The Battalion
Viewpoint
September 11,1981
Slouch
By Jim Earle
<6
&
ilu.
/
T’m afraid our campus isn’t ready for it yet!’
It s your turn
Editor:
Well, I’ve had it. I don’t know what it is
about people that causes them to take
; something good to an extreme and thereby
| ruin it, but last Wednesday night was a
S prime example. The object of ruination:
The Aggie quad. The extreme I will de
scribe below.
A new resident of Mclnnis Hall was strip
ped to underwear, dragged through a mud
puddle, then chained to the grating in the
quad between Hughes, Fowler and Keath-
ley by some Good Ags. Being chained by
his underwear, he could have waited for
help or torn off his underwear. He chose
the latter. He then stood up, took a lordly
bow toward each dorm amidst hundreds of
spectators and several flashing cameras,
and then walked stark naked up to some
girls to chat.
Look, I don’t see why Texas A&M should
be the stage for some people’s lack of re
straint and other people’s sick exhibitionist
tendencies. This has happened before. It is
not a quad, but a perversion of the original
idea. The University and the University
Police should treat this as the serious disci
plinary problem it is. Anywhere else it
would be a serious crime; here, it is becom
ing a tradition.
Name withheld
Editor’s note: The author is a resident of
Mclnnis Hall and requested that his name
not be printed.
Consult an expert
Editor:
the screaming voices of fundamentalists ris
ing above the crowd shouting repentance
and damnation. What? New freshmen and
new Ags, if you havn’t already noticed,
Texas A&M is situated right in the hjpart of
the Bible Belt, America’s region of Christ
ian fundamentalism. If you claim yourself
“Christian,” as described by the fundamen
talist, I’m sure you probably think they’re
great. But, if you consider yourself “Christ
ian” in the sense of the rest of us, you’re
probably confused as to their approach. As a
junior philosophy major, and one of Texas
A&M’s true pre-theology students (theolo
gy is graduate work), let me offer you some
advice.
1. Any group that claims itself inter
denominational or non-denominational, is
pulling your leg. There are no such organi
zations at Texas A&M. If this were true,
why are some fighting the Moonies? Each
of these organizations have set principles or
theories as to the nature of God, or Christ,
and I can definitely say that some of these
principles totally differ with Catholic, or
some main line Protestant denominations.
Therefore, any statement made by these
groups should be taken with “a grain of
salt.” It is possible they are wrong.
2. As a full-time student of philosophy
and theology, I can also definitely say that
most know as much about theology as a first
grade Sunday School class and as much ab
out philosophy as my cat. Therefore, the
next time someone quotes Nietzsche to
you, he’s probably wrong.
Please don’t get me wrong. If you enjoy
the fellowship, the celebration of life with
Christ, that’s great. However, be very,
very careful. Jim Jones had a wonderful
Christian fellowship also, but he too had set
principles! No one thought then he was
wrong either. If in doubt, consult someone
learned in theology, like your pastor, minis
ter, or priest. I’m sure God can stand a few
questions.
Aw school! The hustle and bustle of peo
ple returning to classes, the endless lines.
Curt Collier ‘83
2358 Cornell
The Battalion
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Student Senate: Do you BILLieve?
No sooner have we adjourned the 67th
fiasco of the Texas Legislature (for the
second time), than we are confronted with
another legislative folly — the Texas A&M
University Student Senate.
At its first meeting of the semester
Wednesday night, the Senate approved its
budget and dispensed with other trivial
bureaucratic trappings. But the substance
of the meeting came with the introduction
of several new and imaginative bills.
Granted, the titles are not as titillating as
some of last year’s legislation (The Discri
mination Against Old Folks Bill or The
Eyes of Texas A&M Bill or The One Date a
Semester Bill, etc.), but the logic behind
the bills is certainly up to par.
We have a Bicycle Registration Bill call
ing for all bicycles to be registered by the
University and the University Police and
(yes, there’s more) the ticketing/impound
ing of all non-registered bikes. The Univer
sity Police should be tickled to death over
this one. A new task to fill those idle hours
Jennifer
Afflerbach
i
spent lazily cruising the campus looking for
crime.
When they get tired of chasing unregis
tered cyclists across the Academic Building
lawn, the police can kill some time issuing
more tickets to illegally parked motorcycles
and mopeds, as called for in the Pedestrian
Protection Bill. What threat a parked
motorcycle or moped poses to a pedestrian
is beyond me.
