Student leaders journey to Houston for ‘culture’
m
vl By MARY RUSSO
Staff Writer
In the near perfect acoustics of 2,800
seat Jones Hall, Prima Donna Absolute
Leontyn Price was about to do the third
of four encores when a voice arose
from the applause, “Why doesn’t she
do ‘farmers fight,’ call it a night?”
This past weekend, Aggies, knightly
manners and all, went to Houston to
pick up a little culture and meet with
ccessful former students.
The adventure, called the Spring
Leadership Trip, was sponsored by the
Memorial Student Center. Two-thirds
were financed by former students and
the other third covered by registration
fees.
Aggie leaders from all areas, 150 in
all, were invited to attend the trip. The
first 47 turning in the registration fee
received a place; several faculty and
their wives also attended the trip.
An example of former student gener
osity is John Blocker, class of ’45, who
took the 60-member group to breakfast
at Brennan’s, a gourmet restaurant,
and donated other expenses as well.
Then there’s Carrol Phillips, class
of ’54, who hosted the group for a mid
night dinner at his home, serving dry
white wine and offering the warmth
of thee “upstairs room.”
But Aggies will be Aggies and some
25 bottles were consumed while the
upstairs room proved to be the guest
room. “You realize former students
are Aggies, too,” said one of the group.
“This sure ain’t Sbisa, or Duncan,”
was a common statement as the group
hit some fine eating places including
the “Bismark.” “Thank God, it’s Fri
day.”
“This isn’t art,” cried a frustrated
Aggie entering the Museum of Fine
Arts. Before him sat a canvas thing
which strangely resembled a broken
electric fan. “I thought it had some
deep inner meaning,” another of the
group said, shaking her head at the
contemporary art of the sixties display.
Another piece of art visited on a
more grandiose scale was the Hyatt-
Regency Hotel, built on a triangular
floor plan with the center completely
open clear to the ceiling.
“Come on, give me back my shoe,”
Che Battalion
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 27, 1974
pleaded the group member who had
laid down for a rest and had his right
shoe “borrowed.”
The shoe traveled between the two
groups of the tour to be returned after
dangling above the victim from a spiral
staircase while a photographer took
pictures in a $250-a-night suite in the
Regency.
Until this point, the victim had
limped around the hotel on the shoul
ders of two supporters loudly complain
ing of his sprained foot from a skiing-
accident at Valle, Col.
After all this energy expenditure, it
was no wonder that a majority of the
group enjoyed the Houston Symphony,
head back, eyes closed and sometimes
snoring. -
The dead tired members of the group
could be seen stumbling around campus
Monday in an over-exhausted manner
saying, “It was fun, but it was too
much even for an Aggie to handle.”
Lawn policy, government
revisions up for vote
By LATONYA PERRIN
An official MSC lawn policy will be sug
gested by the student body in a referendum
on six different resolutions this Thursday.
The resolution supports the policy of not
aMowvng peop\e waW on the \avm. The
resolution further states that the reasoning
behind this policy is to preserve the lawn
as part of the memorial to Aggies who have
died in foreign wars.
“Of course, the final decision would be
made by the MSC Council, but I think that
if enough people vote, the Council will
accept their suggestion,” said David White,
Student Senate sponsor of the resolution.
Earlier in the semester the MSC Council
voted to make the lawn policy a matter of
personal discretion.
Five resolutions involving constitutional
revisions will also be voted on by students.
The first resolution deals with restruc
turing the legislative and judicial branches
of the Student Government. All chairman
positions will be changed to vice president
positions. The vice president of the student
body will be named speaker of the senate
and will be elected by the Senate. An
interim president would serve until an elec
tion was called if the president could not
finish his term. The interim president
would be selected from the vice presidents.
The Judicial Committee would be
changed to the Judicial Board and appoint
ments to it would be in the spring following
elections.
The Judicial Committee is the third
branch of the Student Government. It
decides matters of Constitutionality and re
views other judicial bodies on campus. It
also must certify all elections. The mem
bers are appointed by the Student Body
President and approved by the Senate.
Executive branch restructuring is pro
posed in the second resolution. It would
allow people to serve on more than one of
the three branches of the Student Govern
ment. An executive director would be estab
lished to administer on-going Student Gov
ernment projects. A veto by the student
body president could be overridden by a
simple majority vote if the resolution
passes. All appointments to University
committees would also require a two-thirds
approval vote by the Senate.
