»V’
Slouch
by Jim Earle
“To recap our conversation, you feel that the course on
how to study that you re taking is cutting into your study
time?”
Opinion
A&M’s ‘factory’
needs some air
A degree-granting factory takes a high school graduate
and produces a money-making “consumer unit” with effi
ciency.
And Texas A&M University is very efficient.
But in processing toward graduation, a person can be
stamped into too tight a mold.
With hours and hours of required courses, the high
schooler’s focus narrows to a restricted specialty. The “air”
that rounds a person’s perspective and opens his mind is
forced out.
Electives are supposed to prevent that, but often they
don’t.
Through formal and informal channels, the few electives
in some curricula are directed to the department’s goals,
not the student’s.
Over the years, departments have ^justified more re
quirements. There’s more to learn, they say.
For instance, the “practical” majors — such as engineer
ing, agriculture and the sciences -— tend to concentrate
solely on their major courses of study.
Many liberal arts students can slide through academic
life without taking a decent, difficult science course.
A well-rounded liberal arts, or for that matter, any uni
versity education cannot neglect fields outside certain
majors.
Balanced knowledge tends to make for balanced
graduates.
The student has been short-changed.
Someone must speak for the student. Thursday, some
one can.
The Academic Council — deans, department heads and
other selected faculty — will consider a proposal that
would put air back into the system.
It would allow students to choose nine hours of electives
— free electives — from departments other than his own.
And his department could not tell him what those electives
must be.
It’s a change students need.
Even factories let in a little fresh air.
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard
Stone
News Editors . .Karen Comelison 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,
Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur,
Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson,
Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen
Photo Editor . . .Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographers Lynn Blanco,
Sam Stroder, _ ,
Ken Herrerra
Cartoonist Doug Graham
Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-
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Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
October 10, 1979
J
f
Reader’s Forum
The real power struggle:
Miss Lillian versus Rose
By El
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By W. SCOTT SHERMAN
Apparently no one has divined where
the real power lies in both the Carter and
the Kennedy camps.
Much discussion has been given to
whether Ted Kennedy will decide to run
or whether Jimmy Carter will go for a sec
ond term.
The actual decision over who will be the
Democratic candidiate for president in
1980 will be made at an undisclosed Holi
day Inn in Upper Appalachia — when
Rose Kennedy and Lillian Carter meet to
decide whose son will carry the party ban-
The meeting has not yet been an
nounced, but it is a logical course, since no
two American mothers have had greater
influence over such politically important
sons since Millard Fillmore’s mother con
vinced her son to install indoor plumbing
in the White House.
With all the possibilities of the better
“Godzilla Meets King Kong” movies, in
siders believe the choice of a moderator
will probably be the first point of conten
tion. Mrs. Kennedy is rumored to want
Henry Cabot Lodge or Gore Vidal. Miss
Lillian is allegedly undecided between
Bert Parks and Howard Cosell.
Insiders say Gov. Jerry Brown may be a
compromise emcee since no one is sure
exactly where he stands, what he stands
for, or if he is animal, vegetable or bio
degradable.
Ground rules for the talk have not been
disclosed but unofficial sources believe the
following are included:
1. Mrs. Carter will not mention Chap-
paquiddick, Ted’s cheating at Harvard, his
marital problems, anything about prob
lems with the Kennedy Klan Kids, and any
other incriminating personal information
about the senator as long as Mrs. Kennedy
doesn’t mention Amy or Billy.
2. Hamilton Jordan will be referred to at
all times by his Christian name, regardless
of what euphemism either side feels ap
propriate.
3. The President’s hemorrhoid prob
lems will not be brought up as long as Mrs.
Carter doesn’t mention Mrs. Kennedy’s
hernial difficulties. This is to be referred to
as the “Strain not to rub me the wrong
way” rule.
4. No mention will be made of the now
infamous Bonzai Bunny incident where
the president was “attacked” by a swim
ming rabbit April 20, two days before Eas
ter. However, if two days before
Thanksgiving, the president is attacked by
a turkey, the Kennedy camp reserves the
right to refer to the incident as can
nibalism on the bird’s part.
5. Neither side will claim “heavenly
intervention” no matter how many audi
ences they have had with Pope John Paul
II, Muhammed Ali or Howard Cosell.
The question of how to decide a winner
is probably the prime point.
Some observers feel a nude team-tag
wrestling match would be appropriate, but
both sides are rumored to favor a panel to
hear the oratory from the two proud po
tential presidential parents. Composition
of the board is at question.
The Kennedy group is alleged to want
members to have either one home in
Martha’s Vineyard or Taiwanese citizen
ship. Critics claim such a group will be
hard to find with any guarantee of impar
tiality.
The Carter family maintains a group of
good ole Ixjys will be fine, as
look at the president’s recordwil
ing anger, frustration or doubtin]
ability.
Cynics say they have found
such a panel.
The problem is either they*;
pants a lot and will be unable told
1980, or the Brooklyn Zoo cant
them long enough to 1 make anyt
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Broder
House bill provides scrap of sanitii
in otherwise nasty campaign finan
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — It took barely 15
minutes for the House to pass H.R. 5010
earlier this month, and no one even asked
for a roll-call vote. In the rush of events,
few people have bothered to note what has
happened.
To be honest, it hardly rates up there
with the pope’s visit to the United States
or the Soviet brigade in Cuba as a news
story. But H.R. 5010 is a small step toward
sanity in the rules regulating the conduct
of the American elections. It also is a
timely demonstration that, even in Con
gress, common sense can occasionally pre
vail over crasser instincts.
