Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1993)
itioi pittites id. Opinion mmmmmmmMmmMmmmMMMMmMMmMmmMmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmm ;' sp ey ‘ he Mu|; funnel j Is relipin,,, Friday, October 29,1993 lerwise 'ceivej r ' ar 'i.. l w as ln|' n g^ called' ded pr es(; ationsbr. in 8 to cot material," lool pic, 'ommiliee ’ er presei; Rations so- ond, "!• hole ston PRO CON Have Aggie traditions kept their meaning over the years ? Couldn’t we'*ll Have showsrs on campus’ 'STSAP OF HAV'N' To WAir TOR TH' STORM 1 ‘h \r ir i fi ll \ VI , I ll yiC^UUE&E. OF^T-EXAS ^, 1 18T6 W - VS |B8 6^ lIKm v ■ -" MELISSA ROBERT MEGLIOLA VASQUEZ Columnist ' Columnist itin irnia ted Press CH, 5 Of fill Southern 1 , ay as coo. •efighterss r*! Texas A&M is firestorm I a university 300 homes; JL bound by tra- es. dition. As a school f fire refc that grew from an ie smoke I all male military y into La[- college to the third uYstal rests lar gest school in alf-gutteii: the nation, a&M destroyed e continues to main tain a small school :ked the Pad atmosphere due to allowing;; camaraderie and y on footo; devotion to the t-University. Al- people ak though some tradi- rnakethetr tions have changed devastate over the years, iid as he tst their inherent meaning has remained the nigh debris: same. ie. “This "t Aggie Muster is one of the strongest s burnt and most visible traditions at A&M. This to salvage; year, on April 21, Aggies will again Muster worldwide. Each year there are in dabbed 1 over 400 university recognized Aggie she wait: Musters. On campus, roughly 8,000 Ag- he remnant gi es w jii pack g. Rollie White Coliseum e lost Wed to celebrate Muster. This year for the first time, overflow seating will be available in /'shesaid. Rudder Auditorium, jn declared: Originally, Aggie Muster was held at ties and ft the end of the school year and served as a 1 help fori time for students and former students to hunted tht socialize and celebrate their time at the ■ forsomec Agricultural and Mechanical College of neighbor^ Texas. In the late 1890s, Muster was moved to April 21, in order to coincide :es signaled with the celebration of San Jacinto Day. Santa Ana; A roll call for the absent was added as dnesday fa® Aggies began to notice how many of their restorms ft pieers had given their lives at war. icrth of Loe Muster at Texas A&M is a celebration of Mexico boi: the meaning of being an Aggie, a mean- . blow thro: ing that has not changed over the years, rnia every: : At 10:30 pm on the first Tuesday of ast of LosM every month, students gather in darkness at the Academic Plaza to pay respects to ly of firefig® any currently enrolled Aggie who passed to steadily® 1 away during the previous month. When the family members of the deceased come •es raged oif to campus, they are greeted by a body of re partially 1 students who honor the tradition just as it fires threat® has been honored for nearly 100 years. Large attendances at Yell Practice also exhibit student involvement in traditions. The biggest Aggie Yell Practice, Texas Aggie Bonfire, has grown from what was once a burning trash heap to a semester long project that involves students from A&M continues to maintain a small school atmosphere due to camaraderie and de- ^ votion to the University. Although some traditions have changed over the years, their inherent mean ing has remained the same. PliHHO... 'T HAS AUVAV5 BSgM 'AT WAV/... It'* A TAAplTiOM 'ROOMP HBRBfy T II 1 mor Biolog! acology iology hematics ology all over campus. Aggie Bonfire continues to burn each year as a symbol of Aggie pride and unity and our burning desire to beat the hell outta t.u. Its symbolism re- I mains unchanged. | Out of respect to "All Aggies who larPathoM have lost their lives in wars past, present and future," A&M students, faculty and f visitors remove their hats and refrain from walking on the grass when at the Memorial Student Center. The building continues to stand, as it has since 1951, as a living memorial to those Aggies. $21K annuo y exas a&M continues to grow and I $24Kforti diversify, traditions are essential to keep ring the Aggie family intact. Frank Cox, a |former yell leader, often tells a story in Iwhich his daughter was out of town with -titivc sal(A ^ am Hy friends. While in the hotel lobby, she approached two men and began talk- educationf i^g t0 them. When her friend scolded her D. Andeft 1 for talking to strangers, she replied, "He . d wasn't a stranger. Didn't you see his Ag- vd > gie ring?" portunitylwff ' vironment Meli S sa Megliola is a senior industrial engineering major F rom Elephant Walk to Silver Taps, from Howdy to Humpin' it, tradi tions set Texas A&M apart from all other universi ties. My first day here, I learned about the billions of traditions that pervade this com munity. Prompted by tour guides, wan dering herds of vis itors yelled "Howdy!" at each other. "That's what Aggies say as they pass each other bah," the tour guide said. "Perfect strangers will walk up to yewww and say 'Howdy!'" she said. I thought