The Battalion
Monday 'July 14, 1997
Music degree adds
florid class’ status
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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
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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
*
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