Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1975)
Coasters Page 2 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1975 By RODNEY HAMMACK T ‘i t U ' '■ 1 :: t ~i .i 'ii iiii: ill' I ^ TiTi " ~ .'ll’ '!.'r 'i.ilili , Coasters was chosen as the Aggie delegate to the Star Trek 1 Convention in New York, but I guess he didn’t go.” / nil^ii iiliiiiiiilli iiiiuWif iilii.ii ii In .nllf rlilllj ij IIltil "“It s a bit showy, but it s the 1( Convention ...” logical way to go to a .. .1 .i;.. . : ■ ). i : N SL proposals No real solutions, just more By MIKE PERRIN The National Student Lobby will be in Washington later this week to lobby for student interests. It’s too bad that their lobbying stances are not solutions, but only extensions of the problems they seek to solve. Seventeen issues will be lobbied, but eleven of them have something in common. They are: Academic col lective bargain ing, in which NSL wants stu dents to keep themselves from being burned by agreements be tween faculty and staff to lower the quality of an education. Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program — basically the NSL wants more money for this program which is supposed to help students. The same goes for Col lege work-study. Food Stamps — NSL wants more flexible’ rules so more students are eligible. Low tuition — NSL wants it. Affirma tive action — NSL wants remedial action in the area of discrimination. Financial aid process — the NSL wants more students directly in- voled in determining these alloca tions. Student rights and confiden tial files — the NSL wants some things changed, including the lift ing of secrecy from data like date of birth and school classification. Title IX — NSL favors these reg- ulations which prohibit discrimina tion in education. Veteran benefits for Vietnam era vets — NSL wants education allowances and other privileges for these vets. Women’s educational equity act — NSL supports this affirma tive action program for women. Yet all of the NSL positions are stopgaps, not real solutions. A simple adjustment in the way schools are financed could solve all these problems. The idea is that the university would sign an agreement that each student could attend the school either free or at a nominal cost in return for a cer tain per cent of the student’s in come after he graduates. These rates would depend on the stu dent’s agreements with the uni versity. For example, an engineer ing student might agree to pay the university 5 per cent of his income for 20 years, whereas an English major might need to pledge 10 per cent for 30 years. These agreements would pay for 100 per cent of the cost of college. There would be no more taxation of the general public to subsidize about 80 per cent of the costs of college. The student could choose to finance only the cost of his tuition if he wished. He could also finance his housing and food or anything else, depending on his pledge amount. of course. The advantages to the plan: students who don’t do well after graduation would pay little; yet the university would benefit greatly from successful graduates. This is why only a per cent is pledged, not a dollar amount. This means that colleges will want every grad to have the best possible job — it would mean more money for the university. This plan would solve all eleven of the earlier problems mentioned in the following ways: Academic collective bargaining: Since schools now would all have to pay for themselves without a pub lic subsidy, then the faculty can’t get concessions to the point that education suffers. If they do, the grads will suffer, the university won’t make money and will go out of business. This gives the profes sors a direct stake in keeping the quality of education high. There are now few incentives to provide a good education because the uni versity gets so much of its funding from forced taxes. How does this plan solve the re mainder of the eleven programs? Some of the programs are pushing financial aid. Students would not need money to attend school with the payback plan since they are pledging future income, so all of the programs which deal with stu dent expense go out the window. The second issue here is that some groups may be discriminated against such that they are making less in the future than they should. The payback plan eliminates this problem, since it keys the success of a university to the success of its graduates. The universities will try hard to find women good-paying jobs, so they collect more on their percentages. The school which fails to do so will be tried by the harsh court of money, which decrees that those who run out of money run out of business. Good graduates will be the only means of survival for universities with the payback plan. This means every graduate will have to achieve his fullest potential for the university to benefit to its fullest potential. The only other problem in this category is student rights. This question would not arise in a full- cost payback system, since the harassment would be replaced by a per cent of income pledged. Uni versities make people pay other ways than in money now, since they don’t ask students to cover the cost of their education. This is why we see long lines, inefficiency, and rudeness — this is a hidden cost of the subsidized education. Without subsidies, no non-money costs slip in. The other six lobbying areas for NSL are brief and I will discuss them only briefly: Discount Air Fares — the NSL wants these. They do not perceive the real problem is government regulation of air fares. With a free market in airlines, the cost of flying would be cut down much lower than it is today. The airlines could of fer discounts if they wished to and if competition forced them into it. Right now, whether they want to or not, the airlines must go through the Civil Aeronautics Board to try this type of program. The idea should not be a cosmetic change, which is a temporary low air fare, but should be aimed at systemic change which guarantee low fares. Energy crisis — NSL wants an emergency standby system for stu dents to get gasoline and so on. But there is no energy crisis and things are moving back to normal without action from the govern ment. If we wait long enough, the oil cartel will crumble. It is already weakening — look at the decline in U.S. buying and also the lowering of the original cartel price. NSL should insist that the government quit mucking in problems like this one, which are self-correcting. Equal rights amendment — NSL favors it. To the extent that another bureaucracy will be created to force people to act in certain ways, forget it. Nothing constructive will be done — look at other programs, like desegregration of schools or dered 21 years ago by the Supreme Court. Two decades and billions of