^ s s 8 : SeiD-t. -
talion
pinion
Page 11 • Friday, September 4, 1998
' v '“'tting involved, making a difference
C committees offer students experience and training
ne to 1
We will be :
ay from 2 to 6 p.m.
'esentatives from
idreds of campus or-
ans will flood the
the MSC as they ad-
heir groups and re-
n members.
/ISC’s Open House is
ting undertaking. It
all task to assemble
/ide range of clubs
DAVE
JOHNSTON
capat
Our
gives
afternoon, but the project is just one
lany tasks of the organization known
lemorial Student Center.
dSC is comprised of 24 committees,
, areas from performing arts to leader-
ning programs. The committees in-
er 1,800 Aggies, creating a collection
rces unparalleled on the A&M campus.
Sunday, those committees will be re-
>u ^ alongside other campus organizations,
• : ’ r lents should make a point of learning
T y can get involved with the MSC.
::: all its assets, the MSC has a lot to of-
o: f ?nts|Although anyone can attend an
)gram. Aggies have the opportunity to
iting experiences by helping to pro-
:>se same programs.
USi Hurd, a senior computer science and
international studies major and this year’s
MSC president, said the MSC provides stu
dents with a real learning experience.
“Students are involved from generating the
ideas to putting on the programs,” Hurd said.
The MSC hosts many highly visible events.
The Film Society brings a variety of films to
Rudder Auditorium, MSC Cepheid Variable
plans a large science-fiction convention each
year, and several committees such as MSC Wi
ley Lecture Series bring interesting or big-
name speakers to campus.
Besides allowing students to hear speakers
like Margaret Thatcher and Colin Powell, the
MSC also offers members an opportunity to
plan these same major campus events.
MSC committees vary in size from 40 stu
dents to about 200. Here students work to
gether and can develop skills that will help
them later in life — such as working in teams.
Besides hosting productions, the MSC has
committees dedicated to creating leadership
programs to help students. MSC members are
given a variety of opportunities to extend
their abilities as leaders through both experi
ence and training.
The MSC offers programs designed for
many different groups, including several pro
grams just for freshmen; Aggie Leaders of To
morrow, Aggie Fish Club, the Freshman Lead
ership Organization and others. But freshmen
are encouraged to get involved with any MSC
committee. There is an MSC committee for al
most every interest, and Open House is a great
time to get involved.
Students interested in joining an MSC com
mittee should talk to fellow Aggies at Open
House and find a committee that interests
them. Each committee will hold an informa
tional meeting in the near future, allowing stu
dents to get more information on any commit
tees they are considering joining.
Once a student has decided on a commit
tee, they must apply to join. Committee chairs
review applications to find Aggies who are
motivated and will remain involved through
out the year. MSC members should be hard
workers who are committed to making a dif
ference on the campus.
The MSC encompasses so many programs
that it can affect almost every Aggie — if they
choose to allow it. Opportunities extend be
yond the surface. Aggies have more options
than just hearing a lecture or attending a pro
gram, they can also get involved and help
make a difference.
Dave Johnston is a senior mathematics major.
nice to
ot of peoph
d get into
• mode for
' nfet
C
:e play.'
UJRIE CORBEL :,a , y, t . 1 ? 1 e ,
SC Open House: diversity on display
mt features smorgasbord of campus student organizations
ial will be-
M V0LLEYBAL1 , just has
COACH /ery se
since time
■"■“■■^"“■orial. Ea-
„ lents will
i
needing e Memori-
the Agg - nt Ce p {e f
fj rst rt , assaulted
ive of
CHRIS
HUFFINES
season . ,
, sight and spiel.
!ih | ,, ^ 0 : four hours of deafening
. ' . rowded hallways and re-
..q u! pressure, these students
l u> j' 1 ve under the heavy burden
, ; ', ' louts, somehow believing
[’jfi "■ s a worthwhile experience.
^ „ /ever, despite whatever _
good co. _ T , . , I
tournair
s Open House grants stu-
, ( , , nd student organizations,
s a major overhaul.^^^™
rnance U
people
littedly, a forum such as
mode fo
louse is necessary. With
)0 student organizations
' llu ^ A&M campus, ranging
onors recruiting to skydiv-
DPAS, there needs to be a
r prospective members to
re them. Open House per-
that admirably.
dll O sma ^ er organizations
v nnot advertise or plaster
, Lftipus with fliers need to, at
l^TTHUlUiriefiy, appeal to the entire
t body. Open House also
a excellent job in this de-
mt, by keeping all organiza
itherineKelleinequalfootiiig.
, , .. ,, , these benefits are out-
>hley Kelly
weighed by Open House’s flaws.
It is hot, noisy and crowded.
Aside from the purely physi
cal, Open House also asks stu
dents to contrast a wide range of
organizations. There are not just
apples and oranges to compare,
but bananas and kiwis and can
taloupes, too.
Also, only half or less of all stu
dent organizations can physically
fit into the MSC for Open House.
This, unfortunately, cuts in to
Open House’s benefits of compar
ing all the student organizations
and helping smaller ones get their
15 minutes. And, as the number
of student organizations grows,
this problem will only get worse.
