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Page 2/The Baltalion/Thursday, December 1,1983
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Letters: Racism all
in the point of view
Editor:
This letter concerns the recent letters
written about the confederacy (with a lit
tle “c“).
I have on occasion tried to make
others understand my feelings and per
ceptions of the “old south”, slave auc
tions, etc. However, it seems futile to try
to make some people understand that
those feelings and perceptions are as (if
not more) sincere and legitimate than
their own. So I will try not dwell too long
on my perceptions (per se), nevertheless,
I will venture to say yes, there were racists
and slaveowners on both sides of the civil
war. There were probably some aboli
tionists in the south who fought for the
confederacy thinking that this would
bring about freedom for all men includ
ing blacks. However, the existence of
slavery in this country was primarily in
the south. Thus, that region of the nation
is often blamed for the institution which
it supported. The confederate flag is ob
viously a symbol of the “old south” and
the lifestyle associated with it; therefore
when people look at the flag they may see
the symbol of a “noble way of life and
freedom” whereas others see the prop
agation of slavery and the oppression of a
race.
It appears to be a matter of what side of
the fence you are on. I know which side I
would like to be on.
Additionally, it was stated that the in
stitution was going to be done away with
eventually by “the south” if “the south”
had its way. 300 years give or take a cen
tury is quite a wait.
search. We want to discover things other
people do not want to get into. But has
anyone heard anything on leading the
way in undergraduate programs? Has
there been any news on hiring well
known professors who set up great
undergraduate programs? To make
Texas A&M a World University do we
need a certain percentage of professors
who have come from foreign nations and
can barely speak English? Dr. Arthur E.
Martell came out and said, “We put too
much emphasis on undergraduate prog
rams and not enough on graduate prog
rams,” in The Batt. on Oct. 26.
Please do not misunderstand, research
and graduate programs are an important
part of a World University. Without well
established people in these areas, the
University would not do as well. But with
out a good, strong undergraduate prog
ram (which is the building block for gra
duate school) the people that continue
their studies will have a harder time. Peo
ple sometimes forget institutes of higher
education only used to have undergradu
ate programs.
Joe Calao ’86
Team great despite
re cord
Kevin Johnson
Undergrads needed
too
Editor:
In recent times this University has
been calling for “World University: The
Cambridge of the South.” We want to
become leaders in technology and re-
Editor:
Just a little note to say thanks for a hell
of an exciting year! It’s been a long time
since we have been as excited about a
football team as we were about you, the
1983 Aggies. No matter how well you do
in the future — and we are sure you will
do well (Cotton Pickin’ Aggies) — we
would like to congratulate you on this
season. Whatever the record shows, you
have proven to us that you are real win
ners and that you possess the abilities to
stay that way. Looking forward to seeing
you next year — Good Luck!
Seniors ’84
Ronnie, Vanessa, Jeff,
Roger, Diane
Here and now briefs:
Protests and politics
By Maxwell Glen and Cody Shearer
WASHING LON-When 27 Universi
ty of Michigan students occupied a cam
pus radiation laboratory two weeks ago,
they vowed to remain until the adminis
tration ceased its participation in milit
ary- and defense-related research. Just
48 hours later, the students ended their
vigil voluntarily — and unsuccessfully.
Though the protest may have seemed
a throwback to more turbulent times, it
had a relevant purpose. Military-related
research dollars comprise a growing
share of campus research funds. In addi
tion to discomfort about the ends of milit
ary research, students and faculty worry
that institutions of higher education have
adopted the Pentagon as their chief life
line.
Reagan administration and environmen
tal groups is only a temporary cease-fire.
Activists say they’ll take aim in January at
Richard Francis, the president’s choice to
lead the Solar Energy and Conservation
Board, created in 1980 to help subsidize
solar and energy conservation projects.
“It’s the same old story,” said Scott
Sklar, political director of Solar Lobby,
an interest group here. “The president
nominates a man who wants to destroy
the agency he’s been hired to save.”
