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Opinion
Thursday, September 9,1993
The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
|Ull PHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor
DAVE THOMAS, night news editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor
BELINDA BLANCARTE, night news editor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor
MACK HARRISON, opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor
KYLE BURNETT, photo editor
The Battalion
Page 15
NASA 1 icnrd about
my successful jump
aver the moon, so
ncnv tliry wnnt to
send me to Mars...
EDITORIAL
Pull together
Aggies must work past infighting
The composition of the
Texas A&M student body at
(what is now the third-Iargest
university in the United States
is continuing to change as the
school does.
Rapid development sur
rounding an ever-expanding
campus has taken an old, tradi-
iional rural campus and turned
lit into a modern, diverse, and
increasingly urban school.
The positive effect of this is
that increased development in
and around the University of-
iers A&M students better per
sonal as well as school-related
oportunities and resources.
The flip-side is that the Uni-
Iwsity may be too big for its
j»n good.
A&M's time-honored tradi-
aons are becoming increasing-
threatened, as is apparent
the recent dorm infighting
at All-University night and the
police presence at Midnight
11 practice.
Tne infighting that has
erupted between the dorm,
Greek and Corps communities
as well as the liberal and con
servative ideologies has splin
tered the campus and affected
the A&M's traditional reputa
tion of school unity, casting the
school in the image of a subur
ban high school: riddled with
cliques that isolate themselves
from the rest of the campus.
It is only reasonable to as
sume that as long as infighting
continues, it will become an
ever-growing threat to both
A&M s traditions and its im
age.
In an age when college stu
dents are lumped under the
"Generation X h moniker and
characterized as cynical, apa
thetic and derisive, perhaps
some of this recent generation
of A&M students are express
ing their cynicism, apathy and
derision in choosing not to
honor the past, but to bury it
instead.
Even though unintentional,
negative reactions and contin
ued rivalry only lessen the val
ue and purpose of the traditions
A&M has upheld over time.
The clasning ideas of cele
brating diversity versus cele
brating traditions do not nec
essarily have to fight each oth
er, and only when all sides
make allowances for others'
rights and all sides stop antag
onizing each other will the stu
dents at A&M be on common
ground again.
Clarifying a few Texas A&M myths
Some words of wisdom from someone who's been there
W ell, over a
week of the
new semester
has passed and we're
still here — behind al
ready, but here.
One of the many
enormous myths at
A&M is that if a stu
dent gets behind he
can never catch up.
Not true. And as most
of you 6,300 or so
freshmen already
know, everyone, espe
cially parents and old
er siblings, bombards
you with advice on
survival in college. The problem is that stu
dents need to learn how to get through school
their own special way and that all the advice
in Texas won't solve any academic atrocities.
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
Corps,
non-reg until graduation. In addition, I
flunked out one semester, served time at
Blinn, withdrew twice from A&M to avoid
permanent dismissal and worked to support
a nasty sailing habit — not to mention beer.
Now, after three years in the "real world,"
I'm pursuing a master's degree. With this
vast experience, it is my prerogative — nay,
duty — to clear up some college myths.
Grades. They matter. They don't matter. It
depends on what you want. Good grades are
not necessary to get a good job. In fact, your
professor probably made better grades than
Ross Perot, Roseanne Barr or Mother Theresa.
If you consider money to be somewhat
synonymous with success, hard work and
determination can be your "grades."
However, students who wish to be em
ployed by enormous investment, engineer
ing, accounting or law firms, not to mention
medical or veterinary school acceptance,
need excellent grades just to get in the door.
Perhaps things have changed, but as fish
in the Corps my buddies and I were con
stantly told not to worry about our grades
because some OF Ag would hire us just be
cause we were CTs. Some outfits were more
grade conscious than others, but this was still
a prevailing notion.
After seeing non-reg. Corps and fraternity
friends all hit the job market, it seemed most
employers were far more interested in hiring
the best qualified individuals, rather than be
ing influenced by their organizations.
Another freshman myth is that if you miss
a party or a Saturday night at your favorite
hangout, you'll fall a few rungs on the social
ladder. Nothing could be more ridiculous.
