Edwardian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, February 1, 1986 Page: 2 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: St. Edward’s University Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the St. Edward’s University.
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FORUM
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448-8426, EXT. 8426
St. Edward’s University • 3001 S. Congress • Box 714 • Austin, Texas 78704
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President’s Letter for the Edwardian
January 31, 1986
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In-Depth Editor: Vincent Cheves
Sports Editor: John Von’drak
Lay-Out Editor: Cindy Olsen
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Editor-In-Chief: Michelle Huff
Managing Editor: Kate Fox-Shipman
News Editor: Brent Jenkins
Views Editor: Diana Paciocco
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The Edwardian is a monthly newsmagazine published by the students of St.
Edward’s University. The opinions expressed are either those of the staff or the
individual writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the University.
EDWARDIAN
Campus Mail Box 714
Room 24
Mt. Carmel Annex
in “Texas 1947”, balladeer Guy Clark relates his experience as a
six-year-old boy bred and raised in a West Texas town - his experience
of witnessing the first steam train to come to town. It was quite a
pivotal moment in time, but for a lad the confusion was more curious
than unsettling.
The townsfolk came out in force - “the old men left their dominos'
and come down from the bars” - and expectations were high as to what
this radical modernization might mean to a dying backwoods
community, where trains had always meant mail and soldiers home
from the war.
In his naivete, young Guy placed a nickel on the track, quick before
the moment arrived - “Mama jerked me back” - and when the steam
train came through everyone was shocked because, as the story goes,
“Lord, she never even stopped.” The future bypassed this West Texas
town.
“She left 50 or 60 people still sittin’on their cars, wonderin’what it’s
cornin’ to and how it got this far - but me, I got a nickel smashed flatter
than a dime by a maddog runaway red-silver streamlined train.”
So what’s the point?
Challenger. The Death of Challenger, as one newspaper labeled it.
The horrific, tumultuous, beautifully impressive, Texas-sunset-cloud
explosive annihilation of one of man’s still-frail missions to the outer
limits. Those of us not sitting on our cars were lined up on the tracks.
We watched it. In unison. This magnificent event. Our expectations
were high only because we were so used to the norm. We were shocked.
We were devastated. In the aftermath, we wondered what it’s coming
to, and how it got this far.
The networks jumped on it. They were too quick to analyze the
mood of the country. They were too quick to compare the despair with
the aftershock of John Kennedy’s murder. I don’t buy it. It’s totally
different. JFK’s assasination was the result of hate, anger, reaction,
fear and impatience. Many people thought he was evil. Many people
saw his ideals as the future. It was a slap in the face to watch his body
crumble in the back of a limousine. We were shocked. We were
devastated. But more than anything, we were changed.
Challenger, though, was an accident. We suffer no shame for it. It
was a dysfunction, a miscalculation. It was not a reaction. It was not
premeditated. It cost the lives, but certainly not the souls, of seven
angels, seven pioneers of the modern age.
As if not already enough of a presence, the networks went on to
presume the lesson we learned by this tragedy - a tragedy uniformly
covered as a Super Bowl with tears (with considerable loss of revenue,
they were quick to point out). And the lesson is this - that which we
cherish the most can be snatched from our midst in the blink of an eye.
But we already knew that! Challenger didn’t teach us that. Whether
we learn that lesson young or stall it until we’re old, we all learn it in the
private outer space of our individual lives.
So what do we learn from Challenger?
Perhaps that for every ten who trek the aimless deserts, every 100
who sail the endless seas, every thousand who set out to find the edge of
the new frontier — only one might survive to arrive — but he will carry
with him the hopes, the knowledge, the fears, the humanity of all those
who perished trying.
With due respect to Guy Clark, one might say Challenger gives each
one of us “a nickel smashed flatter than a dime”.
who is different from me.
