Batt column evaluated
The Student Government point of view
By TOM WALKER
SG Exec. Director
In “The economic reply (Feb.
25), Mike Perrin argues that Stu
dent Government, in a large part or
as a whole, is consciously attempt
ing to conspire against the best in
terests of the student body, is busy
squandering the student s money
without providing any substantial
services in return and is engaged in
bootlicking the administration
while dragging its feet in areas of
student rights. The alleged exis
tence of the “Necktie Party,” he
states, is prima facie evidence that a
need exists for something new and
that the old system is not working
well enough to suit the student
body. The formation of a party indi
cates only that a disagreement exists
on ways to solve a problem, not that
the new party’s platform is prima
facie any more viable than existing
policies.
Service fees, Perrin failed to men
tion that $65,000 of them go to the
Battalion and they are requesting
(from Student Government)
$95,000 for next year. This is in spite
of the fact that the Batt is making
$21,000 profit off of advertising. It is
also interesting to note that while
the SG Executive Committee and
senators serve without compensa
tion, the Battalion staff, including
Perrin’s wife, the managing editor,
are salaried.
Student Service fees in ignorance of
other universities’ activities. He
pleads for the establishment of an
open-air radio station, citing such
stations at “other schools. Such a
station would be a great addition to
the university but would require
approximately $30,000 for minimal
equipment. Perhaps the Batt would
be willing to give up some of its
allocation.
SG is not, as he states, a represen
tative body because of the low voter
turnout which he cites. However,
let’s place the blame where it
belongs: on those who do not care
enough to vote and on those who
thoughtlessly vote for senators who
do not care enough to actively
participate. For these, SG can
never be truly representative. This
is exemplified by the number of ap
pointed senators cited by Perrin. A
lion’s share of these seats were vac
ated by people who found that Stu
dent Sertate required a little time
and effort, a possibility they had not
anticipated. Those people were
elected by students who didn’t take
the time to look into their candi
dates desire and willingness to
work.
Throughout his article, Perrin
speaks of the timidity of SG in failing
to properly castigate the administra
tion for not allowing all university
decisions to be made solely by stu
dents. Unquestionably, the ad
ministration, and especially the
Board of Directors, have made a
number of decisions this year that
have not set well with many stu
dents. If Perrin objects to the words
“takes strong exception to” in the
Senate’s Building Use Fee Resolu
tion, he should have seen to it that
the Student Senate was composed
of people who would have voted for
the stronger wording that was in
troduced with “demanded” an exp
lanation. He had that opportunity
last April, as did all of the other
“unrepresented” students. Even as
I write this, two officers of your
“timid” SG are in Austin testifying
before the House on limiting build
ing use fees.
Perrin chastised SG for its “get-
along” attitude with the administra
tion, citing as examples former SG
leaders who have worked for the
University. If Perrin will examine
the records, he will find that the
people he mentioned in particular
were instrumental in some of the
most progressive and much-needed
reforms at A&M, including Discip
linary Appeals, female housing and
student membership on university
committees. Rather than being
hired because they had been yes-
men, they were recognized by the
infamous Administration as think
ing individuals with the interests of
the students in mind. If the Necktie
Party did not believe in a “get-
along” policy, fine, but they will
have to get enough student support
to be able to back up their demands.
With only 20 per cent concerned
enough to vote, they obviously
would not have a strong enough
support base to carry out their “up
against the wall policy.
That lack of participation and rep
resentation is at the root of all of
SG’s alleged shortcomings -— lack of
power, lack of earthshaking projects
and lack of universal student in-
volvment. It is interesting to see the
same small group of senators sign up
for all SG projects and the same
large group complaining about how
hard they have to work every other
Wednesday. This can be changed
by the constituents — if they care.
Perrin complains about lack of
input in administrative activities,
but of the ten students at the Board
meeting, Feb. 25, I counted six who
were connected with SG and Perrin
was conspicuously absent, “instead
of trying to solve the problem.”
Blaming Student Government for
Student Service fees increases is ab
surd. These decisions were made by
the administration and the Aggie-
land increase (interestingly enough)
was made by the Student Publica
tions Board, under whom Perrin
works. Nevertheless, I challenge
Mr. Perrin to find a book that con
tains so much and cPsts so much to
produce for only $9.50. Still, if the
Aggieland doesn’t interest him, he
need not buy it.
Perrin apparently feels that be
cause another university has a good
idea, it is beneath our dignity to use
it and probably improve on it. Ad
mittedly, another school had the
idea for a “book mart” but in our first
feeble attempt, we saved the stu
dents approximately $9,000, handl
ing $30,000 worth in books. This
was made possible because 600 stu
dents rent SG refrigerators, provid
ing the capital to buy the books.
