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The Battalion
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Faculty Friends ad debate continues
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MOSTLY HER GOING IS UP:
THE POETRY OF JESSIE HOLDEN BUTTRAM
A READING AND LECTURE BY
PROFESSOR RAYMOND PETRILLO
Monday, April 18, 1994 8:00 p.m.
All Faiths Chapel
One cannot understand one’s self without understanding
and caring for others
THE LUTHERAN LECTURE SERIES
sponsors: Lutheran Student Fellowship & Dept, of Modem Languages
Handicapped Support Services
Mary Gross
Graduate Student
I would like to thank Professor L. Murphy Smith for helping
:n
swer a question that has bothered me for nearly three years. Eac
mester I find myself reacting to the Faculty Friends’ ad with a vague
combination of resentment and annoyance, an odd feeling whose ori
gin has remained a mystery. I knew that it had to do little with the fact
that I am a Jew in a predominantly non-Jewish community; I spent
three years at Houston Baptist University, a school that makes A&M
look like UC Berkeley. My politics (just left of moderate) also don’t
explain this feeling. Indeed, I wholeheartedly support the group’s
right to run the ad. But then I read Smith argue that Faculty Friends
would never “mistreat the non-Christian students.” Why did I find
this so hard to swallow? The answer is in the ad itself. To treat every
student “fairly” obligates faculty to at least try to treat every student
equally, a task that necessarily requires a separation (to the best of
one’s ability) of the religious and the political from the academic. Stu
dents should be students first, not Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists,
Democrats or Republicans. It seems to me that these categories exert
little influence on a student’s ability to learn or an educator’s ability to
teach. But one look at the, Faculty Friends’ latest ad, with its queer
blend of religion, politics and academics leads me to believe that, con
trary to Smith’s assertion, non-Christian students have legitimate fears.
Can non-Christian students expect “fair” treatment from Faculty
Friends? In the end, the answer doesn’t matter. The point is, no stu
dent should even have to ask the question.
Harry M. Klaff
Graduate Student
• In defending the “Faculty
Friends” constitutional right to
proselytize the students of Texas
A&M University on behalf of Jesus
Christ, professor L. Murphy Smith
rather misses the point.
What is at issue is not the con
stitution, but the abuse of academ
ic authority. There are only two
reasons for faculty members to in
clude their departmental affiliation
in a Christianizing advertisement
in a student newspaper. Either (1)
they wish to provide a means for
students to contact them (in the
words of the ad) “to discuss such
questions,” or (2) they wish to
imply that when they say “there is
ample evidence upon which we
base our faith,” they are speaking
in their professional capacities as
experts in the scholarly evaluation
of evidence. If the reason is (1)
they could as easily supply their
home addresses and telephone
numbers. And if they decline to do
so, insisting that their personal and
professional lives remain separate,
they are revealing that (2) is their real reason. This would also explain
why Faculty Friends is restricted to faculty. For if their primary purpose
is to “witness” on behalf of their faith, surely they would welcomeanj
private individual - student, staff member, local resident - to join them
A professor is not better qualified than a private individual to
the evidence for faith.
David Gershom Up
Assistant ProfessorofEiijlisi
• I would like to clear up a mistake that I have seen in many letters
to the editor over the past two years. It most recently appeared in a
letter by Derek Veazey in which he defended the Faculty Friends ad by
claiming it was protected by freedom of speech. This is not true. If
the Faculty Friends wished to publish a paper or speak on campus and
were denied the opportunity to do so, this denial would be an in
fringement of their right to speak freely. However, what they did was
different. They purchased an ad in a newspaper. While the paper is
protected by freedom of speech, the Battalion staff has the right to
deny publication of any ad.
If, for example (and this is only an example to make a point — I
would never, ever do such a thing), I wanted to run an ad calling for
the death of Reveille and had a picture of a dead collie that I wanted
to include, the Battalion staff could, and probably would choose not
to run such an ad because it would offend many students. The news
paper in doing this would only be exercising its editorial rights. My
rights would not have been violated. This is something that The Bat
talion does every day and has every right to do. Letters to the editor
which contain language that is considered offensive are published at
the staff’s discretion. No one’s right to free speech is violated in this
situation.
If, however, I wanted to stand on a street corner with a bullhorn
and call for the death of Reveille, or I wanted to print a newspaper
that advocated such action, Texas A&M could not prevent me from do
ing so without infringing on my right to free speech and free press,
although Tm sure the campus population would see to it that I would
cease such actions.
Whether The Battalion was right or wrong to run an ad which of
fended a portion of the population it was their decision and one that
they have every right in the world to make. Let me once again state
that this issue has no bearing on freedom of speech! If you are going
to throw around terms like freedom of speech in an attempt to defend
the rights that you have been given by tne Constitution of the United
States, I suggest that you first understand that document and how and
what it protects.
