Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, November 9, 1987
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sondra Pickard, Editor
John Jarvis, Barely 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 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 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
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Where there's smoke
Douglas Ginsburg’s withdrawal from consideration for a Su
preme Court post has spurred a flurry of confessions and deni
als of marijuana use from presidential candidates and govern
ment officials. But the issue should not have derailed Ginsburg’s
nomination.
Many of today’s rising politicians came of age during the
freewheeling ’60s, when attitudes toward drug use were liberal
and “Just say no” wasn’t part of our national vocabulary. While
American voters may never condone habitual drug use, they will
have to come to terms with public figures — including presi
dential candidates — who admit youthful experimentation.
Ginsburg’s sporadic drug use, ranging from his days as a stu
dent to his tenure as a Harvard Law professor, bears little re
semblance to “youthful experimentation.” And his suitability al
ready was suspect because of a lack of experience and ethics
questions stemming from a cable TV decision. His confirmation,
had it come, would have been controversial.
But marijuana use is an issue that will crop up again and
again as the students of the ’60s move into positions of power. In
that respect, Ginsburg’s withdrawal merely delays a debate that
must eventually occur.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Committee ignoring
its educational role
Jerry
Rosiek
Guest Columnist
Some eight
months ago the
MSG Black
Awareness Com
mittee put to
gether its pro
gramming
schedule for the
1987-88 school year. Not surprisingly,
the schedule, which includes a jazz con
cert, a formal ball and a fashion show,
doesn’t include any programs aimed at
educating white students about black
life in America.
Why should BAG spend money on
educating the whites on this campus?
Because it is one of the things the com
mittee is given money to do. Because it
is so necessary on this lily-white campus,
where one can graduate without ever
having talked to a black student. Be
cause it is a better investment of effort
and money than a fashion show.
Why am I not surprised that BAG
hasn’t made reaching out to whites one
of their priorities this year? Because this
ambivalence is not new. In the five years
I have been involved with the commit
tee, its attempts at educating whites
have always been half-hearted — if the
attempt was made at all.
The committee’s most recent demon
stration of this ambivalence came about
three weeks ago. BAG had agreed to co
sponsor the “American Pictures” pro
gram with MSG Great Issues. “Ameri
can Pictures” is a photo essay about
America’s social underclass presented in
person by its creator, Jacob Holdt. The
program will be presented tonight at
6:30 p.m. in Rudder Theater.
Mr. Holdt is a Danish man who hitch
hiked through America for five years
with very little money. He lived most of
the time on the hospitality of Americans
living below the poverty level. A major
ity of the people Mr. Holdt lived with
were black. I have seen the show. The
photos he took during this time are
powerful. It is a view of America you
may not have the chance to see again at
this University. Three weeks ago Black
Awareness Committee withdrew the
majority of its support from this pro
gram.
I have spoken with BAC’s chairman.
He gave me numerous reasons for this
withdrawal of support: scheduling con
flicts, money problems, concerns about
membership levels, etc. Nothing he told
me, however, reduces the glare of this
gap in programming. Ambivalence is
the only thing to which I can attribute it.
BAG doesn’t have any monopoly on
ambivalence, however. BAG wouldn’t
be so ambivalent about educating whites
if those who run the MSG were not also
ambivalent about this University’s racial
problems. And the administrators of the
MSG would not be so ambivalent about
our racial problems if the people they
depended on for their jobs, the Board
of Regents, were not so ignorant of and
insensitive to racial issues (if they were
not racists).
I’m not looking to make scapegoats of
BAG or anyone else. Hopefully the
committee will see in my criticism not
animosity but genuine concern. Some
thing needs to be done.
I’ve been told my remarks will do
nothing but offend BAG members be
cause BAG is composed mostly of black
students who have grown up in areas
relatively free from racism. They have
no sense of the “black experience” and
so do not understand the need to edu
cate others about it. Maybe so. That just
means there are many more who need
educating.
I believe there are people out there,
of all races, who do have a feel for the
depth and complexity of the racial prob
lems in America. And I think they
should start considering just how im
portant that knowledge is.
Jerry Rosiek is a senior physics and
philosophy major and a regularly ap
pearing guest columnist for The Battal
ion.
Mail Call
Who do you think you are?
EDITOR:
I am infuriated at the conduct that some of you Ags showed toward
Aggieland photographers Marie McLeod and Jennifer Friend. It seems to
me that you would rather waste your time harassing females in the perimeter
than work on centerpole.