that a rather friendly tradi tion. I had heard the word "howdy" in a movie once, but had never actually spo- No mention is made new traditions we have be gun. What keeps today's Aggies from starting new traditions? Why are we so afraid to stray from old and venture into the new — choose the road not taken? ken it. Still, I thought I would be a "good Ag" and uphold this tradition. "Howdy," I'd say to people as I passed. A few would say, "hi." Some would say, "howdy." And a large majori ty simply kept walking. I didn't feel friendly. I felt stupid. Legend has it that everyone at A&M used to say "howdy." This campus pur portedly was teeming with good Ags who observed and upheld every tradition imaginable. But these days. Aggies who remember what A&M used to be witness the de creasing number of "howdies" they hear... and rings dunked in beer... and students who aren't queer... And they long for the good ol' days. "Too many of today's students are leaching off the traditions started by old Aggies," some say. "They come here and take advantage of the system, but they don't contribute anything. They don't give anything back." They raise a good question. What are we giving back? No mention is made of new traditions that we have begun. What keeps today's Aggies from starting new traditions? Why are we so afraid to stray from old and venture into the new — choose the road not taken? We cling to the past with no eye for the . present. And what do we leave for the fu ture? The sun rises; children grow; apples ripen. And the world evolves. Why shouldn't we? Are traditions what they used to be? Of course not. This campus used to be all male, all military. Now, the University has opened its doors to women. Pressed uniforms have been replaced by jeans and t-shirts. The staid customs of an A&M past are being visited by what A&M has become. But that doesn't mean we should de spair. We should embrace the traditions that recognize the proud aspects of our past, and we should create new traditions that celebrate what we are. As one Aggie said, the Texas A&M of today is like Levi jeans. We're a loose in terpretation of the original. But that's better than t.u. and all those other schools. They're like 7-Up. They never had it. And they never will. Robert Vasquez is a senior journalism major The Battalion Page 11 Load, ready ... NRA aims to kill Shooting down the Brady Bill hurts all involved I am an ardent supporter of both the Nation al Rifle Association and my right to keep and bear arms. That said, I do however take great exception to the NRA's unyield ing opposition to the Brady Bill. This bill seeks to institute a five day waiting period for firearm purchases so as to allow for background checks on the purchaser. It also would restrict the sale and possession of assault weapons. Regrettably, the Brady Bill has languished around the capitol for several years now, the victim of political logjamming. The U.S. far outdistances all other in dustrialized nations in homicides, leading President Clinton himself to describe ours as "the most dangerous big country in the world." Rising inmate populations convey a clear indication of how the overall crime rate has continued to spiral. In federal prisons alone, inmate population is pro jected to snowball from the current 79,000 to 100,000 by the turn of the century. Something must be done. Recently, the Brady Bill has been rein troduced as part of a broad anti-crime plan being proposed by the Clinton administra tion. Elsewhere, this plan would fund the placement of more police on the streets, re store the death penalty for killers of police officers and limit the appeals process in capital murder cases. In these dire times, perhaps the greatest hurdle to attempts at anti-crime legislation has been the National Rifle Association and the sympathetic lawmakers in its hip pocket. The NRA is the ultra-powerful lobby group that promotes the rights of Americans to "keep and bear arms." The association feels that the Brady Bill cannot be passed, either by itself or in conjunction with some other piece of legislation, be cause it will then open the door to a wave of new anti-gun legislation. The supposed final result would be an eventual outright ban on firearms possession by private citi zens. I have a real problem with this reason ing. The very fact that the Brady Bill has been stalled all this time is directly attrib utable to the tremendous political clout the NRA enjoys. The Brady Bill has long en joyed a sizable following among lawmak ers and interest groups alike. However, citing the domino effect, the NRA has been able to strong-arm the matter and render the bill impotent. I can see no viable argument that can be made against the bill itself. This bill seeks simply to confirm whether an individual is fit to own a weapon. There is not one law- abiding citizen who would be refused a firearm under this bill. The only individu als penalized would be those unfit to own a weapon in tine first place — criminals. In this day and age, it is impossible to dispute the value of such a statute. I am not sug gesting that this law would eliminate crim inals acquiring weapons. 