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Thursday, September 30,1993
The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
JULI 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
EDITORIAL
The Battalion
A century of service to A&M
The Battalion
Page 11
Why do journalists put up with it all?
What has drawn staffers to The Battalion all these years?
MACK
HARRISON
Opinion editor
P ardon our narcis
sism this week —
we're celebrating.
It's not every day your
newspaper turns 100.
As you nave probably
gathered by now. The
Battalion is commemo
rating its centennial
year of publication.
One hundred years
of newsprint. One hun
dred years of writers
rushing to meet dead
lines. One hundred
years of editors harass
ing writers about dead
lines. One hundred
years of Battalion
staffers rushing to get the paper to the printers
before press time.
Why do we do it? Why do writers, pho
tographers, editors and graphic artists put
themselves through the stressful, frenetic
pace of the newspaper business?
It’s certainly not for the paycheck. Battalion
staffers haven't always been paid — in fact,
most of us started out not expecting to get
E aid. Any money you receive you regard as a
anus — extra spending money. No one ever
bought a new car on a journalist's salary.
Most Battalion staffers end up balancing
the newspaper, schoolwork, at least one oth
er part time job and whatever social life they
still have energy for. Usually, the grades are
the first to go.Tm sure a few staffers manage
to make good grades and still work on the
Batt, but I can't recall any.
If we don't do this for the cash, then why?
Why do writers spend hours waiting to talk
to a source that may not even call? Why do
good on the page?
Once the printers' ink gets in your veins,
it's over.
A reporter will work for weeks on a story,
interviewing reluctant sources and sifting
through wild rumors only to find out that the
murder coverup she was investigating was ac
tually just a drunk graduate student who cut
himself with a grapefruit knife and didn't tell
anybody.
A news editor will get home in the early
morning hours after laying out the newspa
per, see a story on CNN and go back to the
newsroom to pull that story off the AP wire
and put it in next day's edition.
A sportswriter will travel to an away
game at his own expense and return home to
deal with an uncooperative Sports Informa
tion Department.
A photographer will spend an hour and
several rolls of film trying to catch the best
image with her camera — only to be told
there’s no space for it to run that day .
An editor will handle irate phone calls and
pressure from the University administration
whenever someone takes offense to the most
minor p>oint of debate in the newspaper.
An entire staff will resign when it feels the
hand of censorship closing about the news
room.
Why do we do all this? Why do we put up>
with angry readers, reluctant sources and an
apathetic public?
Because, damn it, it's the greatest feeling in
the world. To have the paper go to press
knowing you're the ones whove just broke a
major Story — you are telling the world about
something it had never heard of until now.
It doesn't matter if you wrote the story, as
signed it, edited it or photographed it. You
may even work in a different section of the
paper —- it doesn't matter. It's a team effort
and you know you did your part.
You'll sit in a bar and talk shop all night
long, because you love what you do so much.
This camaraderie binds The Battalion staff
together. Journalists here express their love
for Texas A&M by doing their best to pro
duce the £>est newspaper they possibly can,
one that serves its readers: the students, staff
and faculty of Texas A&M.
It is this lofty goal that the founders of the
Battalion set out to achieve; it is this same
goal that we, their descendants, are still striv
ing to carry out.
Mack Harrison is a senior agricultural
journalism major
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The Battalion celebrates its
centennial with a special com
memorative edition today. The
staff has spent the last month re
searching the history of the
newspaper as well as the history
of Texas A&M. We have uncov
ered some great stories from the
past, and we have put them to-
ether into what should be a
eepsake for anyone who appre
ciates A&M history.
Now, as The Battalion enters
its second century, we can look
forward to the future. The peo
ple from the past who have
made The Battalion the ac
claimed newspaper that it is to
day have set tremendously high
standards for us to follow.
Those standards must be met
I every day when the paper
reaches the newsstands^ We can
only hope that we^continue to v
raise these goals even higher for
the staffs that follow.
As journalists, we are obligat
ed to provide people with all of
the news — not just the good
news, and not just the bad news.
Yet as students, we all attend
class, work on homework and
take tests just like the rest of the
student body.
Just like anyone who works
while going to school, some
times work and school conflict.
And, occasionally, mistakes will
happen. But unlike the engi
neering or chemistry laboratory
where students can learn in pri
vate sessions about their crafts,
our "laboratory" is seen by
42,000 people every day.
Still, the quality of the news
paper continues to improve as
the quality of journalism stu
dents attending Texas A&M
improves.
