Opinion
Page 2fThe BattalionAThursday, September 27, 1984
Football ticket handout:
a service to community
At Saturday’s football game against Arkansas State, Kyle
Field may see the biggest crowd of the young season. Tickets for
the game are being distributed to children under 19 years old by
Smith Dairy Queens in conjunction with the Texas A&M Ath
letic Department.
Attendance will be boosted; as many as 10,000 area young
sters will get the chance to watch the Aggies play in Kyle Field.
The Dairy Queen on Villa Maria Road in Bryan says it has al
ready handed out over 1,000 of the special tickets. This pro
gram is a welcome community service. It’s also great public rela
tions lor both area Dairy Queens and the University. Nothing is
more intimidating to an opponent than a full stadium. And
nothing is better publicity than community service.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Grading policy scrutinized
by students and faculty
Application for Whos Uh o
NOTET: Due -to recent change^ a student carv now
nominate him&elf.
KJAMD
MAJ-Qgs
CLASSs QsTlZ&Z.
MOF?E IRRELEVANT DATA:
&L
Photograph
Reader’s
Forum
Reader’s
Forum
Reader’s
Forum
Reader’s
The Faculty Sen
ate Subcommittee
on Grading Policy
in conjunction with
the Student Senate
Committee on Aca
demic Affairs are
studying the pre
sent grading policy
on assignment of
final grades. The
purpose of this let
ter is to extend in
formation and so- ——
licit facts and
opinions on this is
sue.
Conversations
with faculty members and the re
sults of a limited student opinion
survey indicate a significant dissatis
faction with our current grading sys
tem. For example, 70 percent of the
student respondents (260 total) were
either moderately or strongly dissat
isfied with the present system, while
only 25 percent were moderately or
strongly satisfied with the system;
five percent were indifferent.
Based on comments of fellow fac
ulty members and students, there
exists the need to evaluate the pre
sent grading system with regard to
allowing finer gradations in final
grades assigned in undergraduate
and graduate courses, appearing on
transcripts and used to calculate the
GPR. Given the significance as
signed to grades, the grading system
used should be as fair and equitable
as possible, in addition to providing
an accurate measure of a student’s
performance relative to a course-de
pendent set of grading criteria.
From this perspective, the present
gradations of A, B, C, D, and F are
inadequate.
LETTERS:
Gay issue shouldn’t
lead to name-calling
EDITOR:
Now that the Board of Regents has
asked for an appeal in the Gay Student
Services case, this seems like an espe
cially opportune time to take note of the
conduct and behavior of the leadership
involved in both sides of this case.
Clearly the two sides disagree about
what is or is not constitutional, but at no
time has either side engaged in the low
art of name calling.
At no time has either side engaged in
the nasty invective that has been dis
played in the letters to the editor col
umn in recent days. Nothing can be
gained by calling each other faggots or
bigots — but a great deal can be lost.
Therefore, as one of the leaders in
the gay community I offer you an olive
branch on this issue and suggest a truce.
The GSS suit is now entering its final
stage.
When the last verdict is in and the fi
nal decison is implemented, both sides
will have a great need for healing. We
will have fought as only Aggies can, and
we will be Aggies when it is over.
I implore those of you who will feel
compelled to write a letter to the editor
to put your emotions in check and give
This present system both under
and over-evaluates student perfor
mance in the upper and lower range
of a grade interval, respectively; it
promotes grade inflation and stu
dent/instructor antagonism; and it
implicitly suggests an inherent inac
curacy in the assignment of grades
by not providing for finer grada
tions.
A number of modifications ot the
present system are possible. For ex
ample, many schools use a =/- sys
tem (e.g. C = , B- each having a cor
responding GPR weighing factor),
whereas a few use a numerical sys
tem that permits even finer grada
tion (e.g. University of Washington
uses a 0.0 to 4.5 system with 0.1
increments). Whichever system one
suggests, however, should be consis
tent with the level of accuracy per
mitted by the grade evaluation proc
ess. The margin of error in some
cases may not justify refinement of
the system beyond a =/- division.
