*.*xW-
be Battalion
Partly
cloudy,
warm
0 1. 67 No. 45
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, November 16, 1971
Wednesday — Partly cloudy.
Southerly winds 10-15 mph. High
81°, low 64°.
Thursday — Partly cloudy to
cloudy. Afternoon rainshowers.
Southerly winds 10-15 mph. High
79°, low 68°.
845-2226
oter registration
roblem is resolved
i The voter registration hassle
| it has occurred recently be-
ten A&M students and Ray-
Jb. Buchanan, tax assessor-
lector and head of Brazos
cnty voter registration, has
ithed another compromise.
Friday, A&M student Senate
iresentatives presented about
(voter registration forms from
earapus registration to Buch-
mat his Bryan office.
Buchanan accepted them all,
ling that he would register all
»qualified to vote. The forms
those that had been coi
led by the Student Senate
lerregistration drive to be used
the 1972 elections.
Buchanan said that if he
tepted them all he could legally
rate all the registrants and
itty registrants that had regis-
tJ before they had lived in
uos County for six months,
isconstituted about half of the
registrations since most stu-
its had assumed they were
[istering for the 1972 elections.
Ike prosecutions, which Buch-
u said he would not carry
lough, would be felonies. All
dents who have not lived in
nos County six months and
deputy registrars who signed
m up would have been liable
prosecution.
The students aren’t liable, how
ever, because Monday James Mc
Leroy, senate issues chairman
and head of the voter registra
tion drive, returned to Buch
anan’s office and talked him out
of the forms.
McLeroy said that he will sort
through all the registration forms
and take out those that have
mistakes or have not lived in the
county for six months.
“We’re out of the fire now,”
he said.
He estimated that about 350
to 400 will still be good for the
1971 elections. All these will have
to reregister for the 1972 elec
tions.
The current compromise is the
fourth different stand Buchanan
has taken on students voting in
the Dec. 14 City Council elec
tions. Buchanan first said he
would not register any students
at all because of “lack of per
sonnel and supplies.”
Last Wednesday he moved
from this position to one of regis
tering students in his office in
Bryan. Wednesday afternoon he
changed this position to provid
ing special booths on campus to
register A&M students for the
1971 elections only. Friday he
decided to accept all the regis
trations, about 900 to 1,000, pre
sented to him by McLeroy with
the demand that he “comply with
the law.”
He has now taken the stand
that he will accept all the quali
fied registrations.
Zwolinski scheduled to speak
at University Lecture Series
kite-in candidate to run
n special council election
An A&M student announced Friday he will run as a write-in
pdate in a special Dec. 14 election to fill a vacancy on the College
Hion city council.
Bruce Clay, 21-year-old senior in the Corps, will be the fourth
“Mate in the council race.
Clay was unable to file as a regular candidate because of existing
pistons in the city charter which state that councilmen must own
ilproperty within the city.
He admitted legal questions would arise concerning his seating as
ttber of the council if he should win the election.
Clay, who is studying finance, is a member of the Student Senate
Hives on campus.
Clay said he believes his election would give the city government
to balance and afford the students more direct representation.
With the new voter registration laws, the students can now vote
, and we represent a large portion of the College Station
filiation,” said Clay, who describes himself as a “conservative.
If I were in office, I feel it would offer better representation of
Allege Station residents,” he added.
The city council vacancy was created when J. H. Dozier, a Texas
^ professor, resigned Oct. 29 following recent court decisions that
employees could not be paid if they also held elective positions in
^ or local government. Dozier was the laSt of several A&M
%-staff members to resign from the city council and school board.
Clay will be competing for votes against Mrs. John L. Sandstedt,
5 has been active in civic affairs and whose husband is an attorney
j part-time professor at the university; Homer Adams, a businessman
former council member, and Robert Knapp, a retired naval officer
it one time taught mathematics at A&M.
The Student Senate has been actively supporting voter regis-
file search for a black identity at a white university
N
nion on
campus.
A&M’s 1971-72 University Lec
ture Series opens tonight with a
presentation by Dr. Bruno Zwo
linski, director of the university’s
Thermodynamics Research Cen
ter.
Dr. Zwolinski, officially desig
nated A&M’s 1971-72 Faculty
Lecturer, will discuss “A New
Breed of Scientists—Data Epis-
temologist” at 8 p.m. in the
Memorial Student Center Assem
bly Room.
The lecture series is designed
to provide the opportunity for
faculty-staff and students, as
well as the general public, to hear
renowned authorities discuss sub
jects of broad social, political and
intellectual interest, noted Dr.
W. A. Landmann, University
Lectures Committee chairman.
He emphasized there is no charge
for any of the four lectures in
the series.
Dr. Zwolinski, who also is pro
fessor of chemistry, founded the
Thermodynamics Research Cen
ter in 1961, the same year he
joined the A&M faculty. The
center is now generally recog-
W. T. Doherty
dies at age 73
HOUSTON — Wilfred Thomas
Doherty, prominent Houston
businessman and former presi
dent of the Texas A&M Univer
sity Board of Directors, died here
Tuesday morning at age 73.
