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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1995)
Wednesday • April 5, 1995 '.,'i:cS;'3 The Battalion • Page 13 MfrGeHJUBS The Battalion Established in 1893 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. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. EDITORIAL BOARD Mark Smith Editor in chief Jay Robbins Heather Winch Senior Managing Managing editor editor for Business Sterling Hayman Opinion editor Erin Hill Asst, opinion editor EDITORIAL Vote again, Ags It is just as important to make educated votes in the A&hA run-off elections. With the end of regular student government elections last week, many students might think there is nothing left to do except wait until the elections are held again next year. However, the job of political participation is not quite over yet. Polls open tomorrow in the run off election, which is just as im portant as the main election. In fact, since the field of candidates now is much smaller, we must pay clos er attention to the qualifica tions and platforms of those who are still in the pool. The stake is the same. We are still elect ing the leaders for our student body. Traditionally, fewer people show up for a runoff than for the elec tion itself. Hopefully, that trend will not con tinue this year. This year’s primary election had 2,000 more voters partici pate than last year. Even with the increase, only 24 per cent of the student body participated in the election. Although there is still a long way to go, we can see an in crease in interest and participation in the elections. First-time student elec tion voters should keep in mind the importance of the run-off election. On April 6, the races for Student Body President, RHA President and several offices in the Classes of ’96, ’97 and ’98 fi nally will be decided. These races are as pressing as they were the first time. The issues and the candidates should be weighed as seriously as before. In particular, stu dents should consider carefully the goals, plans and qualifica tions of Carl Baggett and Toby Boenig. One of these two people will be our Stu dent Body President next year. It is not unreasonable to hope that the student body president is elected by the student body as a whole, not by a few students — possibly a tiny percentage — who just happen to show up. So little time, so many lists Obsessive list-making shouldn't manipulate one's entire life Jenny Magee Columnist L ists are an integral part of my life. I make them for every thing. Things to do today. Things to do over the sum mer. Things to during the course of my lifetime. Things to do when ab solutely nothing else can be done. There is something so satisfying about crossing off one of the numbered items on a "things-to-do” list. I soak up that small feeling of accomplishment like dry skin drinking in lotion. Some how it makes the world feel more stable to have things more done rather than less done. Sometimes die-hard list-makers find it nice to include easy things on our things-to-do list just for the inflat ed sense of productivity we feel when we look back at a list of 45 numbered items that have been officially crossed out. Of course the list consists of things such as 1. Wake up 2. Open eyes 3. Get out bed. List-makers on occasion will en counter anti-list-makers who degrade the art of itemized organization. One such skeptic is Paul Reiser, star of the TV series “Mad About You” and author of “Couplehood.” In “Couple- hood” he writes, “Some people have sta tionary that already says Things To Do Today.” Why do we need that? The reason you’re writing it down in the first place is because you want to do it. I think that’s fairly obvious. Which brings up a rather interesting point: I don’t need to write down a list of things-to-do to as a memory aid. I never forget. Pop-quiz me at any time during the day, and I can spout off my list of ILlXGM. things-to-do with unfail ing precision. Basically, to be totally honest, I am just killing trees. Every day, without so much as a thought, I jot down my oh-so impor tant itinerary in hopes of giving a little order to this mixed-up world. Maybe I’ll add it to the list, 46. Kill tree. More devastating than the thought of slaughtered trees and barren forests is facing the thing-to-do that can’t be done. In the modern world there are many strong forces that work diligently against plans of productivity. Sunny weather, rainy weather, per sonal triumphs, personal tragedies, slow drivers, long lines and endless others that differ with each situation. Sometimes die-hard list makers will alter item wording in order to cross the thing off the list, a helpful hint we learned from politicians. For example, 23. Read Chapter 13 in Economics book, could become 23. Read page 35 in Economics book. Which is along the same lines