Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1989)
The Battalion OPINION Tuesday, September 5,1989 Mail Call ‘Non-reg’ is here to stay EDITOR: With regard to Jim Hayes’ commentary “We can do better than ‘non-reg’” (Aug. 31); who cares? We’re all Aggies, aren’t we? Although I am only a freshman, I do know a lot about the sense of spirit, tradition and pride at Texas A&M, as well as the brotherly and sisterly bond all Aggies are supposed to share. My father is an “old Ag,” and I have grown up believing whole heartedly in the Aggie spirit. So, imagine the sickening horror I felt Wednesday evening as I witnessed a large group of “non-regs” shouting anti-Corps slogans near the edge of the Quad. This activity is completely uncalled for and one cannot help but think that an attitude similar to that of Mr. Hayes could have helped contrive these actions. I hope this group of protesters is reading this right now. The corps of Cadets is one of many things that helps set A&M apart from any other university. Perhaps the band of protesters and “Corps-haters” should try life at the University of Texas. In Austin, their attitude would be greatly appreciated. With the co-existence of the Corps and “non-regs,” the spirit of Aggieland will prevail. Wes West ’93 Football players are Ags, too EDITOR: My roommate and I attended All-University Night at Kyle Field Tuesday. I was very disappointed at the actions of some (and I emphasize some) of the football players during the yells and also during the playing of the “Spirit of Aggieland.” Despite the fact that they are football players, they are Aggies. It seemed as if they didn’t know the words to the songs and yells much less how to “hump it.” We’re the Twelfth Man and we undyingly support the players. Can’t they show a little pride and take pride in who they are? After all, without us they would be nothing. For those Ags who were there, compare the attitude the women’s volleyball team displayed to the attitude displayed by some of the football players. I feel the football players could show a little dignity and appreciation to the Twelfth Man, just as we do for them. Kara Clements ’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, hut 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. HELP!!! Due to Berke Breathed’s deci sion to quit drawing Bloon County, The Battalion is searcli ing for another syndicatec comic strip. If you have a favor ite strip or would like to express a preference, please contact tht Opinion Page Editor at 845 3316, or in Room 216 of ths Reed McDonald Building. Br we ful tiv L—~ Smokers huff and puff about new campus policy We, the smokers of Texas A&M and the United States of America, must unite to combat those who threaten our very existence. We have already been told not to smoke on airplanes. Our pockets have already been picked by cig arette taxes. Now anti-smoking fever has come home. Friday, our esteemed Board of Regents approved a strict new smoking policy. According to this new policy, we may no longer smoke in lobbies or in hall ways. We may no longer smoke in wait ing rooms or in conference rooms. In fact, we may no longer smoke in almost any place in which one person does not smoke, and I think all of us know just how many of these places still exist. To be perfectly honest, I understand the nonsmokers’ case. If one has one’s nose within three inches of a smoker’s mouth or lit cigarette, that person will have a fair chance of developing lung cancer; perhaps as great a chance as the smoker to whom he or she is glued. Adam Mathieu Columnist our habit could cause some harm to oth ers. But why are we the only targets? Again, I will grant the hazard to the nonsmoker in the scenario above. How ever, I seriously must dispute the lung cancer hazard to someone who is in cas ual contact with a smoker for one hour a week. The sophisticated and highly ac tive air-conditioning systems on this campus will effectively filter out most of the smoke.The physical fact of diffusion will result in such dilute smoke that min imal, or no, harm will be possible. There are a lot of instances in which we simpl' avoid people because of a de structive habit. Smokers are apparently excluded from this social good grace. But still, this last statement implies that there is at least some chance that I do not think that the average person even considers the long-term health risks. I believe that people simply do not like the “smell” of smoking and of smok ers. Again, this is an unacceptable ex cuse. There are people who do not like to bathe. As a result, they are often quite offensive. Why are people not attempt ing to pass mandatory bathing laws? I also haven’t heard any groundswell of support for a pro-deodorant coalition. There are people who are habitually belligerent when they are drunk. How ever, these people are still allowed to have a beer in places where non-drink ers congregate. These people do not pose a hazy, long-term risk; they are an immediate physical threat. However, we are simply told to avoid them. If one is concerned with health, one should worry about the health hazard from the radon in our houses, the asbes tos in our schools, and the toxic chemi cals that American industries vomit into the air every year. If one is concerned about smell, one should worry about more lenient automobile emission re quirements and about the same Ameri can industries. There must be a more acceptable! lution to this problem than the vinl elimination of indoor smoking areas campus. A jo hi By J Of Fc First, we need to dispense with highly negative and totally untrue liefs about smokers. Most smokers T 1 decent, happy individuals who en " cigarettes