Viewpoint
The Battalion Tuesday
Texas A&M University October 24, 1978
Constitution needs
rehashing, facelift
By DOROTHY DUBOIS
It’s back again: the ghost of constitutions
passed. Year after year, a “new” constitu
tion comes before the student body to be
voted on. This is a misnomer. Each year,
we are not presented a true “new” con
stitution, a constitution with progressive
new ideas and substantive changes. We
consider a rehashed, warmed over version
of the old constitutions.
I say it’s time for a change. Instead of
considering the old constitution with a few
changes year after year after year, we
Headers’ Forum
should carefully consider our constitution
and decide if it’s really what we want. By
“we,” I don’t mean just those involved in
Student Government, but the entire stu
dent body.
The constitution to be voted on was dis
cussed at the Oct. 19 Senate meeting. At
that meeting, the point was made that
Student Government has been doing a
pretty good job under the present con
stitution, and that the old order should not
be changed.
Before we get too carried away with pat
ting ourselves on the back, let me state my
opinion that this is pure, unadulterated
bull.
If a random survey were taken, I se
riously question the assumption that the
result would find even a small minority of
students at Texas A&M who think that
Student Government is even approaching
doing a “pretty good” job.
The feet is that the Senate has spent a
majority of its time arguing over internal
issues, rather than trying to provide direct
services to the student body. A recent case
in point is the Student Government
budget, in that two meetings were de
voted to this issue alone.
Granted, it was an important issue,
however, it did not affect a direct service
to the students. The Student Senate at
Texas A&M has become preoccupied with
itself, almost to the exclusion of its true
function: to serve and represent the stu
dent body.
Is the answer to totally abolish Student
Government? I think not. Student Gov
ernment has a definite purpose, as stated
in the first paragraph of our constitution, a
purpose I feel is unique to Student Gov
ernment as an institution. We should not
depose Student Government, but restruc
ture it. We should create a structure
aimed at efficient representation of and
service to the student body of Texas A&M
University.
First, serious research and time should
be put before a “new” constitution. We
should find out what types of student
governments other schools have, and what
degree of effectiveness they realize. We
should spend substantial amounts of time
considering all the various alternatives
open to us before we finally present one to
the student body to be voted on.
Second, Student Government has got to
get back in touch with the student body.
Advertised public hearings should be held
to solicit the input of the entire student
body, not just a selected few Student Gov
ernment politicos. With the same people
giving input every year, we will get the
same ideas. We need new thought in
jected into the process, so that we won’t
be served warmed over constitution every
year.
This is your Student Government. It
doesn’t belong to the aspiring politicos,
and it doesn’t belong to the administra
tion. It belongs to you, the students.
So if you don’t like the way Student
Government is operating, change it! On
Thursday, Oct. 26, vote against the pro
posed constitution and tell Student Gov
ernment that you’re tired of seeing the
same “new” constitution year after year!
Dorothy Dubois is a junior political sci
ence major, and an off-campus under
graduate senator in Student Government.
Kennedy,
By DAVID S. BRODER
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — It was
one of those Irish throwaway lines, a joke
that may have been what the youths of my
tifne called “kidding on the square.”
f‘T remember when Fritz (Mondale)'
came to the Senate,” Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.) told a Democratic
fund-raiser here the other night. “Hubert
said to me, ‘He’s a nice, bright young fel
low. Give him a hand.’ So I helped him
along, and suddenly there he is” — and
Kennedy pointed skyward — “high up on
the ladder of success, looking down at
me.”
It got the laugh Kennedy expected from
the vice president’s homestate friends,
and he immediately took the edge off the
line by adding that “President Carter
showed his good judgment in selecting
Fritz as his running mate.”
But it was not altogether fitting. For in a
way that both these able, ambitious young
men recognize, they are not only admirers
of each other, but potential rivals. Ken
nedy’s friends are divided in their guesses
about whether he might, under some cir
cumstances, challenge Jimmy Carter in
1980. But few of them think he would give
Letters to the Editor
Mondale size up possible rivalry
up without a fight and let Mondale take
over the presidential nomination (and a
possible eight-year lease on the White
House) in 1984.
Kennedy is 46 now — four years
Mondale’s junior. But no one who knows
him expects him to defer his presidential
ambitions until he is 60 — which is what
he would be at the end of two Mondale
terms.
