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^ The Battalion
Opinion
Friday
October 6, 1995
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The Battalion
Editorials Board
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials 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.
Rob Clark
Editor in Chief
Sterling Hayman
Managing Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Opinion Editor
Elizabeth Preston
Assistant Opinion Editor
Make Due
The plans to expand Kyle Field
should be reconsidered.
As Bud Adams, owner of
the Houston Oilers, could
probably attest to, a large
number of seats will not nec
essarily make fans happier.
The Texas A&M athletic de
partment is about to learn the
same lesson if it goes through
with plans to add 10,000 seats
to a renovated horseshoe sec
tion in Kyle Field.
The need for expansion is
simply not there; Kyle Field
rarely sells out.
Although officials at A&M
contend the crowds will get
bigger with the start of Big 12
action next year, they admit
that they do not have facts to
back up their assumptions.
“By not playing all our
games in the state of Texas,
more of our fans will come to
College Station to see us
play,” Wall Groff, athletic di
rector, said. “There are no sta
tistics to show that, but I
think it’s reasonable.”
It should take more than a
few people’s speculations to
spend taxpayers’ money on an
expansion project at Kyle Field.
Other plans that did not in
volve expansion could save
money and make attending
games more enjoyable for fans.
Rather than looking to gain
a larger crowd for sellouts, of
ficials should spend time
thinking of ways to improve
the facilities we already have.
For example, the decision
to replace artificial turf with
natural grass is a reasonable
plan that will have appeal to
both fans and prospective
football players alike.
The Kyle Field expansion
plan is based on an assump
tion of future need rather
than a proven flaw in the sta
dium’s usefulness in hosting a
large crowd.
When we consider that
A&M is not located near a
major city, assumptions about
an increasing attendance are
hopeful at best, unlikely at
worst, and unfounded in ei
ther case.
Female cadets capable of all duties
I have always been a
staunch supporter of
women in the Corps. And
in my arrogance I never
doubted or questioned this be
lief. But something happened
that caused me to re-evaluate
this conviction.
On the Quadrangle Guard-
room there is an office in dor
mitory two that is occupied by cadets
around-the-clock, seven days a week.
It serves as a watchful eye on the Quad
and provides escorts for students who are
caught on campus late at night. Every outfit
in the Corps pulls duty in the Guardroom at
least once a month.
It was here, in the middle of the night,
that my know-it-all attitude was recently
humbled.
It was 2 a.m. when I arrived for duty.
The senior in charge of Guardroom was out
on the Quad investigating a disturbance. I
was the only junior there, and the rest
were underclassmen.
One of the freshmen was already out on
an escort assignment. All was quiet and rou
tine until this freshman returned.
When she walked in, I knew immediately
something wasn’t right.
She was visibly upset and desperately
trying to hide it.
When I asked her what was wrong, tears
began streaming down her face. She then
told me that she had just been assaulted by
a bunch of guys in front of Sbisa.
To keep the Corps unified and
strong, all cadets, male and fe
male, must perform their duties.
That includes escort duties.
I couldn’t believe it.
It was impossible to me to fathom that
someone would assault one of my cadets. But
they did. For a second there I totally lost it.
My instinct was one of pure anger, and I
wanted to wake up my outfit, light the torch
es and find those sons of bitches.
Fortunately for me, one of
my feophomores was equally
“losing it” and was about to
storm out of the door on his
way to Sbisa when I came to
my senses.
I called the police, notified
the officers overlooking the
Corps at the Military Science
Building, and spent the better
part of the night filling out incident reports.
Like cockroaches, the cowards that as
saulted her unfortunately retreated into the
shadows and were never found.
On the way back to my room later that
night, it re- 1 r hit me.
What if i d been raped? Or worse,
what if she’d oeen killed? I would have felt
responsible .
She’s a ^reshman, and traditionally
freshmen are assigned to escort duty in
Guardroom.
I didn’t send
her on that es
cort — she was
already gone
when I arrived,
but had I been
there earlier, I
would’ve sent
her too.
That night, 1
questioned the
rationality of
sending women
on escorts.
My first thought was that we should just
change the policy regarding female escorts
and not let them do it any more. An easy
way to rectify the situation, right?
Wrong.
If we change the policy and don’t let fe
male cadets do a cadet’s job, then we’re alter
ing one of the foundations of the Corps — a
foundation where everyone in the Corps do js
their duty and pulls their own weight, re
gardless of sex.
