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THURSDAY
April 25, 1996
Opinion
Page 1 3
Stuck
Allegations shouldn’t stick
A'
David ^
s
Taylor
Columnist* **
bout 16 people are
Stickers.
Sixteen people do
not make a Corps.
Sixteen people without
honor do not make the
Corps without honor.
Sixteen slugs do not
make the corps into slugs
— but they do leave a
slimy trail.
Unfortunately, 16 people can tarnish
the reputation of both the Corps of Cadets
and the University it represents.
And they will.
Make no mistake about it, the existence
of a secret organization in the Corps of
Cadets is a big deal. For far too long — as
in decades — these secret groups have con
trolled too many parts of the Corps
through blatant intimidation.
Now they have spread beyond the
Corps. Almost thumbing their
noses at the rest of us, the
“Stickers” even flexed their
muscles in the recent student
body elections.
But these “real men” are too
scared themselves for their
names and faces to be associat- mmmmmmmm
ed with their club. Instead, they
prefer to sow their brand of justice from
behind masks of anonymity.
There are those who claim the stickers
are nothing more than a group of guys who
hang out and drink beer. If this is true,
why be secret?
Maybe it is because secrecy breeds sus
picion and fear.
Come forward and tell us who you are
and why you exist. If you have a shred of
love for the ring you — and I — wear, come
forward. Your actions reflect poorly on your
selves, the Corps and the University.
On the other hand, to point out what
should be obvious, we need to remember
that almost 2,000 others wear the khaki
uniforms at this University, but have little
or nothing to do with the Stickers or their
ultra-cool cousins, the “True Texans.”
Between the recently publicized brawl
between BQs and CTs and the emerging
Stickers story, the Corps will probably at
tract its share of criticism. Some of it,
frankly, is justified.
We hold the Corps up as
the “Keeper of the Flame.”
Most of our traditions origi
nated in the Corps and are
maintained by them.
I wouldn’t have it any oth
er way.
The opportunity comes at a
price. The Corps is expected
to be a little better, to have a
little more honor. The price, quite simply,
is that every action of the cadets falls un
der an intense microscope.
Fair or not, those who keep the fl ame
should not be surprised when it b> s the. i.
Be rest assured, however, that t
flame still burns on the Quad.
Despite all the recent bad publicity, this
has been one of the best years on record in
terms of community service and the Corps
of Cadets.
The fact is, the Corps serves this campus.
We hold the Corps up as the "Keeper of
the Flame." Fair or not, those who keep
the flame should not be surprised when it
burns them.
This past Sunday we honored our Ag
gie dead at Muster. If not for the Corps,
what would Muster be like? Would it even
still exist?
Probably not.
The first Tuesday of each month gives
us the chance to remember those who died
over the previous month. What would Sil
ver Taps be like without the anonymous
Corps buglers?
Over the past few years several female
students have been sexually assaulted on
campus. Numerous women have taken ad
vantage of the Corps escorts to try to deal
with the fear of assault.
These escorts are Corps volunteers and
the Corps spends its own money to orga
nize and support the program.
Ok, we all know about these programs,
but plenty goes on that we probably never
hear about.
For example, one day this past semester
a former cadet walked into the corps com
mander’s office. A friend of the former
to the Corps
cadet had been in an accident the previous
evening. The victim had a rare blood type
and the blood bank’s supply was danger
ously low.
By the next evening the corps had do
nated 300 units of the blood type, saving
the young man’s life.
He was not even an A&M grad, but the
corps came through.
Phoebe’s Home serves local victims of
domestic abuse and neglect. This past No
vember, Phoebe’s home was in trouble.
Thirty families needed help and Phoebe’s
Home was out of money. The class of ’98
and ’99 cadets raised the money in only
two days.
No one knew ... except the families who
experienced first hand how the Corps can
make a difference.
Then there’s the anonymous woman in
College Station.
When her husband died, she had no way
to take care of her home. With no fanfare,
A-l Company volunteered to take care of
her lawn and her home.
When a local boy needed a heart trans
plant last year, B Company held a 5k ben
efit run to help pay for it.
Other units have special service pro
jects unique to themselves. In the Regi
ment, 7th Battery conducted a successful
food drive. G-2 is involved in a recycling
program.
Cadets from several units worked the
midnight to 6 A.M. shift for the Jerry’s
Kids MDA Telethon.