After being at sea for two years, I returned to
my favorite watering hole to soak in all the
changes and do a little soaking myself. I was
certain I would be woefully out of place hav
ing not shown my face in so long.
Not only had absolutely nothing changed,
but there were still some of the same
drinkers there. I swear one of them had re
mained on the same stool.
Professors don't care. Big myth. Most in
structors chose their profession because they
didn't really want to leave school. In fact, they
are still students themselves, turning in papers
and worrying about grades (yours), just like in
the Stone Age when they were in school.
As soon as you start to have a problem
with a class, tell your professor. No matter
how gruff or aloof they may seem, educators
usually get a charge out of helping students
who care about the class. This is only a gen
eral rule of course, but of the 60 or more pro
fessors J've had, only one or two didn't ap
pear to care when I approached them. You
can always ream those guys on teacher eval
uations anyway.
Texas A&M doesn't know who you are, or
give a damn. Little myth. As most transfer
students will tell you, Aggie-style cohesive
ness is not the norm among many other uni
versities in Texas or elsewhere. Moreover,
our campus is certainly one of the more
friendly in the country, as told by many a
visitor. All of this overwhelming cama
raderie and friendliness elicits an aura of be
longing and familiarity by the University.
However, we must remember A&M is a
business, an enormous business which has to
be run like one. Money drives this school at
least as much, if not more, than many other
colleges. Deans and professors can't know
everyone in their department like those of a
small school can.
As much as our university seems to love
us, try to stop fee payments, crash your
g ades or get caught hazing, and the love
ucet will shut off just like anywhere else.
Most freshmen will make up their own
minds about what I've said. But nonetheless,
if any of my "wisdom" from making every
mistake possible can help any freshmen gain
insight — or even want to shoot me, then I've
done my job.
Frank Stanford is a graduate philosophy major
RUDDER FOUNTAIN
NO SM0K1N NO SWEARIN NO SPITTIN NO FISH1N
AND NO SWIMM1N
Editorials appearing in The
Battalion reflect the views of
the editorial board. They do
not necessarily reflect the
opinions of other Battalion
staff members, the Texas
A&M student body, regents,
administration, faculty or
staff.
Columns, guest columns,
cartoons arid letters express
the opinions of the authors.
The Battalion encourages
letters to the editor and will
print as many as space
allows. Letters must be 300
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phone number.
We reserve the right to edit
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length, style, and accuracy.
Contact the opinion editor
for information on submitting;
: guest columns.
Address letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
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Mail stop 1111
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College Station, TX 77843
Fax; (409) 845-2647 •
Put litter in its place — and watch out for those alligators!
GUEST
COLUMN
Y ou've proba
bly been
wondering
why one of the
trash cans in the
| Rudder Fountain
area is missing a
lid. Okay, maybe
you haven't, but
since there's an in
teresting story be-
llindit, I'm going
:otell you anyway.
LastWednes- LYNN
jay evening, a I BOOMER
riend/ source of
'nine - hereafter
, to be referred to as
Deep Throat for purposes of concealing
tier identity — was walking by Rudder
Fountain when she saw two "skater
guys" peering intensely into the water.
Someone nearby asked what they were
looking at, to which one of the guys —
we'll call him Joe — replied, "Am alligator."
Deep Throat looked in the fountain
skeptically and was about to move on
when she was persuaded to take a closer
look. Sure enough, an alligator about 18
inches long was "floating around the
fountain with its little nose sticking out of
the water."
Joe, our soon-to-be hero, decided that
this particular fountain was no place for
an alligator and valiantly attempted to
fish it out. After being bitten a couple of
times, he changed his strategy to attempt
ing to scoop up the reptile with his base
ball cap. Not surprisingly, a crowd began
to fo rm.
One resourceful girl took a lid from a
nearby trash can (ah-ha!) and began using
it in much the same manner as Joe's base
ball cap. That too failed, because once the
lid was submerged, it was too heavy to
lift out.
Suddenly, police began showing up,
wanting to know what the problem was.
By the time Joe had scooped up the gator
(yes, with the cap) and put it safely into
the trash can lid, there were three or four
By the time Joe had
scooped up the gator (yes,
with the cap) and put it
safely into the trash can
lid, there were three or four
police officers and a PTTS
officer on the scene.
police officers and a PTTS officer on the
scene.