Those “other universities” at a re
cent Texas Student Association
meeting expressed their astonish
ment that our Book Mart handled
more books than all others in the
state combined — in its first year.
Indeed, where would the Battalion
be if its staff did not communicate
with others through journalism con
ferences (March 6 and 7, 1975)?
In the interest of truth, four years
ago, when prices were lower, we
were without a new student center
and a modern, well-equipped hos
pital (I won’t debate their services
or aesthetic quality). In addition,
student activities and services have
been upgraded and added to; for
example, the Personal Counselling
Center, Arts and Crafts Center,
OPAS, etc.
While we re speaking of Student
Should SG terminate its efforts in
such areas as food and gas co-ops, a
recycling center, reduced utilities
deposits, personal property insur
ance and student volunteer in
volvement just because some other
university has tried them and had
good results? Sure, other univer
sities had a Student Lawyer before
we did, but only two of these were
in Texas. He wonders why we are
just now getting student financed
professor evaluations years after
those “other universities” while in
the same breath asking for lower
Throughout the article, Perrin re
fuses to make the distinction bet
ween SG as a whole and its various
branches. Certainly, the legislative
branch does seem to the ordinary
student to be overburdened with
nebulous parliamentary procedure.
As a result of overemphasis on the
once-every-two-weeks meeting by
the Battalion, most students, in
cluding Perrin, equate the Student
Senate with allof SG. Indeed, most
of the work of Student Government
takes place not on the floor of the
Senate but in committees and dur
ing the SG projects, as is the case
with most representative bodies. If,
when Perrin used the words “Stu
dent Government,” he included all
of SG, he as one of the nine mem
bers of the judicial branch could be
accused of timidity, inactivity, and
having a “get-along” attitude with
the administration. An interesting
outgrowth of this is that should any
election question come before the
Student Body Judicial Board, a
question of conflict of interest would
assuredly arise concerning Perrin’s
promotion of one certain party in
the election.
This letter is not meant as a blan
ket condemnation of either the Bat
talion or Mike Perrin. It is the duty
of any medium to stimulate ques
tioning of established organizations,
policies, and persons and their rela
tive value and contribution to the
society. Perrin’s job as part of the
Battalion does confer some respon
sibility to serve as the watchdog for
the students over every aspect of life
atTAMU. Certainly, his column has
always done that and for it, I am
grateful.
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.
'Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Station, Texas 77843.
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LETTERS POUCY
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Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room
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Editor
Assistant Editor
Managing Editor
Assistant Managing Editor .
Sports Editor
Photo Editor
City Editor
News Editors
Greg Moses
. . .Will Anderson
. .LaTonya Perrin
Roxie Hearn
Mike Bruton
. . . Glen Johnson
Rod Speer
.... Barbara West
Douglas Winship
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim Lindsey, chairman; Dr.
Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr. H. E. Hierth, W. C. Harrison, Steve
Eberhard, Don Hegi, and John Nash, Jr.
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc.,
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Reporters. . .T.C. Gallucci, Tony Gallucci, Paul McGrath, Robert Cessna, Gerald
Olivier, Rose Mary Traverse, Steve Gray, Judy Baggett, Alan Killingsworth, Sayeeful
Islam, Mary Jeanne Quebe, Cathryn Clement, Cindy Maciel, Jim Peters, Mark
Schluter, Steve Ussery, B. Babji Singh, Don Middleton, Mike Kimmey, Jerry
Geary, Chris Askew.
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,
:h Via ' ' '
September through ivlay, and once a week during summer school.
Photographers Douglas Winship, David Kimmel,
Gary Baldasari, Jack Holm, Chris Svatek, Steve Krauss, Kevin Fotorny, Tom
Kayser, David McCarroll.
Artists and cartoonists Dr. James H. Earle, Nguyen Dziem,
Brad Foster, Rodney Hammack, Tom Brents, Scott Morgan.
Columnists Bill Sheen, Mike Perrin, John Vanore,
John Tim Cowden
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He should understand, however,
that it is the function of any rep
resentative body to serve as the
mediator between all factions of a
society for the good of all. Com
promise is inherent in this process;
as the Neckties call it, “getting
along.” If we all really look at it,
Student Government is only as
strong as the students it represents.
The administration realizes this and
if SG doesn’t have the power it
should, we can only turn inward to
see why.
'WE COULD NATIONALIZE IT, OR MAYBE GET SOME ARAB TO BUY IT—BUT WHERE COULD
YOU FIND AN ARAB THAT DUMB?'
