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Opinion
The Battalion
Friday,
Friday, November 13,1992
J
Editorial
Aggies don't steal
Kappa Alpha thefts inexcusable
The punishments given Kappa
Alpha fraternity, including proba
tion, service hours, and a $1,000 fine
serve as an appropriate and timely
response to the thefts perpetrated
by Kappa Alpha pledges.
The Interfraternity Council Judi
cial Board again acted quickly to
sanction a member fraternity for its
misconduct.
However, one wonders what
would have happened if the police
had been unable to locate the stolen
property and to identify those re
sponsible for the theft.
It seems unlikely that Kappa Al
pha would have paid for or re
turned the stolen property, let alone
apologized, without the interven
tion of the police and the University.
It will never be known how long
the Kappa Alpha leadership would
have continued to tolerate, if not en
courage such activity among its
pledges.
Furthermore, the whole incident
serves as another black eye for the
reputations of the Greek system and
Texas A&M University.
How far the trust of the commu
nity in A&M students and organiza
tions can be stretched remains to be
seen.
It is hoped that this incident is
not indicative of the behavior of
other fraternities at this school. The
KA thefts should not be used as a
blanket condemnation of the Greek
system - but at least the situation
will serve as another warning to its
member fraternities and sororities.
For when any A&M organization
falls in the mud, the University
tends to look a little dirty as well.
Tradition at A&M: a false name
for blind adherence to status quo
In about two
weeks, we at
Texas A&M will
once again have
our little tree sac
rifice and drunk
en disorderliness
party. As a grad
uating senior, Td
like to say,
"enough."
Enough with
tradition. Do you
really think the
fact that we cut
down a bunch of
trees and set
GUEST
COLUMN
KEN
FONTENOT
a grc
;d tc
sity? If you’ do, you neecfto re-evalu
ate your values. People have died
building that thing. What kind of sick
place is thfg .where students give their
lives in the name of tradition?
And whdf tradition, anyway? Ba
sically, it's just repeating the same
thing over and over. We do it because
our ancestors — or in this case former
students — did it. That doesn't sound
like a very compelling reason to do
anything. In fact, it sounds a lot like
mob mentality — not what you really
want in an institution of higher leam-
in §-
This is a university, people. Outside
of the narrow-minded confines of Ag-
gieland, Texas A&M excellence de
pends on the quality of education giv
en to its students. No one cares that
we build the world's largest bonfire.
Really, no one cares. And yet so many
Aggies think it makes us great.
Take a good look at this place — a
good, cynical look. We have been in
doctrinated with tradition. It's practi
cally a religion. Fish Camp? Pretty
much brainwashing. Bonfire? An out
dated ritual. Standing up at football
games? Ooh, Harvard is really im
pressed.
Yes, I know we don't care what
those at Harvard think, but then that's
our problem. We tell ourselves that
this is a great university no matter
what anyone else says. We make it
easy for ourselves to go along blindly,
like so many sheep. Baaaan. I use
"we," not because I include myself, but
because my voice is not heard in the
mob, in the us, in the "Aggies are we."
And neither are the voices of many
others — a lot more than 2 percent, be
lieve it or not. Why is that?
The answer is insecurity. We are so
insecure — and this is a problem
throughout the South — that we have
to pump ourselves up with this false
pride in dubious things and permit no
dissension. Why can't Clinton sup
porters show their signs at Quayle's
speech? Why can't a student wear
green combat boots without having
someone pour nacho cheese on them
because she looks different? Why can't
women and minorities expect to be
treated with the same respect as white
males? What are we afraid of? Diver
sity is a strength, not a weakness.
That's why America is still strong.
That's what will make America great.
Highway 6 runs both ways? That's
about the most un-American thing I've
ever heard. And yet we are the first to
wave our flags proudly in times of cri
sis.
Where are our true American values
of freedom, tolerance, respect for the
individual?
This is a university, people. It's
supposed to be a place of ideas. In
stead, we have fascist traditionalism —
the death of ideas. Look around.
