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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1997)
;ontinuewoi it Bengal’s state g( ment in the IS; ped what was lefi city’s economy, rhe Marxist govei it has tried inthep years to stream! city’s cumbersoi eaucracy and esc! imunist rhetorini >es of attracting [Jon’t bogart that brain... man fslew study on southern eating habits should make people think before they chew gads, Bubba! H Stop eating _J those squir- brains! Haven’t fou heard? It orsand rebuilding might not be a ’s infrastructure. >lic health, saidA$ man, commissione Calcutta Munici poration. The urban decay n arrested," Ban ood idea. Dr. Eric fhe city is attract feisman has dis- re business, impro; overed and re- d waste manage® orted a link be- water quality,and* ween eating the ting the poor ab; rains of squirrels Donny Ferguson columnist hired. “The w!( Id is changing, so ta is also change cannot live in a vat nd several cases fthe neurological isorder Creutzfedlt-Jakob disease, a atal human variety of mad-cow dis- ase. Creutzfeldt-Jakob, which is thought to strike one person in one can you ?” aond ystem of scapegoating destroys image of University H tm aillion, creates brain holes, loss of auscle control and in some cases, de- lentia, convincing Dr. Weisman to mmediately schedule an appoint ment for Ross Perot. Dr. Weisman’s report, published in he British medical journal The Lancet nd reported by the Associated Press finder the “well, duh” headline “Think 1 , Bwice About Eating Squirrel Brains,” O/j las shaken a hillbilly populous forced *“ ^ t( abstain from their gourmet veal af- pr recent beef scares. Dr. Weisman and the report’s co-au- mor, Dr. Joseph Berger, discovered the Ink in 11 people in rural western Ken- K)\ i \|>) _ Acky (where else?) After reviewing the roudcuratorsand» ata ’ ^ r - Berger advises, “It is perhaps men the famednl est to av °id squirrel brains and prob- veled 75 pacest l^'y t ^ ie ^ >ra * ns of any other animal.” i Sunday. ■ er g er also recommends people not ;at? Isn’t it great? l 00 ^ squirrels they have run over with ar Jeffrey Post, ca r, because crazed squirrels are he SmithsonianIrPore likely to run out into traffic, i-famous gem cm Give these medical geniuses a No- ; it’s the first timrl<d prize! Without their insight and ed to look as gd It lentless pursuit of wisdom, Ameri- ' Ians may never have realized eating aingto reallygonuilieir beloved squirrel brains “ain’t Robert Sullivan,ai quite right.” However, what these ic reaction when medical pioneers have failed to real- opens its newdisple is, if you’re eating a squirrel’s ninerals on Sept biain, you’ve probably got a neuro- Sullivan removed logical disorder anyway, m its wall safe eai Thanks to the tireless efforts of ing, carefullyplacel'eismari and Berger, squirrel brains urity case, took it t|ow join other tantalizing, hazardous 'cleaning, thenplaiubstances the medical community iisplay. advises people not to eat, alongside for decades instead paint, rat poison and Chicken Mc- ; side open, thebl; Diamond, about nit, will be housi ler, “almost a shrii , the museum’s a; • for public prograi ; surrounded by nds and suspeni um chain bearinj amends, tneath special lights v off the diamond’s: ■ep into the heard; 11 lope itself. The my Winston Galleii eweler who dom mi an. /alue of the stone,S e institution has: tes made but dedi public. Essentially dess. y brings visitors!)* 11 of gems and mi* es on every thing fc ate tectonics to ises with stardust id powder formed! id brought to Eai sorite. lure of the Hopef iws t housands of" the institution’s ii of Natural Histoi md originated in it was acquired merchant JeanB :r. He sold thestoi ng 112 carats, Lou is XIV, whohaf rats. current size, theti Id to King George died, it was bough" er Henry Philip M n the Hope family, s bought by Eval n of Virginia in 15 reler Pierre Cartier ought the gem J, in 1958, present' isonian, mailing^ llion renovation of" financed entirely ions. Safe manufc contributed thent vith 3-inch glass ant lat will cause theg e sight at any threat o *39.95 Dhone? >w. Airtime Purchase Nuggets. The fact that some people ac tually do eat the brains of squirrels raises questions like, “What’s so appe tizing about gnawing on the stuff in a rodent’s head?” and “Do you use a nut cracker or a saw?” But why do people eat squirrel brains? Squirrels are by no means Jeopardy! contestants (just dri ve down a suburban street), and their brains can’t be too filling. Now pigs, on the other hand, are very intelligent animals with plump cranial contents, not to mention peo ple already eat enough strange parts of a pig’s anatomy (go sample a hot dog), but you can’t