Viewpoint
The Battalion Friday
Texas A&M University December 2, 1977
South Africa’s future: Who knows?
WILLIAM RASPBERRY
WASHINGTON — I recently expressed
my gloomy doubts that South Africa will
never be able to work its way out of its racial
dilemma.
A white South African thinks I may be
overly pessimistic.
One of the major obstacles to bloodless
resolution of the country’s simmering racial
conflict, says Harry Green, is the absence
of genuine white challenge to the apartheid
policies of the Vorster government.
If that could be changed, he believes,
there could be the beginnings of real power
sharing between white and black South Af
ricans, the only genuine prospect for
peace. That same point was made in a Sep
tember speech by Colgin Eglin of the
South African parliament, leader of the
Progressive Federal Party.
Green said he and other Elgin con
stituents have been canvassing on behalf of
the PFP, with encouraging results. “Okay,
okay. So if we get 25 seats, we will be
shouting Hallelujah on Nov. 30/Dec. 1 —
and that out of a House of 177,” admitted
Green, a Sea Point businessman.
“But we will have an opposition which
will be free of double-talk. The old United
Party was riddled with it, and the (ruling)
Nationalist Party is not free from it. If my
figure of 25, give or take, is fulfilled, for the
first time in many years a white opposition
party will be a relevant factor — at a time
when white politics is becoming increas
ingly irrelevant.”
Letters to the editor
What the PFP is pushing, however ten
tatively, is a sharing of power: full citizen
ship rights for all South Africans, a new
constitution “drawn up, negotiated and
agreed upon by representatvies of all sec
tions of our people, a sharing of political
decision-making and an end to trial-less
imprisonment and “banning. ”
All of this would have to be done, of
course, without the introduction of major
ity rule. The one thing that no South Afri
can can realistically accept — no matter
how liberal his politics — is the notion of
one-man, one-vote.
But, then, black South Africans have not
made much of a point of it, either. The late
Steve Biko, during his May 1976 trial, reit
erated the position of this South African
Student Organization (SASO): “There will
be proportionate contribution to the joint
culture by those who form the society. That
means that white people will be included,
blacks will be included, and all of us will
contribute proportionally to the joint cul
ture of the society.
Hardly anyone could disagree with such
a goal. The problem in my mind has always
been whether South Africa can get there
from where it is. Given the government’s
reflexive crackdown on any challenge to the
status quo — whether the challenge comes
from black leaders, from university stu
dents or from white newspapers — it is
difficult to see how voices of moderation
can exert much influence.
But my correspondent is convinced that
the election of more moderates to the par
liament could change all that. “I can tell
you that in my canvassing, I find the electo
rate fearful of majority rule, but even more
so of a Russian presence (Angola up the
road from us) and a black confrontation,”
Green wrote.
He hopes to drive home the point that
present policies serve to increase the
likelihood of both Russian influence and
black confrontation.
I had suggested that catastrophe appears
unavoidable, given two facts: that change is
inevitable and peaceful change (in light of
the government’s attitudes) is impossible.
Eglin and the PFP cite another pair of
facts that lead to a less-gloomy conclusion:
“The first fact is that we live in a
dynamic, changing situation. The second
fact is that no solution for the future is going
to work unless it is the result of joint
decision-making by all sections of the South
African population.”
(c) 1977, The Washington Post Company
“A CLASS THAT DOESN’T MEET ON FRIDAY? THAT’S
THE ONLY LIMITATION YOU HAVE?”
Flag fight was question of A&M’s ‘honor’
Editor:
I would like to address some of the com
ments that have been voiced in the “Cheap
Shot to the Editor” section of the Battalion.
Specifically, Tm talking about the actions of
the senior Corps members who blocked the
attempts of t. u. s Alpha Phi Omega to bring
the huge Texas flag on the field. To
enlighten a few, and to straighten out those
who voiced their somewhat ignorant opin
ions, I’ll tell you what went on.
