Page2AThe Battalion/Friday, November 14, 1986
Opinion
Partisan forum puts A&M’s integrity in question
Sc
The recent de
cision of the MSC
Political Forum to
sponsor a “Repub
lican Perspective”
John D.
Robertson
Guest Columnist
panel is not only poor judgment on the
part of the staff and officers of Political
Forum, it is symptomatic of a much
deeper and more serious malaise of in
tegrity that at times threatens this and
other campuses across our nation. It
emerges from a lack of discipline in our
pursuit of higher values that must sup
port a university if it is to remain loyal to
its central mission of preparing students
for ef fective, tolerant citizenship.
No one who has had any formal asso
ciation with Political Forum would
doubt its unwavering commitment to
free speech and the objective pursuit of
education through public discussion.
Yet, anyone who has advised those stu
dents responsible for public speaking
programs at this or other universities
knows that it is not always easy to see
how a public forum sponsored by a uni
versity will damage that institution’s in
tegrity and reputation. This is often
more difficult when there is the clear
promise of an opportunity to have that
university gain local, regional and per
haps even national media coverage
f rom the event they sponsor.
When it comes to public officials in
high places of power, the pressure, ex
plicit or otherwise, is always there to as
sociate the university with those in a po
sition of public power so as to win some
political favor or monetary advantage
down the pike. To rationalize this by
saying that we as a university have no al
ternative but to accommodate poli
ticians is to also suggest to our critics
that our university has no independent
conscience nor values separate from
those who temporarily serve at the pub
lic’s pleasure.
Whether this was the motivation be
hind the MSC’s willingness or inability
to decline an opportunity to feature a
partisan Republican rally on the day be
fore an election of such magnitude will
never be known. It really does not mat
ter, because what is important here is
that the MSC staff and students once
again ignored the warnings of those of
us who have tried to remind them of the
meaning behind the phrase: What is
perceived to be real is real in its conse
quences. The consequences of this per
ceived partisan rally are that the intel
lectual integrity of the faculty and the
professional integrity of all who were
formerly associated with this University
have been seriously impugned, not to
mention exposing us to charges that we
have misused state funds for a partisan
political event. Our actions as a univer
sity should never suggest that we are
willing to compromise our legitimacy as
a voice of balanced reflection and
broadened enlightenment simply to
avoid offending narrow political fac
tions.
The decision of Political Forum sug
gests that here as in other universities
there is a deep undercurrent of cyn
icism regarding the role of a major insti
tution of higher learning. Rather than
being an example of public virtue, many
universities find it easier to simply go
' along to get along. They avoid raising is
sues that may have immediate costs for
the universtiy and thereby rape their
own institutional conscience — a far
greater long-term cost to overcome.
We see it all the time, as when an ath
letic program turns its head or complies
with a decision to mortgage an athlete’s
education for the purpose of providing
exciting entertainment for the alma
mater; or when a professor is unwilling
to spend the extra time with his or her
, class because the next article or book is
running behind schedule; or when fac
ulty and administration pressure those
in the university community who have
qualms with work that remains classified
and unavailable for public scrutiny to
remain silent about their conscientious
concern; or when a faculty member is
denied tenure because the content of his
or her syllabus offends a faction outside
the academic community. While these
examples may be abstractions to iftany
at Fexas A&M, let those of us in a posi
tion of responsibility at this University
not forget the values that are implied in
our decision to pay almost any price to
obtain a winning football coach while we
tell our students that this or that new se
rial or book has to be justified before the
University library can purcliase it; or
when our University’s name and reputa
tion become associated with a legal bat
tle to prevent the sexual integration of
our band; or when we fail to insist that
A&M be strong enough to overcome an
Photo by GrtfL tune
alhui
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, Vice President George Bush, Gov.-elect Bill Clements and U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm visited Its u l’ cc
A&M Nov. 3. Their visit was sponsored by MSC Political Forum.
com
itatec
outdated and embarrassing tradition of
encouraging its faculty to allow graduat
ing seniors to avoid final examinations.
