Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
May 13, 1981
By TC
1 total of 3,04(
ends and rela
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jliseum.
At the first <
rthur Levitt Jr.
ock Exchange,
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ledicine college
Wall Street betting
against GOP
pla
n
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Fifty-two years after
the Wall Street crash signaled the
approaching end of the last lengthy era of
Republican rule, the hard-eyed money
vestment. That program, keyed to a gradual
but sustained effort to slow the rate of feder
al spending and the growth of the money
supply, while making deep cumulative cuts
in tax-rates for the next three years, has
guys are emerging again as the spoilers of been portrayed by its critics as a high-risk
the GOP’s dreams. The vote of no- " gamble ever since it was first unveiled.
confidence in Ronald Reagan’s economic
program reflected in the nervous bond mar
ket and the run-up in interest rates clouds
what would otherwise be halcyon days for
the President and his party.
When the Democratic-controlled House
of Representatives approved the Reagan-
endorsed budget resolution for fiscal 1982
in preference to that recommended by its
own Budget Committee, it signaled the
President’s dominance of public opinion
and the political arena. Over and over, de
fecting Democrats explained their vote by
saying their constituents want to “give
Reagan’s program a chance. ”
A series of polls showed the Republican
Party had supplanted the Democrats as the
party voters believed most likely to make
the country prosperous. And largely a a
result of that belief, the polls showed Re
publicans making significant strides toward
erasing the Democrats’ half-century-old
status as the political home of most Amer
icans.
An April Gallup Poll showed Republi
cans with a 13-point lead over the Demo
crats as the “party of prosperity, ” reversing
the 14-point advantage the Democrats had
held in that measure as recently as 1978. An
April poll by CBS News and the New York
Times showed that the number of Republi
cans and Republican-leaning independents
was only 8 percent smaller than the number
of self-identified Democrats and Democra
tic-leaning independents. As recently as 15
months ago, the same poll had shown the
Democrats with a 20-point lead.
What all this suggests is that a long-term
political realignment that could make the
Republican Party once again the majority
party in Amercan — a possibility that
seemed no more than a gleam in the eye of
some conservative dreamers last summer
— is within the range of achievement
today.
But — and it is a huge “but” — all this
rests on the Reagan economic program
achieving its advertised results of reducing
inflation and stimulating job-creating in-
Warped
Teaching, not title matters
Several letters to the editor and a few arti
cles have been published in The Battalion
over the last few months about some people
that won’t be working here anymore. They
are, or were, teachers, whatever their offi
cial title may be — instructor, lecturer,
assistant, associate or full professor.
Those that probably come to mind first
are those who did not receive tenure for one
reason or another. Some were never eligi
ble for tenure; their stated job — those
given titles of “lecturer” and “instructor ” —
was to teach.
Unfortunately, like most people, I read
complaints from students about someone
who was a great prof getting canned and I’d
say, “Well, that’s life.”
But — one of them was a prof I had, once
upon a time. And lo, this particular prof was
good. No, great. Not eligible for tenure,
this “lecturer” has published more than
some Ph. D. types, and had a far more effec
tive style of teaching than many others. Not
just in my opinion. People that had taken
the course before — from this prof — came
of their own free will to our class and told us
how much we would learn and how much
fun we would have.
Flush center
By Terry Duran
i i ,,,,,, ractenzing i
division that awards bachelor s dea ;( j
The word “research” is mentionej
And they were right.
But that doesn’t matter. This prof will
not be teaching here in the fall, but the
other lecturer in the department is being
kept on. I wonder what the difference is.
What’s that you say? What about the
teacher evaluations all these oh-so-
impressed students must have filled out? If
they were so glowingly wonderful, how
come this teacher isn’t being retained?
Surprise — those evaluations go right to
the teacher in question, to be used for what
ever they want to use them for. Not to the
department head, not to a committee. The
instructor being evaluated.
Ever hear of the phrase, “exercise in
futility”?
Most people’s purpose in coming to this
University was to get some form of educa
tion, and they pay fairly considerable sums
for the privilege. Not nearly as much as it’s
worth, I grant you, but it still takes quite a
bite out of the of wallet.
Do we want to pay for something less
than the best we can get? The time is appa
rently approaching when this University’s
stated policy will be to hire and retain full
time researchers who also happen to be
part-time teachers. How good a teacher?
