Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, October 23, 1987 The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sondra Pickard, Editor John Jarvis, Managing Editor Sue Krenek, Opinion Page Editor Rodney Rather, City Editor Robbyn Lister, News Editor Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Tracy Staton, Photo Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta tion. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A8cM administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes witnin the Depart ment of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re quest. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-4111. Pressing questions Nervous investors across the nation waited Thursday for President Reagan’s scheduled news conference. They were hop ing Reagan would soothe their fears about the jittery stock mar ket — and he may have done so. But it’s unfortunate that it took a stock market crash to get Reagan to hold his first press confer ence in seven months. The idea of a head of state meeting with the media really isn’t that unusual — it only seems so in an administration where press conferences have become all but extinct. For many jour nalists, reporting on the White House has become a race: Can you yell the question before the president gets to the plane/heli- copter/car? This journalism of the shouted question, la Sam Donaldson, has created friction between the press, the president and the public. At an awards ceremony for educators, the award recipi ents and reporters got into a shouting match, with the educators saying the press had ruined the ceremony by shouting questions. Perhaps the ceremony was ruined. But it’s important to keep in mind that the president, not the reporters, is responsible for the situation. Since the last press conference in March, negotia tors have closed in on a possible arms-control treaty with the So viet Union, the United States has begun providing protection for oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, the Iran-Contra hearings have been held, and Robert Bork has been nominated to the Su preme Court. Events such as these affect all Americans, and all Americans should want information on them. Our elected officials answer to us by way of the media. When the questions are shouted and the answers minimal, we all lose. Mail Call Education, jobs go hand-in-hand EDITOR: Brian Frederick in his Oct. 20 column about students and academic apathy makes some interesting points, but I would add that students, for their sake, need to be aware that: Education without job potential is a waste of a good mind (and pretty hard on day-to-day existence after graduation). A job without a true education could end up being just a job without a career. Therefore, I hope students will pursue both an education and a job from the first day they arrive on campus. I now regret giving insufficient attention to either while I was in college. When I graduated and finally found a job, I found myself working and corresponding with some people who had done both well. Engineers from all over the world could obliterate me at corporate- style conferences and social hours with their knowledge of literature, languages, sciences, and the American political scene. People like this are everywhere in today’s professional environment, and they’re your competition. That “job-first” or “education-first” mentality that sometimes divides a student body could stunt your ambitious future in ways you and I never imagined. M.L. Creamer graduate student A tradition unknown EDITOR: In reply to a letter submitted Oct. 21 about the “time-honored” tradition of not walking on the All Faith’s Chapel grass, we at Law Hall have this to say: The majority of the residents just across the quad from you had no idea of this tradition. We realize that it is a long way to vocalize this wish, but we feel confident that even you at Puryear can accomplish this. If we had been informed of this tradition, we would have treated it as we do all the wonderful traditions that make Texas A&M unique. Until then, Puryear, we think you should practice a little of what you so fervently preach. Jim Fisher ’90 accompanied by 65 signatures Where's the punchline? EDITOR: I have been following your new comic strip, Joe Transfer, since its introduction to The Battalion at the beginning of the semester. During these two months I have been observing several strange features of the strip, such as the lack of that part of the nose which should separate the characters’ eyes. Also, all males depicted have exaggerated muscles, and all females are quite ugly. Further, despite the Aggie tendency to be clean-shaven, most of these males have facial hair. In fact, the only clean-shaven males in the strip have even more grossly-exaggerated muscles and even more closely-squashed eyes than the rest. And, of course, none of the strips ever ends with a recognizable attempt at humor. The only logical explanation that I have deduced from all this is that the author has written one very long and extremely complicated strip which had to be broken into many installments, due to space considerations. (I see no other reason why The Battalion would still carry it.) At some future date, the author will tie all of these strange features together to create a gigantic punchline, which will probably be the talk of the toWn for months. So that all my weeks of reading the strip are not wasted. I am extremely anxious not to miss this great event. I therefore ask you to please advertise the date of the punchline in advance. Joseph Kachmar graduate student 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. Honest-.there’s not a word in here about inyokingf the Vfer Powers^ he race t< i begin if Jum No. 2 Mthem to 1 uel gambling %ut in a pr ” the Braz Lins Who i ion to the ref< nari-mutue /hereby the propor jers minus [rations an luni, if passec Jon of a] Inbling witl ie 58 of T jje that add their balk IS ’tot. b a prepa :n, co-cha on and he; ian High S< ition to the re ^Ve believe It’s too late to halt opening of long-awaited faculty club bin