St. Edward’s University can only
be a vital multi-cultural community
if each one of us makes it so. If we
want to make our university exper-
ience a real learning experience, we
need a real outreach to other ideas
and other people. It takes awareness
and effort, and I think that is my
request to each student and member
of the St. Edward’s University com-
munity this spring semester. Let’s
make a concrete conscious effort to
reach out to one another, particularly
across ethnic and national bound-
aries. Let’s use the opportunity of
classroom contacts and extracurricu-
lar activities to move beyond the
worlds we know. The rewards of
reaching out and real learning are
very great.
Often when I describe the unique-
ness of St. Edward’s University, I tell
groups in the community that we are
proud to be a multi-cultural univer-
sity. We have a substantial representa-
tion of international students, His-
panic students, Black students, and
students from all over the United
States. This is quite unusual for a
small university, and I believe it is
the kind of educational setting that
will prepare students for the inter-
national community of the future.
As I describe our ideal of a multi-
cultural university, however, I always
point out to the community groups
that it is not primarily quantitative.
Numbers of students from all over
the world and from a variety of
ethnic backgrounds do not lead auto-
matically to community. In fact, we
recognize at St. Edward’s that this
goal of a multi-cultural university is
something we must work harder on.
As we begin the second semester, I
want to reflect with you a little about
why building a multi-cultural com-
munity requires some real effort. On
the surface it doesn’t seem that it
should. We work and play together
at the University each semester. We
meet interesting new people. Over
our careeers at the University, we
form lifelong friends. But often, I
suspect, the friends we make at St.
Edward’s come from backgrounds
very much like ours.
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in a multi-cultural community at all
because we simply end up spending
most of our time with those who
come from backgrounds like our
own.
Of course this is not just an issue
for St. Edward’s University students
nor is it limited to understanding
among cultures. In my own life, I
find it easier to start a conversation
with someone who likes sports or
who knows something about upstate
New York. I do not feel that I have
much to contribute to a conversation
on Mexico or Saudi Arabia or opera
or the art treasures of Florence,
Italy.
But it is in my own statements, I
think, that you can see the danger
most clearly. Without some special
effort, I stick close to what I know
best. I need to work at moving from
the things I know well to the things I
don’t know much about. I need to be
willing to learn. I need to be willing
to ask questions as a way of joining
in the conversation and then listen to
the answers.
In addition to listening and trying
to learn, I sometimes need to attack
Letter Policy
All letters to the editor must be signed and/or authorship known to
the editor. Signatures will be withheld upon request.
The editor reserves the right not to print any letter which is deemed
as libelous or defamatory.
Priority will be given to those letters which are newsworthy and/or
current to the concerns of the University.
The Edwardian reserves the right to correct letters for punctuation,
grammar, and spelling, while retaining the original intent of the writer.
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Contributors: Larry A. Bugen, Dr. Patricia Hayes, Charlie Keffeler, Elizabeth
Starr, Francis Tipton, Samuel M. Tidwell, Fa. Bob Wiseman
Staff Reporters/Writers: Buck Hunter, David Koch, Salomon Torres
Graphics By: Todd Delong, Andre Gallegos, Noel McDonald
Photography Supervisor: Damian Morgan
Business Manager: Michelle Mitchell
Advisor: Damian Morgan
Typesetting By: Golden Sun Communications
Printing By: Powell Offset
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We have a natural bond with the generalizations I have inherited
those who come from our country or or my mind has built up to make my
our part of Texas. We get to know familiar world more comfortable and
those with whom we have much in other people’s worlds more distant,
common and, in most cases, there is There can be lots of these generaliza-
no conscious desire to keep anyone tions in the shadows of our minds
else out of our world. But, in fact, that block our communication with
that can be exactly what happens, each other. They aren’t just about
We can come to St. Edward’s Univei- ethnic groups but about “jocks” and
sity and spend four years and not live artists and, in fact, about everyone
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Edwardian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, February 1, 1986, newspaper, February 1, 1986; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1519112/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting St. Edward’s University.