jriday • November 21, 1997
O The Battalion
PINION
Ifs
Winter Spirit ofAggidand agenda raisks questions
John
Lemons
columnist
B ah hum
bug!
Indeed, this
is a column
that some will
think was writ
ten by Scrooge
himself. That,
however, is un
true as this col
umn is about
the true spirit j
of Christmas.
Brace yourselves Ags, Texas A&M
University has yet another new tradi
tion. This tradition is the unholy cou-
pling ofYuletide spirit and Aggie spirit.
11 is called the Winter Spirit of Ag-
gieland. The Winter Spirit of Ag-
“ieland s goal is to plaster campus with
s, rings of lights and wreaths to cele-
hrate the holiday season. While the
ue !l-intentioned promoters of the
Winter Spirit of Aggieland have a neat
lc * e a, Aggieland needs to be decorated
Pout as much as it needs a monorail,
u hich is to say, not at all.
Neat ideas, seem to abound in the
Sll| clent Senate — community bicycles
l,)r Aggies to ride around campus, run-
off elections for yell leaders and deco-
rati 0g campus for Christmas. Unfortu-
na| ely, two of those three ideas proved
10 massive failures because they
wer e impractical. The verdict is still
uu* on whether or not the Winter Spirit
Aggieland will be a failure. The Win-
111 Spirit of Aggieland, though, does
J ilVe something in common with
ll,cs e previous Senate failures — it,
1()0 > is impractical.
According to their homepage, the
Vlnt er Spirit of Aggieland committee
las estimated the cost for phase I of
us enormous project at $28,500. That
H,K) unt is not an error. Student Gov-
lmv >ent actually intends to spend
j' ar| y 30 grand on decorations. This
’scene amount of money could pay
1 ar > undergraduate degree. This
,l() ney could also be used to help build
10r Ue with Habitat for Humanity. At
1 le v ery Jeast, instead of wasting the
l,1(,n ey on temporary eye candy, 28,500
1 ^ could be used to benefit some-
,oc y« anybody. Surely, the Boy Scouts
,l l le Brazos Valley Food Pantry or
1 ven the Brazos Valley Animal Shelter
,i cf better benefit from this stash
"“Aggies.
/u least Student Government has
j ,ld me sense to fund this travesty
'■augh private contributions. In-
U et ’ the Winter Spirit of Aggieland
‘omrtiittee has been working hard to
so|,cl t funds.
( ( | ere miah Williams, Vice President
’ Student Relations for Student Gov-
'■nment, said the committee’s 43
Members have been raising funds
ln 5 e the summer.
Ve r aised $15,000 dollars. About
^00() 0 f ( j lat j s Rom student monies.”
ue Winter Spirit of Aggieland com
mittee should be commended for their
/ diligent work in raising funds for what
they believe is an important event for
A&M. But, despite the committee
members’ good intentions, the Wintei
Spirit of Aggieland is still impractical.
Consider when the decorations will
be gracing campus. The month °f
cember conveniently coincides with
Christmas, but inconveniently con
flicts with students schedules. Finals
end on Dec. 17, which means students
will not even be in town to see the dec
orations during half the tfine they aie
on display. Furthermore, when De
cember rolls around, students are not
interested in Christmas lights, they are
worried about finals. By this point in
the semester* students don’t need
warm, fuzzy feelings of holiday spmt,
they need the knowledge required to
pass their finals. .
Unfortunately, the Winter Spn n oi
Aggieland benefits students in no tan
gible way. It arrogantly assumes stu
dents need an infusion of winter
cheer, whatever that is, to make it
through finals.
There is a name for such useless,
expensive projects — they’re called
White Elephants. This is the kind ot
thinking that brought to campus the
Caine Victory Eagle statue and intro
duced to the world innovative prod
ucts like Crystal Pepsi.
The worst part of Student Govern
ment’s Wliite Elephant is that in an at
tempt to be inclusive, it de-emphasizes
the true meaning of Christmas. Unless
you are a Pagan for whom the “holiday
season” is a time to celebrate the winter
solstice, the holiday most associated
with winter is Christmas.
Christmas is about the birth of Jesus,
not winter spirit. When warm, fuzzy
feelings, hot cocoa and $28,500 decora
tion projects replace the savior of the
universe, there is a problem. For Chris
tians, Christmas is an important devo
tional time. To have that fact ignored
and replaced by touch-feely holiday
cheer is insensitive and insulting.
Just because an idea is neat, does
not mean it should be implemented.
The Winter Spirit of Aggieland is a neat
idea. It also is a flawed idea. The pro
ject’s expense makes Aggies look deca
dent and wasteful. Furthermore, it is
impractical and ignores the true
meaning of Christmas.
Student Senate should be creating
projects that actually benefit students
not wasting money.
It is time for students to remind
the senate of that. To that end, I en
courage you to email the Student
Senate at senate-s@tamu.edu and de
mand they pull the plug on the Winter
Spirit of Aggieland.
And to make your point, be sure
you finish you note with a stirring
bah humbug.
John Lemons is an electrical
engineering graduate student.
lot like Christmas.
season
Suzanne
Smith
guest
columnist
T he Winter Spirit of Aggieland was formed
in the Student Senate in the Spring of
1997. The student body was questioned as
to whether or not they would like to see the Uni
versity decorated with lights for the month of
December.
The majority of students agreed that the Uni
versity did need to be decorated during this time
of year. The title ‘Winter Spirit of Aggieland,’ de
scribes our mission of hoping to keep students
spirits up during the winter season.
Not only will the lights, ribbons and hows be
up during December, but we also plan on having
a fun run in January.
< To make our committee a success, we have
been dependent on donations from former students, Texas A&M sup
: porters, campus organizations and the community.
