Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, February 28, 1985
—
Students encouraged
to run for SG offices
Friday is the last day to File for Student Government offices.
You may not be able to find out who you’re running against
(because Student Government won’t tell you — see story on
page 1), but you can still run for an office and let your voice be
neard.
The Battalion Editorial Board encourages all students to
participate in Student Government.
Any student interested in being a candidate must fill out the
below voter’s guide information sheet. Save Student Govern
ment some time and bring this application to the Pavilion al
ready filled out, compliments of The Battalion.
And good luck.
The Battalion Editorial Board
VOTER'S GUIDE INFO SHEET
(please print legibly)
NAME
OFFICE YOU ARE SEEKING
CLASS
MAJOR
PHONE NUMBER
IN 150 WORDS OR LESS, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN THE SPACE
PROVIDED BELOW:
1) Why are you running for the office you are seeking?
2) What qualifications can offer the student body at Texas AfiM?
3) What are your goals, or what will you work for if elected?
DON'T FORGET:
WE WILL TAKE MUG SHOTS OF EACH CANDIDATE IMMEDIATELY AFTER
THE CANDIDATE'S INFORMATIONAL MEETING, MARCH 8. PLAN TO
BE THERE!
Senate serves as forum
for faculty awareness
With the birth
of the Faculty Sen
ate in April 1983,
the faculty of
1 exas A&M Uni- Reader’s Forum
versity acqu.red an Reader . s Forum
advisory role in „ i . r-
the governance of cader s Forum
the University. ■—■■■
This is an appro
priate step for an
institution moving
up in the ranks of universities. The fac-
up in
ulty, with help of administration and
support staff, guides the learning proc
ess of students while inspiring them to
realize their full potentials as citizens
and as professionals. It is imperative,
therefore, that the faculty of a univer
sity has a mechanism to speak to issues
facing the university. Teaching, re
search, scholarship, educational re
sources, facilities, programs, curricula,
quality of life in the community, plan
ning, and faculty welfare are areas of
faculty responsibility and expertise.
The faculty has grown rapidly over
the past decade. The average age of its
members is well below that of many uni
versity faculties and the percentage of
untenured faculty is rather high. Out
standing young faculty members, as well
as a sizable group of widely recognized
senior faculty members, have been re
cruited in recent years to blend with
long time members of the faculty who
contributed so much to the University as
it began its rapid growth in the mid to
late sixties. As a former student and as a
faculty member for the past 16 years I
am convinced that the faculty has Aggie
Spirit just as the student body does,
thanks to the oldtimers among us who
convey a certain can-do attitude and en
thusiasm for the University that is con
tagious.
Members of the faculty function un
der pressures just as real as those faced
by students. We are expected to be good
classroom teachers, but that is not all.
We are expected to be scholars and to
attain national, if not international, rec
ognition in our chosen discipline. Ulti
mately that can be to the benefit of the
University and to the students we teach,
but it does mean we can’t be in our of
fices with the door open every hour that
we aren’t in class. We must think, read,
and write as teachers and as researchers.
We are judged and rewarded for doing
th ese things, whether our creative
thoughts originate in office, laboratory,
library, garden, or shower. We are
sometimes irritable; our personal con
cerns may at times make us insensitive
to the needs and concerns of students
we advise or teach. Fundamentally,
however, most of us are members of a
university faculty because we treasure
the interactions with students who are
the hope for the future. We want our
graduates to be the most responsible cit
izens and accomplished professionals
that their talents will permit.
The bleak prospects for the support
of higher education in the next bien
nium are of great concern to members
of the faculty. The ability to recruit re
placements for vacancies on the faculty
has been impaired seriously by the na
tional perception that higher education
in Texas is in trouble. Furthermore, talk
of decreased budgets and the possibility
of no raises, or even termination of fac
ulty, makes those of our faculty with na
tional reputations, or without tenure,
more susceptible than commmon to out
side offers. Many of us are hopeful that
a State which so recently committed ad
ditional resources to primary and sec
ondary education will not reduce, in the
final analysis, its commitment ot the
higher education of students coming
from the improved schools. It concerns
us that the irreversible damage done by
each passing day under the possibility of
reduced budgets appears to be little ap
preciated outside the University com
munity.
It is discouraging to hear emphasis on
“fat” in the budget when efforts to cut
costs in one area to provide for needs in
others are a common occurrence, yet
deficiencies are apparent in some areas.
