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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1997)
The Battalion Monday 'July 14, 1997 Music degree adds florid class’ status rn'iV.’' Irica - t is m Let's boys Uect Lent flit h f tak eS fonW isaia ||ohn Hitt’s It cher the lark ^iiSs Stephen Llano Columnist, Senior history major E very day newspapers, tele vision and radio continual ly display a world full of dif- erences. Whether it’s on Capitol or at city hall, differences tervade society on all levels. Dis- igreement and differences are two things all cultures in the ivorld have in common — the other is music. It could only be a commercial jingle or a silly song, but eveiyone lias at least one song invade their brain daily. In movies, music tells the audience when to be happy, sad, tense or relaxed. Werner Rose, coordinator of the Music Program at Texas A&M, says that music is indeed a world wide phenomenon. "Sometimes music is referred teas an international language,” lose said. “It’s not really as such, but it is represented in every cul- reand society on the earth.” And at this “world class” Uni- sersity, music is barely represent ed at all. Being such a worldwide force, it’s amazing that A&M con tinues to claim it is providing a world-class education without of fering a degree in music. Of all the schools in the A&M System, only Texas A&M Interna tional in Laredo and the College Station campus do not offer a mu sic degree. The University of Texas, Texas Tech, Rice University, the University of North Texas and the University of Houston all offer music degrees. The largest public university in Texas, however, doesn’t offer such a degree. Oithe largest institutions in thenation, Ohio State, UT, Ari zona 5tate, University of Wis consin and Michigan State, A&Mis the only one not to have this degree. And Aggies wonder tvhytheir beloved school is re ferred to as being a backwards university. Although Aggies bow A&M degrees are excel- ,the rest of the academic world sees only the lack of fine irtson our campus. Also, Aggies themselves feel inadequate in the world of fine trt.A 1995 survey of recent grad uates performed by Measure ment and Research Services found that less than 20 percent ofA&M graduates felt they had made progress in the enjoyment ofart, music or drama. For the level of importance society places upon these things, A&M somehow thinks that a lack of specialization in a field will somehow overcome these basic human expressions. A&M has been slowly working to put together a music degree program. Somehow this fright ens a lot of students. From fears that the Aggie Band will some how go non-reg, to the concern ofwasting money due to low en rollment, opponents don’t want to consider the study of music in Aggieland. Of all the concerns, the factor of competition is an important consideration. Ray Grasshoff, assistant direc tor of Media Relations for the Texas Higher Education Coordi nating Board (THECB), says com petition and quality control are two important aspects when ana lyzing any new degree program. “We (THECB) have two pri mary responsibilities,” Grasshoff said. “First is to make sure that state funds are spent effectively [on higher educa tion]. Secondly is a commit ment to high quality without duplication.” But the competi tion factor is not relevant. “The plan for A&M is not to become another performance school,” Rose said. “Music can be stud ied as an art; it has its own canon. People express themselves through the arts even when their mouths are clamped shut.” Since A&M’s music degree will focus on the history and rhetoric of music as an art, it will defi nitely lend more credi bility to a campus starv ing for fine arts education. Students must also keep in mind that this degree will attract many future Aggies. Not offer ing a music degree is the same thing as telling a musically interested student, “Go away, A&M doesn’t want you.” Money will not be wasted in this program, either. Currently, there are only 25 empty seats in the music courses offered this fall. Students can take a number of courses to satisfy humanities requirements, but music seems to be one of the most popular, having no trouble being filled. A&M is not a cultural waste land. Groups such as the Sym phonic Band, the Aggie Players and numerous theatrical and or chestral events performed year- round provide plenty of fine arts for the interested student. But since events are spread out over time and distance across cam pus, it is not the same as having a concerted effort. “We have plenty of exposure (to the arts),” Rose said, “but it doesn’t come together like in an educa tion program. We have exposure, but we do not have education.” Currently Aggies have a unique opportunity in the music depart ment — no other university offers the depth and breadth of these music courses to such a wide vari ety of majors. If the music degree receives the student support that it rightfully deserves, Aggies past, present and future can benefit from a higher confidence about this University’s ability to really provide a “world-class” education. A&M curriculum has enough majors John Lemons Columnist, Electrical engineering graduate student § 1111 BL. : it® :T«,I € ^ k> Hfeic Graphic: Brad Graeber S quads left, squads right, pi anists, pianists we’re all right. Load, ready, aim, fire, boom —A&M give us music. This could be the future of Texas A&M University yells if the College of Liberal Arts has its way. Currently, the College is de veloping a bachelor of arts de gree program in music. The move is another step toward making A&M into the Swiss army knife of higher education. A&M already offers 129 under graduate degree programs in a futile attempt to cover every field of academic endeavor. While it is admirable for the University to offer its students a wide range of majors, A&M does not need a music major. The move to add a music degree is an example of the excess occur ring in higher education today. Last July, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which supervises all state universities, gave A&M permission to develop a de gree in music. The proposed program will be a liberal arts degree in the study of music, its place in history and how it affects cultures. The degree program itself, however, will have to be approved by the Board before being offered. Ray