Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
November 20,1980
Slouch
By Jim Earle
HIPPY
SLOUCH
Nov. 1953 - Nov. 1980
27 Years & 4200 cartoons later
Time for GOP to reap
the victor's rewards
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — An army of Democrats
will depart the Senate in January — hoisting
high the white flag of surrender — after revel
ing more than a quarter of a century in the
spoils of war.
This is civilized warfare Republicans and
Democrats engage in every two years. Casual
ties are counted in the number of jobs, not
lives, lost.
Nevertheless, the news from the battlefield
can be grim — and not only for the generals and
admirals.
One estimate is that some 3,000 Democrats
are now looking for new spots. There is no need
for them to wait until January because only a
few, at best, will be able to hang on.
Under normal circumstances — those that
Democrats have become accustomed to over
the last 26 years — the blow of election defeats
can be softened. But not this time.
The network of alliances and professional
friendships, forged in the incestous atmosphere
of the Senate, will not be enough to allow the
rank-and-file to move from one job to another
without ever stepping outdoors.
job-hunting at the other end of the avenue. But
those jobs, too, are going to the Republicans.
The generals and admirals — the senators
who were ousted in the conservative purge or
defeated in party primaries — will also be on
the streets come January. But there is no
chance any of them will go hungry.
Election day marked the end an era. Demo
cratic dominance is over. And hungry Republi
cans want to jobs for their own.
The only other departing senator with a
chance for a spot in the Reagan administration is
Sen. Richard Stone, who lost his primary.
It doesn’t mean the Senate will be stripped of
Democrats next January. Far from it.
The Democrats will still assign one-third of
all committee staffers and all Democratic sena
tors will have their staffs. The minority leader
ship gets its own hierarchy. Democrats can
name doormen, elevator operators and pages.
Stone, a moderate, is one of three Democrats
named to Reagan’s transition team dealing with
foreign policy. He could become an undersec
retary of state.
Several Democrats — Birch Bayh of Indiana,
Frank Church of Idaho, John Culver of Iowa
and Donald Stewart of Alabama — are young
enough to make another try.
But the Republicans now have two-thirds of
all committee assignments, a huge leadership
staff and all the plums the sergeant-at-arms can
hand out.
In fact, Sergeant-at-Arms Nordy Hoffman,
although personally popular with all senators,
must also go. The post pays too much to leave to
a Democrat.
Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Hubert H.
Humphrey of Minnesota returned to the Sen
ate after their failed runs at the White House.
Not many others have tried and succeeded.
Senate President Pro Tern Warren Magnu-
son of Washington will dissapear into retire
ment unless a law firm wants his name on the
door.
If President Carter had won re-election,
many of those leaving Capitol Hill could go
And if tradition holds, very few of the sena
tors will return to their states. Washington has
become their real home.
Warped
Preventive cruising, bo re don
characterize nights on patrol
Jim Huff is a sergeant on the Texas A&M
University police force.
We all know what that means.
He writes a lot of tickets and hassles a lot of
students, right?
Wrong.
During the two nights I rode with him on
patrol, we responded to a wreck which sent a
student to St. Joseph Hospital. We took an ill
man to A.P. Beutel Health Center. We aided
three ill students until paramedics arrived. We
investigated a malfunction in a fire alarm sys
tem in a dormitory. We retrieved a student’s
books, which had been locked in the library.
No ticket writing, no “busts.”
We did a lot of preventive cruising through
campus.
No racing through stop signs, no doughnuts
in parking lots.
And between calls we talked a lot.
We talked about what influenced him to be-
Staff notebook
By Jennifer Afflerbach
come a cop.
“My dad is sheriff of Live Oak County (be
tween San Antonio and Corpus Christi). It’s
something I always grew up with. It kind of gets
in your blood.”
We talked about the frustrations of the job.
“On campus, a lot of people think our only
function is to write parking citations, to harass
them. They don’t see the total picture of the
services that we provide, until they are needed.
I think it’s kind of unfortunate because we do
many other functions. The one that is seen or
recognized by most is the one that is most un
popular — ticketing vehicles.”
We talked about the satisfactions.
“What the officers really appreciate is for
somebody just to say, ‘Thank you. ’ Also, there’s
just the satisfaction you yourself get out of help
ing people.”
We talked about the low pay.
“The salary isn’t very good at all. It’s some
thing you’re in because you like it. You’ll never
get rich at it.”
We talked about his opinion of female
officers.
