Page day • February 11 Jij The Battalion n’ returns aflt ing 11 gam ,00 (AP) — Michael J# )ttie Pippen no loi Dennis Rodman, t oent suspension sto ago Bulls' stars cares only about an returns Tuesdayri ting out 11 games i cameraman ion in 1 1/2 seast Bulls — and Pippen iman is willing or at :him$t ■ hist) N10 N Page 9 Tuesday • February 11,1997 New Year, new traditions Aggies should honor foreign cultures / traditions The Battalion Established in 1893 itorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the iws of the editorials board members. They do not cessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion 3ff members, the Texas A&M student body, re- its, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, est columns, cartoons and letters express the inions of the authors. intact the opinion editor for information on sub- itting guest columns. Editorials Board Rachel Barry Editor in Chief Michael Landauer Executive Editor Tiffany Moore Managing Editor Alex Walters Opinion Editor ure trouble. coach Built ach Dick Motta Tin the 1978 12 Honorable Me a junior, love hopes to ini] re this season and Referendum now Students should continue to raise “voices and vote on yell leader run offs Bloc thrives on this fact, but if the voters decide to have runoffs, the entire electorate could benefit by the chance to make better choices. So why are some students against it? Critics say the issue is too complex and not easily under stood by the students. But choos ing yell leaders is hardly brain surgery, and the electorate can smell fear. Fear of change is the only appar ent reason for taking a position against the runoffs. Some nostalgic students believe that the yell lead ers should be an all-Corps organi zation and that blocking runoffs is the only way to ensure this. Perhaps that is why the last time the yell leaders were all Corps members, they changed the group’s constitu tion to specifically forbid runoff elections. Technically, the yell lead ers could pull out of the Student Government election process and conduct their own elections. Of course, this is not realistic, and before the yell leaders are faced with that option, students must show up to the polls to show how much they want runoffs. Some students have been fighting for this change for years and have hit Student Government road blocks every step of the way. For example, last spring a similar ref erendum received more votes than any other item on a Student Gov ernment ballot but was later ruled nonbinding. Tomorrow’s referen dum is the only way to circumvent those roadblocks. If passed, Stu dent Body President would be mandated to change the voting registrations by the constitution. This time the referendum is binding, and if it passes, students will show they are not willing to allow the fear of a few to affect a decision that should be made by the many. C ritics accuse the A&M campus of consisting solely of close- minded conservatives. Al though these accusations are not true, some Aggies do remain close-mind ed to the traditions of other stu dents. Typical snide remarks about another’s attire, hair style, cultural events or heritage indicate the lack of respect for other peoples and cul tures. Although the severity of this problem is debatable, students should always try to keep an open mind toward unfamiliar customs. Chinese students began the festiv ities for the year of the Ox last Friday. Celebra tion for the Chinese New Year includes a host of traditions that may seem odd, especially to those unfamiliar with the Chinese culture. Like wise, Aggie traditions may appear silly to indi viduals unaware of the unity they foster. We all know the significance of A&M traditions does not lie in the actions themselves, but in the Travis Chow computer science graduate student emotions they create. Sharing this understanding of others’ customs will help us live up to the world-class university standards A&M boasts. Aggies who think they cannot re late to cross-cultural students’ immi gration should recall their own scary transition into college life. Remem ber how the Aggie traditions helped dissolve the insecurities and anxi eties? Fish Camp’s exhaustive sched ule of yells, games, skits and other warm-and-fuzzy activities gave freshmen feelings of acceptance. Midnight yells and football games put us all in the same boat: the Aggie team. Greetings of “howdy,” though not exercised as often as advertised, maintain an atmosphere of openness and friendliness. These customs of the Aggie culture provide participants with a new sense of home. When misunderstood folks dare tease Aggies about their crazy, backward traditions, Aggies as a reason for not supporting run offs are missing the point. I Although the proposed change in the voting regulations would not ensure a majority for yell lead ers, it would provide a change that could effectively destroy the Corps Bloc. For years, the Corps Bloc, a group within the Corps of Cadets, has selected its candidates for campus positions much like a po litical party. The Corps, which teaches respect for the chain of command, stands behind those candidates, thus giving a small mi- owertode- IELOVE iued from Page? are expecting Myaiosf e plate and get soffi® Evans said. “Shefes o hit the long Wrf ng with every pMf e outside ones. aA pull the ball to rig-- one over the fence,'* norityon campus the p ler a threat offensive) cide general election outcomes, freshman, Truelove; With runoffs, the top four can- 76 games for the 1- didates for junior yell and the top