Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, October 22, 1984
Ind
Shattering the
student leader
stereotype
Perusing the editorial columns of the
Battalion a few weeks back, I was inter
ested to learn that I am occupationally su- Fnn im
_ ,hi " means —*■ Ed Readers Forum
Student Government at Texas A&M, I R^der S Forum
learned, is composed almost exclusively
of self-serving, incompetent ninnies
whose apathy is equalled only by their conceit. Presently asso
ciated with the former, and never having considered myself
the latter, 1 plotted a scathing retort that was nipped in the
bud by that unnecessary evil — MID TERMS.
Today, with more time on my hands, and perhaps less vin
dictive intent, Tm going to try to clear up some misconceptions
and maybe — (gasp) —shatter a few stereotypes.
Given that my target audience is students, I am making a
few, perhaps presumptions premises:
1. Most Texas A&M students graduated from high school.
That means they possess at least twelveth grade reading skills.
If you don’t feel you have the reading comprehension of a
high school senior, don’t bother to read any further.
2. The majority of students at A&M care about the Univer
sity, and would like to stay at least vaguely informed about is
sues affecting it and themselves.
3. The concept of personally exploring an issue, even at the
cost of sacrificing a few comfortable stereotypes, is one not en
tirely alien to TAMU students.
It seems that no one, in any pursuit, appreciates the work
put into a project like the worker himself. This rule of thumb
applies to everything from term papers to the policies of presi
dential incumbents.
I have several friends, for instance, who consistantly bend
my ear with the deficiencies (as they see them) of The Battal
ion. One fellow in particular maintains that he sees more inno
vative behavior exibited by his pet rock.
Loyal journalist that I am, I valiantly defend my former em
ployer, occassionally even escorting the hard-core doubters
through Reed McDonald —enough to convert the stauchest
non-believer.
The Batt staff works hard. If you don’t believe it, go see. If
you don’t like it, get involved and change it.
Student government is another much criticized, little un
derstood student entity. The students who control student
government do so because they were willing to put in the time
when the job needed to be done. Equally, anyone who doesn’t
like the directions student government is heading can put in
the time and change them. I don’t believe it’s possible to talk
one-on-one with any student government leader now in office
and come away doubting his or her sincerity in wanting to
serve A&M. Quite honestly, the perks involved are not worth
the work, if perks and recognition are your motivation.
This past August I was forced, simply for lack of time, to
choose between accepting a position as staff writer for the Bat-
’ talion or an executive position in Student Government. Be
cause I DO have “political aspirations”, I chose to work with
student government in a position, like Batt staff writers, that
will help prepare me for a career in law — the difference be
ing that student government workers are unpaid.
As a law school aspirant I am a minority in the ranks of stu
dent government leaders. A quick look at the present profes
sions of the past three student body presidents bears this out
— one is an insurance salesman in California, one works for
IBM in San Antonio, and one, (what a sneaky way into poli
tics), is pursuing a degree at Dallas Theological Seminary. If I
am, in fact, a politician-in-training, what are Batt reporters but
journalists-in-training, education majors teachers-in-training,
and business majors businessmen-in-training?
Student government leaders work hard. If you don’t believe
it, go see. If you don’t like it, get involved and change it.
— Kim Norris,
director of administration for Student Government.
LETTERS:
A worped look at women in
the Fig Min’ Texas Aggie Band
hoi
EDITOR'S NOTE: These cartoons were orginally run in Fall 1982 as part of The Battalion's daily cartoon "WARRED".
Warped
by Scott McCullar
AH, 600t> 01/ HALF -TI/AE.
IN THE FANTASTIC FIGHT IN'
TEXAS AGGIE BAND, THE
LARGEST BAND IN THE
COUNTRY•
UP and down the FIELD,
FIRING Up THE SPIRIT
of THE IJLTH MAN TO A
FRENZY...
ITS STILL THE LAST
EXCLUSIVELY MALE
bastioa/ ON campus,
thank GOODNESS...,
WHO THE
HELL ARE
you?
W NAME 'S
CHERYL, I'M
A W A <36 I E .
I'VE JUST ALWAYS
WANTED TO PE
IN THE SAND.
V\f\^
WHAT DO
you THINK
YOU'RE
DOI/VG?
WHO..
^ v~
Unite
, Bioon
smoky fire
pity house
early Sunc
and injurin
Lffered ft
; dovvs to osc
The can
eta Tau h
extremely (
hediately I
nder way.
I “It was
Lid Steve
lich., who
ji his face
I Firelight
Im. hy fn
Jgma Chi
jast head it
Ihe studei
lembers a
I David 1
jeputy fin
leaping 15
Eid-story v
Ived, but
blaze withii
lorn three
| Hamilto
:gan in th
ie two-am
IF YOU DON'T
CALM DOWN
yoU’AE SoNNA
THROW OFF THE
BAND'i INCREDIBLE
PRECISION.
T
BESIDES,
WHAT ARE
you GETTING
fo worked
UP about?
YOU CAN'T
BE IN THE
BAND. You be
A WOMAA/.
YOU MESS UP
the UNIFORMITY^
Tj?yc n yw
* ll
W ( 4'W) W l A ]
A' 041 /A)
tAMLCVi tAMCVi
’) fa
March
Unite
A WOMAN IN THE BAND,
GOOD 6RIEF! WHAT A
PREDICAMENT. IF I TRY
TO STOP HER NOW WE'LL
RUIN THE WHOLE HALF
TIME PERFORMANCE.
lAMCH
BUT IF SHE SNEAKS OUT
OF HERE AFTERWARDS
THE SAME WAY SHE GOT
IN, NO ONE MIGHT EVER
KNOW SHE WAS EVEN
WITH US.
(rim
6
SHE IS KINDA RIGHT ABOUT
ONE THING TH0U6H, *OU
CAN'T REALLY PICK OUT
INDIVIDUALS ON THE FIELD
IN THIS MARCHING MOB, SO
IF I SAY AND DO NOTHING
THEN MAYBE NO ONE WILL...
a WHAT!!?
tO
■ALLEN
United Au
strike Sun
Inc., idling
sylvania, M
■ The str:
Sunday, wl
■ntract e>
man said,
ritv is the n
§[ Contract
Pa , 18 mil
phia, brok
deadline a
turned to /
i No talk
UAW wal
Mack Tru
IS THAT A WOMAW DOWN
THERE IN THE A<M BAND?
GET EVERY CAMERA WE'VE
GOT ON HER FAST !
GO-O-O-O-O AGS !!!
CLASS OF 65!!
OWE, DA7MN FINE. BAND*
GO-O-O O-H-O-L-y... .
DURING HALF-TIME AT
TODAY'S A^M FOOTBALL
GAME A FEMALE CADET
WAS DISCOVERED MARCHING
AND PERFORMING WITH THE
BAND..
THERE ARE NO MORE P£TAILS
AVAILABLE AT THE MOMENT,
BUT ALL OF KYLE FIELD'S
ASTRO-TURF WILL NOW
HAVE TO BE REPLACED
Rl
Thanks Aggies
says Cub Scout pack
Judgment of God,
man not the same
EDITOR:
This letter goes out to Jim Parrack (O&M
Building), Senior Cadet Matt Holley, Beth
Risien, and the whole staff at the Informa
tion Center in Rudder Tower. We also want
to include Coach Jackie Sherrill and Reveille
and a bunch of good sports in the Corps.
On Friday, October 12, Cub Scout Pack
1861, Den 3 got a tour of A&M. We had a
wonderful day! We ate hot dogs at the stand
and saw lots of old buildings and met lots of
nice people. Everyone was so friendly to us
and they all said “Howdy” when we said
“Howdy.” We even learned how to “W-
hoop!”
Parrack showed us lots of interesting
things about weather and fish and marine
life. We saw a neat movie about the history
of A&M at Rudder Tower, too!
Then Matt Holley took us on a tour of the
Corps. We saw lots of freshmen who do
funny things when you ask them what com
pany they are in. They even did their yell
when we asked them. They sure yell loud!
We even got our picture taken with Reveille
and the man who takes care of her.
We know there is lots more to see, so we
will try to come up again and see the rest.
Thank you to everyone who helped make
our day so special! Some of us want to go to
A&M when we are old enough and the
friendly people sure make it a good school!
Thank you again for everything!
Den 3, Pack 1861
Sam Houston Council
EDITOR:
I would like to clarify the misinter
pretations of Mr. Becker in regard to
my usage of scripture in protest of ho
mosexuality recognition (and its subse
quent justification) on the A&M cam
pus. This letter is not written in defense
of my judgment. But alternatively its
purpose is to delineate the distinction
between the judgment of sinful man
and that of a just God. The intent of my
previous letter (quoting Romans 1:27,
32) was to address a specific issue with
the word of God - not with my own inef
fectual opinions.
In reply to your first question Mr.
Becker. I do deserve eternal condemna
tion for the countless transgressions I
have committed during these first 18
years of my life. However, if you have a
chance to turn a few pages over to the
eighth chapter of Romans in your Bible,
perhaps when your wife is cooking
breakfast, you will find in verse 1 the
reason why many people, including my
self, will escape this fate. I, being the “v-
ery religious” person that I am, under
stand that homosexuality is not the only
sin worthy of death: but on the same to
ken I hope you, as well as anyone else
with similiar misapprehensions realize
that the judgment presented in my afo
rementioned letter is not of my own ori
gin, but that of God’s.
Thank you for pointing out the fault
of my inadequate presentation of the
whole story. It seems I only presented
God’s judgmentand not his solution. Je
sus Christ came into this world not to
condemn us, but to free those who do
seek to acknowledge him as their lord
from the dominionof the law of sin and
death. If Christianson this campus wor
ried about judging others every time
they quoted a Bible verse, the word of
God would be useless.
been successful in obtaining Mondale’s
briefing book as they did Carter’s That
way, he would have been better pre
pared.
Houston Thompson
Silsbee, Texas
Daniel Holland
Class of ’88
Seeing the ‘old’
through new eyes
Reagan too old
to be U.S. leader
EDITOR:
The emperor has no clothes . . .
Nobody is saying it because it’s a little
delicate. But after the debate it should
be clear to everyone that President Rea
gan, at 73, is too old for the most diffi
cult job in the world.
He was not at ease without his train
er’s cue cards and teleprompter.
The President of the United Sthtes
must be alert for our own safety. His is
the finger on the button that could
cause a nuclear holocaust. We cannot
begin a first strike through accident or
mistake.
The job of president is a killing job
and will get even harder.
It should be clear to everyone that if
President Reagan is reelected he will be
77 on the job.
I am sure his trainers wish they had
EDITOR:
In response to Patrice Koranek’s arti
cle “Growing from Tadpole to Another
Old Aggie,” there are three juniors at
Texas A&M who remember what it was
like to be an freshman. In fact, we re
member it very fondly. Unfortunately
you can only be a freshman once.
However, this year we have the op
portunity to experience it again in a sort
of second-hand way. We have the plea
sure of having a freshman as our fourth
roommate. Everyday we have the qp-
pportunity to see the “old” things
through her “new” eyes.
Of course there are vast differences
in attitudes between freshmen and se
niors, even between freshmen and ju
niors. But look how much more we’ve
had the chance to experience and learn.
Patrice, look back at yourself about
three years ago. I think you’ll find —like
the rest of us — that the freshman you
described in your article bares a mighty
close resemblance.
Lori Canion, ’86
Liz Heard, ’86
Stacy Jarratt, ’86
Chris David, ’88
The Battalion
CJSPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Som hwest Journalism Confcrcnct
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Stephanie Ross, Editor
Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor
Shelley 1 loekstra, City Editor
Bridie! Brockman, News Editor
Donn Friedman, Editorial PageEdiw
Bonnie Langford, News Editor
Ed Cassavoy, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Melissa Adair, MichellePd'*
Assistant News Editors .'
Rhonda Snider,Kellie Dworauyk,
m
Assistant Sports Editor.
Editorial Cartoonist.
Make-up Editor.
Wr
Travis Ti^ I
MiklAf
....[ohnHa^F.
Copy Writer
Copy Editors
Kat h y B reard, Kaye Pah# i
Cyndy Davis, Patricia f5 I T
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