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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1975)
Foreign students lobby against increase By ALAN KILLINGSWORTH Staff Writer The bill to increase foreign stu dent tuition passed the House Higher Education Committee Wednesday night by a vote of 7-1. It now returns to the floor for the vote. The bill calls for an increase in foreign student tuition from $14 to $40 per hour. Its author is Senator Bill Moore of Bryan. Representative R.B. McAlister oi Lubbock, who cast the one no vote, said he feels the entire approach in handling the foreign students and encouraging them is not designed for today. He plans to set up an in terim study to find a more feasible way of dealing with the situation. “We need to set up a program like M.I.T.,” McAlister said. “They have scholarships available for the students which encourage them in stead of hindering them.” Most of the representatives on the committee felt it unfair for the out-of-state students to pay more than the foreign students. The high oil prices were also mentioned sev eral times and this might have caused bias, McAlister said. “It is very' hard to believe that these few students have little if any effect on the foreign policy of their native countries,” McAlister said. “We can expect some lively discus sion on the floor.” Several international student groups have been lobbying in Au stin and McAlister said it did have Cbe Battalion an effect on him. They have a hard product to sell because of the cur rent international situation. People are uptight, he said. McAlister expects to vote no on the house floor but he also expects the bill to pass by 15 or 20 votes. He attributes this to Sen. Moore’s push- ★★★ ing the bill in the Senate. TAMU’s foreign students were represented by Fathallah M. Ben- Ali, president of the Foreign Stu dent Association, who presented the 700 American students’ signa tures which were collected oppos- S ee FOREIGN, page 4 Tuition bill shows experience lack By ALAN KILLINGSWORTH don’t know any better. Staff Writer The United States has been in Vol. 68 No.,89 College Station, Texas Friday, March 14, 1975 Public monies used for food By JIM CRAWLEY Staff Writer Some departments within the university have spent small amounts of state funds for the purchase of food during the last 18 months. The departments making the il legal purchases are the Dean of Men (now called the Student Affairs De partment), the Registrar’s Office and the Vice President for Student Services. A ten-year old Attorney General’s opinion concluded that state funds could not he used for the purchase of food unless specifically approp riated by the legislature. The opinion states, A State agency or department may purch ase consumable supplies or materi als to be used in the care and maintenance of such items as re- This is the final installment in a three part series on uni versity expenditures of state funds to purchase food. frigerators, ranges, sinks, per- culators and cups. However, a State agency or department is prohibited by Section 51 of Article III of the Constitution ofTexas and Section 6 of Article XVI of the Constitution of Texas from purchasing with State binds such items as food, coffee, cream and sugar which would ulti mately be consumed by employees of or visitors to the State agency or department. ” All the questioned purchases were placed in the 10,000 and 11,000 series accounts in the Fiscal office. “All accounts in the 10,000, 11,000 series are state appropriated fund accounts,” said Howard Ves tal, assistant vice president of busi ness affairs. The recently discovered purch- ★★★ ases were all made on Interdepart mental Transfers, which transfer funds from one department or area to another. The transfers were all made to the Department of Food Services at TAMU. No actual cash changed hands, as all the transac tion between departments are “paper” transactions, said Clark Diebel, university controller. These are the possibly illegal food purchases. • Registrar’s Office, account number 10400; Bill number 802177; date, May 22, 1974. Description: “Four buffets as per invoice. Amount: $10.00 • Office of the Vice President of Student Services, account number 10500; Bill number 796813; date, September 5 and 12, 1973. Descrip tion: “doughnuts, coffee. Cokes . . . staff meeting. Amount: $16.40. • Office of the Vice President of Student Services; account number 10,500; Bill number 797000; date, December 20, 1973. Description: “meals charged at Peniston . . . Dec. 5,6,12 & 13, 1973.” Amount: $67.13. • Dean of Men; account number 10501; Bill number 822540; date, July 31, 1974. Description: “for In dividual Sanka Coffee-freeze dried.” Amount, $41.93. “If it’s been used for food it’s been without my knowledge, ” said How ard Perry, associate vice president for student services, who is in charge of finances for Student Ser vices. Perry was surprised when the purchases were revealed to him during an interview with The Battal ion. Perry said later, “I don’t re member any Interdepartment Transfers between us and Food Services on our 10000 accounts (10496, 10500 and 10501).” ★★★ “Our money comes from ‘General Administration’ funds,” said Perry. The Legislative Appropriations Act distributes a portion of the state funds to the university as “General Administration” funds. T’ve never signed any voucher or transfer slip for the purchase of food,” said Perry. Diebel said that Interdepartmental Transfers don’t need signatures on them. Perry allowed The Battalion to examine the present purchase ledger for the current fiscal year. The ledger records indicate that no food purchases have been made by his department this year. Vice President for Student Ser vices Dr. John Koldus was asked why