIRST TEE...
ACTUALLY, E3EAGLES ARE
ALMOST NEVER INVITED T<0
PLAY IN THE MASTERS...
■—
/ I Ve never been to
{ AUGUSTA BEFORE
l'LL PROBABLY -STAY WITH
ARNOLD AMP WINNIE!