The Battalion
OPINION
1
1
Tuesday, November 28,1989
Opinion Page Editor Juliette Rizzo 845-331;
(
Directions
for stuffing
a Turkey:
Academic advising ai^
A&M needs reform
Academic advising at A&M stinks.
It’s not strikingly obvious that it stinks,
but it does. If A&M is going to purport
to be a world-class university, it needs
to reform the academic advising in the
departments and colleges of this cam
pus.
The advising problem is not very ob
vious because it’s mostly a passive prob
lem. In other words, it doesn’t cause us
immediate distress such as, say, the
parking problem, so we don’t consider
it a major problem.
Timm
Doolen
Asst. Opinion PagtEgl be
to the advising problem. These me;
bers of the faculty and staff prai ii
ir
not only academic advising, but adlr
ingon anything, personal or others i t
Gig’em and Hug’em Aggies
Few students are directly harmed by
the lack of quality academic advising,
but the fact that advising isn’t very
good indirectly hurts us all in a way.
Hey Twelfth Man! Yeah, you in the
maroon!
“To cheat oneself out of love is the
most terrible deception.” — Leo Bus-
caglia.
Steve
McBride
Guest Columnist
Intimacy. Does that make you feel
uncomfortable? I hope it does. I’m
tired of you not really being you. It’s a
sad shame, we as human beings, are
not socially allowed to be ourselves
publicly, like we are privately. I truly
believe if there is one person whom we
can touch totally, unashamedly and
completely, we will never die of lone
liness. Do any of you have anyone like
that?
taught me our relationships with each
other are the most important thing we
ossess. There is no price tag on true
ove, and no price tag for any person.
many of us act in this manner when op
portunities to show love arise. It takes a
man to fake his feelings and express
himself. Being emotional is being hu
man. Love isn’t afraid to feel. Love
cries for expression.
P
1c
Many people say, “I’m afraid to be
hurt, but I’m not afraid of intimacy.”
Intimate relationships are risky, de
manding and occasionally painful. But
the only alternative is to circulate in de
spair and loneliness.
Leo Buscaglia in his book, Love, said
the only way you are going to grow and
see yourself is in an intimate
relationship. When I love you, and you
love me, we’re like each other’s mirror,
we see infinity!
We all have a special group of peo
ple whom we dearly care for in many
ways. Now is the time. Don’t wait until
tomorrow to tell someone you love
them. Do it now! Get on the phone:
“Mom, it’s two in the morning. I’m not
in jail. I’m still in school, but I have to
say that I love you!” I promise it will be
one of the most significant moments of
her life. People say, “Well, she knows
that already.” Wonderful, but do it
anyway.
A relationship is a sharing, a mutual
revealing of oneself. Not all
relationships work out the way you
want, but that doesn’t mean your affec
tion was wasted. Affection is never
wasted. Remember, it is only when love
demands that it brings on pain.
Think about the state of advising at
A&M. When you have an academic
problem or question, who do you go to?
You probably talk to friend, most likely
one in your same major who is further
along in the course work. You may
even ask a favorite professor for some
academic advice. But how often do you
go to talk to your academic adviser
when you have an academic problem
or want advice?
Solves the problem, right?!; | v
really. I personally wouldn’t feelvo
comfortable walking into a totalstras
er’s office and asking him advice
academic or personal matters. 1
that’s almost exactly how the propz [
is designed to work. So unless a stude j_
just happens to know' a professon
is also a mentor, the student-men:
relationship is an awkward one.
to
A case could be made that an adit
I have yet to meet a person who
doesn’t like someone to tell them they
love them. This guy goes crazy when I
get a card or note saying, “Steve, I love
So, what is intimacy? Intimacy is a
big brother giving his 7-year-old little
brother a hug and kiss when big
brother gets home from A&M. Inti
macy is telling that special person in
the Aggie Band how deeply you care
for them. Intimacy is giving your girlf
riend a rose for no reason. Intimacy is
holding your little brother on your
shoulders during Aggie football games
because he’s too short to see. Intimacy
is anything you want it to be.
After taking an informal survey, I
discovered that few students use their
academic adviser except when they
must. Even when they do see their ad
visers, many times they are of little
help. To many students on this cam
pus, an adviser is nothing more than a
person who signs papers.
you!” It’s even better if I get to hug
Human beings were created to love
and to possess a need for love —an in
nate characteristic in all of us. So why
do we love in times of tragedy and
need, but not at times when there is no
reason to love? One excuse might be
that we are afraid to show our “real
self’ to our peers.
A few experiences in my life have
someone. The hug is one of the gran
dest displays of emotion we have. Use
it! At times, a hug means more to me if
it comes from a guy. Yes, that’s right —
a male. Guys have a macho image
branded on them by society. We’re not
allowed to cry, hurt, or show any emo
tion, unless we make a touchdown. I’ve
never understood why we can’t be our
selves, and I refuse to accept it.
Buscaglia stated: “I think the loving
person must return to spontaneity, to
touching and holding each other
again.”
