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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1988)
Paqe 2fThe Battalion/Tuesday, September 6, 1988 Opinion Students’ shenanigans ruining library’s enviornmei Choose the an swer that best completes the fol lowing statement: Sterling C . Evans is: A. ) a new sin gles bar on campus B. ) a meeting place for so cial events of every kind C. ) a museum which exhibits ar chaic, out-dated library science procedures of yesteryear D. ) Texas A&M’s library. Suna Purser The alarming — and sad — fact is that all of the above are true. Recently, The Battalion, and other local media have been the forums of scathing attacks on our library. On July 19, Mark Nair, who was then the opinion page ed itor of The Batt, ran a column titled “The Evans Library — A Sorority House in Disguise?” Nair, in his typ ically satirical style, lambasted the li brary for everything from missing vol umes to its sorority/soiree atmosphere. In that same issue, Dr. Larry Hickman, associate professor of philosophy and humanities, wrote a column in which he severely grilled Dr. Irene Hoadley, di rector of Sterling C. Evans Library, for the deplorable depths to which our li brary has fallen. The Bryan-College Station Eagle ran a story which expressed deep concern over the problems confronting our li brary and questioned its usefulness as a learning resource. On August 31, The Batt ran a column by Dr. Donald McDonald, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas A&M. The headline read “Evans Library’s Problems Being Solved.” In that article, Dr. McDonald outlined some of the problems and solutions con cerning the library. Chief among the problems discussed by Dr. McDonald was the “excessive noise, which is detri mental to patrons who have need for the library collections.” Thank goodness someone was able to hear our cries for quiet above the up roarious din that emanates from the fa cility called Sterling C. Evans Library. Case in point: One evening toward the end of the spring semester, I was study ing on the fourth floor, at a group of ta bles located near the stacks. Mind you, NOT a designated group study area. Several young women (should I be so bold as to term them “women,” com plete with the maturity and responsibil ity normally associated with being a young woman OR man?) were laughing and talking with a zeal more appropri ate to the Dixie Chicken than to the Evans Library. After numerous attempts, I caught their attention and politely asked them if they could either be quiet or take their “par ty” to a group study table, or better yet, out of the library entirely. My, my ... if looks could kill. Well, need I say I wouldn’t be here kicking a dead horse. Obviously, my request went unheeded, because they continued their rude and . inappropriate behavior. “Oh, well,” I said to myself. “I need a break anyway.” So, I went to the second floor snack area. Lo and behold, if I didn’t see a group of young men mixing what I think were alcoholic drinks. Complete with all the needed mixers, i.e.. Coke, Sprite, and 7-UP, supplied by the vending machines — which have been provided as a service to library staff and patrons — these yahoos were taking out their pocket flasks and really seemed to be having a grand time get ting a buzz in between study sessions. If that, in fact, is what they were at the li brary for. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there SOME University regulation that ex pressly prohibits consumption of alco holic beverages on University property? And the library of all places! I mean really, folks. My idea of r & r does not consist of getting blitzed in the library lounge. Weakening continues in presidency Which reminds me of yet ANOTHER travesty. “Well,” I said to myself. “I think I’ll go to the sunken lounge and read the paper.” This area, as most of you know, is notorious for its couch po tatoes and lounge lizards. But I was not quite prepared for a slumber party! Toward the end of the semester, the li brary thoughtfully keeps its doors open on a 24-hour basis. At that time of the semester, this is an invaluable service to those of us who are in need of the li brary’s resources, albeit during oddball hours. Imagine my dismay when I saw a group of girls stretching out their blankets, fluffing their pillows, and winding their alarm clocks — obviously ready for the infamous all-nighter. I’m surprised they didn’t have on little bunny sleepers and gym socks. They were laughing, gig gling, and raving about how they were going to tell their friends of the library all-nighter. “Doing what,” I mused. “Seeing who could stay awake the longest?” Well, I was far beyond the point of exas peration and decided to call it quits. I was so tired, maybe I was imagining all this library lunacy. And so what’s the moral of this sordid story? Simply this: Yes, Dr. McDonald there IS a noise level problem, among others, at the library and I’m not sure all Mail the grants and donations in the can solve it. 1 appreciate the fine effort other administrators are taking B proving both the inside ANDoutgH the library. However, we mustinfl our student population the impi Tex of the library, its f unction as a Itist |S< resource, and the atmosphere t levis to the learning environmental^’ 1 should have. , 1 On Monday, library employee; passing out fliers at the libraryetel^ Titled “Life In the Quiet Zone HF v handouts remind us of what the lie n< is and how we should actii *y!<‘ Granted, it’s unfortunate thaUtHy to be reminded at all, but sud |§f case. Nevertheless, this is deficj step in the right direction. It 1 bad a I lai < >n. I'd take K ot: * respect to the faculty and administB who are trying to improve ourIrlll And I only hope the students wiliK line, realize they are both a pan Bg problem AND solution, andthui^vp, strive to make the Sterling C. Eu-Rdi brary and Texas A&M Univer gned u < a Id i lass m si it m a m is the\ arc • nivei • to be. id iei radua Suna Purser is a journalism graduate student in English ir dB]' u umnjst/or The Battalion. f^j Call rross niitinj -ank g Thoi Be hip, not a library dip EDITOR: bn ■co high The moment silence in our library becomes hip, cool and traditional,we-lpP' 111 experience a transformation in our attitude toward why we are here. ThctaliBl hiring monitors to patrol and control reading environments is embarassing.l Hi c serious reader must inform library conversationalists immediately to discourxIL,^ elsewhere. . y| d Jto This can be gentle: “If you want to talk, you need to go somewhere else.’liHir this way we each become responsible and involved in our immediate