It is probable that most people asso
ciated with this University will forget
quickly the evening of Nov. 3 as they go
about their normal routines of teaching,
research, administration and policy
making. If we want our University to be
thought of in the public’s mind as a
“nonpartisan” institution of higher
learning that strives to rise above tlife po
litical passions of the moment, then we
should hope that the public forgets the
evening as well. But what should not be
forgotten by anyone who values the role
of a university in its ideal sense is that
each time we relent when tempted by
the seductive influence of an incumbent
politician seeking an improper and im
balanced public forum for his partisan
viewpoints, we run a much greater risk
— a risk with consequences that extend
far beyond the ivory tower and strike
the core of pluralist democracy. We risk
befalling the consequences of a society
that cannot say no to what is inconsastent
with its values and heritage; of whai be
falls a society that cannot hold the cen
ter against peripheral pressures of those
who need the University as a means of
sanctioning their factional perspective.
\Al
ex pr
We risk, in short, losing our inif#-
and honor as a university committe e * (
the tolerant and universal pursii» a P
knowledge and ideas. We risk:
quishing out defense of theceremw gr.,,,
innocence which, as Yeats reminds: of S<
the condition to whic h a sodetvan: t|nni
institutions are condemned when!
best lack all conviction, while the*
are full of passionate intensity."
wiih
an ai
John /). Robertson is an associate;
fessor of political science and (or, j
faculty adviser to MSC Political
rum. Student Conference on Mot
Affairs and Wiley Lecture Series.
Mail Call
Who pays for AIDS?
EDITOR:
I cannot fathom the agony experienced by victims of AIDS and their
families. The death of a person who has contracted the disease is all the
more tragic, I think, because in almost every case it was so easily
preventable.
My sympathy ends there, however, because when people play with fire,
it’s difficult to feel sorry for those who get burned. Perhaps $1 billion
appropriated to AIDS reserch will, in time, prove beneficial to the general
population. But, whether or not AIDS spreads widely through
heterosexual relationships, it now seems terribly unfair that those who
practice sexual restraint before marriage and fidelity during marriage
should in any way pay for the treatment of those who continue to take
unnecessary risks.
Paul Koch
Interpretation ignored
EDITOR:
I have faith in the existence of a collection of concerned individuals
who do a mental wince every time they hear Jimmy Swaggart preach on
television and sigh with resignation after reading the slightly smug
admonitions of spiritual roadhogs that periodically get printed in Mail Call.
The attitude I’m referring to is one of religious arrogance that periodically
labels anyone who refuses to jump through the legalistic hoops of
fundamentalism as a “secular humanist.”
Here are some classics: If you were to die tomorrow, would you go to
heaven? Do you accept the Bible as the complete word of God? Do you
believe in the divinity of Jesus? The list is long and tiresome. And don’t
bother bringing a blue book to this test, a Scantron and No. 2 pencil will be
provided.
The issue, conveniently ignored by religious literalists, is interpretation.
One gains nothing, for example, by simply agreeing that Jesus is the son of
God if one does not have the courage nor the intellectual honesty to
acknowledge the inherent difficulty in reconciling the contradictory notion
that Jesus was somehow fully human and yet completely divine. What does
it mean to be “completely divine?” To what extent do we have this capacity?
These are the questions of interest. They raise new questions. They are
relevant to all people. And they cut past the simple certainties of
fundamentalism that promise salvation at the expense of trivialized faith
and the promotion of intolerance, hypersensitivity and polarization among
different belief systems.
This matter of interpretation works to shroud, in a haze of ambiguity,
the moral high ground that the fundamentalist had previously found easy
to defend. The line that distinguishes “them” from “us” is blurred, making
righteousness difficult to come by. Interpretation cannot be avoided nor
should it be nelected, for it is a requisite of enlightened thought and mutual
understanding.
Glenn Streiff
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the
right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s
intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone
number of the writer.
Automotive illiteracy results
from a liberal arts education
Help! For about
a month now, de
pending on my
m o o cl a n d
whether I have the
stomach for it, I
have set out to buy
a car. I paid my
first visit to a deal
ership before the
summer, was lied
to by the salesman
about financing
It’s my
. .” The
Richard
Cohen
and decided to take the summer off.
Now', with my old car failing and the
new tax law staring me in the face (sales
tax will no longer be deductible), I have
no choice but to proceed. I am ill-pre
pared for this task.