Funeral services are scheduled
for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the
George Lewis and Sons Funeral
Home, corner of Sage and West-*
heimer. Burial will follow in For
rest Park Lawndale Cemetery on
Wayside, The Rev. Fred Burford,
pastor of Grace Episcopal
Church, Alvin, officiating at the
services.
Mr. Doherty, a 1922 chemical
engineering graduate of Texas
A&M, suffered a heart attack
two weeks ago in Houston. He
had been hospitalized in the Di
agnostic Center Hospital.
Mr. Doherty was president of
the Robert A. Welch Foundation,
and he is directly credited for the
foundation’s $1 million support
to the Texas A&M Cyclotron and
the Welch Foundation Chair of
Chemistry.
nized as the leading facility of its
type in the nation.
A native of Buffalo, N. Y., Dr.
Zwolinski earned his B.A. degree
at Canisius College, M.S. at Pur
due and M.A. and Ph.D. at
Princeton.
He is a member of numerous
honorary and professional organ
izations and earlier this year was
selected by the State Department
to serve as a visiting lecturer at
the Institute of Physical Chem
istry in Warsaw, Poland.
Jr* :
Raymond B. Buchanan, Brazos County tax assessor-collector, speaks with A&M stu
dents James McLeroy and Mike Bunch Friday afternoon in his office. (Photo by Hayden
Whitsett)
Equipment needed
Bonfire progress is hindered
By JOHN CURYLO
The usual equipment is still
peeded and the usual setbacks
have slowed progress, but the
Bonfire will be built this week
end and lighted next Wednesday
night at 7:30, head yell leader
Jim Ferguson said Monday.
He reported that the center
pole was to be placed in the
ground this afternoon and that
full-scale work will commence
Saturday morning.
“We had trouble getting the
crane that was promised us, and
the communications van we were
supposed to use was sent to Fort
Stockton, but we’re still moving
ahead,” Ferguson said. “We
finally got a crane to set the
center pole, and the light poles
will be put up too. Boswell Con
struction Co. has given us a van,
and the Army Reserve is letting
us use some shelter tents for
equipment.”
The cutting area this year is
located 15 miles from the campus
on Sandy Point Road, the pro
posed site of the new-Bryan Lake.
A secondary cutting area is south
of Easterwood Airport.
“The reason for having two
different places is that the Bryan
Lake area is partially restricted
because of the proposed park,”
Ferguson explained. “Also, East
erwood will provide us with some
good core logs, which are what
we build the Bonfire with.”
In the past, there has been the
problem of having trees left in
the cutting area without being
brought in for the Bonfire.
Ferguson said that most of the
logs have already been chopped
down in the primary cutting
area, and any left over will be
stacked and burned by the de
velopers of the Bryan Lake.
Work will begin Saturday
morning at 6 a.m. and will con
tinue until early Wednesday
afternoon, when members of the
Firemen Training School take
over. They will pump 300 gallons
of JP-4 airplane fuel onto the
stack. At 7:30, the fire will be
lit and yell practice will be held.
“Visitors to either the cutting
area or the stacking area must
have university identification
cards or access passes issiied by
the Bonfire Committee,” Fergu
son said. “These passes are hard
to get, but we have issued them
to every member of the football
team, so that they can come out
and see what’s going on.”
Ten trucks, five of which are
semi’s, have been promised for
use in work on the Bonfire.
Ferguson pointed out that prom
ises cannot be relied on, and equip
ment is not considered secured
by the Bonfire Committee until it
is in use.
In order to encourage safety,
first aid and safety have been
separated for the first time. The
safety committee will try to pre
vent accidents due to misuse of
equipment, carelessness or horse
play.
“In order to take the financial
burden off the Food Services
people, it will be necessary for
students on the five-day board
plan to purchase meal tickets to
eat in the dining halls or in the
cutting area this weekend,” Fer
guson explained. “These tickets
may be purchased at either Sbisa
or Duncan Dining Hall until 5
p.m. Thursday.”
He added that three meals
would be served Saturday and
two Sunday. For all five meals,
the tickets will total $4.45. For
the two sack lunches in the cut
ting area, the cost will be $1.78.
One of these meals may be bought
for 89 cents.
Individual tickets may be pur
chased at the doors for each din
ing hall meal, but seven-day
board students will be required
to show their identification cards
to prove they are on the full plan.
Working with Ferguson are the
other senior yell leaders, Rick
Perry and Tommy Orr. Perry
is in charge of the stacking area,
while the cutting area is the re
sponsibility of Orr. Barry Reiter
is the civilian chief, and Gene
Evans is the safety chairman.
“We still need trucks, tractors
and chain saws,” Ferguson said.
“Anyone who can get these for us
should contact me or whoever has
jurisdiction over where they will
be used.”
Bonfire worker insured
against serious accidents
The Student Senate voted Mon
day to take out an insurance pol
icy with Mutual of Omaha cover
ing students who work on the
Bonfire.
This policy, which will cost
$1,580.50, will cover students on
their way to and from the Bon
fire as well as those actually
working. The insurance is $500
non-deductible for all injuries.
“We feel there is a need for
this,” John Sharp, Senate presi
dent, said.
