CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Earle Steve Hayes
The Skulker on saving trees
“We better wait until he gets over th’ freeze on his
salary!”
Editor’s note: This is part two
of a four-part interview with
A&M’s ecology Skulker, a
nighttime man - about - campus
who does exist.
Slowly as the Skulker, or TS,
spoke, my confidence returned.
I asked:
“Skulker, your first big hit was
the tree planted on the spot where
every year a portion of A&M
students burn trees as a gesture
of hope for a football victory
over the University of Texas.
Some have said that the words
you wrote next to the planted
tree were only symbolic of a
bigger meaning. Is this true, and
if so, what were you trying to
say ?”
“Yes, I hit first last Arbor Day
in January by planting a tree on
the bonfire site. My second hit
occurred two week ago and in
volved signs on trees. Obviously
I have strong feelings about the
passionate desire to chop down
living trees to burn! I have yet
to receive a logical reason for
this. Don’t mistake me. I am
not against a bonfire as much as
I am against using trees for it.
Maybe we should use the trees
growing on this year’s campus
for this year’s bonfire! Or may
be we should utilize engineering
skill to build a bigger bonfire
out of trash lumber and from old
or condemned buildings. Do you
know that the traditional Aggie
Bonfire was always made of trash
before World War II? I like
tradition and I can’t understand
why the Aggies persist in doing
something against the original
Aggie tradition.”
I started to interrupt, but the
Tree Savior was fired up over the
issue. He sighed heavily, and al
most reflectively said:
“Of course, there is another
A&M and change
There is a movement on this campus that, in the long run, will
radically change Texas A&M University. It will take its past and current
shapes and twist them in such a manner that in the future this school
will be a very different place.
It isn’t a revolution brought by “outside agitators” or by a
clandestine group here. It is happening all around the campus, in many
cases very visibly.
Most Aggies will not be moved by it very much, at least'not yet,
but the movement implies much, much more when applied to others.
It does mean that the Corps of Cadets will become a campus
minority with only a minority voice in student affairs. It means that
eventually this university will have a large number of coeds. It means
that the traditions that have been used as a link to the past are going to
become only a minor part of campus life.
This will come about by intent on no one’s part. It will happen
because of change.
The reason for this change is simple. Growth.
We are growing, expanding and changing so rapidly that keeping
up with the advancement is almost impossible. Like the fetus of an
animal, we are adding with incredible speed an arm here, a sensor there,
an internal organ somewhere.
And of these arms and organs there are cells, the individuals, the
students, faculty and staff that comprise this university.
Student-wise we are more than 14,000 strong. If faculty and staff
are added, more than 20,000 people come onto this campus daily. We
are a long way from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.
But still we are told by some that this should even now remain
dedicated solely to the ideas of ROTC and a past-oriented school.
It does not make much sense.
It is good for this school that these changes are taking place.,
It is good because to deliver a high quality of education this
university must grow. It must range over all fields of thought man’s
mind can touch. The oceans, space, environment, and man himself are
all very desperately in need of all the study and expansion of
knowledge that this school can give.
It is good because this expansion implies expanded thought.
Implied are the ideas that range from those of the Weathermen to John
Birchers, from the ecology freaks to the polluter, from the pacifist to
the bomb-them-all people.
These ideas are what make this or any university exciting.
In the traditional vein of thought there is no room for all these
ideas, but in 14,000 people you will find them all. It is a direct conflict.
There is either traditional uniformity or there is not. Since we now have
such a large school, there can never be uniformity-even on the smallest
of issues.
There can never again be the Corps of Cadets-and no one else.
There can never again be an all male school. There can never again be
the traditions that are followed by all.
There is no way out, it can already be seen happening. Stand on a
street corner and watch the Aggies, all 14,000, as they pass. There
walks the returning of the past to its proper position and the face of the
future. There walks the growth of this university and the by-passing of
those who would hold it back.
There walks the best thing that ever happened to this school, its
growth, and its change.
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Cbe Battalion
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side of the bonfire issue. The
Texas Clean Air Act of 1969
states that “Except as authorized
by a rule, regulation or variance
or other order of the board, no
person may cause, suffer allow
or permit the emission of an air
contaminant or the performance
of any activity which causes or
contributes to, or which will cause
or contribute to, a condition of air
pollution.” Does Texas A&M or
the student body of Texas A&M
receive a special variance or
authorization to burn a huge pile
of trees which has been soaked
with petroleum products?”
(The bonfire may not need a
variance, an exception to the
above ruling provides for cere
monial burnings as long as they
are not a public nuisance. Having
the bonfire has yet to be legally
questioned so there is no way of
knowing what the outcome of
such a ruling would be.—Ed.)
I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t
know. He went on:
“It seems strange that an insti
tution such as Texas A&M, where
at least 75 percent of the activity
is related to natural resources
and their conservation, would al
low its students to destroy living
trees for the sheer fun of it.”
“Yes, yes, that makes sense,
but don’t you think someone is
going to say you have a hang-up
for trees?” I hadn’t really in-
but it did seem to me that night
tended to ask the Skulker this,
that he did have a hang-up for
trees, something I thought pe
culiar for someone from this area.
“Boy, do I have a hang-up for
trees! Sometime we should all
lie on our backs under a tree
and just watch it live. And then,
for kicks, make a list of every
thing that happens on that tree:
a perch for birds or a place for
a bird nest; insects feeding on
the juices oozing from a limb
broken by thee wind; birds feed
ing on the insects; a squirrel
gathering the acorns; a little
worm inside the acorn; the roots
tapping the minerals and water
from the soil.
“And then you know that the
trees produce oxygen and use
carbon dioxide. Man consumes
oxygen and exhales carbon di
oxide. Seems like one system
supports the other. That’s a good
idea. I guess Joyce Kilmer had
it all put together in “Trees.”
Continued tomorrow.
SMU SCHOOL OF LAW
A representative of the
Southern Methodist Univer
sity School of Law, Dallas,
Texas, will be on campus
8:30 a. m. - 12 p. m. Thurs
day, October 7 to talk with
interested students about
admission requirements and
financial assistance. For
information and to make
appointments, see Miss Pat
DeHaven, Placement Office.
SPECIALS
FOR;
THURs-Ffcv-SAT
October
>
/A*
'LOWER
Gouoen Ripe
BhNftNhS
'errs 3 k i<
n\ ,*) > m? • V
LtB) *
patio Mexican a Jk'
w49
DEL HAVEN
FLOUR
5 LB.
Bftfr
CKS REDEEM THIS COUPON FOR
H 50 FREE
S&H GREEN STAMPS
With Purchase of HEINZ SOUPS
Purchase 6 Cans
Coupon Expires Oct. 9, 1971
REDEEM THIS COUPON FOR
lOO EXTRA
S&H GREEN STAMPS 0ne Per Family
With Purchase of $10.00 or More I jf-b/l
(Excluding Cigarettes) TTz/i I
Coupon Expires Oct 9, 1971
PEANUTS
PLCE
-ffilfeNTt SftOCE
TOOTHPU'VrF
WU REMEMBER AW WEIRD LITTLE
FRIENP FROM CAMP, DON'T TOU ?
■<TQ
5lR,D0THEyV STOP CALLING
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HERMAN"7^ HO 10 TO PLAY!
Kr
IT MAt/ INTEREST YOU ~(0
KNOW, SWEETIE, THAT (N THRFc
YEARS I HAVE NEVER LOST A
GAME OF “HA HA, HERMAN