Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, September 7,1983
opinion
Unprepared could
No one ever prepared me for Texas
A&M.
I thought my transition from Amarillo
College, a small junior college in the
Panhandle, to A&M would be relatively
simple because I had been in a college
atmosphere for two years already.
But no one ever prepared me for this.
I should have been forewarned that I
was unprepared when I tried to obtain
my paid fees receipt, that without which a
student is not officially allowed to eat,
sleep or breath at A&M.
I had mailed a check for my fees to the
University two weeks before my arrival
on campus, but had never received the
receipt in the mail.
Wandering around the campus, quite
disoriented, I first proceeded to the
wrong area of Rudder Tower and was
then incorrectly directed to the Pavillion
kari
fluegel
where I was again directed back to
Rudder.
When I finally found the right place I
proceeded to the line marked “Sent pay
ment, but not received receipt.”
The student behind the table looked
for my records, which could not be found
in his basket of paperwork. Then, in true
get lost in Aggieland
Aggie spirit, he searched other area bas
kets until he located my records in the
unpaid fees line.
My receipt, I discovered, was being
held because I had written my check out
for $1777.93 instead of $1777.95. After
putting in my two cents worth, I was fin
ally admitted to A&M.
I realize A&M is a school full of tradi
tions, but why didn’t someone warn me
about everything?
I understand and appreciate tradi
tions like the Twelfth Man, not walking
on the MSG grass and midnight yell prac
tice, but no one ever told me about the
other traditions.
No one ever told me it was a tradition
at A&M to sweat. In my home town of
Amarillo the temperature frequently
rises over 100, with no humidity; there
fore, residents are used to being hot and
dry. The transistion from the dry
Panhandle to College Station has left me
hot and wet.
I was recently complaining to a friend
about the humidity when I was reminded
that girls don’t sweat, they glow. Well, I
have glowing like a pig ever since I got to
A&M.
Also, I was never informed of the hur
ry-up and wait policy of the University
bureaucracy. Unbelieveably, the only
place I don’t have to wait is line is in the
restroom.
Rain is also a new experience for any
one from the Panhandle. My brother, of
the Aggie Class of ’82, warned me that
the insignificant little sprinkles I was
used to in Amarillo was nothinglt
rain storms here.
Being an ex-girl scout, I decided!
would be prepared and purchase!
umbrella. I should have boughtaSi
suit.
Sore leet seem to be a traditiom
Standing at football games isn’t so
after walking a mile to class, a mih
MSC to discover there is no mailaoi
and a mile back to the dorm.
Another tradition I wasn’t warned
out is that walking on the sidewil
between classes is the same as shoulii
want to be run over by a bicycle.”
It is unfair for new students too
Aggieland completely unprepa
therefore I’m taking the initiative. I
New and future Aggies, watchoitl.
the things Mama didn’t tell you.
Reagan out of commissions
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan is being credited in some quar
ters with raising the government-by
commission concept to the level it en
joyed during the Eisenhower administra
tion.
I personally am not entirely convinced
that Reagan is all that devoted to the com
mission form of problem-solving — or
roblem-ducking as the case might be.
ut Ike’s allegiance was unmistakable.
Not for nothing did his years in the
White House (1953-61) become known
as the golden age of presidential commis
sions. So what if some of them operated
behind signs that said, “The duck stops
here.”
Every time a hot potato was tossed in
his lap, Ike would announce he was
appointing another commission.
“We’re going to get the best brains in
the country to look into this matter,” he
would say.
Then he would name the president of
a breakfast food company as chairman.
By coincidence, the chairman’s name
might have been drawn from a list of “I
Like Ike” fund-raisers during the pre
vious presidential campaign.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not sug
gesting that the brains of breakfast food
moguls are not among the best in the
country; or that presidential commis
sions might be a way of paying off politic
al debts and cooling hot potatoes.
It is, however, somewhat axiomatic
that by the time a commission appointed
to study a certain problem makes its re
port, the public may have lost interest in
the issue.
Moreover, a president is under no
legal obligation to abide by a commis
sion’s recommendations.
Nevertheless, the popularity of com
missions began to fade during, as I recall,
the Nixon administration.