registered 38 RBIs, five for senior yell would have to uns and 102 total A represent more than one segment 11 rank in the top lOitW the electorate to win a runoff. It l-time season records would certainly minimize the risk received second ly of electing a head yell leader with th Region honors, ift S s than 15 percent of the vote, aore year, and ea(i| Arunoff system would help stu- |ents choose the best candidates |>rthe job. It is difficult to choose mdidates from a large field. Corps stand together because they understand the vi tal role traditions play. A tradition, no matter how silly or solemn, is invaluable because of its emotional ends not its physical means. Those who have eaten Copenhagen at Fish Camp, giv en up sleep for Bonfire or shed a tear at Muster can certainly attest to this distinction. They know not to judge a tradition merely by the act, but by the emotional relief and communal bonding. With this insight, students should empathize with others practicing unfamiliar traditions. For a warm-up, let’s look at a tradition celebrated by at least one-billion people every year: the Chinese NewYear. Festivities last a few days. For the more socially inclined, they last a few weeks. Families and friends travel long distances to share old stories and delicious feasts. Customary food items in clude “lotus seed candy,” “melon seeds” and a dazzling array of poultry and seafood. Out in the streets, children set off strings of firecrackers, and men dressed as dragons parade through crowds. Perhaps the most well-known tradition, the ex change of small red envelopes stuffed with mon ey, signifies wishes of fortune and prosperity. These festivities may seem strange to the casu al observer. Some may even wonder why the Chi nese need their own new year. Others may associ ate new-year celebrations with brilliant fireworks and drunken gatherings, not obnoxious firecrack ers and family visits. But to appreciate foreign customs, students should understand through their own experi ences, the true significance behind the tradi tions. Chinese NewYear festivities provide cross- cultural students with a sense of home. Practic ing native traditions with fellow immigrants can restore the security they left behind. Sentiment from Yi Li, a Chinese international student, on her first Chinese NewYear in America, echoes the feelings of those who have ever reached to Aggie traditions when times were rough. “There were so many Chinese students to gether,” she said. “Even though we are so far away from home, the comfort was there, and I felt at home.” My family and I also rely on Chinese tradi tions for emotional relief. I went to Dallas this weekend to pay respect to my deceased grand father. He passed away without seeing his progeny for 15 years, except for my father, who managed to make it back to Hong Kong one week before his death. Since my grandfather’s departure, every Chinese New Year’s Eve we burn incense and papier-mache gold nuggets as gifts for his afterlife. This custom is the only way I can remember him. Whether burning incense or paying respect at Silver Taps, we all rely on traditions for emo tional support. The next time someone who dresses differently walks by, we should keep this understanding in mind. ship role, ig a senior and a o put myself in a leal e,” Truelove said a lot and try to makes- ; never get nervous ? a joke or keeping Iocs Students should show respect for Silver Taps lest it disappear fter 99 years of Silver Taps at Texas A&M, many stu- . u r - u .Msr —^dents have grown tired ly o rave n ' u Tfi ig norarL t 0 f the tradition. If a" thm! *sie“ continue to show a half- 1 ' ! e ' .-Aarted respect for their de- u pi c ter on ganed peers, perhaps the Uni team voted Tru o C si (hould consider .plain because she! a „ ce ) in silverX . nd great person. | Aro^d campu ( before last esday’s Silver Taps, there ’ere many startling sights. The owd began to gather at the SC’s side entrance around 10 jm. In the next 10 minutes, is a leader who al"' up for what she said. “She is i g to the team and i\ iy how things should tion to that, she is te athlete Glenn Janik Sophomore political science major ore students joined the crowd and the . , u , , ,,, (D-oup grew louder. When the lights at the ove sai a ough went out volume was lowered, arc nrrvmnpri a iaIMIID it some students continued to laugh and atter as they moved towar d the Taps site. ars provided a es, her fondest one tf liman year when she ball out of the park, also said she hopes ill go into postseasj ven though it is fun" 1 unaments. past two out of tluj e have played in the Truelove said, in os again we have to g 12 conference, beca' imhas eight or nine yers. You can’t haveal re Big 12.” ove plans on Sessional softball lei ring the draft this er her collegiate sold' : over. 4 Sea&MA- a/ -up. No AuditH ’0 for more info- Wed. Feb. 12 ing Room 402 91 tf, Uaice. A freshman organization gathered at Rudder Fountain at 10:10 p.m. Their leaders began to shout marching orders to the vocal troops. Even after the lights went out the leaders con tinued to bark out, “Shut up!” and “Be quiet!” When the bells began to toll at 10:15 p.m., some students re mained less than observant. On the steps of A.R Beutel Health Center, a group of stu dents engaged in a rather fierce debate about the OJ. civil trial verdict. And on the street beside them, cars continued to stream along, seemingly unaware of the impending Silver Taps. At 10:20 p.m., numerous lights at Leggett Hall, the closest dorm to the Silver Taps site, were