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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1973)
Page 2 THE BATTALION College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 24, 1973 Listen Up— Clark Talks Tradition Editor: There has been a lot of talk lately concerning many traditions of A&M. I guess the main issue that always comes up concerns the Aggie Bonfire. Each year the rumors grow louder that there will be no Bonfire next year. As a member of the Corps and a deep believer in the traditions that made this school great, I am deeply grieved. However, looking from the other side, maybe, just maybe, the bonfire is an environ mental hazard. Maybe the huge amount of trees we chop down is too expensive a price to pay for the sake of beating the hell out of t.u. The Bonfire might be re placed by an alternative project Viewpoint Fulbright Speaks Out By MARK BREWER (Alternative Feature Service) Straight talk from Senators is as rare as winter flowers. No matter what’s coming down, they always seem to be telling us that everything will be all right, thanks to our superior system— a system that sends them off to plush, paneled offices and sleek Washington suburbs. Veteran Arkansas Democrat William Fulbright, however, has been unusually frank about the impotence of a tractable Con gress, and the steady drift to ward an authoritarian state. The Senator’s observations on growing presidential power and the fragile nature of democracy are often tinged with resignation these days—a resignation born of 25 liberal years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, MSC Week (Continued from page 1) Human Sexual Relations and English style debating will take place Wednesday from 7:30 to 9. On the same night in the MSC Ballroom will be the Collegium Musicum. The group is students from the Universtiy of Texas who play modern tunes on ancient instruments. Their performance is free and will begin at 8:00. The Contemporary Arts Com mittee will present the film, “Pierrot le Fou” in the MSC Ball room at 8 p.m. Thursday. Ad mission is $1 for students and $1.50 for non-students. Season activity tickets will be respected. The Houston Ballet, a Town Hall special attraction, will also appear in the Bryan Civic Audi torium Thursday at 8:00. struggling with the inexorable rise of militarism through the era of the Cold War and Vietnam. “The Senate has deteriorated to where nobody listens to any debate,” said Fulbright in a re cent interview with the Pacifica Radio network. “It’s dominated at the moment by the administra tion and the military. They win all the votes. It is the rarest thing to have a dialogue or a de bate on the floor of the Senate, as we did in the old days. You see, they have a new system of setting down the vote under unan imous consent; and when the vote is set then everybody clears out and you can’t find ’em, can’t get ’em on the floor. “This has developed into a sys tem which, in my opinion, has undermined any real significance of the Senate ... I think it used to play an important part in our government, but I think its part now is simply as an echo of the Pentagon and the White House. “This has been a trend for the last 25 years, since World War II ... in wartime or in crises, when you’re concerned with war, you tend to delegate your power to the President. This has always happened in past wars . . . When the President was ... in the Sen ate, nobody thought he was in fallible. He was just another Sen ator. He moves 16 blocks and then you treat him as if he has this private pipeline to God . . . Of course, that’s the way it used to be in medieval times. We’re just not very far from the Divine Right of Kings of Charles the First. After all, that’s in our history. There’s just a very slight patina of civilization between then and now, and it’s very easy to revert to it.” “Many of the press,” he noted, “have acquired television stations which makes them subject to the FCC which is subject to the Pres ident, and therefore, they are in the position to be intimidated through that. I mean, some of these big papers, they don’t want to lose a station that’s worth 50 million dollars. So they tend to say, ‘Well maybe we better not go too far, and maybe we won’t give over-exposure to any criti cism of the White House.’ “. . . It reminds me a little of Louis the Fourteenth—the defer ence that everybody gives to the leader in the White House, and I think this is almost inevitable in a big country. Small countries, where there’s a sense of commun ity and people know one another, have succeeded in preserving a high degree of democracy; I mean people like Norway and Sweden and Denmark and Holland . . . But when you get above that, you look at China, Russia, our selves . . . The Senator’s resonant voice trails off, mumbling other com parisons, thinking perhaps of Oceania, Eurasia. He seems like a tired, old dove in a hawk’s sky, willing to accept what his experi ence tells him is probably inevi table. “Whether we can pull it out and preserve some degree of democra cy remains to be seen. I hope we can, but if we can’t we’ll be no worse off than other people. We’ll simply develop a different sys tem, and maybe in a hundred years we’ll quit pretending we’re a democracy and admit that we’re an oligarchy or plutocracy, which it seems to be . . . Concluding the week will be an after-the-game dance Saturday featuring “Circus” from Houston. The free dance will be from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Ballroom. For all its occasional huffing and puffing, Fulbright doesn’t see the press establishment as a par ticularly dependable ally against the authoritarian trend either. “It’ll be a long time after the change has taken place that any body will admit it,” the Senator concluded. “We always pretend that it’s something else; as we do today.” Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the student writers only. The Battalion is a non-tax- supported, non-profit, self-supporting educational enter prise edited and operated by students as a university and cow mu n ity newspaper. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association The Associated Collegiate Press LETTERS POLICY Letlcu to the editor must be typed, double-spaced, and 770 more than 300 words in length. They must be signed, although tlie writer’s name will be withheld by arrangeme77t with the editor. Address correspondence to l.isten Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texcts 77813. Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester ; §6 ye bscriptiocs subject ist. All ig rate furnished on reques The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, year; $6.50 per full year. All su sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on school to 5% Address: Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for dispatchs credited to it or not iers of the Lindsey, chairman B. B. Sears Student Publications Board are: Jim A. Albanese, Dr. L. E. Kruse and Membe y, chairman ; Dr. Tom Adair, Dr. R. H. E. Hierth, W. C. Harrison, J. W. Griffith reproduction of all ne otherwise credited in the paper and local news of sp origin published herein. Rights of republication of matter herein are also reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. ontaneous all other The Battalion, rblished in Colle; student newspaper at Texas A&M, is Station, Texas, daily except Saturda published m College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through May, and once a week during summer school. EDITOR MIKE RICE Managing Editor Larry Marshall News Editor Rod Speer Women’s Editor Janet Landers Sports Editor Bill Henry Assistant Sports Editor Kevin Coffey Jack R. Taylor Joe Ann Shelton * ♦ Barbara Taylor wmmmw What: TEXAS A&M BSD RETREAT Date: JANUARY 26-27, 1973 Place HIGHLAN D LAKES BAPTIST ENCAMPMENT "IT'S GETTIN BETTER" TOTAL COST: $7.00 PLUS TRANSPORTATION ($2.00 RESERVATION FEE DUE NOON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION — CALL 846-6411 OR COME BY THE BSU, 2 0 3 N. MAIN and drop by the wayside as an outmoded tradition. I laid out of school last semes ter in order to work in a Co-op program. When I returned I found an entirely new school. New build ings have sprung up everywhere. Girls were, of course, the most prominent addition to our cam pus. I was gratified to see the completion of the new dorm be cause forcing the co-eds to live off campus can only be described as unfair. has happened. We’re not asking him to cut his hair, just to re spect the traditions that made this school what it is. In attending the Baylor game the other night, I was sorry to witness the fact that progress had gone to our heads. I have al ways been particularly proud of the unique yells and wildcatting that has set us apart from the other schools. At the Baylor game I watched six Corps fish in front of me clap their way through the whole game. This new attitude seems to have gone to everyone. Sure we need to readjust our thinking once in while, as with Bonfire and the girls dorm. But let’s not forsake those traditions which do have a place, and set us apart from those overgrown high schools teasips and bears call uni versities. Wildcatting is a privi lege for any Aggie, especially a fish in the Corps, so let’s use it. Humping it with each yell is an other tradition that distinguishes us. I can’t understand why a non- reg would stand defiantly by while all his fellow Ags were humping it for their team, yet it And another thing Ags, many a fight has started in Waco or Austin because someone started chanting “Poor Aggies” when they had us outscored. It always burned me the way that they were such poor winners. Now I see we’re doing the same thing to them. Wake up man, good sports manship and just plain good man ners are not outdated. I’ve always prided myself in the way Ags have taken wins and not hounded the losing team. Let’s keep set ting this example and not dis grace a reputation that took 100 years to build. Bill Clark ’74 Listen Up welcomes any letters from students on any subject. Let ters are generally run when re ceived when space allows. Letters do not in any way express the opinions of those working on the Battalion staff. When no letters appear it is usually because none have been received. FOR BEST RESULTS TRY BATTALION CLASSIFIED Llittle DiGl\0f}s' • Blacks • Gift Items fie Ch • Consignment Center • Everything Handmade Special order items for campus clubs 10% discount for students & families with ID 804 Villa maria across from Manor East Mall 8 22-5823 JAN. 24 Boulde though tl opened ityomen ^omen a e d to a f iftig for t f^eligion v The fe of the E cided to in u I On D WILLIAM F. 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