We recognize one data base is in
adequate; correspondingly, we are
seeking the opinion of other stu
dents and faculty both as to degree
of satisfaction (or lack of) with the
present system as well as to possible
modifications.
Student opinions should be sent
to the Student Government Office,
219 Pavilion (845-3051), and faculty
opinions should be sent to the Fac
ulty Senate Office, Goodwin Hall
(845-9528).
Brann Johnson (Geophysics & Ge
ology)
John Evans (Environmental De
sign)
Sean Royal! (Economics)
Tom Urban (Aerospace Engi
neering)
A classical display of music
Kathy
Wiesepape
Before the last bars of the music
crashed to a close, the audience was oh its
feet. Gheering, shouting, clapping, waving
arms in the air. The auditorium was
packed; many had stood throughout the
performance.
I heard a thundering noise above me
and looked up from my seat in the first
tier. The boxes were vibrating to the
rhythm of stamping feet as the fans clam
ored for an encore.
The cause of the uproar wasn’t a per
formance by Alabama in G. Rollie White Coliseum. It wasn’t
the last concert tour of Mick Jagger and the Stones. It wasn’t
even Michael Jackson and his brothers live at the Cotton Bowl
in Dallas.
It was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performing
Symphony No. 7 by Dvorak in London’s Albert Hall.
Such a enthusiastic display of appreciation is rare in this
country — at least, at a performance of classical music.
Here, when the music is good, people clap politely. When
it’s very good, they clap harder. If it’s great, they stand and
clap. And if it’s superlative, you may hear a timid “bravo” or
two.
What makes the difference? My guess is that it’s the social
class that attends the concerts. Here, the high price of con
certs limits the audience.
The cheapest price I’ve paid is eight dollars, to hear!
Houston Symphony in Houston. Last year I paid 15dollars
hear the Pittsburg Symphony at Texas A&M. Tickets lot
MSG OPAS-sponsored performance of the London $u
phony next week range from TI to 22 dollars.
An English student sitting beside me at Albert
shocked when 1 told him the average price lor a concert)*
In England, classical music is for everyone.
Box seats usually go to the aristocracy and the upperot
of English society, but the cheapest concert tickets costi
than admission to a movie.
These are the floor seats, meaning you either stand
rectly in front of the stage, or, if you get tired, sit downi
member the groundlings you heard alxmt in your
speare class, who paid a penny to stand in front
orchestra pit and watch the plays? These are the same peep
At one concert, students in shorts and jeans werelyingflai
their backs, absorbing the music through the floor.
They’re the ones that began the cheering when the
stopped. But their enthusiasm was catching.
When I looked up from my seat in the first section
the proletariat, it was the little old ladies wrapped in mi
and the proper gentlemen in their evening dress whom
stamping and shouting the house down.
Kathy Wiesepape is a weekly Battalion columnist. I
column appears on Thursdays.
Smithsonian space museum a bit other-worldly
By DICK WEST
Columnist for United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — If the National
Air and Space Museum seems more
other-worldly than usual these days, it
may be because of Robert McCall.
This part Buck Rogerish, part back
ward-looking, branch of the Smithso
nian Instutiton has just put on exhibit
for the next 12 months 48 of McCall’s
paintings and drawings, including sky
pavilions and lunar bases.
Part of the artwork is, by the artist’s
own admission, pretty far-out — even
for someone who has trained himself to
think up to 1,000 years ahead of his
time.
The trick of being a leading science-
fiction painter, McCall told me, is not
only to reduce the future to canvas, but
to make it believable.
His sense of futuristic verisimilitude
may be one of the reasons he was chosen
to design U.S. postage stamps as well as
a Disney World mural. But when I in
terviewed him at a preview of the ex
hibit, he looked exceptionally ordinary
— just about how you might expect a
65-year-old man of average build*
reddish hair that is both thinning:
graying to look.
