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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1985)
Page 2/The BattalionThursday, December 12, 1985 Opinion Being an Aggie worth the sarcasm, ridicule of othe Did you get a chance to look at Wednesday’s Hous ton Chronicle? We were on the front page — Texas Aggies in tents waiting for tickets. Cynthia Gay Columnist Most students didn’t seem to think anything of it, except perhaps they’d like to be out there too. But I wonder what the bleary-eyed Houston business man, downing his fifth cup of coffee to digest the morning news, must think of all this: “There go the Aggies again, going out of their way to do things, well, differently.” So after weathering this fall semester, we’ll be heading home, or just about anywhere but College Station. And a couple weeks from today we may be out with some of those same friends that still don’t quite understand us, but tolerate us just the same. The conversation may go something like this: one of your nameless cousins says to this congenial gathering: “Say uh, 1 grad uated from William & Mary in ’79, and I was just wondering where the rest of you guys are going to school?” “So tell me, how’s school going?” asks the cute girl you tutored in your senior government class. You sit through a chorus of “UT, Baylor, U of H, Southwest and Sam,” patiently awaiting your moment in the family spotlight. rights, gay rights, racial sti ile and Cheek recognition lately, that we sometimes lose sight of A&M’s day-to-day atmo sphere. There’s no doubt we are di verse, yet we manage to mix freely un der the umbrella of Aggieland. Just because a group is obviously distinctive in a particular area or lifestyle does not mean it should be singled out and ex cluded. V You lean back in your chair, and say with a satisfied smile, “Hey, we’ve got Cotton.” “A&M.” It speaks for itself, right? But you get the feeling it’s no big deal to those who don’t go to this University, or didn’t, or wouldn’t want to. Different is right. But at the time our actions seemed appropriate, whether they were traditional practices or spon taneous outpourings of emotion. Somehow that line just didn’t grab her. She looks a little bored. “What’s the deal?” you think to yourself. “That worked on the third deck in the third quarter.” This comes from within, and it’s something we usually don’t talk about. It’s prompted sarcasm, irony and down right ridicule on occasion, but we got used to that a while back. Remember when we first told our high school friends we were going to Texas A&M. But that was Thanksgiving, and this is Christmas, and right then you’re won dering what could possibly add more spice to that eggnog than tales of 42-10 and great expectations in Dallas. Regardless of the snide remarks we hear, or sometimes make about each other or certain groups on campus, we are Aggies. And that’s what is essentially behind the initial stigma against women coming to A&M years ago and Greeks recruiting members now. Simply, that active grouping means separating, and separate groups threaten unity. We’re doing a pretty good job. Catch ing the drift of most any campus con versation, one usually hears about what the speakers have in common, not in conflict. If we do fall short, it’s usuallv pertaining to the Corps of Cadets. opportunity to expn ness for that freedom. “WHAT?? You’re gonna be an AG GIE!” they said in disbelief. I mean, af ter all, they always thought you were a normal, easy-going person. Or perhaps you’re seated with all your brothers and sisters and cousins and more cousins (whose names you can never remember). Aggies are famous for sticking to gether, for sticking up for one another. Old grads know we’ll be successful, but will we be loyal? Each student must eventually answer that question for him self or herself. Are you an Aggie, or do you just go to A&M, discover its imper fections and complain? They aren’t demanding rights, but they continue to be singled out. The Corps wants only to prepare its mem bers to be officers in our armed services. And that’s not especially easy these days. Consider the fact that we have at A&M the only ROTC program in the United States that functions seven days a week within a major university. The Corps is not asking for our approval, only our understanding to let them go about their business. group antes. Maybe they should ask for more. We could give a little more, you know. And the husband that’s newly-wed to We’ve heard so much about women’s On Thanksgiving Day. our neighbors United feature Syndicate MAR6UUES ©1105 Hasrofj pcsr Mail Call in Austin with whom we competij Local C about e\entiling, outdidUliptB backyard. I he University of Teuf;, MEG C. decided to forego their traditimf! Std(f M time finale and pay tribute tolls';, Ninety percent c and women in our armed sene v ’ s ‘ t an emergenc; "><• 1 Both are in the businessofpit; cause ’bey have an ! he l.ui^horr,,|||A-W. White Medical Clinic. express theit® Dr Russ Tong emergency room a \s students, we get iliatchw'f 1 * 1, a ^ ,tes ' He s j . he sees do not need das when we make the ctforttoi,» f you ask the cadets and treat cadets MinphfejijMjot an emergen lar students. We’re allsttijjient it is,” he s through the academic life, aoij|hey'’re coming to tl no need foi sc']),u,tung this]lK*v|! on g co sa y s he < up from oui tiinuls and;::' 011 ,, 3 , H ^ ui '" In spite ol the them to go see And perhaps it we havei$!