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
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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
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