The background on the bill is this: In its
rush to “reform” the smelly campaign fi
nance practices revealed by Watergate,
Congress five years ago legislated some
new restricitons that had a chilling effect
on the local, volunteer political party ac
tivity that can add so much to the average
citizen’s sense of involvement in the
choice of the President.
With Treasury funds financing the
Carter-Ford contest, and tight spending
limits in effect, there was a natural ten
dency to hoard the scarce dollars for the
“big-ticket items,” particularly purchase of
television time and rental of jet planes to
move the candidates around the country.
As a strategy for mass-marketing politi-
cans to the national constituency, the
airport-television studio approach was
eminently sensible. But, as almost every
observer of the last presidential campaign
noted, the local, small-scale electioneer
ing, which traditionally has provided so
much of the color and flavor of American
politics, was sadly missing in 1976. In
many big-city neighorhoods and in most
small towns, there was nothing to suggest
that America was choosing a President —
no local headquarters, no banners, no
bumper-stickers, no buttons, and almost
no volunteer activity.
The reason was simple: The national
campaign headquarters allocated virtually
no money for local electioneering. And
local party organizations were inhibited or
intimidated by the new rules from doing
much of anything on their own.
The threat of prosecution for failing to
report on the cost of such activities or
spending beyond the limits was enough to
keep most local Republican and Demo
cratic activists out of the Ford and Carter
campaigns.
The House bill addresses this problem
directly by providing a blanket exemption
for state and local party committees to
purchase, without limit, the buttons,
bumper stickers, yard-signs and other
campaign materials used by volunteers. It
also exempts those committees from any
limits on what they may spend for voter
registration and get-out-the-vote cam
paigns on behalf of their presidenial tick
ets. Reporting requirements are elimi
nated for party committees raising or
spending less than $5,000 — rather than
the $1,000 floor that was used in the old
law.
The effect — and intent — of the
House-passed amendments is to encour
age, rather than inhibit, local, volunteer
involvement in the presidential campaign
by Democratic and Republican commit
tees.
Along the increase in the federal sub
sidy of the national party conventions,
from $2 million to $3 million apiece, these
provisions make H.R. 5010 the most posi
tive measure for the strengthening of the
political parties to move through Congress
in years.
What is equally remarkable is the man
ner of the bill’s passage. After years of bit
ter partisan battles over other kinds of
campaign-finance legislation, particularly
the recurrent proposals for public subsidy
of congressional campaigns, the quarrel
some Democrats and Republicans
House Administration Committee
it was time to get their act togeth
Texas A
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rst publie
ar Satui
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'ort Rile>
g officei
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land or
adium.
Fye wi
orps at'
Chairman Frank Thompson JmI
and Rep. Bill Frenzel (R-Minn.)a!
legislate in the areas where!
agreement was possible, and to J
issues where they had split time anil
“Thompson and I agreed,” Fredl
“it was time to stop cat-fightintsf
something that had to be done.l
suit was that, as Thompson
committee finds itself in the unusai
tion of being awash in a sea of o
acclaim.”
thf J
With unanimous and bipartisan
from the committee members,
passed by the House in the hi
eye. A similar measure, also0
bipartisan support, is awaiting flor 1
in the Senate. It’s not a bigstoiy,
encouraging testimony forth
would like to believe that both the?'
parties and the Congress can lod
lively and responsible than they
the past.
(c) 1979, The
Post Company
Letters
Ex-marine appalled at attitude hen
toward display of real guns at MSC
Editor:
I’ve just come from the MSC where I
just experienced a most disgusting thing!
It had to do with a marine captain, a .30-
caliber machine gun and some dumpy lit
tle man telling this Marine captain that
Col. Woodall didn’t like the idea of having
that weapon on public display. That it just
wasn’t proper to have such a thing in the
MSC and would he please remove it.
I was standing next to the captain and I
almost threw up. Naturally, the captain
was embarassed, but very cooperative.
I am really amazed! I spent nine years in
the USMC myself and 23 months on two
tours to Vietnam. What the hell is wrong
with you people? Are there nothing more
here than little tin soldiers afraid of big
bad guns?
Sure, that .30-caliber is a dangerous
weapon capable of killing many people;
believe me it works great, I’ve seen it in
action. War is the bottom issue here. War
isn’t nice, guns aren’t nice, killing isn’t
nice. Neither is seeing your buddy blown
into a million pieces.
You’re damn right, war is hell, it isn’t
fantasy, it isn’t TV, it isn’t movies. Maybe
more people should be aware of the little
toys of war, and just where their tax dollars
are going.
The nerve of that man, the nerve of Col.
Woodall! This letter will never get printed
in your precious little pro-Corps Battalion.
I used to have great respect for the Corps
here. Now, I am not so sure. Excuse me
while I throw up now!
— Joe Dirkson
USMC 1968-1977
Have more pride
Editor:
This letter pertains to the situation
which will occur this weekend at the U of
H game.
I had heard the rumors of what had
happened to some of the Aggies’ cars when
they traveled to Rice Stadium for the BYU
game. It seemed like the Rice Owls
thought it a cute joke by putting Hoot’em
stickers over the Aggies Gig ’em stickers
and by putting shaving cream on Aggies’
door handles. Well when I traveled to
Waco for the Baylor game the situation
was the same. It seemed some of the Bear
fans were of even lower class than the
Owls by spitting on the Aggies’ cars.
The situation this weekend is reversed
as the Aggies are the host team. W
make the inconvenience of Kyle f
seating capacity worse by treat®!
guest to a rude awakening when4
turn to their cars after the garnet
only rude awakening of the Roust®
be. the realization of the fact thattfl
gies are for real!
Show that Fightin Texas Aggie 5
and let’s not lower our school to tie
that other SWC representatives
Thotz