The Battalion
FRIDAY
April 19, 1996
Opinion
Page 7
? to win
A&M’s Forgotten Savior
(hey wanted to close it
down. A&M was in the
red and in trouble, and
the legislature wanted to scrap
the whole shabang. Our friends
in Austin were all set to incor
porate the School of Agricul
ture into the t.u. system and
simply board up the rest. Then,
along came one man ...
Governor Ross? Sure, we all know that
story — I hear that representative still
doesn’t know what hit him. Yeah, Ross
was important.
General Rudder? Yep, he is probably
most responsible for what the Univer
sity is today.
But Ross’ boots would go unpol
ished and Rudder might h5ve been
forced to attend one of the reme
dial military institutions if not
for a man named Cushing.
I know; around here, the
words “Cushing” and “dusty
maze” are synonyms. The
only time I ever ventured
into Cushing was to buy a
Coke in that fourth floor
dead end — of course,
every hall in the Cushing
Library was a dead end.
Col. Edward Benjamin
Cushing’s story, however,
needs to be told.
The seal of Texas A&M
University says 1876
across the bottom. Cush
ing was already here. He
was Class of ’80 — I hear
there were a lot fewer tra
ditions back then.
In the 1890s, Gov. Ross
had indeed saved A&M on
the floor of the Texas Legisla
ture, but it seemed to be worth
nothing by the time Cushing
came back in thel9l0’s.
A&M, you see, was in debt to
the tune of $87,000. That’s about
81,000,000 today.
That may not sound like much, but
consider the few options open to the school
Normally, when a public institution has
debt, the legislature either increases fund
ing or finds someone to finance more cred
it. I guess they hadn’t yet heard of the
“General Use Fee.”
The ever-supportive leg
islature was willing to do
neither.
Anyway, with no money
and no way to get more,
A&M was halfway down
the road to oblivion — or to
Austin, whichever way you
want to look at it.
But in 1912, Cushing took over as chairman
of TAMC’s Board of Directors — now called the
Board of Regents, and still without student rep
resentation ... but that’s for another column.
Cushing personally guaranteed notes of
credit, using his own assets as collateral.
This bought enough time for the school to
both regain stability and to begin a fund
raising campaign.
In short, Cushing personally saved
Texas A&M.
But wait, there’s more ...
When Old Main burned down, A&M’s
library went with it. In other words,
TAMC went without a library for sev
eral years while the directors
searched for money to build a
new one.
Enter Cushing.
Cushing’s father had been
||i ; a rare book dealer, and
. Cushing had expanded his
own collection to include a
huge number of books. In
1924, when Cushing
died, he willed his en
tire collection to the
College.
In 1927, when the
directors were finally
able to build a new li
brary, only one name
would really fit.
Unfortunately,
if jl none of Cushing's de
scendants has attend
ed A&M — or if they
have, the archives
don’t know about it.
That means few people
have been around to re
ally keep Cushing’s
memory alive.
But this is Texas A&M,
and we remember our own.
When we bring our par
ents to College Station, we al
ways show them Ross, Old
Main and the 12th Man. We tell
them about respect for traditions
and for each other.
Next time, add Cushing to the tour.
It’s time to remember another man
who saved the school.
David Taylor is a senior
management major
The Battalion
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,
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Contact the opinion editor for information on
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Editorials Board
Sterling Hayman
Editor in Chief
Stacy Stanton
Managing Editor
Michael Landauer
Opinion Editor
Jason Brown
Assistant Opinion Editor
Whoopstock
Students should take this chance to
show how Aggies can unite.
The KKK once challenged
A&M’s unity, and unity won.
In 1993, The Ku Klux Klan
planned a rally in College
Station. While protests were be
ing planned, one group of stu
dents decided on a better plan
of action. Instead of showing up
to the rally to give the KKK the
attention it thrives on, student
groups were asked to partici
pate in a newly created event,
Whoopstock Unity Fest ’93.
The festival was free to the
public, offering local music and
entertainment. The KKK came
and went, but students at the
time did not want the festival
to be an isolated incident.
Before the event ever hap
pened, Ric Gonzalez, an MSC
Black Awareness Committee
member, told The Battalion he
hoped to see the festived become
a tradition. “This (The Klan ral
ly) may be the reason to unify,
but we need to keep it going and
show we don’t need a reason to
come together,” he said.
True to this wish, Whoop
stock ’96 will be going on at
Simpson Drill Field from noon
to 6 p.m. tomorrow.
The students and groups
who have kept the festival
alive deserve credit for their
efforts. The best way to show
our appreciation, however, is
to participate.
In the wake of the recent af
firmative action march, stu
dents should come together to
show that political issues do not
have to be completely divisive.
“Diversity” is almost a
dirty word on this campus,
but Whoopstock allows stu
dents to celebrate the fact
that the diverse can unite.
The festival is the perfect ex
ample of how diversity thrives
on unity, not division.
Whoopstock offers students
the chance to see. each other
beyond their organizations,
their ethnicity or even their
Aggieness. It is a chance to
celebrate differences.
Whoopstock is the student
body’s chance to make its mark
on A&M. As past generations
have left us the traditions of
Muster, Silver Taps and Ele
phant Walk, this generation
has a chance to continue some
thing future Aggies will honor.
The KKK came and went at
A&M, but even with all the
challenges they bring, diversity
and unity are welcome to stay.
ive House, TheM*
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It takes more than
hate to make history
B ooker T.
Washington,
W.E.B.
DuBois, Marking
Luther King, Jr. ,
Malcolm X....