still glowing. Some of the other rooms turned their lights off, but left their televisions shadowing a blue glare out of the windows. This allowed anyone fortunate enough to have a win dow facing Sul Ross to watch both Silver Taps and Seinfeld. Anyone needing a beacon to show the way to Silver Taps at 10:25 p.m. could have used the Biological Sciences Building West, with the entire second floor aglow. By 10:30 p.m., the steps of the Ross Vol unteer Firing Squad drowned out the sound of cars and any remaining conver sation. The guns fired, Taps was played and the students paid their final respects to the departed Aggies. A description of Silver Taps released by the Traditions Council said, “Many changes have been made to the ceremony over the past century.” None of these changes, how ever, include turning Silver Taps into a so cial hour. Although the ceremony gives stu dents a chance to come together, the atmosphere on campus should not be akin to the Dixie Chicken. Silver Taps gives the student body a chance to say good-bye to Aggies who will never see another football game, another ring-dunking or another graduation. Many traditions on campus allow students to be unruly, loud and obnoxious — Silver Taps is not one of them. It is reasonable to expect students to re main silent for less than an hour, or for cam pus residents to turn their lights off. Silver Tap’s socialites and glowing buildings make the student body look uncaring. Imagine what the parents of an Aggie being honored think when they pass a group of clamoring students in front of a lit-up building. Silver Taps is a tradition unique to our university, few other colleges in this country honor deceased students as A&M does. The ceremony is designed to evoke the sorrow of losing a friend. The fire of the guns, as they break the silence, has a dramatic effect, and the slow cadence of the buglers is emotional ly stirring. If students truly wish to maintain the dig nity and glory of this tradition, they must ob serve silence before the ceremony begins. All students and workers on campus should make sure their lights are off. If the campus remains loud and the lights continue to shine, there is no reason to continue Silver Taps. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of this time-honored commemoration. If students wish to carry on with Silver Taps, it is time to return respect to the tradition. Little known Internet bookswap saves students cash K nowledge is power, but it also could be money when textbook swapping time ar rives. This program is an Internet system programmed by Sam Fleit- man and set up by Student Govern ment to enable students to buy and sell textbooks among themselves. The system is simple. Every thing at the site (http://www.tamu.edu/book- swap/bookswap.html) is self-ex planatory. The page even features tips on how to set prices and con duct safe bookswap meetings. The need for such a system has been evi dent for a long time. Similar systems have been tried in the past, but have failed for lack of proper equipment. Books bought for their weight in gold can be sold back only for copper, if they can be sold back at all. Enterprising students can tack up and search notices all over campus, but the chance of finding a needed book is slim. Bookswap eliminates many of these prob lems by offering a fingertip, campus-wide bul letin board for books. Clay Gaspard, a junior zoology major, said, “It’s an awesome idea. It Columnist Joshua Hill Sophomore English major revolutionized my life.” Gaspard saved $100 with the system, and he was a bit excited about it. The biggest problem with the bookswap system is obscurity. De spite a steady flow of publicity over the last few years, few people know the program exists. This lack of visibility has two ad verse consequences. First, the fee every student pays is wasted through ignorance. Second, the pro gram cannot work as well with only a small number of books up for grabs. At times last year, the list of books for sale was down to two. Here’s something to think about: If half the student body used the program, approximately 20,000 students, the system could save each person about $100, compiling a university wide savings of $2 million. Rachel Grasso, a junior mechanical engi neering major, said, “I wish I’d used it for this semester, but I was just lazy. “Unfortunately, convenience is slightly on the side of the bookstores. Students must de cide how much time they are willing to spend on setting up bookswap meetings. For Bookswap to realize its full poten tial, textbook publishers must quit milking the universities. The basic texts for most subjects have been the same for at least 10 years, but new editions still come out every three to five years, gifting every generation of students with expensive doorstops. Fourteen editions of a calculus book are not justifiable. If important developments do occur in a field, the instructor should have the re sponsibility to teach the development in class himself. Liberal arts books also change the cov er every three years. Publishers rewrite history books and constantly recognize English anthologies. A new edition every 10 years would be easi er to stomach. English professor, Dr. William Clark, sus pects publishers “create” new editions to keep the prices high. “The profit motive is a driving factor,” he said. Students, however, can still save a lot of money with the Bookswap system if they use it and spread the word. Maybe books in the future will be bought and sold for what they are worth.