The third proposed amendment would
limit the size of the Student Senate to 75
voting members. The breakdown on the
seats would be 30 elected from living areas,
40 from colleges and five freshman sena
tors.
Previously the Senate was comprised of
50 colleges, 34 living area, and five fresh
man representatives.
The responsibilities of a senator will be
stated in the fourth proposed amendment.
Being informed on issues, presenting their
constituents’ views and working on a Stu
dent Government project or committee will
be included.
The final resolution states that all per
sons filing for a position must submit a
petition. If the person is running for presi
dent or vice president, he must collect 50
names. Those running for senator positions
must submit 15 names from the appropriate
constituency.
No petitions had to be filed for any
offices under the old constitution.
Polling places will be open from 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Students must present their
activity cards and student ID’s to vote. The
polling places are in the MSC, library,
guardroom, Sbisa newsstand and Krueger-
Dunn.
Special prosecutor may aid
House impeachment inquiry
NO. 20 in your program, No. 1 in your heart, Joe Arciniega,
hits a bomb in last night’s Aggie win over Baylor. Arciniega
inished his home career with a season high four points. See
lory, page 7. (Photo by Steve Ueckert)
WASHINGTON 0P>—-The special prosecutor’s
staff has decided that any evidence of presi
dential involvement in the Watergate scandal
should go to the House impeachment inquiry
rather than a grand jury, it was learned Tuesday.
That decision, reached after months of study
and debate, was disclosed after President Nixon
said Monday night that he had rejected a grand
jury request for his testimony.
“I did offer, of course, to respond to any
interrogatories that the special prosecutor might
want to submit or to meet wth him personally
and to answer questions and he indicated that
he did not want to proceed in that way,” Nixon
said.
Sources close to the investigation said the
request for presidential testimony was made at
the insistence of the grand jurors and that unless
they continue to insist, no effort Will be made
to force Nixon to testify.
The apparent reason, the sources added, was
that special prosecutor Leon Jaworski finally
had concluded that the proper forum for evidence
pertaining directly to the President was the House
Judiciary Committee rather than a grand jury.
The sources gave no indication whether any
evidence against the President exists.
Authorities on constitutional law differ on
whether a President can be indicted and, if in
dicted, can be brought to trial. Some say he
must first be removed from office by impeach
ment and conviction in the Senate. Others claim
he could be indicted, tried and convicted while
in office.
It was understood that the prevailing view
within the prosecutor’s office was somewhere in
between: That there is no constitutional bar to
indicting a President, but that, as a practical
matter, the best course to follow would be to
refer the matter to Congress.
Guaranteed building fund debated
Convention considers matching $31 million yearly
AUSTIN <A>) — Acusations of
educational arrogance” and pol
itical trade offs heated up consti
tutional convention debate Tues
day over a guaranteed fund for
state college buildings.
Convention delegates debated a
series of amendments on the pro
posed State Higher Education As
sistance Fund, then adjourned for
the day before taking a final vote
on it.
Intramural
championships
The Intramural Department
announced that the intramur
al basketball championship
will be played today at nine
p. m. on the main floor of G.
Rollie White. The game will
pit Utay against C-2 to deter
mine the University champ
ion.
The prelim game at eight
will pit Keathley against
Krueger for the women’s
title.
The all-University wi’estl-
ing tourney will take place
at 6:30 also on G. Rollie’s
main floor.
■ University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
Adv.
The proposal sent out by the
convention’s Education Commit
tee would give to the 22 schools
outside the University of Texas
and Texas A&M systems an
amount equal to the earnings of
the Permanent University Fund.
That fund’s annual income is
about $31 million now and be
longs exclusively to UT and A&M.
Rep. Woody Denson, D-Hous-
ton, said the higher education as
sistance fund was the price paid
for votes to preserve UT and
A&M’s exclusive right to the per
manent fund and its earnings.
“In fact, they cut a deal,” added
Rep. Jim Mattox, D-Dallas, an
arch-opponent of the permanent
fund’s status quo.
“I don’t think the delegates
here have got the courage to go
back and take up the Permanent
University Fund and do it right,”
Mattox added.
Earlier, Rep. Ray Hutchison, R-
Dallas, told reporters the decision
to set up the higher education
fund was “stacked” by “lobby
pressure from the college presi
dents.”
The smaller colleges of the
state now divide up about $22 mil
lion each year in revenue from a
10 per cbnt state property tax.
