Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1975)
6 twi in tlie mt he t&M'i 'Iptlie Weather Fair and mild today, to night, and tomorrow. Wes terly winds 8-15 mph. High today 73; low tonight 43; high Wednesday 74 de grees. Che Battalion Inside CS Council True Texans Weightlifters Vol. 68 No. 79 College Station, Texas Tuesday, February 25, 1975 Directors OK new buildings lire la- being ith th Soutli- is meet testing schools elative eiththe -ir first lism for ; meet, in all of he ser- the ah is in- rkouts. till out mother a&m. sapped’ on, the in the rjes wil ts with Baker hopes t relays / place mtand races- or will fiedals Back home in Aggie/and Jim Cullum’s Happy Jazz Band performed in Bryan a TAMU special attraction, the band played such Monday night at the Bryan Civic Auditorium. As songs as “Back Home Again.” Photo by David McCarroll The TAMU Board of Directors approved the construction of a$8.5 million Soil and Crop Sciences/ Entomology Center, today. The Soil and Crop Sciences/ Entomology Center will be located on the west side of Wellborn Road forming the West Campus project. The Board, meeting officially, yesterday as the Building Studies Committee, discussed $1 million Clyde H. Wells was elected to a fourth two-year term as pres ident of The TAMU System Board of Directors Tuesday. Richard A. Coodson was elected vice-president, suc ceeding S.B. Whittenburg. contract for the renovation of Sbisa dining hall. The renovation will convert the west end of Sbisa into a fast food area. The contract was awarded to the Sentry Construction Co. of Bryan. During the renovation, Peniston cafeteria will handle the load from the closed west end. The long-talked-about $7 million architecture building was also okayed by the Board for construe- MSC uses fees for food University controller says illegal ICAM L IG \|ER pple Tea By JIM CRAWLEY Staff Writer The MSC Council has spent Student Service fee monies for the purchase of food, in apparent violation of the state constitution. According to an Attorney General’s opinion, handed down by former Attorney General Waggbner Carr, “A state agency or department is prohibited by Section 51 of Article III of the Constitution of Texas and Section 6 of Article XVI of the Constitution of This is the first in a series of investi gative stories on use of student fees to buy food illegally by both campus or ganizations and the administration. Texas from purchasing such items as food, coffee, cream and sugar which would ultimately be consumed by employees of or visitors to the state agency or department. ’ “Student Service fees are considered state funds because they are collected under the authority of the state law,” Clark Diebel, university controller, said. Diebel further told The Battalion that he had informed Bill Davis, MSC Council president, and Bill Flores, MSC vice president of finance, that buying food was illegal, last November. In the November Council meeting, Davis told the Council that Diebel had informed him of the food purchase was illegal. J. Wayne Stark, MSC director, replied that there had been no official word from Diebel or the state about food purchasing. Stark added that he would continue the purchases until he was notified by Diebel or the state. In a recent interview, Diebel said he had told Stark about a month ago that Student Service fees could not he used to buy food according to state law. Stark, remembering the January conversation, refuted Diebel’s statement. Stark says he remembers Diebel telling him, “That it was unclear as to what was and what wasn’t state monies.’’ Stark added, “I don’t know whether he (Diebel) said that student service fees were or were not state funds.” Davis, agreeing with Stark, said that Diebel had not “officially notified him,” Davis commented that the Council would continue to buy food. MSC food purchases include the buying of meals before the Council meetings, committee Christmas parties, “Welcome Back” picnics and the annual MSC awards banquet. Not included in the questioned purchases were dinners for speakers sponsored by various Directorate committees. During the past 18 months, the Council and Di rectorate has spent over $3,000 for food. Of this amount, approximately $850 has been spent by the Council alone since September. The Council s present budget indicates an allot ment titled “Meals and Refreshments’ for which a total of $1,700 has been assigned. Davis and Stark said that these funds came from student service fees. In the past year, the University of Houston has stopped buying food with student service fees. This was after their controller said that food purchases were illegal and refused to pay the hills. Harold Scott, U. of H. controller, said that he and the State Auditor’s office stopped payment on food purchases for the annual “Free Fair. ” “Free Fair’’ was a student service fee-funded affair that gave away food and beer to students for one weekend in September. U. of H. has also stopped using the fees to finance club banquets and parties, said Scott. Mike Ferguson of the State Auditor’s Office told The Battalion that U. of H. could purchase food for its student groups only if the students reimbursed the university for the food. “It boiled down to whether all the students were participating or was it just a select group, ” said Fergu son. The cost breakdown for the past 18 months is as follows: MSC Council (for pre-meeting meals) $ 402.51 MSC Directorate and Committees $1433.18 Annual MSC Banquet $1166.00 Total (for past 18 months) $3001.69 The examined records show that the Council has purchased most of its meals through Food Services or Arnold’s Barbecue in College Station. The second board installment payment for the spring semester is due today. Students on the seven-day board plan owe $127 and those on the 5-day plan owe $114. Pay ment can be made in the Fiscal Office, Richard Coke Building or at the cashier’s annex in the main lobby of the Rudder Center. Students who do not pay on time will have to pay a $1 per day penalty. tion. Action was taken on the prelimi nary design of a $7 million classroom and laboratory building for the Col lege of Science. The building to be at the intersection of Lubbock and Nagle streets will be four stories and contain labs for chemistry, biology and physics students. Two 310-seat lecture halls are also included in the present plans. Dr. Jack Williams, TAMU presi dent, told the board the lab building received the highest priority be cause of its “urgent need.” An intramural complex, to be lo cated next to the West Campus was given the go-ahead. The complex will include eight football fields and four softball diamonds. Construction of a series of “mini-walls” for various entrances to the campus was approved. The entrance structures are to be lo cated at the south, east and west gates of the campus. Landscaping will be