Weather I
Partly cloudy and mild
today, tonight and Wed
nesday. High Tuesday 73;
low tonight 52; high tomor
row 76.
Che Battalion
Inside
Flood levels p.3
Butter sculpture p.5
Houston sweep p.6
Vol. 68 No. 100
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, April 8, 1975
Committee proposes
TAMU budget cut
The Higher Education Commit
tee (HEC) of the Texas House of
Representatives recommended
Monday night to earmark $4.75
million ofTAMU’s available fund for
utility expenses. It also recom
mended a 10 percent cut from the
Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB)
recommendations for three budget
line items: special items, other ad
ministrative costs and organized re
search in all state colleges and uni
versities.
TAMU President Jack K. Wil
liams said earmarking funds for
utilities doesn’t make much sense.
A study of estimated utility ex
penses by the Bovay Engineering
Firm, Houston, said A&M would
need $6.33 million in ’76 and $8.1
million in ’77 for utilities. Brad
Duggan, staff director for the House
Higher Education Committee, said
A&M does not have to use all the
earmarked money for utilities if it
can find a way to spend less than
$4.75 million on utilities. But with
the engineering firm’s estimates,
this seems unlikely.
HEC Chairman Fred Head,
Athens, could not be reached by
press time.
Williams also said the 10 percent
cut in organized research would
“reduce to mediocrity’’ the two in
stitutions which provide the bulk of
the state’s graduate training —
Texas A&M and Texas.
Of the 22 formula funded state
colleges and universities, A&M and
UT systems will receive 55 percent
of organized research monies ac
cording to LBB recommendations.
Rep Bill Presnal, Bryan, said the
HEC has made the LBB budget re
commendations almost illegible.
“This is the first committee to make
drastic changes,” said Presnal.
“They have gone completely ape.”
Presnal said he had not seen the
report which will be debated in his
Appropriations Committee some
time next week. Under new rules,
the Appropriations Committee met
jointly with the HEC to hear the
budget requests. The Appropria
tions Committee can raise the HEC
recommendations with a two-thirds
vote of committee and can lower the
recommendations by a majority.
Presnal said when the rules were
devised, it was expected that the
Appropriations Committee would
be lowering recommendations
rather than raising them.
Judicial Board upholds appeals
Blasts violations, ‘unenforceable’ election rules
Photo by the Balzak Raider
Signs Pulled Up
The campus election signs not the regulation day. These signs were located near the
four feet from the curb were pulled up Sun- Krueger-Dunn Commons.
SG exec election today,
Senate vote comes later
After the confusion created by
last week’s Student Senate reappor
tioning of the reapportionment
plan, many students may want to
know when election filing ends and
elections take place.
Student Government executive
members are being elected today
while student senator elections and
executive runoffs will be April 15.
All filing for senate positions are
closed except for the living areas of
Hart-Law-Puryear, Walton-Leg-
ett-Milner-Hotard, Schumacher-
Mclnnis-Crocker-Cain, Davis-i
Gary-Moore-Moses and University
Married Housing.
Filing for these posts closes
Wednesday, April 9 at 5 p.m.
Offices open for filing that are un
opposed include Davis-Gary-
Moore-Moses and Dunn-Utay.
With two positions open, no one
from University' Married Housing
has filed for office.
In the senate contests that are
closed, many posts are vacant or un
contested.
The write-in vote is the only hope
left to those who had wanted to run.
Those races unopposed or vacant
are as follows:
College of Agriculture — One
graduate student has filed. Two pos
itions are available.
College of Education — Grad
uate and junior candidates are un
opposed while the sophomore and
senior races are vacant.
College of Engineering — One
graduate post has been filed for with
two available.
College of Liberal Arts — the
graduate race is uncontested.
College of Science — One senior
is unopposed and no graduate has
filed.
College of Veterinary Medicine
— One candidate has filed with
three positions available.
In the Corps, one sophomore pos
ition is uncontested.
Only three people have filed with
six posts available in the off campus
graduate race. Those senate posi
tions left vacant will be filled by
nomination of the newly elected
student body president and ap
proved by the senate.
By JIM CRAWLEY
Staff Writer
The Student Government Judi
cial Board ruled the “selective en
forcement policy” of the Election
Commission to be “unjust and une
quitable. ” The panel added that the
members of the commission were
not at fault but rather it “is the result
of a rather slipshod system of pro
ducing Rules and Regulations.”
The board released the statement
Monday night as the verdict in an
election appeal of Mary Ellen Mar
tin, sophomore candidate for SG
vice president of rules and regula
tions.
The panel, lacking the required
quorum of seven, because of family
illness and recent resignations
asked the parties assembled for
Monday’s hearings if they would
abide by their decisions. All agreed
to comply. Chairman Sam Walser
said he regretted the situation but
that it was necessary to finish the
business before the elections.
The panel also reviewed the ap
peals of two others disqualified by
the Election Commission, in six
hours of hearings Friday and Mon
day. Both candidate’s appeals were
upheld.
The panel of students also de
cided that the Commission has the
power to disqualify a candidate.
On Friday the board threw out
the disqualification of Jim Bob
Mickler, senior Yell Leader candi
date. Mickler allegedly failed to
properly file his application.
In the five hour Monday session
the board decided in favor of Austin
Sterling, senior yell leader candi
date. Sterling was accused of having
more than the maximum of 32
square feet of sign area within a cer
tain posting area.
Martin’s case stemmed from ac
cusations that she had placed post
ers in violation of the election regu
lations.
