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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1968)
LIBRARY CAMPUS COPIES €b£ Bcittdliofi VOLUME 64, Number 27 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1968 Telephone 845-2226 A&M Lakefront Retreat Seen Possible In Future Computer Registration -II SIZING UP THE SITUATION Tree-topper Marshall Cox grins down at Rusty Sims, small est man on the A&M campus, who appears to measure just about two senior boot-lengths. (Photo by Bob Haltom) ‘Super Gnat’ Stands Tall In Ability, Achievements By TONY HUDDLESTON Battalion Staff Writer In stature he is small, but in ability and achievement, he ranks as high as any Aggie. The 3-foot, 11-inch junior is Rusty Sims, a native of Corpus Christi, who excels in weight lifting, scuba diving, karate, and swimming. Sims has been affectionately named “Super Gnat” by friends in his dorm. They gave him the nickname after watching “Super Gnat” Nolen Smith, a kickoff and punt return specialist of the Kan sas City Chiefs, who ig the small est player in the American Foot ball League. Weight-lifting is a field in which the little Aggie has ex celled. He can press his weight of 85 pounds and can lift 75 pounds over his head. Scuba diving is his newest ac tivity. “It gives me a chance to learn more about sea life and oceanog raphy,” he said. Karate is the third field in which Sims has left his mark. He has the honor of “Blue Belt,” the eighth highest award in the sport. Swimming is the sport that Sims says he enjoys the most. “I swim a half to three-fourths of a mile every day in the sum mer,” he said. “During the col lege year I don’t get to do much swimming because I don’t have the time.” Other activities Sims is inter ested in are chess and exercising. “I do several push-ups and sit-ups a day to keep in shape, and I play chess to strengthen my mind.” In high schol, the blond-haired, brown-eyed Aggie was the man ager of the high school football team. “While managing the team, I learned not to let size influence my activity,” he said. “Learning not to accept size as a handicap has helped me in sports.” Commenting about his studies, Sims said he enjoyed biology courses but had a hard time in courses in German because they are duller than science courses. Sims said he had little trouble in finding clothes. “I wear chil dren’s clothes, and, since I don’t grow, they last me several years.” The ocean and sea life are Sims’ chief interests. “I enjoy the ocean and the study of sea life because I have always been fascinated by the ocean’s creatures, especially the dolphins.” Sims said after graduation from college, he plans to be a marine biologist or an oceanographer. For the summer, he plans to work for the State Park and Wildlife Commission. Town Hall Finds Replacement The Serendipity Singers appear at Town Hall Fri day night, replacing the Four Seasons, announced Louis Adams, Town Hall chairman. Adams said that he was contacted Monday by the group’s lawyer and told that two of the members were down with the flu. “They wanted to let us know as soon as possible,” Adams said, “to give us a chance to find a replacement,” The Serendipity Singers are now scheduled for the Friday performance, at 8 p. m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum. “We were really fortunate to get them,” said Adams. “They’re a good group and they will give a good show.” This is the second time in two years that the Four Seasons have cancelled their contract with Town Hall under the “act of God” clause, according to Adams, and the third program this year that the Town Hall committee has had to substitute for. Somerville Area Auto - Registration Raises Being Considered Student Doubts, Questions By TOM CURL Battalion Staff Writer Many students have expressed doubts and asked questions con cerning this strange new system that will arrange their lives next semester. Most of the questions can be consolidated into one query: How will the computerized system be different from the present method ? THE MAIN difference will be in time spent in the registration process- Under the old way, a student needed at least two or three hours to register (if he Second of a Three-Part Series could get the courses he wanted). Faculty and staff spent many hours in Sbisa Hall, and then more time preparing records af ter registration was over. An important advantage of the new system is the built-in bal ancing of class sections. This gives all students a fairly equal chance of getting all the courses they request. THIS AUTOMATIC balancing can also be a disadvantage as far as some students are concerned. Although the student can almost be assured of getting all the courses he requests, he can be AggiePlayers Plan Casting Aggie Players casting for seven parts and crew positions for production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” will be conducted Monday. Produced by C. K. Esten, the second major production of 1968- 69 will be directed by Robert W. Wenck of the English Department faculty. “This will be an open casting,” Wenck said. “Anybody interested can try out for a part.” He said casting and crew as signments will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Fallout Theater, be completed Monday night and posted Tues day. Parts for three women and four men will be cast. “Work on the production will