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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1996)
Opinion Wednesday • Septemberl’ Mail Rumors continue lies about Greeks Regarding Matthew Zeve’s Sept. 16 Mail Call I would like to challenge Zeve’s mind for a minute. He states that Greek life provides lit tle for its members. I question how one who is not in a fraterni ty can honestly make that claim. Zeve states that the Greek friends he knows only talk about the parties, not philan thropy and pledgeship. I would guess that when Zeve, or any person for that matter, is talking to his friends, he talks about the party he went to over the week end or his night out drinking. I’m sure he is involved with school and community service, but that doesn’t make for a very good story. The truth is that fraternities do encourage scholarship and philanthropy among their mem bers. The reason the author of the column wrote the story was to dispel misleading rumors that people like Zeve spread. Tm tired of students on this campus bashing fraternities when, in reality, they know little about them. The truth is that through my fraternity I have met lifelong friends that I would never have met without joining a fraternity. This includes mem bers of other fraternities and people not involved in Greek life. The system introduces you to many different events and orga nizations you aren’t exposed to if you don’t get involved. Zeve is correct in saying that one does not have to be Greek to be successful in life and have great friends, but fraternities don’t say you do. Fraternities allows one to enhance his college experience socially and academ ically, and teaches him about supporting one’s community. The next time you want to bash fraternities, instead of letting your ignorance show through, take the time to educate yourself on what you’re speaking about. You might be surprised at what you’ll find. Bill Stinneford Class of ”98 Coaches refuse to utilize team’s talent There has definitely been an air of excitement with the Aggies heading into the Big 12 this year. With all of the excitement, noth ing could prepare us for what we have witnessed so far this foot ball season. Why are the Aggies losing this season? It is long overdue to question the leader of this Aggie squad, R.C. Slocum. Slocum is, in my opinion, a glorified defensive coordinator. Sure the Aggies have had the Wrecking Crew come up big on occasion, but it is the offense that is lacking. For the past sev eral years, the offense has failed to come up big. R.C. is the most conservative coach in the worst possible way. His only concept of a passing game consists of five-yard flat routes and his personal favorite, the shuttle pass up the middle on third and long. There is no way to win with a coach that plays to not lose instead of a coach that plays to win. We will never see Coach Slocum go for it on fourth down when the game is on the line because he does not have it in him. In order to do great things, one must occasionally stick his neck out and risk something. Coach Slocum has inherited a great football program, only to turn into the laughing stock of the newly-formed Big 12. Now that we finally have a real quarterback, R.C. chooses to use him in a matter not befit ting his talents. Step up to the plate R.C. or step aside, and let a true coach lead us to what could truly be a Great Texas Aggie Football team. Kyle ]. Barton Class of ’95 Pointless penalties add up for Aggies Three weeks ago I traveled up to watch A&M play BYU in The Pigskin Classic. Like all Aggies, I was extreme ly disappointed by the outcome. However, I still had high hopes. Aside from a young, inexperi enced secondary and a pass rush that could have used some help, the Aggies effort was very com mendable. A couple more weeks of prac tice could iron those problems right out. Saturday’s performance against USL, however, was foot ball I hadn’t seen the likes of since my days at the YMCA. Elementary mistakes like ille gal shifts and numerous holding calls accounted for over a foot ball field’s length worth of penalties! Add in 22 points off of eight Aggie turnovers and the result is a very excited North Texas team. I hope the Aggies home opener will render a better result. Ryan Kricken Class of‘97 Animal testing has necessary benefits I am writing this letter in response to Apgar’s column on animal testing. After working in a research lab during the summer, I have come to appreciate the value of animal research. Without animal research, advances in areas such as choles terol homeostasis and human parturition might have never been made. I realize that many people are testing experimental drugs on ani mals. But if you don’t test drugs on animals such as mice, how are you going to be able to determine the potential side effects? Are research animals really treated cruelly? I cannot speak for other research labs, but the lab I worked in had specific guidelines concerning the care and handling of research animals. Each animal was required to have a certain area of living space, only a limited number of animals were allowed to live together, vets performed routine examinations of the animal and all animals had to be sacrificed by humane methods. I am very curious as to what journal articles Apgar researched to obtain his statistics. The fact remains that animal research will continue to play an important role in scientific research. If you are still not convinced animals play an important role in scientific research, there is a group on campus that is working on mapping the bovine genome. Go ask them how important animals are to their research. Jason Word Class of '98 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor. Election Tm Voter fraud creates first lume 103 many problems in Bosni As the polling station closed and I witnessed the sealing of the ballot boxes, I began to reflect on all the polling station members I met during the day. It was their desire to make this election and their small, but important role in it, a success. direction. But evenifthei why would more than pie pass three marked art empty polling stationsto one way up a dead-end tain road? I observed voters tun ed in the Organizationfo: Derek Keller, Class of’97, is a political scm ; ani/atlons v ^ ^ ™e to educate esti By Brand The Community student doing independent research in g rowin g mi This analysis is part of a journal entry writtp unity at a fe during the weekend’s historic elections Throughout the day, there was an honest and conscientious effort to make sure all the rules were followed so there would be no reason not to legitimize the election. I have it on good authority that barring any stolen ballot boxes or other grave vio lations of the election code, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe decided months ago that the elections would be accepted as legitimate. After attending the debriefing the following day, I heard some pretty interesting stories from the field. Observers, in small towns of the Republika Srpska, told of how they were at a few polling stations clustered together. The next polling sta tion was two miles up a dead end road. These observers visited the polling station in the morning, went down to the other three stations, stayed for two and a half hours and then went back. In that time, their voter logs went from 7 to 450 voters, yet no one had seen buses drive up the road or people walk in that Security and Cooperation base, but not on theOpist registration lists, andheai stories from the smallerdi in the Republika Srpska J can say, with many of the: international election obe: s man V aspec that the elections werenu ducted fairly and demon: ly, as Dayton mandates.Bi feel one needs to take this into the bigger picture. This is Bosnia’s first des J tic election in the histone country immediately after horrible war. Was therevai fraud? Yes. But one needo; look as far as the U.S. forv fraud, the model foryoung democratic nations. Texas Lyndon B. Johnson’s electoi provide a good example. T he problem, or betters: the trick, is not the election even if they were conductei untain from 1 Adele Duran nic President: ctrical engin itival will pro spanic culture "The goal of )te cultural a jran said. “D ow some his or| fcnte By Ann Ma The Ba~ The Texas / dets is furthe train leaders free, fair, and democraticfas e s t a t e and ion now or postponed six months from now. The trick is standingupn the government after there: 1( i e t s to the come out. This is the I hurdle to come. rps Mentorshi] third year. The program « roughout the s< tl cadets abou ®rps experienc l)e workplace. .D. 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