A
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, March 18,1985
OPINION
Isn't blackmail illegal
in the United States?
Republican senators are being informed President Reagan
will not support their 1986 re-election campaigns unless they
support Administration programs, specifically the budget pack
age and the building of the MX missile.
So they face a dilemma — become a rubber stamp for the
president or lose financial support from the Oval Office.
When we cast a vote for a congressional candidate, we are
supporting his ideals and principles. We are demonstrating our
faith that he will act in our best interests — even when those in
terests are contrary to the president’s wishes.
A healthy democracy allows its leaders to express differing
opinions and to act on their beliefs. That’s what the checks and
balances system is all about — to prevent any one person from
becoming all-powerful.
Such open political blackmail as the adminstration is practic
ing flies in the face of the democratic system. When Congress is
being manipulated by the president, then the congressmen are
not doing their jobs. We didn’t elect them to blindly follow or
ders.
If they’re simply going to rubber stamp all presidential legis
lation, then why not just skip the whole process of congressional
campaigning and elections and simply allow the president to ap
point his own political puppets?
The Battalion Editorial Board
LETTERS:
Battalion columnist
right and wrong
EDITOR:
In his editorial of March 7, Loren
Steffy condemns the censorship of liter
ature in the public school classroom. I
am certainly glad he holds this opinion,
as I am sure most of us do. However, it
is unfortuante that Steffy did not bother
to notice that the “advertisement advo
cating . . . the killing of ideas” was in fact
advertising the MSC Great Issues Com
mittee’s presentation of Mike Hudson, a
man who holds the same beliefs con
cerning literature’s value as Steffy.
Hudson gave an enlightening speech on
The Battalion
(ISPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Brigid Brockman, Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor
Ed Cassavoy, City Editor
1 Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor
Michelle Powe, Editorial Page Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kari Fluegel, Rhonda Snider
Assistant News Editors
Cami Brown, John Hallett, Kay Mallett
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Shawn Behlen, Leigh-Ellen Clark
Staff Writers Cathie Anderson,
Brandon Berry, Dainah Bullard,
Ann Cervenka, Michael Crawford,
Kirsten Dietz, Patti Flint,
Patrice Koranek, Trent Leopold,
Sarah Oates, Jerry Oslin,
Tricia Parker, Lynn Rae Povec
Copy Editors Jan Perry, Kelley Smith
Make-up Editors Karen Bloch,
Karla Martin
Columnists Kevin Inda, Loren Steffy
Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane
Sports Cartoonist Dale Smith
Copy Writer Cathy Bennett
Photo Editor Katherine Hurt
Photographers Anthony Casper,
Wayne Grabein, Bill Hughes, Frank Irwin,
John Makely, Peter Rocha, Dean Saito
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper
operated as a community service to, Texas A8cM and
Bryan-College Sta tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and photography classes
within the Department of Communications.
Letters Policy
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters
for st yle and length but will make every effort to maintain
the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must
include the address and telephone number of the writer.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday
during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
Building, lexas A&M University, College Station, TX
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vertising: (409) 845-2611.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal
ion, 'Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
77843
Monday, March 4, on the dangers of al
lowing the religious right to take too
large a role in the selection of textbooks
for public schools. -
The content of the advertisement was
intended to arouse interest in the issue
of censorship, which it apparently did,
and to inform the public of the speech.
If Steffy bothered to read his own
newspaper everyday, he may have no
ticed a similar advertisement for the
program which depicted a group of
classic books being set afire by a flaming
copy of the First Amendment. The in
tention of this ad was the same; to catch
the eye and make people think. MSC
Great Issues does not advocate banning
books, and Mike Hudson certainly does
not. Steffy is to be chastised for his over
sight, but commended for addressing
the important issue of the censorship of
literature in public schools.
Chris Smallwood
MSC Great Issues Committee
Warped creator
asked to leave
EDITOR:
I have enjoyed The Batt for several
years but one thing leave me cold every-
time I read it —WARPED by Scott Mc-
Cullar. Can we impeach the power be
hind this piece of moral terpitude?
How does someone with so little re
gard for everything dear to the heart
and soul of A&M —traditions, loyalty,
love for A&M, and our fellow Ags —
come to such a position within our be
loved Aggieland?