and not dirty, bitter peo* a tu trapped in the horror of a depthless: Inte diction. People want a target for their frustra tion and we smokers are one of the easi est groups to attack. This readiness to attack smokers sur prises me. As a group, smokers are rea sonably sensitive and conciliatory. Smokers do not expect to be allowed to smoke everywhere. Most will even go so far as to extinguish a cigarette if some one has the simple decency to ask cour teously. Second, we need to recognize i anti-smoking fever is discriminator) only one of the many groups of peo| with somewhat undesirable habits, smokers don’t want to evangelize create a world of smokers; all wede! is consideration for our situation. ^ran don Tex; See' Adam Mathieu is a senior chemii major and a columnist for The Bait ion. Atwater school of politics finally closed “It takes two to make a trend” is one of the cynical mottos of journalists ever in search of the The New —the idea be ing that two examples of anything can be used as a premise for a story an nouncing the New Something. To give you an indication of where trend jour nalism is headed, I can remember when the saying was “It takes three to make a trend” — but I haven’t heard anyone say that in years. My record as a trend spotter is de plorable. Not only have I missed every fashion trend known to womankind, even in the field of politics, the only trend I ever saw coming was the rise of the Moral Majority — and the only rea son I picked up on that is because I lis ten to radio preachers and country- western music. So take it with some salt when you hear me say that the Atwaterization of American politics has gone its length. May seem an odd time to make that claim, since the Atwater School just claimed another victory over in Florida, where a right-wing Cuban-American woman politician has just won Claude Pepper’s old seat. (And when I say right-wing, I mean this dame supports the terrorist Orlando Beach, who was responsible for blowing up a civilian Cu ban airliner with 80 people on board.) But even that race seems to me to presage an end to excess: For one thing, the Democrat ran just as nasty a cam paign as the Republican — had the Democrat offered voters a choice, the outcome might w r ell have been differ ent. For another thing, in one of those odd inversions, in w 7 hich the Atwater School specializes, the Republican went around claiming the Democrat was a bigot appealing to racial divisiveness. My second bit of evidence is an ill-ad vised bit of bragging Jim Mattox did at the AFL-CIO convention. Mattox, a longtime labor ally who had hoped for an early endorsement from the unions, did his cause harm when he claimed: “I’m not starting out new in this race. I’ve been working at it for four years. I got Bill Hobby out of the race. Then I got Henry Cisneros out of the race. Now I’ve got one or tw T o more to get out of The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot Walker. Editor W 7 ade See, Managing Editor Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor Fiona Soltes. City Editor Ellen Hobbs, Chuck Squatriglia. News Editors Tom Kehoe, Sports Editor Jay Janner. Art Director Dean Sueltenfuss. Lifestyles Editor £ this race before I take the Democratic nomination. But it’s going to happen.” People have been predicting for a long time that Mattox would do himself in with his nasty tactics: This particular bit of “I’m the meanest S.O.B. in the val ley” show-off talk managed to seriously annoy much of the Chicane community and Bill Hobby’s legions of admirers as well. Cost Mattox one union endorse ment I know of, for sure. Mattox is such a fearsome cam paigner, one forgets he is not, in fact, the meanest S.O.B. in the valley. Kent Hance can be so amiable between races, I knew forgetting what a perfect piece of dung he is as a campaigner. The other day someone asked Ann Richards about the state’s Financial future and she said Texas will have to broaden its tax base, most likely through a broader ap plication of the sales tax. How about tax ing food and drugs?, someone asked. Well, you could look at it, but there’s no reason to do it, she replied. What, next thing you know, Hance is out with a press release that says, “It is irresponsible for a gubernatorial candi date to propose taxing groceries and medicine. What will be next? Will she want tax us when we go to the doctor or to the dentist? Just like the captain of the Titanic, Ann will sink our fragile economic recovery with her liberal tax- hike philosophy. Ann says she wants to ‘broaden the base’ with the state sa* tax. We all know those are just libtf code words for a tax increase.” Now the interesting thing about!■ press release is not its nasty distortion* this is the kind of thing Kent Hanceflf been doing for years; his campaf mode is always distortion. It was the' action to the press release that was ini' esting. Puke City. Richards respond I with caustic humor, and the incidf played in the press as an amusing change betsveen candidates, but li* theattack is not, in fact, funny did not unnoticed. Hance set himself to j slammed next time he does that —at he will. Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting neuspa- r operated as a community service to Texas A&M and ry an-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. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.4-1 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion. 230 Reed McDonald. Texas A&M University. College Station. TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station. TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 216 Reed McDonald. Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. MAR6W.I&S