Frankly, this part of the museii
with its collection of rockets, press!
suits, nose cones and other space)!
paraphernalia has always seemed tor
a bit out of touch with reality. Met
however, was perfectly down-to-eartli
“I try to anticipate what is coming,
it 50 or 1,000 years from now,”hes:
“Most people are too caught up int
eryday happenings to peer into thet
tant future. Yet, we have an infinit) j
time before us.”
your words some thought. Ask yourself,
“Is this the sort of thing I want to say to
a fellow Aggie?” If it isn’t then don’t say
it.
I invite Dr. Koldus to give us his views
on this matter and join me in this effort
to ease the rising tensions between the
gay and non-gay community.
Finally I have a request which I wish
to direct towards the religious leaders in
our area. I know that you have strong
views on the subject of homosexuality,
but surely people of good conscience
can disagree with one another without
also condemning each other to hell. For
my part I will ask the members of the
gay community and those non-gays who
agree with our cause to tone down their
rhetoric and refrain from attacking
your beliefs.
My request is thay you talk to your
flocks and do the same. Let us display
the best in Christian behavior, not the
worst.
Lenny DePalma
President of Alternative
Noisy garbage trucks
bother dorm resident
EDITOR:
Td like to describe a little situation to
you.
A
Bright and early this morning, a cam
pus garbage truck came cruising into
Parking Annex 18, right in front for
Hart Hall. Tm not talking about a
pickup and a couple of guys collecting a
few plastic bags.
I mean a big diesel job that picks up a
big metal container, revs up its engine to
hydraulically lift the container over
head, and then drops the container back
onto the concrete.
Then it backs up, complete with blar
ing backup beeper, and repeats the
process about fifteen feet from my win
dow. (Don’t tell me to close my window;
Hart Hall isn’t air conditioned, remem
ber?) I’ll bet that truck wakes up half the
people in this dorm.
A 6:30 wake-up call may not sound so
bad to those of you in the Gorps, or to
those of you with eight o’clock classes,
but it isn’t doing me any good.
This is not a single, random event, by
the way. This has been going on since
the beginning of semester.
What is the point of setting quiet
hours since even the university doesn’t
respect them? Isn’t it nice to know that
this “world class” university cares more
about its garbage than its students?
What do you have to say about that
one, Frank? ( I’ll bet the garbage truck
doesn’t wake him up.)
P.S. Tm betting you wimpy editorial
types won’t have the nerve to print this
Marc D. McSwain
Class of’85
Ugly Bell Tower
a nice, musical gift
EDITOR:
I would like to take this opportunity
to single myself out as (seemingly) the
only existing Ag that does not resent the
Albritton Bell Tower.
As a matter of fact, I very much enjoy
hearing the “Spirit of Aggieland” tolling
across the campus.
I realize not everyone agrees with the
form of Mr. Albritton’s donation, and
I’ll have to agree that there are more
worthy causes than the construction of a
bell tower. But I don’t believe that is the
point.
The point is that the bell tower was a
gift, and it takes a pretty ungrateful per
son to complain about a gift. Personally,
I enjoy the music,and I say thank you
Mr. Albritton, even if it is an ugly bell
tower.
Stoney Smith
Class of ’86
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest |ournalisni Conference
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Stephanie Ross, Acliii(j Editor
Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor
Brigid Brockman, News Editor
Donn triedman. Editorial Page Editor
Bonnie Langford, News Editor
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The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Melissa Adair, Michelle Pok
Assistant News Editors
Kellie Dworaczyk, Rhonda Snider, LauriRtS
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Travis Tinji
Entertainment Editor -
Bill HukIw
Assistant Entertainment Editor
Angel Stole
Editorial (lartoonist Mike La*
Make-up Editor John Hafc
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Copy Editors Kathv Breard, Kaye Pah™*
Cyndy Davis, Patricia Flin
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