If we can arrange to pay for his trans
fer to t.u., would he accept our gracious
offer? I understand different strokes
for different folks and t.u. was made for
“different folks.” The liberal ideology of
t.u. would sure be conducive to his life
style, and both schools would be happier
if the transfer was made.
Larry Fischer, ’81
A&M taking beating
for Zentgraf case
EDITOR:
• Are the regents of Texas A&M Uni
versity really such nitwits that they
would appeal the Melanie Zentgraf de
cision?
Don’t they realize how Neanderthal it
makes both them and the school look?
That a woman’s constitutional rights
should be abridged on grounds of “tra
dition” is clearly indefensible. Perhaps
they hope that by appeal they can put
off the inevitable for a year or two. But
in a few years women will be common
place in the Aggie band, it will still main
tain its excellence, and entering classes
will wonder what all the fuss was about.
Hopefully by then the black eye given
to TAMU by this silly litigation will have
healed.
Les P. Beard
Affirmative action program
intended for benefit of all
jjk
KeVin Inda’s
Feb. 27 editorial
on affirmative ac
tion no doubt re
flected the views
of many people on
this campus. The
jumbled set of
oversimplifica
tions presented in
the course of this
editorial is unfor-
Reader’s Forum
Reader’s Forum
Reader’s Forum
mative action. While mo
that these programs pro<
sirable results, they attack^
which they are achieved
will admit
some de
means by
without sug-
tunately commonplace in discussions
about such controversial issues.
Inda’s editorial challenged not only
Texas A&M’s recruiting policy but the
entire idea of a University spending
money to recruit minority faculty and
students. This is an honest line of ques
tioning, but since it deals with funda
mental ideological issues it merits care
ful and rigorous considerations.
Affirmative action is a policy of the
federal government in many areas, in
cluding student and faculty recruitment
at universities. It is supported by well-
educated and well-informed men and
women throughout government, from
the Supreme Court justices who uphold
it in court to the congressmen who regu
larly approve funding for it.
Much of the controversy surrounding
this issue stems from confusion about
the inspiration for and purpose of affir-
gesting an alternative. Affirmative ac
tion programs are designedftto disrupt a
cycle created by past anc^mresent dis
crimination. Although most forms of
explicit discrimination (i.e. denial of the
right to work or to be educated) have
been removed in the last 20 years, there
are still problems. Minoritfjlpjare consis
tently overrepresented in' the low in
come segments of the population and
are consistently underrepresented in
the more affluent positions in the social
strata. It is obvious that some forms of
discrimination still exist. The cycle is
perpetuated more by subtle forms of
racism than denial of basic rights.
Poorer quality schools, lessons being
taught in a language not spoken at
home, teachers who — because of some
personal flaw — expect less of minority
students and therefore fail to encourage
them, a lack of role models, etc. are all
contributors to it.
To complain about offering schol
arships to minority students and the
lowering of standards in the same
breath is useless. Offering minority stu
dents scholarships is something Texas
A&M chooses to do. All the affirmative
action programs require is increased mi
nority attendance. This University
wishes to meet these requirements and
therefore must compete with oi
schools for the limited pool ofliijj
qualified minority students. The its
tion of offering scholarships is toi
this University more competitiveso|
it doesn’t have to lower its standards.
The system does not claim perfei
Reverse discrimination doesoctj
When it does it is wrong both motf
and legally. The Supreme Courtupli
this view in the Bakke decision.,!
this case the Supreme Court did I
however, declare all affirmative atl
programs illegal. Suggesting that|
whole system is fundamentally flai
only demonstrates a serious lackofi
formation.
There is ample opportunity ati
University to investigate and uni
stand issues such as these. Onecouldl
tend the programs of the Black AnJ
ness Committee or the Committer!
Awareness of Mexican-Americantj
ture in the MSC. Part of the purposJ
these committees is to educate whitel
dents about the culture and perspetl
of minorities today. These issuesstiJ
be investigated, not as a favor to mini
ties, but as a favor to oneself. As Ini
column pointed out, these issuesd«I
feet us on a very basic level. ItpaystJ
informed.
Adoi
Jerry Rosiek
Committee
volvement.
is the chairman op
on Minority Student 1
Byji
Texas /
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she said.
English riding spirit catching
on in land of the cowboys
What follows
when I tell folks
that I show horses
usually is some
thing along these
lines:
“Oh, you mean
you rodeo, right?