They skillfully handled the crisis by
calling pest control while members of the
crowd argued,"No! Call someone in vet
erinary sciences!"
Is this beginning to sound like an
episode of "Three's Company"?
In the midst of the mayhem, one of the
police officers actually picked up the alli
gator, put it in the car with him and left
for some unknown destination.
Soon after, the pest control guy
showed up. After being appraised of the
situation, he left and the crowd dispersed,
including Joe, who was obviously upset
that no one had congratulated him on his
courageous capture of the beast.
Deep Throat and friends happened to
still be in the fountain vicinity a little
while later when two guys showed up
and began to casually look into the foun
tain.
"Did you guys lose something?" asked
D.T.
"No," they assured her, and continued
to peruse the water.
"Are you sure you didn't lose some
thing?" continued D.T. "Like maybe a
shirt, some jewelry ... an alligator?"
"How'd you know?!" they demanded.
Easy, guys — the guilty looks. Appar
ently, they had found this gator in their
backyard. They happened to have it on
campus when they decided to go to the
bookstore and realized Alii — that's her
name — couldn't come in with them. So
they stored her in the fountain for safe
keeping. As one explained, "We didn't
think anybody would notice!"
Here's my favorite part: the guys de
cided they'd better go to the police before
the story came out in The Battalion. And
they agreed that the true story would
look bad: "We'd better say she was
stolen." Well, you know what they say —
truth is stranger than fiction.
Lynn Booher is a sophomore English and psy
chology major
I
OCA, RHA, ISA hold
great Welcome Bash
As one who has always taken RHA
for granted, I must say the collaboration
with the International Student Associa
tion and Off Campus Aggies was simply
outstanding!
I could see the hard work put into the
Fall '93 Welcome Bash, and my only re
gret is that more people (especially
freshmen) did not experience this excel
lent event!
Five dollars was a frugal price for free
transportation and buffet-style barbecue
from Gideon's.
Also, Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater
was the only place to hear the live
bands. I especially liked Ballet Folklori-
co's Saber Dance and the dance Jesusita
en Chihuahua.
Were I not graduating in May, I
would be looking forward to Fall '94
Bash — but to those who will be here:
GO!!!
Antoinette Duffey
Class of '93
Young Conservatives
display arrogance
For several years now, I have read
about the antics of the Young Conserva
tives of Texas and the College Republi
cans. However, today was the first time I
witnessed their self-righteous arrogance
in person.
I have just returned from the gather
ing of the YCT that took place in front of
the Academic Building. They met to
whine about the multicultural require
ment that was passed by the Liberal Arts
Council and is being considered by the
Faculty Senate.
I regret that I added some credibility
and excitement to this pathetic "rally" by
openly questioning the YCT representa
tive on his views. He said that multicul-
turalism was defeated at the University
of Texas and should be defeated here at
A&M. The problem is that there is no
comparison between the two issues.
At t.u. officials tried to force one indi
vidual course on the entire student body.
The proposal here calls for students to
choose between a number of classes that
would satisfy the requirement.
The YCT and CR say that required
multiculturalism is indoctrination, not
education. Wake up people!
The purpose of multiculturalism is to
expose you to other cultures, not to
brainwash you into becoming a part of,
or even liking those cultures. Part of the
college experience is learning how to
take the ideas of other and using those
ideas to form your own views.
No one likes having additional course
requirements of any nature, but with the
increasingly diverse society that we live
in, cultural diversity in the curriculum
can only be beneficial. To those who say
that it will foster bigotry and racism, I
say take a hard look in the mirror.
Patrick M. Wilson
Class of '93
Show proper respect
during Silver Taps
It appears that either some do not
know or they do not display the proper
etiquette or signs of respect concerning
Silver Taps.
If you live on campus, please turn off
the lights in your rooms before leaving
for the ceremony.
Please do not hold a conversation or
laugh on your way to or when returning
from the ceremony.
Lastly, please extinguish your smok
ing materials until after Silver Taps has
ended.
Silver Taps is a funeral, please show
respect for those that it honors and treat
it as one.
Wesley Price Bringham
Class of'94
Accompanied by 7 signatures