Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, September 8, 1988
Mail Call
One Greek stone still unturned
EDITOR:
In Monday’s September 5 issue of The Battalion, two idiosyncracies pertaining
to local fraternities and sororities were brought into focus. One article eluded to
the vanities of sororities while yet another examined the blind patronage of one
particular fraternity and though these were, indeed, solid observations, one
anomaly not yet mentioned concerns the mire of discrimination hanging above
these “Greek islands.”
Of course, in the compacts of fraternities and sororities there will be no decree
of racial bias, but in essence, such a ruling is deemed unnecessary by virtue of the
high expenses associated with these fraternal organizations. The fiscal burden is
enough to scare off most lower middle class students, and statistically, minorites
represent a respectable portion of this group.
Furthermore, in looking at the well-established fraternites and sororities on
campus, a minority student will feel intimidated by the lack of his/her own
ethnicity present in these organizations for one needs not more than two hands to
assess the number of blacks, Hispanics, or oriental students represented in these
groups.
The challenge put to these organizations is to address the problem not through
abusive or erroneous argument, but through rational self-examination and open-
minded communication. Yet it is unfortunate to admit that openmindedness
appears to be a dying resource.
Robert J. Villarreal ’90
Why yes, burlap is a devine fabric
EDITOR:
I was upset but not surprised by Anthony Wilson’s article on sororities. He
holds the same attitudes as many non-Greeks. He suggests that sorority members
are chosen on the basis of clothes, hairstyles and makeup. I beg to differ.
First of all, rushees stand outside in the heat all day, their hair falls, their
makeup melts and their clothes get wrinkled, how could anyone choose members
on basis of appearance after living through this themselves? Rushees are chosen on
basis of grades, diversity of extracurricular activities and, most importantly, their
personalities.
He asks why rushees spend hundreds of dollars on rush clothes. Personally, I
haven’t met many rushees who spent that much. But if so, it’s for the same reasons
they spend money on school clothes or formal clothes.
Would he prefer they wear potato sacks?
As for lying on applications, it is not acceptable. Actives know many rushees
from other activities and lying on information sheets is not taken lightly. Also,
don’t tell me that he can’t tell when people are kissing up to him. Actives can also
tell and it actually harms rushees chances because it’s so obviously false.
If he wants a sorority system in which anyone is allowed to join, let him start
one! I don’t think any rushee would want to join a group that would affiliate with
just anyone off the street!
Mr. Wilson said himself that he has criteria (personality) for choosing his
friends. Would he want to have just anyone in an organizaton he would devote a
lifetime of effort to? I doubt it. . .
I think he should spend less time criticizing just one asnect of sororities and
more time getting to know some of the diversified membefc; of A&M sororities —
notjust viewing them as superficial partyers!
Lee Woodward ’90 .
All frats are not created equal
EDITOR:
My deepest sympathy and respect go to Eva Nichols. Although I agree with her
complaint totally, it was her warning that made me uneasy.
She has all the right in the world to be mad and I honestly hope that, as she
puts it, justice is found. However, she has no right to generalize the way she did.
What happened to Ms. Nichols is not the norm among fraternities but the
exception. Her comments will probably hinder many innocent fraternity brothers
who would not stand by and let an incident like that happen.
If she wished to criticize that specific fraternity, or better yet/the specific
individuals involved, why not do so by name. By comparing all other fraternities to
the one she was involved with she is doingjustice a disservice.
My warning is addressed to Eva. History has taught us that generalizing like
you did is both dangerous to society and simply unfair.
I will stay away from such mistake and I’ll speak only for myself and my
fraternity. I can assure Eva that incidents like the one she dipicted are non-existent
in our organization.
Antonio G. Forrest ’89
Editor’s note: Eva Nichols’ letter contained the name of the fraternity involved in
her assault. The editorial staff of The Battalion decided not to include the name
because the case is still pending.
Good Ags save the day
EDITOR:
We would like to take this opportunity to give a big thanks to two great Aggies,
Rene Gonzales ’88 and Howard Zuch ’88.
Sunday, while leaving New Orleans, we were rear-ended, leaving us with no
way back to A&M. These two Aggies stopped and offered to wait and give us a ride
to College Station. After waiting three hours in the rain for the New Orleans police
to arrive, we were finally able to leave for A&M. This was far more than was
expected from anyone.
This goes to show that the true Aggie Spirit is alive and well.
Jennifer Lindsay ’88
Chris Richard ’88
Letters to the editor should not exceed BOO 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.
A Batt columnist & the 7 profs
Dean
Sueltenfuss
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, New r s 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 77te 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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during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal
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lege Station 'EX 77843-411 1.
As many of us
know, a student’s
first year in col-
lege can be a
rather trying time.
Not only is the stu
dent faced with
moving away from
home into an un
familiar environ
ment, but there
are also academic
adjustments to be
made — taking difficult courses, under
standing college-level textbooks, and
learning how to deal with professors. In
fact, the process of becoming accus
tomed to instructors at the university
level can be one of the more complex
transitions between high school and col
lege.
Because professors can be such
sources of enigma to many new stu
dents, I have unselfishly taken the time
to compile a survey of the most common
types of professors at A&M.