as “Read my lips, no new taxes” that became, “Listen to my whisper, OK, we need a few more taxes.” Listmakers want to be productive but nobody ever specified how productive we actually have to be. Which of course is untrue — there Eire a lot of societal rules about what things which people are supposed to be doing. That is one of the reasons we are here, studying at A&M right now, so that we can go out in the world and be productive members of our individual fields. We face career pressures, relation ship pressures, financial pressures and moral pressures every day. Lucky for us, societal expectations change through the course of time. A few short decades ago, all the single, twentysomething girls on this campus would have been considered washed-up, old maids. And attending a coed univer sity would certainly not have been on our things-to-do list. Often much more constraining than society’s expectations are our own per sonal expectations. Many people, even those who shun list making, have a mental timeline for their lives. They want to graduate by age 22, be making $75,000 a year and be married by 28, have two kids and a summer home by 33, and the list continues, clean, clear and rational. The only problem with our mental things-to-do timelines is life. My father likes to remind me often of an old say ing, “Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.” We are all bound by limitations of time, circumstance and control. How many times have our worst ex periences blossomed into the best possi ble results in retrospect? Oftentimes, the reason why that mo ment, when the world crumbles like cook ies around us, is so awful is because the event that became reality contradicted our personal thing-to-do list. Its funny but it seems the one thing I can’t remember to do when I face the cookie crumbs should be number one on my list. 1. Accept current situation and make the best of it. Jenny Magee is a junior English and journalism major (>. -slMe of dAUFO'C.vHA mtocnovi. (wvAr FHf y WJTIVl se* 0 i USl ftCIL ^ ■SdWLT'-'- -Vo te. A _ Ask. Wa IhuWb- f 'hSiOrv. wu\ Squads left. Squads right! Corps block voting is alright Drew Diener Columnist W ithout a doubt, yell leaders are the foremost representa tives of Texas A&M Univer sity’s undying spirit and traditions. Be they huddled behind the goalpost at the north-end of Kyle Field coaxing a point- after at tempt through the uprights, or taking turns telling motivational stories about “Ole Rock” at Mid night Yell, or addressing the public at any num ber of speaking engagements throughout the school year, yell leaders are forever cast in the spotlight as the champions of Aggie spirit and tradition. Each spring, the student body elects three se niors-to be and two juniors to-be to serve as yell leaders for the upcoming school year. A whole slew of energetic, red ass Aggies enter the race, but only five emerge as yell leaders, the most recognizable and visible representatives of Texas A&M University. Unlike officer elections, yell leader elections do not allow for runoffs. Should there be? Opinions differ on this matter, as a bill introduced this past year in the Student Senate indicates. The bill, which missed being passed by two votes, called for runoffs in yell leader elections. Although the bill is dead, the ar gument continues. One proponent of yell leader runoffs believes that the current means of electing the most recog nizable and visible representatives of Aggieland is unfair to non-reg candidates. The well-known prac tice of block voting by the Corps almost always assures that the five “C 2 orps-en- dorsed” candidates will win, although such has not been the case on two occasions in the last four years. For example, three “corps-endorsed” candidates for senior yell leader finished first, second and third with 24.8 percent, 20.7 percent and 18.7 per cent of the vote, respectively. Meet your three se nior yell leaders for the 1995-96 school year: David Kemp, Michael Thornberry and Henry Hewes, all members of the Corps of Cadets. Although none of the three has the majority of the vote or even close, which would be mathemati cally impossible given the number of candidates, they have nevertheless “won” the election and without a run-off that would include Ron Mo, who received 13.1 percent of the vote and finished fourth, they do not have to worry about campaign ing for the remaining 22.7 percent of the vote that was originally thrown behind three other non-reg candidates and one other Corps candidate. If there was a run-off and Mo was able to gar ner half of the 22.7 percent of the vote that origi nally went to the four other candidates and Kemp, Thornberry and Hewes split the other half, the 1995-96 senior yell leaders would be Kemp (28.5), Thornberry (24.4) and Mo (24.4). The implementation of yell leader runoffs would greatly