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Che Battalion
Today in the Batt
Briscoe denial p. 3
Ancient Texas p. 4
Non-green thumbs p. 8
Vol. 67 No. 380
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College Station, Texas
Wednesday, April 17, 1974
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Nixon’s work fails
as Democrat wins
A GROWING anticipation of summer is becoming evident on campus as students and fac
ulty alike seek the outdoors. Many classes are leaving the confines of buildings to study in
more pleasant surroundings. (Photo by Alan Killingsworth)
Senate considers r&r Committee
board censure
SAGINAW, Mich. (^P)—Riding a
tide of urban votes. Democrat Bob
Traxler captured Michigan’s special
congressional election Tuesday night,
defeating a Republican for whom
President Nixon campaigned.
Traxler’s victory, the fourth by a
Democrat this year in five elections
for previously Republican seats, end
ed a 42-year GOP hold on Michigan’s
8th District and cost Republicans their
second district in the state this year.
A heavy majority for the 42-year-
old Traxler in his Bay City home and
a smaller margin in the city of Sagi
naw enabled him to withstand a surge
for Republican James Sparling Jr. in
the Saginaw suburbs and the district’s
rural areas.
“From all indications,’’ Sparling
told applauding supporters, “Mr. Trax
ler has won."
With 255 of the district’s 296 pre
cincts counted, Traxler had 50,895
votes and Sparling had 43,824.
In earlier special elections this
year, three of four traditionally Re
publican districts went Democratic.
Surveys in those areas showed public
opposition to Nixon’s handling of the
Watergate scandal and other prob
lems contributing strongly to the GOP
setbacks.
The White House hoped a Republi
can triumph after Nixon’s campaign
trip here would demonstrate renewed
presidential popularity and ease im
peachment pressure in the House.
A state representative who called
the election a “referendum on Nixon’s
policies and moral leadership," Trax
ler scored heavily in his home of Bay
City, while Sparling led in normally
Republican rural areas.
But the 45-year-old Sparling’s
margin in the Thumb, the region of
small towns and farms where Nixon
campaigned for him last Wednesday,
ran behind that polled in 1972 by for
mer GOP Rep. James Harvey, whose
resignation forced the year's fifth
special House election.
In the earlier contests, Democrats
won longtime GOP seats in Pennsyl
vania, Ohio and Michigan, the latter
the Grand Rapids seat held for 25
years by Vice President Gerald R.
Ford.
-
m I
The first resolution of the new
Student Senate calls for the cen
sorship of the Student Publica
tions Board.
The meeting: will be held to
night in the Rudder Tower, Room
701. The new senate will official
ly take office at that time.
The resolution urges the action
because of the dismissal of Steve
Goble as managing editor of The
Battalion. Goble was dismissed
because of his non-student status.
The resolution states the welfare
| of the student body was not serv
ed by the Board since no provi
sions were made to allow for
training of a new managing edi
tor.
The only other item on the
agenda is the approval of three
appointments. Steve Eberhard,
president of the student body,
will present his nominees for sec
retary, executive director and ju
dicial board chairman and the
senate must approve the nomina
tions before they take effect.
Applicants for the position of
executive director are Tom Tay
lor, Hal Brunson and Tom Walk
er.
For judicial board chairman,
they are Larry McRoberts, Mi
chael Perrin and Jerri Ward.
Six persons applied for the po
sition of secretary. They are Lau
rie Koenig, Kay Zenner, Barbara
Palmer, Susie Brewer, Karla
Mouritsen and Susan Carstens.
Eberhard said he had not made
a decision Tuesday on the posi
tions. His choice will be presented
to the senate.
Message on Governor’s desk
relates to student input
Currently laying on the desk
of the Governor is a message
which could mean a greater stu
dent input on every state campus.
It is concerning the 1220 Com
mission, which has been proposed
by the national government to
serve as the state post-secondary
education planning commission.
The ruling on this committee
states that all sections of such
training must equitably and rep
resentatively be accounted for,
which mean students will more
than likely be part of either the
commission or an advisor council
to it.
In Texas, such a commission
exists but without any student
input. A student advisory board
is a real possibility for this co
ordinating commission. April 25
will be the day of reckoning, hav
ing been extended from April 15.
delays decision
on Rights bill
The decision on the Student
Bill of Rights was postponed
again Tuesday by the Rules and
Regulations Committee.
Some members of the commit
tee had other meetings to attend
and they adjourned after less than
one hour.
The first two articles in their
revised form were considered by
the committee. The revisions of
the Bill of Rights resulted from
a meeting of the committee of
students, faculty and administra
tors established at the last com
mittee meeting.
Dr. Haskell Monroe, assistant
vice president for academic af
fairs and chairman of the com
mittee, suggested the committee
vote on the first two articles. The
committee, however, decided to
finish hearing all of the articles
before voting on any of them.