I commanded that detail of seniors, I
made the decision to stand in front of that
t.m mob and I accept responsibility for the
actions of the unit of zips. The purpose of
the senior detail on the field is simply to
show respect to the U. S. flag and the Texas
flag. As we stood at present arms for the
playing of “Texas, Our Texas ”, which was a
first, a great deal of verbal abuse was
thrown at us from the flag holders.
At the conclusion of “Texas, Our Texas ,
the group faced to walk off of the field which
is standard operating procedure. But at the
request of the Yell Leaders, in an effort to
keep the tradition of not allowing mobs on
Kyle Field before the game, we marched
back in front of the t.u. flag holders.
When we turned to face this mob, we
were cussed by this group of boys and girls.
We were cussed, our mothers were cussed,
our dogs were cussed, and our God was
cussed — all this after paying respect to the
same flag that these folks were carrying.
Any time a flag is displayed, the people
doing so are responsible to act with the
greatest of dignity and personal bearing.
Their arrogance, their immaturity, their
childish behavior and their gross show of
bad manners led me to believe that letting
them on Kyle Field would be like letting a
dog eat off your plate. I like dogs and am in
no way trying to insult them by this anal
ogy-
The tradition stood at that time — not to
let mobs on the field before the team. They
distinguished themselves as a mob, and I
don’t think that the tradition should be
changed when dealing with them. I de
cided to keep the seniors on the field until
asked to leave by the authorities — Joe
Reagan and the crowd control men (the
guys with the badges and the walkie-
talkies).
In retrospect, I view the actions of the
t.u. students as a show of disrespect for the
very flag which they were carrying. Proper
display of a flag is a very important part of
the symbolic value of the flag. The flag of
the Republic of Texas was properly dis
played at the south end of Kyle Field and
shown proper respect. The same flag was
disgraced by the t.u. students in their be
havior.
In looking back, the distasteful part of
the events prior to the game was not the
action of the senior detail, nor the small fist
fight, the orange chicken or the armadillo.
Though these events did offend some, they
involved two people, a bird and a mammal.
It might sound a bit serious for a column
in which “humor” is the word for the day. I
can find a little humor in a bird and ar
madillo, but the flag of Texas deserves the
respect of all who display it. To me, the
issue shifts from one of our traditions and of
our cruelty to animals to one of our honor.
—Ken Donnelly, ‘78
Deputy Corps Commander
Rude on both sides
Editor:
In response to all of the letters written
claiming that Aggies showed poor
sportsmanship at the A&M-t.u. game last
week-end, I would like to say that we were
by no means the only ones who were rude.
When our fish drill team was trying to
perform before the game, the t.u. football
team ran out and started practicing.
Granted, both teams have to warm-up be
fore a game, but the teasips could have
waited five minutes until the drill team
finished.
Also, the t.u. band started marching off
and playing during the middle of our yell
practice after the game. They’d already
outscored us — couldn’t we have our yell
practice in peace in our own staduim with
out them being so rude and inconsiderate?
I think the teasips and our own students
who feel we were poor sports ought to stop
and consider these and several other inci
dents staged by some of the teasips. I don’t
intend to apologize to anyone at t.u. after
their rude actions and display of poor
sportsmanship!
—Julia Humphries, ‘79
Abuse not ‘spirit’
Editor:
The Humane Society of Brazos County
wishes to express its disapproval of the in
cident at the Texas A&M vs. Texas game, in
which several A&M corps members abused
a chicken in their display of “school spirit”.
It is disturbing to hear of such insensitive
treatment of an animal and even more di-
turbing to come to the conclusion that
these young men probably thought that the
near 60,000 fans at the game would enjoy
seeing this take place.
The fact is that a great number of those
fans have expressed to us their shock, dis
gust and displeasure at the incident. It
might also be added that we have received
complaints about the painted armadillo
tradition at A&M and the use of a pig at the
Arkansas game.
It is our goal to eliminate cruelty to and
suffering among animals in this area. The
offense noted may be in violation of Sec.
42.11 of the Texas Penal Code. However, it
is not our intention to file cruelty to animal
charges against those individuals responsi
ble, as it is our hope that our disapproval
and the disapproval of many Aggie fans will
be enough to discourage any such future
displays.
—Mrs. Jean K. Duffey
President,
Humane Soceity of Brazos County
Ending it all
Editor:
Well, here’s another one of those tedious
letters to the Editor. This letter, like sooo
many others, concerns the actions of Aggies
and teasips alike at the t.u. game. I’m writ
ing this because I don’t happen to agree
with too many of the other letters that the
Battalion has seen fit to publish.
First, I too would like to sputter a few
things concerning traditions. So many
people have written in to slam the corps
and non-regs for not respecting t.u. s tradi
tion of carrying a caricature of our state flag
into the field before every football game;
saying that if we don’t respect other
schools’ traditions, how are we to expect
them to respect our own. Might I point out,
however, that their tradition was in conflict
with one of our own and we were playing at
oiir home field.
Sure, there were some poor decisions
made on our part out there during the fes
tivities and I’ll agree that a riot over a foot
ball, or the things associated with one, is a
foolish thing. Yet, when one is being
shoved around and badmouthed by a lousy
teasip who is attempting to violate a tradi
tion and damage a fellow Ag, well, one
doesn’t always stop to consider the conse
quences of his actions.
This happened to me and several people
around me. When someone shoves me,
spits at me, swings at me, or calls me a dirty
name, I sometimes get upset.
I realize that a lot of what went on along
the sidelines before and after the game was
senseless, but it wasn’t all unprovoked.
Those people in orange and white weren’t
so innocent as is implied by the recent let
ters in the Battalion.
Anytime that there is that large a number
of excited, spirited people jammmed,
crammed, or shoehorned into a staduim
the size of ours to watch a violent gamej
then you’re living in surrealism not to ex
pect something to happen.
The things that did occur were unfortu
nate but probably predictable and not the
fault of any group or individual alone, Aggie
or teasip.
So can’t we let the issue drop without
casting blame or making unfair value
judgements on other Ags. I regret many of
the things that happened Nov. 26, but I
apologize for none of them.
—Curt S., ‘81
Editor’s note: Yes, we can let the issue
drop and will with this letter. However,
we may in the future consider possible
solutions to the problems that you point
out seem so inherent in having “that large
a number of excited, spirited people jam
med, crammed or shoe-horned into a
staduim the size of ours.”
The right to pray
Editor:
I would like to respond to Jeffrey W.
Clark s letter to the Battalion on Nov. 29
concerning public prayer.
I do not condone public prayer for a
couple of reasons. Prayer is a personal
thing. It should be kept to the individual
and not forced upon another at a public
gathering. By praying publicly, one is
violating the rights of those who are not
Christian believers such as Jews, Buddh
ists, Hindus, Humanists, Agnostics and
Atheists (Yes, they go to A&M, too!).
According to the Bible even Jesus did not
condone public prayer, “And when thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are: for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets
(and at football games), that they may be
seen of men. . .But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when
thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father which is
in secret shall reward thee openly.”
(Matthew 6:5-6) People don’t pray at public
concerts and lectures, so why pray at foot
ball games?
—Lynne Fahlquist,’81
Editor’s note: To each his own — that’s
what rights are all about, aren’t they?
Why police armed?
Editor:
Why do the officers of the TAMU police
department carry guns? Are the ticket-
toters expecting a sequel to the Kent State
riot or the madness at t.u.? Neither of
which could be handled by a single force,
much less a lesser-trained university
police department. When was the last
time one of our ticket stickers used his or
her gun in the line of duty?