• I would like to respond to Professor Hugh Wilson’s letter about tilt
"unacademic, anti-intellectual, stupid" Faculty Friends ads in The Battalion
1. Professor Wilson states that these ads are "a glaring violation of (lie
American tradition of the separation of church and state.” The protection of
these ads is not based on a tradition but on the First Amendment to tie
Constitutiori of the United States. Referring to the First Amendment, then
torney general of the state of Texas Stated in Opinion H-511 in 19/4that
student religious groups at Texas A&M must have the same access to Univer
sity facilities as oilier student groups. Equal access, presumably, would ap
ply also to religious faculty groups.
2. Professor Wilson also states that “claiming one metaphysical truth to
the exclusion of all others is a violation of a global academic tradition" He
should recall that Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard. Yale and Princeton were all
founded with the express purpose of teaching only one metaphysical irutti,
the Christian religion.
3. Professor Wilson is also concerned that many of the Faculty Friends
are in positions of academic authority. Does he really wish to propose that
tenured professors forfeit their freedom of expression?
4. Finally, I want to respond to Professor Wilson’s concern about theaa
demic quality of the members of Faculty Friends. As for myself, I was one
of the four founders of the Faculty Friends and came to Texas A&M froman
Associate Professorship at Yale after seven years as a post-doc at Stanford
with a Ph.D. degree from Princeton. From the beginning, we restricted
membership in Faculty Friends to those with academic appointments. Pro
fessor Wilson is correct, however, in noting that some of those nowlistedin
the Friends’ ad are not on the faculty. Their names will be removed
the next ad.
John A. Mclntyr
Professor of Physics
Editor’s note: Both sides of the debate over the Faculty Friends advertisement have hear ml
dressed, and The Battalion will not run any more letters on the topic.
Many feminists oppose abortion
In response to James Staley’s letter about the leaders of the feminist
movement, I would like to add another page of history to the picture.
Not all feminists define all sexual activity as rape and advocate abortion
as a method of birth control. I refer to the members of a national organiza
tion founded in 1972 called Feminists for Life of America. These peoph
agree with the first leaders of the feminist movement like Susan B. Anthony:
Alice Paul, author of the original Equal Rights Amendment; and Margaret
Sanger, founder of what became Planned Parenthood, in opposing abortion
They took this stance not only because it is unsafe; they argued that abor
tion takes a human life and ultimately hinders justice for all women.
True feminism celebrates women’s ability to give birth and loves
nurtures every human being, especially die defenseless. There should notbe
competition Detween a mother and her child — a situation created by the
male view that accepts violence as a legitimate solution to conflict and en
couraged individuals to function separately, rather than in harmony witli
each other.
If you would like to meet a current feminist leader, Celeste Dixon, presi
dent of Feminists for Life of Texas, will be speaking on Monday, April 18at
7 p.m. in Rudder 502. Remember, not all feminists are alike.
Sara Graso
Class of '96
Solutions to human overpopulation
Think we need tighter immigration control? Tired of sending money
to hungry nations? Fed up of commercials of starving children in Africa?
What it all boils down to is overpopulation. We will soon be toolargeof
a race for this planet to support. How do we stop this? Stop having so
many children so we don’t overload the carrying capacity of the earth.
But you tell that to the man in India who needs more children to add to
his family income. We can’t expect him to give up his only hope of
livelihood, just so the rest of us can feel comfortable. What next? Abor
tion, birth control. Although birth control is preferable, abortion is ac
ceptable. You say abortion is murder. So is having a baby that you cannot
support. Take your pick — starvation or a coat hanger. Or how about tak
ing euthanasia one step further than legalization. I’m talking about
mandatory euthanasia at a certain age. Birth rates would then be closer
to the death rate — population stabilization. Besides, who wants to drool
on themselves, wear diapers and be pawned off by their children to a
“retirement home?” Not me. It’s all about population control. Or
maybe, as a campus-wide form of population control, we could have a
th<
trash deposit in the Commons for any unwanted babies!
Zach Estes
Class of ‘96
Un-awareness Week idea ‘honored’
Friday
Safe Sex Party
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$.50 Bar Drinks / $1.50 Pitchers
No Cover For Anyone till 10 p.m.
$1.50 Screaming O’s, B-Shots, and Sex On The Beach
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Saturday
Global Party Mix
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Quarter Bar Drinks & $.75 Longnecks till 11 p.m.
No Cover For Anyone Before 10 p.m.
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Hey-hey, according to the Batt, it’s the official "Un-awareness Week"
here at Texas A&M. In honor of un-awareness, I will walk around in a
stupor with horse blinders on (as they suggested), and remain totally
oblivious to the liberal political indoctrination of the Batt and most of
my professors. I mean, for God’s sakes, who am I to question the au
thority of the almighty Battalion, or my all-knowing professors?
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