Howard Perry, assistant vice
president for student services,
made a motion to hear all of the
articles and then consider the bill
as a whole. The motion passed
with only one dissenting vote.
Requirements for honors in the
veterinary medicine field were
changed by the committee. Pre
viously, students counted all col
lege work toward graduation with
honors. The revision which passed
the rules and regulations commit
tee Tuesday would count only the
174 professional curriculum hours
taken at A&M for honors.
Faculty club
a possibility
The TAMU faculty may soon
have a private club.
The possibility is being in
vestigated by a faculty com
mittee chaired by Dr. A. R.
Burgess. The committee pub
lished a questionnaire on fac
ulty desire for a club in the
April 5 issue of Fortnightly,
the faculty-staff newsletter.
The results have not yet been
tabulated.
Any change in the use of the
Tower dining room would not
begin until after the MSC cafe
teria opens, according to Bur
gess.
The Tower dining room was
originally intended for a fac
ulty club; however, it became
a restaurant for the general
campus when the MSC dining
hall was closed for renovation
and expansion, said Burgess.
It has been proposed that
the club be a private restau
rant but not serve liquor. It
has also been proposed that
members pay dues. These
would go to food services, to
help defray costs and to hire
a general manager.
According to Dr. Tom Adair,
the facilities of the dining area
are not adequate for present
usage.
Business would likely dimin
ish if the restaurant were
turned into a club, Dr. Burgess
noted in the Fortnightly.
Shortage real, says Simon
WASHINGTON (/P)_The ma
jor oil companies apparently are
telling the truth about their sup
plies, based on audits by the Fed
eral Energy Office, energy chief
William E. Simon says.
Simon said that the ongoing
energy office audits of refineries
have turned up no evidence that
oil companies are lying about
their inventories.
In an interview, the energy
chief said that the government
has made giant strides in con
vincing the American people that
the fuel shortage is real. “We’re
still going through the scapegoat
phase in this country,” he said.
But Simon added that congres
sional hearings and government
investigations eventually will re
move much of the emotion from
the debate and Americans will
realize the energy crisis is real.
Simon, who is expected to be
named treasury secretary later
this week, said that first-quar
ter profits of the oil companies
as well as second-quarter profits
will be embarrassing to the oil
firms.
He also said that with the end
of the Arab oil embargo, con
servation efforts by Americans
are continuing. “I am optimistic
that demand will not explode,”
he said.
Simon declined to discuss speci
fic questions about economic pol
icy, hut he did say that wage-
price controls have introduced dis
tortions and inequities in the na
tion’s economy. But he said he
wouldn’t rule out the possibility
that one day they might be re
imposed.
He said he subscribed to Presi
dent Nixon’s statement that the
American people are taxed
enough, but he said the tax sys
tem is in constant need of study
to make sure it is equitable.
The price of gasoline will rise
only a few cents a gallon on the
average nationally, but there will
be significant regional price in
creases in areas or by oil com
panies that depend heavily on
imported oil, he said.
That is true even if it is as
sumed that imports will peak at
about IVz million barrels a day
this summer, he said.
Feds can restrict
employe comment
Buckminster Fuller thinks out loud
On youth, war, mind and synergy
By CLIFF LEWIS
A girl at the entrance handed
out leaflets that said R. Buckmin
ster Fuller, “was once dismissed
as a crackpot inventor, but now
is considered ‘the man with the
option.”
An architect student read that
and said, “He’s a god. Someday
when I’m a great architect I can
say that I saw Buckminster Ful
ler.”
A lot of people wanted to see
R. Buckminster Fuller. The 2,500
seat Rudder Auditorium was over
half full Tuesday night for his
appearance arranged by the Great
Issues Committee of the Memorial
Student Center.
Fuller didn’t talk like a god.
He sat in a chair and talked like
a grandfather to his front-row
grandchildren. He was “thinking
out loud” the way any grandfa
ther would, about the way things
have changed in his 78 years. But
Fuller is a mathematician, a sci
entist and an engineer, and he
designed the geodesic dome.
Fuller talked about youth. “Dad
dy used to be the final authority.
But one day little brother came in
and said, ‘Daddy, an airplane just
crossed the Atlantic,’ and Daddy
said, ‘WHAT!’ Daddy didn’t bring
home the news, and he hasn’t ever
since.”
Fuller explained that each new
generation has more outside in
formation to think about and has
to form more of its own opinions.
Fuller talked about war. “Hu
mans are born naked and ignorant
and hungry. They invaded each
other for food. Thomas Malthus
said there is just so much food
and there isn’t any more, and hu
manity will fail. Darwin said the
fittest will survive.
“Marx discovered the writings
of both men and said the workers
handle the toils so the other peo
ple are parasites. Now the largest
countries assimilate weapon stock
piles and say, ‘Whose is it going
to be, yours or mine?’ ”
Fuller talked about the mind.
