Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, October 4, 1984
Hazing indictments
don't go far enough
Indict them all; let justice sort them out.
Four Texas A&M cadets have been indicted in connection
with the death of Bruce Goodrich. It’s now in the hands of the
court to determine the guilt or innocence of each of those in
volved.
Goodrich’s death is not simply a case of negligent homicide.
Goodrich died because of the abuse of tradition. Traditions are
supposed to be beneficial to those who take part in them as well
as the institution they serve. Traditions are also supposed to be
fun.
What happened to Goodrich wasn’t fun. It may or may not
have been hazing. That’s up to the courts to decide.
We’re not entirely certain what hazing is. By law almost ev
erything that is called a tradition at A&M can be considered
hazing (see Hazing Statute below).
Good Bull and hazing; it’s a fine line that separates the two.
It’s a line that is often not discernible to people outside the Ag
gie family.
The Dallas Morning News doesn’t understand the differ
ence between yell practice activities and hazing. In an article on
Sunday, Sept. 30, they called the class-set push-ups done by ca
dets at yell practice hazing. They also don’t seem to understand
that hazing —by the the legal definition — isn’t limited to the
Corps of Cadets. Physical and mental abuse occurs in many fac
ets of campus life — including civilian dorm activites. Under the
law many activities fall under the definition of hazing.
But law is never enforced to the letter. Laws are enforced to
their intent.
Even if this law is loosely enforced, a few other people’s ac
tion (or non-action) merit indictment under the Hazing Act.
The University officals who admitted that hazing is alive at
Texas A&M — but had not brought it to the attention of the
proper authorities — should also be indicted.
The blame for all hazing at Texas A&M should not be al
lowed to fall solely on the four cadets charged in the Goodrich
death. Those cadets should stand alone only on the charge of
negligent homicide.
The removal of hazing from Texas A&M — as well as any
other university — requires two things: Rules regarding such ac
tivities must be strictly enforced by university officals. And each
one of us must share the responsibility of seeing that these rules
are obeyed.
Until the rules are uniformly enforced and obeyed, the hor
rible possibility of hazing-related deaths will continue to haunt
the American university system.
—The Battalion Editorial Board
Texas Education Code:
Hazing at state schools
SECTION 4.19 OF THE TEXAS EDUCATION CODE: HAZING
(a) No student of the University of Texas, or Texas A&M University, or any
state school of Texas, or any other state-supported institution of higher edu
cation, shall engage in what is commonly known and recognized as hazing, or
encourage, aid, or assist any other person thus offending.
(b) “Hazing” is defined as follows:
(1) any wilful act by one student alone or acting with others, directed
against any other student of such educational institution, done for the pur
pose of submitting the student made the subject of the attack committed, to
indignity or humiliation, without his consent;
(2) any wilful act of any one student alone, or acting with others, directed
against any other student of such educational institution, done for the pur
pose of intimidating the student attacked by threatening such student with
social or other ostracism, or of submitting such student to ignominy, shame,
or disgrace among his fellow students, and acts calculated to produce such
results;
(3) any wilful act of any one student alone, or acting with others, directed
against any other student of such educational institution, done for the pur
pose of humbling, or that is reasonably calculated to humble the pride, stifle
the ambition, or blight the courage of the student attacked, or to discourage
any such student from longer remaining in such educational institution or
reasonably to cause him to leave the institution rather than submit to such
acts; or
(4) any wilful act by any one student alone, or acting with others, in strik
ing, beating, bruising, or maiming; or seriously offering, threatening, or at
tempting to strike, beat, bruise, or maim, or to do or seriously offer, threaten,
or attempt to do physical violence to any student of any such educational in
stitution or any assault upon any such students made for the purpose of com
mitting any of the acts, or producing any of the results, to such student as de
fined in this section.
(c) No teacher, instructor, member of any faculty, or any officer or direc
tor, or a member of any governing board of any state-supported educational
institution shall knowingly permit, encourage, aid, or assist any student in
committing the offense of hazing, or wilfully acquiesce in the commission of
such offense, or fail to report promptly his knowledge or any reasonable in
formation within his knowledge of the presence and practice of hazing in the
institution in which he may be serving to the executive head or governing
board of such institution. Any act of omission or commission shall be deemed
“hazing” under the provisions of this section.
(d) Any student of any state-supported educational institution of this state
who shall commit the offense of hazing shall be fined not less than $25 nor
more than $250 or shall be confined in jail not less than 10 days nor more
than three months, or both.
(e) Any teacher, instructor, or member of any faculty, or officer or direc
tor of any state-supported educational institution who shall commit the of
fense of hazing shall be fined not less than $50 or not more than $500 or shall
be imprisoned in jail not less than 30 days or not more than six months, or
both, and in addition thereto shall be immediately discharged and removed
from his then position or office in the institution, and shall thereafter be inel
igible to reinstatement or reemployment as teacher, instructor, member of
faculty, office4r, or director in any state-supported educational institution
for a period of three years.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed as in any manner affecting
or repealing any law of this state respecting homicide, or murder, man
slaughter, assault with intent to murder, or aggravated assault.
Ugly American happy to be home
^ourt
tunity
grind
the du
Yesterday I reached for a quarter to
put in the Coke machine and pulled out
a thick, heavy gold coin instead.
It was a one-pound coin, left over
from my trip to Great Britain.I remem
bered how small and flimsy American
money looked to me when I first got
home, after six weeks of carrying a wal
let strained with the weight of quarter
sized ten-pence pieces and the huge,
seven-sided 50-pence coins.
Ne\
And for those of you who think Archie’s 39-tent hac i ou g hl
burgers are bad — try Wimpy Burger, where they don’tra
clean off the tables.