1 do believe though that if there is any way in which we may forestall the ease with which weapons are currently had, then this mea sure must be exercised. In the end, what is five days? As an avid hunter, I cannot argue against the ban of so-called assault weapons either. Having hunted for years, 1 have never come across a hunter utilizing such weapons. These weapons are in fact not even practical for hunting. If you con sider then that the vast majority of those who own such weapons are criminals, the import of this second plank of the Brady Bill becomes all too clear as well. One of the hallmarks of the United States are the unrivaled liberties that Americans enjoy. However, there are those lawbreakers who would deny others these liberties, and it is here that the gov ernment must always intercede. In this particular case, the government must be "freed" to pass a Brady Bill that will con currently preserve the people's rights and clamp down on crime. The Brady Bill is not the issue over which the NRA should draw a line in the sand. This bill simply solidifies the unde niable fact that guns are not for everyone, although at the moment their availability would seem to suggest otherwise. The prospect of future, more restrictive gun- control measures alone is not an accept able reason to contest this bill. In support ing this bill, the NRA will find that it is in deed protecting those of us it serves. The NRA has demonstrated the ability to beat down virtually any piece of firearms legis lation it wishes. This is hardly the time or place to wield such power. Jason Sweeney is a senior political science major JASON SWEENEY Columnist A.R.M.Y. offers great support to athletes In response to Stephanie Reed's letter to Mail Call on Wednesday, Oct. 27, I would first like to apologize to you if A.R.M.Y. embarrasses you. But I feel you have the wrong impression of our group. The incident in which we "disrupted the match" was a simple case of new members wandering over to motivate their coach, who was actively enticing the crowd. A member of our Athletic Department asked us not to, so we walked back. End of story. The incident with "not allowing their player enough room to serve" was sim ply caused by her serving 15 feebbehind the back line. Our members were still in the bleachers. She chose to serve there. Again, we moved back a couple of feet, and play continued after a five second pause. A.R.M.Y. prides itself in being part of A&M's world class community. Un like fans at other schools, we never cuss. We never badmouth opposing players. We never do anything but wildcat. Yes, we are loud; we are motivated, but we are classy. Ask any coach or player, and they will tell you A.R.M.Y. is a huge plus for their programs. I do not believe visitors leave G. Rol lie with a bad impression, rather they are usually amazed (especially recruits) by the dedication and enthusiasm of our members. About A.R.M.Y. going down Hwy. 21, we will gladly take you up on that offer, since we will be roadtripping there to support our teams. We've al ready been down Hwy. 6 both ways! (Baylor and Rice) But on to more important matters. The Lady Aggies play t.u. next Wednes day for a share of the conference title. Don't come to see A.R.M.Y. embarrass or not embarrass the school. Come see the Fightin' Texas Aggies beat the hell outta some teasips! Martin Carcasson A.R.M.Y. president Accompanied by 27 signatures Margraves should answer accusations I would like to challenge Mr. Mar graves to clear up the recent controversy surrounding some of his actions by ei ther writing an article in The Battalion explaining the recent information brought into light by the school newspa pers or explaining it to me, and I'll write an article. I feel that the students here at Texas A&M deserve the courtesy of an expla nation as to why you need to ride around in a limo and run up several hundred dollars at a country club while they (the students) work a job 20 hours a week in addition to going to school to pay for your comfort and high living (I have yet to receive my thank you let ter).. If what you did was really ok, then writing an article explaining why it's ok should be no problem. I am a little con fused because my parents always taught me that living off of the sweat from an other's brow was not right (except to politicians), so a little clarification of the facts would help me out a lot. Your si lence only causes students to suspect you have something to hide. Surely, you are not too busy with university af fairs to clear up a little confusion, as well as your good name. Jim Anders Class of '93 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 right to edit letters and guest columns for length, style, and accuracy. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Address letters to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Mail stop 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 Fax: (409) 845-2647