In the case of a shooting or other crime
occurring on campus that may involve the
need of a firearm other forces will be
called in and they will make the investiga
tion. So why endanger the students and
police by allowing the mighty ticket force
to carry guns?
I see the use of guns by the university
polie unnecessary. I hate to think of going
to Silver Taps on account of such an avoid
able accident. Where there are people
there are accidents. Why give death
another chance? After all, we’re not hood
lums, we re Aggies!
Kyle Couser, ’81
Editor’s note: The University police offi
cers are commissioned law enforcement
officers and part of their duty is to carry
firearms. But no University police officer
has ever fired or even drawn his weapon
on duty. That’s quite a record.
Defending Catholics
Editor:
In the spirit of'Madalyn Murray O Hair,
I feel that the time has come to climb atop
my soapbox and offer my two cents worth
concerning Mrs. O’Hair and her state
ments. It is obvious to anyone that Mrs.
O’Hair has not been doing her homework
and that she has made herself quite open
to criticism as a result of her latest offen
sive campaign.
Madalyn Murray O’Hair has clung to
the Bill of Rights for years, making good
use of her rights of fi eedom of speech and
freedom to petition the government. Now,
the Catholic Church is under fire by Mrs.
O’Hair for doing the same thing. It is the
priviledge of every American and the
Catholic Church to lobby for or against
abortion. To Mrs. O’Hair’s action I say,
“Who in the heck is she to think that only
she be allowed to speak her peace, pub
licly or in the Congress?”
It also appears that Mrs. O’Hair knows
little about the Catholic Church. Her peti
tion for a collection boycott is a joke. All
Catholics are well aware that the freedom
of choice concerning abortion is a myth.
According to God’s law, not man’s, abor
tion is murder. The decisions of right vs.
wrong follow from God also, not the
mortals who make up the Catholic
Church. The decision of life or death was
never intended to be a mortal decision,
especially not that of an emotional 18-
year-old girl. If it were to be that a per
son’s life or death should be in the hands of
another person, would it be right to take
Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s life? After all,
she has, and is going to, cause more grief
than a dozen unplanned children.
It is a shame that so much money and
energy, which could be used to save lives,
is being wasted on ending lives and mak
ing many other lives uncomfortable.
Robert L. Vaclavik, ’80
An IQ suggestion
Editor:
I am writing in response to a front page
story in your Nov. 10 issue entitled,
“Shockley, Goldsby Debate IQ Factors.”
Shockley and Goldsby disagree on the
causes of the 15 point deficit of black’s
scores compared to white’s scores on IQ
tests. I would like to suggest that the two
variables are very similar, and that one may
be the result of the other.
Shockley states that the lower score is
due to hereditary factors, while Goldsby
firmly believes the deficit is due to
environmentally controlled factors.
Studies have proven that environmental
intervention can improve IQ test scores. If
we take these people out of their normal
environment (which has been inherited)
and place them in an environment where
they would receive specialized training and
education (environment intervention), it is
quite obvious that the scores of these
people with low socio-economic status will
be increased. We can say the
environmental factos are a result, or effect,
of the hereditary determinants, the cause.
But, must we take kids away from their
families and put them in specialized schools
or in families with a higher socio-economic
level to attempt to raise their IQ test
scores. In effect this would be enacting
communism. The only way we can effec
tively raise the IQ test scores is by improv
ing vocational training for the parents, so
that it may be passed on through the gener
ations.
Cindy Corti, ’81
Top of the News
Campus
Library to open 24 hours
For those students who want to study for finals, the Texas A&M
University libraries will be open 24 hours a day. The extended hours
begin Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. and will last until midnight, Dec 14.
Loaned art prints past due
Art prints which were checked out at the Sterling C. Evans Library
in the early fall were due Thursday, according to Emma Perry, head
of the circulation division. A fee of $5 will be charged for those items
which are returned late.
