Opinion
Page 2/The BattalionATuesday, February 21, 1984
Town Hall concerts
may be obsolete
Will MSC Town Hall continue to
schedule concerts at Texas A&M?
Committee Chairman Karen Snow
says yes.
But taking a realistic look at the
problems the committee is facing, the
answer may be no.
One of the paramount problems is
the lack of facilities. Translated: G.
Rollie White Coliseum. The building is
a dinosaur — it simply was not de
signed to handle the large crowds and
technologically sophisticated set-ups of
today’s concerts.
Added to that is the reluctance of
most groups to make Texas A&M a
major concert date. Concerts here are
just “pick-up” dates, and groups rarely
are willing to schedule appearances in
advance.
Town Hall has faced those problems
in the past.
But recently, they’ve had an added
setback. The growing popularity of
Music Television has sent shock waves
through the entire music industry —
and Town Hall is no exception.
Ticket prices are up, attendance is
down, and fewer performers are tour
ing. It seems it’s now more cost-benefi
cial to produce a video than to go on
the road to promote an album.
A new special events center is the
only thing that can save Town Hall.
Without it, scheduling concerts will be
come increasingly more difficult.
It’s a shame that a student group
which has served A&M so well in the
past may find itself unable to continue
the job, simply because of a lack of ad
equate facilities. If Town Hall — and
the concerts the group brings to A&M
— are lost. Aggies will lose not only a
valuable tool for participating in “real
world” experiences, but also a valuable
entertainment service in a town where
entertainment is hard to find.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Construction poses
major inconvenience
Monday mornings are usually bad
enough, but yesterday my day was really
ruined by the actions of some inconsid
erate boob in the campus planning of
fice.
It seems this campus is looking more
and more like Beirut every week with
construction sites developing every
where.
Now a boundary fence has been
placed around parking lot 7 between
the Cyclotron, Doherty Building and
Halbouty Geosciences Building. Those
who planned the location of this fence
have committed a very dumb error.
The only continuous pedestrian walk
way between two of the largest buildings
on campus — Zachry Engineering Cen
ter and the Blocker Building — has
been cut off. This also cuts off the Civil
Engineering Building from the Blocker
Building, the location of the Texas
Transportation Institute, which em
ploys a large portion of civil engineering
graduate students and professors as re
searchers.
reader’s forum
Now, the only way to safely or cleanly
walk between these two areas is to walk a
long block south to Ross Street and
along in front of Halbouty and the Reed
McDonald Building. This adds about 10
minutes to the walk — not good for
making classes on time.
Short cuts were found quickly this
morning. But the grounds maintenance
department won’t appreciate the mud
hole where their grass used to be in
front of the Cyclotron, nor will the
Emergency Medical Technicians like to
make so many runs to Lot 5 picking up
students who have been hit by cars
speeding through the lot.
It seems to me this whole problem
should have never arisen. This is a uni
versity campus, a place where students
come to better themselves with greater
knowledge. But those in administrative
positions seem to be geared toward
making life miserable for the students.
Administrative personnel should
never forget the axiom: “If it weren’t
for us students, you wouldn’t have a
job.”
Perhaps that is a bit harsh and naive,
but I really feel those in administrative
positions ought to think more.along the
lines of how their actions will affect stu
dents. That sure would make this cam
pus a more pleasant place to learn.
Steven C. Bahrt
Graduate Student
Letters:
University attitude
toward students poor
Editor:
In regards to Operation Mop Up, which
was reviewed in Thursday’s Battalion, I
am appalled. Why should the students
have to raise money to pay for things
damaged by the stupidity of the land
lord? The University’s approach to the
recent floods is in keeping with their
past actions of “penny-pinching” at the
expense of the students.
When I came back from Christmas,
finding a note on my door from the
housing office that informed me that
they weren’t responsible for the damage
to be found inside, I wasn’t really sur
prised.
Sure, we can pay more than $1 mil
lion for a football coach, but we can’t
pay a few hundred dollars to keep the
heating on in the 50-year-old dorms so
that their plumbing doesn’t explode.
Sure, we can offer $1 million to a No
bel Laureate in physics, but we can’t af
ford to hire a few more math professors
so that the engineering students can un
derstand their professors.
The flooding and subsequent insensi
tivity of the Housing Department is just
another in a long series of events that
shows just how little the University
really cares about its students. Even
though I’m leaving in May, I hope this
isn’t the wave of the future.
Bill Tillotson
Class of ’84
No free publicity
Editor:
I was absolutely astounded to see that
The Battalion would print a letter from
someone advertising a book that he
wrote.
Who cares if Walter L. Bradley wrote
a book on the origins of life?
It is hard to believe that a person in
academia would publish in a field he
probably knows little about, using the
same arguments and some type of mis
use of passages that an uneducated per
son would use.
It is even harder to believe that The
Battalion would print such a letter giv
ing free publicity to a person so that he
could make a profit.
I move that The Battalion publish the
titles of all of the books printed by
Texas A&M professors in the last two
years free of charge. Furthermore, that
each professor be given space to write a
small synopsis of their book.