Of course, the Ann Arbor school’s re
fusal to surrender to the “Progressive
Student Network” was no surprise. In
1982 alone, the University of Michigan
enjoyed more than $4.09 million in con
trasts with the Department of Defense.
Judy Goldsmith’s National Organiza
tion for Women has declared an all-out
war on the allstate Insurance Co. Charg
ing that Allstate pays its female em
ployees and agents less than their male
counterparts, NOW announced a nation
wide boycott of the Sears, Roebuck sub-
isdiary. Picketing has already begun in
Indiana.
Last year, NOW blamed defeat of the
Equal Rights Amendment on insurance
industry opposition and subsequently
pledged to pass federal legislation ban
ning sex-based insurance rates.
But according to an annual Pentagon
report, more than 250 colleges and uni
versities received a total of $1.5 billion in
project money last year. Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore and Boston’s
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
topped the list by a wide margin, with
contracts totaling $235 million and $216
million, respectively. Even small schools
such as Ohio’s Denison University were
on the take($40,000).
RIGHT OF WAY: Everyone has a
favorite story about Washington’s absur
dities. Here’s ours: It was 21 years ago
that local and federal governments
opened Dulles Airport in Virginia, about
25 miles from downtown Washington. It
is just this week that a direct road from
downtown to the airport is being opened.
Meanwhile, according to Stanford
University President Donald Kennedy,
non-defense research dollars, the vast
majority of which come from Uncle Sam,
have decreased 40 percent since 1968.
Kennedy believes that the trend must be
reversed for the sake of “hardheaded na
tional interest.”
One man’s national security is another
man’s idea of economic shortsightedness.
Have we rejiggered our research priori
ties at the expense of beneficial civilian
programs?
While airport customers can use the
road at any time of the day, rush-hour
commuters must travel in vehicles car
ring three or more occupants; single
passenger autos must carry a special $2
orange sticker; a computer at Dulles will
monitor vehicles to distinguish commu
ters from travelers.
The saving grace? Both the Federal
Aviation Administration, which owns the
airport and the road, and the Virginia
Highway Patrol say they lack the man
power to stop errant vehicles.
A private group, the Scientific Man
power Gommission, flashed a warning
recently to those who believe the nation’s
the lowest salaries among their peers.
The current peace between the
Musical messages inspire
mad, subliminal shopping
nited Pres
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By Art Buchwald
According to newspaper reports, sub
liminal messages are now being inserted
into music played in retail stores to get
people to buy things. Several companies
are producing tapes for clients which
have secret messages in them to attack the
shopper’s brain and unconsciously moti
vate him to buy a product he hadn’t plan
ned to purchase.
I was very skeptical about this infor
mation until I went to a shopping mall
last Saturday. The music being piped into
the mall was Christmas carols, intended
to get the people in a holiday mood.
I stopped to buy a chocolate chip
cookie, when suddenly something pos
sessed me. While the loudspeaker blared
out “We Wish you a Merry Christmas,” I
blurted out the word “Underwear.”
Everyone in the line looked at me. I
grrabbed the man behind me by the
lapels and said, “I’ve got to have under
wear.”
He pushed my hands away, “So what
are you standing in the chocolate chip
cookie line for? Go to a men’s shop.”
I dashed down the mall and stopped a
uniformed security guard. “Under
wear!” I screamed at him. “Give me
underwear.” He wasn’t sure whether to
arrest me or give me directions. Finally
he pointed me to a large menswear store
at the end of the mall.
Two salesmen were standing at the
door smiling. One said to the other,
“Here comes another one.” Then he said,
before I could speak, ‘T hird counter to
the left, but you have to take a number
and wait your turn.”
I he underwear counter was jammed
with people, all screaming and shouting.
I said to a man next to me, “Maybe there
won’t be any left by the time my number
is called. What am I going to do if I can’t
buy any underwear?”
“Do you need some that badly?” he
asked.
“I didn’t think so, but suddenly I got
this craving for underwear while 1 was
waiting to buy a chocolate chip cookie.”
“I came into the mall to buy pizza and
the same thing happened to me.”