There are solutions. Open
House should be moved into a
larger space and should be divid
ed so different groups are split
into mini-Open Houses.
Since the MSC cannot hold
even the number of groups it
does now comfortably, it should
be moved to a larger space, such
as Reed Arena.
The main floor of Reed Arena
has 25,000 square feet of exhibit
space, plus an additional 10 meet
ing rooms that range from in size
600 to 6,000 square feet. That is
not an insignificant portion of
real estate.
In addition, the sheer size of
the rooms will cut down on the
heat and noise, especially if sound
dampeners are hung to kill
echoes. Reed Arena also has good
parking and is not as much of a
maze as the MSC.
Despite Reed Arena’s mon
strous size, even it may not be
able to hold every organization
for Open House. Or, the MSC may
decide to continue hosting the
event on-site.
Either way. Open House
should be divided into a series of
mini-Open Houses. Student orga
nizations can be naturally divided
into several different categories;
categories that could each have
their own Open House, eliminat
ing the crowds and apple-orange
comparisons that are currently
plaguing Open House.
For example, the sports-related
organizations could hold Open
House one day, with the academ
ic organizations taking the next
day and so on and so forth.
One will not take away from
the other, and this will cut the
size of Open House dramatically
each day, since some students
will not attend every one of the
the mini-Open Houses while,
more importantly, the booths
will take up much less space.
Both of these will make the en
tire Open House atmosphere
much less claustrophobic.
Here and now, the problems
with Open House are obvious. It
is too late to reform Sunday’s
Open House, but for the spring,
for the good of the student body,
Open House must be changed.
Chris Huffines is a junior
speech communications major.
Campus decisions
made by pocketbooks
T hey are tak
ing away
Mr. Toad’s
Wild Ride.
For those stu
dents who never
got to participate
in the subversive
side of Disney
World, joy-riding
with Mr. Toad
STEVEN
GYESZLY
meant “driving” a stolen car past
various obstacles until getting hit
head on by a train and going
straight to hell.
Surprisingly, Mr. Toad is not
being replaced as part of Disney
World’s ongoing effort to make a
visit to the Magic Kingdom as
wholesome as a trip to church, al
beit without the free wine. The
reason Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is go
ing the way of the serving wench
from the Pirates of the Caribbean
ride is purely business.
Disney believes the Mr. Toad
ride, based on a children’s book
character several decades old, is
not making nearly as much mon
ey as a newer, more market-
friendly attraction could. Despite
the nostalgia that the Wild Ride
evokes for an older generation,
there is simply no way that popu
lar sentiment can compete against
the lure of higher profits.
Money as the primary factor in
decision making is not limited to
large corporations. The influence
of the almighty dollar has a key
effect on students everyday here
at Texas A&M University.
Aggies came back to school
this semester to find that parking
on the side of George Bush Drive,
one of the last bastions of free
parking close to the University, is
now illegal. Many students saw it
as yet another fiendish plot
hatched by the Parking, Traffic
and Transportation Service to
make students walk marathon
like distances just to get to class.
The truth is the City of College
Station received a million-dollar
federal transportation grant, and
building bicycle paths throughout
the city —- including installing bi
cycle lanes along George Bush Dri
ve — was merely one component
of receiving the grant. One million
dollars, or convenience for a small
percentage of students and staff —
to city planners, it was a very logi
cal choice to make.
Another example of the power
of money in decision making can
be seen on a tour of campus.
Even with the most perfunctory
glance, the differences between
the facilities for the College of
Business and the philosophy de
partment are striking. The most
convenient explanation is to pro
claim a lack or respect towards
certain academic fields. However,
the reality is much simpler.
The College of Business brings
in much more money to the Uni
versity through company dona
tions as well as industry-funded
research and consulting. Unfortu
nately for the philosophy depart
ment, Socrates is no longer
around to endow a chair. That is
the difference between a room
where the screen electronically
descends from the ceiling and a
classroom where the chalkboard
is barely attached to the wall.
As students, it is easy to ratio
nalize why things should go ex
actly the way Aggies want them
to. After all, there are several vari
ations to their reasoning. “My tu
ition is paying for his/her salary,”
and “Last semester’s fees went to
pay for this building” are all com
mon refrains. These complaints
are tempting, but unrealistic.
A student taking 15 hours pays
around $1,800 in tuition and fees
to the University per semester.
Granted, students, who have
learned to subside on a Ramen-
Noodles-and- Big-K-soda budget,
consider this is a staggering
amount. But also consider that a
professors’ salary can range from
$30,000 to well over $150,000,
and the construction of a new
building costs several millions of
dollars. Students pay a small frac
tion of what it costs to run the
University and as such, get a
small fraction of say in how the
University is run.
This may seem to be a very
callous attitude, but to paraphrase
Marlon Brando in The Godfather,
it is nothing personal, just busi
ness. No single institution is out
to get college students; our needs
are simply not the most valuable
option. It is a harsh truth, but it
works both ways. Students attend
college because earning a college
degree means earning a higher
salary than going out into the
work force with merely a high
school diploma. So in the end,
who uses who? Either way, Mr.
Toad still isn’t coming back.
Steven Gyeszly is a senior
finance major.
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Shaver
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Watkins
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Yochim
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