It is a misconception on this campus that
the Corps doesn’t like women cadets.
That’s a bunch of crap.
It doesn’t matter if they are male or fe
male, as long as they pull their own weight.
And there are plenty of women in the
Corps that do just that.
There are also plenty that don’t. There
are a lot of men that can’t hack it either.
These are the people that “fall by the way-
side” and never darken the Quad dorms
again — which is fine with us.
To keep the Corps unified and strong, all
cadets, male and female, must perform their
respective duties.
And that includes escort duties. To do less
would be detrimental to the Corps, and to
the women cadets.
Granted, escorting someone at 2 a.m. can
be dangerous — even on this friendly cam
pus. But it’s a danger shared by male and fe
male cadets alike.
It is conceivable in our society that a male
could be assaulted, raped or killed. Don’t be
lieve it? Our nation’s most notorious serial
killer, John Wayne Gacy, killed 33 people.
All of the vic
tims were
males be
tween the
ages of 10
and 20.
It does
happen.
But even
in light of
this Guard-
room incident and after a couple of weeks
thinking about it, I still believe women are
capable of conducting escorts and everything
else that goes along with being a cadet.
A lot of my confidence in this assessment
ironically comes from the female freshman
who was assaulted.
She’s an outstanding cadet, who on that
night did exactly what she was supposed to
do. She upheld her duty to the Corps of
Cadets like any cadet should.
And when my outfit has guardroom duty
again, she’ll be there, waiting by the phone
in the middle of the night, ready to go on nn
escort assignment.
Unarmed and unafraid.
Adam Hill is a junior history major
Wanna make a bet?
A&M and Tech's student newspapers wager on the game
Y es, I picked
Colorado to
beat A&M in
The Batt’s staff
picks two weeks ago.
And yes, I even
picked the Univer
sity of Texas to beat
Texas A&M last
year in Austin.
And I’m still being called a
0.2 percenter for my not-so-pop-
ular football picks.
But my game predictions and
my loyalties are com
pletely different things.
I root 100-percent
for the Aggies in all
sports events.
And now, a
most interesting
idea has been pro
posed to allow me to
show my support for
A&M football.
I received a wager proposi
tion from Megan Clark (no rela
tion), editor-in-chief of the
Texas Tech University newspa
per, The University Daily.
Now everyone knows just
how bad Tech wants to have an
official rivalry with us.
The University of Texas ig
nores them and Baylor, well,
Baylor beats
them. So the
tortilla-throwin’
Red Raiders get
riled up about
the A&M game
every year in
hopes of start
ing a rivalry.
They usually
put up an excellent fight
against our team. They have
barely lost to the Aggies in
some tight games in the last
few years.
So now
Megan Clark
wants to place
a little wager
with me, The
Batt and A&M.
Knowing how
we will com
pletely dominate the
game this Saturday in Lub
bock, I eagerly agreed to the
wager and to the terms she
specified.
If Tech pulls the upset of the
century and beats Texas A&M,
I will appear in The Battalion
wearing a Texas Tech shirt and
doing that bizarre little gun
thing they do.
If, as expected, A&M wins,
Megan will have to do the oppo
site in The University Daily,
wearing an A&M shirt and do
ing that bizarre little gig’ em
thing that we do.
The photos will run in the
losing school’s paper on Mon
day, and will be sent to the
winner’s for publication on
Wednesday or Thursday.
I can honestly say I’m not
worried at all about this friendly
bet, as I’m sure Leeland McElroy
and the Aggies will run all over
the Red Raiders.
Tech’s Zebbie
Lethridge, Byron
Hanspard and Zach
Thomas will give
the Aggies a run for
their money, but ul
timately, I know
the Aggies will prevail.
So, for those who label
me as a “bad Ag,” I’ll be rooting
for the Aggies on Saturday as
obnoxiously as possible, be
cause I do want A&M to be
successful and I really don’t
want to wear a Tech shirt.
Now, if I can just find someone
with the game on pay-per-view.
Bob Clark is a senior
journalism major
n
ipi
y
Pli
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ipj l
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Caray represents
Cubs admirably
As a native of the Chicago
area and a die-hard Cubs fan,
I wanted to respond to Nick
Georgandis’ unfair representa
tion of Hall of Fame broadcast
er Harry Caray.
