F .
Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, April 6, 1984
A campus divided
by tracks can stand
The Regents are talking about mov
ing the railroad tracks that divide the
Texas A&M campus in two.
The Battalion Editorial Board
thinks the regents are trying to kill an
ant with an atomic bomb. The trains
aren’t causing a problem severe
enough to warrant such a drastic —
and expensive — measure.
Dodging trains isn’t a major concern
of students. Instead, complaints about
the divided campus seem to center on
the inconvenience to students who
have classes on both ends of the cam-
side of campus who may be awakened
by the rumble of the trains.
Actually, the cars on Wellborn Road
pose a greater danger to students.
pus.
The main problem is the distance
between the extreme ends of the cam
pus. It’s unreasonable for a student to
be scheduled for a 9 a.m. class at the
Kleberg Animal and Food Science
Center on the west campus and a 10
a.m. class at Zachry Engineering Cen
ter. It’s next to impossible to dash
across campus in the 10 minutes be
tween the back-to-back classes and
make it to class in a good frame of
mind for absorbing knowledge.
But that’s just what has happened to
students in past semesters. They didn’t
complain about the trains. Most stu
dents manage to cross the railroad
tracks without getting hit.
Since the train tracks are busiest
during the late night, most of Texas
A&M is not adversely affected by their
presence — except for a few light
sleepers in dormitories on the north
One possible remedy that deserves
serious consideration is increased in
tra-campus shuttle service. Perhaps
even closing the main campus to traffic
and restricting parking to the outer
(and larger) lots around campus
should be considered. This solution
would kill two birds with one stone —
alleviating the congested parking situa
tion and allowing easier and safer pe
destrian traffic.
The only substantiated reason for
moving the tracks has to do with the
possibility of a train derailment. If a
train carrying toxic materials derailed,
Aggies as well as College Station resi
dents would be injured.
The possibility isn’t as remote as it
seems. A little over a year ago a train
derailed, dumping a load of beer
rather than dangerous chemicals.
If the tracks are to stay here, they
must be maintained so derailments
don’t occur. But changing the location
of the tracks just to create an illusion of
a central non-divided campus is a waste
of money.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Paperback romances:
Porn, smut or fantasy?
By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
I am always leery of anyone who
starts messing around with the First
Amendment, whether it be textbook
censors in Texas, or militant women lib
bers in Minnesota.
Recently some women in Minneapolis
managed to get a city ordinance passed
banning “pornography” and making
-those who sold it or exhibited it subject
-to lawsuits. Their argument was that
pornography degrades women and de-
-prives them of their civil rights.
Fortunately the bill was vetoed by the
-mayor.
I say fortunately because once you
•start down the road of making booksel-
•lers liable for what they sell, you run
into the problem of where degradation
Stops and mind-boggling romance takes
Over. (For further evidence see your fa
vorite soap opera).
The hottest item in the publishing
business these days is the paperback “ro
mance novel.” They sell in the millions,
and purveyors of these kinds of books
will tell you they are almost all bought
by women.
I don’t know if these degrade women
x>r not, but all of the romance novels re
quire men to “sweep women off their
feet” and aggressively persuade the her-
^'oine, against her better judgement, to
allow her blood to say “yes” when her
bead says “no.”
A recent paperback published by Put
nam’s titled “The Romance Writers’
Phrase Book,” by Jean Kent and Can
dace Shelton, arrived on my desk while
I was thinking about the Minneapolis
^ordinance.
It provides 3,000 descriptive “tags”
that people writing romance novels
: *:ould use to jazz up their writing.
: Here are a few examples that could
ibe considered degrading to women, but
are very helpful in appealing to that
large female audience which eats the ro
mance novel up like peanuts. I couldn’t
include the ones that are inappropriate
for a family newspaper.
“It was flesh against flesh, man
against woman.”
“She shattered into a million glowing
stars.”
“She lay drowned in a floodtide of the
liberation of her mind and body.”
“While he would merely be filling a
moment of physical desire, she would be
allowing him to tear apart her soul.”
“She yielded to the searing need
which had been building for months.”
“Her body began to vibrate with liq
uid fire.”
“She kissed him with a hunger that
belied her outward calm.”
“She buried her face against the
corded muscles of his chest.”
“Her knees were weakened by the
quivering of her limbs.”
“In her haste to reassure him she
went too far.”
I guess you have the idea.
If the Minneapolis ordinance had
gone into effect, the sellers of romance
novels would be in the same jeopardy as
those who handle the raunchy mag
azines and books usually sealed in cello
phane.