That won’t really matter, because they’re
pulling in that grant money and doing that
frontier, front-line, ahead-of-the-art re
search.
What is the purpose of this University,
anyway? To do research, or to educate the
people that come here and pay money to
better themselves?
The head of the math department has
been quoted thusly: “Texas A&M is a uni
versity, not a teacher’s college.”
The American Heritage Dictionary de
fines a “university” as: “An institution for
higher learning with teaching and research
facilities comprising a graduate school and
professional schools that award master’s de
grees and doctorates and an undergraduate
‘Today’s fail-s:
ly once, you’ll notice. The restoftliei ted a cult of n
asis is on learning, and rewards
learning.
The same dictionary defines a “ti
college” as one with “a special cm
for training teachers.”
Somebody’s blowing smoke int
No less respected a personage
Rod O’Connor told The Battalion:
the past eight years that I’vebeenln
the College of Science I can seethe
teaching and time spent with studi
dining.”
:le for whatev
ng every effo
ip.' 1 Levitt said
He urged the
ed, “Be bra>
ly.”
e said job se
:omes meanin
ih thing as jo
jning that mar
The problem, however, is notlii
the College of Science. It’s spread4’ |
out the University, the feeling that at
By TERR
of Mumbo-Jumbo degree on thewalL.. . ,.® att ^ io
ter than being able to make that ir,^ commandaii
jumbo understandable to students. Line Corps t<
Student Body President Ken]d iGe^^Robe
has already targeted academics as one ^ ine c or p S e
major areas of emphasis for studentjo Lber of the
ment this coming year, along withgei iff, was greeted
making sure that the voice of the stui ution as the j
heard.
When you come back in the
involved. Go to the Student Pn
Office on the second floor of the Mi
Student Center and tell somebodyupl
that you care enough to stand up
counted. Kathy Bartholomew is thesl
senate’s vice president for academic
Talk to her, talk to your living areas
and your academic college senator
them you won’t settle for a seed
education.
missioning t
Rollie White
arrow told t
,tes.— 43 An
e Navy ant
is — “How v
determined i
well you wi
arrow focuse
perhaps thi
Texas A&M is one of the best mi
ties in the nation, one where peof
something. Let’s keep it that way
hi
ran
It’s your turn
By CAT
Battalic
While the piiblic and Congress yvere
heeding Reagan’s optimistic words in his
speech five days later. Wall Street was
listening to bond market slumped and ner
vousness pervaded the markets.
On the morning of the day Reagan won
his budget fight in the House, the Wall
Street Journal — the most powerful journa
listic advocate of Reagan’s economic prog
ram — led the paper with a story reporting
that the “real chaos in the financial mar
kets” was explainable even in the eyes of
some administration officials only as “a lack
of confidence in the President’s program.”
Budget director David Stockman told the
Washington Post he was revising his own
optimistic predictions that interest rates
would soon come down. And Treasury Sec
retary Donald Regan conceded that rising
interest rates would swell the federal deficit
to the $60-billion range.
The situation is an ominous one for the
administration, because the whole Reagan
economic program rests ultimately on an
act of faith. The prospect of budget and tax
reductions is supposed to trigger an unpre
cedented surge of investment. Without
that surge, the promised gains in productiv
ity and jobs will not occur, and the Treasury
will not see the revenues that are supposed
to balance the budget at permanently lower
tax rates.
Most of the men who have served in the
presidency since economics proclaimed it
self a science have learned to be skeptical of
their economic advisers. Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who is in so many ways a model
for Reagan, took a wholly pragmatic view,
experimenting with a variety of programs ot
cure the Depression that fit no consistent
economic theory.
Never in the modern era have a Presi
dent and a party be as much on a single
economic theory as Ronald Reagan and the
Republicans have bet on the belief that
supply-side economics is right.
The fact that much of Wall Street is bet
ting against them is awfully disquieting
news.
Imita tion ‘preppies ’ are irrita ting
Editor:
This letter is in protest to the current “pre
ppy” contest in a local store and to the
“preppy” fad plaguing Texas A&M.
1. The corruption of the word “preppy”.
A native Yankee, I transferred from St.
Lawrence University last June. Previously
I had rarely heard the term “preppy”.
“Prep” was an adjective describing a presti-
gous, private. Northeastern secondary
school, ie. Deerfield, Exeter.
