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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1975)
I J ‘Inflation-fighter pay raise okayed by state senators AUSTIN (AP) — Texas senators adopted an “inflation-fighter” $93 million pay raise for state employes Monday and beat the deadline, with hours to spare, for extending $5 million in federal money to 25,000 jobless Texans. The huge Democratic majority in the 181-member legislature then toasted November election vic tories at a Monday night dinner, on the eve of the inaugural of Gov. Dolph Briscoe and Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby to second terms. Briscoe’s signature put into law the bill providing extra benefits for unemployed Texans who have used up their 26 weeks of eligibility for regular benefits. Monday midnight was the federal deadline. By a 31-0 vote, the Senate ap proved a bill giving 130,000 state employes a pay raise, effective from Feb. 1 through Aug. 31, at which time they are vitrually certain to get another pay hike. The original bill, by Sen. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, would have cost $100 million, but it was changed de spite Doggett’s protest, to restrict employes making over $20,500 a year to a 5.5 per cent increase. Sen. Chet Brooks, D-Pasadena, said cutting back their increase by 5 per cent would save the state $7 million and “still be an inflation fighter.” Those making under $10,500 will get a 14.2 per cent increase and those making between $10,500 and $20,500 will get a 10.5 per cent in crease. It will cost an estimated $275,000 just to administer the new salary schedule. The pay bill goes to the House. In a rare open-door session on nominations, the Senate hastily ap proved Briscoe s appointment of former Sen. Jim Wallace, 46, of Houston as a state district judge in that city. Sen. Lindon Williams, D-Houston, laughingly shouted his approval. Williams won a special election to fill Wallace’s Senate seat. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Sen. A. M. Aikin Jr., D-Paris, introduced the Legislative Budget Board version of the 1975-77 state budget. It proposes spending $12.4 bill ion from all sources, a $2.6 billion increase from the current budget, and could be balanced without new taxes. Weather Partly cloudy today, tonite and Wednesday. High today 61° with southerly winds 15-18 mph. Low to nite 34°. Continued fair tomorrow; high 54°. Che Battalion Today in the Batt Community Education .. . .p.3 Traffic panel p.3 Ross Volunteers p.5 Vol. 68 No. 59 College Station, Texas Tuesday, January 21, 1975 New law to change ^ information practice Please, Vd rather do it myself Photo by Chris Svatek Moving back into the dorms can be trouble as Stephanie Allen and Neil Holford prove. Several other resident students could be seen lugging their belongings into their rooms as late as Sunday night. Surely, a rest ful sleep was welcome that night. Quarter system in Chocolate milk out By ROSEMARY TRAVERSO Staff Writer Plans lor the Quarter System of class scheduling at A&M Consoli dated High School next fall were introduced at a school board meet ing Monday night. The implementation of the Quar ter System, which is required by law, involves dividing the school year into three quarters of 12 weeks each, replacing the present two semesters system. Each quarter is a separate, com plete grading period and a student’s schedule of classes will change with each quarter. The system’s value is the flexibil ity and variety in curriculum it pro vides the student, said Robert Cas key, A&M Consolidated principal. “We need to keep the kids’ wel fare in mind in this reorganization of our curriculum, Caskey said. “This system will better meet the specific- needs of the individual by putting some excitement into the courses offered.” Caskey will give a presentation on Feb. 13 to acquaint the public with the specifics of the Quarter System. The board did not decide on a loca tion for the meeting. In other business, the board con sidered removal of chocolate milk from the lunch program in elemen tary schools. Charles A. Cole, program direc tor for the School Lunch and Child Nutrition Programs of the Texas Education Agency, said that choco late milk, which has a higher caloric content than white milk, can dull the appetite for other foods needed for daily nutrition as well as causing weight problems. “We have a fair amount of obesity in our elementary schools anyway, ” said Fred Hopson, school superin tendent. His report stated that fi No pub foreseen, but plenty of talk chocolate milk contains an acid, ox alic, which decreases calcium ab sorption. It also costs more than white milk and spoils faster, it said. The board decided that it was up to the