State
Houston nuclear plant in 1985
Houston Lighting & Power Co. has announced a federal permit for
construction of the reactivated Allens Creek nuclear power project is
still about a year away. If construction begins in 1978, the nuclear
plant should go into operation in the summer of 1985. The total cost
of the scaled-down project now is estimated at $1 billion in inflated
1985 dollars, said company spokesman Jim Parsons.
Irate farmers rally in Dallas
Farmers supporting the American Agriculture Movement and its
proposed Dec. 14 strike gathered in Texas Stadium in Irving Thurs
day in what they said was another effort to show the seriousness of
their economic problems. Rally activites — primarily preformances
by musical groups — were scheduled from noon to midnight Thurs
day and today, highlighted by a planned “tractorcade” through
downtown Dallas at 1 p.m. today. Farmers then plan to "march”50
tractors, representing each state, to Washington D.C. by Dec 10fora
confrontation with President Carter and Agriculture Secretary Bob
Bergland.
i
Nation
Boy Scouts not ‘lily-white’
A Boy Scout leader in Kansas City, Mo., says a publicly funded
community group asked him to assemble “a lily-white" honor guard
for its Christmas program — barring black, Mexican-American and
Vietnamese youngsters. Frank Palermo, chairman of the Boy Scout
Lone Star district, called the request from the Northeast Area Com
munity Council “repugnant,” and said Wednesday he will not permit
any of his scouts to participate. The council, which receives some
funds from the city, wanted the scouts to serve as an honor guard,
leading the pledge of allegiance at its Dec. 19 program. Council
officials denied Palermo’s charge. They said the controversy was a
misunderstanding of their request to have only scouts from the
northeastern area chosen to help with the program.
Carter may name 145 judges
Congress is about to give President Carter the chance to increase
the federal judiciary about 30 percent by naming more judges than
any other president in history. A bill creating 110 new district court
judgeships and 35 new circuit court positions is about to be approved
by Congress. It also voted to ask Carter to make the nominations on
the basis of merit, not party, although his record to date has been one
of naming only Democrats as judges and U. S. attorneys. The last new
federal judges were named in 1970, and despite court backlogs,,the
Democrat-controlled Congress was not eager to create judgeships for
a Republican president to fill.
Sevareid retires from airwaves
Eric Sevareid closed a four-decade journalistic career with the
same plain, chiseled words that colored his reporting from the
battlefields of Europe to network television in his final commentary
broadcast Wednesday night. Sevareid’s career in journalism began as
a student activist at the University of Minnesota, carried him to the
Minneapolis Journal in 1936, to Paris where he worked for the New
York Herald Tribune and United Press before joining Ed Morrow
and CBS news in 1939 to help cover World War II. He will remain at
CBS as a news consultant.
Longshoremen end strike
The president of the International Longshoreman’s Association
Thursday ordered striking dockworkers at the nation’s second-largest
port. New Orleans, back to work, ending a 62-day walkout against
containerized cargo ships. The New Orleans dockworkers had been
the last major holdouts in a strike that began Oct. 1 and stranded
containerized cargo ships from Maine to Texas. Longshoremen at
most other ports approved a national contract earlier this week. ILA
members in Baltimore, Baton Rouge, La., and Mobile, Ala., still
have not reached agreement on a new contract but those ports were
unaffected by the strike.
World
Mudslide hits Swedish town
A giant mudslide swept away 40 houses in the western Swedish
town of Gothenburg Wednesday, killing at least four people and
gouging a 3,000-foot-long crevice in the earth. Rescue workers said
they feared more bodies were buried under the debris. The mud —
layered on top of solid rock and loosened by recent heavy rains —
began rumbling down an embankment in the middle-class suburb of
Hisingen 300 miles west of Stockholm at about dusk, officials said.
Weather
Clear to partly cloudy and mild today and tomorrow with
variable winds 5-10 mph. High today low 70s. Low tonight
mid-40s. High tomorrow mid-70s. No rain.
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The Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily
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