Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, September 20 1984
Opinion
Booze doesn't
mix with spirit
EDITOR ’S NOTE: This Editorial pertaining to Friday’s midnight
yell practice is appearing today because many of the people to whom
it is directed already will be at local happy hours before the Friday
Battalion hits the streets.
The mood will be quite different in Kyle Field Friday
at midnight than it was in front of the Academic Building
Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 10:30 p.m. Friday’s crowd will be full
of fun-loving Aggies, reveling in their drunkenness, try
ing their best to yell Aggie yells. That Tuesday the mood
was much more somber. Silver Taps was played; few, if
any, Aggies were drunk. None were boisterous.
“Typically well over half the Aggies remembered at
Silver Taps died as the result of alcohol related motor-ve
hicle crashes,” said Kirk Brown, president of the local
Mother’s Against Drunk Drivers organization.
Fs the tradition of midnight yell practice so weak that it
can’t sustain itself without mind altering beverages?
“I don’t think it’s part of the tradition,” said yell leader
Terry Hlavinka. He said he doesn’t condone drinking in
Kyle Field; in fact, it’s against state laws and University
regulations.
“A few people get out of hand -r— but that’s the excep
tion rather than the rule,” he said. “But what is really bad
is when the people leave (Kyle Field) and there’re beer
cans lying all around.”
Yell leader sponsor Don Albrecht said he thinks alco
hol plays too big a part in yell practices.
“I know there’s drinking there,” he said. “I wish peo
ple didn’t have to drink to go to yell practice, but it seems
they think they do.”
The people who think drinking is an essential part of
yell practice need to realize Aggie Spirit doesn’t come in a
bottle. And more importantly, if you go to yell practice af
ter a drink or two, have a sober friend drive you or walk.
Both the Campus and the College Station Police
should stand ready to arrest any person who tries to drive
away from yell practice drunk. If University officials don’t
make sure that the laws regarding the consumption of al
cohol in Kyle Field are enforced — since many students
come to the stadium in cars — they are condoning drunk
driving.
Too many Aggies already have died in alcohol related
accidents. Driving drunk kills.
Discrimination, racism
continue to occur here
“Nigger!” an offensive word born of hatred and igno
rance. It is a word that should have died long ago. But it isn’t
dead at Texas A&M.
Tuesday, a truck swerved at a black student and the
driver and passengers of the vehicle hurled racial insults at
the student. Luckily the act didn’t physically injure her; she
says she didn’t suffer any injury clue to the harassment or
the threat.
Once again Texas A&M University has been damaged.
This time by a truck-driving bigot.
Richard Lewis, a sociologist, told the President’s Com
mittee on Minority Conditions just two years ago that 44
percent of all minority students he interviewed at Texas
A&M said they had been victims of racial harassment here.
“Living with constant fear and/or social intimidation on a
major university campus is intolerable,” the report of the
President’s Committee on minority conditions said.
But because the nature of most attacks of personal dis
crimination involve limited verbal abuse rather than life
threatening words or actions, the University is limited in its
response.
The types of discrimination here can be broken down
into two major categories, William Kuvlesky, a member of
the minority conditions committee told The Battalion
Wednesday.
• First, blind traditionalism such as flying the Confeder
ate flag over the bonfire or conducting slave sales.
• Second, personal discrimination such as the incident
Wednesday which usually involves a small group verbally as
saulting a minority student.
Sheran Riley, special assistant to President Frank E. Van
diver, said most people don’t realize that their blind tradi
tionalism can sometimes be construed as an insult. She said
most, after being told that such actions upset minority
groups and damage the reputation of the University, halt or
alter their activity. It’s just a matter of people becoming
aware before this type of discrimination can be reduced,
Kuvlesky said.
Personal acts of discrimination are not as easily reme
died. They won’t stop until non-discriminators stand up and
refuse to allow this type of abuse to continue. It’s not enough
to never call a black a “nigger” or a Mexican a “spic.” It’s
time the notation archaic was added to every dictionary con
taining words like “nigger.”
People must let those who live in a state of hate and igno
rance know that we won’t stand for their bigotry.
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Generic cathedrals could rescue tourists
Kathy
Wiesepape
Ever since I
came back from
Great Britain,
I’ve been hav
ing nightmares
about Gothic
cathedrals.
It’s always
the same.
I’m standing
in the nave,
looking down
the dark length
of the cathedral
toward the al
tar. T he ribs of
the vaulted ceil
ing rise to spec
tacular heights
above me.
Panes of medieval stained glass bend the
entering sunlight into a rainbow of light
at the far end.
Behind me, a professor is lecturing
his class on Gothic architecture.
“Note the flying buttresses carrying
the weight of the roof outward from the
walls,” he says. “Remember, a cathedral
is built outward as well as upward.”
I yawn, leave the class behind and
walk down the center aisle. I pull my
camera out of its case and a chaplain
robed in black is immediately at my side.
“Photography is permitted in the ab-
LETTERS
Name proposed
for new bell tower
EDITOR:
In the search for world class status,
Texas A&M has a new Football coach-
,there are even Nobel Prize winners on
staff and, of course, an eternal Flame.
Probably the biggest edition to campus
is the ALBRITTON Bell Tower.