I blame my plight on my schooling. I
am the product of a liberal arts educa
tion, one of those people who smiled
condescendingly when the school bozos
were marched off to auto shop. I, on the
other hand, was marched off to algebra,
which I have not used once in my life.
As best I can recall, it is the science of
determining how long it would take two
boys to mow one lawn if it took one of
them half an hour. The correct answer,
then as now, is “who cares?”
Cars befuddle me. I know next to
nothing about them and absolutely
nothing about buying them. Only twice
have I bought a new car, the last time
nearly 15 years ago — and I still have it.
In that time, I have spent maybe
$345,876 on repairs, leaving the shop
each time not sure what was repaired
and certain I was ripped off. The men I
scorned in high school now talk down to
me and do so in a language I do not un
derstand. I pretend I do, because car
talk, like football talk, is one way we
men, doglike, sniff one another. But I’m
afraid 1 always fail the scent test. I think
they smell a subway rider.
ager was a proper German who ex
plained that the car would have to be
given all sorts of diagnostic tests before
it could be determined what ailed it.
“Verecan I reach you?”
“Me?” I asked. “Why me?
wife’s car. You can reach her at
service manager looked at me scorn
fully: What sort of man was this? In fact,
was this a man at all? “If it vas me,” he
said, T vould not allow my vife to make
this decision.”
What could I say? That my wife knew
as much about cars as I did? That he
could lie to her as easily as to me? That
at least she was not supposed to know
anything about cars and therefore was
pardoned in advance (like Richard
Nixon) if she goofed? No way. “Of cour
se,” I said. “By all means. Call me.” I
paid, I think, $98,000.
When I say I blame my inadequacies
on my education, I mean my entire edu
cation. I was a Cub Scout, Boy ScOut and
even an Explorer Scout, learning many
things that are absolutely worthless. I
can make knots that I have never once
been called on to make. I know that
moss grows on the north side of trees,
but not once have I been lost in the
woods. I can kill a bear with a sharp
stick, gut it and with the yukky stuff in
side make a small house with one bed
room, fireplace and conversation pit.
What good is that?
Where, I ask you, is the merit badge
for buying a car? Where’s the one for
knowing that interest on the loaniii
gotiable? While we’re at it, howaM
merit badge for checking into a k(|
• the one thaf teaches you to ask foil
lowest rate? Why not a merit badjtl
handling headwaiters and another;!
ordering wine?
My head is cluttered with isoscelefl
angles, with the valences of eleiJf
but I never learned how tobuyali$|
or hire a contractor. Scores of menl|
looked at my leaky roof, all of I
armed with appropriately thick pei(l|
each one with a different tale to||
none of them true. Soon, the tod ’
woodsmen of Virginia will knockotffl
door, selling firewood, and 1 willj
ture out to their truck, touching, 11 '
ing and, I’m sure, fooling no one. I
best I can do is figure out that ifi? ^
one toothless woodsman 15 minulfl
unload a cord of wood, it takestw®
long for two of them. That’s W--?
they usually fight with each other.
On Saturday, once again, 1 willD’H
buy a car — still a virgin at theorg)! 1
take notes, pretend I have done
hundred times before, strike acp 11 I
pose, make a pass at bargaining and '
doubtedly, get taken. I am thepredf ;
ble product of a shoddy education'
success at school, a failure at life.®
many customers does it take for as®
salesman to sell a car he’s been dyiJt
unload at a price he never t hough-Ip
get? The answer is one. Here I cow®
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
The First new car I bought was a 1968
Volkswagen. It was a wonderful thing,
but one day it failed me. By then, it was
my wife’s car but, knowing my sex role,
I took it in for repairs. The service man-
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Baualion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspil*
operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Br# |
College Station.
Opinions expressed in 'The Battalion are those of thf<^ ;
torial board or the author, and do not necessarily repitfCt
the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or ^ I
Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspi(xr ,r
students in reporting, editing and photography cla!^ t'
within the Department of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through FndivC
ing Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holidaw^
examination periods.
Mail subscriptions arc $17.44 pet semester, $34.6! (*'
school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising raiof 1
nished on request. .. I
Out address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald 8^
ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, XX 77843
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 7784* ;
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Fhe Baiuy
216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, CollegeSt>
tionTX 77843,