order the pig’s brain omelette at Denny’s. The “Why are squirrel brains so appetizing?” mystery may never be solved, although it may be caused by the same mind-numbing phenomenon which causes university officials to paint Fish Pond a sickly shade of lavender. Whatever their strange appeal, squir rel brains have gained a reputation as the “Hee-Haw” crowd’s answer to caviar. They are about the size of a golf ball and are rumored to taste like mushy liver. Mushy liver? Why didn’t you tell us? They sound about as good as those breakfast steak fingers in Sbisa. Despite the obviously appetizing qualities of squirrel brains, Swanson Foods proba bly has no plans to market “Frozen Squirrel Brains ’n Peas” or the “Squirrel Brains Macaroni” kids platter. The neu rological nuggets are, however, some times cooked with sauteed onions and served over rice, or scrambled into eggs. All culinary combinations aside, rural Kentucky is in shock over the tainted squirrel brains scare. Orga nizers of Floyd County’s 18th Annual Slone Mountain Squirrel Festival are struggling to cope with the grim news. “We don’t even fix squirrel gravy anymore. We don’t serve any wild animal whatsoever. The health department said they’d all have to be checked, so we just decided not to fool with it,” said organizer Otis Hicks. Floyd County residents plan to continue with the Squirrel Festival, despite the crushing revelation. Tennessee native and Frankfort oral historian Janet Norris Gates heard the disheartening news and remembered her father. “In our family, we saw it as a prized piece of meat, and if he shared it with you, you were pretty happy. Not that he was stingy, but there’s just not that much of a squirrel brain,” Gates said. “There’s no way I can undo what I’ve done. But I have certainly enjoyed eating them.” Hang in there Janet, our prayers are with you. Central Kentucky farmer Philip Lyvers has no plans to change his di etary regimen over “two guys’ opin ions,” despite the obvious lunacy of eating the “rodent delicacy.” “I know more old hunters than I know of old doctors,” Lyvers said. Just as the mad-cow and E. coli beef scares have made some Americans change the way they eat meat, the squirrel brains scare may finally make backwoods Alabama rednecks realize just how idiotic it is to fry up a golf ball-sized morsel of gray matter when they can run down to the Piggly-Wig gly and pick up some Goo-Goo Clus ters and Slim Jims. In the meantime, I think I’ll take my chances with those steak fingers. Donny Ferguson is a junior political science major. W0 Brandon Hausenfluck columnist ypoensy is running rampant here at Texas A&M. A handful of A&M Corps mem bers have been se riously repri manded for doing what they were taught to do. The A&M Stu dent Judicial Ser vices in the De partment of Student Life concluded hearings Monday of 16 members of the Fish Drill Team who were charged in Inly with hazing. Information was gathered by the Uni versity from nine Drill Team advisers who were charged with hazing earlier this year. Those cadets were punished for their involvement. All 16 students were one-time mem bers of or upperclassman advisors to t he rigorous drill unit of freshman students in the Corps of Cadets. Five of the 16 students are still members of the Corps, eight are en rolled at A&M but are no longer mem bers of the Corps, and three of the cadets are no longer members of the A&M student body. The sanctions for the students con victed ranged from deferred suspensions to letters of reprimand. The A&M Administration has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing, which U has exercised frequently these last couple of years. Two fraternities last year lost their charters after two unrelat ed hazing incidents occurred. However, it has taken a while for the administration to crack down on the Corps. When Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Ted Hopwood took over last year, he was quick to make changes in the way the Corps operated. Last fall, for example, Hopwood ruled that freshman were not to run on the Quad — a Corps tradition as old as sliced bread. Upperclassmen were devastated. I’m not trying to say Hopwood was out of line in his ruling, not at all. He is actu ally the first Commandant who has ever taken the Corps by the horns and thrown it around a little bit. This summer, for example, a Fish Drill Team adviser was expelled for hazing. He was a student in good standing at A&M who took pride in his role as a leader in the Corps of Cadets. He was a student Ag gies could boast about, and he led the Fish Drill Team to new heights. The student was expelled for doing ex actly what had been done to him and every other FDT member. He