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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1979)
Slouch by Jim Earle comes along, but it could be that tee could make a killing selling these to folks who have seats in the upper deck. ” Opinion Strong chancellor? There’s a chance Texas A&M has a chancellor once again. And one of the most asked questions on campus is whether he will be a figurehead — or the able leader the Texas A&M University System needs. Frank W.R. Hubert has the capability and experience to lead the system in a time of growth and progress. Unfortunately, the chancellorship has been used in the past to put old University presidents out to pasture — or quietly dispose of presidents who didn’t agree with the Board of Regents. The pattern is clear. 1948 — Gibb Gilchrist was the first chancellor of the Texas A&M College System. He took the office in 1948 after serving four years as University president. Four years later he retired. 1953 — Next in line to be moved up to chancellor to await retirement was M.T. Harrington. Harrington served as president from 1950 until 1953, when he was appointed chancellor. In 1957 he became president again and held both jobs. Earl Rudder became president in 1959 and Harrington waited, as chancellor, until 1965 to receive his pension. 1965 — After Harrington’s resignation, the chancellor ship received a new name — President of the Texas A&M University System. President Rudder became the first system president and was one of the most powerful and influential leaders the system has had. Rudder died in office in 1970. After the death. Jack K. Williams became president of both the University and the system. 1976 — After suffering a heart attack, the chancellorship was magically recreated and Williams took the position. During his term, he was gradually stripped of power until he resigned Jan. 23, 1979. 1979 — Hubert is the first chancellor who has not been president. Because the pattern has been broken, the chan cellorship may be able to assume some power. The one nagging problem is Hubert’s age, 64. He had planned to retire next September, but now says he plans to fill the new job without respect to his age. Mandatory re tirement laws do not apply. But to some, his advanced age signals that the regents want a yes-man until a replacement can be found. According to his colleagues, however, Frank Hubert will not stand for figurehead status. If the regents did choose Hubert to be a yes-man, they will be suprised. The Battalion usps LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to 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 must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address ciyrrespondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction 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. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the ivriter of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Liz Newlin Managing Editor Andy Williams Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone News Editors . .Karen Cornelison and Michelle Burrowes Sports Editor Sean Petty City Editor Roy Bragg Campus Editor Keith Taylor Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and Doug Graham StaflF Writers Meril Edwards, Diane Blake, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen Photo Editor . . .Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Photographers Lynn Blanco, Clay Cockrill, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrerra Cartoonist Doug Graham Regents. 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. Viewpoint Cl The Battalion Texas A&M University September 28,1! t^tCnp Governor, maybe — but never preside ▼ T .III I. doesn’t have his mother’s permissioi By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Right from the be ginning, Mums was dead set against my running for president. Governor, fine. Mums was forever pre dicting I would grow up to be governor. So it wasn’t politics as such she was trying to steer me away from. She simply had this premonition that if L became president something bad would happen. Not to me. To the country. Mainly, her foreboding stemmed from the fact that I was a child of the 20s, whose formative years coincided with the admin istrations of Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. Mums feared that if ever I got to the White House I might turn out the same way. “I won’t have my youngest son growing up to be like Calvin Coolidge,’’ Mums would vow. She used to have nightmares in which I developed a New England accent and took to wearing celluoid collars and saying things like, “When a great number of people are out of work, large scale unem ployment results.” Many a time she woke me up in the middle of the night and made me promise not to run. She figured Texas voters would regard the abbreviation as evidence I was one of the good of boys and thus blessed with the common touch. It was a serious miscalcu lation on her part. As compensation, she held out the prospect of the Texas governorship. She even named me with that in mind. When I was born, the governor of Texas was Pat Neff. Not Patrick Neff. Pat Neff. Pat was his legal name. So Mums had me christened with a diminutive, too. At about that time, Texas was entering a period of double diminution in naming male children. Every third male child, or thereabouts, was named Tommy Joe, or Jim Bob, or Billie Sol, or some such two- way abridgement. Mums obviously was out of touch with the trend. Had she named me Dickie Jack, I might have made her prophecy come true. all those Timmy Rays and Johnny]] al. Besides that, it was apparent! entered manhood that I was mou dential than gubernatorial. 