Just last Saturday, the Corps held its
annual March to the Brazos to benefit the
March of Dimes.
Frankly, all the campus organizations
should work this hard to help people.
That, however, is exactly the point.
Those who would risk the good name of the
Corps just to have a secret club need to
take a hard look at themselves.
No, 16 people do not make a Corps. But
they can do a lot of damage.
It’s up to us to understand the differ
ence between the Corps at large, and a few
for whom the flame flickers.
But it’s up to the Corps to make sure it
doesn’t die.
Dave 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,
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.
Editorials Board
Sterling Hayman
Editor in Chief
Stacy Stanton
Managing Editor
Michael Landauer
Opinion Editor
Jason Brown
Assistant Opinion Editor
Sticker Shock
The University should investigate
and disband the Stickers.
If they have nothing to hide,
why are they so secretive?
In any discussion of the top-
secret group, the Stickers, this
question is inevitably asked.
Because of the suspicion an
organization like the Stickers
engenders, it does not belong at
A&M. Texas A&M suffers em
barrassment each day this or
ganization continues to exist,
so the University should do
what it can to disband the
Stickers.
History has proven the task
of vanquishing secret groups
within the Corps challenging.
In reference to disbanding the
TTs, a cousin of the Stickers, a
Battalion editorial from May
20, 1954, says, “because the or
ganization is deeply ingrained
in A&M, it is going to be diffi
cult to eliminate.”
Thirty-two years later, the
Stickers still exist.
Unfortunately, the current
administration has done little
to rid A&M of the Stickers. De
spite loud rumors for the past
year of the Stickers’ existence,
the administration has neglect
ed to take control of the situa
tion. Consequently, many peo
ple are assuming the worst
about the organization. These
rumors have damaged the rep
utation of the University and
demoralized the students at
tending it.
Surely, the power of the ad
ministration can overcome that
of a small group of elitists.
The Corps of Cadets should
also take the initiative to re
move the Stickers. The Corps
represents everything the Stick
ers do not, but membership in
the secret group is predomi
nantly made up of Corps mem
bers. Cadets know more than
most others about the Stickers,
and the power of the Stickers
lies within its secrecy. So, Corps
members wanting to destroy
the Stickers should be open and
vocal about the group.
Of course, the Stickers
themselves deserve more
blame than anyone else. They
are embarrassing the Corps,
which has made tremendous
strides in shedding its good ol’
boy image. Even worse, they
are bringing shame to Texas
A&M. Membership in this
group, at the expense of this in
stitution’s reputation, repre
sents cowardice.
However, the Stickers will
not likely voluntarily disband.
With the character traits ex
pected in members of the Stick
ers, the burden of eliminating
the organization will ultimate
ly fall on everyone but them.
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Chris
Stidvent
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Columnist shows
disrespect for field
Jeff Nolen’s column on April
23, 1996 upset many of the
band members, and here is
why. First, it is not a “practice
field,” but it is the Joe T.
Haney Drill Field. This “field”
is actually a memorial; the ash
es of three BQ’s have been
spread across it.
This, along with all of the
long hours, blood, sweat and
tears spent by band members,
is why the BQ’s hold the drill
field so dear. Second, on a more
practical note, with the 400+
(not 300+) band members
drilling on the field for an en
tire semester, the field gets
very torn up.
The spring and summer are
the only time for the drill field
to be repaired and for the
grass'to grow back. If everyone
who wanted to could walk
across the drill field, it would
never be replenished so that
the band would have an appro
priate place to practice for
Mail
Call
half-time shows in the fall.
Third, the column began by
saying “Last Monday...,” how
ever, the incident that Nolen
is referring to happened on
Tuesday over two weeks ago.
This in itself raises a question
in my mind about how much of
this column is rumor and not
from first-hand accounts.
Finally, if Nolen had actual
ly been by the Joe T. Haney
Drill Field that night, he
would have seen some very
spirited Corps members ag
gressively acting out a part in
a long-standing good nature
rivalry that exists between the
Corps and the Band. There
were many CTs and BQs who
were very vigorously promot
ing nonviolence.
I believe that Nolen needs to
do more research and get his
facts straight before he puts
pen to paper and casts a shad
ow on the reputation of a
world-renowned organization.
Whitney Lawson
Class of’96
accompanied by 90 signatures
W en-I
guess
that’s it,
then. After
spending some
of the best days
of my life mak
ing fun of my
dear readers’
politics, reli
gious beliefs, social groups and
school, I must sadly hang up
my hat and move on down the
road.