Grasshoff, assistant di rector of Media Relations for the Texas Higher Coordination Board, said the Board was created to ensure that there is need for degree programs and to prevent University crowd ing of degree programs. “It costs the state of Texas money to fund degree pro grams, so the Coordinat ing Board tries to ensure that programs are not dupli cated unneces sarily,” Grasshoff said. “By doing this, the Board helps ensure that the state’s limited fi nancial resources are spent efficiently, and that there are enough funds to ade quately fund programs so that quality can be kept at the highest possible levels.” Texans are, however, able to pursue a degree in music at a state university. Of the 35 public universities in Texas, 26 of those institutions offer undergraduate degrees in music. Twelve of those universities offer a gradu ate degree in music. Moreover, some of these schools are reasonably close to Texas A&M. Sam Houston State University and The University of Texas, which are both within 100 miles ofA&M, offer degrees in music. This is the definition of unnecessary duplication. It is unfair to expect the taxpayers of „ Texas to fund another music program when nearly three quarters of state universities of fer a music degree. The A&M in Texas A&M Uni versity stands for Agricultural and Mechanical, not Agricultural and Musical. After all, nobody would fear our football team if they were called the Fightin’ Texas Musicians. The study of music is out side the role of Texas A&M. Since its inception, agriculture and engineering have been the focus of this university. These are the fields in which A&M is a world leader. While A&M does have a well- developed College of Liberal Arts, its enrollment is smaller than those of the Colleges of En gineering, Agriculture, and Busi ness Administration. Whenever a new degree program is approved, the Uni versity has to pay for the first two years of that program be fore the state will fund it. The money used to pay for estab lishing a music program could be better spent bolstering cur rent academic programs. It would be better to strengthen this University’s strongest points than to spread its re sources thin by trying to offer every variation of academic study. Picking a major is not equivalent to picking an en tree at an all-you-can-eat buf fet — students do not need to have it all. The current music program of fers students a wonderful chance to learn about music. The pro gram offers 18 different classes. Dr. Werner Rose, coordinator * of the Music Program at A&M, said roughly 600 students per se mester take advantage of the program’s music courses. “We actually have a series of courses in music, greater in number and types and diversity than any other school in the state of Texas,” said Rose. The program also offers a minor in music, yet few stu dents are choosing to declare music as their minor. “I think it’s [the number of music minors] up in the teens now,” said Rose. Surely, the number of music minors is an indication of the number of students who are in terested in a music major. Obvi ously, few Aggies are clamoring to become music majors. The current music program is appropriate for A&M. Students are utilizing the program’s courses and expanding their horizons. The program, howev er, does not need to be expand ed to include a major. In the meantime, A&M should stick with providing educations that teach about the technology behind building stereos instead of teaching about what comes out of them. . IS IT JUST (VIE, or is uife coffee TABLE NtovlN© ?. V Mail Call ■if III Mascot not involved with campus repairs In response to James Francis’ July 10 column: We have been reading the sum mer editions of The Battalion since the first day of the first term and when a column by James Francis comes out, more often than not we are in complete disagreement. But that is not the problem about which we are writing, since this is the Opinion page and anyone can say what they please. But in his “A Natural Disaster” column, Francis said something that we couldn’t ignore. Although his description of the construc tion on campus is true, it has nothing to do with the medical condition of one of the main sym bols of Aggie spirit and tradition. As far as we know, Reveille had no part in the plans to renovate campus, and die student body needing a mascot that “knows how to bark and won’t collapse in an episode of violent shaking and spas modic whimpering” has ridiculous ly litde to do with A&M needing to make an “attempt to ensure that we won’t be victims of tiiis destructive construction derby.” Why use a totally unrelated and mean-spirited comment to prove a point that is already blatantly obvi ous? Francis, regardless of what you may be thinking, we are no more “Reveille-huggers” than you claim you are not a “tree-hugger.” Maybe you should stick to saving trees and leave any derogatory comment about Reveille or any oth er staple of Aggie tradition out of your contentious columns. Katie Lenker Class of’00 Monica Noto Class of’00 Opinions should not cross lines of fact In response to Chris Brooks’ July 10 column: Brooks writes “Some people disagree, but they are wrong.” I understand that this column appears on the Opinion Page of The Battalion, but opinion by defi nition rules out “right and wrong,” which deals with fact, not opinion. When a columnist starts declar ing his or her opinion as right or wrong, he or she moves out of the realm of persuasive writing and into the realm of cacophonous blathering (i.e., “I’m right because I think I’m right, so it must be right, therefore, I ‘ really am right”). Is tiiis really the lev- l, el of critical thinking that should be displayed in a college-level publica- \' tion? Brooks really can do better. This ; * is just another example of the care- > ] lessness that seems to pervade the *« columns in The Battalion. And more on topic, Brooks’ blunt statement of opinion as a J. fact only lends credence to the dictum that the common person j* is not intellectually fit to directly ^ elect the President of the United •>“ States. And yes, I realize the ^ irony of using the word dictum to *1' support my opinion, but this is a y letter — I claim artistic license. ! • Long live the electoral college (for sake of argument). Stephen Philp Processing Assistant >• Public Policy Research Institute * -4' J!