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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1978)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Friday October 6, 1978 Are ‘Animal Houses’ taking over They say this is the era of the indi- ■vidual, of originality and of indepen dent thought. But it’s becoming fear fully clear how quickly that “indepen dence” can be squelched by the great celluloid mind-bender, the All- American movie. John Travolta’s case of “Saturday Night Fever” infected an entire gen eration with disco fever. Before that the “Jaws” super shark was scaring people off beaches coast-to-coast. It’s not even that modern a phe nomenon. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” almost ended the shower as an American way of life. Marlon Brando’s macho portrayal in “A Streetcar Named Desire” created an entore masculine mystique around the plain white T-shirt. And now we have “Animal House.” It doesn’t matter whether this collec tion of assorted crazies, drunks and wild men has anything to do with art, truth or reality. What matters is that people are imitating those crazies, drunks and wild men. Since “Animal” fever struck we’ve seen some of the strangest—and occa sionally most disgusting—behavior to ever darken the Texas A&M campus. And that’s at a university that places a premium on strange, occasionally dis gusting behavior. “Toga parties” that bring together hundreds of sheet-garbed students are harmless enough. But some of the other “monkey-see, monkey-do” ac tivities are not. There are not many sights as dis gusting as that of one mob of youthful men — under the pretense of a “water fight” — hurling handfuls of hog excrement at another mob of men. Not much better is a movie “audi ence” that rips, litters and steals vari ous parts of Rudder Auditorium dur ing a midnight movie. Then there was last Friday’s food fight in Sbisa Dining Hall. It’s one thing to shower self and consenting friends with chicken, pizza and as sorted vegetables; it’s something entirely different to do the same to innocent bystanders, including stu- m dents’ parents and grandparents. It’s a bit frightening to think that a mere two-hour motion picture could turn people into fitting residents for an “Animal House.” George Orwell, in his book “1984”, predicted that by that year the citizenry would be controlled men tally and emotionally by regularly- scheduled exposure to movies. It seems his prediction may be coming true. And it’s only 1978. L.R.L. Involved in the Russian black market Last in a 2-part Series (Editor's note: in the first article in this series. Dr. Loving described the Russian black market. Dr. Loving spent three months last winter in Russia as a Fulbright Fellow.) By DR. JEROME LOVING For a number of obvious reasons we de termined to have nothing to do with the black market. And when we left Russia in May we gave away to students and friends what clothing items we felt we could spare. But there were, we ultimately de cided, a few items that we could not afford to give away - heavy boots, gloves, coats, etc., purchased especially for the snow and minus 25 degree Leningrad weather. And since we had worn these items over on the plane in February, we had no room for them in our trunk in May. Hence, I decided to take the risk and sell them for rubles at half the price we had paid for them. But we approached this transaction with the utmost of caution; for soviet officials - if they wished, as I think they did in Craw ford’s case — could have claimed we were asking inflated prices and thus dealing in the black market. Our first Soviet acquaintance — call him Yuri — had long admired our boots and coats and often made us offers, much more than we wanted. I suppose I would have given him many of the items, but I sus pected his friendship was mainly based on what he hoped to get from us in the way of Letters to the Editor Dr. Jerome Loving western goods. One afternoon while walk ing with him outside my hotel, I broached the subject of the sale and he jumped at it. We completed all of our bartering (such as it was) outside by the Neva River, which runs right through the city, because both of us suspected my quarters had been equipped with secret listening devices. This is an assumption that all foreign diplomatic people make. I never found any bugs, but once I accidentally broke the telephone and the hotel maids abso lutely refused to let me take it apart to fix it. Instead they promptly replaced it. Their service had never been so good! Once inside my quarters, Yuri silently tried on the items for sale. He was very agreeable about prices, overwhelmed when I threw in a pair of old raggedy