“The mind is capable of discover
ing relationships not suggested
by concrete, physical observa
tions. It may discover elusive and
beautiful metaphysical behavior
but why that behavior occurs,
there may be no idea.”
Fuller talked about the energy
in the universe. “The old con
cept of the universe is its energy
is running down. But a child gets
bigger, not smaller. If there is
energy used, there must be ener
gy collected somewhere else.” He
said tremendous energy is stored
on this planet. He stood up to
demonstrate with body motions
Buckminster Fuller
how much of the sun’s energy
is distributed to life on earth, and
he did plenty of moving.
Fuller compared the storing of
energy to the storing of know
ledge. “We can employ our infor
mation to keep life going. You
can help because you have to
prove you’re special to earn the
right to live. This is known as
making a living.”
Fuller then introduced his def
inition of synergy. “It is the be
havior of all systems, unpredicted
by the behavior of parts or sub
systems.” An arrangement of tri
angles into a dome, for instance,
created the revolutionary struc
ture of the geodesic dome, he
said.
With this concept presented,
Fuller moved to the conclusion of
his talking. “I know, and can dis
play, that with our knowledge
and resources we all humanity
can be provided for without us
ing more manpower or resources
than we already have. And I have
concluded that war is invalid,
weapons of war are invalid and
lies are invalid. My hope lies in
youth, truth and love.”
Fuller talked for two hours and
at the end there was a standing
ovation.
“This is why when you ask me
to come speak to you, when you
take a chance with your time to
listen to me thinking out loud,
you see that we do have an op
tion you didn’t know we had.”
By VERNON A. GUIDRY Jr.
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON UP)—The fed
eral government is entitled to re
strict public comments by its em
ployees if they would impair the
reputation and efficiency of the
government, the Supreme Court
ruled today.
In a 6-3 decision, the court up
held a portion of the Lloyd-La-
Follette act providing for dis
missal or suspension of federal
civil service employes “for such
cause as will promote the effi
ciency of the service . . .”
The provision had been at
tacked as being so broad and
vague that it inhibited the ex
ercise of free speech rights by
federal employes. The court found
otherwise.
In passing the act, the court
said, Congress intended to give
federal employes job protection
and did not intend to authorize
dismissal for constitutionally pro
tected speech.
But, the majority wrote, “the
act prescribes only that public
speech which improperly dam
ages and impairs the reputation
and efficiency of the employing
agency, and thus it imposes no
greater controls on the behavior
of federal employes than are nec
essary for the protection of the
government as an employer.”
In another aspect of the deci
sion, the court held 5-4 that a
trial-type hearing is unnecessary
before dismissal. The existing
provision for such a hearing aft
er dismissal is sufficient, the
court said.
Justices William H. Rehnquist,
Potter Stewart, Lewis F. Powell
Jr., Harry A. Blackmun, Byron
R. White and Chief Justice War
ren E. Burger joined in finding
that the Lloyd-LaFollete Act does
not impermissibly encroach on
First Amendment rights.
Justices Thurgood Marshall,
William O. Douglas and William
J. Brennan Jr. dissented.
On the issue of the hearings,
White joined the dissenters.
Marshall said that the impor
tance of government employes
“being assured of their right to
freely comment on the conduct
of government, to inform the
public of abuses of power and
of the misconduct of their supe
riors must be self-evident in these
times.”
NSL strength lies in vote
of large student population
After trying violent words and
actions, college students are try
ing to reach all levels of the
administration through other
means.
The national administration or
government is reached by Na
tional Student Lobby. NSL lobbies
for students’ interests on a year
round basis in the Congress.
“There are three methods of
lobbying, with money, informa
tion and sheer strength in num
bers of votes,” said Carol Moore,
member of the NSL board of
directors.
“Students individually have
very little extra money to spend
on anything but necessities. On
the information angle, NSL has
been asked to testify in Congress
44 times. But the most power
that NSL has is the student vote,”
Moore said.
Noting that students have al
ways been an ideological group,
Moore said that they have come
to the realization that compromise
and working through the system
is the most effective way to reach
a goal. “A small step forward
is better than none at all,” Moore
said.
NSL efforts are yearly symbol
ized by the gathering of 700 stu
dents in Washington, D.C. These
students swarm the Capitol of
fices to lobby with their own Con
gressional representatives.
NSL has several special areas
of lobbying each year, but give
the visiting students leeway on
issues especially on their minds,
Texas students.
Policies and interest areas are
chosen by means of a referendum
taken at all member schools, like
TAMU, and from individual mem
bers. The fall referendum is in
terpreted by the Board of Direc
tors.
The board consists of two
members from each of the six
regions and several at-large mem
bers which serve to balance the
board in respect to school size,
sex and race.
The board picks issues which
(See NSL, p. 4)
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
Adv.