start at a dead run Tuesday eve ning,” he added. “Arms and the Man” will open Dec. 9 at Guion Hall for a six- night run, Esten announced. The play, set in Bulgaria in 1885 during the Balkan Wars, is one of Shaw’s pithiest and most telling satires, Wenck reviewed. Work on the Aggie Players’ second production will start on the heels of the close of “The Trojan Women,” which concludes Saturday a six-night run at Guion- reasonably sure of not getting the exact time schedule he asks for. The student makes up a trial schedule as during past registra tions and submits it to his “de partmental adviser.” The adviser lists the courses the student wants and the computer makes a random time schedule. This means that the schedule requested by the student is just one of the many possibilities for schedules of the desired courses. MANY STUDENTS have criti cized the random system that has been used on freshmen classes in fall semesters of 1967 and 1968. At the Student Senate meet ing last Thursday night, sopho more senator Larry Carrecker expressed his opinion: “I went through registration by the computer the fall semester of my freshman year. The next semester I was grateful for a fighting chance (to get the sched ule I wanted),” Carrecker said. One argument in favor of ran dom scheduling is the university needs to make full use of its facilities. “TO USE THE existing class rooms, we will have to utilize them all hours of the day,” com mented pr. Chveles Pinnell, a member ,of the automated regis tration planning committee. “If we caln fill the room five days a wee! , we won’t have to go to Saturday classes,” Registrar H. L. Heaton remarked- Many students who have jobs or are involved in other extra curricular activities need to be out of class at certain hours. This is referred to as “free time.” “We think of free time as a course and the computer tries to build a class schedule around free time hours,” said R. A. Lacey, coordinator for data proc essing. “CONSIDERATION will be made if the student has a job (or other valid activity) and can sub stantiate it along certain guide lines,” he continued. The student who has a job must present a statement on let terhead paper from his employer to the student’s assistant or as sociate dean indicating the type of work and the hours a student needs to be out of class. IF THE assistant or associate dean accepts the request he rec ommends that the computer at tempt to schedule the student around tke desired free time. Howev er, ’here is no guarantee the stu'den’s request will be ful filled. The orocjdure for adding and dropping courses will be similar to the present one. The main difference it that if the student wishes tpo a«d or drop a course, 4—r his request for classes is auto matically run back through the computer and a new schedule is determined for the student. “IF A STUDENT requests a schedule change, there is a chance he will end up with a worse schedule than he sarted with,” Dr. Pinnell commented. Student Senate Vice-president David Maddox charged last week that the new add-drop procedure was an attempt to reduce the (See Registration, Page 4) Issues Seminar To Focus On Urban Unrest Houston civic leader Gail Whit comb will examine Thursday a second facet of issues affecting urban unrest in the U. S. in a Great Issues “The People and the Cities” Seminar. Whitcomb’s talk on police — community relations will be an 8 p.m. presentation in the Mem orial Student Center Assembly Room, announced series chair man Tom Fitzhugh of Waco. An attorney, businessman and rancher, Whitcomb chairs the Community Effort Inc. board and has helped originate “the imag inative and progressive police- community relations program in Houston,” Fitzhugh added. The cooperative crime preven tion program brings policemen into close personal contact with residents in their areas, result ing in police insight into prob lems of discontented slum-dwell ers and broader citizen view points on police problems in at tempts to enforce law with jus tice. “This program has been very effective in keeping Houston ‘cool’ during the past two sum mers,” Fitzhugh noted. Its ef fectiveness was cited by a na tional TV documentary and Time magazine. An overflow crowd heard the first seminar series presentation, a discussion by three Houston civic leaders of a community’s mutual responsibility toward solving minority problems. Students are admitted free to the Great Issues seminar pres entations. Season tickets at $5 each will admit faculty, staff and patrons to more than 30 future Great Issues sessions. Single admissions for faculty, staff and patrons are $1.50 each. University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M. —Adv. By DALE FOSTER Battalion Staff Writer A lakefront retreat for A&M faculty and students is a possi bility in the foreseeable future. Plans are now being made by several academic departments and student and faculty groups to organize a proposal for the estab lishment of a “total environment” research and recreational complex on Somerville Reservoir. “SUCH a proposal would take into account the total range of research and activity projects of the university,” said Dr. Leslie M. Reid, head of the Recreation and Parks Department. To aid in his attempt to com pile all available pertinent facts, he also requested that anybody with material that can be incor porated