environ"® and bypass the third grade monitor mentality. hioi Just once I want to see a library reader explain to a violator of the silenci 0 * 0 ^ (much in the same way I have seen scores of Corps members patiently explain MSC lawn care code) that the library is a memorial to every person who base® lived on this earth, and we must walk softly among the ghosts of our ancestorT This gentle reader would go on to say that the library is an affirmation of the | present and an invocation to the future, and therefore it is uncool, unhip,at Aggie-traditional (not to mention unscholarly, unimpressive and impolite)to I converse within these hallowed halls. Let’s see what w'e can do this semester. Let’s create a new attitude and watch the transformation. Edward Gabrielsen ’89 Attaboy, Lloyd EDITOR. Lloyd Bentsen is doing the right thing by not dropping out of the senateni If he were to drop out his senate seat would go to his Republican opponent,Bel Boulter, by default and Texas voters would have no say in the matter. Supporters of Boulter criticize Bentsen because when he wins, a special | election will have to be held to replace him in the senate and that will costtaxfti some money. Well, democracy (like freedom) can be expensive, but it is damn well wortll I, for one, want to have some say so in who our next senator will be. We do not need another right wing extremist representing Texas in thestl- We already have Phil Gramm, and that is one too many. Mike Thomas ’87 WASHING- TON — Republi cans have learned from Ronald Rea- Georg© gan to look on the Will bright side of ev erything from def- icits (growth stim ulated by them cures them) to Gorbachev (good liberals come for Mos cow, not Boston). So Republicans., preaching what Reagan practices, can say their presidential campaign will re cover from its rocky stary. Reagan himself had an awful August in 1980 when he said, among other in teresting things, that trees cause pollut ion, then arrived at a rally and found a tree decorated with this sign: “Chop me down before I kill again.” But this year, both parties’ campaigns are likely to produce an anemic Presi dent and therefore produce congressio nal government. Such government will be the result of a second consecutive vacuous election. In 1984, there barely was an election. There was an Olympics and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” tour, and in that celebratory atmosphere Rea gan elevated contentment to a political platform. The result was a landslide and the reassertion of the national norm: congressional government. If in 1988 the winner wins principally because he is not the other guy, then by 1992 the nation will have gone 12 years without a clarifying, energizing choice. With either Dukakis or Bush we’re apt to enter an era of unheroic politics. It will be an era more typical of American experience than either the Reagan era or the Kennedy era that Dukakis in vokes so insistently. Under either Dukakis or Bush, few Americans are apt to regard the presi dency heroically, as many did under, say, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Few will regard it as a tone-setting institution im parting fundamental direction to na tional life. Conservatives, with their Jef fersonian impulses, may say: Splendid. That role is not for government, let alone the central government. But Hamilton, a source of a more sensible conservatism, warned that en ergy in the executive is a prerequisite of good government. A weak presidency does not produce sweet passivity in Washington and the blooming of 100 flowers of local control. Rather, it produces congressional ascen dancy. That means the enervation of foreign policy and, in domestic affairs, the primacy of parochial interests at the expense of national aspirations. Try to emagine either Bush or Dukakis going over the heads of Congress to appeal di rectly to the people. Conservatives, forgetting their enjoy ment of Reagan’s success doing that, may say: Fine. But, again, they should consider the real alternative. It has been increasingly visible since Reagan’s 1986 failure to hold Republican control of the Senate. The alternative is government by a committee of 535. Reagan’s presidency has demon strated the perishable nature of even a real mandate. Reagan’s mandate was Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit Uttm l and length, hut will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and miii/in - classification, address and telephone number of the writer. worn out by September 1981 and only a series of unplanned events made it last that long. He was gallant when shot. A Supreme Court vacancy enabled him to nominate a woman. Two Libyan fighter planes let him act like Teddy Roosevelt. The striking air-traffic controllers let him act like Truman. Even so, his tax and spending cuts, the crux of his agenda, barely passed that summer. How evanescent would Dukakis’ or Bush’s sway over Congress be? The presidency is so prominent in na tional life, and the tendency is so strong to confuse prominence with power, Americans forget that the presidency is an inherently (meaning constitutionally) weak office. There is little a President can do on his own. What he can do is move the country by the force of his words or the pull of his personality and, by doing so, move, or at least inhibit, Congress. The power of the presidency'! greatly (more than that of, sa'I power of the British prime mini with the personal attributes of the! pant of the office. The power of! gress to initiate and block actkl power increasingly radiated in ne" 1 only expands. It expands most r. 1 when presidential influence contrafl The 1988 election looks likearJ for a sharp contraction. We Havel low-voltage candidates. One of i r l Dukakis, talks with lawyerly wail about his plans. Bush praises theP:| of Allegiance and promises notiol lough killers. So even more people! usual are melancholy about the chi They may see congressional go'l ment coming. Copyright 1988, Washington Post l r Group The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Lydia Berzsenyi, Editor Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor Anthony Wilson, Opinion Page Editor Richard Williams, City Editor D A Jensen, Denise Thompson, News Editors Hal Hammons, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Leslie Guy, Entertainment Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per 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 rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty 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 Journalism. 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