he had purchased meals at Peniston. He replied that the meals were bought when he meets with student leaders. He added that he had reimbursed the university for the meals. In addition, he said that he spends approximately $15 each month to buy coffee and Cokes for visitors to his office. Koldus didn’t remember any food purchases for staff meetings. Present laws authorize the purchase of meals when state emp loyes make business trips. It does not authorize the buying of food un less the legislature specifies the purchase in the biennium appropri ations bill. The present Appropriations Act does not specify that food can be purchased with state monies held by TAMU. State funds cannot be used to purchase alcoholic bever ages by any state agency, according to this Act. Koldus told The Battalion he would try to get an Attorney General’s opinion on this issue and on the use of Student Service fees to buy food. Photo by David McCarroll Great Issues Speaker Dr. Gordon Tullock suggests certain punishment for deterring crime, (see story, p. 3) There’s a lot of action and reaction in Austin to the bill which was spon sored by Bryan’s Bill Moore sup porting an increase in foreign stu dent tuition. Moore says his reason for the bill is to strengthen the Texas economy. He also feels, like many Americans, that foreign countries are robbing his money with high oil cost. It seems that our legislators don’t look farther than their noses. No one can really appreciate the value of educating foreign students until they have lived in a country similar to the one they’re from. By This is a news analysis. It is an interpretive article. this I mean the same governmental and social conditions in which a foreign student was raised. I base my knowledge on the fact that I lived in Iran for seven years. Americans expect their free doms. For as long as can be remem bered, we’ve been taught that this country is “of, by and for the peo ple.” In developing countries it’s not that way. In Iran, the entire country is run by a select few. They have elections but often there is only one name on the ballot. They have a parliament but if the shah (hereditary king) doesn’t agree with the measures; they are not adopted. A member of the parliament virtually has no power except the prestige which comes with office. The newspapers are put together under the constant eye of a censor and nothing derogat ory to the regime is printed. The people are flooded with prop aganda. One may say, “Why do they stand for it. ” For one simple reason. They constant growth for more than 200 years. Until the 1930s, the develop ing oil nations hadn’t changed for centuries. The city of Tehran, now with a population of three million, was surrounded by a moat. The out look for progress was slim and the chances of an education nil. This is what it comes to. A select few of the educated make all the policies for the people. They are the ones with the education, so they are the ones with the power. But is this absolute authority bad? If one were to take a Bedouin tribesman out of the Sahara, put him in downtown New York and say make it on your own, chances are he would be totally lost. The same ap plies for the people of developing nations. Growth in these nations has been so rapid in the last 30 years that the people haven’t been able to keep up. Despite massive education programs, they still have a long way to go. The people see the economy as well as their social structure mov ing so quickly they can’t keep up. By restricting foreign student education, Bill Moore is also re stricting future U. S. foreign policy. If students are educated in the Un ited States, they tend to pick up some of the ideas of freedom that we take for granted. As said before, if people don’t know any better they will continue to accept censorship and absolute rule. If they are edu cated they will begin to realize the needs of their country as well as the needs of the world. Through educa tion, the United States is putting its foot in the front door of the nations whose government and policies will eventually be run by the masses. Bob Bell Old council lacks responsiveness An over-aged, unresponsive city council has prompted Bob Bell, sta tion manager of KTAM-KORA radio, to seek election. Bell said Thursday. Bell cited the present average age of the council (55-60) as one of the primary reasons for its lack of con sideration for citizen feelings. Bell’s Silence hinders reporter By JIM CRAWLEY Staff Writer There are two essential parts to an investigative newspaper report. The investigation for finding the basic information and checking the findings’ validity. This second step bad been greatly hindered during the past few days. For the past six weeks The Battal ion has been investigating the use of Student Service Fees and state monies to purchase food. This could be a violation of the present state laws. Last Wednesday, March 12, TAMU University Controller Clark Diebel told this reporter that all his statements would be “off-the- record. ” This precluded their use in the paper. After answering some Budget questions, Diebel was asked if he would go “off-the-record” to the Houston Chronicle or Post. His answer: “yes.” Later that day I sent a list of the same questions to Howard Vestal, assistant vice-president for business affairs. Vestal, after conferring with Diebel, refused to answer my ques tions on the grounds that Diebel had already answered them. During the entire day. Vestal communi cated with The Battalion through his secretary and never directly. either by phone or in person. In past interviews, Diebel has only gone “off-the-record” when explaining his personal beliefs and opinions. Up to Wednesday, Diebel has freely offered information to The Battalion concerning