1 was unpopular. I could lift up dog: I bumped my head a lot and I see: bring out hostility in rabbits. Butl a crook. Even so, old Mums continuedtj hold her consent. “You’re getting more like & Coolidge every day, she would&et country couldn’t stand anotherjd that. ” Family loyalties mean a lotto But as it was, anyone with a single sob riquet was regarded as snobbish and didn’t have a chance running for governor amid though the pressure grows more every day, out of respect for Mum’si ory I try to keep cool. I do not choose to run. ( l>o we Knew what weapons \ the Russians have new; and where they are fofteyed? mmf B Free inrichm lents u Memori ate. M; ive, inv )ther cr; Then hat tear jollies a Secon Long, 1 lege Sta Hapkidc ipline i Jpody 0 |Korea. Long, |that Ha] Jhings : weakne: |nent. V kneecap nd are Democratic congressmen should give Carter loyal| President Jimmy Carter campaigned in 1976 as one outside the Washington estab lishment, and from the way Congress has treated him so far this year it appears that he’s still considered an outsider. Thus it was no real surprise when the president turned on members of the House of Representatives following the embarrassing House vote which blocked implementation of the Panama Canal treaties. But the question is whether President Carter’s undisguised anger is going to change the attitude of House members. It will be fascinating to watch for signals in either direction. One House member reacted by saying such tactics only generate resentment. Chastising House Democrats, the pres ident said friends would be rewarded and enemies punished. And he left no doubt that friends vote the way the administra tion thought they should vote. For our part we can’t fault President Carter for giving way to wrath. A Demo cratic president has every right to expect a large measure of support from Democratic members of Congress — especially if those members are not reluctant to ask the pres ident for favors. Since party loyalty doesn’t seem suffi cient to make House members lean direction of the White House, alio solved only clout left the president are llr m ental quests which pour in from House bers. Maybe President Carter some resentment by lashing out at8 know tl cratic members of the House. But what has he got to lose? The Atlanta Journal Letters Pointing out pointlessness: Some issues won’t change, so quit arguing about th Editor: It never ceases to amaze me at the is sues some Aggies find important. Once again, self-appointed experts have decided to argue such issues as homosexuality and the evolution vs. creation debate. Surely there are more relevant issues to discuss. Jane Fonda is qualified to talk about eco nomics or even whether she should be paid for it. The reality is that Jane Fonda has a price, and that colleges want her services and are willing to pay it. I’m not demonstrating apathy, Tm pointing out pointlessness. No amount of ranting and raving will make homosexual ity go away or prove one way or another if evolution is wrong. Unless attacking homosexuals makes the writer feel more heterosexual or preaching anti-evolution helps the writer feel more religious, I can see no point in continuing these debates. — Cheney Coker, ’82 Student unions have the obligation to the student body to present thought- provoking speakers representing a spec trum of views, not just the few moderate or ultra-rightist speakers which appeal to YAF. If the student body objects to Ms. Fonda’s appearance they may exercise two basic rights: the right to not buy a ticket or to elect a student government which will allocate their fees the way they want them to. but the most foolish could be the worse for having heard him do it. No, Mr. Hallmark, I have exercised my right to not buy a ticket. Why don’t you join MSC Great Issues, and put your money where your mouth is. — Max Triola, ’81 Go to Austin Bad taste in cartoon Editor: I would like to protest the cartoon which appeared with the article on the solar refrigerator in the Batt of 25 Sep tember. It is bad enough that Arab peoples must continuously be stereotyped as “camel jocks” by those who know very little of the Middle East. But it is adding religious in sult to racist injury to show Arabs, most of whom are Muslims, tapping into a keg of beer. Koranic law forbids the drinking of alcohol. Such a depiction is somewhat like a cartoon which shows a Jew eating pork. It is insensitive and in extremely poor taste. The editorial staff of the Batt should exercise more discretion. — James Denny I never tire of “idealistic dissident,” you or Ms. Fonda; they provide a constant source of amazement and amusement as well as a reminder that freedom of speech is the only assurance that the “ideas” which I hold dearest, liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness and the green back will be perserved. This reply should serve Mr. Hallmark as well. They died to keep us at peace and free to speak our minds. Whether Muhammed Ali abused this right is not open to debate. He exercised it and no one Editor: I would like to say a few words to the “Bob ”-sey twins who obviously don’t think too awfully much of this school. First of all, I’m not going to buy it. I’m really not going to believe that you two pessimists decided to come to TAMU just because “they have the top engineering school and the people are very friendly,” and for that reason alone. Tm going to as sume that you both are a little smarter than that — you both were accepted to go here, weren’t you? I guess my real beef with you guys is that you are attending the finest institution of knowledge in this part of the country, but you fail to realize it. And, like every campus in the world, there are certain written and unwritten rules that are laid out for every student. Parking, for exam ple, is something that all of us have to put up with and if your main concern^ here is the fact that you have to tab steps across campus or that you &■ the blackboard over the “150 or: heads in the classroom, thenyoum well pack it in. Those are pretty problems indeed. It really amazes me that so man) people down here are able to c those painful inconveniences or their prof for some private help. Pride in yourself as well as ii school might help a little bit. Now far from being a pe rfect campus anda' students, including me, have thou| some of its shortcomings, yetcryinj couple of babies in this column terrible it is to tell a friend about A&M warrants a very simple solutioi off for that social playground in Au: then brag to your friend back how small that campus and those are. There will be maybe one con: what a great football team, huh?! more important than ANYTHING right? msly pi Hapk hasizer wo-by- bne’s he He d Long ourse i Fu” nru ounds T wa: boards, bard im Hapk cercise tice, or said. “Afte tually ; havior). and ho He’ll a strengtl The points, style traps, k — Doug Frend Editor’s note: This is in reference! ter signed by Bob Lawson and 1 das that ran in Wednesday’s Batta* Thotz Freedom of speech Editor: Ms. Dollinger, an economics major, has made a baldly fallacious and misleading statement. The question is not whether IftCTH' JTTLE ORPH4W V ECtCk X Found 15 hatch