administration to remove chocolate milk from the schools’ menus and not under the board’s jurisdiction. The long-range planning commit tee reported its findings from the parent survey it conducted late last year. Among the educational goals and modifications suggested for the district, reading and communica tion skills were considered the most important by the 320 parents who responded. Copies of the committee’s report and the original survey will be avail able at the Administration Office on Wednesday, said Hopson. Lengthy debate between board members followed Hopson’s sug gestion that action be considered to increase student participation in athletics from grades 7 to 12. BY ALAN KILLINGSWORTH Staff Writer New amendments to the Family Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 that were signed by President Ford on December 31 have called for the university to change its present pol icy. The policy issued on December 20, states that the university could no longer send out grades to parents without first having the student’s written consent. The law now states that the parent can receive the grades if the student is declared a dependent as defined by Internal Revenue Service policy. When the first bill was passed the university established a committee headed by Edwin Cooper, dean of admissions and records, to review the bill and formulate a program to inform the students and faculty. The new amendments are de signed to allow students to review their records and contest them if inaccuracies occur. The plan to open the files is a good one but it will have its drawbacks, Cooper said. “We spent more than $5,(XX) dis tributing the first letter,” Cooper said. “Now we have to start all over again." Robert Lacey, registrar, ordered 200,000 grade reports with the old policy on the back. Now, a method of making the reports usable has to be come up with because of the paper shortage, Lacey said. The federal act also contradicts a state law regarding student records. Under state law, parents can re ceive student grades without stu dent consent. Cooper commented that in order to comply with federal law and also not offend parents, the registrar sent grades to the student in care of their parents. “Chances are the parents read the grades on receipt anyway,” Cooper remarked. “It saved us a lot of com plaints.” In the past a student or a former student could call the registrar’s of fice and request their grades be sent to them. Not any more. The person must now either write the registrar or appear in person and fill out necessary forms, Lacey said. They may have an effect on job hunting. A student may now review re commendations given by refer ences. Recommendations are usu ally intended for the employer, Cooper pointed out, and this might inhibit a reference’s true opinion. One of the new amendments de fines the material that can be col lected for the student directory and how it may be distributed. The committee is now investigating the legality of the student directory and how it would be able to screen the consenting persons for publication. The directories in the Housing Office may soon be a thing of the past. The amendment states that a “public notice” must be issued and a reasonable length of time be given for a person to consen t to the release of the material. The university is now in a 45-day period of grace for it to evaluate the new law and make the appropriate changes. “We were caught by this new bill,” Cooper said. “The bill was passed in late December and we are just now starting to catch up. ” When Cooper was notified of the legislation, he called six other uni versities to ask how they were ad justing. No one has come up with a set policy, he said. When a university policy has been established, it will be distri buted to various committees on campus to get a wide reaction. 'We wished we could have issued a policy two days alter the legisla tion,’’ Cooper remarked. “We thought it might cause more prob lems than it would benefits. We want to get the bill into lay terms that will mean more to the student. 