Sharp added that this insurance
on the Bonfire workers is not in
tended as a “put-down” to those
who prefer other activities, such
as community projects, to show
their spirit.
The cost of the policy will be
43 cents per person. It has been
designed for approximately 3,500
people.
Students who work on the Bon
fire will be asked to give 50 cents
to cover the cost of the policy.
This 50 cents is not mandatory,
however. The Senate will make
up the remainder.
“I think this insurance is the
appropriate thing at the time,”
James P. Hannigan, Dean of Stu
dents, said. “I personally :.hink
it’s a darn good thing.”
Editor’s note:.. This is the
lr5t °f a four-part series deal-
7 "dth blacks on cam pus. In
next three days we will pre-
iii , v ' ews a black coed,
ac k in the Corps, and the
Ministration.
Linda Zehl
^ Writer
U
*^n Whitsett
Hitor
ftere
itendin
are about 100 blacks
S this university.
y contrast starkly with the
I 1 whites, not only in the
^ °f their skins, but in the
Hat they are on the short
" of a one to 140 ratio.
0u Sh we live in a state that
l' P er cent black, the univer-
^ r °les hold less than one per-
we are a university for
tate of Texas, there are
( , lmes as many foreign stu-
5 attending than black.
0 orrow from novelist Allen
0 s book about aparthied
Africa, we live in “a very
. society.”
, a L it is like to be black in
'ai
ira
their thoughts. To quote from
Allen E. Giles, a recent graduate
of A&M and a black:
“The college and university
campuses of America are a long
way from where most of us come.
Our homeland (known to white
folks as the ghetto) is hardly
conducive to the growing of ivy.
‘Mother wits’ was our thing, not
encyclopedias. We have been the
companions of every evil, cycle,
syndrome, or mania that would
strike fear in the hearts of our
white compatriots. Those of us
who survive have seen everything
but the end. Thus many of us
stayed by treking from our home
land to your midst; to your col
lege and university campuses. We
could not have imagined what
awaited us.
As students on the white col
lege and university campuses of
America we have learned some
thing which we choose never to
forget.
“We are not white. We do not
wish to be white. What is good
for white people is oftentimes
worse than bad for us.
.j
^society, A&M is beyond our
Mion. We are white. But it
Ss ible to turn to blacks for
University National Bank^
“On the side of Texas A&M.
—Adv.
Or from Barbara Bucannan, a
black freshman coed;
“When most blacks first come
to A&M, they have to become
adjusted and psyche their minds
to become accustomed to the at
mosphere . . . Around this campus,
there are many hard, cold blacks.
They know they are black, there
fore, they have to try extra hard
to break the color barrier. All
they want to do is strive and
strive, so they can be something.”
Or from Willie Nixon, a sopho
more in the Corps:
“A&M is based on many tradi
tions that evolve around whites.
The Corps is the most staunch
tradition upholder. To me, it
doesn’t bend in any way toward
helping the freshman black stu
dent coming in. The organization
doesn’t take into consideration
the black’s adjustment to an al
most all-white atmosphere.”
Whatever it is for each black
as he enters A&M, it can’t be
easy. The blacks here know this
and, through personal help and
the Black Awareness Committee,
seek to help each other and the
incoming freshmen.
“There has always been black
unity, even when there was no
official organization such as the
Black Awareness Committee.
Blacks are bound to be together,
especially when there are so few
of us on campus,” Marvin Bridges
said of the organization of which
he is chairman and vice-president.
In answer to the short-comings
in relation to blacks at A&M, the
Black Awareness Committee be
gan last fall. “Our most important
aim is to help the entering black
student to become a functional
part of the university. Making
white students and the adminis
tration aware should also be add
ed to the purpose of this pro
gram—this committee isn’t here
solely to make us aware of black
ness, but to aid the entire univer
sity’s awareness,” Bridges said.
In achieving these goals, BAG,
on a budget of $1,538, will have
several black politics programs,
such as State Senator Barbara
Jordan on Dec. 3, and a “Black
Week” this spring.
The BAG is also involved in
actively recruiting blacks to come
to A&M. They present film strips
and send letters to schools
throughout the state encouraging
blacks to attend A&M.
But the BAG is only a partial
answer to many of the blacks’
grievances, Bridges said. “Many
problems exist. First of all, there
are very few, if any, black profes
sors whom we can identify with.
Next the athletic program was
“lilly-white” until recently, and
the social life is lacking—most
bands are white and most blacks
don’t relate to the music they
create.”
“More important,” he empha
sized,” our committee is trying
to put pressure on the adminis
tration to accumulate more black
literature in the library, and to
begin a black studies program of
minority cultures and history.”
“One of the administration’s
main excuses (in not having a
black studies) is the fact that
there aren’t enough blacks on
campus,” Bridges said, “but, this
small number of blacks at A&M
certainly isn’t our (BAG) fault!”
Only blacks are allowed on the
BAG, except for honorary mem
bers, but visitors can attend by
getting in touch with one of the
committee members ahead of
time.
Sometimes the blacks at A&M
are questioned about why they
don’t attend Prairie View A&M,
the almost totally black college
in the A&M System.
(See The Search, page 4)