The usefulness of commissions as a
governmental tool is at least question
able. There is, however, one sure way to
settle the argument once and for all.
That would be for Reagan to appoint a
presidential commission on presidential
commissions.
In fact, he wouldn’t even have to name
a new commission. The study could be
turned over to the bipartisan Scowcroft
commission, whose life Reagan recently
extended.
This group originally was appointed
to recommend ways of deploring the MX
nuclear missile.
If invited to testify before the group, I
would recommend that some of the new
MX missiles not be equipped with nuc
lear warheads.
Instead, they would be armed with
copies of old presidential commission re
ports.
It could be the only way to get the
Geneva disarmament talks off dead cen
ter. The prospect of being bombarded
with old commission reports would, I sus-
ect, bring Soviet negotiators to their
nees.
Slouch
by Jim Earle
“We’re the ones who are stand
ing ready to go in and play, in
case we’re needed as a Twelfth
Man on the kickoff team. “
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
Managing Editor Elaine Engstrom
City Editor Beverly Hamilton
Assistant City Editor Kelley Smith
Sports Editor John Lopez
Assistant Sports Editor Joe Tindel
Entertainment Editor .... Rebeca Zimmermann
Assistant Entertainment Editor Shelley
Hoekstra
News Editors Brian Boyer, Kathy Breard,
Tracey Taylor, Kelly Miller
Photo Editor Eric Evan Lee
Staff Writers Brigid Brockman, Ronnie
Crocker, Scott Griffin,
Christine Mallon, Michelle
Powe, Ann Ramsbottom,
Stephanie Ross, Karen
Schrimsher, Carol Smith,
Angel Stokes, John Wagner,
Kathy Wiesepape, Wanda
Winkler
Cartoonist Paul Dirmeyer,
Scott McCullar
Photographers Brenda Davidson,
Michael Davis, Guy Hood,
John Makely, Dean Saito
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77843.
Letters: Appeal
made against DWI
Paul Basse]
and Rhode
White Hous
former pro!
his honor a
on Tuesday
Editor:
I am writing this letter from my hos
pital bed and I’d like to direct it to the
A&M students.
Last Thursday night (Aug. 25) around
midnight I was unfortunate enough to be
involved in an automobile accident on
Harvey Road.
Not only ws the driver of the other
vehicle speeding, but he was also drunk
and did not have his headlights on. With
in a matter of seconds, he crossed over
two lanes, and traveling down the wrong
side of the street, hit me head on.
My car, being only a Datsun 210 was
no match for his Ford LTD. My car was
completely totaled and had there been
anyone in the car with me, they would
have surely been killed. Unbelievably, I
came out of it alive.
I did, however, sustain two fractured
ribs, a broken hand, a possibly re
fractured collarbone, lacerations on my
cornea, and many other cuts on my body.
Had the other driver not been so
drunk, I would not be wearing a neck-
brace and riding around in a wheelchair
as I have been.
In the future, I hope that everyone will
think twice before they attempt to drive
while intoxicated. It is a terrifying experi
ence to be involved in such an accident
and to undergo the misery I am presently
going through.
Just thankful to be alive,
Arnold Weil ’83
Rules of college life
Editor:
Here are a few rules that you may find
relevent to the student body. I know they
brought back memories (good and bad)
for me:
Sen’s Law of Higher Education
— The one course you must take to
graduate will not be offered during your
last semester.
First Law of Class Schedules
— Class schedules are designed so
every student will waste the maxim
time between classes.
Second Law of Class Schedules
— A prerequisite for a desiredco|. St hanie M
will be offered only during the semes
following the desired course.
First Law of Applied Terror
— When reviewing your notesbefe
an exam, the most important ones will
illegible.
Second Law of Applied Terror
Battalion Staff
ll want to be able to
t rent payments,”
r student Paul Ha
\ at a reception gi
icr. That's an unit
[nt for a Rhode:
ite House Fell
bder of a national i
The more studying you did fori pnization to say.
Paul Basse has just
irofbeinga White I
,one of four Agg
leive the honor. A
one year and mi
lb cabinet member
Is for informal dis
Hasseworked fort
exam, the less sure you are as towli
answer they want.
