Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, August 2, 1988
Opinion
Say goodbye to poor old, decrepit Goodwin Ha
I work in the
oldest (and possi
bly most danger
ous) building on
campus. Welcome
to Goodwin Hall,
the building from
the Cenozoic Era.
The c o r -
nerstone of Good
win Hall says that
it was built in
1908. I, of course,
Mark
Nair
have many interesting discussions with
cornerstones, and I am sure that this
one is telling the truth about its birth
day. But regardless, you really don’t
have to know the exact date to tell that
Goodwin is old. J ust looking at it will tell
you the same thing.
For example, notice the outside walls.
Cracks run rampant, like wigged-out va
ricose veins. The structural support is,
of course, supplied by the roaches,
winged whatchamaycallits and other va
rious species, phyla and orders of other
various ugly crawling things that have
nasty habits of crawling in your mouth
after chapter four of Macroeconomics
Made Easy has knocked you
unconscious for at least 25 years, give or
take.
But I digress. Back in the Stone Age,
they built Goodwin to be a dorm. Even
now, when I’m up in the building late at
night, my pup tent pupped and my
flashlight flashing, my camera ready to
capture that one elusive shot of the
Ghost of Goodwin Hall, I can hear the
voices of the old cadets drifting down
the halls:
“I sure do love living in Goodwin
Hall, old Chap.”
“Ah, yes. It certainly was a good idea
to build old Goodwin Hall with load-
bearing masonry walls, old Sprout.”
“Yes, that was a good idea, seeing as
though the ground around here is not
conducive to that type of wall, old Ruta
baga.”
“Golly, gee, they sure will have fun in
the future with this building and its lack
of structure, old Tuna Salad.”
“Boy, I wonder if they will renovate
it, old Harmonic Convergence.”
“I doubt it, old Sauerkraut. It’ll prob
ably be too much money. Why do that
when they can easily spend 90 times that
amount building a completely new and
improved building.”
“And then the whole campus can look
Mail Call
Clearing up the confusion
EDITOR:
There have been some misunderstandings in the July 26 edition of The
Battalion, in response to Ian Dick’s letter of July 20.
First of all, Ms. Livingston, as you so correctly stated, Jesus Christ cer
tainly “ascended into heaven seranaded by angels.” I would like to point out
that He certainly did arrive on earth that same way: “But the angel said to
them (the shepherds), ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born
to you; he is Christ the Lord’ ” (Luke 2:10-1 1). The point you raised of the
humanity of Christ is well taken. If God could have chosen any vehicle for
His Message other than the frail human form, why didn’t He? Because He
wanted to give us a perfect Example.
Mr. Normandun, the Webster definition of censorship: “the act or proc
ess of examining films and printed material in order to change what is objec
tionable.” Censorship is an ugly term, and quite definitely contrary to the ide
als present in the Constitution of the United States. However, boycotting is
“the abstention from buying or using (something) to express protest” (again
from Webster). This is what Mr. Dick is advocating.
Loris Salinas, you are right. It was inevitable that this film be written.
However, I would like to point out that Christians do not “deify” Jesus Christ;
that action is done by none other than God Himself. As your statement that
“Universal Truths . . . will ultimately prevail regardless of what Universal Pic
tures does to their man on the cross,” I agree. However, Jesus did not call the
apostles to follow His “Universal Truths,” He told them to “Follow me” (Mat
thew 5:19). We follows the risen Person of Jesus Christ, a holy and perfect
Person. That is why we Christians are outraged by the movie.
In answer to Mr. Huddleston’s provocative questions concerning “what
would it be like to have to be pure beyond reason” and the possible tempta
tion of Mary Magdalene to Christ, I have only one rebuttal. Hebrews 4:15
states “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are — yet was without sin.”
We as Christians describe the movie The Last Temptation of Christ as
blasphemous because it ridicules and smears the perfect image of the One
who died for all of our sins. By depicting Jesus Christ as succombing to temp
tation, it seriously questions the sovereignity of Almighty God. this issue is
one which must be settled by every person for himself. However, please by
gracious and respect Mr. Dick’s beliefs.
