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1 :
Opinion
Walton Hall can take a joke
Last Wednesday, The Battalion ran an editorial lampoon
ing Texas A&M University dorm residents who let their
music loudly blast out of their windows while sitting in front
of the dorm watching the passers-by.
The last two paragraphs to the editorial were:
It would appear as though these people are starving for
attention.
If it is attention that these guys want, a better idea would
be to sit around nonchalantly on the steps in front of the
dorm wearing neon signs that say “Don’t notice us.
Since that editorial was published, a large sign appeared
across the front of the dorm (Walton Hall) that read “Don’t
notice us’’ and then below that “we can’t afford neon.
The significance of this incident does not escape The
Battalion. We have printed several cartoons, editorials and
Reader’s Forum articles in the past weeks in which we have
poked fun at various campus organizations. We thought the
persons involved and our readers would enjoy the material
like we did.
Boy, were we wrong. After nearly every attempt at humor
that appeared on the Viewpoint page, we would receive
angry letters and even angrier phone calls. We never
wanted to offend anyone. We were beginning to think no
one on this campus had a sense of humor.
That is, until we took on Walton Hall. The residents of
Walton Hall, with their ability to take a joke and give it back,
have renewed our faith in the Aggie sense of humor. Gentle
men, we salute you.
the small society
by Brickman
TM^Y ‘ZTAfZT
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(2Xl0(2>o-
Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
2-2.T
The Battalion
L'SPS
LETTERS POLICY
letters to the editor should not exceed 300 icord.s and are
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number for verification.
Address correspondence to le ttns to the Editor. The
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Station. Texas 77643.
Represented nationally by National educational Adver
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The Battalion is published Mondav through Fridav from
September through May except during exam and holidax
HTiods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesda\
hrough Thursday.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 [X*r semester. $33.25 per
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on request. Address: The Battalion. Room 216. Reed
Mcl>>nald Building. College Station. Texas 77S43
United Press International is entitled exclusiveK. 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 77S43
045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism < oimress
Editor Roy Bragg
Associate Editor Keith Taylor
News Editor Rusty Cawley
Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison
Copy Editor Dillard Stone
Sports Editor Mike Burrichter
Focus Editor Rhonda Watters
City Editor Louie Arthur
Campus Editor Diane Blake
Staff Writers Nancy Andersen,
Tricia Brunhart, Angelique Copeland,
Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards,
Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy,
Debbie Nelson, Richard Oliver,
Tim Sager, Steve Sisney,
Becky Swanson, Andy Williams
Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco
Photographers Lee Roy Leschper,
Paul Childress, Ed Cunnius,
Steve Clark
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. 1 he Battalion us a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students
as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
local
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
February 27, 1980
Ol
Feminist’s stands against draft
By RIC
Campus
not consistent with rhetoric
A demon appe
|h the small, T
liee yourself.
ittacks with hi
leeply the derr
lemon attacks a
lie, but you ha
leath.
By CHERYL ARVIDSON
United Press International
Now let me say right off that I don’t want
to go to war. I don’t want women going to
war, and I don’t want men going to war. I
don’t want war, period. Not for me, you or
anybody else.
That out of the way, it is time to focus on
the more general issue of women and the
draft, a point Congress is going to have to
address shortly.
President Carter wants to reinstitute
draft registration for men and women, aged
19 and 20, as part of the military prepared
ness mentality sweeping the executive and
legislative branches of government. But,
says he, women won’t be used fof combat
duty.
He could impose draft registration on
men with an executive order, but to put
women in the pool. Carter needs action by
Congress. The Senate so far has been pret
ty quiet on the issue, but some key House
leaders say there’s no way a proposal to
register women can pass on their side of the
Capitol.
his fault and they didn’t have a thing to do
about it. Add to this the extra benefit of
avoiding entirely the question of what to do
about women.
Women’s groups are opposing the reg
istration proposal as well. Their line of
reasoning goes like this: We don’t want war
so we don’t want registration because that
moves the country closer to war. It is only
as an afterthought that they say women
should be included if registration becomes
a reality.
Strike up the band. Everyone is dancing
the cop-out waltz.
Congress, in a not unusual stance, is
ducking the issue and throwing the ball to
Carter. If the president really wants reg
istration, he can have it just by signing an
executive order. Then if the public gets
outraged, only the president is to blame.
Members of Congress can say it was all
Carter is ducking, too. He’s willing to go
three-quarters of the way by saying women
as well as men should register. But his
commitment to equality stops in the
crunch: combat duty. He fails to realize
that equality for women isn’t a parttime
thing: An equal right to live means an equal
right to die.