Also, students from other
academic fields are finding that
you don't have to be a journal
ism major to work on the pa
per. All you need is an inquisi
tive mind and an interest in the
University.
With all of these things going
for us, we hope the higher stan
dards we set for The Battalion
can be passed on to future gen
erations. In this way, we can in
sure that the people of Texas
A&M can enjoy The Battalion
for another 100 years.
© Cb -ec -i
100years of ‘Howdy letters at Texas A&M
Details 1, 1893
/if writtty to v-oici my Jfsp teas art oiks
tii iyiosait ftsimm tvio nfre to say
Howdy os campus, 7~k/s coHcyt was tsum-
owe 10 more yearns at this ratt, iut at least
wt stiff do* t iaoe fates sit its.
/ffso, ties damspdact suds a fotiaff
team so wi cas icat tic fftffoutta t.u./
ffosi/L
/(for times Tcd'/fss
Cdass otf ’97
October I, 1993
I’m writing to uoice my dis
pleasure ouer the Ignorant
freshmen who refuse to say
‘Howdy’ on campus. This col
lege won’t suruiue 10 more
years at this rate, and the
dope fiends, democrats and
fraternities are all behind it.
But at least we’ue got Bon-
Far! lUhoop!!
Mortimer “Red” Rss IU
Class of ’97
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 and 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
words or less and include the
author's name, class, and
phone number.
We reserve the ri^ht to edit
length, styleTand accuracy.
Contact the opinion editor
for information on submitting
guest columns.
: Address letters to;
The Battalion - Mail Call
Mail stopITIt ; ;
Texas A&M University
:: College Station, TX 77B43
:• Fax: $09) 845-2647
IP X.
Today's campus newspaper: A hundred years in the making
A fter four
months of
researching,
writing and edit
ing, The Battalion
staff has finished
the 100th anniver
sary issue.
All of those late
nights in the news
room and count
less hours spent in
the University
Archives culminate
with the release of
today's special sec
tion.
A lot of us
around, the newsroom were worried
about this issue. After all, it's not every
day that your editor asks you to report on
100 years of Battalion and Texas A&M
history.
But, we lived through it, and we
learned a lot along the way.
When we first laid out the plans for
this edition, none of us had any idea of
what we had gotten ourselves into. We
knew little about the history of A&M —
and even less about the history of our
own newspaper. That soon changed.
We learned that this University has
seen many changes during the 100 years
that The Battalion has existed. When the
newspaper first rolled off of the presses in
1893, only 500 students attended Texas
A&M College, and all were members of
the Corps. A&M's current enrollment
surpasses 43,000 students and 1,900 are
Corps members.
We learned that some of these changes
have not come without controversy.
When the school decided to admit
women in 1963, 4,000 students booed
A&M President Earl Rudder when he
made the announcement.
One student said, "Co-education
would make A&M just like any other
cookie-pushing school. It could ruin us."
We learned that A&M has many inter
esting anecdotes about what the school
used to be like. For example, in 1918, in
the midst of World War I, increasing
numbers of students and army personnel
on campus prompted the College to set
up tents in front of the YMCA Building to
provide housing for A&M's growing
population.
And, the College even has an unsolved
case of its own. Old Main, the College's
first building, was destroyed by fire in
1912, and College officials never deter
mined the cause of the fire. Even a com
mittee formed to investigate the blaze
was unsuccessful. To this day, no one
knows how the fire started.
We learned that controversy has be
come a tradition here at The Battalion.
Controversy has become a
tradition here at The Battal
ion. One of the first inci
dents occurred in 1908
when A&M President Hen
ry Harrington suspended
seven members of the staff.
One of the first incidents occurred in 1908
when A&M President Henry Harrington
suspended seven members of the staff for
printing an article that disputed a com
ment he had made.
In 1967, President Earl Rudder fired
Battalion Editor Tom DeFrank because of
an unsigned letter that appeared in the
"Letters to the Editor" column. The ac
tion was the climax in an ongoing conflict
between the newspaper and the adminis
tration. DeFrank w^nt on to become the
senior White House correspondent for
Newsweek.
In collecting all of this information, the
Batt staff virtually moved into the Uni
versity Archives. In fact, during the last
two weeks I barely saw my writers.
Every so often a few would come in to tell
me about all of the interesting anecdotes
they uncovered. At one point, my writers
told me that the workers at the archives
even offered them food.
And we still managed to put out a
quality newspaper.