My number was called and I bought 50
jockey shorts and 50 undershirts. That’s
all they would sell me.
I walked out of the store and stopped
to look at an artist doing charcoal sketch
es of children. While I was watching,
someone was singing “Jingle Bells” over
the loud speaker.
The word “Wok” lit up in my brain. My
eyes became desperate and I started sear-
atmosf
n earliei
thing for a wok store. I rushed
lady at the information booth,but
I could blurt it out she said,“Wok
found in the basement of the dq
store at the end of the building.
“How did vou know 1 wanteda
“Everyone wants a wok whentl
‘Jingle Bells.’”
“You mean you have a secret
in ‘Jingle Bells’?”
“Of course. Today il’s woks,tot M they
it’s wax for your floor.” ■ mapp
fted portio
“I don’t need a wok,” 1 said.
“Then put your hands overyom * te 111
and you won’t get a message.”
at her schedule. “‘White Christina!
home computers.”
“I don’t need a home coni|
either.”
“You don’t think
Crosby sings it.”
you do
“Do I have time to buy achocolat
cookie?”
“It depends. After ‘White
they’re playing ‘Silent Night’and
going to be an awful crush for
knotted Chinese rugs at the end
mall.”
(ins
Kids learn from risk taking
By Children’s Express
United Press International
SALEM, Mass. — Project Adventure
started to help people get more confi
dence in themselves. When you’re doing
it, you’re building up something inside of
you. You’re building self-confidence and
trying different things instead of doing
the same things you’ve been doing.
“For example,” said Karl Rohnke, the
director of Project Adventure, “imagine
standing by yourself on top of a 30-foot
pole with not much to stand on and you
have to dive for a trapeze that hangs out
in front of you. There’s a lot of decision
making that goes on inside. You look at it
and you think, ‘There’s no way that I
could make that.’But then you try and
you find out it’s not quite as hard as it
looks.”
comes down we get the group together
and talk about some of the things we’re
striving for, and point out that although
the person who said the comment was
probably trying to get the other person to
do it, that if they were up there they
wouldn’t want to hear it. It’s not suppor
tive at all.”
The students are not made to do any
thing. It’s all their own will. If they want
to do it, they can. “And some of the pro
jects are just plain stunts,” Rohnke
added. “It’s important that
fun as they’re doing this prog!) I ( t h e C
) !'>
you re up on a pole and
every day, you’re not going to
come to class. ' ‘
Project Adventure is a breai
gym courses like basketball and vol
and baseball. You don’t have tocoi M
It tries to get people to challenge Y (
selves. “It allows you to overcome: S
that you might think would beimp I \/^
to do,” Rohnke said.
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Despite all the fanfare associated with
his latest appointment, Interior Secretary
William Clark may have some politicking
to do at his new agency. When a visitor to
Interior recently asked an employee for
the whereabouts of Clark’s office, the em
ployee responded, “Secretary Clark?
Why don’t you try the seventh floor?”
Clark’s office is on the sixth floor.
Project Adventure does activites based
on a “survival school” called “Outward
Bound.” They do things like jumping off
ropes and out of trees. It lasts for 26 days.
Project Adventure is like that except they
don’t do it for 26 days constantly, living at
the area. They do it at school.
“We’re trying to get to a point in a
physical education program where stu
dents come in and have no idea what
we’re going to present to them,” Rohnke
told us.
Some of the things Project Adventure
has are “ropes, beams, and cross country
skis — we’ve even used parachutes,”
Rohnke said. His favorite thing is the
“tension traverse, which is walking across
a cable, holding onto a rope and the
cable’s over mud. If you miss, there’s a
real consequence.”
There are about 15 people in the
groups. People have to spot each other
and they have to encourage them. It also
helps you build up confidence in other
people.
We asked Rohnke what happens if a
person makes fun of another person.
“Say you get somebody up on a high
element,” he replied. “He’s having trou
ble making the decision to do something
and one of the kids down below says,
‘Come on, you chicken.’ After the student
The Battalion
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