Stephen Weiss
Slouch
by Jim Earle Opposing views
7 Editor:
Deciding not to go
to Andropov's funeral
By CA
telaxal
atistics ii
lexas i
By Art Buchwald
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
When Yuri Andropov died Feb. 10, the
big question in the White House was
whether the president should attend the
funeral or not. The arguments pro and
con concerning this question had noth
ing to do with sentimentality, but how
Mr. Reagan’s presence or absence
would be perceived by the world.
This is how the argument went in the
White House.
“If the president goes to Andropov’s
funeral, it will be a signal he’s weak
ening his position on the placement of
the cruise missiles.”
“I disagree. By attending the funeral
the president will show that he is still
willing to talk to the Soviets, if they’re
willing to bargain on the S-20 missiles in
good faith.”
“You expect them to make conces
sions at a funeral?”
“Not necessarily at the funeral, but
afterwards when the president pays his
condolences to the Soviet leaders, who
ever the hell they are.”
“Don’t you think paying condolences
to the other Soviet leaders is a danger
ous thing to do?”
“What’s dangerous about it?”
“Suppose the Soviet leaders refuse to
accept them. How do you think that will
look in the headlines? ‘Reagan Condo
lences for Andropov Rebuffed by
Kremlin.’”
“Why don’t we find out before we let
the president go if the Kremlin is willing
to accept Mr. Reagan’s personal condo
lences. If they say no, then we won’t let
him attend the funeral.”
“I don’t trust the Soviets. They could
tell us they’ll accept them, and then
when the boss gets to Moscow they’ll say
they changed their mind.”
“So what kind of signal are we send
ing to Moscow if the president doesn’t
U.S.S.R. are the same as they werq
Andropov came to power.”
“Okay, maybe that would be
nal we’re sending to the new Soviet!
ers. But what signal are wesendu ihmielew
the people around the worldlPTli Ip ,;>e !
getting a little frightened overalltli
perpower saber-rattling. If tkf t . J
dent went to the funeral it miglit fclpboth
those who are afraid Reagan coni Iduates
us into a nuclear confrontationwi fa whol<
Russians. Also, don’t forget thepti |jj ua */,® r
fallout at home. Reagan would not
knock the Democrats off thee
Chi
am to
. ress out
news but also the Winter Olympio
‘It could kick back on us. Hon* F'Anyth
our conservative constituency roHative c
seeing an American president o:::P rn >ng ;
his condolences to the Commies?" K s s
“Suppose he went and offereL
personal condolences to the AndiB^ j n | ( :
family but not to the Politburo?” he right
“They would take that as a signs pun woi
the Prez flew all the way to Mostt make
continue the cold war.” r conc<
“How about the president cal f"; ea
the Politburo from Santa Barbas
offering his personal condolentt reetyo
the phone, as he did to theRedsti The “Si
ter the Superbowl? We could sho»
a split screen arena on TV.”
“You can’t get the whole Politl
a split screen, dummy. Besides
think just a call to the Politburoi
son” h;
?irst, st
x. Th
e a beg
ich stu
>1 rela
room will bring the Russians bach en they
neva to continue the arms talks.
“It certainly won’t. But the wort
scenario is if the president goes to
cow, gives his personal condole#
the Soviets will refuse to returni
neva. Then the media will writ
Reagan’s trip to Andropov’s funeR
a flop.
“I agree. I say we send Bushm
cow for the funeral, with a f
note from the president regreff
could not come himself.”
he 13:
Mopie
go:
‘George Bush.”
“He’s not a signal. He’s the vice presi
dent.”
“Bush went to Brehznev’s funeral, so
the signal we’re sending is that relations
between the United States and the
ve?’
‘What excuse will the presil
“He was so overcome by grief
cided to attend a prayer breaff
Iowa instead.”
‘I’m glad the court case is over so I can put my logo back on.
Walter Bradley’s letter of Feb. 17 takes
the view that we can perhaps teach evo
lution as well as creationism. Mike
Smith’s letter tells us what Cod is going
to do to gays.
There is one thing these letters have
in common. They are both written by
“Christians.” Any similarities end there.
Dr. Bradley writes with the view that
while his opinions have merit, so do the
opinions of others. Smith, however, dis
agrees.
To quote Smith, “all you gays out
there, if you don’t change and ask to be
forgiven then stay away from me and
my friends. My friends and I are nor
mal, and we would rather pair up with
ones which are of the opposite sex like
Cod wanted us guys to do in the first
place.”
Now, to quote Dr. Bradley’s last par
agraph, “As Norman Geisler has said,
“If it was bigotry in 1925, then it is still
bigotry in 1984. Bigotry has not
changed in the past half century, only
the bigots have.”
Two “Christian” letters. Two “Chris
tian” authors. Perhaps your God ar
ranged those letters to be printed on the
same day. Smith. Perhaps not. Which
ever is the case, I thank the Cod that
you profess to believe in that I am not
“normal” like you.
Scott Swearinger
Class of ’85
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