But the most distressing stand of all is
that of the beleaguered women’s move
ment that is slowly drifting farther and
farther away from reality. Its main priority,
the Equal Rights Amendment, is dying a
slow death, revived briefly by a controver
sial extension of the ratification deadline
until March 1982, but still no closer to
acceptance than it was four years ago.
Putting anoth
Women s groups should lx u«oinputer, you
very real possibility that the ER'Wars. Anoth<
pass and be regrouping now, v )Aun.
years, to develop other ways to| |The Micro-co
their goal. The draft registrationii ;uch games for
excellent place to start. flie games ranj
True believers in women’s rigbl P°^ er to ^
be on the front line, (lc“niandingt® mors ’ a C j
eluded if draft registration is re. J u 1 nKt ' (ms
d< m.iiulmu that ( amgress takei^B 1 * inont ls
action is needed to end forever‘ij®,
damentally unequal assumptiontb§|jj
America’s men go off to war, itswoa
at home.
And, for the record, draft res
isn't the same as going to war. IniJ
argument could be made that .kj
leaders might be doubly cautii
making warlike noises iftheirdatij
well as their sons, would he called
the price.
Sat
||(W IW * W
Reagan should ‘duck’ jokes
By KATHI
C
Anyone wish
irtwork or craf
Annual Spring
lave an applies
The festival,
College Station
ion Departme
ales and demoi
ainment, food
' Recreation S
:ie Rodgers sai
pie to any otl
lecause it is a
pin a juried
udges, expert
Srafts, judges s
. This year, sh
udges from the
vho have had
irt, judging all
All the judgi
ideration is th
ollowed by ii
work with forr
Ingar Garris
said she is look
riateness of de
among the oth
Garrison sa
volved in art rr
ceramics wit!
parts of the c
working with
She is on t
Council of Bra
of the America
delegate for tl
cil, which wil
July.
Tina Watki
judges and dir
cil of Brazos V
tion has need
show for a lor
She said t
artists and cr
area who hav
too long.
between now and November
By DICK WEST
United Press International
Presidential candidates such as Ronald
Reagan soon learn two truths that are ax
iomatic in my line of work. They are:
1. Nothing is so preposterous that some
body won’t believe it.
2. No joke is so innocuous that nobody
will be offended by it.
For candidates, one is a blessing and the
other a curse.
The first truism means that even when a
candidate is uttering complete balderdash,
a certain percentage of the audience will
nod agreement as though they were hear
ing a ringing affirmation of the eternal veri
ties.
The second one means that any candi
date who attempts to inject a bit of levity
into the campaign is skating on thin quick
sand. If he can’t resist uncorking a few
knee-slappers, he at least should avoid
animal jokes. Especially duck jokes.
joke-telling cost him Polish and Italian
votes. It will be because he lost the duck
owners vote.
like auto exhaust fumes, were a j
source of pollution.
No group is more easily stirred to wrath
by jocularity than pet owners. And the
quickest of all to take umbrage are duck
fanciers.
If the fury generated by a woman
scorned is your idea of severe emotion tem
pest, you should encounter a few duck fan
ciers in full cry. I can tell you from hard
experience that they would see nothing
humorous in a joke about taking a duck to a
cockfight.
Should Reagan fare worse than expected
at the Republican National Convention, it
will not be because his controversial fling at
Americans of Polish and Italian extrac
tion are fairly tolerant of jests at their ex
pense, compared to friends of the duck.
Why are they so sensitive? Perhaps be
cause they are a sub-species of bird watch
ers, one of the most touchy groups on the
face of the Earth, or wherever you may
1 didn’t write that report. ImeKi
laved its findings, along withasifl
that it might he possible to cleve>|
under-bough spray that would nm
more socially acceptable.
And bird watchers, in turn, derive their
militancy from association with tree wor
shippers, probably the most thin-skinned
of all.
I still feel the sting of a few years ago
when I came across a report indicating that
trees, by emitting noxious vapors not un-
Here’s what I got for trying to be 4
a small forest in woodpulp usedop*
letters denouncing me for arboreij
rilege, Joyce Kilmer heresy and *>1
other crimes against nature.
That taught me a hitter lessonaM
jects for joshing. Now I pretty miicM
safe ground — the basic racial rej
ethnic, sexist and mother-in-lawjok
I recommended that presidentialij
dates do the same.
Thotz
By Doug Grab
7
x hate to USE this
jaLaPE-Ko smufy; but
r GOTTA T>'P l F
\a/an/T TO BE a COWBOY;