Our major fund raiser has been a program titled ‘Buy a Tree.’ All of the
groups listed above have been invited to purchase one of the 72 trees lin
ing New Main Drive to be decorated with lights.
Donations are also paying for wreaths, ribbons and extra costs for
decorating. The Winter Spirit of Aggieland encourages community spir
it. Aggieland is the connection between area residents, students and
m former students.
B The community is very excited that A&M is decorating the campus at
W this time of year.
W The Winter Spirit of Aggieland is one of the numerous events featured
in Holiday on the Brazos’ celebration of holiday sights and sounds
throughout Bryan-College Station.
Our committee is lighting the way to a new tradition, therefore all of
the lights and wreaths will be stored for annual use.
We feel that this committee will have a great impact on the University
and the community.
Signs that look similar to presents will sit in front of the trees that have
been bought by clubs, businesses and residents. This display will enhance
the relationship between A&M and the community. In future years, I see
this committee expanding the decorations to allow for more decoration
on campus. The committee is working very hard to make this first year a
memorable one.
To kick off the Winter Spirit of Aggieland, we are having a Lighting Fes
tival at 6:30 p.m. on December 1, with music and refreshments to start the
festivities.
The ceremony will start at 7 p.m. with the Singing Cadets as part of t he
program. Our Silver Bell sponsor is l 7 red Brown who will also plug in the
( lights. Other entertainment will be provided by the Reveliers, the Aggie
Wranglers, the Fish Band and the Bryan High Choir.
Everyone is invited to come and enjoy the evening and be part of the
first-ever Winter Spirit of Aggieland Lighting Festival.
The Winter Season can get pretty dreary around Bryan and College Sta
tion. Students are preparing to go home for the Winter Break and study
ing for finals. There is a lot of spirit around campus during football sea
son, and during the building of Bonfire.
Students can’t wait for E-Walk and have that burning desire to beat the
hell out of t.u.
Bonfire is a wonderful time, and then everyone goes home to spend
some time with the family. When they return, it’s nasty weather, their spir
its have dropped because they know that it is time to buckle down and
study, study, study.
What better way to keep students spirits up during this time than by
lighting the campus.
We feel that a little bit of decoration on campus will keep students
spirits up and keep them motivated knowing that the winter break is al
most here.
With ribbons on lamp posts and wreaths on the entrances to campus
it will be a constant reminder that the holidays are here.
The lights will be on in the evening keeping the campus lit and hope
fully students spirits lit, too.
Not only will it help lift students’ spirits, but Aggieland is a major focus
of Bryan and College Station, so the community will be in the holiday spir
it mode also.
Suzanne Smith is a senior agricultural development major and Chair
of the Winter Spirit of Aggieland Committee.
Holiday season is time for celebrating, not ignoring cultures
merican educators in
sist on broadening the
minds of their charges.
Students must be exposed,
they argue, to various cultures
an d foreign ideas.
1 In order to succeed, our
j y°ung people must learn as
as they can about cul-
|Ures — except for the Christ-
bn culture which must be
Ndden from students.
As the end of the calender
| year approaches, many peo-
-J Pie begin celebrating a variety of holidays.
Hanukkah, Kwaanza, New Year’s Day, the Winter
olstice and the evil Christmas all occur at the same
|ej >rne of the year.
„ Many communities, fearing the effects of the
Christmas Spirit,” have taken extraordinary
a ' e ans to protect the innocent from this joyous
holiday.
David
Johnston
columnist
Public schools are often at the center of these
anti-culture sentiments.
Some school bus drivers are warned not to wish
their passengers “Merry Christmas” (but are not issued
decrees about Hanukkah or any other celebration).
Many schools have banned religious Christmas
songs from choir performances or allow only in
strumental versions of popular carols.
Even the Christmas tree — which actually is more
Druid than Christian — endures careful scrutiny.
Some schools only allow the pines if the are labeled
“Giving Trees,” “Unity Trees” or some other “in
nocuous” term.
Here at A&M, the Student Senate dubbed a new
committee the “Winter Spirit of Aggieland” because
they feared any name which included the word
“Christmas” or even “holiday” might cause prob
lems.
They pray before every meeting, but worry that
students might be offended by the word “holiday”?
At the extreme end of cultural sanitation is a Ne
braska school that banned Santa Claus because of
his ties to Saint Nicholas.
The school invented a replacement — Leon, a
mystical space traveler who brings presents to girls
and boys everywhere.
Oddly enough, this crusade to erase all vestiges
of Christianity does not stop at Christmas. A New
Jersey school this year banned Halloween.
Not because witches, demons and zombies
caused nightmares or hinted at association with pa
gan religious rituals, but rather because the holiday
originates from All Hallow’s Eve, a horridly Christ
ian event.
Christmas is observed by over 90 percent of the
American population, so it makes no sense to re
move it from our schools.
The Supreme Court has said Christmas activities
and celebrations are permissible. As long as a reli
gion is only discussed and not promoted, there are
no rights being violated.
No court has ever questioned the legality of car
ols, and Christmas trees have yet to cause major
harm or scandal.
The attempts to ignore this major Christian hol
iday make no sense.
Educators hope their students will be familiar
with various cultures, but neglect the prevalent cul
ture in the United States.
These recent moves are not in response to laws
or complaints, but are a result of fear and political
correctness.
The removal of Christmas decorations or carols
from public schools serves no beneficial purpose.
Years from now students will not credit their success
to the absence of Christmas trees from their class
rooms.
This is a time of year to celebrate various cultures.
The proximity of so many celebrations creates a
great opportunity to learn about and contrast dif
ferent backgrounds and traditions. In the mean
time, all Aggies should go out and have a Merry
Glitter Season.
Dave Johnston is a senior
mathematics major.