into a proposal should submit the information, either of an academic or a recreational nature, to his department. “UNTIL all information that should be considered, represent ing all groups, is turned in, no general meeting of those involved will be held,” he added. “The eventual proposal must be con sidered and approved by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.” The Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over Somerville Res ervoir, located about 30 minutes southwest of College Station by car. The federal government also owns a 300-ft. strip of land be tween the lake’s shoreline at normal level and the edge of privately owned property. The private landowners can use the government property as long as they do not build permanent structures. DR. REID noted that private groups or clubs wishing to use government land on a regular basis are charged a fee by the Corps of Engineers. Anyone with facilities accessible to the general public are not required to pay a usage fee. “The Corps is interested in use of the lake for a wide range of activities. Charged with admin istration of the lake for the good of the general public, they would like additional information to do a better job,” commented the recreation and parks professor. He added that his department hopes to help by trying to find the most efficient and best use of an A&M facility for all groups. THE DEPARTMENT would also like to study conflicts among users, people in relation to people and people in relation to fish and wildlife populations. Other faculty members plan ning projects for their respective departments are Associate Pro fessor William J. Clark, Biology Department, and Associate Pro fessor R. Kirk Strawn, Wildlife Science Department. DR. REID said that field labs could be built, with studies being made of fish and wildlife popu lations and pollution and char acteristics of the water. Dr. Reid also said that an often overlooked and important use of such a facility is continuing edu cation. It could provide for semi nars, both credit and non-credit extension courses. ALSO INTERESTED in a lake- front retreat and research area is a subcommittee of the Memo rial Student Center Council which was created to study the possi bility of buying land to be operat ed by the MSC. “A&M is one of the few uni versities in the country that doesn’t have a ranch or retreat of some kind for the student body,” noted Don Branson, a member of the committee. Branson also said that the Ath letic Department would like to go in with the other groups on such a project for the benefit of the “T” Association. THE PROPOSAL was origi nally brought before the Council by one of its faculty advisors, Dr. George F. Carter, Distinguished Professor of Geography. “The purpose of the sub-com- miteee is to determine to what uses the MSC Directorate’s com mittees could put the land,” stated Dr. Carter. “With freshman camp, leadership camp, and num erous clubs, we have run out of space here on campus.” Branson noted that use of recreational facilities would be limitless. Both the faculty and student sailing clubs could use the area, and boating and skiing clubs could be organized. Activities would include retreats, cookouts, and related functions. “There are about 400 student groups on the campus,” he said. “We figured out that that would be about 20 groups per week, minus final weekends and holi days, if each group used the area just once.” “WE WOULD hope to eventu ally have a building with four or five meeting rooms, cabins, a dock, and picnic tables,” he added. Committee members besides Dr. Carter and Branson are MSC Di rector J. Wayne Stark, Harry Snowdy and Keller Webster. WEATHER Thursday—Cloudy, with rain- showers. Winds Southerly 10- to 20 mph. High 78, low 66. Friday—Cloudy, rain. Winds Southerly 10 to 20 mph. Be coming Northerly in late after noon. High 78, low 68. Saturday Kickoff — Partly cloudy. Winds Northerly 10 mph. 76°. Humidity 60%. Bryan Building & Loan Association, Your Sav ings Center, since 1919. BB&L. —Adv. The Inquiring Battman The University’s No - Candidates Policy: WhaVs Your Opinion? HUGHES WATLER Beaumont Junior “I feel on-campus appearances would give students a fine op portunity for exposure to the candidates’ views.” P. WAYNE GOSNELL Humble Senior “The administration’s ban on political speakers is prompted by a fear of less appropriations. It seems the administration would rather have more money than ideas.” ALBERTO LUMMIS Lima, Peru Junior “Having candidates speak here would turn the university into a political institution—a move away from the original purpose of the university.” SAJ.T>Y c(^ x Bryan nore “There are en, ou ^‘ 1 students of voting age to y^^^nt the ap pearance of political Candidates. Even those n."?t old enough . . . would benefit'. ron ), h< aring dif ferent viewports- JAMES STILES Taylor Junior “I believe all candidates should be allowed to speak on campus and that no ban whatever should be imposed on their speaking at A&M.” HARRY HALL Dallas Sophomore “I disagree with the ruling. I don’t think that a student can get a well-rounded education unless he is exposed to all points of view.” EDWARD HERRERA Bryan Senior “Candidates should be allowed to speak on campus. We are told to be aware of issues, but the current restrictions contra dict this.” (All photos by W. R. Wright)