change the way campaigns for its five positions are waged. Block voting by the Corps in the primary election might still guaran tee that its candidates would be the initial top vote getters, but a run-off would almost guaran tee that a non-reg would sneak up and snatch away one of the spots, at least in the senior run off, a la Ron Mo. So goes the argument for a run-off. But is there really a need to drag-out the cam paign and election process for a group of individu als who are merely symbols of Aggie spirit and tradition? We are talking about yell leaders not the Student Body President. Their job is to inspire the 12th Man on sun drenched Saturday afternoons in the middle of September at Kyle Field, not to set a legislative agenda for the student government. Their job is to keep us laughing with stories about “Ole Rock” at bitter cold Midnight Yell practices in late November, not to act as a liaison to the state legislature or Board of Regents. Their job is inform us when to tell “the bus dri ver” to sit down or when to give the referee a “horse laugh,” not to lobby on behalf of student in terests to important people that can do something about them. Given the job description and duty of a yell leader as opposed to that of Student Body Presi dent or any other elected officer, a run-off would not serve the same kind of purpose as a run-off does for other offices. A yell leader is a symbol of Aggieland, a willing ambassador of its customs and its culture, no more and no less. If non-regs want to insure that one of their own will wear the game whites of a yell leader on Satur day afternoons in the Fall, than they should form a coalition or coalitions of their own and block vote like the Corps, if of course it is that important to them who is telling them when to “give em’ a horse laugh” or when to scream at that damn “bus driver.” Drew Diener is a junior English major Silver Taps indicative of true Aggie spirit Around election time, we tend to hear a lot about divisions in Aggieland. I remember being at Silver Taps last month, thinking about this very same subject. It’s dark at Silver Taps, and from a distance you can’t tell whether or not someone is wearing a uniform. All you know is that they are an Aggie. So you stand beside them, and for a while, it doesn’t matter who you are or who they are. For a few minutes, we’re all just Texas Aggies. For a moment, it’s just that simple. This division nonsense is our own fault, really. We all fall into the trap of thinking less of someone based on who they are, what they wear or what organizations they’re in. It’s very easy to stereotype. It’s much hard er to make an honest effort to under stand your fellow Aggies. The next time you’re tempted to look down on a fellow Aggie, I challenge you to stop and think. Think about what’s written on the back of the Sul Ross stat ue. Think about why we don’t walk on the grass around the MSC and why we take our hats off when we go inside. Think about the stories of the Congres sional Medal of Honor winners who have been Aggies. Think about why we have Aggie Muster, and think about what the Aggie Ring stands for. Then think about the elections, and remem ber what it means to be a Texas Aggie. See you at the next Silver Taps. Chris Williams Class of ’96 Candidates should not change rules of Corps This letter is a response to all the letters that have been printed on the yell leaders. As a student at A&M, where tradi tion seems to be the base of the school, it seems really out of place that every one wants to change all the rules. When you run for Homecoming Queen and don’t get nominated, you don’t declare yourself a candidate and walk on the football field at half time. So why would you do that for a yell leader position? Even if a person thought he was the best candidate, and it was his love for this school that made him go astray, it just shows great arrogance for himself, and great unity of the Corps. I am glad to see that the best yell leader candi dates won. Emily Brown Class of ’97 Family of REPLANT founder gives thanks The family of Scott Harris Hantman acknowledges the Texas A&M faculty. REPLANT Committee 1995, members of Student Government/Senate, stu dents, alumni and friends, for dedicat ing a tree on campus in his memory. We are proud that our son and broth er is honored for his creation of a refor estation program by officially declaring Scott Harris Hantman the Founder of REPLANT, in recognition of his envi ronmental endeavors at A&M. To the community of Somerville, the National Tree Trust, Texaco Corpora tion, Army Corps of Engineers, Texas Forest Service and to all who partici pated in REPLANT 1995, it was truly a labor of love. We are proud to know that, with your support, this new tradition will continue for years to come. Colonel (Ret.) and Mrs. Richard K. and Jordan Hantman