Susan Warren, Election Com
mission chairman, had disqualified
Martin because she had placed dis
plays on dorm doors without the oc
cupants approval. Additionally, she
had placed posters on water foun
tains and trash cans in the Academic
Building.
Martin, running against Karla
Mouritson and Duane Thompson,
told the board that Warren had
warned her of the violation (placing
of posters on water fountains) and
that they were removed before she
went to remove them herself.
Martin and her attorney, senior
John Nash, pleaded that the glass
covered bulletin boards in the
Academic Bldg, are three separate
boards and not one as Warren had
contended.
The Election Commission, rep
resented by Gwen Flynt and War
ren Russell, contended that Martin
had been sufficiently warned and
that the other violations were
grounds for disqualification.
The board questioned whether
the commission had equally en
forced the regulations.
Barry Brooks, student vice presi
dent for student services and
member of the commission which
holds all campus-wide elections,
said that he and Warren looked into
violations if someone complained.
He added that this policy was taken
because the only commission mem
bers are he and Warren.
Nash argued that the commission
had failed to give his client warning
of two of the violations and that no
hearing was held.
Flynt countered that the regula
tions »o not require warnings or
hearings concerning election viola
tions.
Nash told the panel that Martin
was not the only candidate in viola
tion of election rules concerning the
number and manner in which post
ers may be placed.
Shannon Walker, board member,
asked Brooks how many complaints
they usually receive about a candi
date before he would be disqual
ified. Brooks answered, “Two or
three, definitely more than one.’’
“At present, all the other candi
dates have received no more than
one complaint,” said Brooks.
Nash asked Brooks, “Did you
know that Jeff Dunn has violated the
rules three times?” Brooks ans
wered, no.
At this point, Mike Perrin, judi
cial board member, quizzed Brooks
if he would disqualify a candidate if
numerous complaints were re-
Mary Ellen Martin
ceived the night before the election.
Brooks slowly replied, “It’s con
ceivable. ”
After this line of questioning and
summations the board deliberated
and decided in favor of Martin.
The issue in the Sterling case cen
tered around the use of two eight
feet by four foot signs placed near
Sbisa Dining Hall. The revised reg
ulations state that the maximum sur
face area of signs within a certain
area is 32 square feet. Sterling had
two eight by four signs across from
Sbisa.
The board decided that Warren
had not given Sterling enough warn
ing before disqualifying him. War
ren contended that her notification
of the violation to Sterling’s room
mate was sufficient.
The roommate, Tom Wilson, tes
tified that he had explained to War
ren early Friday evening that Sterl
ing would be out of town until Sun
day afternoon on a field trip. On his
return, he tried to contact Warren
but her phone was not connected,
testified Sterling.
The board, in a split 4-2 decision,
favored Sterling and reinstated him
in today’s election.
Friday, the entire board of seven
decided that Mickler should not be
disqualified because his forms were
not properly filled out.
The case was punctuated by the
involvement of former student Dale
Foster. Earlier this year, Foster res
igned from his Senate place after it
was revealed that he was no longer
an A&M student.
Testimony indicated that Foster
had told Mickler that “everything
has been taken care of’ after Foster
notified Mickler of his failure to sign
and fill-out an information form. In
reality, the forms were forged by
someone.
School race
14 per cent vote gives okay to Natowitz, Robeck
Photo by David McCJarroIl
International Student Dance
Dilip Desai keeps Vickie Mendosa company while
she collects money at the door to the International
Students’ Dance. The dance was attended by foreign
students, as well as more local people.
A 14 per cent voter turnout
Saturday elected Joe Natowitz and
Bruce Robeck to positions on the
A&M Consolidated School Board.
Natowitz, an A&M chemistry
professor, said Monday he had ex
pected to win but was surprised by
the size of his winning margin.
In the four-way race for Position
7, Natowitz took 889 votes of the
1,666 cast in the election, for a 56.5
percentage.
Aileen Wenck, a lecturer in
A&M’s English Department, filed
for the same position, and Natowitz
said he was convinced she would
hurt his campaign, since she sup
ported many of the same issues as
Natowitz. However, she managed
to get only 98 votes, 6.18 per cent of
the vote.
Also competing for Position 7
were John Sandstedt, a local attor
ney, and a TAMU professor of in
dustrial engineering, James Hen-
nigan. Hennigan received 243
votes, 15.32 per cent of the vote,
while Sandstedt received 356 votes
for 22.45 per cent.
Thirty-five-year-old Bruce
Robeck attributed his victory in the
race for Position 6 to a broad base of
support from the community.
With 51.95 per cent of the vote,
the A&M political science professor
won a narrow victory over Cubby
Manning, 53, a researcher with the
Texas Transportation Institute, who
took the remaining 48.05 per cent.
Robeck had 853 votes to Manning’s
789.
Robeck said he was not confident
of victory but anticipated a close
race. The false rumors of his
atheism, he said, was no doubt a
factor in the race. He couldn’t say
whether the rumor hurt his cam
paign or a backlash helped it.
Robeck said one of his first efforts
as a board member will be to re
order some priorities in the
district’s budget, emphasizing some
of the creative arts such as music,
drama, art and literature.
The most immediate problem in
the district, Natowitz said, is over
crowding. He said the board will
have to move quickly to find out
what space is needed. A bond issue
will have to be considered, he
added.
Photo by David McCarroll
Nancy Donaldson, new president of the A&M Consolidated school board.
Vote in campus elections. Polls close at 6.