Automobile drivers should love this one.
The Motorcycle and Moped Parking Spaces
Bill calls for the creation of more motorcy
cle parking on the street or in parking
Dorms are being built in parking lots.(
srooms are going up in parking lots. Mtt <^nj
ists will kill for parking lots,
come much farther down on thepriorib]
for parking lots
In the event the Senate shouldrunoi
ideas for bills here are a few
modest proposals:
Buffalo Bill — calls for registration j
buffalo by the University and the Unive
the
com
Arm
com
ship
gym
ty Police and the ticketing/impound® tion
all non-registered buffalo.
Duck Bill — calls for pruning ofalli
tree branches hanging ominously over®
pus sidewalks and threatening
tion.
Mister Bill — proposes making“01
Nooooo!” the official University motto
Bicycle Bill For Two — special offeti
one ticket for an unregistered bicyclej
receive a second ticket free!
G.I. Bill — Gee, I bill-ieve Ivem
my point.
cour
WQ*ci6(nweu*e-
idELL, SOMEBODY HAS
TO LOOK fUOE AND
CLEAN-
Tradition goes beyond
limits of good taste, law
mm
Hitler comparison unfounded
This editorial is in response to the com
ments made by Michael Lane who conde
mned the man “outside the MSC speaking
of God.”
Mr. Lane claims to believe in God, go to
church, and pray, but he must not read his
Bible very often. While I am in no way
claiming to be a perfect Christian, I do re
call reading and hearing several verses
advocating “religious recruiting,” as Mr.
Lane termed going out and teaching the
word of God.
One such passage is Mark 16: 15-16,
which reads:
And he said unto them: Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every crea
ture. He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
Mathew 28: 19-20 similarly states:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, a
nd the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
The speaker in both instances is Jesus
Christ. And if Jesus says the word of God
should be taught and preached and spread
all over the world, it would seem that the
speaker at the MSC, Ron Tweson of
OASIS, was doing no wrong. Is it wrong for
a group of kids to get together because they
believe in God and quoting what He says in
the Bible? And I hardly think Mr. Tweson
should be compared to Adolf Hitler!
Hitler was a sick, power-hungry, bigoted
man. He came to a country hit hard with
post-war inflation and unemployment and
offered them an answer. He saw the people
of Germany starving and paying incredible
sums for a loaf of bread. These people were
desperate for change, and Hitler offered
them hope for a strong and prosperous
country: A motherland far greater than
Germany had been before “the war to end
all wars.”
This is why Germany listened to Hitler;
not because he forced his doctrine on
them. It wasn’t until Hitler took over Ger
many that he infringed upon people’s
rights. These rights were the rights of life
he took from the Jews and other peoples he
felt inferior to the “super race of Germans
he was planning to bring Germany to great
ness. True, he was wrong, but it was the
desperation of his people that caused them
to listen and believe him.
And I also believe that “what went on at
the MSC” was totally different. Obviously!
The speaker there did not decide how peo
ple should live; God did that. The speaker
was simply doing something else that God
decided on. He was teaching God’s word
as the Bible commands: by speaking, by
preaching, by going out into the woi
The rights of Americans are i
speech and religion are among the gre
Who is to say when and where anyone!
speak? And, please tell me, whocan[-
sume to say where religion should stay '
churches? In temples? In synagogues?®
gion has its place? Sure, its place is
world, where people are, whereveri"
needed — even at the MSC. And it
hardly be said that religion is “running
pant” because one speaker or one
speaks at the MSC.
If the people at the MSC didn’t wr
listen, then they should have got up
left. That’s their right. That’s how (lie)
close the door on a “hard sell.”
When religion is “confined to a sifr
windowless cell buried somewhere ii
recesses of a dungeon,” then Mr. Laitf
start making comparisons to a man
lived in Germany, circa 1933. ®
P.S. — Julienne fries are potatoes^
long, thin strips. Look it up in Wefe
New Collegiate Dictionary or fcj;
Homes and Gardens’ New Cookbook?
answers and reasons aren’t too hardtop
if you know where to look.
Elizabeth Moore
Ii
1001 Harvey 1 H
Warped
By Scott McCullm
-4;