These are just a
few of the greatest
black leaders in
history. Each of
their contributions has posi
tively impacted society.
Their influence enabled an
entire race to receive the
equality promised by our
founding fathers.
Any addition to this list
would require a renowned, ac
complished person leading the
tide of a cultural revolution.
But, how much water is left
in the sea of injustice?
Louis Farrakhan seems to
think it is overflowing.
Last Monday, he kicked off
his national tour. As he makes
his way across the United
States, thousands will gather to
hear the man preach the same
things advocated 30 years ago.
Farrakhan, who organized
the Million Man March, ex
presses notions similar to Mal
colm X, only in the ’60s these
ideas were timely.
Leaps and bounds have been
made since the civil rights
movement, yet he hardly recog
nizes them. Farrakhan is sim
ply a parasite feeding off of the
image of Malcolm X.
But of course, he claims he is
a misunderstood man, just like
Malcolm X. In an interview on
SO Minutes, Farrakhan was ac
cused of being anti-Semitic. Af
ter he was shown a clip of one
of his speeches implying Jewish
people are inhuman sea crea
tures controlling the govern
ment that worship in the syna
gogue of Satan, Farrakhan de
nied the charges.
Justifying his simile of Jew
ish people as octopuses, Far
rakhan said it was the white
man who has continually ex
ploited and oppressed the dark
er-skinned man — and history
wrote itself.
Farrakhan also claimed he
was only quoting the Bible,
which states the same in the
Book of Revelation. His citing
of this statement is correct,
only he used it incorrectly. It
actually reads: “I know the
slander of those who say they
are Jews and
are not, but are
a synagogue of
Satan.”
Even if Far
rakhan had used
the quote in the
proper context,
there’s still a
problem — he
doesn’t believe in Christianity.
Yes, this man, who changed
his last name because of his de
votion to the Islam religion,
only uses Biblical quotes as
hateful ammunition against an
other race. Astoundingly, his
message blatantly contradicts
all the love and peace that Is
lam espouses.
So if Farrakhan is a mali
cious, anti-Semitic liar whose
ideas are outdated, why all the
popularity?
Simple — he’s an entertainer.
Just like Rush Limbaugh,
Farrakhan has the ability to woo
audiences by endorsing their
outlandish ideas. Only, Far
rakhan is dangerous, posing the
possibility of an all-out race war.
In this day and age, it takes
a smooth talker to cause people
to regress to such ideas.
As a young, aspiring singer,
Farrakhan’s nickname was “the
Charmer.” Like the snake that
he is, Farrakhan has charmed
thousands of followers who are
spellbound from the poison of
his speeches.
Sucking the venom of his
deadly words out of the minds of
thousands requires recognition
of Farrakhan as a performer. Al
though he may not get $1 billion
from any Middle Eastern coun
try, he wouldn’t make a bad liv
ing as a celebrity impressionist.
Farrakhan should wake up
from his 30 year nap and smell
the roses. To make any
progress in today’s society,
everyone needs to realize the
only race that needs to embrace
and fight for each other is the
human race.
When a man comes along
with this endorsement, he
might join the ranks of Wash
ington, DuBois, King and Mal
colm X. But Farrakhan cer
tainly doesn’t hold a candle to
these leaders.
Erin Fitzgerald is a senior
political science and
English major
AOLP offers caring,
understanding to fish
As a former executive for the
Aggie Orientation Leader Pro
gram (AOLP), I had a little diffi
culty accepting Michael Lan-
dauer’s column on April 17.
Freshman come to TAMU
scared and confused, wondering
if they made the correct choice
in schools. Do we, the AOLP
show them the best side of
A&M that we can?
Absolutely.
Do we lie to them?
Never.
All Orientation Leaders are
told from the beginning that
they are to tell the fish the
truth. At the same time, howev
er, we want the fish to be excit-
Mail
ed by their choice in school. We
want the fish to maintain the
Aggie spirit and uphold the Ag
gie Code of Honor. We are the
first real contact that most
freshman receive at A&M, and
through our actions, we seek to
make them comfortable as a
part of the Aggie family.
We have no need to “sell”
them the University, however,
because they are already here.
Our Orientation Leaders are
not paid because we want them
to be excited about what they
are doing.
If they don’t find enough mo
tivation in the helping of fish
and their families, we don’t
want them as part of the organi
zation. Every student at this
University went through a New
Student Conference. The Orien
tation Leaders give freely of
their time and do a tremendous
job making over 8,000 students
feel more comfortable and pre
pared at A&M. I would like to
congratulate this year’s Orienta
tion Leaders and wish them
luck in having a fun and helpful
summer. I would also like to
thank all the past Orientation
Leaders who dedicated their
time and energy to help new
students in need.
Paul Springer
Class of’97
Halbrook's column
assumes too much
I’m sure Shannon Halbrook
(column, April 11) is not the
first person to believe that
David Kaczynski was motivat
ed by the $1 million reward of
fer, and not his conscience, to
tell the FBI that he believed
his brother, Ted Kaczynski,
was the infamous Unabomber.
But Halbrook’s contention
that Ted Kaczynski is “being
shafted” based on “flimsy” evi
dence and his brother’s greed
is ludicrous.
Ted Kaczynski may well be
innocent. So far he has been
charged only with possessing
bomb-making materials.
Fortunately, in our society a
person is considered innocent
until proven guilty.
Regardless of popular opin
ion or media coverage, only a
jury of the defendant’s peers
can judge whether he is guilty
or innocent and only after
hearing evidence from the pros
ecution and defense.
Jim Hiney
Class of ’85
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