The immediate beneficiary of this dis
tant and well-disciplined rivalry is the
C ommentary
Democratic party, whose candidates this
year are getting good campaign service
from both Mondale and Kennedy.
Both men are pros. Both good drawing
cards. And both are much in demand.
Mondale has been on the road for weeks,
but Kennedy is in gear now that congress
has finished — and is not at all loath to
point up his availability.
“I’m delighted to be in Minnesota,” he
told the banquet crowd the other night.
“And not just because you’ve got 10 elec
toral votes.”
“When they were looking for a speaker
for this dinner (a fund-raiser for Sen.
Wendell Anderson’s reelection campaign),
“the Democratic National Committee
said, ‘you can have President Carter for
$1,000 a person. You can get old Fritz for
$500. But why don’t you take Kennedy?
He’ll only cost you $100.’
“So,” he told the laughing guests, “I’ve
already saved you a lot of money. ”
Mondale and Kennedy are the most ef
fective advocates of traditional Democratic
liberalism abroad in the land. Both of
them are at their best in the union halls,
the blue-collar cities and with the ethnic
and minority voters who made up the old
Roosevelt Coalition.
And both of them — in this year of Pro
position 13 — defend the legitimacy of the
Democratic heritage. Mondale quotes
John F. Kennedy more than he does
Jimmy Carter. Kennedy quotes Hubert
H. Humphrey more than he does anyone
else.
There are, of course, subtle differences
in their speeches, dictated by their differ
ing political responsibilities. Kennedy
plugs the local candidate — and also his
pet programs, particularly national health
insurance. Mondale also advertises the
virtues of the candidate he is visiting, but
he never forgets his other client, President
Carter.
Mondale says that Carter has faced and
mastered the toughest problems any pres
ident has tackled in his first two years in
office. Kennedy is careful not to criticize
Carter publicly, but he measures his
praise by the teaspoon.
“The one thing that Hubert Humphrey
and John F. Kennedy and Franklin D.
Roosevelt understood — and that we hope
Jimmy Carter understands,” Kennedy said
here, “is that you cannot meet the needs of
the nation without a strong economy.”
That was a subtle qualifier he slipped in,
but it did not escape notice.
Kennedy and Mondale are the two
strongest instruments in the Democratic
band this year. The senator’s trombone
blasts shake the walls — even of a chilly
hockey rink in the Minnesota Iron Range.
The vice president’s high-pitched clarinet
runs can rouse even carpenters to cheer.
Some time hence, they may try to
drown each other out. But for now, they
are pumping life into a lethargic mid-term
campaign.
1978, The Washington Post Company
BellarcTs concern for
athletes questioned
Editor:
I address this letter to our athletic direc
tor and head football coach, Emory Bel-
lard:
Mr. Bellard, I write this letter, not to
question your coaching abilities, but
rather to question your apparent lack of
concern for the physical well-being of your
athletes. Specifically, I point to Saturday
afternoon’s game with Baylor and Curtis
Dickey.
I wondered how many times Curtis
would have to be helped from the field
before you stopped sending him back into
the game. Apparently, any thing short of a
trip to the hospital was insufficient
grounds for sitting out the remainder of
the game.
All Aggies recognize Curtis’ value to the
team. However, to unnecessarily risk the
remainder of his season, and possibly the
remainder of his college career, is inexcus
able. Have you no regard for his future or
is he, as are so many athletes, just a com
modity to be used and tossed aside?
In the future, I hope that your foresight
will extend beyond Tuesday and the
weekly wire service ratings.
— Paul Laywell, ’80
Wishbone’s a loser
Editor:
Referring to the Aggies’ 33-0 demise at
the hands (or paws) of the cruel Houston
“Pumas” let me paraphrase Gertrude
Stein’s “A rose is a rose is a rose.”
Then go one step further and para
phrase Emory Bellard’s “a wishbone is a
wishbone is a wishbone.” To put it another
way, a wishbone by whatever name is still
a wishbone, be the name “I,” “Veer,”
“Single Wing” or other.
Somewhere I have read that a good (and
winning) team puts the football in the air a
minimum of 20 times. Against the
“Pumas” we put it in the air nine times for
five completions and one interception.
To quote Mr. Bellard, “when you put
the ball in the air, three things can happen
and two of them are bad. ” Let me say that
the ground can be equally dangerous,
especially when you option off to backs
who aren’t there and the enemy graciously
accepts the ball.
I’ll take my chances in the air especially
when trailing 41-3 (Michigan) and 33-0 at
the half (Houston)!!
Oh well, Mr. B. is the coach and I am an
“Aggie Amigo” who doesn’t understand
the science of football, like running the
fullback “up the middle” for three yards
when the game is out of sight (41-3 and
33-0).
Just a few random thoughts on my good
old Aggies. Let me close with one admoni
tion: The “Ags” need to get tierce like
those “Pumas” and pronto, or other cruel
teams the likes of Cows, Hogs, etc. will
belt them around on successive Saturdays;
and this I hate to see.
— George M. French Jr
121 Ave.307, San Antonio
(Father of an Aggie, ’69)
Langford’s lesson
Editor:
Regarding the commments concerning
the Langford Architecture Center in the
Thursday, Oct. 19 Battalion.
My first impression of the picture (front
page) was that it was a low-security federal
model prison. Sorry, but it is about as es-
thetically appealing to me as a cold plate of
day old oatmeal. The designer must have
really been hard up for ideas. And Lord
forbid but can you imagine what the others
that were turned down must have looked
like?
Seriously, in light of all the complaints,
the passing of the proverbial buck, and the
ringside show that must accompany the
building of a structure like Langford, it
appears that we would all learn an impor
tant lesson.
Don’t leave it up to the other guy! A&M
needs a qualified university representative
to watchdog contractors. We also need an
up-to-date comprehensive building code
that can be uniformly applied to future
projects. This is the only way to guarantee
our satisfaction.
After all, we have to live with these
grotesque and questionably designed and
constructed atrocities. Anything less than
this is a “cop out.”
— Steve Tennyson, ’81
P.S. If you consider it relevant, I have
about five years experience in the con
struction industry. The latest project I
worked on was an addition on the locker
room at Rice University. Rice officials
overlook very little.
Possibly this is a bit harsh, but I have
never known of or been on a job where the
“OWNERS’’ did not profusely go to
lengths to protect their interests. Why
shouldn’t A&M protect its own?
Deep Aggie pride
Editor:
Well it looks like my time to write a
letter to the Battalion has come. I have
been going to A&M for five years and am
on my second degree. I have seen some
drastic changes. I would like to clear up
one misconception that seems apparent
from reading letters to the editor from
years passed.
There is a lot more to being an Aggie
than attending Texas A&M University. It
takes pride, consideration for fellow stu
dents, and a feeling deep inside which can
not be be described and is not found any
where else.
This might not be the best university in
the world but it sure is better than any I
can think of.
The thing that has always impressed me
about A&M is the many fine students here
once an Ag has helped me out wherever I
have gone. There is nothing like Aggie
once an Ag has helped me out whereever I
have gone. There is nothing like Aggie
Muster in the world either.
If a student at Texas A&M can go to
Midnight Yell Practice and see the
thousands of students yelling until they’re
hoarse, or stand in Bryan and hear the
12th Man yelling its hearts out, or get
choked up at Silver Taps, and not feel a
deep pride, then he or she is just a student
at Texas A&M and not an Aggie.
So come on Aggies let’s stick together.
Let’s show respect for our school and our
fellow Ags, whether a C.T. or non-reg.
What is this destruction of the au
ditorium and such? Good bull is one thing
but outright destruction is not good bull! I
am a non-reg and disagree with some
things about the C.T.s, but I respect any
one who graduates from A&M and goes
through four years of Corps, especially the
band. The corps is a lot of work, but it is
not for everyone. I’ve been there. In fact,
I have respect for everyone who graduates
from T.A.M.U.
So hang in there Ags. In closing I must
comment on Nancy Robin’s letter (Oct. 9).
The Corps is NOT the only backbone of
Aggieland. There is a hell of a lot of non-
regs who have as much and more than
some C.T.s and support A&M as much.
