Che Battalion
Vol. 68 No. 72
College Station, Texas
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Wednesday, February 12, 1975
Wards said to be ‘unfair’
to minority representation
By STEVE GRAY
Staff Writer
At least four College Station City
Councilmen appear to he at odds on
whether or not local voters should
elect councilmen by wards.
Last Wednesday the council ap
pointed a nine-member city charter
revision commission to consider
changing to a system of electing
council members by wards as op
posed to the present at-large
method. A similar commission was
formed last year to study the change
but no such revision was made in
the city’s charter.
One of this year’s commission
members, Councilman Jim Dozier,
said Thursday he does not endorse
the ward method of election be
cause it would discriminate against
minority group members in the
city.
“The only purpose a ward system
would serve is to insure minority
group representation. But in Col
lege Station the minority group
members like the blacks and
Mexican-Americans are just not re
ally concentrated in any one area of
the city. They could not get any
more effective representation than
they do now if we changed to the
ward system of election,” Dozier
said.
Dozier said that some council-
men have now and in the past advo
cated conversion to the ward system
because they were afraid of students
taking over the city council, includ
ing the mayor’s seat.
“I don t think they could ever
take over the entire council because
most students are just not that in
terested in city politics. They are
more interested in getting an educa
tion, even though students were the
ones who first suggested that we
change to the ward system, Dozier
said.
He said students had suggested
that the city create a ward on the
campus in order to get a student
elected to the council.
“The fact is that most of the stu
dents live off-campus and they
would not be fairly represented by a
student councilman elected from a
campus ward, ’ Dozier said.
Councilman Larry Bravenec said
Monday he is also opposed to the
ward system of election.
“I don’t think the city is large
enough to warrant adopting a ward
system. We have a rather open form
of government, Bravenec said,
“and if we adopted such a system it
might split the community and stu
dents alike on various issues. I think
if the students really hustled they
could get a student elected to the
council.”
Bravenec defeated Gloria Mar
tinson, an environmental design
major, in last year’s council elec
tion.
Bravenec said the matter is not
one for the council to decide but the
voters may determine the issue if
the commission recommends
changing to the ward method of
election.
Two other city councilmen,
Homer Adams and Don Dale, said
Monday they favor revising the
citys charter to convert to the ward
system.
Adams said he supported the
ward system when it was in effect
just a few years ago.
“The students are the ones who
asked for it (the ward system),’’
Adams said, “and I don’t want to see
the city council taken over by stu
dents.”
Adams said he believed this could
happen under the present at-large
system whereas the ward system
would restrict the number of stu
dents that could be elected from a
campus ward.
“I really don’t think the students
on the campus should be allowed to
vote in the city elections because
they are not actually College Station
residents,” Adams said.
Adams did say, however, he
would not be opposed to students
living off-campus voting in city elec
tions because council decisions
would affect city residents.
Dale said he feels the city needs
the ward system to boost confidence
of the voters in their city council-
men.
“I fought real hard for the ward
method of election when it was re
ferred to the voters a couple of years
ago, Dale said. “I can see how peo
ple might feel better if they had
Spring fever in February
Photo by Tom Kayscr
After three days of rain and cold temperatures, this
couple takes advantage of some dry grass. All over
campus, people could be seen Tuesday in short
sleeves and cut-offs ... in February.
Placement business good
A&M grads in demand despite recession
By SAYEEFUL ISLAM
Staff Writer
Name one place where business
has gone up even though the nation
is suffering a recession. The answer
— the A&M placement office.
Last year 188 corporations and
other organizations came to this
campus to interview prospective
employes. This spring the number
will be 233.
When asked why there was an
increase in the number of recruiters
visiting the campus when significant
lay-offs are occurring in almost
every industry, Louis J. Van Pelt,
director of placement at the Place
ment Office, said there are a
number of reasons.
“First, most of the companies that
come here are fairly big and they
can weather recession better than
smaller ones,” Van Pelt said. “Sec
ond, most of the recruiters have
been here for a long time. They are
here because they know A&M pro
duces good graduates.”
“There has been a reduction in
the number of campuses that re
cruiters are going to hut A&M has
not been affected at all, he said.
Van Pelt said that even though
A&M is undergoing a change in
image, most companies realize the
change is for the better.
" Another great asset to the
placement service is the faculty,”
says J. Malone Southerland, coor
dinator of Educational Placement
Services. “Many faculty members
know people in hiring positions and
will often refer employers to
talented graduates.”
As far as the job market is con
cerned both of them agree that the
place to be now is engineering. In
petroleum engineering, for exam
ple, they say there is no placement.
Everyone has at least one job offer
ing. Not far behind is chemical en
gineering and following, mechani
cal engineering.
“The next best place to be is ag
riculture. The employment situa
tion there is very stable,” Souther
land said. “The fact that agriculture
and engineering are the majors of
almost 40 per cent of the student
body makes our job much easier,”
said Southerland.
“There are,” both agreed, “cer
tain fields where the job field is
‘soft.’
“As far as the teacher surplus is
concerned,” Southerland said, “the
situation is very complex and cer
tainly not as bad as pictured.
“As a matter of fact,” he said,
“there is a definite teacher shortage
in mathematics, industrial arts, sci
ence and special education.”
“The situation is better than the
national average in the southwest
and better still in Texas,” he said.
Among the soft areas he listed
zoology. Southerland and Van Pelt
urged students in ‘soft’ fields to see
them and present their particular
speciality.
