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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1973)
Page 2 College Station, Texas Friday, November 16, 1973 THE BATTALION 'FILL 'ER UP, CHECK THE OIL, AND REMOVE THE BUMPER-STICKER!' Ratt Commentary A Black Insult Black Aggies could have learned a lesson in working with the administration from Student Government in its efforts to achieve racial equality. Student leaders and the President’s Office have tentatively worked out a solution to the potential problem of working out Students Services Fee allocations, largely due to efforts of Dr. John Koldus, vice president for student services. The plan worked out by the three parties will give the Student Senate and involved departments until Feb. 6 to work out an allocations plan and the Senate will have a meeting each week for the first three weeks of the spring semester to do it. Great. And everybody will probably end up reasonably happy as a result. But, the person who should probably receive the greatest amount of praise in this is Dr. Koldus—an administrator every student should get to know, particularly if they have a problem. Koldus has taken over his post in a manner that is rarely done here at TAMU—with an open mind towards all people within the University, be they black or white, student or administrator, male or female. We realize that his predecessor may not have been so open and direct with students as he could have been, but that is no reason for students to think that Dr. Koldus is this way. Take for example, the Thursday press conference held by the Black Awareness Committee. Koldus was as stunned as anyone else at the conference, but was even more surprised that the conference had taken place before consulting anyone here, especially himself. He has grown used to doing a lot of direct dealing with student problems such as the budget allocations cycle. Students who have worked with him have grown used to his fast methods of action—methods that generally leave all concerned parties as satisfied as possible. We take it as a personal insult to the University and Dr. Koldus that the black student leaders on campus didn’t take the time to find out what Dr. Koldus could do for them in their demands from the administration and students. Student leaders, likewise, should feel the insult, although it may wake some students up as to the complexity of student problems here. Black students have never tried hard to make their problems known through The Battalion. Although we have repeatedly offered our help several times last year, the BAC seemed so disorganized (as demonstrated by the fact that its press release had wrong information in it and the press conference didn’t start on time) that information was never given The Battalion when requested. The administration generally recruits and treats all students with equality, especially with respect toward race. If black Aggies have complaints about the system, then they should do as other Aggies do: work within the system for changes. Dragging the outside world into our problems should be a last recourse if the solutions are unobtainable. Try the system. You may find that it works. Listen Up— Potpourri: Energy & Suicide Editor: Potpourri: I agree, energy must be con served, but a few remarks are in order. Using light bulbs is false economy as energy is requir ed in the production of light bulbs. Unplugging refrigerators isn’t smart either, it takes ener gy to replace all that spoiled food. Not that I’m not public spirited, you know. To save water I’ll only bathe once a month at home, during the week I’ll be a slob and shower in the Rudder fountain. Of course, I’ll shower after I finish my sauna bath in 104-C of the Zachry En gineering Center where it’s 120 degrees. Regarding Oliphant’s cartoon on Nixon’s windiness, I would sug gest the windmill be placed in the Senate where it would have a higher utilization factor and in creased torque due to the senators lack of courage to do anything except babble. To a more serious discussion, I would feel suicide should be con sidered as some sort of solution to personal problems, only it is one solution after which no other remedies can be tried. However my opinion nor 250 “eminent intellect uals” opinions nor all the Ger mans and Scandinavians opinions change the fact that suicide is still murder. J . R. Miller The Rudder fountain may not provide you with a shower as it stands a good chance of being turned off to conserve energy. —Ed. ★ ★ ★ Editor: Since much has been written about our nation’s energy crisis I wish to point out to the Bonfire workers that their efforts could be put to more humane results than firing the spirit of their fellow Aggies. No Aggie could dispute that the sentiment be hind the Bonfire is worth main taining. However, wouldn’t it be far more generous and gratifying if we chose to not ignite the Bon fire and, instead, distribute the wood and oil to needy families in the Brazos Valley? This is not a request that the Bonfire activi ties (gathering of the students, yell practice, etc.) be abandoned. I feel that it would be very self ish of us to burn the Bonfire with the knowledge that someone less fortunate than ourselves will suf fer because of our actions. The local welfare department can attest to the fact that there are numerous families in the Val ley who lack gas and electricity. We urbanites too often take our luxuries for granted. Bonfire Committee, please re read this letter carefully and give it serious considerations. I feel certain that the students would willingly contribute the time and energy to help you dismantle and distribute the Bonfire after the UT defeat. Lee G reiser Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Directors. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a University and Community newspaper. The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through May, and once a week during summer school. MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed and show the address of the writer. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Right of reproduction of all other matter herein are also reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim Lindsey, chairman; Dr. Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr. H. E. Hierth, W. C. Harrison, Randy Ross, T. Chet Edwards, and Jan Faber. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services. Inc, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. EDITOR MIKE RICE Assistant to the Editor Rod Speer Managing Editor Greg Moses News Editor T. C. Gallucci Sports Editor Kevin Coffey Ass’t. Sports Editor Ted Boriskie Homosexuality: Image vs. Reality By NEAL PARKER The recent controversy between two people prompts me to say something about a matter of considerable pragmatic concern to homo sexuals—their public image. That concern is vividly real, because it is still the case that you may well lose your job or never be hired if it is known that you are a homosexual. The refusal to hire homosexuals and the tendency to reject them in other ways clearly depends on the public’s perception of homo sexuality. That perception is largely founded on ignorance since our society, and especial ly the church, has traditionally viewed ho mosexuality as a distasteful topic that well- bred people don’t talk about. It was gen uinely unspeakable, and you can’t be well- informed about something if you can’t discuss it. Moreover, most people, especially men, would be afraid to ask questions, or even read a book about homosexuality in a public place, for fear that someone might “misinterpret” their interest. For the average American it was unthink able that any of his or her friends or relatives could be homosexual. “And what about Uncle George, who never got married?” “Why he’s always been very nice. It’s ri diculous to think he could do things like that.” Homosexuals were a handful of bizzare people in New York who made a disgraceful spectacle of themselves running around in women’s clothing, Tch. Tch. But in fact Uncle George probably was gay along with roughly 10 percent of his fellow American males and about the same percentage of females. Nobody realized it because he was obviously a kind and decent and respectable person. Today it is not gen erally known that at least one of our repre sentatives in Congress from Texas is a homo sexual. Nor is it generally known that at least five ministers in the Southwest Confer ence of the United Methodist Church are ho mosexuals. As long as they keep their sex uality hidden, they are safe—at least they are safe from being expelled from the min istry, though not safe from the psychological torment of having to masquerade in public as being something that they aren’t. Consider the case of one of these gay ministers. He has a church in a small con servative South Texas town. The people in his congregation probably regard him as a fine, upstanding, young Christian, wholly ded icated to God’s work. His image is a bit tarnished because he’s divorced, but that’s not too serious. Because of his good qualities it is unthinkable that he is a homosexual, and hence those qualities are chalked up to heterosexuality. That is an exceedingly im portant fact in the public’s over-all imp^ sion of homosexauls. The social contributin of thousands upon thousands of homosexmj men and women will be taken as furthereti dence of the worth and dignity of heterosa. uality because those men and women «f be perceived by the general public as hettrj sexuals. The only people traditionally perceit^ to be homosexuals by the public are thosela who behave in a bizarre way or who are unfortunate as to get in trouble with i law. The image of a large group has bea based almost entirely upon the public’s pa. ception of the behavior of a very small s4 group. This situation has been furthered by fc general tendency of the media to focus* what is unusual or sensational. There ban been seven pictures of homosexuals in lit Daily Texan or in Pearl since April, 1970,aiii three of these focus their central attentiot on people in drag. Not that it is badtolt in drag or to have your - picture in the new paper, but the ratio of three to seven (tat give a false impression of what most houtt sexuals are like. Since that false impressi* is not corrected by people’s first-hand expe rience, and since public prejudice leads la THE B/A WAN' One day • • 4c per woi Minin Cla $1.00 C£ playlani Will be ope: 12:00 n( Call 822-: President’s Box Blacks (Continued from page 1) wood strips on a yellow back ground. “The walls are of colored felt like material with sponge backing for less sound, maintenance and for esthetics,” said Boyce. One wall is light blue and another black. The colors were chosen to look good at night games, Boyce added. Two speakers provide crowd noise and announcer C. K. E s t e n’s commentary for the guests. The Host and Fashion commit tee selects the hostesses from girls who volunteer for the job. Senior Carol Silverthorne, who served as hostess for the Wichita game, said “I enjoyed it and everyone was very nice to us, but I’d rather sit in the student section and saw varsity’s horns with everyone else.” Guests expected for the Texas A&M-Texas game are Congress man Olin E. Teague, Mrs. Earl Rudder and state legislators. (Continued from page 1) H. Ray Smith, director of per sonnel said there were black fac ulty members but could not give figures on the exact number. Marvin Bridges, a senior psy chology major and member of the BAC, told The Battalion he be lieved the University should use the method of “reverse compen sation” to overcome the discrimi nation practiced here for the past 100 years.” He added that he and the BAC stand ready to help the University correct ractial inequal ity here through active recruiting. It has been the policy of the Dean of Admissions Office, head ed by Ed Cooper, to recruit high school students only when the high schools ask TAMU to recruit there. Bridges said that he be lieved that it was the administra tion’s responsibility to insure that all Texas high schools knew this. He added that the BAC would also help in this area, if officials wanted help. concrete oppression, 1 think homoselualsban some basis for complaint. There is a sense in which the gay n» ment is far ahead of the black movementm the chicano movement. We don’t have top through the slow painful process of workini our way into the mainstream of Amenta! society, because we are already there-ii government, in industry, certainly in ata demia. What the rightwingers have bet: telling you all along is really true. The gov ernment is riddled with homosexuals, althoegi in general they aren’t also Communists. A few weeks ago Dr. Howard J. Bro«t 49, - former health commissioner in Maw Lindsay’s cabinet, acknowledged that hew gay and exhorted other homosexuals in LW say’s administration to do likewise. The slot; ran prominently on Page 1 of the Oct. 3issot of The New York Times. There are million of other homosexual men and women win would like to do the same thing if they (ell they could do so without jeopardizing theii jobs or being rejected by family and frieni When these people do finally “come out, 1 ’ will no longer be possible for the general public to attribute all the virtues of decern and responsible people to heterosexuality bj default, and they will cease the naive practici of assuming everybody is straight until pro ed otherwise. Neal Parker has been active in Gay Lib eration for several years in Austin. GDI LET US BI Every Eric 7 p. Call 822-2 Babysittim?: lome. Call 845 Redmonc Ph< 1402 College Presc Charge j Fi AUTO FOl Call: Farmers 3400 S. Col The Ma Rainbot attend cafeteri south o and joi See film "Hamlet ,/ Tonight or Sunday Night 7:30 p. m. — Rm. 112 Oceanography $1.00 Per Person