After announcing the proposed loca
tion and cost of this Bell Power, the Bat
talion hit with several editorials and let
ters. The outcry seemed to come from
the “world class” among us. It’s very
easy to tell someone else how to spend
their money after it’s earned; the little
red hen taught us that. These persons
also kept on using tacky words like phal
lus (My, My, is that world class?). T he
one thing that makes A&M the home of
the Aggies is that spirit of Aggieland. It
seems to me the real spirit of Aggieness
has been lost in this search for world
class status.
In an attempt to revive some of the
Aggie in us and move away from this
world class tackiness I would propose an
aggie name for this structure. A real
cowboy name for those of us who
haven’t heard of a clarion.
How about the Albritton Ding-a-
Ling?
'M.D. Baker
Class of ’85
Commanders
responsible
EDITOR:
The current investigation of the
death of cadet Bruce Goodrich appears
to be misguided. T he responsibility for
the death, and in fact all Corps activities,
lies with the persons in postions of au-
bey only with a permit,” he tells me poli
tely. I hand over 50 pence and he pins a
bright yellow card on my shirt, branding
me with the mark of the tourist.
I stroll through the cathedral, taking
pictures — lots of them. Chapels and
more chapels, tombs and more tombs.
Paintings, carvings, tapestries, stained
glass — all of it part of my photographic
record.
Then the scene changes, and I’m
back home again, showing my prints to
a friend.
“Where was this?” he asks, holding up
one of the cathedral photographs.
Vaulted ceiling, Hying buttresses —
yep, that’s a cathedral. But which one? 1
take a closer look.
“Westminster Abbey,” I say, “No,
Yorkminster. No, maybe Lincoln Cathe
dral. Give me a minute.”
I think back, frantically trying to re
member. Let’s see, Salisbury is the one
with the spire, Winchester has the long
est nave. Or is it the other way around?
It can’t be Yorkminster — that’s the
one with the burned roof. I think the
one at Bath was the most ornate. The
wood carvings at Chester and Lincoln
looked a lot alike, but Chester also had
the mosaics. Or was that Carlisle?
Maybe Durham — no, that one was
Norman, not Gothic.
That’s when I wake up, my headspio
ning.
It seems like every town in Great Bril
ain has its own Gothic cathedral,
them are beautiful. That’s becausetki
all look the same.
In six weeks on the island, ourgroiif
must have hit the majority of cathednk
in England and Scotland. I’m surew
saw' all the biggies, and I doubt w
missed many of the semi-biggies.
After about the fourth one, 1 waso
thedraled out. The vertical lines dt
signed to draw the eye upward
heaven drew only yawns from me.
stained glass. More flying buttresses
Neat. Let’s go.
Cathedral saturation is a commai
tourist malady. But I have the solution
Build one generic cathedral, one tk
outdoes all the rest. Make it thelonges:
highest, most ornate. Bring the most ini'
portant historical tombs and shrines
most inspiring art, and the mostimpres
sive architecture together in one place.
One visit and you’ve got all your a
thedrals over with for the rest of tk
trip.
Kathy Wiesepape is a weekly column
ist for The Battalion. Her column htI
appear on Thursdays.
thority, Charles Rollins, student com
mander of the Corps of Cadets, and
Col. Donald L. Burton, Commandant,
Corps of Cadets. The military courses
taught at Texas A&M teach that author
ity is accompanied by responsibility and
those who hold ultimate authority are
held ultimately responsible. A Naval in
vestigation of a collision at sea will not
be of the helmsman but of the captain of
the vessel. Considering this fact, it is in
teresting to read Rollins’ statement that
this investigation will, “... not ‘cover up’
for any guilty cadets.” The cadets that
were directly involved in this unfortu
nate incident are guilty only of exercis
ing poor judgement since they were en
gaged in a tradition that is officially
C rohibited by Corps regulations but has
een officially condoned for years.
I am not suggesting that the Corps
should be disbanded or that the indoc
trination period should not be stressful.
Army boot camp is still a rather stressful
experience yet there the air tempera
ture and the humidity are monitored to
determine appropriate levels of physical
activity. Neither am I suggesting that
upper classmen should not be given po
sitions of an officer. I am suggesting
that those individuals in positions of au
thority begin exercising that authority
and begin accepting responsibility for
their actions and the actions of their
subordinates.
An investigation should be conducted
to answer one question: Was this an iso
lated incident or was this the tragic re
sult of an ocurrrence that is both ac
cepted and common? It is an obvious
conflict of interest for anyone asosciated
with Texas A&M University to conduct
this investigation.
Mark L. Spearman
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Stephanie Ross, Acting Editor
Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor
Brigid Brockman, News Editor
Donn Friedman, Editorial Page Editor
Kelley Smith, News Editor
Ed Cassavoy, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Melissa Adair, Michelle Powe
Assistant News Editors
Bonnie Langford, Kellie Dworaczyk, Latin
Reese
Assistant Sports Editor
Travis Tingle
Entertainment Editor
Bill Hughes
Assistant Entertainment Editor
Angel Stokes
Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane
Make-up Editor .John Hallett
Copy Writer Karen Bloch,
Copy Editors Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmeies
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