No matter how noble their cause, the
women of Minneapolis can’t use civil
rights as a reason for stopping someone
from publishing books about sex.
The reason is quite simple. One wom
an’s pornography is another woman’s
fantasy.
I am absolutely against degrading the
American woman. At the same time, as
a First Amendment buff, I feel her civil
rights are far more threatened by city
ordinance than by “degrading” books
that could possibly help her have a nice
day.
The Battalion
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Editor Rebeca Zimmermann IPniirv
Managing Editor John Wagner
City Editor Patrice Koranek Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300
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to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those
of the Editorial Board or the author, and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of Texas
A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Re
gents.
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Reasons for restrictions
Editor:
This letter is in response to Kevin
Klein’s letter in the April 5 Battalion
concerning visitation restrictions. As a
resident adviser I would like to try to ex
plain why there are rules restricting visi
tation.
The Housing Office did not make vis
itation rules just to make dorm life a
little more unbearable. The rules are
there, in fact, to make dorm life more
bearable as a whole. Without these
rules, too many people would take ad
vantage of the situation by locking their
roommates out for the night, or at least
keeping them up late.
These rules were not set for moral
reasons but in consideration for stu
dents’ privacy. Maybe you or I would
not cause any problems, but you can bet
that many would. Even with visitation
restrictions this is a problem. I’m not
saying that you are wrong in your opin
ion, Mr. Klein, only that the rules were
set for good reasons.
I would also like to suggest that you
take a look around at more colleges and
universities and their visitation restric
tions. You will find that ours are quite
lax. Many dorms require that visitors be
signed in and out and many allow no
visitors at all. In fact, it is a small mi
nority that have no restrictions at all.
On a final note, Texas A&M is striv
ing to be a world class university acade
mically. Dorm visitation has nothing to
do with academics. Isn’t it about time we
quit using this phrase out of context?
John Roark
Class of ’85
I do not want to be a mediocre tea
cher, nor merely an adequate one.
Rather, I wish to be an excellent teacher
with imagination and insight.
Leslie M. Brinkman
Class of ’85
Editor’s note: This letter was accompa
nied by 24 signatures.
tain honor. It also makes a veryp
news item for The Battalion.
Former students also
deserve recognition
Editor:
I extend my most sincere congratula
tions to Miss Lashawn Wardlaw for be
ing chosen Miss Rodeo T exas. I am very
happy for her and proud that a student
from Texas A&M has been chosen to
serve in such an honored capacity.
T he purpose of this letter is to point
out an error in. the article which ap
peared in The Battalion March 29 per
taining to Miss Wardlaw. T he article
proclaimed her to be “the first Aggie to
win the Miss Rodeo Texas title.”
I realize that it is exciting when one of
our fellow students makes a break
through for Texas A&M and becomes
the first from our ranks to receive a cer-
lent Han<
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ral budge
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However, by making an erroiw hportani
statement like the one previouslym bnalsessi
tioned we take away all the crediti as not e;
those students who have received
same honor in the past.
Offhand, I can think of three worn
from T exas A&M — Leslie Wal
Kelly McFlhanon, and Lisa Hensari
— who served as Miss Rodeo Texas
years past and were students herewl
they were chosen.
I once again extend my congrai
tions to Miss Wardlaw.
John Ragli
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Editor:
It seems incredible that anyone
go to Belgium and see nothing theret
cept the problems — real as they are
caused by the bilingualism of the coin ei ■ ILL01
try, especially since so many Belgiif nc j U( j c
can communicate not only in Fren
and Flemish, but in English as well
Jeannine Lust
Slouch
by Jim Earle
Educators dedicated
Editor:
I have observed a phenomenon on
the Texas A&M campus with which I
should like to take issue. Specifically, I
refer to the way in which the field of ed
ucation as an area of serious study is
denigrated and automatically relegated
to a state just above illiteracy.
Though it may come as something of
a shock to some, business acumen is not
the exclusive property of business ma
jors, nor is the ability to plan with fore
sight a trait found only in engineers.
Incredibly, it is possible for an indi
vidual to possess the aforementioned
traits as well as a few' others, such as cre
ativity and idealism, and decide to be
come a teacher.
In our society, we have become
inured to the crassness of materialism,
and many of us have fallen into a trap of
thinking that a person who doesn’t opt
for a money-making career is a failure,
i.e. “Those who can, do; those who
can’t, teach.”
I heartily disagree with this narrow
concept of teaching, and I am absolutely
convinced that the field of education
can offer the most rewarding and stimu
lating careers possible. It is an opportu
nity to explore human potential.
‘It’s not much, but it is an option.
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