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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1979)
Slouch by Jim Earle “You mean he changed his name to 'None Of The Above’ just for the election?” Opinion ‘Mumm* gets a 10, but Aggies get a 3.5 A bit of magic touched us last night. A trio of mimes took us from Bryan-College Station and put us in the middle of ourselves. Through their skits and characters, they opened our emotions and our frailties to public view — often humor ous, sometimes sad. The MSC OPAS show was entertaining and enlighten ing. One measure of its success came from a devoted baseball fan — he said he was glad he missed the seventh and ultimate game of the World Series. A full review appears on page 3; in a word, Mum- menschanz was great. Sadly, a few seats were open — not many, but a few more students could have seen the show. And that symptom — low student attendance — is epidemic. Last week fewer than 100 students heard David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Even more embarrassing was the attendance for U.S. Rep. Bob Eckhart — about 20. And Muhammed Ali, a world-famous personality, drew only 1,200, much less than the 8,000 expected. Students and administrators who arrange the programs say they don’t know why students stay away. But they do say the problem is worse now than it used to be, even with increased enrollment. Students, and others in the university community, obvi ously lose through missing the chance to see and even argue with the experts. But students also lose because they’re paying for pro grams with their student service fees. In the “real world,” sociologists say Americans are be come passive observers instead of active participants. Is the same thing happening to Aggies? the small society by Brickman IT ‘SAN'T r=&p P&LLAf&Z A \ , / A /*4u '7 FAMILY / /Nil JgJ @ SI [a S S S Is i—31- -4 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc. ~ The Battalion u s p S 045 360 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 correspondence 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 i 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. 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 Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen, Debbie Nelson Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrera Cartoonist Doug Graham Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of 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 The Battalion Texas A&M University Thursday October 18, 1979 ca Reader s Forum Lets look at possibilities for those nine free hours By MARJ< Bal Birds of pi jin future b Irstanding «id bird ai Tuesday. Ka onsored b (Ssociation. By TERRY J. WOODFIELD The Academic Council has wisely con sidered a resolution that would allow stu dents the freedom to choose nine hours of electives outside their major departments. This should let in the “fresh air” desired by the writer of the Opinion column in the October 10 Battalion. Surely the liberal artist will heed the advice to take some “decent difficult sci ence courses, and certainly “practical” majors will seek out “impractical” courses to fill their free elective hours. Fortunately, the administration and faculty have already anticipated the de sires of knowledge-hungry students. Con sider: Freshmen too young and innocent to be exposed to the rigors of Calculus no longer must sit through boring college algebra lectures that inevitably doom the student to failure in one short semester. Now these backward freshmen can take a whole year to complete self-paced college algebra, leaving them plenty of time to stand in line for non-existent football tick ets. One may recall that “college” algebra is actually bigh school algebra carefully disguised in books with similar print and fewer pictures. Soon even seniors will be clamoring to sign up for this decent, dif ficult math course as one of their free elec tives. The fresh air fever has caught on, and surely mathematicians will seize upon their initial advantage and attempt to add more students to the rolls of an otherwise unpopular department. Recently over heard at Milner Hall were these sugges tions for new courses: Math 1/2: Three Digit Multiplication from a High Viewpoint. Math e: Number Crunching for the Mentally Deficient. Math Pi: “Thank God for Calculators’ Trigonometry. This new gust of fresh air in curriculum creativity has caused the balanced knowl edge bug to infect virtually the entire academic community. Careful investiga tion has led to the discovery of a host of new suggestions from all corners of the A&M campus. The English department, tired of being linked with stodginess and literacy, is rumored to be developing: English 1: The Alphabet. English 101: Combining Nouns and Verbs (with emphasis on forming sen tences.) English 10101: Introduction to Poems that Don’t Rhyme. Further courses being planned by other departments are: Computer Science 206: Computer Pro gramming for Homemakers. Oceanography 205: Fishing on the Gal veston Pier with Applications to Sun Ba thing. Animal Science 201: Principals of Puppy Toilet Training. Imagine the chagrin of those poor Ag gies who graduate without having had the opportunity to take one of the following: Journalism 111: Creative Sports Report ing Through Science Fiction. Education 325: Teaching the Clinically Dead. History 454: Midget Homosexual Women on the Chisholm Trail. Philosophy 210: Concepts of Love. Engineering 102: Elementary Princi ples of Completion Date Postponement. jeep killers ited, despi scavenger ‘The hawl rid,” Karg doing its One of Ka Physical Education 214: FingertBCarger, v ing. Khabilitatioi “Enough about the fascinatiipder birds courses being considered, one “What about the leeches who «i;| only worthless easy courses for tlie:| hours of free electives?” Even if a few easy courses were hopefully the two percenters who take them have long since goneo ship cows or to teach school. Texas A&M’s best option is to lege caliber courses taught by structors and to provide enli[ supervision of degree programs, works nine hours of free electives,! around an extra semester, but don': a degree program carefully worked adm inistrators and faculty. Othei might end up like the t.u. graduate j ing high school algebra, whowheo about the relevance of logarithms, re Mum men sc “Logarithms are outdated, mau Rudder Au dancing is where it’s at.” Terry Woodfield is a in statistics. ; ► *» M By KA1 B £ f anyone night expe routines of n 'J)oy-ineets-g disappointer jBut probi Eve beer throughout difference. 