This survey, which classifies profes
sors into groups based on their behav
ior, teaching methods, etc., is intended
to lift the veil of mystery which seem
ingly cloaks many of our instructors. It
should be noted, however, that this sur
vey is by no means intended to be ex
haustive. There will be professors who
do riot fit neatly into any of the catego
ries I have delineated here.
Currently, I recognize seven distinct
groups of professors at A&M. Although
many subgroups do exist, space limita
tions prevent me from delving too
deeply into such subtleties. The seven
types of professors are as follows:
Type A : This group consists of your
general, run-of-the-mill professors.
They are semi-compassionate, profes
sional in manner, and usually make
their classes at least partially interesting.
If these professors appear rather frus
trated at times, it is only because their
primary purpose here at A&M, con
ducting research, is being interrupted
by the courses they are being forced to
teach.
Type B: This group consists of those
professors who, in the course of one lec
ture, change the subject approximately
17 times. Insofar as this tendency goes,
these professors are very desireable. If,
BLOOM COUNTY
for example, the topic of electron orbi
tals begins to get boring, the student
simply has to ask a question concerning
last week’s football game. The type B
professor will then proceed to give a 10
or 15 minute discourse on why A&M
should have won that particular game,
not forgetting to mention that such an
atrocious event would have never taken
place back when the class of ’36 was in
its heyday. The disadvantage of type
B’s, however, is that the questions on
their final exams rarely pertain to foot
ball.
Type C: T his type of professor (who
by definition is male) is commonly re
ferred to as The Hip Dude. Sightings in
recent years have been scant, which has
lead many researchers to think that type
G’s may be on the verge of extinction.
Although descriptions vary, I have de
veloped a computer-generated model
that reveals some of the physical charac
teristics of a typical type C.
An average Hip Dude is going bald
and is in his late thirties. He usually
wears plaid pants, white dress shoes,
and a silk shirt. He leaves his shirt open
down to the top of his beer gut in order
to impress the babes. When he’s in the
classroom, he says such things as “Cool,
man,” and “Yeah, I can dig it.” He
chain-smokes and he snaps his fingers a
lot. It’s very easy to get on the good side
of this professor—just tell him that you
have every album the Bee Gees ever re
leased.
Type D: T his professor is your worst
nightmare come true. Remember that
day when you were 30 seconds late to
class and the professor interrogated you
in front of 250 students? He was a type
D. And remember that woman profes
sor who KNEW you hadn’t read the as
signment, but asked you questions over
it anyway? Well, she was also a type 1).
Type D’s are usually referred to by a
number of unkind names, but there are
a couple that are prevalent. The male
version of a type D is most often re
ferred to as an S.O.B., while the female
is commonly referred to simply as a B.
In cases where one of these females is
past 50, such terms as Grandma Gone
Bad and She-Witch From Hell are used.
Type E: T his type of professor is gen
erally considered to be one of the most
dangerous in existence. Type E’s usually
art* very compassionate and tot
pleasant disposition. During thecoJ
"I the semestei tlu-\ tell somejoba
treat you with the utmost resptl
thereby gaining your complete trust*
loyalty. In fact, they even dismiss*
early on occasion. And at theendofl
semester, when your final average!.®
out to be a 79.4, do you know whati'*
kind, compassionate people do?!*
give you a C.
Type F: Most of t hese profess®
come from foreign countries, altti ®
a few hail from right here in thegoccll
U.S. of A. The one thing that allofts
professors have in common withone
other is the simple fact that no one
understand what they’re saving,
deed, the only phrase that man'
them can state with clarity goes sc™
thing like this: “You failed the exam
Actually, it’s amazing howeasyii
comes to understand a type Fwhen:
tell you something like that.
But, you ask, if they’re that hani
understand can’t they just writeik j
on the blackboard? Well, yeah. Thee
problem is that some of the letters!
use aren’t f ound in our alphabet, h
that type E’s aren’t all that bad, tho:
— just as long as what they’re telling'
isn’t important.
Type G: M ost people know alia
one of these professors. They’re!
kind that interrupt each class period
telling about five minutes ofbadjoi
A typical type G professor, upon 1
ing his students laugh as he tells his
joke, is encouraged to tell even mortl
believe that most type G’s would give
this practice if they knew why their
dents were laughing.
Well, that about does it for theft
lessors of A&M. I hope I’ve helpedj
clear up this issue for everyone,
would like additional information j
this subject please consult my “Fi
Guide to the Professors of North Am
ica,” which is available at your
bookstore. Also look for my newtajj
titled “An Illustrated Guide to Footli
Coaches and Other Invertebrates
should be out by November
time for everyone’s Christmas-shopp®
list.
Dean Sueltenfuss is a junior jouft
lisin major and columnist for The I> !
talion.
by Berke Breathe
tmnk you/ eoopgye/
mmCA'S ARMCHAIR
oHurrce jockbyo are
OFF TV we COUNTDOWN.'
T-MINUS V37H0JM,
23 MINUTES, 17 m
W T-MINUS O-B? HOURS.
V *23 minutes, ii sectM