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Smith said,
97 Convocation
arks innovative
cademic tradition
Ronald
Douglas
provost,
executive
vice president
Iraditions
represent
a way of
llife here at
Texas A&M
land, indeed,
[enrich our
[lives in a vari-
lety of ways. We
I will soon have
fa new one —
[one that can
[have a pro
found and
[highly positive
[impact on our sense of acade-
[mic community.
I refer to the 1997 Academic
[Convocation to be held at 1:30
[p.m. Friday, Oct. 10 in Rudder
lAuditorium.
You — students, faculty and
[staff — are earnestly encour
aged to attend this special
event that will celebrate the
[essence of the reasons this uni-
[versity was founded well over a
[century ago and continues to
[flourish. It is for you.
Further, it also is an experi-
[ence to be shared with former
[students and other frineds of the
university, including family
members of students, faculty
and staff. They, too, have a sig
nificant stake in Texas A&M and
a definite sense of pride in what
has been — and will be — ac-
[ complished here.
Our hope is that everyone
[who attends the convocation
will gain an even greater appre
ciation of the institution that
we all love and better insight
into the world of academe gen-
| erally.
Those attending will have
the opportunity to hear Presi
dent Bowen present his vision
for Texas A&M as it enters the
21st century on a record of solid
accomplishment and bright
prospects.
President Bowen is expected
i to focus on both the opportuni
ties and challenges that lie
| ahead and oudine the plans for
meeting them.
The convocation also will
provide an occasion to honor
faculty members who hold en
dowed chairs and professor
ships, including new ones to be
formally announced at that
time.
Additionally, we will have
the opportunity to express
gratitude to many of the
donors who made possible the
endowed positions and other
gifts that provide our critical
margin of excellence.
I say the convocation this
year will start a new tradition,
and I am confident tha in com
ing years we will look back on it
as just that. However, in the
strictest sense, the event will
take its scholarly cue from the
classic academic assembly held
for Texas A&M’s centennial con
vocation on October 4, 1976.
From all accounts related to
me, that was a grand occasion. It
was described as a moving event
that underscored for everyone
privileged to be in attendance
what an academic institution of
the first class is about.
It celebrated the universi
ty’s first century of service to
the state and nation and set
the tone for the next 100
years. The setting of that tone
has served A&M well during
the past two decades.
We have similar high hopes
and aspirations for the 1997 Acad
emic Convocation, which culmi
nates the week in which we ob
serve the 121st anniversary of the
opening of our institution. We are
confident it also will be a moving
event — and one that will help
propel us into a new century on a
high note.
Please make your plans to at
tend and be part of this new —
or renewed — tradition.
Ronald C. Douglas is provost
and executive vice president for
Texas A&M.
O The Battalion
PINION
Close quarters
Students must understand football seating etiquette
T he year was 1921
and E. King Gill
stood in the stands
wearing a uniform ready
to enter the Dixie Classic.
Yet these days the Twelfth
Man is filled with two
percenters who just seem
to take up room, are rude
or refuse to uncover. This
fine institution we call
Texas A&M is filled with
plenty of intelligent peo
ple, yet every time I walk
up the ramps of Kyle Field to be with my
beloved Twelfth Man, I dread facing the over
crowded stands.
It seems Kyle Field always is being filled with
people who don’t know where to stand or they
just stand wherever they please, either because
they figure there is enough room for everyone
to find a place to stand or they just plain don’t
care. Usually, when you pull tickets, you stand
where your seats are, not next to some cute girl
you’d like to meet or in the section that you
swear gives you a better view of the game.
It wouldn’t be so bad if all 40,000 of us
weren’t tiying to stand in the same place, but
because of the inconvenience caused by some
Aggies, it never fails to put the rest of us in a
bad mood. I also could understand being
cramped when it’s 10 degrees outside and you
have to get cozy with your neighbor to keep
warm, but it’s 90 degrees outside!
My idea of A&M football is not sitting in the
hot sun, sticking to my sweaty neighbor who
apparently forgot to put deodorant on that
morning. Besides, when Kyle Field was built, I
don’t think they expected fans to be standing
sideways looking at each others’ backs and
straining their necks just to try and get a peek
at the action.
There is an easy solution to the problem.
Two percenters should go home and watch the
game on television with their buddies. All they
do is take up room, socialize and then have the
nerve to leave the game early assuming that we
have a large enough lead not to lose the game.