jeans to boot. These alone were worth about 50 rubles. But he was still hungry. “Do you have any cosmetics to sell?” he asked in his faltering English. My wife dipped into her purse and came up with an old bottle of nail polish. This too we gave away. The deal was set but far from safely completed. We still had to get the con traband out of the heavily watched hotel and into his one-room communal flat (another story). Because the hotel catered to foreign tourists and guests, it was always patrolled by militia (Soviet police), and the main entrance, the only entrance, was constantly watched by crusty old men who were doubtless KBG agents or informers. Yuri didn’t dare walk out of the hotel with a suspicious looking bag. He trembled at the thought of it. No, I would have to de liver the goods another day, something I had not contemplated. The "drop” therefore was set for the fol lowing Saturday. And during that week I backed out of the arrangemet vicariously a number of times. I wasn’t really breaking any Soviet laws because I was selling at a fair price, but at the same time I realized that I was making myself vulnerable to what had proved during my stay in Russia to be a hostile government as far as Ameri cans were concerned. If Yuri had talked (and his fear might have made him) and the Soviet officials were SO inclined, I could have found my self in the same dilemma as Francis Craw ford. The day of the delivery my son David and I mustered our courage and calmly marched past the doorman and militia man with a large box and my briefcase filled with another pair of boots. We did not depart without notice, of course, but then any time Americans moved in that city everybody seemed to know it. We boarded the tram, or trolley, that rolled by our hotel, transferred to another, and were soon in Yuri’s neighborhood. Like the rest of the city proper, the streets are lined with old mansions, now some what run-down and divided into small flats. We got off where I thought Yuri and I were supposed to meet, but he failed to appear. David and I must have waited on that busy street corner ten or fifteen min utes. All the while Russians, curious about my box and David’s bright red ski jacket, looked at us out of the corner of their eyes. “Could Yuri have chickened out of the deal?” I asked myself. Had he decided to report the deal to the authorities?” “Was Yuri a KBG agent?! I considered jumping into a taxi and getting back to the hotel and safety, but I remembered that most cabs were operated by KBG informers. My actions would seem strange, especially if I had been routinely followed - as I had been on other, rare occasions. I decided to go one more stop on the tram, just in case I had mistaken the meet ing place. We did, and to my relief there was our friend Yuri, smiling and ready to receive the goods. Naturally, we didn’t ex change them on the street but walked the three or four blocks to his flat. There his wife greeted us with an unannounced three-course Russian snack — about an hour after breakfast. Dr. Loving is an English professor at Texas Ai?M. Fighting over grass ‘pretty silly’ Editor: I feel sorry for those people who de graded Lindsay Scoggins in front of the MSC. I feel sorry for them because of their lack of manners, their ignorance, their lack of sensitivity, and their total lack of respect for fellow Aggies. What happened to the friendliness Aggies are so famous for? It was shown Tuesday that this longtime tra dition is fading fast. Since when does sitting on grass make someone a communist? The people accus ing Mr. Scoggins of being a communist need to take a trip to the dictionary. Also, these people sould know the issues the next time they choose to degrade someone in public. Slouch IjstF Why threats of violence? That was un called for. If anyone visiting A&M for the first time had seen or even read about the grass incident they would wonder what type of people actually go to this school. Fighting over grass is really pretty silly, and it looks even sillier. A&M is a unique school. It stands apart from any other university. Maybe that is why so many people choose to come here. However, Tuesday’s incident, and the way people behaved towards it only helped to categorize A&M with other schools such at t.u., in how they act towards their school and their fellow students. -Laurie Abernathey, ’80 by Jim Earle > <«*! “ I HAVE AS MUCH SCHOOL SPIRIT AS THE NEXT, BUT I CAN’T HELP BUT WORRY ABOUT WHAT MY MOTHER THINKS WHEN SHE LEARNS WE KISS AFTER TOUCHDOWNS AND WE’VE SCORED AS HIGH AS 58 POINTS!” Immoral deed Editor: It is a long standing tradition at A&M that people do not walk, stand or sit on the Memorial Student