We lack a funded sabbatical program.
Facilities, in general, are crowded. Tea
ching loads are heavy in the areas of
most rapid growth. Vacation days for
newcomers are limited and sick leave
for nine and IOV2 month employees has
been threatened. Despite the significant
progress made in recent years, much
more input of resources is needed to
put us on equal footing with peers at
other major universities. Where is the
“fat?” Most of us must use the resources
available to use quite frugally to attain
our goals. In many cases this is done
without benefit of modern equipment
or other state of the art items.
The faculty now has a mechanism to
address issues for which it bears respon
sibility and in which it has vested inter
ests. Having a means to make recom
mendations on matters of concern and
to participate in planning for the future
is important for the morale of the fac
ulty. The Faculty Senate at Texas A&M
University is striving to become a body
deserving of the respect of all who care
about this University. After all it’s in its
second year and is, therefore, a^ tradi
tion.
Dr. Murray H. Milford is the Speaker
of the Faculty Senate.
City
ot vie-
tudenl
ent Gi
St
Wedne
“Eve
is hard
a city (
said.
At a
You’ve come a long way, baby
The other day I
called the Regis
trar’s Office, un
der orders from
my mother, to
find out when I
would graduate.
“When does the
College of Liberal
Arts graduate?” I
asked.
Kari
Fluegel
Graduate or ——————
Undergraduate?” the voice on the Other
end asked.
‘Undergraduate,” I answered.
“You will graduate at 9 a.m. on Satur
day, May 4,” she said.
At that precise moment, it hit and it
hit hard. After 17 years in school I am
going to graduate. After counting down
in years, I can actually count the days.
I remember in kindergarden the day
we were doing the Bunny Hop. I was
doing the best imitation of a bunny — in
particular the Easter Bunny — that I
knew how. I was hopping up and down
with my hands folded slightly below my
waist pretending to carry a basket of
Easter eggs.
My teacher asked me if I needed to
use the restroom.
In third grade, I had a nasty habit of
finishing my work and then getting out
of my chair to bother the other students.
One afternoon, my teacher tied me in
my seat with some old panty hose that
the class was using to stuff pillows.
Recess came around and when my
teacher dismissed the class for recess,
she forgot that I was tied to my chair.
For 10 minutes I sat tied to my chair and
cried.
In my fifth grade class, there were
eight boys and two girls. But Kathy and
I could beat up any of those eight boys.
One particular day, Bobby kept bother
ing me, so 1 gave him a black eye.
His father called my father at work
and told my dad that he should control
his daughter. My father came home and
said, “Good job Kari.”
On the last day of school in the ninth
grade, my “best” friends gave a note to
the boy I had a crush on. T he note told
him everything. I still can’t look that guy
in the face.
My senior year in high school*
year that I did most of my grown
That was the year that 1 decided
going to become a writer. Butldi
of my growing up the weekend tin
of my best friends was molested
club adviser.
My first two years in c<
spent at the junior college in mv
town. I had my first hangoverasa
man. Now 1 live in a dormitory at
A&M and I have a hangover all
ery weekend.
I’ll never forget the timelspt
my ankle falling off a barstool
sober then. I’ll also never I
morning I crawled outofbedand
the toilet only to find it covered*
incredibly sticky substance. 1
out that the substance — loving
plied by a friend down theh;
roommate watched — is normal
to keep bugs off of trees.
Only 65 days until graduation
come a long way.
Kari Fluegel is a senior journalist
jor and an assistant city editor fa
Battalion.
Creativity, crayons
not just for children
I’d been hypno
tized by the magic
of Crayola Cray
ons years before I
tried them out on
mom’s white wall.
In fact I ranked
Crayolas number
two on my list of
Important
Things, second
only to my Lite
Brite.
Cami
Brown
Problem was, mom’s walls ranked a
sacred number one on her list of Things
to Keep White.
“Colors,” as I called them, made real
my pencil drawings of cats, flowers and
big-teethed monsters. I loved crayons
because I could break them and they
still worked. I’d tear the paper off them
and I wouldn’t get in trouble. I could
make the sun blue, the sky yellow or
turn my friends purple. I could escape
into a world that I created, and then re
turn to the calculated dramas of my real
life.