1 young, and seemed to e plcln’t unde ■Mummer man means d a mim member g everyday s completely concepts in ■tance, tl mimes the such an att< The act s sitting on ( Ne for millions of Castro: war oj nerves with New Yon For many New Yorkers — especially those who found themselves captives of security provisions during Fidel Castro’s visit — the manner of his leaving was his finest hour. After his UN speech, there were reports that he planned to hang around for as many as five or 10 more days. The spectre of an interminable large-scale police secu rity operation (augmented by Castro’s own machine-gun squad) haunted those who had been entrapped in the immediate area of his presence. Indeed, it almost began to seem as if Castro had embarked on a war of nerves against New York. If five or 10 more days, why not 20? Was he impersonating the fabled man who came to dinner? How could New York, with its tradition of hospitality for all varieties of foreign visitors, tell him that he was testing the outer limits of local tol erance? Was he contemplating a plea for asylum? Then suddenly he ended the deepening tension. In a gesture that at least momentarily won him the hearts of those who had been most afflicted — eco nomically and spiritually— by his visit, he let it be known that he did not wish to lucing or id Dr. G< armacol iversity Eye irri seem to be overstaying his leave. J* on<lu s "^ And so he took off, with the fep 11 armed contingent that had shadoweE ' 11 city. For the police and others who so conscientiously during his trip,Lr / . , ai prieve had come at last. If few had ^ 0lllslai disposed to say “hail” on his arrival, was zestful unanimity in the farewel The New York Post Letters Vet student finds its faster to walk than try to catch that elusive bus enter are pteers th term, cooi A report will be pr Drug Adm dde if the < ng in bos] stage, DM commerci; Chiou s ■Texas A&f plore a cc Editor: I read a rather amusing article in the Battalion a couple of weeks ago. Some naive person was lauding the new intra campus bus system. This person told of how efficient the system was and, if my memory serves me correctly, of how she had made it from campus to Kleberg or a fictitious class in a meager 8 minutes. If so, it was sheer luck — believe me. The intra-campus system has been a nemesis of mine for a very long time. I work at the Vet School and have a class this semester at 2:00 in Francis Hall. I am a very trusting person — actually dow nright gullible and slightly lazy — so each semester I try to use the bus. If I leave my office at 1:40 and walk to my class, I usually get to class three to five minutes before it starts. If however I de cide to save myself some time and exertion (ha!), I can leave my office at 1:30 — at tempt to catch the bus — and end up five minutes late to class. Another Aggie effi ciency marvel. On my way back from class, I stood wait ing at Beutel. The first driver that came by said he didn’t go to the Vet School. So, I got on the next bus. We crossed the tracks ... slowly rounded the bend ... when we turned toward the baseball field, I asked to get off. Argh!! I have been seeking a way to effectively complain about this for a long time. I am even considering joining FA (Frustrated Anonymous). . . . And they wonder why their buses run empty!! — Linda Clark except maybe the Beach Boys, or any of those other styles of music where everyone must be yelling or screaming or breaking something. What is so bad about cheering between songs and shutting up during the song so you can hear the music? Is that not the reason you’re going to the concert any way? If you want to raise hell all night instead of listening to the music, go to one of your disco concerts, ’cause I’d probably do the same thing if I ever had to listen to that kind of music, too. Leave our country alone! — Bart Daniel, ’83 We listened to Mel Let 'em know Editor: In response to Ava King’s concert re view (Mel Tillis), I would have to believe that she has never seen anyone on stage. Editor: In response to Scott Roberts et. al, (Oct. 16) reference that the Twelfth Man is dy ing, I would like to say that if this is so it is because of heartache. We (I beli speak for others) are simply tiredot a team with so much talent andfi as ours go down the tubes. So we don’t beat Texas or even What we want to see is a whole-l effort — from beginning to end! What the student body on the seems to finally be realizing is the way to faster winning is resounefe edical proval for a job well-done not a jo! botched. The blind support of the Twelfth detrimental. The team it see®! realized that we re behind themf lose and has found it takes less e& lose. Don’t tell me, I know, Highway! both ways. I’m a two-percenter* should go to Austin. In closing, I say when someone something you don’t like, let’em b : — David Nissnu! Editor’s Note: AMEN!! dtimolc the ma It could the two it way — en mor mount of Glaucor rsons o\ Last Friday I waited at the bus stop be tween Kleberg and the Vet School from 1:35 to 1:52. When the bus finally did get there, the driver told me he was running a double route because the other driver had been fired and the person who was to take his place couldn’t find the bus. I got to campus at 2:01 — and still had a 5 minute walk to class ahead of me. Instead, I de cided to forget the class and pick up my schedule refund — but that’s a story in itself. Today I decided I’d beat the system. I walked all the way to Kleberg. I knew both buses stopped there, so I would get to campus. I caught the first — and inciden tally at that time the only — bus that was running — and ended up at the baseball field! I must admit, we had a nicer tour of its parking lot. Thotz by Doug Grok