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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1996)
ar. isting my butt to do to keep me from reot ie seems to be dead set ay said at the time, ti molesting over 24(1 tting caught for mo- tie boy. With all that dly learned while in way that I will ever rmer San Antonio has served six years ,erm for molesting a Antonio on April 39, iatory release proce- havior time in prisoo lis actual jail the him eligible for as- ilfway house, as signed his name as emon,” has warned s s rights group andia: r my poor Larry Don McQuj victed child molesln would molest again, to eventually rape poor little victims to elling on me,” he said do Justice For All,! ictims rights organi- •essed outrage atMt- ilease. >v. George W. Busl ird officials to re« nd “seek any possi is convicted child mo 'rustration, fear and people throughout 1. noted that the manda- law for which McQi® i changed to allow tki ep him behind bars, y, the United State not allow us to malt oactive and we cams Don McQuay,” he said trNOT, Night News Epi 1 ' Aggieufe Editor vims, Sports Editor , Radio Editor vvanich, Graphics Eouf , C.iRaphics Editor 'amela Benson, Eleanor Cok' ::e, Danielle Pontiff, Kendo! mes Francis, LibeCoad.lfi- alters; Page Designers; i, Stephanie Christopher,ft ! ier: |ody Holley H.L. Baxter, Rob ClarU 1 ® m, Elaine Mejia, Chris Mih ieran Watson / Angkriwan, Amy Browniif & Evan Zimmerman Deluca, |ocly Holley, |ill Mu- , John Lemons, Jenniferlya* Chris Yung daway, Mandy Cater, Ante xas A&M University iniheK- Journalism. : 845-3313; Fax; 84 5-264/ or endorsement by The Ball' call 845-2696. For classify 5 Reed McDonald and ofc 5-2678. AM student to pick up a si$ $40 per school year and W r Express, call 845-2611. ;h Friday during the fall aid summer sessions (exceploo /ersity. Second class postap anald Building, Texas ASM The Battalion , < \ /v . - 'v U' ■ S-ipfc Traditions upheld, admired despite unknown origins By Rachel Barry The Battalion S ome people say they are the backbone of A&M. Others have followed them with a dedication that rivals religion. And still, the origin and background of many traditions that fuel the avid school spirit associated with A&M goes unknown. Melane Reynolds, chair of the Traditions Council and a senior speech communications major, said contrary to popular belief, there is no list of official traditions or a committee that e AMU tion 996 says what events will be called traditions. She said it is hard to define at what point something becomes a tradition. “It’s something the University is going to have to face,” she said. Ranjan Nataranjan, a graduate student in agricultural engineering, said he approached the Traditions Council earlier this year to see if Whoopstock could become an official tradition. Whoopstock, which Nataranjan described as a gathering of different cultural highlights, started in 1993 as a response to a Ku Klux Klan rally held in College Station. He said he felt that since Whoopstock reaches out to so many people across campus, it should be con sidered a tradition. “It shows how united A&M is,” he said. What he discovered upon approaching the Traditions Council was that there is no way for an event to become an official tradition. Reynolds Said the idea of how something be comes a tradition at A&M is ambiguous and hard to describe. She said it is hard to know at what point something goes from being a nor mal event to being called a tradition. She said one thing is definite — traditions are something that set A&M apart from all other schools. “Traditions are an integral part of A&M,” she said. “A&M wouldn’t be the same without them. “Tradition and A&M go hand in hand, and to have one without the other would be impossible.” She said other organizations have ap proached the Traditions Council asking how to become an official tradition, and she does not know how to answer that question. “A tradition is something that has to be backed up by most students,” she said. “In general, students have to acknowledge it.” She said the Traditions Council tries to promote awareness of traditions to students on campus through things such as Howdy Week and speak ing at Fish Camp. In addition, she said they also speak to Aggies who have been away from the campus for a while to talk about traditions that may have started since they left A&M. Some people have expressed concerns of a few traditions dying out around campus. Particularly, Reynolds said, the tradition of students saying “Howdy” to each other as they walk across campus. These fears are not new, though, she said. A Battalion article from the ’40s mir rored concerns of the dying trend of say ing howdy. “Is it really dying then?” she said. “Not everyone is going to say howdy all the time, but some people feel very strongly about it and don’t care.” Reynolds said her love for A&M traditions came from a N new