Racism is a tradition. Sexism is a tradi
tion. If you celebrate tradition, these
are your baggage. Do things because
they are right today. To hell with the
way it was done before. Become a free
thinker. That's what will make this
university great. That's what we're
here for.
Fontenot is a senior English major
Newspaper inserts
deface A&M campus
I would like to issue a challenge to
the Battalion staff to come up with
some other method of distributing ad
vertisements to students within your
newspaper.
I am very frustrated in seeing the
A&M campus littered with advertise
ments that are loosely inserted into The
Battalion (called drop-ads).
These drop-ads simply fall out when
The Battalion is picked up by faculty
and students. While observing stu
dents in the Commons lobby last Friday
afternoon many students would see the
advertisement fall out of the paper, but
would walk away, leaving the adver
tisement where it fell.
In the Commons lobby, the floor lit
erally becomes covered with these dis
carded advertisements, only to be
swept up and thrown away by our cus
todial staff.
Please encourage the printers of The
Battalion to look at some other way of
packaging and/or distributing these
drop-ads to the public. I know that ad
vertisers consider drop-ads to be a
highly effective method of selling items
to the public, as you see thousands of
drop/adds falling out of magazines ev
ery day.
I very often see articles, editorials,
and letters from students and Battalion
staff talking about the pride they have
in tradition and the beauty of the A&M
campus, but everyone seems to look the
other way when The Battalion is the
cause of the campus being trashed.
I know that The Battalion has to be
run as a business in order to continue,
but I would hope that you and your
staff are a little more interested in sup
plying students with important infor
mation and in keeping the A&M cam
pus litter-free, rather than in making a
buck.
Rick Tumbough
Department of Student Affairs
Find a real problem
to complain about
This letter is in response to Tammy
Brown and the 1992 Traditions Council
letter on Nov. 10. about "Ags leaving
the game early and some even sitting
toward the end of the game."
I'm not writing to antagonize or of-
Even hate speech is free speech
Speech codes and censorship don't just affect bigots
About a month ago I wrote an ar
ticle lamenting what I termed the at
mosphere of enforced conformity at
Texas A&M. I didn't suggest that
there wasn't enough protest going on
here. I did point out that when one
engages in exercising one's right to
free speech on this campus one is
likely to be suppressed. Implicit in
my argument was the idea that you
pretty much had to be a liberal to get
censored around here.
Well, my column earned a per
sonal letter from a more conservative
community member who felt his
right to free speech had been sup
pressed at A&M. He calls himself
Thorz Hammer, and he was particularly angry that The
Battalion would not run an ad promoting his book entitled
WHAM! Confession of a White American Man. The ad
contained the headline "Attention White Aggies," and The
Battalion chose not to run it.
I haven't read Thorz's book, and frankly I don't intend
to read it. His major premise, that white culture is in dan
ger, is laughable. Thorz's fliers are anti-homosexual, anti
feminist and anti-anything but white male. I tend to take
an opposing position on these issues, so Thorz Hammer
and I probably wouldn't have much in common if we hap
pened to meet. However, I do feel strongly about his right
to express himself even though I personally despise the
things he says. At times, we are all pretty lucky that the
First Amendment does not discriminate on the basis on in
telligence.
Thor's claims set me to thinking about the controversial
hate speech codes that a few colleges and cities have enact
ed. These codes create a new category of legal transgres
sion loosely defined as speech (and sometimes graffiti,
signs, etc.) motivated by prejudice against a particular
group on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, religion, or oth
er beliefs. Such codes are intended to punish bigots, homo
phobes, sexists and other such unsavory miscreants. While
I find bigoted, homophobic and sexist speech to all be pro
foundly disgusting, I also find codes against such speech to
be dangerous encroachments on the First Amendment.
After considering the issue I find I'm an absolutist when
it comes to the First Amendment. I value my own right to
free speech too much to suggest curtailing anyone else's
rights. I agree with Wisconsin Chief Justice Nathan Heffer-
nan who wrote, "A statute specifically designed to punish
personal prejudice impermissibly infringes upon an indi
vidual's First Amendment rights .. . The legislature may
not subvert a constitutional freedom - even one as oppro
brious as the right to be a bigot."
As a liberal, I am firmly opposed to conservative at
tempts to legislate morality, particularly morality of the
fundamentalist Christian variety. However, as a thinking
individual I must also stand opposed to liberal attempts to
legislate morality in the form of hate speech codes. We
must by all means punish any crime committed by a bigot
ed, homophobic or sexist person; however, we must allow
his or her speech to remain uncensored in order to protect
our own right to free speech. Inflammatory speech cannot
be considered a crime in and of itself if we are to preserve
the First Amendment.
So, back to Thorz Hammer and his own free speech
gripe. Personally, I believe he has a point. Rules were
probably selectively enforced, and his right to free speech
was likely restricted by campus officials. Playing devil's
advocate, I might also suggest that The Battalion should
have run his ad. Inflammatory ads are a complex issue that
newspapers across the country must confront. Though ad
vertising does not exactly fall under the rubric of a First
Amendment right, the ugly word "censorship" is often
used when an ad is refused.
Thorz' problems aside, any gay bashing, anti-woman,
white supremacist speech is small-minded/backward, mo
ronic and constitutionally protected. Such speech usually
condemns itself with its own logical incongruities. Howev
er, I am still going to do my best to protect my own right to
explicitly condemn hate speech here on this page using the
most inflammatory words possible.
Ralston is a graduate student in English
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fend anyone. I simply want to point
out the absurdity and thoughtlessness
in accusing someone of ignoring the
traditions of Aggieland.
Come on Tammy, I think there are
more important things to worry about
than "bad bull."
You don't know the circumstances
behind someone leaving the game early
or even sitting down.
Could it be that they had a more im
portant engagement than the football
game?
What if a student were to leave a
game early to study for an exam? Some
students actually come to A&M to get
an education and not to participate in
its traditions.
Why do they have to have a valid
reason to leave early anyway? Tammy,
if you think leaving a game early or sit
ting down is an atrocity, imagine this:
After three years, I have yet to attend
fish camp, yell practice, football games,
or even Bonfire!
What is even more appalling is that I
don't say "Howdy," but "Hi" or "Hel
lo."
Now, should such blatant defiance of
tradition be allowed to continue at Ag
gieland?
Perhaps other "two percenters" and I
should be banished from the University
and forced to attend the wretched Uni
versity of Texas at Austin while wear
ing a large, scarlet number "2" on our
chests!
To avoid this, maybe the University
should add a provision to the applica
tion process whereby prospective stu
dents should take an oath swearing to
uphold and respect the many great tra
ditions here at diverse, tolerant and
worldly Texas A&M University.
Dedrick Gerod Walker
Class of '93
Wrongful ticket bill
caused great hardship
An open letter to Parking, Traffic
and Transit Services:
You asked me last spring to pay a
bill that was not mine. You blocked me
from graduation for a parking ticket
even though I do not own a car. You
actually purposely billed me with the
intention in mind that I would pay, un
til you found the owner of the car, my
roommate.
By barring me from graduating, you
dangerously jeopardized my visa status
in the United States; this could have
cost me more than just a few phone
calls. In court, this action could be
called harassment, and in the future, if
this happens again, you will be sued for
it.
My discontent comes not only from
your outright power over scholastic
achievement, but also from the fact that
it could not have happened at a worse
moment.
Besides the visa constraints, every
graduate student knows the endeavor
of obtaining chairperson signatures on
the front page of a thesis, thesis clerk
deadlines, corrections, and the other
thousands of things that come just be
fore graduation.
Your procedures need to be revised,
to say the least. The saddest thing of
all was that I never got an apology.
Is this incident happening that often?
Can we expect such behavior from an
outgrowth of a University that is setting
standards in knowledge and ethics for
future generations? I don't think so.
Do you?
Igor Carrot
Doctoral student
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect
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