was kicked out of school for doing what he was taught. The Commandant needs to look at the big picture, and not make scapegoats out of his most prized students. In the 1997-98 A&M Student Rules cat alog, hazing is defined as: “any intention al, knowing or reckless act... by one per son alone or acting with others ... that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student.” Granted, cadets will valiantly deny any wrong doing after they have run an out- of-shape freshman until he or she pukes bile. And if an eye is put out by a flying ri fle, then that’s just too bad. It’s all in how you interpret it. The Rules catalog states that hazing is defined as one who is being subject ed to “any type of physical activity, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, [or] confinement in a small space.” We’ve all seen it. There is always a dis respectful Corps member sitting in the front row of a class sunburned and asleep, probably because he or she is claustro phobic and cannot enjoy their two hours of rest in the tiny dorm rooms. But as they drool and bob their heads, we as their fel low students, subject to the same rules they are, sit and watch a victim of hazing, and accept it. Because that’s what they joined the Corps for, right? A&M administrators are doing what needs to be done. They are effectively en forcing the laws the govern us as Aggies and as Texans. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi dent for student affairs, is one of the main administrators involved with every hazing incident. As an extremely popular and well-respected leader on campus, he must make decisions based on what is right — not on what will make him more popular. In a University Relations press re lease, Southerland said Big Brother will be watching. “Texas A&M takes any and all allega tions of hazing... or any other violation of our student rules extremely seriously,” he said. Unless some serious changes are made in the operation of some student organiza tions, there will be many more scapegoats. Brandon Hausenfluck is a senior journalism major. MAIL CALL Reveille as a mutt proves a good idea In response to John Lemon’s Sep tember 10 column: Lemon’s opinion column about the next Reveille sparked my inter est. Adopting a mixed-breed from a pound is an admirable act, and the notion of having an Old Army Reveille is one that I like, as I’m sure many Ags would. But first and foremost, Reveille is a symbol of Texas A&M. She is sup posed to stand for what is great about our school wherever she is, at any athletic event, at every review and on her way to class with her handler. She represents all of us every day. I support thq idea of Reveille VII being a mutt. A&M as a whole should be proud of every Ag gie that is part of this university, and the message a mixed-breed Rev would send is that we as students, and all those affiliated with A&M, support our own regardless of background, simply because they are Aggies. I learned through my four years in the Corps of Cadets that being an Aggie means loving A&M and sup porting the Aggie teams, win or lose. To me that means I’ll cast my vote for a mutt Rev, but I still am proud of Reveille VI. Bob Riggs Class of’9 7 Exchange student at The Citadel Class instruction requires a syllabus In response to Helen Clancy’s Sep tember 8 column: Speaking as an instructor, I can empathize with Clancy’s senti ments in her column. Certainly the first week of the semester tends to be the dullest, and I wish that I could follow your advice and just jump right into classroom activi ties, and on other occasions ignore the syllabus. Unfortunately, both professors and we graduate assis tants have several constraints. First, departments, colleges and the University have established nu merous guidelines regarding syl labus construction and presenta tion. We must include and discuss certain policies such as absences, grading, student services, etc. Second, a class’ make-up changes drastically during the first week because of drop-add. Late- adding students can read the syl labus to learn policies, but they can not make up group work and class discussions, important elements of smaller classes such as technical writing or public speaking. Third, the syllabus is a contract. It protects students from potentially unfair treatment and allows the in structor to encapsulate his or her expectations. For grade-conscious students such as those at Texas A&M, the syl labus provides the standard for evaluation. Although I agree with you that syl labus presentation is boring and that too much adherence to it can be re ductive, I think that it is a necessary and important part of each class. JeffTodd Graduate student