Third Law of Applied Terror
— 80% of the final exam will be has ssewasabletowor
on the one lecture you missed or then '“^nt agency at
book you didn’t read.
Fourth Law of Applied Terror
— Every instructor assumes thatsi iwi t
have nothing else to do except stud) 1 ft'ndoijini'enTor the
that instructor’s course. ■ background and
Fifth Law of Applied Terror Inmaking to restor
— If you are given an open-bo« a cataloging s
exam, you will forget your book, wmrican films mad
Corollary: ,B|’. .
If you are given a take-home exT h | ( >t> involved
you will forget where you live. 0 vwood tc
G- . /• ■mos and filmmak
Sixth Law of Applied I error I en c harleton „
— At the end of the semester you Mining at the White-
recall having enrolled in a course at tiled for Hasse
beginning of the semester
attending.
Duggan’s Law of Scholarly Research
— The most valuable quotation wiM
the one for which you cannot determii
the source.
Rominger’s Rules for Students
1) The more general the title of
course, the less you will learn from it
2) The more specific a title of acoufl
the less you will be able to apply later
Greg Cizik 'Si
— and ne jj'J lmw ( l . st ! ie mai
pluses, Michael A
n g but God,
Hasse said, si
shing slightly.
Remember ‘fish’ days
by Dave Spence
It’s not fair — it really isn’t — how the
upperclassmen automatically dismiss the
incoming freshman as a bunch of unstu-
dious, pubescent hedonists to whom the
word “study-lounge” is a paradox.
Certainly it hasn’t been so long since
most seniors were freshman (though for
some, I know, it’s been quite some time)
that they can’t sympathize with the fresh-
Reader’s Forum
man in their struggle between chemistry
and the Chicken, calculas and Coors,
geography and the Greeks.
Sure, as the infinitely responsible
senior I am now, I’m already immersed
in homework this early in the semester,
but I can remember back to my freshman
year when there were, let’s say, “distrac
tions":
(Bam, bam, bam.)
“Hey, knock softly like the sign says,
will yuh? I’m studying.”
(Bam! Bam! Bam!)
“Oh, c’mon in then.”
“Dave! Man, how ’bout some pizza. I’m
starved, and already tired of Sbisa.”
“Yah, OK, John, call Domino’s. But
quietly, huh. Gotta study.”
“Hello, Domino’s? I need three large
pizzas delivered to room 309 . . .”
“What? Try one small, John.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Barry and
three buddies of his are coming with tons
of beer and maybe one girl.”
“John, they can’t. When my roommaif
gets back, we’re gonna study this bid
(Bam, bam, bam.)
“If that’s you Barry, go away!”
(Bam! Bam! Bam!)
“C’mon in, he’s just kidding."
“Dave, man! Party, man! Beer, ma
Oh, and this is Belinda Crawlwell.”
“Hello, Belinda. Nice to meet yoj
Barry, you can’t stay. I’ve got to ...”
“Not until you’ve heard Belinda it
you about being rushed by the Deltas
“Oh, wow! It’s so exciting. See, firs
they called me.”
“John, dammit, leave your hands oi
my roommate’s records.”
(Bam, bam, bam.)
“Go away!”
“C’mon in!!”
Hi, I’m Frank. Live next door anil
heard the party. Thought me and fli)
eight friends would join you.”
“Hi, I’m Belinda! You’re cute.”
^ B'nai
^xasA&
fy Conti
^ Year
Everyone i
“John, would yuh turn the music do" 1
please. The RA will hear it!”
(Bam! Bam! Bam!)
“Go away!”
“Open up! I’m the resident advisor!
“Oh, s-sorry. P-please do come in.”
“I’m afraid the music’s way too loud
Going to have to write you up.”
“No, no, please. This is all a big mis
take. Y’see, I never . .
Rosh Ha
Wedn
Thun
Fridas
Voi n Kip
Lida)
^atuix
6:00 F
(Bam! Bam! Bam!)
“Sounds like more guests, buddy.
“I’m sure it’s just my roommate. Hr
swear that we were just going to stud
tonight. I’ll let him in.”
“Domino’s, sir!”