Irene MacLean ’88
Behind the times
EDITOR:
Fixst, Christ was not just in “human form” — as if he were a body snatcher
from outer space — he was 100 percent man and 100 percent God at the
same time. However unbelievable or mathematically improbable this may
seem, it was the requirement to fulfill old testament prophecy on the Messiah.
Jesus’ purpose here on earth was top pay the sins of mankind by taking
them upon his own shoulders. God’s laws says that the penalty is death and so
Jesus died for mankind’s sins. All we have to do is believe in faith that this is
the truth and we won’t have to pay that “bill” ourselves.
Second, I’d like to comment that sex itself is not a sin. As a matter of fact,
Cod designed sex as part of his plan for marriage to provide enjoyment, ful
fillment and unity between a couple. Besides, without it we would not be so
eager to fufill God’s command to “be fruitfull and multiply.” It is how we mis
use and distort sex which causes it to be a sin.
Yes, Jesus may have been tempted by sex. He was certainly human and
was tempted in other areas. But, to be tempted is not in itself a sin. Something
tempting is that which has the ability to entice or appeal. Temptation is dif
ferent than sin in that temptation is not the act of sin itself .
Now to say that Jesus’ character was not pure or to hint that he sinned
would nullify God’s requirement for someone who was perfect to die in our
place and thus deny him as being Messiah. Rather than having “opened your
mind” you have simply closed your mind to Jesus Christ and his truth.
Christopher Harris ’92
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 tyumber of the writer.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Richard Williams, Editor
Sue Krenek, Managing Editor
Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor
Curtis Culberson, City Editor
Becky Weisenfels,
Cindy Milton, News Editors
Anthony Wilson, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
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like downtown Houston. All right, old
Lima Beans, all right.”
Then the ghostly voices drift away to
join the ghost voices of long-gone ELI
students upstairs. (By the by, Goodwin
Hall houses a veritable melting pot of
offices. The English Language Institute
used to belong to the third floor. It has
since become very smart and moved
away, although traces of it still exist in
Goodwin, i.e. “ELI — Gateway to Hell”
lives immortal on the men’s bathroom
wall. Odd offices, whose purpose I have
yet to fathom, exist on the first floor.
The second floor owns those psychology
experiment rooms — you know, Psyc.
107, let’s look at slides' pictures and
stuff— measuring insanity in freshmen,
etc. Awful stuff. I used to run some ex
periments, so I know what I’m talking
about. Believe me. And then, of course,
there’s the Faculty Senate office. It has
nice air conditioning and a nice core
curriculum.)
Nowadays, though, it seems as if ev
eryone is leaving. I don’t blame them.
When doors start to stick and windows
start to crack when the building shifts,
you know it’s time to go. Actually, stand
ing in one of the rooms in Goodwin is
similar to standing in one of thsoe
rooms in the Goony Goofy House at As-
troworld or some place like that. People
look different sizes when positioned in
different parts of the room because of
the way the floor tilts. If it weren’t so
buggin’ goofy, it would be dangerous.
So now the school is going to demol
ish the oldest building on campus. It’s
all in the name of progress, something
that A&M (without benefit of the Gorps)
should be able to handle quite well. It’s
still a mystery when this demolition is
supposed to take place; what the school
is going to put in Goodwin’s vacant
space is also a mystery. Two years ago
there was a proposal to put a liberal arts
building in the space. At least, that’s
what I read in the Eagle. I think they’re
just trying to appease me. Good old
Goodwin is going to go the way of the
southside married student housing ab
normalities, new liberal arts building or
not.
Regent Y: You’re with the pro;
William. I can dig it. Letthemholt
that godforsaken poor excuse for
mal bombed-out Nazi bunker
other two years, then we’ll move
out.
Regent
mind?
X: Sure the roaches
Regent Y
working on it. Spam?
Te:
of fee
ventic
Nah. I’ve got myp j‘ 0 j’ '
St 110 m 7
Regent
down.
X: No thanks, I’m
I think my greatest problem
with the de-evolution and atonre
of Goodwin is that, after the fact
will be the oldest building onca
Yeech.
Regent X: Well, Richard, what about
Goodwin Hall?
First, Old Main burns downaiir
Goodwin is about to snuff it. Nov
stuck with Nagle to tell allourfi
and neighbors’ friends, “Hey.lool
oldest building on campus. IfsNaj
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Regent Y: I’ll tell you, William, let’s
do demolition in, oh, say, two years.