I wanted to go out with a bit
of a bang, so I wandered about
campus this past week, search
ing for the perfect opportunity
to cause a hubbub.
After doing a bit of investiga
tive digging, I’m proud to an
nounce that I have unearthed a
veritable plethora of stories
that are guaranteed to shock
my readers and grab their un
divided attention. These are the
sorts of things that people will
be talking about for years to
come. They’re important;
they’re special; and they’re just
plain neat.
Well, all right, maybe not.
After pounding the pavement
for hours on end, the best thing
I could come up with was an
idea for a story about the Aggie
Atheist and Agnostic Club.
Some of you Aggie Christians
might be interested to know
that many of the members of
this group publicly claim that
they do not believe in God.
I also thought I might write
about the Sticklers, or the
Stingers, or whatever it is you
call that goofy group of guys in
the Corps who run around do
ing goofy things in the heat of
the night.
Personally, if I was in a se
cret club like this, I would want
to be known as the “Stuckeys,”
after the tasty, clean and cour
teous restaurant of the same
name. Plus, kids eat free at the
Saturday morning Stuckey’s
breakfast buffet. How can a se
cret group go wrong with a
name like that?
I suppose that’s why I’ve
never been invited to join any
secret clubs. But surely that’s
beside the point.
Anyway, I figured that at
the very least the Stuckeys
might make for some good,
controversial press. After all,
the possibilities for writing
about them are probably end-
less. Just take a
look at the rest
of this yellow
rag that passes
for your student
newspaper —
it’s full of stories
about the Stuck
eys. The Stuck
eys are in the
Corps, they do secretive
“Stuckeys” things, they sour
really mean and mysterious
They’re really sort of sp oky
they’re altogether kooky,
they’re the Stuckeys family.
But when it comes down to
it, what’s the point of talking
about these guys any further?
Sure, they’re in the Corps, but I
don’t suppose that’s really the
Corps’ fault.
I was in a Methodist youth
group once, and we met eight
straight Sundays before discov
ering that we had a Catholic
child in our midst. After beat
ing him severely and sending
him on his way, we didn’t
blame ourselves. How could we
have known?
I also figured that any secret
group that gets uncovered
obviously isn’t very good
at the one thing that it
is supposed to be,
which is secret.
If a group of people
doing illegal and uneth
ical things is supposed
to be a secret group,
then I don’t want to
hear about them. Prove
to me that you’re good
at doing evil by not get
ting caught.
Once you do get
snared, swallow the
cyanide capsules hid
den in your false teeth.
Fall on your swords in
the middle of Simpson
Drill Field. Prove that
you really believe in
your vows of secrecy
and celibacy and every
thing else by ending
your lives in a quick
and painful fashion.
Then I decided that a
neat thing to do would
be to catch a member of
the College Republicans
in the possession of a
large quantity of mari
juana. You know, I
could come out with a
story that would sort of
level the political play
ing field around here. There
would be jail terms for every
body, and I would win a big re
ward.
With this in mind, I began
mailing mysterious brown
packages to the College Repub
licans’ headquarters three
times a day. Then I sat outside
and watched and waited. But
the damn Republicans were too
smart for me, and all I have to
show for my troubles are three
citations for loitering and two
felony drug indictments.
I then began to sit in front of
important faculty members’
houses for days, eating dough
nuts and taking clandestine
photos of puzzled paperboys
and mailmen.
Last night, I finally had to
admit that, sadly enough, none
of our school’s important people
have patronized prostitutes or
held loud, drunken orgies in the
past few weeks.
Alas, there
would be no
earth-shatter
ing stories to
usher me
out of the newspaper door. Just
a bunch of dumb Stuckeys,
some clean-cut College Repub
licans and some boring admin
istrators who aren’t nice
enough to use “Eleanor’s Escort
Service” while I’m waiting with
camera in hand.
So, before I leave you alone
and with the suspicion that you
haven’t read anything good to
day, I feel I should answer one
last question.
I figure it’s time to clue in the
people who have asked me so
many times if I enjoyed making
fun of everything and anything
that they held dear in life.
Let me tell you one thing,
you slack-jawed conformists
and unwitting disciples of other
people’s thought.
I loved every damn minute of it.
Chris Stidvent is a senior
English and philosophy major