On a more personal note, last week I
had the opportunity to meet a truly re
markable woman who had some interest
ing stories to tell about A&M.
Amber May Threlkeld was bom on the
A&M campus in 1894, only one year after
The Battalion began publication. Her
great-grandfather, John Carson, donated
the land on which the University was built.
She lived on the A&M campus with
the rest of her family. Amber said she re
members that when she was a child,
cadets often visited her parents. She said
she was fascinated by the cadets and
wanted to take part in their activities.
"I marched with my little broom," she
fondly recalled. "I had my little toy
broom. I'd have that as my gun."
Amber continued to live on campus af
ter she married. Her husband worked at
the College's power plant. She gave birth
to her son and daughter in a log house on
campus.
Mrs. Threlkeld donated many of the
pictures appearing on the cover of the
special section. I thank her and her fami
ly for their hospitality last week during
our visit.
I congratulate everyone who worked
on the special section. Everyone did a
spectacular job. Such people have made
this newspaper what it is today, and such
people will continue to uphold the high
standards The Battalion has maintained.
To the staffs that have preceded us,
you've left us with some awfully big
shoes to fill. I only hope that we live up
to the legacy that you have left behind.
Happy 100th, everyone. Here's to an
other 100 years.
Mark Evans is a senior biology and
journalism major.
MARK
EVANS
City editor
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MAIL CALL
North audience tries
to silence protester
A lone Aggie chose to exercise his
right to free speech and protest the
Oliver North speech on campus. As he
stood with his sign outside the audito
rium before the speech, alone against
the thousands who poured inside, he
was insulted, taunted, jeered, physical
ly threatened and followed until a few
conscientious Aggies whisked him
away from the area.
The Aggie Democrats denounced
North, calling him a disgrace. Their ra
tionale for not protesting was that they
were more interested in education than
ugliness. I saw no educational informa
tion around campus preceding North's
visit, and certainly, demonstrations need
not be ugly.
I imagine they were just plain scared.
Scared of the personal attacks and violent
insults that would be hurled at them,
rather than following any convictions.
This is the type of oppression and in
timidation we have come to expect at
A&M. It is also in direct violation of
civil and constitutional rights given to
U.S. citizens.
No one comes here expecting to find a
liberal haven. But one would expect a ba
sic respect for fellow man — a basic re
spect for the Bill of Rights. This students
here are benefiting daily from freedom of
speech, yet think it a selective right. And
the aggression and violence that follows
this misconception only turns inward and
unleashes itself on fellow Aggies.
Aggies are well known for blindly
and angrily following their conservative
agenda, while knowing little about the
issues they so violently support. This is
why the Ku Klux Klan knew a ripe re
cruiting ground when it saw one. This is
why Oliver North came here, despite be
ing an indicted criminal.
It is also why, sadly, only one person
had the courage to protest an event that
would have been met with extreme con
troversy anywhere else.
Eileen Murphy
Graduate student
Multiculturalism —
Give it a rest. Aggies
So much has been going around
about the proposed multicultural re
quirement, I just had to say something to
both sides; GIVE IT A REST! If anyone
thinks that a multicultural requirement
is going to lessen the image of Texas
A&M University or somehow change
what it means to be an Aggie, they are
out of their minds.
Wanna know what multiculturalism
is? Look around sometime, y'all. The
same people you go to class with every
day are white, African-American, His
panic, Asian, International, Christian,
Jewish, Muslim, straight, gay, male, fe
male — whatever. Whether or not you
give a damn about their culture is moot.
What makes this place great is that
these are the same people you go to
Midnight Yell with, stand up as a part
of the 12th Man with, say "Howdy" to.
build Bonfire with, put your arm
around to saw varsity's horns off
with,and who you shed a tear for at Sil
ver Taps and Muster.
If the administration wants us to take
a multiculturalism class, fine. Great.
Don't worry about political indoctrina
tion; Aggies are way above brainwash
ing. If you disagree with your prof,
you're not going to suddenly jump up in
class and say, "Wow! Tm going to totally
change my belief system based on your
last lecture!" You might even learn some
thing interesting, if you're not careful.
Ags, don't whine about a mere speed
bump on the road to getting that Aggie
Ring and an A&M diploma. Just show
everyone what we already know; if the
world's citizens were as willing to drop
their differences to become a part of
something better, they may someday ap
proximate the greatness that defines the
fightin' Texas Aggies.
Scott Rylander
Class of'94