t Editorial )
Timid impotence
plagues students
Last spring, when the campus landscaping plans were being
finalized. The Battalion was trying to get pictures of the plans and
student government leaders were making a last ditch attempt to
change parts of the plans.
Several meetings were arranged for student leaders and Battal
ion reporters to view the plans in the office of General Alvin R.
Luedecke, executive vice president in charge of planning and con
struction.
The landscaping package included the Northgate wall, dining
patio,- arches across the entrance to the Corps area and the north
mall plans. Although it is often said that students work closely with
the administration on campus plans and policies, the student lead
ers were surprised by what they saw. Some objected to the wall,
others objected to the arches over the Corps area entrance and the
landscaping in front of the Corps area.
Luedecke said he did not think major changes could be made,
but the students should make their complaints formal in letter form.
The letters were written—and no major changes were made.
During an argument with The Battalion over immediate re
lease of the plans. President Jack K. Williams said it didn’t really
matter what the 18,000 students attending the university at that
time thought of the plans because most of them would be gone in
four years. The editorial board finally agreed to wait two weeks.
The Battalion was duped along with the student leaders who
believed that the administration would heed their letters of protest.
The Battalion learned a lesson.
And it seems student leaders should have learned a lesson also:
Student Government offers students a voice without power. There
has to be a more effective structure. But the lesson was lost during
the summer. Student Government is back whispering the will of
students to a few friendly ears of the administration who in turn
whisper requests to their superiors—and no major changes are
made. The voice of the students is seldom raised for fear it might
deafen or at least shock those ears so accustomed to the quiet
manner of Texas A&M.
Student body President Steve Eberhard told the Battalion that
his view of Student Government’s relationship with the administra
tion has changed. He no longer sees Student Government in an
adversary role. He now thinks people are very cooperative.
“We re all working for the same thing,’’ said Eberhard. “Just
because the administration doesn’t agree, doesn’t mean it isn’t
listening. A lot of problems turn out to be non-problems when
they’re talked over. They’re just differences in perspective. They
respect us and trust us. When we disagree we can talk about
things.” He also says the administration has had an increasing
tendency to accept Student Senate recommendations over the past
five years.
Granted—Student Government has a good track record of
accomplishing what Student Senate passes. But it is not because
Student Senate is a body of power, rather because Student Senate
confines its activities to those areas which it knows the administra
tion will accept.
A timely example is the issue of liquor on campus. Resident
Hall Association President Greg Magruder has asked to use Quon-
set huts owned by the university for student organization parties.
He has also asked that liquor be allowed in the area. The plan cannot
be approved until the current policy banning liquor from all univer
sity land is changed or modified. ““Drinking, or having in posses
sion, any alcoholic or intoxicating liquor on campus, ” is a violation of
university regulations punishable by dismissal or suspension. En
forcement of the rule was dropped last year but the rule remains.
Student Government has refused to push the change because
it doesn’t want to back anyone into embarrassing positions.
Specifically—administrators have asked student leaders to cool it
until the Board of Directors is ready to accept the idea. The ever-
cooperative Student leaders do not want to force their administra
tive buddies into a hotbox between the students and the Board. So
the party area plans will have to wait.
The people that “respect us and trust us” so much aren’t ready
to grant us our rights under Texas constitutional law (assuming we
are 18-years-old). And Student Government remains unwilling and
powerless to advocate, yes, a major change.
Student Government as a viable channel of power for the
students is a farce. It is merely a recommending body whose
proposals follow the normal route of any recommendations through
the university bureaucracy. Student Government should be re
structured to make it an effective recommending body with
power—so next time the university is planning physical additions or
policy changes, the president cannot ignore the opinions of the
existing student body.
Here is a suggestion: Cut the senate in half and give all
members voting rights on the highest policy-making body of the
university—the Academic Council. Separate the senate from the
executive branch so that it is not dominated by the president and
the five vice presidents. Give the senate the power to pass resolu
tions representing the student body and charge the executive
branch with moving those resolutions through the university
bureaucracy and implementing them if they are passed.
Che 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. Editor
ial policy is determined by a majority of the editorial board.
MEMBER
The Associated Press, Texas Press Association
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.
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By WILL ANDERSON
Page 2 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1974
Six tickets for the TCU game withheld by “the girl in
Window 3” prompted a graduate assistant to bring a
question to The Battalion.
He was first in line Monday morning for the tickets
allotted graduates and seniors. “When I got my tickets I
found the ones for Seats 9 through 15 on Row 3 were
missing.
“When I asked her about it she said she had not
meant to save them; they had been put aside by mis
take.”
The next person in line was Dale Yarborough, a
student in one of his classes. “I asked him to get the
tickets so he could trade with me,” the graduate said.
“When he asked for them she acted like she didn’t know
what he was talking about and he couldn’t get them.”
It was possible she was saving them for someone, he
said. “It could indicate that sleeping outside G. Rollie
White Coliseum isn’t worth it if all you need is a friend in
the ticket window.
“All I want to know is what happened to those
tickets.”
“I don’t know what she did with the tickets,” said
Yarborough, a senior zoology major. “Tm not complain
ing, anyway. It’s the guys who got pushed back to Row 6
who really had a complaint. ”
A belated solution was offered Tuesday afternoon by
Mrs. Euletta Miller, athletic ticket manager. “The fellow
should have brought it to me or Mr. Groff (Wallace C.
Groff, athletic business manager) right then. We’re al
ways available.
“We’d have gone out to that window with that per
son right then and everything would have been straigh
tened out. It’s too late four or six hours later.”
Groffs and Miller’s offices are inside the coliseum
near the ticket windows.
Miller took me to Groff s office. Groff said he wanted
to talk to the girl before he said anything. “If someone is
saving tickets I need to know about it,” he said.
Groff called the Battalion later.
“The girl claims she just put the six aside by mis
take,” he said. “I don’t have any reason to doubt her
word. She’s not a student and neither is her husband so
it’s not likely she saved them for friends.”
The girl in Window 3, Cindy Hounsell, spoke then.
“You have to see my side,” she said. “It was so early and I
just made a mistake.
“I was upset about the mistake when the next stu
dent asked for his tickets and he didn’t make himself clear
enough.
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