Center grass. All “good Ags” respectiy tradition, except for one hippie type who, Tuesday at 10 o’clock, was actually sitting on memorial grass. About a hundred “good Ags” and I noticed this immoral deed and decided to take action. We decided that anyone who would desecrate our memorial turf should beaten pulp in the name of God, Jesus Christ, apple pie and Lockheed. We gathered around this pointy headed liberal, anxiously awaiting his return to his seat. The feeling of comradeship which coursed through the crowd was enough to make an Aggie-Ex’s heart swell with pride. It is these when people should forget meaningless things like the revolution in Nicraua nuclear proliferation, civil liber ties, government corruption and minor details like impending wars and concen trate on important matters such as mid night yell practice, Reveille’s funerals and people sitting on the grass (fertilized by tradition). I should have known better than to ex pect some sort of worthwhile activity on campus because, after all, this is Aggie- land. —Mark Konecny Prove yells safe Editor: I am writing in regard to several recent articles in the Battalion concerning con duct in Sbisa dining hall. Being a dorm resident for four years and a head resident for three semesters, I know of the impor tance of dorm unity and spirit in a some what civilized manner. Sbisa has always been an exciting place to eat, especially on Friday nights before home football games. Most of the articles referenced last Fri day evening when an extensive showing of Aggie spirit culminated in the destruction of Sbisa furniture and a pretty large food fight, which resulted in the loss of dining hall privileges for several students. If the privilege of doing yells in Sbisa continues to be abused, we will undoubtedly lose it in the near future. Top level management of Sbisa and the Student Affairs Dept, is no longer willing to tolerate massive food fights, broken chairs and visitors getting hit with chicken bones. They have a good case as it has never been Aggie tradition to be destruc tive or hassle university administrators. However, it is my hope that in spite of last Friday, yells will still be allowed in Sbisa, if they are done without other radical ac tivity. With the Tech game coming up on Saturday being one of the biggest games of the year, it is very probable that Aggie Spirit will be riding even higher than last week. As an Aggie, a staff member and a dorm resident to confine their actions in Sbisa to dorm and Aggie yells only this Friday. I would like to see yells in Sbisa continued, but it is the opinion of most high level Sbisa and student aflair’s per sonnel that it is the yelling that leads to the other activity.’ If that is the case, we need to change; otherwise, let’s prove it’s not so. How about it Ags? —Bruce Klinger, ‘78 Head Resident, Crocker Hall P. S. My apologies to Mary Helen Brown. Most of those guys were drunk and did not mean to offend anyone with their yells at Yell Practice. Smoke instead Editor: This is to comment on all the “un-Aggie, communistic, pinko, go to T.U.” letters and articles I’ve read. I thought the Aggie traditions were to keep the Ags together. I also thought Ags were suppose to be a homogeneous body who stuck up for each other. I think if there were more “How- dies” (what happened to that tradition?) and less complaining about how un-Aggish everyone and everything is, this childish labeling would stop, and it’s about time it did. -Jenny Hagen, ’81 P.S. If more people would smoke grass instead of worrying about sitting on it, we d all be a lot better “off.” Top of the News campus Election commission meets today The student election commission for 1978-79 is scheduled to meet today at 5 p.m. in the Student Government office, Room 216 of the Memorial Student Center. Anyone interested in working on the commission, which supervises all campus elections, is invited to the short meeting. STATE UT fraternity members indicted A Travis County grand jury has indicted a member and two former pledges of a University of Texas fraternity on felony aggravated as sault charges for beating and sexually molesting a freshman student. Alpha Tau Omega fraternity member Ron Alan Wilson, 19, of Law^ ton, Okla., and former pledges James Patrick Hinson, 19, and Robert Taylor Herrin HI, 18, both of Houston, were named in the third degree felony indictments Wednesday. The three students were charged earlier with attempted sexual abuse. Michael Froelich of New Braunfels told police he was walking past the ATO house on Aug. 31 when two men grabbed him and his roommate and dragged them into some nearby bushes. The roommate escaped but Froelich