Mail subscriptions are $5.00 per semester; $9.50 per school year; $10.50 per
tull year. All subscriptions subject to 5 C A sales tax. Advertising rate furnished a
on request. Address: The Battalion, Room ^17, Services Building, College'
Student on the Board?
Input must come from other sources
By BILL SHEEN
I spoke last week about some al
ternatives to actually having a stu
dent on the Board of Directors. But
why shouldn’t there be a student on
the Board?
The most important argument giv
en against such a proposal by admin
istrators is that a
student could
never get a feel
ing for the re
sponsibilities of
being a Board
member in the
one to four years
he would be ap
pointed for. It is
a job of terrific responsibility and it
demands a huge amount of varied
experiences and abilities.
And if students need more input,
what about the faculty? They have
at least as large a stake in this uni
versity as students do. What about
staff members and other non
teaching employees of Texas A&M?
Where will the line be drawn?
These could be taken as very good
arguments for Board indepen
dence.
Coasters and Co. By Rodney Hammad
But that alone is not enough to
keep students off the Board. The
presupposition is that the student
would have extraordinary voting
strength — enough to overrule the
prudence of regular Board member
decisions. But most people in fa
vor of student representation would
agree that voting strength is not
their primary goal. They seek
more direct student input into
Board decisions.
In a very real sense, the Board of
Directors of a major university is
much like that of a Board of Direc
tors of a large company. They both
make policy in order to make their
company or university more effi
cient or more attractive to prospec
tive customers. It doesn’t ask
maintenance men whether it ought
to build a new plant in Navasota. If it
doesn’t do a ^ood job, it gets fired.
But how do you fire a university
Board member? You don’t. You’ve
stuck with him for six years. So why
should they care what the faculty
thinks? Or students; they’re in
transit, anyway.
THE AWWISTRMIOM
VMHS STUDCNT
OPINIOVS
Plate n S-.*
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I think Board members often
forget that whether they like it or
not, they work for us, we don’t work
for them. They’re a government
agency, not General Motors.
If it was decided to place a stu
dent on the Board for his peculiar
student viewpoint, how would one
be chosen who could be representa
tive for all the conflicting student
view points on campus? What stu
dent knows a large enough cross-
section of students to be able to
adequately measure student opin
ion?
But these are theoretical prob
lems. On a practical level, things are
even more complicated. It would be
very difficult for most Board mem
bers to speak candidly on an equal
basis with a student.
And a very special sort of student
would have to be chosen. We don’t
need a belligerent vote getter. We
need one that would be willing to
work with the Board and not against
it. If neither the Board members
nor the students were willing to lis
ten to each other, the Board meet
ings would likely degenerate into
bickering shows of one-upmanship.
That’s why 1 don’t think that
TAMU is ready for a student on the
Board of Directors. The Board we
have now may not he much, but it
would not profit much by student
inclusion.
Both students and the Board have
a lof of growing up and communicat
ing to do before they are ready to
meet on equal ground. And nothing
of value will be accomplished by a
Board that has no feeling for the
problems of students. The same ap
plies for students with no concep
tion of administrative problems.
I still stand behind my proposal of
last week. In fact, 1 think it isfaiant
away much more practical thani
student on the Board.
I suggested personal interacts
through meetings between tit
Board and students. Those studert
would he elected.
The meetings would he privatf
and inf ormal with no reporters and
no pressure. They used it at ife
and I think it would work here.
There was a misprint in my fa
jcblummTt read, “The general fitt-
lie isn’t allowed to talk beforeases
sion of the Board during
comment-from-visitors’ session
after regular business.”
The comment-from-visitors ses
sion is a regular part of Board meet
ings and the Board invites anyone®
the audience to speak.
AGGIE CINEMA
presents
International Series
MEIN KAMPF
-iv
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Erwin Leiser, “Mein Kampf’’ basically permits the
Nazis to tell — through their own eyes, speeches and
cameras — the history of their murderous exploits.
Tuesday, March 4
Rudder Theater
8:00 P.M.
$1.00
&
Rotary Community Series
IN COOPERATION WITH
Texas A&M University Town Hall
and
TOM MALLOW
Bob
earroll
Fiddler
on the Roof
iTb r/r/. i Moif /tre/sii/n/x/ M/.u'rrif
Based on SDolom AleictienTS stories
By Special Permission of Arnold Perl
Mr Robbins Direction
Reproduced By
RICHARD ALTMAN
Mr. Robbins Choreography
Reproduced By
DIANA BAFFA
... JOSEPH STEIN
-JERRY BOCK
SHELDON HARNICK
MONDAY MAR. 10, 1975 8:00 PI
RUDDER CENTER AUDITORIUM
TAMU STUDENT AND DATE s 2"
General Public $ 6 50
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