Opinion
No excuse for risks
like falling metal
Texas A&M students assume they can
walk across campus during the day and
feel reasonably safe doing so. Most of
the time it’s a valid assumption.
Oh, sure, pedestrians have to keep
an eye out for cars when they cross the
streets, and every once in a while they
have to jump out of the way of a mad
cyclist.
By and large, students can expect to
make it to class without serious injury
— and certainly without being hit by
falling pieces of metal.
But that’s exactly what happened
Monday to Roger R. Gekiere. The
freshman general studies major was
walking from his class in the Blocker
Building when a 15 pound, 3 feet by
31/2 feet piece of sheet metal hit him on
the head. Gekiere spent the night at St.
Joseph Hospital.
There’s no excuse for an accident
like this.
Sure, Monday was an exceptionally
windy day. Winds of 30 to 40 mph
caused power outages and property
damage across town.
The piece of metal that struck Ge
kiere was covering the top of an ex
haust fan at the corner of the Blocker
Building. The heavy winds blew it off
the corner of the building —but that’s
still no excuse.
Gonstruction is going on at several
places on campus. Students and faculty
are inconvenienced by roped-off areas
and noisy equipment, but most of them
realize the work is necessary and are
willing to put up with minor inconve
niences.
For their part, the construction
workers are expected to take precau
tions to keep the pedestrian traffic-
areas on campus safe. A minor consid
eration would be keeping equipment
on top of buildings tied down in case of
high winds.
If Gekiere had cut through a roped-
off area, he would have at least known
he was risking injury. But no warning
signs are posted by the Blocker Build
ing, and students aren’t usually on the
alert for falling metal sheets.
And there’s no reason they should
have to be.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Negotiator for U.S.
distrustful of Soviets
By JIM ANDERSON
Columnist for United Press International
Since the Soviets walked out of the
medium-range missile talks in Geneva,
Paul Nitze, the U.S. negotiator, is a man
without an occupation.
The Soviets stalked out when the
United States began deploying its me
dium-range missiles on schedule in De
cember. With nobody to talk to in Ge
neva, Nitze has returned to the United
States.
He was the principal speaker at anni
versary ceremonies this week in cele
bration of the 108th anniversary of the
founding of Johns Hopkins University^
and he chose as his subject “Goncepts of
Peace.”
He is a veteran of negotiations with
the Soviets. He was part of the SALT 1
team (but quit in dissatisfaction over
U.S. methods) and was a tireless and ar
ticulate critic of some of the terms nego
tiated in the SALT 2 treaty, which has
never been ratified.
In 1979 congressional hearings, Nitze
summed up his view of the Soviets when
he said of the Soviet SALT negotiators,
“They negotiate like shysters.”
Nevertheless, or perhaps because of
these attitudes toward the Soviets, Nitze
was tapped by the Reagan administra
tion in 1981 to handle the medium-
range missile talks in Geneva. Nitze ac
cepted and, from accounts by State De-_
partment and Western European offi
cials, has done a serious, workmanlike
job.
In his Johns Hopkins soeech, he de
parted from the field of arms control
into the more complex and treacherous
field of language.
Nitze, who does not speak Russian,
points out that the Russian word “mir”
has several meanings. The primary
meaning is “the world” or “the environ
ment” and in post-Lenin Soviet-style
Russian it has the more specific mean
ing of a world that has reached the first
stage of communism, which is socialism.
The secondary meaning of the Rus
sian word “mir” is “peace” or, more pre
cisely, “the absence of conflict.”
Nitze says in the Johns Hopkins
speech that the two meanings of the
Russian word can be directly contradic
tory — the first stage of communism is
achieved by struggle, not by “peace.”
Nitze’s suggestion is that Americans
such as Richard Nixon, who toured Rus
sia in 1959 shouting “Mir y Druzhba,”
may have thought they were wishing ev
erybody “peace and friendship” but
Russians who were responding so en
thusiastically understood the phrase to
mean an American endorsement of the
first stage of communism, or socialism.
It is an interesting theory, which fits
with Nitze’s well-publicized views about
the sly Soviet character and the will
ingness of bright-eyed Americans to be
duped.
Unfortunately for the Nitze theory,
Russian language experts at the State
Department and the Voice of America
say that it is total nonsense.
They say that “mir” clearly means
“peace” to any Russian speaker when
used the way Nitze suggests, such as in
conjunction with the 1955 “Spirit of Ge
neva” or with the word “Druzhba” or “f-
riendship.”
One Russian expert said there may be
confusion in the mind of Mr. Nitze, “but
that the two meanings of the word in
Russian are always made crystal clear in
the context of a sentence.”
Another Russian speaker says that
Nitze’s theory says more about Nitze
than it does about the Russian language.
It also says something about the Rea
gan administration’s view of the Soviets,
since Nitze’s openly expressed views of
the Soviets were well known to all — in
cluding the Soviets — when Nitze was
chosen for the key job of trying to nego-
tiatate an important agreement with the
Soviet government.