appreciation for them when she entered A&M. Having grown up in Col lege Station and having par ents that were active on cam pus, what Reynolds really wanted to do was get away from A&M. But when she came to school here, she discovered a new facet of the University that amazed her. “I couldn’t believe I missed out on so much growing up here,” Reynolds said. “Tradition was the thing that made me fall in love with A&M all over again, and I wanted to be a part of that tradition.” She said the traditions, though their origin may be unknown, offer something to Aggies that no other school can. “You can get a great education here,” she said, “and I think the traditions are a bonus for students.” Aggieland’s traditions fade as students grow older Jonathan Faber Columnist W asn’t Fish Camp great? We met hun dreds of new people, sweated in the almost unbearable heat and learned about all the new traditions we would be exposed to as soon as we set foot on the A&M campus. We were also told the campus was unlike no other place in the world. We were going to have to hurry between classes for fear of being slowed by all the complete strangers passing by screaming “Howdy!” and trying to stop us to talk. People were that friendly. Coming from my home in New Jersey, I al ready thought I was in a different world once I stepped off the plane in Dallas, and immedi ately noticed how much nicer people were in this part of the country than back east. I went to Randall’s on one of my first shop ping trips. All of the employees were smiling and seemed to go out of their way to say hello to me when I walked through the door. I could n’t figure out why everyone was paying so much attention to me. After I looked to make sure my zipper was up, I realized these people were just being nice. I thought to myself, “Hey, I could get used to this.” I began my freshman year with high hopes and higher expecta tions. Many people on campus said howdy to me, and I knew all my counselors from Fish Camp were right — this place is different from any other. It was my mission in life for much of my fish year to not miss a single person within 30 feet with a “Howdy,” and in the rare case someone beat me to it, I was quick to return the favor. After a while, the frequency of hearing the greeting slowed down. I wasn’t saying it as much, and neither was everyone else on campus. Soon enough, I noticed most of the people who were saying howdy to me had Fish Camp T-shirts on. I couldn’t understand the reason this was until I realized the only people still saying howdy were freshmen who thought it was * J8' enera l' jfflP ly accepted thing to do. I observed sophomores saying it more than ju niors; and ju niors said it marginally more often than seniors, which meant almost never. I’m not exactly sure why I ob served these trends, but I also noticed sim ilar results with other “student body” traditions. Ask yourself which class is al ways the best represented and loudest at Midnight Yell. Why is there a Fish Drill Team and not a similar group for sophomores, or any other class? Which class was best represented in individual yearbook pictures? I think the Class of ’97 had about 20 students show up for their pictures. We all have to make an effort to make the traditions of Texas A&M belong to the whole student body... More importantly, which class do you pre dict had the highest turnout in this semester’s elections? I’ll be willing to bet it was the Class of ’99. I’m just as guilty as the rest of us when it comes to these things. We all have to make an effort to make the traditions of Texas A&M belong to the whole student body rather than the freshman class. Make sure Texas A&M stays unlike any oth er place in the world. Jonathan Faber is a junior finance major. Join The Aggie Orientation Leader Program! This is your chance to draw from your experiences and help orient thousands of new students this summer. Pick up applications at the following locations: - the third floor of the Y.M.C.A. Building t - the Student Programs Office - Student Activities in the Koldus Building - Multicultural Services (137 MSC) - Support Services for Students With Disabilities (126 Koldus Building) INFO SESSION: 4/1/96 @ 8:30 p.m. 110 Koldus Applications Due Tuesday, April 9 5:00 P.M. Questions ? Call 862-2746 or stop by the third floor of Y.M.C.A. Texas A&M University at Galveston ...your ticket to new, dynamic summer programs by-the sea... Window to the Sea Courses for Advanced Undergraduate Biology Students Hands-on, field-oriented classes in ocean studies. Course work will be offered in Marine Ecology and Biology, Oceanography and Ocean Field Studies, Marine Geography, Marine Botany, Wetlands Ecology, Fish Biology and Physiology, Research Diving, Marine Mammalogy and Marine Natural History. Phone 1-800-850-6376 or EMAIL Langd@TAMUG3.tamu.edu A TAMUG Rep will be in the MSC on April 3 and 4.
