Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, February 19, 1985
OPINION
Sally's Symposium
predictably boring
Controversy, the stuff of great debates.
Here at Texas A&M, Sully’s Symposium has been one forum
for campus leaders and people of campus interest to address the
students of A&M.
Last semester the student body president, the editor of The
Battalion and other important student leaders gave their views
on their particular organizations and the philosophies behind
those organizations.
This year, the honeymoon is over.
The Battalion Editorial Board feels too little thought is being
taken in the selection of Sully’s Symposium speakers. This fo
rum serves a unique and necessary service and should not follow
the path of least resistance.
This semester the selection of Miss Texas A&M, four A&M
basketball players, and the usual crop of student government
people show what Sully’s Symposium snouldn’t be — predictable
and boring.
Lambda Sigma must be commended for creating the sympo
sium. But the novelty factor is over.
The students of A&M deserve to hear more than public rela
tions speeches. They must get the views of the people who do af
fect students’ lives.
Why not get H.R. “Bum” Bright or one of the other regents
to discuss their sizable contribution to University affairs?
Why not get President Vandiver to discuss the ever-threat
ening budget cuts? Or the president of the MSC Council to dis
cuss why the student body is not involved in the council’s elec
tions? Or the president of the MSC Black Awareness Committee
to discuss A&M’s minority recruitment policy?
Sully’s Symposium is supposed to give ordinary students a
chance to talk to the true “powers” of Texas A&M who are not
readily accessible to ordinary students. So far this semester it has
failed to do this.
Why not anticipate what the student’s real questions are,
rather than give them pat answers?
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Many A&M stu
dents one day hope
to be world leaders. I
don’t believe they are
receiving the educa-
Patti
Flint
The Battalion Editorial Board
tion necessary to lead: students here
aren’t encouraged to think, nor do they
seem to want to.
These things also are necessary for
leading a fuller life. There’s so much
more out there than most people ever
see, even if it’s just noticing the
movement of light on the sidewalk as
the light through the trees shifts when
the sun nears setting.
Ross.
LETTERS:
Everything here is judged by money.
If a class teaches you a skill that will
make you money, it’s good. If not, it’s
worthless. Because of this attitude, I
think most students are incapable of
making thoughtful, responsible deci-
Esoteric garbage? Maybe, but I don’t
think so. For me, these things are the
very essence of life. You, on the other
hand, might enjoy being nebulous.
I
Any implications in
Batt unintentional
seen on campus that all of us would like
to be able to enjoy.
EDITOR:
I would like to apologize to Dr. Alvin
Prause and Mr. Gary Anderson for
statements made in an article entitled
“A&M Student Considers Council Seat”
in the Feb. 18 Battalion. I would also
like to apologize to The Battalion’s
writer Jerry Oslin for not making myself
more clear. I by no means intended to
decide that Anderson and Prause were
not running for reelection. What I in
tended to say was that rumors had it
that they might not run and that they
had not made their intentions known
yet. If they did not run then I might be
considered the closest thing to an in
cumbent. Again I apologize to all con
cerned and hope this statement clears
up some questions.
Mike Hachtman
Class of ’86
You don’t see the “local” theaters
closing their doors to A&M students be
cause they have their own Films on cam
pus. Just because one has already grad
uated doesn’t mean they are any less
interested in campus activities.
Phillip Sulak, ’83
Students lack an understanding of
history, literature, philosophy, the arts,
and even the sciences. And what could
be more valuable to an employer than
someone who can reason and think? —
something these disciplines encourage,
as well as encouraging sensitivity.
For example (and I have no scientic
data to support this), students here be
lieve in God not because He’s a concept
they’ve thought over and accepted, but
out of blind obedience for what they’ve
been taught. Students raised in families
for whom religion is unimportant
usually don’t believe in Cod. Not be
cause they’ve thought it over and re
jected the idea, but because they haven’t
thought about it at all.
can diety, “the teflon presideni,"
much power is because he mi^Brhe
people want to hear and people:sored
bother to put any thought into the!
racy of his words. Students suppe
Reagan in the election because:
parents did, or supported Mondie
the same reason, using little of to
thought.
Intellectual sloth is a steady fora
most students’ education. Whaii
learn in the classroom or in lextk
they leave there when thedassisoie
the liooks closed. Students donifi
late this know ledge into their live
their minds are bound tostagnaie
If people could think, interpret
derstand, and reason, there wouldt
so much t ear and hatred for thent'
different — people and ideas. Hi
maybe, a college education wouldik
something.
The reason that other great Ameri-
Patti Flint is a senior journalism®
and a staff writer for At Ease.
Student lost without
prescription glasses
$600 for toilet seat
EDITOR:
going a bit too far
Aggies working
for world peace
I need some urgent help! I lost my
prescription glasses (gray-colored plas
tic-rimmed frames with untinted lenses)
on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the G. Rollie
White nautilus gym after my 8 o’clock
P.E. class. I am in dire need of these
specs as my sight is 20/400 (compared to
the normal 20/20 vision). If found,
please call Kuta at 260-2360 or hand
them over at the MSC main desk.
By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
charge us for a Binuptial cruise digita-
' it. Ifv
EDITOR:
We were very pleased to read about
the influence that the Texas A&M Vil
lage of Hope has had on students in La
fayette, Louisiana, and in Austin and
Lubbock (Battalion, Feb. 8, 1985). It’s
wonderful to know that other universi
ties are following our lead in this kind of
international work.
Thanks.
K.T. Manyukwi
Class of’87
Everyone not happy
with Aggie recruiting
EDITOR:
Now that the University of Texas and
Texas Tech have joined us, we can fore
see many other universities around the
nation reaching out to their neighbors
the way Aggies have done.
We are a long way from world peace,
but this seems to be a very good start in
that direction. And it’s nice to know that
Texas Aggies have started it all.
The Village of Hope project is one
more example of the many good things
coming out of this school. Let’s continue
to work together to keep the Texas
A&M Village of Hope an example for
the rest of the nation.
Well, Jackie, after having shown re
peatedly over the past three years that
you can’t coach, you now have demon
strated your incompetence as a recruiter
as well.It’s obvious now that Jerry Petti-
bone was the recruiter on the staff and
you just stepped in to claim the credit
for his work.
Louis D. Driver
accompanied by 15 signatures
Jackie, you’ve set our football pro
gram back 10 years both on and off the
field. You managed to do this year what
hadn’t been done since 1974 — fail to
sign a single blue-chipper.
Non-A&M students
discriminated against
It’s obvious that the high school play
ers and coaches of Texas now know
what Aggies have known for a couple of
years; Jackie is a loser.
EDITOR:
Why are non-A&M students being
discriminated against?
I am referring to the restriction of
MSC movies to students, faculty and
staff. There are classic movies being
shown that can only be
Not only are you a disaster as a coach
and recruiter but your lack of personal
intergrity is astounding. Anyone who
can call this a “very, very good” year in
recruiting should be a used car salesman
and not a representative of Texas A&M.
Richard H. Fosberg, ’78
It’s amazing, but all the cost overrun
scandals at the Pentagon have to do with
small items, and not big ones. First it was
the $400 hammer, then the $7,900 cof-
feemaker, followed by the $16,400 re
frigerator — and now, the $640 flying
toilet seat.
That’s what Lockheed Aircraft
charged the Navy for each one it in
stalled in its P3 Orion submarine-hunt
ing airplane. The press instantly
dubbed it “Toiletgate,” and the reve
lation couldn’t have come at a worse
time. When the seat was displayed by
Senator Roth of Delaware, all hell broke
loose in the Defense Department. Cap
Weinberger was having enough trouble
defending his budget on the Hill, and
he was in no mood to justify the cost of
plumbing fixtures on a Navy aircraft.
Two minutes after the list price for
the seat surfaced, “general quarters” was
sounded at the Pentagon, and everyone
grabbed a phone.
Weinberger called the secretary of
the Navy, who called the chief of naval
operations, who called the admiral in
charge of aircraft procurement, who
called the captain who heads up the P3
submarine-hunter program, who called
Lockheed Aircraft for an explanation.
“What the hell are you guys doing
charging us $640 for a toilet seat?” he
yelled into the phone.
“We made a slight mistake,” the Lock
heed commode chief said. “We should
have only billed you $554 for each one.
We’ll send you a rebate in the morning.”
“Do you know what’s going on here in
Washington? You’ve jeopardized the
entire $313 billion defense budget. You
guys must be crazy.”
“Now wait a minute. That seat is
made of fiberglass and plastic and will
withstand any combat situation that the
P3 hunter is bound to encounter. We
tested it in two crash landings and it
didn’t have a crack in it.”
“That’s not the point. If you over-
tor no one is going to question it. it you
bury a few thousand bucks in the Gaf
fney flick switch, or a Dalmane synthe
sizer, Congress will never Find it. And if
you want to up the price on a Flangle
Dipthong Upsurge, we’ll look the other
way. But the American taxpayer knows
what toilet covers cost. Besides, the rea
son this whole thing broke is a small
contractor claims he could make the
same seat for $200.”
“They all say that until they try to
build one. It’s not just the seat but the
research and development that went
into it. We had to build a special simula
tor to make sure it would hold up at
40,000 feet.”
“Why didn’t you add those costs on to
the Septum Firth chronometer? We
could have absorbed them there.”
“Because $640 is peanuts in a multi
million dollar airplane. Suppose we re
duce the price to $500? We’ll eat the dif
ference.”
“It’s too late. The Navy is thinking of
canceling the order for the rest of the
planes. If you don’t come down on those
seats, you can start closing the assembly
line.”
“Okay, give us a figure we can live
with.”
“We’re not going to pay more than
$ 100 a seat.”
“You have to be kidding. We gave
you the plane at cost, but our under
standing was we could charge anything
we wanted for the optional equipment.”
“Our agreement didn’t include cof fee
pots and commodes. One hundred dol
lars or we take the whole program over
to Grumman Aircraf t.”
“You have us over a barrel. We’ll give
it to you at that price but it will wipe out
our entire proFit margin. We only make
$540 on each plane.”
The captain said, “That’s your prob
lem, I want a telegram on my desk about
the price reduction by this afternoon. If
it isn’t here, you’re going to get a ‘Dear
John’ letter from me in the morning.”
The Battalion
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Brigid Brockman, Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Ediloi
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Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor
Michelle Powe, Editorial PagcEdiloi
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
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Assistant News Editors
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Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Wil
Entertainment Editors
Shawn Behlen, Leigh-Ellenftl
Staff Writers Catnie Ando*',
Brandon Berry, DainahBii
Ann Cervenka, MichaelCto
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Patrice Koranek, Trail Leo[
Sarah Oates, Jerry
Tricia Parker, LynnRaeP 11
Copy Editors Jan Perry, KelleySn
Make-up Editors Karen Bl*,
Karla ! r -
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Editorial Cartoonist Mike
Sports Cartoonist Dale Sr
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Wayne Crabein, Bill Hughes, Frankie 1
John Makely, Peter Rocha, DeanSiL
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