conducted in the North dorm area. The work will include plantings, bike racks and earth work. A street lighting project was ap proved by the Board. The project includes the installation of light standards similar to the ones pres ently found in front of the Academic Building. Some of the new lights will be of a ‘Classic’ design, which will be placed along the New Main Drive. After the Board approved the contracts in today’s session, other matters were approved. The issue of professor tenure- ships was settled when the Board approved the tenure of 91 profes sors at A&M. The Board also ap proved the tenure of 12 from Tarle- ton State. University administration sug gested to the directors that the fee charged for Departmental Com prehensive Examinations be at $15 per test. The group okayed the surfacing of Kyle Field with Astroturf. The pre sent turf is badly worn and needs replacement. The estimated cost is $400,000. A new home for the University Police was approved by the direc tors, in today’s morning meeting. A building, south of KAMU-TV, will be renovated. The Board gave the nod to the construction of a motorpool for Uni versity vehicles. Other action in cluded the authorization for a doctor of philosophy and a doctor of educa tion option in agricultural educa tion. A degree program culminating with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology was also okayed by the directors. The degree programs will have to be approved by the College Coor dinating Board before implementa tion. Emergency bill Foreign tuitions Exec committee OKs t 0 p Senate topic ouster of Dale Foster By JUDY BAGGETT Staff Writer Dale Foster, Graduate Liberal Arts senator, resigned at the end of Sunday night’s executive commit tee meeting. The resignation came after heated debate between members on the committee ending with the agreement to ask Foster to resign before the next senate meeting. Foster came into the meeting after the agreement was made. He is not registered as a student at A&M this semester, although he did attend last semester. He said he is making up several incompletes. If Foster had not resigned, the execu tive committee was going to sponsor a resolution to remove him. Although the conflict was over his non-student status, Foster resigned because of time problems and finan cial considerations. His resignation is effective Wednesday. Steve Eberhard, student gov ernment president, said the senate should handle its own membership problems. He didn’t want to give the matter to the Judicial Board be cause he feared it would give the board the power to arbitrarily re move anyone. “What if the J-board decides to purge the Senate,’ Eberhard said. “They could easily throw out 20 members because they aren’t on any committees.” The constitution says that each member must serve on at least one committee. The committee was also split on the legality of ousting Foster. Curt Marsh, vice president of Finance, based his stand to expel Foster on two sections of the constitution. One part says that a senator must be a member of the constituency he represents at all times. Secondly, a senator can be expelled for unbe coming behavior. “That’s not what it says, people,” said John Tyler, disagreeing with Marsh. “You can do it, but it’s not what it says.” He said the constitu tion should be interpreted so that senators could he removed only for behavior unbecoming a senator. To assure that future senators would be enrolled in school the stu dent rules and regulations commit tee will consider making constitu tional changes. By JUDY BAGGETT Staff Writer The Foreign Student Tuition re solution will be the most controver sial issue at Wednesday night’s Stu dent Senate meeting said John Tyler, student vice president of rules and regulations, Monday. . State Senator Bill Moore is spon soring a bill to raise tuition from $14 to $40. The bill is on emergency reading. The Student Senate meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. in Room 204 Har rington Center. Also on emergency reading are the Maritime Academy and Blood Drive Resolutions. The Maritime Academy Resolu tion will give students at the Maritime academy voting rights here in issues like the Gathright Awards. The Blood Drive Resolution sug gests that student government look into the possibility of changing from Wadley to Red Cross. Red Cross will establish a distribution center here, said Tom Walker, student ex ecutive director. Wadley operates from Dallas and sometimes it is hard to get service, he said. Also on the agenda is the recycl ing resolution. Allocations are needed to turn a shack in Hensel Park into a recycling center. The Senate will also discuss a bill giving a $1,500 tax exemption to parents of students. The Tuition Tax Exemption bill endorses the pend ing legislation. The last two items in new busi ness are Academic Program evalua tion and the Vending Machine Re solution. Academic program evaluation suggests evaluating departments according to curriculum and coun seling. In old business, Tyler said the most controversial issue would be the yell leader amendment. The amendment would delete the word male from the requirements, leav ing the positions open to any stu dent. In the future, students might be able to choose the profs they want as well as their classes if the Choice of Professors resolution passes tomor- Also on the agenda is a proposal for the study abroad program to allow students to study in Europe and still get credit at A&M. InC/UitinQ What do you think of the present intramural facilities? Interviews by Judy BagRctt Poll taken in G. Rollic White 1 Photos by Tom Kay ser Tim Gilligan, Sophomore, Pre-Med They’re pretty inadequate. For all the money they are spending on the Student Center, they could put at least some into intramurals. It’s kinda ridiculous the way it is now. Bob Leach, Junior, Industrial Engineering It’s pretty good. The basketball is especially good. The baseball field needs fences so the ball doesn’t roll. Jim Kelly, Junior, Business Managment I don’t think there is enough of them. They could probably use a little more money. I just think they’re lacking to handle 20,000 students. Martin Click, Sophomore, Aerospace Engineering They’re pretty lacking. There are never enough facilities to use. No one else can take part if intramurals are playing. Willy Robson, Senior, Mechanized Agriculture It’s (the intramural program) very good considering the crummy facilities they have to work with. A great program but bad facilities; that’s the main thing. /A.. Marc Miller, Freshman, Pre- med Considering I came from a small high school, the facilities here are a lot better. I really don’t have any complaints. It’s just good that everyone can play. Larry Rozacky, Freshman, Electrical Engineering They’re not bad, actually. They’re crowded at times and the baseball field has a lot to he de sired.