21 scissors You are there at Photo by David Kimmel Guy Dow searches through student information printouts at Housing Office. the cutting By T.C. GALLUCCI Staff Writer Don’t touch that dial. Here we are folks at the grand opening of the new student lounge in the Memorial Student Center. Actually the ribbon-cutting cere monies took place yesterday morn ing, but for purposes of publication we ll pretend that this is live cover age. It is precisely 11:30 a. m., which incidentally is what time the cere mony is supposed to commence. Several dignitaries have yet to make their presence known, but the in creasing crowd of students hardly notices. It is hard to say if the stu dents are more interested in the ceremony or in going downstairs to eat lunch. Once again, for purposes of pub lication, it is now 10 minutes later and Dr. and Mrs. Jack Williams have arrived, thus allowing the ceremony to proceed as planned. By ROXIE HEARN Staff Writer A campus tavern has little hope at A&M, according to student leaders and top administrators. Steve Eberhard, student body president, calls chances “very slim.” Student government is consider ing what should be done about the situation, but, said Eberhard, “we’ve made no formal group, only informal discussion. The reason for the slim pos sibilities is the attitude of adminis trators, said Bill Davis, MSC presi dent. “People in the decision-making process don’t feel liquor belongs on campus,” he said. Davis stated he would like to see liquor sold at A&M and would con tinue to ask for it but felt that efforts this year would be fruitless. “Maybe next year,” he said. He explained that in a meeting with student leaders on January 13, Jack K. Williams, TAMU president had given his reasons against the idea. “He personally did not feel liquor belonged in the MSC. He doesn’t feel it has a place in an edu cational institution.” Upon questioning by a reporter, Williams answered flatly, “We will not be opening any pub on the A&M campus.” Controversy has increased since UT opened “The Texas Tavern” on its campus. The tavern’s establishment fol lowed a regents’ decision, an amendment to a city ordinance and a state attorney general’s ruling. A similar establishment is under consideration at Rice University. Construction is planned to begin in February. UT’s pub offers competitive prices for food and drinks, with drink specials and no cover charge. Beer and wine are sold at the tavern beginning at 11 a. m. and mixed drinks beginning at 5 p. m. weekdays. On weekends any drink may be bought at any hour. The tavern includes a game room with pinball and electric ping-pong with a pool table expected to be added soon. A jukebox with 1950s music is also available. Before we turn to the main event, please focus attention towards the center of the room, there are Dr. Williams and William Pahlmann being introduced by Bill Davis, president of the MSC. Hey, folks, don’t touch the fine tuning, that’s not static, it’s just a muted sound of student opinion (hissing) from the north and west balconies. All twenty-one ribbon-cutters are now in place and will commence cutting on the count of three. (Snip!) Ah! Folks, remember you heard it here first. The sound of twenty one pairs of scissors at last releasing thousands of Aggies to roam, frolic and mingle in the lounge of much- discussed cost and decor. Some folks may wonder why these Aggies are going to be allowed to play among this collection of al leged priceless antiques, furniture and ashtrays. Students at the scene are making personal and biased comments on their new student lounge. How ever, due to this being a family news account, their comments will not be specifically mentioned. On second thought, this is non personal, unbiased coverage of a worthy news event, thus the reason for relating their comments: “Just watch, tomorrow they’ll put up signs saying. Keep off the carpet’ and ‘Don’t touch the furniture’,” remarked one student. To which Mike Bradshaw, KBTX-TV cameraman, replied, “If they really want to keep us out, all they have to do is grow grass in there.” Here we have William Pahlmann and Dr. Williams admiring the north wall of the lounge. What, ex actly, it is that they are admiring is difficult for this reporter to say, ex cept that they appear to be mounted animal heads. Difficult as it may be to specify, one seems to be an Ibex, another a Waterbuck, the next a Bontebok and then a Cape Buffalo. Wait, there’s more. First a Bongo, then a Wart Hog, then a Gerenuk, and an Eland, also there’s a Bighorn and a Black Rhinoceros. There’s also something else that looks like a big sheep. One student of nature mentioned the resemblance of the lounge to a zoo. Sharing the center of the room (See Cutting, p.2) University seeking new legal adviser Bill Davis (L), Mike Hatch and Steve Eberhard (R), stand by the uncut ribbon of the new student lounge in the MSC. photo by Douglas winship Robert Rutledge, former legal adviser for students, will still offer legal aid from 3:30 to 5:15 each day until a replacement is found. Rutledge has been named assis tant director of development at A&M. He succeeds Gary D. McCaleb who returned to Abilene on a business venture. Attorneys are being interviewed for the position of student legal ad viser, Dr. John Koldus, vice presi dent of student services, said Mon day. One prospect will meet with Koldus’ staff and the student advis ory committee Friday. i