At first I worked with the basic
materials — typing paper and coloring
books. But creativity possessed me and I
could not overcome the lure of the mon
umental white walls.
It started with an inconspicuous doo
dle, and soon it was a masterpiece — ev
ery color in my color box was rep
resented. It was beautiful. Mom thought
it was nasty. That began our miniature
war on the finer points of creative ex
pression, but I surrendered because
mom had superior weapons. She had a
belt — I was armed with crayons.
Logical adult against naive child. It
was a short-lived experience with spon
taneous creativity, but it illustrates how
maturity can overshadow creativity.
I’m not advocating vandalism, but the
urge to write on the wall — so to speak
— is an urge too many people ignore.
Everyone finds ways to be creative as
child, but some jerk started a rumor that
says you have to give up childish behav
ior to be mature. I say it’s healthy some
times to see the world through the unso
phisticated freshness of a child’s eyes.
It’s enlightening to skip down the hall,
to play paddleball, to color a picture out
of the lines, to ask silly questions.
Be creative. Be fresh. Think new.
Seeing the world as a child is one way to
free the imagination.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is
more important than knowledge, for
knowledge is limited while imagination
embraces the entire world.”
Creativity has a place in our society,
whether you’re in engineering, com
puter programming or any other left-
brain oriented occupation. Developing
both the creative right side of the brain
and the analytical left side can make the
brain more effective. In other words, a
balanced brain will help you think bet
ter.
The secret to creativity? Let your
imagination run wild. Brainstorm for
ideas. Be curious and ask stupid ques
tions. Have a 15-minute play time each
day. And for God’s sake, learn to be
childish sometimes. Children are our
creative teachers.
Let ideas out rather than work at
them. If you feel like writing on the
wall, go write on some wall. If you feel
like singing nursery rhymes, or making
mud cakes, don’t let the weird stares or
the nasty comments from the uncreative
stop you.
My creative outlet as a child was scrib
bling on mom’s walls. My sister’s forte
was decoupage. (She spent hours glue
ing foil squares on plaster figures. To
each her own.) It’s important to set free
the creative side of your brain, without
being influenced by sneers from peers.
I learned early, thanks to Crayolas
and naivety, that quenching my creative
thirst was worth the spanking I knew I’d
receive later. Creativity is worth it.
Cami Brown is a junior journalism ma
jor, and an assistant news editor for The
Battalion.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Associalion
Southwest |ournalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
rigi
He
Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor
Ed Cassavoy, City Editor
Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor
Michelle Powe, Eaitorial Page Edit#
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kari Fluegel, RliondaSd
Assistant News Editors
Cami Brown, John Hallett, KayM)
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Wl
Entertainment Editors
Shawn Behlen, Leigh-EllenO
Staff Writers CathieAndtf
Brandon Berry, DainahBtl
Ann Cervenka, Michael Crass
Kirsten Dietz, PattiR
Patrice Koranek, Trent L«|
Sarah Oates, JerrvC
Tricia Parker, LyIlnRaef l,
Copy Editors .Jan Perry, Kelleri*
Make-up Editors KarenBb
Karla M
Columnists Kevin Inda, LorenS®
Editorial Cartoonist k
Sports Cartoonist DaleS*
Copy Writer CathyBenS
Photo Editor KatherineH 1
Photographers Anthony Caf 1
Wayne Grabein, Bill Hughes, Frankln
John Makely, Peter Rocha,DeanS
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting
operated as a community service to Texas atf
llryan-Collegc Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion m tk#j
uard or
Editorial Board or the author, and do not necesai
resent the opinions of Texas AX.-M adniinisiniwn.ll
or the Board of Regents
The Battalion also serves as'a laboratorynev
students in reporting, editing and p/iolognp®
within the Department of Communications,
Letters Policy
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 w
length. 7 he editorial staff reserves the right tordio
for style and length hot will make every eflon ton*
the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed nd 1
include the address and telephone number ofttit ,r!
The Battalion is published Monday thivughi
during T exas A&M regular semesters, except wtl*
and examination periods. Mail subscriptions art l :
per semester, $33.25 per school year and (3if
year. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed Md*
Building, Texas A&M University, College StalM
ISuiliUng, i exas A&M University, College
77843. Editorial staff phone number (409)S43'!w
vertising: (409) 845-261E
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ion, Texas A&M University, College Stalioti,
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