He said “Caray is a Chicago
tradition” as are drugs and
crime. That is a totally unfair
and irresponsible comparison to
a legend and an unnecessary
shot at one of the greatest cities
in the nation. ,
Chicago’s crime and drug
problems are not much worse
than Houston’s or any other ma
jor American city.
As far as Harry Caray mis-
Mail
Call
pronouncing names, what’s the
big deal? Every announcer
makes mistakes.
Nick Georgandis doesn’t even
know that Aggie receiver Albert
Connell is a junior. In an article
last week, Georgandis called
Connell a freshman. He also did
n’t catch that Dennis Allen was
listed as David Allen in the foot
ball preview.
Harry Caray is a Cubs an
nouncer, not an Astros announc
er. Cub fans are more interested
about how former Cub Ryne
Sandberg is than they are about
the Astros playoff chances.
Caray is NOT an embarrass
ment to the Chicago Cubs or to
Major League Baseball.
Tim Fricke
Class of’95
Bonfire brings all
Aggies together
Reading Jason Brown’s article
on Bonfire infuriated me. If I
may quote him, “Bonfire’s origi
nal intent of unity and spirit
have disappeared.”
I don’t know what Bonfire
Brown has been working on. He
hasn’t been at any Bonfire activi
ty I’ve ever attended.
I’ve seen CT’s, non-regs and
off-campus Aggies all working to
gether on Bonfire. In fact I can’t
think of a group of Aggies that
doesn’t work on Bonfire. Last
year while working on the sec
ond Bonfire I found myself, a CT,
working on a non-reg crew —
and enjoying it! What is that if
not unity? I’ve seen people from
all walks of life, many different
countries, races and both sexes
working together and enjoying
themselves. No unity? No spirit?
Try getting out there in the mud
a few times and you might be
surprised.
I’d like to offer a piece of ad
vice to you and all of the others
out there so “morally” opposed to
Bonfire. Don’t go. When you’re
50 years old with your grandson
on your lap, telling him old Ag
stories, you can explain to him
the reasons you skipped cut.
David Garred
Class of ’97
Poster of racist
flier ignorant
Yesterday, I saw a flier that
caught my eye.
The flier read:
N.A.A.W.P. ( National Associ
ation for the Advancement of
White People)
Do you feel left out because
you are not a minority? Canit
join any of these groups?
The flier listed all of the mi
nority organizations on campus
from NAACP to the Muslim Stu
dent Council.
The flier further stated,
“Were no more racist than other
groups. Can discrimination cure
discrimination? The flier even
had a number to call, 1-800-4-
whites” that some people proba
bly called.
"Well, I was appalled by this
blatant act of racism, ignorance
and false information.
Yes, this is true that the dif
ferent minority organization
cater to minorities but they do
not exclude any race, ethnicity
or religion from being apart of
their organization.
NAACP’s founders included
white individuals, and many
white Americans (even on this
campus) are members and sup
porters of the organization.
The Black Awareness Com
mittee is dedicated to the edu
cation and the awareness of the
African American culture. The
Muslim Student Council is a
support group for those who are
Muslim and those individuals
who want to be educated in
their religion.
The Minority Student Walk-
In Services provides the minority
student guidance, networking
and counseling to those who get
lost in the shuffle of this predom
inately white University.
I could go on about the objec
tives of these minority organiza
tions but I guarantee that these
groups don’t exclude anyone who
wants to join.
I feel that whom ever is re
sponsible for this ignorant,
racist, false information should
be the main individuals to take a
course in racial sensitivity.
It’s individuals like this that
make the multicultural courses
needed on this campus. Not only
are they imposing their racism
on minorities but they are pro
viding unnecessary tension be
tween the white and the minori
ty community on this campus.
As a member of NAACP and
also as a proud African Ameri
can, I invite all (including
whites) to become a part of my
organization. I would also like
to extend myself to educating
those without knowledge of my
culture, because I never get
tired of educating.
Octevia Evangelista
Class of’97
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor and will print as many as space al
lows. Letters must be 300 words or less
and include the author's name, class and
phone number.
We reserve the right to edit letters for
length, style and accuracy. Letters may be
submitted in person at 013 Reed McDon
ald. A valid student ID is required. Letters
may also be mailed to:
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013 Reed McDonald Fax:
Texas A&M University (409) 845-2647
College Station, TX E-mail:
77843-1 111 Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu