Welcome To A&M, Class Of 1977
be Battalion
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Weather
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Freshman
Edition
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WEDNESDAY — Partly cloudy
with occasional showers and
thundershowers. High of 93.
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Si
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Section
One
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College Station, Texas
Wednesday, August 8, 1973
17,000 Expected For Fall Enrollment
A&M starts its 98th school year
Sept. 3 with a constantly improv
ing and increasing ability to meet
the needs of its students.
An enrollment of more than
17,000, twice the size of the Texas
A&M student body of a decade
ago, is expected.
It will include, in the Class of
’77, A&M’s 101st graduating class.
Established in 1876 as Texas'
first public institution of higher
education, A&M also continues to
serve the state and nation
through teaching, research and
extension. It has carried out the
traditional land grant role while
expanding into new fields, such
as oceanographic and marine-
related activities.
A proud heritage and tradi
tions unique to A&M have been
maintained, however, in the midst
of change that has revitalized the
university and altered its physical
face in the last 10 years.
Students here for the 1973-74
school year will be the first to
use new facilities including the
15-story Oceanography-Meteorol
ogy Building and the eight-floor
Education-Liberal Arts Building.
They are two of numerous con
struction projects completed or
nearing completion for TAMU’s
1976 centennial celebration.
The Continuing Education Tow
er is also in use, relieving the
Memorial Student Center of con
ference, short course and seminar
pressure.
A glittering new auditorium
complex will become available
this fall. Part of the University
Center including the expanded
and renovated MSC, the three-
theater auditorium complex will
open with a series of nationally
prominent -artists through the
Opera aha Performing Arts
Society.
Also due acceptance during the
school year is the new University
Health Center.
Students will encounter some
inconvenience with other con
struction, such as the new ath
letic dormitory. Plans are under
way for more residence hall
space, expanding the Krueger-
Dunn Hall complex. y'
Women were admitted to previ
ously all-male Texas A&M 10
years ago this fall. More than
3,000 of the university’s projected
fall enrollment is expected to be
Vet Commencement Held
women. Besides residing in
Krueger Hall in their “sopho
more” year of on-campus hous
ing, women will also reside in
renovated residence halls on the
west side of the campus.
Keeping pace with enrollment
increases, the TAMU faculty has
increased 50 per cent in the last
five years. It now includes more
than 1,200 members. Two-thirds
hold doctoral degrees.
A&M is Texas’ leading univer
sity research center, according
to the Coordinating Board, Texas
College and University System.
A recent report shows projects
valued at $30.9 million, more than
40 per cent of research funds re
ported by the state’s 24 public
senior colleges and universities.
Through 10 academic colleges,
TAMU offers undergraduate de
grees in more than 70 fields and
105 degree options at the gradu
ate level. The academic colleges,
double the number of a decade
ago, are the College of Engineer
ing, Agriculture, Business Ad
ministration, Liberal Arts, Sci
ence, Education, Architecture and
Environmental Design, Moody
College of Marine Sciences and
Maritime Resources, Geosciences
and Veterinary Medicine.
The university with campuses
at College Station and Galveston
is part of the Texas A&M Uni
versity System. The system in
cludes Prairie View A&M Col
lege, Tarleton State College,
Texas Forest Service, Teaxs Agri
cultural Experiment Station, Tex
as Agricultural Extension Serv
ice, Texas Engineering Extension
Service, Texas Engineering Ex
periment Station and Texas
Transportation Institute.
%
Dr. Jack K. Williams
President Williams
reels Freshmen
I am glad to have this opportunity to welcome each new student
entering Texas A&M University. You join a great group of students
who are already here. Together, you and the upperclassmen who have
enrolled before you are members of the remarkable Aggie fraternity of
men and women who number 65,000 and are located throughout the
world. These are men and women working in leadership roles, engaged
jn compassionate service to others, and attached to this university by
strong bonds of loyalty and affection.
You will soon catch the spirit of this campus—its friendliness, its
informality, its dedication to scholarship and the rule of reason.
I remind you that TAMU is now your university. Its reputation and
ccomplishments are in your hands, for from this day you are stamped
with the unerasable mark of Texas A&M. From this day in August
1973, your works and accomplishments will add to or subtract from
the honor and image of your university.
You will be upperclassmen in 1976 when TAMU celebrates its
■00th year as a citadel of learning and loyal service to Texas and our
nation. The basic purpose of this university when it began life in 1876
was to provide a foundation of intellectual maturity on which young
people might build their lives. Its primary mission was to stimulate and
promote within each student a lasting spirit of intellectual curiosity,
which is a necessary ingredient of progress. I welcome you warmly as
icmbers of the 97th freshman class of students enrolled at College
^ tation in hopeful fulfillment of that purpose and mission. May
happiness and friendship and the satisfaction of growing in knowledge
crowd your days.
Jack K. Williams
President
Texas A&M University
/
*
The ranks of professional doc
tors of veterinary medicine were
increased by 126 last Friday
night as A&M’s College of Vet
erinary Medicine held its com
mencement exercises.
Brig. Gen. Charles Van Loan
Elis, the Army’s top veterinarian,
welcomed the graduates into the
profession in his commencement
address in U. Rollie White Coli
seum.
“Having preceded you as a
graduate from this university
thirty years ago, with a degree
in veterinary medicine, I am es
pecially grateful for this oppor
tunity tonight to welcotne you
men and women into this noble
profession,” he told the grad
uates.
“You have worked long and
hard for this day. I’m certain
that some of you occasionally
thought, during three academic
years of professional study, that
graduation would never come;
that it was merely some impos
sible dream. But it has arrived.”
Gen. Elia charged the gradu
ates to keep pace with change in
Scott Injured
In Auto Accident
Ira Scott head of the Police
Training Division for A&M’s En
gineering Extension Service, re
ceived minor injuries in a one-
car accident Wednesday afternoon
on the West Bypass.
Scott was admitted to St. Jo
seph Hospital where his condition
was described as “good” Thurs
day morning.
A Department of Public Safety
spokesman said Scott’s car struck
a tree after he apparently lost
control while passing another car
on wet pavement.
The accident occurred about
1:30 p.m. near Leonard Road.
the veterinary medicine field of
practice and to strive to keep an
open mind to fresh, creative
ideas.
“You are among the elite of
the generation which will soon
usurp my own generation’s posi
tions of prominence. I look upon
the generation gap we so often
hear about not as an extremely
precarious gap, rather as a space
—a space to grow in—room to
experiment and learn.”
Gen. Elis remained the new
veterinarians that no matter how
“specialized” they become, they
should still continue to share
with their colleagues the basic
veterinary , training, the proud
history and rich tradition of vet
erinary medicine.
“Lastly,” the general noted,
“the veterinarian is bound by a
common code of ethics, and by a
common oath to honor his profes
sion and to serve his fellow man.”
Gen. Elia took advantage of the
occasion to welcome six gradu
ates into the Army Veterinary
Corps.
“Doctors,” he said, “we are
pleased to have you join our med
ical team.”
Gen. Elia closed his speech
with a quotation from Dr. Albert
Schweitzer, the famed medical
missionary in Africa.
“You must give some time to
your fellow man,” he said, “even
if it’s a little thing, do something
for those who have need of help,
something for which you get no
pay, but for the privilege of do
ing it. For remember—you don’t
live in a world all your own. Your
brothers are here, too.”
Students who received Doctor
of Veterinary Medicine degVees
in Friday’s ceremony completed
nine trimesters covering three
years in the professional curric
ulum at the College of Veterinary
Medicine.
Milling Appointed
VP’s Assistant
A&M Again Offers
Insurance Plan
The Texas A&M University
Administration and student gov
ernment again are making a com
prehensive accident and health
insurance plan available to stu
dents this year.
The optional plan will augment
regular University health serv
ices, and is made available to
students, their spouses and de
pendents at group rates.
All benefits will be processed
through the R. M. Jackson Agen
cy of Bryan, representing the
Mutual of Omaha Insurance
Company. Mutual of Omaha has
student insurance plans at more
than 5,000 institutions.
Graduate Salary Increase Seen
Full-time students and their
dependents who enroll in the plan
will be insured during the period
for which the premium has been
paid, including travel to and from
A&M during holidays, between
semesters, and on summer vaca
tions.
The plan covers expenses in
curred for accidental bodily in
juries and sickness. Accident, ac
cidental death or dismemberment
and sickness benefits are avail
able, and the plan also offers
optional maternity benefits.
Representatives of the R. M.
Jackson Agency will be at A&M
Aug. 27 to Sept. 7 to answer
questions and allow students to
sign up for the program. Their
booth will be across from the
post office in the new Memorial
Student Center.
Student Body Vice-President S.
Shariq Yosufzai announced the
appointment of Randell Mark
Milling as a Special Assistant to
the Student Body Vice-President.
“While I shall strive to be in
the office of the Student Govern
ment at all possible times,” Yo
sufzai said, “The fact that im
portant and urgent business
might come up when I am in
class, in conference or in a meet
ing must be taken into consider
ation.”
The duties of Milling will pri
marily be to improve communi
cations with the student body,
expedite resolutions to be pre
sented on the senate floor, assist
Senate Recorder Merrill Mitchell
in clerical and administrative
matters and to assist Yosufzai
in various legislative matters.
Milling is a senior from Ft.
Worth majoring in Food Tech
nology. “We are happy to have
Mr. Milling in this position, and
hope that he will be able to pro
vide an even more efficient and
continuous method of communica
tion between the student body
and the vice president and will
cut through any bureaucratic red
tape which has existed in the
past,” Yosufzai concluded.
In other action, Larry Dooley,
a junior agriculture economics
major from San Angelo, was
named refrigerator manager for
the fall and spring semesters.
As managers, he will be in
charge of distribution of refrig
erators and collection of fees.
He begins his duties Aug. 17.
MSC Committee
To Hold Dance
The Memorial Student Center
Summer Directorate has an
nounced a free dance for stu
dents August 10 from 8:30 p.m.
until 12:30 a.m.
The dance, according to MSC
Directorate Summer President
Shirley Ashorn, will be held in
the mall in front of G. Rollie
White Coliseum and will feature
“Texas Blend,” a group from
Austin.
The dance is sponsored by the
Dance and Special Events Com
mittee of the Summer Director
ate, a new committee that will
hopefully become a permanent
segment of the MSC organiza
tion this Fall, Ms. Ashorn said.
Soft drinks and nickel ice
cream will be available at the
dance. The public is invited to
attend.
Watermelon Feed Held
Sticky fingers and chins were
a specialty Tuesday at A&M.
Watermelon, at ten cents a slice
under trees near the Academic
Building, was the culprit.
The melonfest was a function
of the Summer Directorate of the
Memorial Student Center. Three
thousand pounds of ice to cool
the melons didn’t last long, but
the watermelon was disappearing
into the students between classes.
Several faculty-staff joined the
feast too, as did workmen on cof
fee break from their jobs on the
Military Walk mall.
Don Webb, Rich McHenry and
the MSC crew offered the sliced
watermelon on paper towels.
They didn’t have finger bowls,
but an afternoon rainshower took
care of that.
Salary offers to new college
graduates increased noticeably
■during 1973 for the first time in
four years, notes A&M Placement
Director Louis Van Pelt, citing
l^a new College Placement Council
Salary Survey.
A&M was one of the institu-
C tions participating in the survey.
' The higher salary averages ap-
j pear to be a result of a resur
gence of college recruiting char-
fpcteristic of the late 1960s. A
heavy demand for candidates in
technical disciplines was appar
ent once again, with the biggest
surge in activity noted in the
number of offers to engineering
graduates at the bachelor’s level.
In the previous three years of
fcurtailed recruiting activity, per
centage increases in salary offers
; ; hovered around the 2 per cent
level, Van Pelt noted. This year
: beginning salary averages moved
upward at a rate of approxi
mately 4 per cent.
The past season also included
marked efforts by employers to
improve the employment status
of women. This reflected in the
[fact that percentage increases in
isalary offers to women bache
lor’s-degree candidates generally
were larger than for their male
counterparts. These increases,
however, still did not bring the
actual dollar averages up to the
level of men’‘s offers except in
tbe high demand categories such
as engineering and accounting.
Nine of the 14 women’s cate
gories were under the $718 aver
age for male humanities and
social sciences majors, the lowest
figure in the men’s survey.
Although the women’s survey
showed a substantial gain in ac
tivity, the actual number of
offers to women bachelor’s candi
dates remained far below the
number to men. One reason is
that, for the most part, women
still are not majoring in the
technical areas currently in high
demand.
Each year the council conducts
studies on salary offers to male
and female graduating students
as reported by selected college
placement offices. The council is
the international non-profit or
ganization which provides serv
ices for colleges and employers
to assist students in their career
planning and employment.
In the men’s study, chemical
engineering remained at the top
in dollar value of offers at the
bachelor’s-degree level with an
average of $962 a month, fol
lowed by electrical engineering,
$931, and mechanical engineer
ing, $927. General business
majors received average offers of
$757, while accounting offers
averaged $887.
Increases in most of the bache
lor’s disciplines ranged from 4
per cent to 5 per cent except in
the sciences where increases were
as high as 7 per cent but repre
sented only a limited number of
offers. Another exception was
the $718 average for humanities
and social sciences which repre
sented a gain of less than 3 per
cent over the last two years.
Candidates for master’s degrees
in business administration con
tinued to attract the most offers
and the highest average starting
salaries at the master’s level of
the men’s study. Those with a
technical undergraduate degree
experienced a 4 per cent increase
to an average of $1,177 a month
while those with non-technical
backgrounds went up 5 per cent
to $1,115.
The averages for master’s en
gineering candidates ranged from
$1,020 for civil engineering to
$1,093 for chemical engineering,
representing increases from 3 per
cent to slightly under 5 per cent.
The lowest average at the mast
er’s level was $922 for candidates
in agriculture and related sci
ences, an increase of 4 per cent.
At the doctoral level, the top
dollar average was the $1,508 a
month for electrical engineering,
an increase of just under 5 per
cent.
In the women’s study as in the
men’s study at the bachelor’s
level, engineering candidates re
ceived the highest average offers.
For women the average rose 5
per cent to $936 a month, which
actually was slightly higher than
the $929 men’s average for all
engineering disciplines. Several
women’s categories experienced
the largest percentage increases
in either study. Health and
medical services went up 11 per
cent to $715, scientific research
gained over 10 percent to $727,
and business and public adminis
tration advanced 9 per cent to
$700. More modest increases
were recorded by the dollar aver
age leaders in the women’s study.
EDP programming/systems went
up 5 per cent to $814, and ac
counting/auditing increased 3 per
cent to $855.
WATERMELON TIME — Debbie Welch and Joel Loehman enjoy a slice each at yes
terday’s MSC-sponsored watermelon feed.