I really don’t know why you think you have a right to tell these women
that they are not allowed in the perimeter. They were there to photograph an
event for our yearbook. Apparently you are unable to handle their presence,
and you proved it by yelling obscenities at them. Well, let me tell you, you can
yell anything you damn well please because that is not going to stop women
from entering the perimeter. Someday, whether you like it or not, women
will be helping to raise the centerpole. Face the facts. Women already have
been making progress by helping cut down trees at the cutting site.
Jane Landry ’88
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.
Opinion
My apologies to Geraldo, f
but get rid of New Journalism
I en<
I admit it. I
watched them. I
watched them all.
I watched Ger
aldo bust open A1
Capone’s vault. I
watched Geraldo
play undercover
agent. I watched
Geraldo do a drug
bust.
I was there. A
passive couch
tater-tot. Watching.
Sure, I had other things to do. I had
better things to do. But I couldn’t resist.
This was the New Journalism, wave of
the future. I had to keep up with what
was what.
So I watched them. I watched them
all.
Case in point: Return to the Titanic,
hosted by my childhood hero and Lex
Luthor clone, Telly Savalas. Telly took
me on a romp through history, explain
ing everything about the Titanic, how it
sailed, how it sank, who was on it, who
wasn’t. And right before every commer
cial he would string me along with his
constant taunting: “And after this, we’ll
open up the safes of the Titanic.”
Could I, in good conscience, walk
away from the actual historic opening of
the Titanic safes? Sure. But did I?
Nope.
And after an hour and forty minutes
of straight, no-holds-barred, just-the-
facts journalism, we reach the momen
tous occasion.
The guards are alert. The audience is
hushed. The safes are opened.
I play with the mute button on the re
mote control.
I watch Telly take a necklace out of
the safe and place it in a clear, plastic
box. “Gee, what do we have here? Could
it be a necklace?” Shake, shake, shake.
Rattle, rattle, rattle. “Interesting. It
looks like a necklace.”
Telly brings the artifact to the table of
experts for their professional opinion.
They are all gloved. Telly is not. Telly
holds the necklace up for the camera to
see.
“What do you think this is?” Telly
asks the experts.
Expert No. 1 has a jeweler’s eyepiece.
She examines the artifact carefully. “It
looks like a necklace.”
“A necklace? Wow. Are you sure?”
Telly is excited. Maybe Telly gets paid
more when he is excited.
“Yes, a necklace.”
“And what about these?” asks Telly,
holding up some coins.
“They look like coins,” says Expert
No. 2.
“Wow. Coins. Are you sure?”
“Yes, some coins.”
And the list goes on, and on, and on.
But after the whole affair ended, I
felt a little disappointed. Where were
the gold bars, the overflowing amounts
of expensive jewelery, the neat stuff?
Where were they? My emotional level
was built up, and I felt like my blimp
had been burst. Or something to that ef
fect.
I looked to William Shatner for con
dolences. Maybe this New Journalism
wasn’t so bad. I just had to give it a
chance. After all, I couldn’t base my
opinion on just Geraldo in a cheesy dis
guise and Telly on a cheesy show.
Bill Shatner wouldn’t let me down.
Not even with the New Journalism.
It was “The Search for Houdini” that
I watched. I watched William Shati
do his tribute to Houdini. I watched:
magicians do magic in tribute to H(|
dini. I watched the history of Houdini!
And I waited for the seance, the hip
point of the evening. The attempti
reach Houdini’s spiritual world fro:
the physical world. What would Ho:
dini say? Should we stay away fromtl|
Titanic? Should we stay away fromfn
ternities? What mysteries and secret
could he reveal to us from the otheri
mension?
Truly, this was the purpose anT
meaning of the New Journalism. Hi
was it. I was there, breaking ne
ground. I was experiencing it. I w?
part of it. I was watching it.
And then I was let down. No Hot
dini. No ghost. No mist. No nothing.
What a bummer.
Come to think of it, there wen
plenty of commercials. But I suppos
even the New Journalism has to payfa
itself somehow.
Conclusions, then? How can I df
scribe it? I gave the New Journalism
chance, and like the New Math,
couldn’t understand it. Maybe, some
where, somehow, it means somethin
important, or has some relevance. I
for now, I say, Geraldo stick to yoi
moustache wax; Telly, stick to yourlo
lipops; and Bill, stick to your acting
sons. We can all do without the Ne*
Journalism for a long while.
And maybe then the legends of A
Capone’s vault, the unshakable ship an;
the master escape artist can enjoy th
rest too.
I know I will.
Mark Nair is a senior political scienc
major and a columnist for The
of
yo
ini
se
di
ion.
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