Coupled with the fact that they are rude and
don’t uncover is disrespectful to the rest of the
Twelfth Man and the football team that gives
100 percent every week. Do you guys have spe
cial privileges the rest of us don’t know about,
or do you not understand the words “take off
you hat?” At first I could understand the
women who don’t uncover because they didn’t
know better, but the rest of two percenters have
no excuse.
As if overcrowding and not uncovering was
n’t bad enough, two percenters insist on being
rude. Every week there is a two percenter who
insists he or she is right and everyone else is
wrong. I wouldn’t mind this mentality, but the
attitude and tone some people use disgraces
me. They must have spent too much time in
the nose bleeder section all these years.
On the contrary, are we not supposed to be
true to each other as Aggies should be? Show a
little more respect. If you happen to be wrong
when it comes to standing in the proper row, it is
better to admit that you are wrong than to con
tinue arguing and upset the rest of the Aggies in
the stands. All we need is more unrest. After all,
we do represent the entire student body.
Further more, now that some of you know
how much all these antics annoy us, let’s talk
about proper “stadium procedures.” Whenever
you pull tickets, you should stand on the
bleacher in front of the one your ticket dele
gates. This way at half time you should be sit
ting in the right seat. Yes, it is that easy. There is
no complex algorithm needed to properly fig
ure out where to go.
But, I also would like to thank all those courte
ous and true Ags who, despite losing their seats
and being perturbed, managed to help ease
overcrowding by sitting in any available seats.
This Saturday when you walk into Kyle Field,
take a minute to think about what you and
everyone around you is doing. If someone
doesn’t know better, kindly explain to them
where they should be instead of throwing a fit
and giving the rest of us a major headache.
Artie Alvarado is a senior environmental
design major.
Artie
Alvarado
staff writer
‘And let there be a kingdom for
L SPA
& 1
SS CENTER |
lax and
Chris
Huffines
columnist
uring the recent excava
tion outside Kyle Field’s
north end, a set of
scrolls was uncovered. Written
ejuvenati j^ 11 ancient Hebrew, they appear
T) , to be a new book of the Bible, a
t nerap • strangely prophetic book. It is
MassageSWled the Book of Ag.
Europe®; * * Part I: In th e beginning,
v there was wasteland.
A Cleansi m . 'pj len) out 0 f wasteland
A Facial :Came a man. He was called Ag,
enzf, his garments and boots were of
brown.
I m Street ; • SO) ft ca me to pass that Ag came to a large
exas 7780- bonfire of wood, nine cubits in height. And lo, this
a Maria <Sdjbonfire of wood broke forth into righteous flame.
• From the center of this burning bonfire, there
ake a voice.
“Ag, go forth unto the field called Kyle. There thou
alt find mine enemies. You shall know them by or-
ge garments and swaggering air. Smite them
ightily.”
• Ag fell to his face and worshipped the bonfire
from which the voice issued.
• The voice spakest again. “Stand firm, and I shall
send eleven angels of pain and doom, with their sub
stitutes, and they shall smite mine enemies more
mightily than mortal man.”
[| • And then the bonfire spake again. “Let these,
mine enemies, be known as t-sips, and let the hissing
1:15 4:15 <
2:00 4:30
of the serpent accompany their passage.”
• And the next day Ag went unto the field called
Kyle, and there he stood while the eleven angels of
doom and pain, with their substitutes, smote mighti
ly. And it was good.
• Part II: The next day Ag was si tting at home when
there came to him five figures dressed in white. Ag fell
to his knees to worship them also.
•With much patience and good humor, these be
ings showed him to place his hands upon his knees
and not his knees upon the ground. And then, they
led Ag in a yell.
• It was a mighty yell, which echoed from the field
called Kyle to the defeated and broken t-sips, nursing
the wounds of their smiting.
• And the t-sips trembled where they stood, know
ing that the spirit of Ag was strong, stronger than their
mightiest warriors.
• And then a voice ministered unto Ag, teaching
him the ways of the truly spiritual.
• Yea, the voice counseled him how to dress and
how to speak, yea, even unto the holiest “Howdy.”
• And the voice counseled how to honor the dead,
and where to tread and tread not.
• Ag was an eager disciple, and grew in stature,
both physical and mental.
• And Ag became good.
• Part III: And so it came to pass there was a sea
son when the voice, having finished its counsel, no
longer counseled Ag.
• For many days Ag grieved, for without the voice
of the past, he knew not what to do.
• Then, with a heavy heart, he began to recreate his
all; it shall be called Aggieland’
glorious days of before.
