The magnificent Fightin’ Texas Aggie Marching Band is preparing to invade San Diego for Thursday night’s Holiday Bowl game between the Aggies and the University of California-Berkeley, and this Brent Schrotenboer/San Diego Union Tribune article captures the culture war that will be one of the themes of this particular game. To put it mildly, College Station — the home of Texas A&M — will never be mistaken for Berkeley. A few of the other differences between the two institutions that the article notes:

School bosses:
Texas A&M: The school president, Robert Gates, was recently chosen by President Bush to supervise the war in Iraq as the new Secretary of Defense.
Cal: Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, a native of Toronto, lists on his curriculum vitae an editorial he once wrote for the Toronto Star entitled ìCelebrating Sexual Diversity.î
Food:
Texas A&M: Several places serve well-cooked dead animals in College Station, especially C&J Barbecue, which serves jalapeÒo cheese sausage, pork loin and ribs.
Cal: The Free Speech Movement Cafe at the library boasts that its ìcoffee is Fair Trade and organic, and tea is organic and Fair Trade when possible. The menu is a manifestation of the ideals inherent in the Free Speech Movement … through this philosophy, students become conscious that their choice for food is a political choice as well.î
Campus faces:
Texas A&M: Football games are attended by former President George H.W. Bush, whose presidential library is located on campus.
Cal: A student became known as ìThe Naked Guyî in the 1990s by attending classes nude.
Guns:
Texas A&M: The school boasts of its Metzger-Sanders gun collection, one of the state’s largest, with more than 600 firearms and accessories. ìThe collection is host to thousands of visitors every year and serves as a point of discussion and study to gun enthusiasts,î according to the exhibit’s Web site.
Cal: More than 88 percent of Berkeley freshmen agreed to a 2004 survey question that stated ìthe federal government should do more to control the sale of handguns.î
Girls:
Texas A&M: The school was all-male for several decades. It didn’t open its doors to women students until 1963, on a limited basis. Full admission for women began in 1971, with the Corps of Cadets first allowing women to join in 1974.
Cal: The first female student enrolled in 1870. One its most famous former students is Betty Friedan, co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and author of the 1963 book ìThe Feminist Mystique.î
Curriculum:
Texas A&M: Students can take a class called ìAmphibious Warfare.î
Cal: Students can enroll in ìIntroduction to Nonviolence.î
Military history:
Texas A&M: The school opened in 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College of Texas, with mandated military training. Its Corps of Cadets remains the largest uniformed body of students in the nation outside the U.S. service academies, according to its Web site.
Cal: Students formed the epicenter of the antiwar movement in the 1960s as the Vietnam War raged on. In 1965, hundreds tried to stop trains of troops by standing on the tracks in West Berkeley. More than 800 students were arrested at the school’s administration building in 1964, ending their massive sit-in protest of the school’s policies concerning academic freedom and free speech.
Politics:
Texas A&M: In Brazos County, home of A&M, Bush, the Republican, won 70 and 69 percent of the vote in the 2000 and 2004 elections, respectively.
Cal: In Alameda County, home of Cal, it was almost the mirror opposite. John Kerry, the Democrat, won 75 percent of the vote in Alameda County in 2004, up from the 69 percent won by Democrat Al Gore in 2000.