Yeah, I went to
the Ft. Worth Fat
Stock Show and
Rodeo one time. I
guess since you’re a girl you ride barrels
and poles. What’s your best time? Ever
won anything?”
I always hate to burst their stereotypi
cal balloon. I don’t sit a tall black horse.
My saddle isn’t a gaudy conglomerate of
leather and silver. I don’t flaunt a ten-
gallon Stetson. I don’t wear tight-fittin’
jeans and pointy-toed cockroach killers.
I don’t even own spurs that jingle-jan
gle. And I’ve never been clocked at pole
bending in my life.
You see, I ride English style. Now, 10
years ago to ride English in the South
west was unheard of. It was unthink
able. Only Queen Elizabeth and Prin
cess Anne and others from “ up there in
the old country” had that privilege.
Texans were thought not to possess the
finesse, talent, expertise or horses that it
took to attempt the sport with any nota
ble success. Today, however, what’s
good enough for Queen Elizabeth and
Princess Anne is good enough for Shel
ley Hoekstra, and (surprise!) thousands
of other Texans — who have traded in
their Western saddles and pole bending,
barrel racing ways, for the English style
of hunting and jumping.
About 10 years ago, English show
barns began popping up throughout
Texas like mushrooms — a whole
spread of them seemingly overnight.
Brightly painted jumps began to grace
many an open field. What Texas horses
lacked in training or breeding, imports
from Australia, EnglancL^and other
countries began to makt^^ for. Nu
merous qualified hunter tWmiers began
to flock to Texas — English fever had
caught, and spread, like wildfire. En
glish enthusiasts were crying for knowl
edge of the sport, a knowledge that be
fore had come only from watching
skilled others on television — and at
tempting to copy their style.
English horseback riding is all the
things that Western is not. It is a small
Steubin saddle with no saddle horn
(nothing holds the rider on but his leg
muscles). It is a snaffle bit in the horse’s
montth, allowing the rider to feel
through his hands the power and inten
sity to which the horse responds to his
rider’s command. It is a “funny little
hat” — a hard-hat with chin strap —that
protects the rider from head injury
should he “take a fall” over a jump. It is
knee-high leather boots that protect the
rider from briers and brambles, certain
to be encountered on a hunt course. It is
skin tight breeches, alleviating excess
material that might chafe or rub raw
spots in the leg, or interfere with the
neccessary body contact between rider
and mount.
It is thrilling — but also a bit terrify
ing. Galloping up to a three, four, five ...
foot jump, over the fence, solid contact
with the ground on the other side. Falls
do occasionally happen, caused by<
horse getting to the fence at an awkwaii
spot, going over “leap frog” style ani
unseating the rider. Sometimes a ride
will loose courage, a horse can sensed®
and will in turn refuse a jump. Abeauii
ful horse is not a neccessity. Whad
needed is boldness, good sense, suit
feet and conditioning. A little traininf
goes a long way, as horses are natuii
jumpers.
One of the nicest things about this
sport is that it accommodates people of
ages — from 7 to 70. One need onlyltf
limited by his desire to work and learn
and the courage it takes to face a jump.
Texas now can boast of its many fint
trainers, horses and riders. The Texas
Hunter and Jumper Association spon
sors shows that have drawn riders fro®
around the country, even overseas
Hunter-jumper programs in Kentucky
Tennessee and California have begunto
recognize Texas riders as serious com
petition for their once monopolized
winner’s circle — Texans are walking
away with increasingly more blue’s and
championships.
So, just because you’re on Texas soil
doesn’t mean you have to “go Western
There’s a bit of English in the wind, and
its spirit is contagious. Even those who
have thought themselves to be the most
immune — Western to the core —have
been known to be affected by the fever
Jolly good and right nice, wouldn’t you
say?
Shelley Hoekstra is a senior journalism
major and the managing editor for The
Battalion.
Shelley
Hoekstra
Univ
Obsolete
the Gulf ol
west coast c<
tion for a li
dustry, says
expert.
Rather tl
Dr. Robert
suggests let
lures in the
artificial ret
offish.
“Fifteen
were distril:
Mexico,” D
and gas ind
these vertic
traded the
mereial fisl
developmei
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point of wt
happen wh
moved off;
ample.”
Ditton, v
Academy c
into a varie
posing of tl