claimed he was taken to a garage where he was disrobed, robbed and assaulted. Froelich has withdrawn from school because of the inci dent. Roy Q. Minton, attorney for the three defendants, said he expected his clients to make their first court appearance next week and said they would plead innocent. Davis defense files 83 motions Lawyers for T. Cullen Davis have asked a judge in Houston to reject as evidence videotape recordings allegedly implicating the mil lionaire in a plot to kill his divorce judge. The motion was among 83 filed, and will be acted on Monday. Davis’ defense lawyers contend the recordings should not be admitted because Davis was not in formed of his constitutional rights beforehand. Ex-mayor to be jailed weekends A Brownsville federal judge Thursday reduced former Laredo Mayor J.C. Martin’s four-year mail fraud sentence to 30 weekends in the Webb County Jail. Martin was schedided to go to prison today. U.S. District Judge Reynaldo Garza, a longtime acquaintance ofMar- tin, said Martin was in “deteriorating health” and had paid the City of Laredo $237,838 in resitution. Garza also placed Martin on super vised probation the remainder of the four-year term. Houston to build air terminal The Houston City Council Wednesday approved preliminary plans for construction of a fourth terminal at Houston Intercontinental Air port. Terminal D, which would be able to handle 6.6 million passengers per year, will cost $162.7 million. It will serve as a combi nation domestic-international flight terminal, and is scheduled for completion in March 1983. NATION . . ;| Food prices increase again The cost ol food, down for two straight months, rose sharply in September to push up all wholesale prices by 0.9 percent, the gov ernment reported Thursday. It was the greatest increase since spring and a severe setback to the fight against inflation. The Labor De partments September report said food costs soared by 1.7 percent, the largest rise since April. Group wants all tires recalled 11A interest group has told government safety experts it thinks ^ F,re stone 500 steel-belted radial tires should be re- ca e . ie enter for Auto Safety in Washington said Firestone may Arl ° ne £ otlate a deal with the National Highway Traffic Safety fi=r a : ,0n S °j t u e tires wou . ld not be recalled. Firestone has con- related defects 16 ^ t Klt none °* tbe tires bas proven to have safety- WORLD Khalid well after heart surgery in “comnW^ ten< i^ n ^ ^ aucb Arabia s King Khalid says the monarch is of hisTamllv foil • aCt ° ry co, I ldition ” and able to chat with members Khalid 65 undo° Wln ^ °P® n heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Tuesday for reli Tf 60 U s,x 'h our double coronary bypass operation coro^ry aner^ ° m ^ and weak "«ss associated with blocked Bvl It's onl Jjt. TM Irrioed jibf orl niversi\ pn, j lit is to Tit /ladij Shortagi ever\| Hart, k Stor iter. )eHart facto ikstore’: »ks to b o deter for th ikstore nts for a Indents i class, lookstor | this ■ s twelfi Dus fall s Next the Iks they that per I’ many 1 beHart |en inti liber of WEATHER Partly cloudy with a chance of showers and cool with winds east to northeast 10-15 mph. 20% chance of rain today de- creasing for Saturday. High both days low 80’s. Low tonight mid-60 s. The temperature for kick off time tomorrow will be 81. LETTERS POUCY to . the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject t° 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 ; signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. epnone R^fn1 reSS (. orres ’l ondence ^ betters to the Editor. The statZ^r 1 ?/^ McDonaid Buadin *- CM "^ Represented nationally by National Educational Adver Ang n e g les erV,CeS ’ ' nC ’ ^ ^ ^ and Ls The Battalion member Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Kim Managing Editor ^ Assistant Managing Editor . . Karen R 0 ? 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College Station, Texas 77843 United Press International is entitled exclusively to the “ e , f ° r repletion of all news dispatches credited to it Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843 d Campus Editor Andy WiUi** News Editors Debbie P^' Beth Calhoun Editorial Director . .Lee Roy Leschp e J Staff Writers Mark Patterson Pendleton, Sean Michelle Scudder, Faulkenberry, Diane Cartoonist Doug pell 1 Marik Blake Grakr Photographer Ed Eua 111 0 P^ons expressed in The Battalion are artirl ° f J 6 ^ ° f the Writer °f ^ article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of j Regents. The Battalion is a non-proft' A u PPorting enterprise operated by si"' as a university and community newspf , Editorial policy is determined by the X r im