I also appreciate my morning shower more now. hseei!
progress in Great Britain came to a hah when they inventet
the bathtub. During our weeks on the road, the most
come words at the end of a long day were, “We getshowen!
SLltUtl
beachi
of Suf
Vent ji
bntro
option
It seems like a long time since this
Kathy
Wiesepape
Dol
summer, when it was easier to figure prices in pounds instead
of dollars. My first blast of Houston heat and humidity get
ting off the plane made me miss Scotland. Now, six weeks
later, I’m ready to go back.
But aside from that, there are things I would havelovtt
to bring back to America with me. Like the beautiful garden
of England, with multicolored blooms as bright as a firework
display. And the parks, havens in the midst of the bustlingd
ies, with fat pigeons strutting around the statues and squint: D^y
so tame they’ll climb up your legs to get food out of yotrF* , * :? ’'
hands.
Yes, I missed my family and friends. And no, the food in
Great Britain wasn’t the best — especially on a student’s bud
get. I don’t miss the greasy dormitory breakfasts of runny
fried eggs, chewy bacon, suspicious-tasting sausage, almost
edible toast with bitter marmalade and the obligatory grilled
tomatoes. Especially not after seeing it on my plate every sin
gle morning for six weeks.
1 miss the rugged beauty of Scotland, the crags dusteii
with the pink blooms of heather rising above the black depibL
of Loch Ness. The weekend we spent there, in search of 1
monster, was one of my favorite parts of the trip. || ;
ap:
Kathy Wiesepape is a weekly columnist for the Battsk I
Her column appears on Thursdays.
Mr. Right column response
overwhelming June, Lynn
OK, OK, we ad
mit it. June and
Lynn aren’t our
friends, they’re us.
Some of you al
ready figured out
that one.
In last Wednes
day’s Battalion, we
said we had two
friends who had a
lot of guy friends,
no dates, and
“high wholesome
factors.” “What’s
wrong with being
wholesome?”, we
asked, and wanted
to hear from those
who answered
“Nothing.”
We weren’t
looking for pro
spective husbands.
We weren’t
even looking for
dates.
women with ‘high wholesome factors’
who enjoy receiving flowers and respect
from guys who truly do respect and ap
preciate them.”
They were happy to hear they
weren’t alone. “I’m tired of teases and
flirts and CT chasers (nothing personal,
guys, but ever notice how they’re more
interested in your uniform and meeting
the rest of your company than they are
in you?)”
“It’s fun wearing bedsheets and danc
ing until the sun comes up or seeing
how many quarters you can make in a
row, but there has to be something more
than this.”
Karen Bloch
and
Cyndy Davis
We wanted to take your mind off de
pressing issues and give you a laugh.
We were tired of reading letters from
people who want to disband the Corps
and tear down the Bell Tower.
We thought you were, too.
Obviously, you were. We got over 50
letters. We expected some letters, but
50? “Disbanding the Corps” didn’t even
rate 50 letters. We also didn’t expect the
three dozen roses. Or the dinner invita
tions.
Although we can’t share the roses
with you, we can share some of the re
sponses we got.
Even with Mom 500 miles away,
wholesomeness and romance — hugs,
roses and midnight walks — are still
popular. As one man put it, “Being with
someone that you care about while
looking at the stars or watching the sun
rise on the shore of a lake is indescribab
le.”
Another wrote: “Let’s hear it for
Then there were letters filled with ad
vice. We were told shining armor and
white horses were out of style: “Princes
today wear blue jeans and drive nonde
script cars.”
We were told to look for our knights
in the children’s section of the library —
under fairy tales.
“Some may even be within your circle
of‘guy friends’,” one said. Maybe so.
One guy wanted to take us home to
his mom.
There were encouraging letters, too:
“Keep looking. The gentlemen of
Texas A&M are out there, you just have
to look for us. Don’t give up. It will be
worth it.”
Some people just didn’t like what we
had to say. One woman wrote: “Today’s
women should realize that fairy tales
such as these are a disservice to their
gender — they promote extremely poor
mental health.”
The most bizarre letter we got:
“Dear June or Lynn,
While there is nothing wrong with girls
who like ‘hugs, roses, quiet dinners for
two, dancing, midnight swims, etc.”, I
wonder if ‘wholesome’ girls actually
‘suck face.’”
He may never find out.
Cyndy Lynn Davis and Karen June
Bloch are both on The Battalion staff.
The Battalion
CISPS 045 360
Member of
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Southwest Journalism Conference
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984,Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Stephanie Ross, Acting Editor
Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor
Shelley I loekstra, City Editor
Brigid Brockman, News Editor
Donn Friedman, Editorial Page Editor
Bonnie Langford, News Editor
Ed Cassavoy, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Melissa Adair, Michelle Powe
Assistant News Editors
Rhonda Snider, Kellie Dworaczyk, Lauri
. Reese
Assistant Sports Editor
Travis Tingle
Entertainment Editor
Bill Hughes
Assistant Entertainment Editor
Angel Stokes
Senior Reporter
Robin Black
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Cami Brown, Dena Brown, Dainah Bui
Leigh-Ellen Clark, Tony Cornett,
Suzy Fisk, Patricia Flint
Kari Fluegel, Kathy Wiesepape,
Bob McGlohon, Karla Marlin
Sarah Oates
Ian Perry, Lynn Rae Povec, lames R
Walker
Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane
Make-up Editor John Hallett
Copy Writer Karen Bloch,
Copy Editors
Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmeier
Cyndy Davis, Patricia Flint
Photographers
Frank Irwin, David Leyendecker,
Peter Rocha, Mike Sanchez
, Dean Saito
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