• A mighty bonfire, yea, even unto nine cubits, was
built and burned, yet still the voice did not come.
• Eleven men of pain and doom, with their substi
tutes, smote mightily the hated t-sips, yea, even unto he
seventh generation. And still the voice did not come.
• Five figures in white, even three greater and two
lesser, led Ag in yells. And still the voice did not come.
• And so Ag gathered disciples, and counseled
them unto how to dress and speak, even unto the
holiest “howdy,” and the honoring of the dead and
the posterity of these counselings. And still the voice
did not come.
• Part IV: And then, with the hissing of the serpent,
an idea of profoundness came unto Ag.
• The voice no longer came because Ag had be
come holier than the voice, yea even unto the knowl
edge of beer and sex. And Ag believed it was good.
• And the voice, the figures in white and the 11 an
gles of pain and doom, with their substitutes, wept for
Ag was no longer a child in their image.
• And Ag gathered disciples unto him and began to
preach. Placing himself as holier than thou, with his
counsels, which he named traditions, Ag began to
speak.
• “Ye who have gathered to hear the wisdom and
the voice, and the figures in white, and the eleven an
gels of pain and doom, and their substitutes, must
now add the wisdom of Ag to your hearing.’
• “Henceforth, ye shall be known as Aggies, for you
wish to reach my holiness, the holiness of Ag.”
• “Henceforth, these traditions which I have shown
to you shall be your only love, greater than mother or
father, husband or wife, beer or sex. Traditions hall
rule thy life, yea, from the hour of waking unto the
hour of sleep.”
• “Those who question or reject these traditions
shall be defiled and outcast, because they are different.”
• “Thou must go forth into the world, proclaiming
the greatness of Aggies, followers of Ag. Proving this
greatness is not necessary, thou must merely pro
claim it.”
• Part V: And so the followers of Ag did as he com
manded. And, in the places where the truly spiritual
still dwelt, there was much sorrow.
• The years passed, and Ag fell into illness. There
was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The 11 men
of pain and doom, even unto their substitutes, wept
mightily, for Ag was passing from this world.
• Death knocked mightily upon Ag’s door. With he
eyes of the once-wise, he saw his folly.
•With great effort, he raised himself and his voice
boomed once more over the land, so that all Aggies
heard him and all t-sips cowered yet again.
• “My followers, my Aggies. I have been in error.
Tradition must be loved, but not thy greatest love. Re
pent lest thy life pass in error like mine.”
•Yet no one would listen. Tradition had become the
only love of the Aggies, greater than mother and fa
ther, husband or wife, beer or sex or even Ag himself.
• And Ag repented of his folly and died.
Chris Huffines is a sophomore speech
communications major.
Mail Call
Manipulation not
purpose of Bible
We as humans are not perfect,
but Christ was, and that scared
the Romans as it does many of us.
It is much easier to twist and ma
nipulate God’s teachings in the
Bible to fit our everyday wants
and desires, than it is to be a fol
lower of Christ, that is, to follow
Christ’s teachings.
The fact of the Bible is that
Christ died for each and every
one of us, because he loves each
and every one of us. You will find
that numerous died for each and
every one of us. Christ gave his
life for all of us, and all I hear are
people bashing Christians, sup
posed Christians bashing homo
sexuals, and people who are
afraid of trying to follow Christ
because they just want to fulfill
their earthly wants and desires.
We all sin.
Whether we believe in the
Bible or not, we all know the dif
ference between right and wrong.
Christianity is not hypocritical,
people today, just like the Ro
mans were, are afraid of Chris
tianity.
All humans are sinners,
whether they profess to be Chris
tians or otherwise. Christians do
not profess to be perfect, they
profess to be forgiven.
As far as homosexuality, it is a
sin in God’s eyes. We as Christians
are to hate sin, our own as well as
others, but we are to love all peo
ple as children of Christ. We are
to pray for God to help us with all
of our sins.
I do not hate homosexuals, but
I detest the act of homosexuality.
We all face decisions, and with
decisions come consequences. If
an individual pursues homosexu
ality as a lifestyle, it is a choice,
just like it is a choice to commit
any other sin.
With that choice comes the
consequences. ‘Coming out’ to
friends and family is important for
homosexuals because they need
Christian love too. But most im
portantly, all sinners need to pick
up their Bibles, dust them off, and
seek the word of God. He is the
only one that can heal, and make
whole, each and every one of us.
Todd Knoll
Class of ’99