^, re k ac "h er j’ , 1 i don t turn them do I,lends a. home who are C0Mj o avojd the t aimed sei mi es ve n'^l't MS'fijjfes of hospital e C nips ot < ad y mans people are encing a real drop in members of local clinics, sa) lhe\ need mil wippoi! A< iijWn, the husmess the least wecoulddo. AM/t’M (.lime. Nickerson says So when vou head away [rot of cases seen at the Station next week, prepare 8 ' n l s ’ t i s ’. sore l h r( Christmas, (fottonandbein^^hke savs he so Cynthia Gay is a junior jouniujJ ar ’hose a far jor and a columnist for TlreSii e . . . J T You can think panded family pi 1 1 '“with a bit more se (lures,” White says 'j The rate for an dink s is $25 with ; for lab tests and « the emergency rc Hospital is $30.25 tional charges. Letters to the tchtui '.Ixwltl nut cured $00 hoi tl\ in length /'he cJiinnj/siaffitiii^^Bongco says oi right to edit letters foi style and length hut *\ill m.ikc cu t \ ( //on i<) inainBwitkmgher emergency intent Eat h lettei must be signed and must nu hid< the .uldress and lelepJiontMwhe hospital cinpli the writer. of registered nursi iMThev (the nu there for the p< them,” he says. Nickerson says Bring back Leigh-Ellen censed vocational registered nurses. r.^n t cjk. that registered r Okay, guys — if you’re going to ar/rm/i/ to slaughter sacred Main ing she say* at least try to inter ject a little creativitv or (gasp) humor into they emergency medic am referring to the largely tasteless, lar grk honing Dec. 6artickmliboratory technic Tease (apparently die iK w title of this nondescript rag). ’ One type ot sp By again falling into the now-familiai ' anti-tradition," ar fided by both is N tianity, anti-establishment RUT, you have created a tradition of x_ra y f ‘ ,r a dition.” If that's your bag, great, but don't pretend y m're any^doctor req the rest of us: you are every bit as hooked on "auti-tradition ,, astl*f ()r most x-rays a pots are on bonfire, or I am on Christianity. Your aversion to Aggie-ism is no inoi r elite an addictiontlmW of the institutions you continually put down. 1 he differenceiilfl have been afforded the opportunity (BY THIS UNIVERSrH)l*l| and distribute yours. Jr R „ VT - Bring back Leigh-Ellen Clark, and maybe we’ll see a renew!* ^ ^ " of originality. 11 ei Kim Norris'84 ^ ^ light up downtow The value of liberal arts GOP looks fearlessly toward 1986 Republicans are bullish about 1986, an election year that history suggests they should be dreading. Donald M. Rothberg AP News Analyst When that small band of Republicans w'ho’ve managed to get elected gover nors held their annual meeting here this week, the mood was strikingly upbeat. Vice President George Bush told the governors the party would turn history on its ear next year by reversing the pat tern under which the party in control of the White House usually suffers deep losses in the midterm election during a president’s second term. It happened t^ Franklin Roosevelt in 1938. It happened to Dwight Eisen hower in 1958. for the White House party of seven Sen ate seats and 48 House seats during Reagan’s tenure — and, most important for the GOP governors, a loss of seven governorships. The Republican governors are start- 4ng out so far down, they are practically assured of not losing another seven from their ranks next year. Thirteen governors attended the two- day conference of the Republican Gov ernors Association, and that wasn’t a bad turnout considering there are only 16 GOP governors nationwide. The other 34 are Democrats. But, insisted Bush, “It’s not going to happen to Reagan.” What some analysts call the “sixth year itch” has produced average losses The governors listened to a lot of up beat talk about the expanding status of their party and the death of the Demo cratic coalition that dominated Ameri can politics for the past 50 years. That coalition, said Bush, is “dead, gone, buried.” But he also cautioned against assum ing the Republicans have replaced the Democrats as the majority party. “We don’t yet have a new, equally strong coalition to take its place,” he said. Where that is most apparent is on the state and local level, where the Demo crats remain strong. The GOP governors devoted a lot of time to congratulating themselves on the innovative ways they have found to deal with state problems. But innovation isn’t unique to Repub lican governors. Democratic governors have been equally innovative, which is a reason for their success in state elec- The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Michelle Powe, Editor Kay Mallett, Managing Editor Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor Jerry Oslin, City Editor Cathie Anderson, News Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board or the author and do not necessarily represent 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. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular, sctnestets, except for holiday and.examina- lion periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $$3.25 pet schobi year and $‘35 pf?f full year. Advertising rAtes fur* nisht cl on request. a '• - Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. tions. Led by Ronald Reagan, Republicans have succeeded in discrediting the Dem ocratic Party bn the national level, por traying it as being mired in the past and wedded to special interest groups that put themselves ahead of the nation’s in terests. But while that argument has sold well in national elections, it has not been suc cessful in the states. Democratic governors ^ich as Charles Robb in Virginia, Robert Gra ham in Florida and Bruce Babbitt in Arizona have moved ahead of their na tional party and captured the political center in their states. That was what GOP Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. was talking about when he warned the GOP governors, “We must not let the Democratic Party move unfettered to the center or right of cen ter and force our party to the extreme right.” Fahrenkopf said the Republicans must “continue to occupy the center, for that’s where elections are won today.” EDI FOR: * The program In their Nov. 26 letter, two Texas A&M students criticize! -Bryan Downtoi Dean Lutes for her alleged misleading statements concerningtt iwillbe from 3 p.r of liberal arts degrees in the corporate world. Having no kno»% Wendy Marsh Lutes’ remarks in this regard, I can neither join in the authors’t4 c ? or( * lliau>1 > sa1 ' nation of Lutes, nor come to her defense. b m However, as I hold a liberal arts degree from A&M, ^ was ® - i^oppiii ^ s n t e * the concluding sentence in the letter: ’ \Ve guess liberal artsist^j “Children wi for people.” If anything, people should be desperate for the liberal ait certainly is! i; . Just think for a moment about the social, economic, politol Associ and philosophical issues that surround the technological andfinS AUSTIN I rangements that most of you are studying. For exam pl e > ru | ec j We( computers be allowed to invade our privacy? Should the goVMQ ounty rape cas sue licenses for financial planners just as it does for lawyers anti has discretion to Who should determine when to pull the plug of the machinetqhe interest of ju: brain-dead patient alive? (Indeed, is a brain-dead individual“ali'tf first place?) And how can mankind best deal with the technolo^l ^ woman wl called the “atomic bomb?” beaten in her ap< Of course it’s important to obtain a marketable skill: ^'IJridem^ancl^'d people to build its bridges and balance its bank accounts. But study of the liberal arts, even if such study consists oftalif a few electives, helps broadens one’s intellectual horizons, thusW a richer, more fulfilling life. Finally, the authors of the Nov. 26 letter cite several example cessful people who have academic backgrounds in some comW liberal arts and business or engineering. But 1 know of onei« t; : gentleman whose academic background is in the liberal arts graduated in 1932 from a small Western school called Euiw with a double major in sociology and economics. You m him. His name is Ronald Reagan. Richard Braastad ’83 Missing the real issue EDITOR: Dr. Kallendorf (Battalion, Dec. 2) seems to have entirely^' “real issue” of the letter I co-wrote (Battalion, Nov. 26). The words “inaccurate” and “deceptive” did not applyto 1 ! that a liberal arts education is beneficial in business. In fact,our^ painstakingly written to avoid any challenge to the worth of lit* 11 do, however, say the following two things: 1) It is “innacurate” to say that a man holding a BS inelect’ 1 ’* neering has a liberal arts degree. 11 2) It is “deceptive” to tell people with liberal arts backero^ are concerned aoout their futures, that a certain chairman noW* arts degree without mentioning that he also holds an vard. . In conclusion, and in response to the quote that was dire’ 1 let me say that I find it difficult to respect the opinions of apC quotes Ann Landers. I didn’t know that she is translated i” Greek. Donald M. Rothberg is the chief politi cal writer of The Associated Press. Matthew Sullivan ’87 Liberal Arts