2. “Greek” and “Prep” are not synono-
mous. Not soon after I arrived at Texas
A&M I was tagged an “S.B. ” for wearing an
old Lacoste shirt. I was shocked to learn its
meaning and implications. Being Greek
does not imply “preppiness” and vice versa.
3. Clothes do not make a “prep“. The
“preppies” you try so hard to imitate are a
breed of well-established families. They are
secure and not subject to fad fashion. Prac
tical and conservative has been “in” for
years. They do not buy new Docksides for
campus since they were intended for one
reason — sailing. Starched Polo shirts are
also nouveau riche — very “unpreppy“.
4. “Preppy” as a way of life. Many are
born into this and it cannot be imitated
correctly. You can’t want to be called “Slop
py, ” you just acquire it as a childhood nick
name. You also do not wake up and say “I
think I’ll dress ‘preppy’ today“. If you have
to try to be “preppy” — you aren’t. It is not
an affected (assumed or simulated to im
press others) style.
So far, I have met only one true “preppy”
student at A&M — a Lawrenceville grad.
He has no qualms about who he is and
doesn’t imitate anyone but himself.
I believe many people here have an iden
tity crisis and feel they project a certain
image just by dressing in the latest “pre
ppy” style. Don’t worry, we can spot you
pseudo-preps a mile away.
This “preppy” fad and contest are as
bogus as an Urban cowboy on Nantucket
claiming he’s been a cowboy all of his life.
One question — how many of you would
get irate upon meeting a Brooklynite sport
ing a disco-rodeo suit and speaking in a very
continued Texas accent? Just think about it.
Elizabeth G. Lochte
eyes.
After reading the review, I knot
exact actions which take place in tk
scene, the first murdered victim, an
the approximate time intervals at
subsequent murders will occur.
Perhaps I am “sick in the head"
joying horror movies, or maybe I
s’ During coni
miner at Te>
|ty, transfer stu
iportunity to
ilar to Stud
The Texas A
ieta Kappa,
itemity for ji
colleges, ,
is and activi
mts that ha’'
ailable only
ien at the Te:
Fish Camps e
Fish Camp
able because of upcoming finals, but! ^
Review gives plot away
Editor:
Here is a word of advice to anyone planning
on seeing “Friday the 13th — Part II“: if it
isn’t already too late, do not read Scot
Meyer’s review of the movie unless you
plan on missing the first 30 minutes. I am
referring to the review which appeared in
the April 7th Focus supplement to The Bat
talion.
Nothing is more irritating than having a
suspenseful scene of a horror movie re
vealed by someone who has already had the
pleasure (or the displeasure) of viewing it. I
was anxiously looking forward to experienc
ing the second part of “Friday the 13th.”
Then I read Meyer’s review while inno
cently browsing through Thursday’s Focus.
Now, the first scene of the movie, which
sounded great on paper, is ruined in my
on to T<
think this is a maddening problem. So; 1 | estine - re
the future, please try to refrain from! ura i s anc ] s
bing about the explicit details of movie ons are son
change to reviewing the classics whicl /ailable fo
already common knowledge. eshmen.
Tricia Beni Mike Brov
pheta Kappa
forientation p
Istudents, wh
Correction ca
[depth look at
Texas A&M f
“We went
ion program
be only exp
ipportunities
les, the histc
of Texas A&
Two errors were made in an article ia
May 7 issue of The Battalion about fe
ternational Women’s Conference tobek
at Texas A&M University June 8 andS
The four women who are going tosps
at the conference were referred to as :
plomats.” They are not official diploii
Several organizations were listedp | . ‘ 1
article as helping with the conference "' L" u j r es gr ^
Women’s Studies Association of the So^tj on an( } a
west, American Association of UniveiS (j on k y tke
Women, Undergraduate Women’sAss»
tion at Texas A&M and the Texas Al
Women’s Network are not yet formally
nected with the conference in any way
The Battalion regrets the errors.
By Scott McCullar
/|
The Battalion
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Sports Editor Ritchie Pnddy , and are subject to being cut if they are longer.* 1 FREE
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff edi f orial stafFreser 4 s the righ f t0 edit le ' ersfor Mw uh
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News Editors Venita McCellon, intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the xlfc
Scot K. Meyer and phone number of the writer.
StaffWriters . . . Frank L. Christlieb, Terry Duran, Columns and guest editorials are also welcome. awL i
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