In all fairness, I’m sure there are
many good advisers who are consulted
often by their students. But advising
varies from department to depart
ment, and accordingly, some depart
ments are better than others.
is also a stranger until the first meetE
of the student and adviser. Yettheii
a psychological advantage of goin|:
an assigned adviser over a randcc
mentor. If an adviser is assignedloa
in a way I feel obligated to utilize t
as a knowledgeable resource, illfe
comfortable doing so and need®
lance. On the other hand, because
mentor is not assigned specificalln
me, 1 would feel funny asking himc
her for help. Also, in many casesi
adviser is the only person whocanjjs
a student official authorizationimA
tain academic situations (e.g.Q-dro«
r
It’s up to us to give our relationships
a chance. There is nothing greater in
life than loving another and being
loved in return, for loving is the ulti
mate of experiences! Hug’em Aggies!
When I was a physics major, there
were four advisers split up among less
than 100 students. I felt comfortable
talking to my adviser, and I even
adopted another adviser who hap
pened to be a professor I liked.
It takes the mentality of a young boy
to ignore the crush on a little girl. Yet,
Steve McBride is a senior market
ing/management major and a guest
columnist for The Battalion.
It’s anchor’s away on ‘Today’
Yet in other colleges and depart
ments, the advising situation is not as
rosy. In the College of Business, to get
an adviser, you put your name on a list
and then wait to meet your adviser.
This is the probably the most imper
sonal form of advising I’ve heard of at
A&M.
Good advising is the key to a beti*y<
education and academic base at Ai'f ?
,n+/ . . , jjHu
As students, we need to be able to
one-on-one with an adviser abo:
problems in classes, with profes;
with grades or with course work.' 1
need to be able to casually
gree plans, which classes to take,
suit of minors or specializations an
other types of academic concerns,w:
someone who is very knowledges! I Cl
about those areas. Currently, many*
dents don’t feel close enough to
advisers to do this.
Deborah Norville’s new schedule:
• 1:35 a.m.: Call Jane Pauley and
wake her up. Say,“Hi, Jane. This is
Deborah. How does it feel to be a has-
been?”
• 1:40: Get into shower.
• 1:42: Get out of shower to answer
phone. It’s Jane Pauley saying, “Wake
me up one more time like this, sister,
and I’ll call a press conference and say
you had a boob job.”
• 1:45: Put on make-up.
• 3:00: Finish make-up. Admire
myself until 3:25.
• 3:30: Dress. I think I’ll wear the
blue dress,.
• 3:45^ Who cares what I wear? I
look great in anything.
• 4:00: Call Jane Pauley back. “Say I
had a boob job and I’ll say you had a
tummy tuck after the baby was born.”
• 4:15: Limo arrives.
• 4:16: This is the limo? Where’s
the fresh flowers, manicurist and Per
rier with crushed ice for breakfast?
• 4:17: Pout until driver either com
mits suicide or promises on his wife
and children there will never be an
other such oversight.
• 4:45: Arrive at studio. Gumbel
has slaves strewing rose petals in his
Lewis
Grizzard
Syndicated Columnist
path as he walks in. Make a note to de
mand same treatment, bigger slaves.
• 5:15: Retouch make-up. Remark
to make-up artist, “You must really be
good at what you do. Anybody who
could make that toad Jane Pauley look
half-way decent is a miracle worker.”
• 5:30: Hair.
• 5:35: Hairdresser remarks,
“Gosh, Deborah, here’s a gray one.”
• 5:36: Stop choking hairdresser.
She’s beginning to turn blue.
• 5:50: Be five minutes fashionably
late for staff meeting.
• 6:00: Yawn a lot every time Gum
bel has something to say.
• 6:50: Make a nasty remark about
Willard’s jacket. Say,“Who’s your tai
lor? Omar the tentmaker?”
• 7:00: Show opens. Look sexy,
adorable, cute, as well as intelligent.
Wink at the camera and say,“I may
look sexy, adorable and cute but I
know the capital of Pennsylvania.”
• 7:01: Say, “OK, so I was wrong,
but Pittsburg is in Pennsylvania. I’m
sure about that.”
• 7:30: Interview best-selling au
thor. Begin with probing question like,
“So, tell us what your book is about,”
• 8:05: Interview president of the
American Chastity Association. Begin
with probing question like, “So, were
you chastized as a child? t
• 8:59: Promo Monday’s show. On
Monday, ‘Do you need a tummy tuck?
With special guest, Jane Pauley.
• 9:01: So, nothing to this job.
Copyright 1989, Cowles Syndicate, Inc.
In my department, as in many de
partments, there is one adviser for the
whole undergraduate program and the
adviser teaches classes as well. He has
several hundred students to advise and
a class to teach, so his time is spread
thin. It seems that it’s very hard for the
adviser to acquire a good one-to-one
relationship with his students when he
must advise several hundred.
id':
We need some solutions to theai
ing problem. The administratioi
should set some guidelines as to
many students an adviser can advis
The number should be definitely ui
der 100, hopefully much less thantli
And each department should try
find the best people possible to be at
visers for their students. With qualt
academic advising, A&M would
better university than it already is.
The University has the Mentors Pro
gram they offer as a probable solution
Timm Doolen is a junior compuli
science major and assistant opinii
page editor for The Battalion.
<SW?nn£niiW
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YThen I was ^our age, all they had were canteens and combat boots.