Sen. Jack Hightower, D-Vernon,
defended the higher education
fund, contending the schools out
side the two super-systems need
ed a dependable source of income,
other than legislative appropria
tions.
“It is important for a board of
regents to make long-term plans
such as, ‘We are going to have to
enlarge the library in five years’
or ‘we are going to have to make
some major changes in the sci
ence building in 10 years,’ ” asid
the former Midwestern University
regent.
Legislator-delegates approved,
107-55, an amendment backed by
Hightower to limit the maturity
dates of college building bonds is
sued against the fund to 10 years.
A co-sponsor, Rep. Wayne Peveto,
D-Orange, said the amendment
would provide lower interest rates
and limit the amount of money
for which bonds could be issued.
Hutchison said the only way
this would reduce interest pay
ments would be “if the market
at that time is for 10-year bonds.”
The convention went along with
Hutchison a few minutes later,
and defeated an amendment, %lso
backed by Hightower, to make the
provision setting up the fund self-
enacting, without any legislative
action. The vote was 85-78.
“It would vest in 22 boards and
agencies the power to write drafts
on the state treasury,” asserted
Hutchison, a Dallas bond attor
ney.
Rep. Hilary Doran, D-Del Rio,
was ribbed for imitating William
Jennings Bryan after he spoke
against the amendment.
“Don’t press the crown of fi
nancial irresponsibility on the
brow of the taxpayers of this
state . . . Don’t crucify them on
a cross of educational arrogance,”
Doran said.
In committee action, several
major decisions were made.
The General Provisions Com
mittee voted 9-7 against exempt
ing religious-oriented child care
facilities from state regulation.
Such a provision had been sought
by evangelist Lester Roloff of
Corpus Christi, whose child care
institutions have been closed by
court order and the State Depart
ment of Public Welfare. The com
mittee voted 9-8 against putting
an open public records require
ment in the constitution. Eleven
votes are necessary to defeat a
proposal, so both may be brought
up again.
Finance Committee members
voted 13-7 to channel any future
gasoline tax increases into the
general revenue fund, not the spe
cial fund to construct highways.
Traditional Senate closed door
sessions to debate confirmation
of gubernatorial appointees would
be forbidden by a provision ap
proved by the Legislative Com
mittee, 16-0. It would require all
floor sessions of the legislature to
be open to the public.
Today
■m#
History of A&M p. 4
Washington report p. 5
Rugby number ‘V p. 8
Weather
Partly cloudy and mild
Wednesday with souther
ly winds. High today 72°.
Tonight’s low will be 51°.
Continued partly cloudy
and mild tomorrow and
slightly warmer. Thurs
day’s high will be 74°.
THOSE LITTLE FACES pop up almost anywhere; this one,
made of quarter-inch plywood nailed down to the roof of
Goodwin Hall commands a view of the south side of campus.
(Photo by David Spencer)
Hospital overrun
by flu epidemic
By CLIFF LEWIS
Staff Writer
Downstairs at the University Health Center there is
modern art on the walls, faint rock music in the air, and a
lobby full of sick people.
Upstairs, where the wards are, the flu has put almost
twenty patients into bed.
TAMU has been hard hit by the flu the last three
weeks. “We’re busy,” said Dr. Claude Goswick. “It’s been
unreal. We even had to quit writing excuses for students
because we just couldn’t handle it.”
Also, no visitors will be allowed in the University
Health Center until further notice, which means until the
epidemic subsides, he said.
There are 400 to 500 people coming into the hospital
each day, about twice what’s normal, according to
Goswick. Although every nurse available was needed, he
said, “We had to have one nurse doing nothing but writing
class excuses.
“We will reinstitute the giving out of excuses,”
Goswick continued, “but for now I assume the teachers
realize there is an epidemic going on. If not, the student
will be caught in the middle, which isn’t fair. But it’s the
only sensible thing we can do. Someday the excuse
requirement will be lifted, and it won’t be too soon as far as'
I’m concerned.”
Revisions of the University Rules and Regulations
Handbook which would do away with compulsory
attendance are under consideration by the Student Senate.
The epidemic is not getting worse. Last week, only a
couple of the forty beds in the hospital were empty, said
Goswick. The beds are only a little more than half full now.
“It’s not going away yet either. While there are as
many people as there are on campus in close contact,
there’s not much way to stop the spread of flu,” he said.