— Donald Slater, ’76
Readers’
Guest viewpoints, in addi
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are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers’ forum
should be:
F orum
• Typed triple space
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Top of the News
-Vo
CAMPUS
Silver Taps to be held for Prachyl
Silver Taps will be held today at 10:30 p.m. for Mark Alan Prachyl,
a 21-year-old agronomy major from Dallas. Prachyl died about 9:30
p.m. Friday while in the Sports Club, a College Station disco. An
inquest is being held to determine the cause of death. Prachyl was
the second Texas A&M University student to die this fall; the other
was Vikki Sue Owen, an animal science graduate student from
LaMarque, who was killed in a truck accident Sept. 10 in Bastrop.
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Award offered for rights study
Awards for study and research in civil liberties and human rights
are offered by the Samuel E. Ziegler Educational Fund. The awards,
established in 1968, total $2,000. The sponsoring group says there is
no geographical limitation as to who might receive the award, but
preference will be given to students in universities and colleges in
Texas. For more information contact the Samuel E. Ziegler Educa
tional Fund, 1900 Southland Center, Dallas, Texas 75201.
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Candidates support nuclear power
United States legislative candidates from South Texas generally
support nuclear power as a future energy source, a recent survey
shows. Fifteen of the 16 survey respondents favored expanding elec
tricity production by nuclear means. All candidates agreed on only
two questions. None said total reliance on the use of coal for energy
production is wise, althouigh coal is abundant. All responded "yes” to
the survey question that reprocessing nuclear fuel is an effective way
to use uranium and minimize nuclear waste in both light water and, if
successfully demonstrated, breeder reactors. The survey was con
ducted by the South Texas Section of the American Nuclear Society,
including the ANS student section at Texas A&M University. Rep.
Bob Ecldiart, D-Houston, reflected the general theme of comments:
“Commercial production of energy from all sources should stand the
test of free market competition. ”
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NATION
Hope’s heart has bad rhythm
Comedian Bob Hope was treated for “a mild form of cardiac distur
bance” Sunday shortly after taping segments of an upcoming televi
sion special in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Ralph D. Lach, chief of cardiol
ogy at Mount Carmel Medical Center, was called to Hope’s suite at a
downtown hotel early Sunday morning. “He suffered a mild form of
cardiac rhythm disturbance,” said Lach. “We changed the heart
rhythm and converted it back to normal by massaging a blood vessel
high in the neck.” A spokesman for the hotel said Hope, 75, left the
hotel later Sunday for Cincinnati. One of Hope’s aides reported the
comedian “got dizzy while he was doing part of his routine at the
Ohio Theatre.” Hope, along with performers Ginger Rogers, Vic
Damone and Carmen Cavallaro, was in Columbus to tape a special for
NBC-TV, which is to be aired Dec. 3.
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Stones’ guitarist pleads guilty
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richard pleaded guilty Monday to
simple possession of heroin and the crown prosecutor in Toronto
withdrew a more serious charge that could have sent the rock star to
prison for fife. Crown Attorney Paul Kennedy said he would seek a
jail term of six months to a year on the simple possession charge. He
withdrew the charge of possession of heroin for the purpose of traf
ficking — which carries a possible life term penalty — and possession
of cocaine. Richard sat impassively in the prisoner’s dock through the
hour-long proceedings. His attorney submitted a number of docu
ments from American psychiatrists attesting that Richard and his
common-law wife of 10 years, Anita Pallenberg, have been under
treatment for heroin addiction since May 1977. The briefs said both
were well on the way to being cured. Richard had been charged
initially with possession of nearly one ounce of heroin for the pur
poses of trafficking.
WORLD
Saudi king leaves hospital early
Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid, recuperating from heart surgery, will
check out of the Cleveland Clinic ahead of schedule and will lunch
with President Carter at the White House on Friday. The Saudi
Embassy, which announced the king’s acceptance of tbe president’s
invitation, said Carter was expected to ask Khalid to support the
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty negotiations. America’s major Mideast
oil supplier, Saudi Arabia is considered a key to acceptance of the
pact among moderate Arab states. Khalid, 65, underwent double
coronary bypass surgery Oct. 3 and had been expected to stay in the
clinic for four to six weeks.
WEATHER
Mostly cloudy with cool nights through Wednesday. High
Tuesday low 70’s; low early Wednesday low 50’s. Winds
northerly at 10-15 mph with a 50% chance of rain.
The Battalion
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