“A female officer can handle some si
possibly a little bit better than a
can, especially situations where va
another female involved. 1 definitely^
mind having a female partner to ride
We talked about whether he eti
scared.
“You don’t really get scared until afte
thing happens. Yes, 1 have been scat
I ’ve been more scared after 1 sit downs
the report.”
We talked about the incident thats
most in his mind after a year on the
One night last fall, he got a call thata| jjfiat
cated student was in a dorm chasing
around with a butcher knife.
“I went up there with three other
We tried to talk the knife away
Finally, after 10 to 15 minutes ofreasoi
him, he put it down. No one got hurt,
will forget that.”
We talked about why he likes pol
“It’s always changing. You don trei
what to expect.”
I know what I expected. An episi
Baretta. Instead, it was more likeAi
No flaunting of authority. Just
mannered public assistance.
Most are well-off, some wealthy and more
than one qualifies as a legitimate millionaire.
And the doors are usually open — to law firms,
lobbying groups, universities and corporation
board rooms — for former senators. No experi
ence needed.
‘Fish-Zi
Peoph
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THE SECRET OF SATURN'S RING PATTERNS REVEALED...
It’s your turn
By BA
Ba
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exas A&M
Mary Cox.
Sen. Jacob Javits of New York, although 76
and ailing, is open to an offer from the Reagan
administration. 1
‘Exceptional’ classes well worth search
he Depart
sychology,
queto get
Several dc
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faints rangi
iting. Cox
inictohelp
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The point
lypnotized.
red and ge
abit."
They owe him something. His refusal to bow
out let conservative Republican Alfone D’Ama-
to win the Senate seat. And he campaigned for
Reagan in Florida, New Jersey and New York.
There has been some talk — not much — of
an ambassadorship, perhaps roving, perhaps
some Western European nation or perhaps
Israel.
Editor:
It is pre-registration time again. In the spirit
of quality education, I set out to compile a list of
the “exceptional” classes and their professors.
I must admit, so far the search has been a
failure. (
The reasons for the failure seem worth not
ing. The problem is not that there are no excep
tional teachers at this university — there are
many. McDermott in philosophy, Adams in
history, Bryant in anthropology, all come high
ly recommended and that list is by no means
complete. In fact, the number of good profs is
part of the problem. It is hard to be recognized
as superb when everyone around is pretty darn
good.
The size of the University also hampered me.
I tried to limit my search to those courses you
might take with an elective — mainly liberal
arts. I came nowhere near checking all of the
possibilities, must less checking all of the de
partments.
It was also hard to find students who had
strong opinions about their classes. Many of
the students were interested solely in their
major. Others wanted their electives as easy
A’s. Many students don’t even look for a good
prof when they pick their electives.
To me the last reason for failure is the
greatest failure. It would be unfortunate if a
student left this school without taking a good
elective just for education’s sake. It is worth the
search to find a prof who teaches like Dickson in
archeology, or Stacell in environmental design,
or Dale in English.
The looking ain’t easy, but the payoff makes it
well worth it.
Dave Witzel
Wilson needs board
support
Editor:
An Open Letter to the Board of Directors,
Texas A&M:
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise” — is an admonition that
speaks pointedly at this time to all of us who
love Texas A&M. With rumors, and rumors of
rumors, running rife concerning the A&M foot
ball situation, wisdom with strength is urgently
needed, and there is no better place to start
than with the A&M Board of Regents.
A unanimous vote of confidence publicly
espoused by the board at this point in time for
Coach Tom Wilson, would be the greatest sing
le catalyst to continue opr football prof
the positive direction recently startedl)) ,
Wilson at great personal risk to hiitf
family and his career. Such undertali
Coach Wilson required just such wisdoi
needed by the board now to back him
fullest.
What Coach Wilson has done this )i
quired soul searching of mountainous pi
tion and quality found in only the
occasional public figure. What Coacl
did looks far beyond this season, but
success with quality for years to come.
What is needed now is wisdom will
set solidly with him. Let’s get about il
together — beginning with our
gents. Coach Wilson has started us on
which leads to greatness — but it require!
pline, integrity, hard work and devoti*
great school. Coach Wilson has put hinis
his career on the line for us and mi
excuses. Isn’t it time we stood firmly w*
man?
Dan R. Sutherland, Ml
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Board*
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By Scott McCuttar
The Battalion
U S P S 045 1360
MEMBER
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Southwest Journalism Congress
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