The Battalion
MAIL CALL 3
Friday, December 1,1989
216 Reed McDonald, College Station, TX 77843-1111
Mail Call
Tears, not beers
EDITOR:
You few people are against Texas A&M in every
way who are trying to stop bonfire! As nicely as I
can put it—HIT HIGHWAY SIX RUNNING!
The Aggie bonfire represents the undying love
Aggies share for their school and each other. That
is what makes Aggies stand above everyone, and
why other universities are jealous of Texas A&M!
We all wear the same ring, share many of the
same memories of Texas A&M, and celebrate and
remember one another at times like Aggie Muster.
Bonfire symbolizes all of these emotions. It all
comes together when stack goes up in flames, and
a tear runs down your face while you’re arm in
arm with your buddies. That is Aggie spirit, the
exact thing unif ying the fightin’ Texas Aggies.
I’m proud to have worked on bonfire this year!
And Mr. Jordan, you call that ignorant? Please
assess your values on Highway 6! Aggies Against
Bonfire will stop bonfire when A&rM’s colors turn
orange and white, I transfer to t.u. and hell freezes
over. That is for sure. And we all know that will
happen when A&M beats my old high school for
the national championship!
Hey Ags! Build it bigger, build it taller, BUILD
THE HELL OUTTA BONFIRE! Whoop!
Steve McBride ’90
Don’t burn education
EDITOR:
In the Nov. 21 issue of The Battalion, Waylan
Cain enlightened us with Steve Moore’s beautiful
imagery of bonfire: “Centerpole. . . is Texas
A&M standing for higher education at its best.
The logs. . . are Aggies, you and me.”
While I was fighting back the tears, two
questions came to mind. First, which part of the
University does the outhouse represent?
Obviously, it is an appropriate place to put the b.s.
that Cain, Moore and other traditionalists are
shovelling at us.
Secondly, if bonfire represents A&M, then why
do we douse it with jet fuel and burn it down?
Come on Ags, let’s show these people that we
will not succumb to their stupidity. Let’s not burn
down “higher education at its best.” Please, BEAT'
THE HELL OUTTA BONFIRE!”
Clinton Miller ’92
Remove advertising inserts
EDITOR:
I think The Battalion should stop accepting
loose advertising inserts. Within a couple of hours
of being delivered, the Grandy’s and Little
Ceasar’s coupon inserts in the November 29th
Battalion had been scattered around campus as far
as the eye could see. This is the typical fate of such
inserts. In the rush to grab Battalions in the
morning, they rain down within a 20-foot radius of
the delivery stations and the wind and people’s feet
do the rest. Publications like U. Magazine at least
have some interest value and for the most part are
kept and read, but those inserts just make a huge
mess. If those companies want to take out a big ad,
make it part of The Battalion. I think The
Battalion should show some responsibility and
leadership by removing this consistent and very
unnecessary form of pollution.
Tim Goodman ’90
Bonfire lives
EDITOR:
I would like to address some comments to the
Faculty Senate and students of Texas A&M
concerning the recommendation to form a
committee to review the tradition of Bonfire. It is
the right and duty of the Faculty Senate to keep
abreast of issues such as this that af f ect the student
body as a whole, but one thing should be kept
firmly in mind. In the final analysis, the Bonfire
tradition must continue.
Bonfire has been an indispensable part of my
education here at A&M, as it has for others.
Bonfire produces leaders, people who know what
it is like to put aside personal comfort and work
through pain and fatigue. Bonfire produces
people who know what it is like to single-mindedly
pursue a goal. No classroom can match the
satisfaction of working on that magnificient piece
of art.
Every day I pass a plaque commemorating Wiley
K. Jopling, a student w ho died in pursuit of the
fire, and it never fails to stir in me a sense ofloss.
However, the eradication of Bonfire is not worth
w hat it would take away from A&M and the
students who live here. Without it, the very soul of
A&M is gone, that part of us that knows that
somehow, we are better than other schools.
Without the desire for the fire, w'e will be just
another university, maybe bigger than some, but
no better.
Members of the Faculty Senate, review the
tradition, it is your right and duty, but remember
what it means to those of us who live here and
those that have gone before us. Bonfire must live
on.
T.A. Hennard ’91
Editorial is contradictory
EDITOR:
The editorial entitled, “Protest groups should
focus on local issues,” is so full of holes and
contradictions that a letter is in order to point a
few of those inconsistencies out, for the benefit of
the Battalion Board.
Someone in the community has to be heard as
the voice against apartheid. SAA is fulfilling that
role, which by definition will not necessarily be a
local one, since apartheid is not part of the U.S.
political system. However, apartheid is a local issue
because the University steadfastly maintains its
pro-apartheid stock portfolio. We could help stop
apartheid through our local actions by adopting
the non-violent approach of divestment.
SAA are not “protesting the living conditions of
a country” as your editorial suggests. They are
protesting an inhuman political system of
oppression. Part of this oppression manifests itself
as forcing one group of people to endure an entire
lifestyle far inferior to others in the country.
Deplorable living conditions is the most striking
part, but not the only part, of the inferior lifestyle
which apartheid has created for many people.
Contradiction # 1: is asking SAA to sponsor
food drives when it is recognized that SAA has
already done so. There are doubtlessly over 100
other campus organizations (including The
Battalion) spending time on great causes that have
also not sponsored food drives. Why single out
SAA?
As for the Medicine Tribe, the waste and
recycling problems of the area will be around for a
long time, whereas the MSG tree destruction is
imminent and must be dealt with now. Both the
MSC trees and recycling are local issues
(contradiction #2). You have also slighted the
efforts of the Texas Environmental Action
Coalition. Furthermore, you have failed to practice
what you preach by not suggesting the recycling of
The Battalion after use in the “don’t litter”
announcement currently running in the Battalion.
If the sight of the shanty bothers the Battalion
editors, w hat about the unsightly blight of dead
trees and muddied earth which is bonfire, a
disgraceful testimony to A&M’s role in and
approval of world deforestation? Why not point
out all the effort wasted by the bonfire crew which
could be directed towards the more constructive
purposes you mention? What about the groups
who protested AGAINST the SAA rally? Where
are the justly deserved criticisms of the
misdirected efforts of the Young Conservatives
and College Republicans?
Michael Worsham
Environmental Engineering Graduate Student
Preservation, not destruction
EDITOR:
In regard to bonfire, it is forseeable that the
increasing environmental awareness of the general
public wall threaten the future of this destructive
tradition. Even though the tradition has some 80
years of history chalked up, its plain wastefulness
will become evident to more and more
conscientious people, and the practice will decline.
Too much of the natural world has succumbed to
mankind’s manipulations, and needless acts such
as bonfire are no exception.
Tt is widely known that the harvest site will be
cleared for stripmining anyway, but that is a poor
justification for “cut,” since both are
environmentally destructive. The fact "that we will
all die someday does not intice us to rush the
process.
As temporary inhabitants and true stewards of
this planet, we must analyze the consequences of
our resource exploitations, however small in scale,
and as mature university students we should
channel our efforts toward the preservation, not
the destruction, of what remains.
Mark Brogley ’91
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The edito
rial 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 he
signed and must include the classification, address and telephone num
ber of the writer.
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When you finish reading The Battalion pass it on to a friend, but please... don’t litter!