Regent X: Gimme some feedback,
gimme some feedback. We’ll make them
sweat, right?
And if those aren’t fightin'w;
don’t know what is.
Mark Nair is a graduate studen:
line brain surgery and opinioi
editor for The Battalion.
You’ve come a long way, Librar
Last week The Battalion editorial
page featured two opinions about the
Evans Library in one day. Although
praise is always preferred over crit
icism, there was a time at Texas A&M
when no one would have cared enough
to say anything, either positive or neg
ative, about the Library. It is gratifying
Dr. Irene
Hoadley
Guest Columnist
spective materials that needed to be acquired wereactjci
microforms. This was particularly true of materialsint
inanities and social sciences. Only with a substantialc
ment of continuing funding could the Evans Lihranc
more completely the collections required byourexpi
liberal arts program.
to know that today many people do care, and they are con
cerned that the Library is not all that the University commu
nity needs or deserves.
Maybe the Evans Library is not where it should be, but it
is necessary to look where it has come from in the past 13
years:
1986/87
1974/75
1,723,660
926,882
9,022,614
2,439,522
469,649 SF
235,503 SF
48th
87th
1,935
1,141
39,079
24,876
Collections
Budget
Space
Ranking
Faculty(FTE)
Students
The major problem has been the foundation which was laid
during the first 100 years of the University. The base collec
tions were meager and they were centered on the curriculum
which existed at that point, hence the lack of retrospective
collections in the humanities and social sciences. It is not pos
sible to make up for 100 years in a mere 20 years.
Recognizing that there were more needs than could be met,
decisions were made about how best to use the resources
available. One of the first decisions was to be sure that the
Evans Library was keeping up with current publications so we
did not get further behind. That has been done for the past
13 years although our ability to continue to keep up in the fu
ture is seriously threatened by the increasing cost of journals.
This decision has meant that the Evans Library now has good
current collections and collections which satisfy the needs of
most undergraduates. A second decision was to improve ac
cess services so if the item was not available locally, we would
know where it was and could get it for the users. As a result,
the Evans Library has become a leader in the development of
computerized access services. There is a wider array of these
services available to faculty and students at Texas A&M than
at most institutions in the U.S.
With the beginning of the availability to the Library of AUF
funds five years ago, considerable effort has been made in
developing research collections in some disciplines, the funds
were used to focus in specific areas. It was also realized that
many of the materials that were needed were no longer avail
able or available at unreasonable prices so many of the retro-
While the collections grew so did the student DOdi
Evans Library has about 4,500 seats for student
population of about 42,000. The recommended stanii;
to have seeing for 25 percent of the student body.Onf
results is the crowded conditions in the Evans Libran
is one of the factors contributing to the noise probler.
other factor which contributed to the noise is theassige
of group projects for classes. When the noise is con:
with the food and drink situation, there is a real probb
One of the proposed solutions is to open space in food?
that could also be used for study purposes. It is hope^
some progress will be made toward this end for thee
mester 1988. The Evans Library has also used a monk
ing the evening hours, but this has had only limitedsuca
would probably require a uniformed police officer!
any real effect and that is not considered a desirableol
Consideration is also being given to building a study!;
but such a solution, if approved, would be five orsbf
away.
The noise and heavy use of the Evans Library dot
problem for more serious users of the Library. Onlhel
hand, it is gratifying and a credit to the faculty than
students use the library even if the resulting environ®
not desirable. What is needed is a combined effortbyi
ments of the student population to change the envirotj
and restore the Evans Library to a place for study. [
arshipand research.
Dc
Hetal
zos V
The Evans Library is facing many problems besidesi
collection growth, and they are problems which donotl
easy answers. The administration and staff of the L
brary cannot solve them in a vacuum. The supportandi|
eration of the faculty and students is needed. Supportll
equate budgets, for help in identifying focuses, forcotj
developed and for proper library use behavior aret
of the ways in which faculty and students can help.Thisj
a case of “us” and “them;” it should be a situation of eve'
pulling together to create the type of library that Texas!
deserves.
Dr. Irene B. Hoadley is the Director of the Sterling C.l\
BLOOM COUNTY
by BerKe Breath
\