The Battaiiort
USPS 045 360 1 <
Member of
Texas Press Association X u
Southwest Journalism Conference,
Editor Rebeca Zimmermann
Managing Editor John Wagner
City Editor Patrice Koranek
Assistant City Editor Kathleen Hart,
Stephanie Ross
News Editor Tracey Taylor
Assistant News Editors Susan Talbot,
Brigid Brockman, Kelley Smith
Editorial Page Editor Kathy Wiesepape
Sports Editor Donn Friedman
Assistant Sports Editor Bill Robinson
Entertainment Editor Shelley Hoekstra
Assistant Entertainment Editor Angel Stokes
Photo Editor John Makely
Staff writers Ed Alanis, Robin Black,
Bob Caster, Bonnie Langford,
Sarah Oates, Michelle Powe,
Lauri Reese, Dave Scott, Karen Wallace
Photographers Mike Davis,
Bill Hughes, Katherine Hurt,
John Ryan, Dean Saito
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory news
paper for students in reporting, editing and
photography classes within the Department of
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Nobody has to watch
Gonvicted murderer James David Autry
wants his execution to be televised.
I’m in favor of the death penalty so
I’m not mad about his punishment. I’m
mad because he wants the rest of us to
go through it with him.
But even if nobody watches, think
about the sensationalism the ordeal will
create.
Will GBS, NBG and ABG bid for the
broadcast?
so people will see how awfulcapiii
ishment is.
thinking,
as long
You
as you
I know what you’re
don’t mind him dying
aren’t involved.”
Why should I go through it with him?
I’m not the one who shot the conve
nience store clerk for a six pack of beer.
Will Snickers become the official
candy bar of the 1984 Autry execution?
Will they preempt Dynasty? Inter
rupt for a special news report?
Of course it’s awful. Deathlw b s
but he should have thought alt :
before he pulled the trigger. ®
The sensationalism alone will attract
an audience.
And I’m not going to go through it
with him. If Autry’s death is televised,
I’m not going to watch. Nobody has to
watch if they don’t want to.
Perhaps he’s trying for i
of execution. On Oct. 5,
was strapped to a gurney fornwtfj
an hour as harmless solution 1
jected into his veins. Within30®
of his scheduled execution, Sal
preme Court Justice Byroi
granted his request for a stay.
But who will watch, and why?
karen
Wallace
Adults can make a conscious decision
whether to watch, but what about the
children who start watching without
knowing what’s really happening, or
whose parents have no control over
what they watch?
I don’t doubt there will be a large au
dience for Autry’s execution. After all,
we are curious creatures. Most people
have never seen a real, live execution
before.
I don’t agree with the people who say
Autry’s death is private, because the de
cision to make it public was his. But pub
licity and political statements are two
different things.
I realize that this is Autry’ssoij
‘last wish,” but this is one wish 11
they don’t grant. Public excculioij
out in 1923 when a manwasl
from the gallows in Waco.Dowj 0 *! cr U'
want to take a step backwards? jr^dk
r count ri
Ijjifjp' Jp'
Autry's execution is scheduifjy’,^ h
March 14. The Texas Boardot
lions will decide March 12 whcfc
try will die on television.
If the TDC grants Autry's' 1 * * *
next decision is ours.
He wants to die as a martyr, to fur
ther the fight against capital punish
ment. He wants the execution televised
Karen Wallace is a sophomoref
major and staff writer for The Bald
Letters
ion for
its oil fii
jhf ti
able to'
of time
feet. T\
shortfal
m a
Wacke,
tarv of
near Et
affairs.
*- “But
they in
All Aggies needed
for Big Event
Editor:
It’s almost here! On March 31, the sec
ond annual Big Event will sweep across
the twin cities.
What is the Big Event? It is several
thousand Aggies and sponsors volun
teering themselvs to “overhaul” our
area.
The old cliche, “People helping peo
ple,” sums up the Big Event quite accu
rately. People in our area can use a little
help, and what better people are there
to give it than the Aggies?
Do not hesitate to get involved in the
Big Event. Bryan/Gollege Station needs
each one of you more than you know.
Remember, March 31.
Joe Nussbaum
Big Event Chairman
cuted and in hundreds of cases put to
death, clearly demonstrates that the Ba
ha’i teachings are completely unrelated
to communism.
To set the record straight, the Baha’i
Faith is a religion, is non-political and is
supported by donations which come
only from Baha’is.
Baha’is are striving to bring about a
peaceful world through the elimination
of racial, religious and nationalistic prej
udices, the establishment of universal
and hoi
tain it.
education and a common auxite’B-sdor
guage, by promoting equalityof'«‘ e ctiv(
and men, and by encouraging ir 'f p| S i ;
als to investigate the truth for 1
selves. ference
Everyone, including prankstei* :rude c
promote perversion, is welcome' ponson
friendly and informal meeting
time and place of which are I
The Battalion’s “What’s Up’c
ft ased Ei
“It is
°se th<
Secretary, TAMU Bali :
Equality cornerstone
of Baha'i teachings
Editor:
Last week, the Texas A&M Baha’i Club
posted flyers in approved areas inviting
Aggies to a meeting introducing the Ba
ha’i teachings. Another group of indi
viduals subsequently removed these
posters and distributed a modified ver
sion, bearing the Baha’i Club’s name,
which used obscenities, communist sym
bols and an obviously racist statement —
“Find out how to ruin your race!”
While we, the members of the Baha’i
Club, are somewhat flattered that some
body deems us worthy of attacking, we
nevertheless feel obligated to inform the
Texas A&M student body that the
above-mentioned posters are not ours,
and are apparently the work of a group
that opposes the equality of races and
nationalities. The equality of the races
and nationalities happens to be the cor
nerstone principle of the Baha’i teach
ings.
The fact that the United States Con
gress and President Reagan himself
have made appeals on behalf of Baha’is
in Iran, who are being actively perse-
Slouch
byJimEa
“Does my right to privacy permit me to exclude the registm
from getting my grade in your course?”