“It is our business, they said,
“and no amount of business is ever
enough.”
The placement office works on a
budget of about $65,000. Ther cleri
cal staff, they agreed, were short of
hands but they could not say defi
nitely if they needed any profes
sional help at the moment. The sys
tem devised at the placement
center has impressed many.
T visit almost 40 schools in the
south and the southeast and the
facilities and service here are prob
ably the best,” said Charles A.
Reinke, Jr., regional coordinator for
Mobil Oil.
Van Pelt said one company asked
if they could interview even when
they had no openings just to keep
the name of the company in the stu
dents’ minds.
“I gave them a clear ‘no’ ”, he
said.
KAMU plans to air
all SCON A speakers
KAMU-TV will air the national
cast of speakers who make presenta
tions during SCON A XX at TAMU.
The speeches of six of the guest
lecturers will be presented during
the late evenings of Thursday, Fri
day and Saturday.
The speakers will be preceded
Wednesday night by a KAMU pro
duction, “1974, The Year in Re
view” which will record the year’s
impact on the university and com
munity.
Thursday at 10 p.m., B. Bruce-
Briggs will present “America: The
Third Hundred Years followed at
approximately 11 p.m. by James
Grant on “International Resource
Allocation in the Future.”
someone from their own neighbor
hood elected to the council.
Councilman Jim Gardner said
Thursday the whole issue is a toss-
up ;
“I have mixed feelings about it
right now. Some councilmen are af
raid that students will someday take
over the council because of the at-
large system we have now,” Gard
ner said. “I don’t agree with that
because students in the past have
not made any really serious effort to
get a whole group of students
elected to the council. If the ward
system were adopted they could
probably get, at most, one or two
elected.”
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Photo by Glen Johnson
Parking in the grass
No, the parking situation is not so bad that Cream
ery customers have to park in the grass. Actually,
the direction sign is moved out of the street ev
ery evening after closing time.
Student fees, scholarships
Lobby sets new priorities
By ROD SPEER
City Editor
The Texas Student Lobby has
turned its legislative priorities to
ward holding the line on student
fees and freeing $10 million of state
hinds for college tuition grants and
scholarships.
The Lobby, an arm of the Texas
Student Association, set priorities
for this year’s lobbying efforts at a
TSA convention in Austin last
weekend.
In the realm of student fees, the
lobby voted to attack a bill now
being considered in the Texas Se
nate which would take the student
health fee out of the student activity
fee; (A&M has already separated
that fee.) The student government
leaders that make up TSA and TSL
argued that removing a service co
vered under the activity fee would
set a bad precedent, encouraging
more of the same. They contended
this would defeat the purpose of
having the $30 ceiling on the service
fees.
University ofTexas Student Body
President Frank Fleming sup
ported the health fee separation. He
said campus health care will de
teriorate or even be abolished if the
charge for that service cannot keep
up with inflation.
In addition to denouncing the
separate health fee, the lobby, with
the A&M delegation concurring,
voted down proposals to support a
raise in student activity fees to ac
count for increases in health care
costs.
A bill establishing a limit on the
building use fee was also of concern
to student lobbyists. Sarah Wed-
dington of Austin has brought be
fore the House a bill which would
make a $6 ceiling on the fee, while
El Paso representative Ronald Col
eman has introduced legislation
proposing a $50 limit on what an
individual student has to pay for
building use.
Because of controversy in the
legislature over the constitutional
ity of the proposed bills, the lobby
decided to wait before backing any
resolutions.
The lobby, which shares the same
board of directors as TSA, will push
legislation raising aid to the
economically disadvantaged for
higher education by $10 million, an
interest shared by A&M delegates.
The lobbyists cited an estimated $90
million difference in financial aid
requested from the state and that
supplied as a cause of concern.
TSL director Sandy Kress, a
former UT student body president,
called on all schools to send letters
of support from school presidents
and student governments to the
governor s budget office.
A&M delegate Joe Marcello re
commended the lobby support fre
eing graduate teaching assistants
from having to pay into the Teacher
Retirement System, a mandatory 6
percent deduction from their
salaries.
Kress said the lobby staff would
need more information on the sub
ject before presenting the issue be
fore the assembly.
Today.
Inside
Interest rates p. 5
SCONA section p. 7
Over the Wall p. 9
Weather
Beautiful. Partly cloudy
and mild today, tonight and
tomorrow. High today 69;
low tonight 46; high Thurs
day 74.
J
Friday at the same time, Dr. Mil-
ton Friedman leads off with “The
Future of Capitalism. ” The second
portion will feature Congressmen
Alan Steelman of Texas and Sam
Steiger of Arizona speaking on
“Long-Range Land-Use Planning.”
Friday’s 10 p.m. showing is Dr.
Victor Ferkiss talking about “The
Future of Government: The Evolu
tion of Federalism” and lastly,
Joseph F. Coates on “Role of Tech
nology Assessment in Future Plan
ning.”
Also Saturday, there will be an
open house and tours from 6-7:30
p.m. marking the fifth anniversary
of KAMU-TV. The station is located
south of Kyle Field.
Grand opening
Photo by Glen Johnson
Tuesday marked the opening of the new
Arts and Crafts Center in the basement
of the MSC. Everyone interested in art
should go to the center and give their tal
ents a chance to be expressed. Here, Diana
Kimmel shows Patsy some clay.