food purchases and the MSC decorating costs. At present, the situation stands: Deibel won’t go on record and Ves tal won’t answer a few questions. opponent in the April 1 election will be incumbent Don Dale. Dale voted for the controversial Harry Seaback rezoning request behind Dominik Drive last fall. Seaback requested a change from single-family zoning to apartment building district. The request was contested by Dominik homeow ners. Bell cites this vote as one ex ample of Dale’s disregard for citizen interests. “Two hundred and eighty Col lege Station residents were denied their requests in that vote,” Bell said referring to a petition contain ing 280 names submitted to the council denouncing Seaback’s re quest. Bell has no previous political ex perience. He says experience is not, however, an important qualifica tion. “If we elected people on the basis of experience,” Bell said, “we would retum Richard Nixon to the presi dency. He has more experience as Bob Bell President than any other living American.” Bell feels he has been successful in his chosen business, he said. Viewing city government as a busi ness, Bell contends his experience in broadcasting qualifies him for the position. Bell’s platform is basically simple. He is running on the issue of re sponsiveness to citizen input. “I would put community interest before self-interest or the interest of an outside party,” Bell said. The Dominik rezoning is one ex ample of an outside interest (Sea back is based in Houston) being pre ferred by the council to the people of College Station, Bell said. “I am willing to explore almost any possibility which might benefit College Station,” Bell said. He in cludes in this list the possibility of consolidating some city services be tween Bryan and College Station. Jett in council race Larry Bravenec Control of growth needed in CS CS needs business approach The booming, rapid development ofColIege Station is going to call for effective control to insure orderly growth of the city, incumbent Councilman Larry Bravenec said Thursday. Bravenec, candidate for Place 5, Larry Bravenec opposes A&M student Greg Mag- ruder in the April 1 city elections. One of the growth problems fac ing the city, Bravenec said, is the few number of good parks. “I think we need to acquire more park land but at the same time make use of what we have. Right now, we’ve utilized, roughly, only 10 per cent of our park land,” he said. Bee Creek Park, Bravenec said, is about the only sizable park the city has. The park encompasses about 44 acres. “Bee Creek Park is a high-density park and we have used just about every inch of it, ” he said. Bravenec said previous city coun cils have been rather passive in en forcing some of the city’s ordi nances. “We have had a sign ordinance for some time now that specifies how far from streets signs may be erected and whether or not they can have flashing lights and things like that, ” he said. “The ordinance is just not being enforced.” He said he would also like to see some type of ordinance passed reg ulating the breeding of animals for sale. “I believe an ordinance of this type would help insure that certain health standards are observed for the benefit of the buyer and seller,” Bravenec said. Bravenec is a member of the city’s Development Controls Review Committee that was recently estab lished to check on the effectiveness of ordinances that influence the city’s growth pattern. “I’m going to be primarily con cerned with working on that com mittee as well as pushing for more parks,” he said, “but I’m also very interested in seeing that the zoning ordinance is fairly implemented.” Bravenec, an associate professor of accounting at Texas A&M, is a local attorney and certified public accountant. He and his family re side at 1211 S. Boswell. An attempt to bring the business approach to city government has prompted Jim Jett to run for the College Station city council, Jett said Thursday. Jett is a candidate for Councilman Place 1 against Gary Halter, TAMU political science professor, in the April 1 city elections. Jett, a 1967 TAMU graduate in business administration, and im mediate past president of the Col lege Station Apartment Owners’ As sociation, said he feels his business experience will enable him to add a different insight to some problems of the city. “After all, the city is a business,” Jett said. He believes his position as a realtor allows him to keep in close touch with the growth of College Station. The current council spends too much time arguing among them selves over unimportant issues, Jett said. He cites the question of park land aquisition as one example. This amount would not buy one half an acre of park land, Jett said. He said he feels the money would be better spent on improving pres ent parks. Jett has never served in public office, but is active in the College Station Lion’s Club and other public service organizations. “We have an opportunity to pre serve the small town atmosphere in College Station. I would like to be able to look back and say I was a part of that achievement,” Jett said. The present council is not re sponsive enough to the wishes of the citizens, said Jett. He said he would have voted against the Harry Sea back request for zoning land behind Dominik Drive from single family residence to apartment building district. Jett cites the intense Jim Jett homeowner protest as the reason for that decision. The interest of the community as a whole have to be weighed against the feelings of those most directly involved in any council decision, Jett said. Today. Inside Gordon Tullock . . . .p. 3 OPAS p. 3 School board p. 4 Weather Fair and mild Friday. In creasing cloudiness and warmer Saturday. High to day 64; low tonight 40; high tomorrow 72.