dollars later, about all we have real ly done is to inflame race hatred, disrupt school systems and create a series of jobs for parasitical social workers. Foreign student work permits — NSL wants these eliminated “be cause there are not very many peo ple involved. ” Work permits should be abolished for everyone. Their basic effect is to ensure a black market in these permits and to al low unscrupulous businessmen to take advantage of people without these permits by threatening to turn them in to authorities if they demand better wages or working conditions. Post card voter registration — the NSL wants it because they claim that many states make it dif ficult for students to register to vote. The use of this system would make it easy to create legions of fictitious voters to be pulled out at election time only. A good ex ample occurred a few years ago in Texas when people with names on gravestones voted for a man for Sen ator who later became Vice-Presi dent, then President of the United States. (Hint: not Richard Nixon.) In short, NSL only attacks the form of the problems, but rarely deals with their structure. In the aid programs, for example, they merely want more money, which means more taxes or government borrowing, which means less tax payer income or more inflation, Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the university administration or the Board of Directors. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. LETTERS POUCY Mail subscriptions are $5.00 per semester; $9.50 per school vear; $10.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5 c 7r sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room ^17, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Right of repreTduction of all other matter herein are also reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to beingcut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guaran tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the ivriter and list a telephone number for verifica tion. , f Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Editor Greg Moses Assistant Editor . Will Anderson Managing Editor LaTonya Perrin Assistant Managing Editor Roxie Hearn Sports Editor Mike Bruton Photo Editor Glen Johnson City Editor Rod Speer News Editors Barbara West Douglas Winship problems both of which hurt the consumer and taxpayer. Just asking for more money is a naive and shortsighted method of dealing with these prob lems. I have suggested a structure whereby the entire problem is soled without more government spending, but instead is paid by the person receiving direct bene fits from education and which also increases the quality of that edu cation. I have also taken the bad effects of the other NSL positions and have shown how to solve the problems while avoiding the nest- ly side-effects. So let’s do ourselves a favor and hope NSL doesn’t get things done the way they want them. It can only help you and me if they don’t. Three unknown Aggies Editor: I would like to tell you a story of four very grateful people who swear to always think highly of A&M here-to-fore. Friday, March 28, we sailed out to a small island in Lake Somer ville on a catamaran. About the time we got our tent up, the norther blew in and it turned into a really awful Easter weekend. And there we were all Friday night and half of Saturday — cold, grouchy and pes simistic about how we’d get off the island and over to dry land and a warm car. None of us felt confident to deal with the high, the rough, cold water and a small sailboat. And even if we had, it would have taken three trips — very cold, wet trips — to get all our gear to shore. Early Saturday afternoon, three A&M guys in a sailboat realized our Kind act represents TAMU well plight and understood what we felt like, stranded on that abominable island. Certainly no one else even attempted to come help us (and there were motor-boats around). These three guys considerately res cued us. They showed one of our members how to sail our boat and provided one of their own members as the navigator. They took all our gear on their own boat plus three of our party. We still got very cold and wet but we made it to the shore in one trip, confident that these men were well in control of the situation. We were all too cold and hurried to exchange names, but I believe some or all of the mysterious three sailors are members of an A&M sail ing club. I hope that our gratitude will reach them through this letter. What they did was incredibly kind and thoughtful. It made me quickly appreciate people who help people. Their kindness will be forever re membered. Donald H. Rothermel Leah Knelly Rothermel Janice Lee Veile Jonath MacBird Visitors noted Editor: Anyone who has eaten at the MSC cafeteria and snack bar on weekends has probably noticed the increasing number of visitors who have no right to eat there. I am re ferring to the “older generation’ who has discovered that the MSC dining facilities are a good place to eat, where one can find generous helpings of food at very reasonable prices. The only problem is that the prices are geared to meet the budget of the student. It is a place where students can go to relax and have a good meal at a very modest cost, without having to pay the comparatively higher prices in town. If these Sunday after-church goers continue to use the MSC din ing facilities and tie up long waiting lines in the cafeteria, the MSC will inevitably have to raise food prices to balance the influx of these peo ple. I certainly have no objection to guests of the faculty, or student’s relatives enjoying the economy of the facilities, but it really bums me up to see the whole dining area fil led with people old enough to be my great-grandparents. Lloyd G. Smith NOTICE MAY AND SUMMER SENIORS WELCOME PICK UP YOUR TICKET THIS WEEKFOR THE SENIOR INDUCTION BANQUET TO WELCOME YOU INTO THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS All Spring and Summer graduates of the Class of 1975 PICK UP YOUR COMPLIMENTARY TICKET. NO LATER THAN 5:00 p.m., Friday, APRIL 11, OR AS LONG AS THE TICKETS LAST Present you ID card in person to the Receptionist at the Association of Former Students Office across from the Post Office in the MSC, and specify which evening you prefer to attend the Senior Induction Banquet at the Ramada Inn. THE SENIOR INDUCTION BANQUETS ARE SET FOR 6:30-8:00 p.m., MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1975 AND TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1975, IN THE BALL ROOM OF THE RAMADA INN. DRESS: COAT AND TIE WINTER GRADUATES WILL HAVE THEIR BANQUET IN DECEMBER AAMCO^ 10% AGGIE DISCOUNT on all Transmission Jobs with I. D. Card and this coupon FREE Towing AAMCO TRANSMISSIONS 1215 Texas 822-0109 THINK BUFFA' 'COME TpYTHE MSC CAFETERIAAVITH ALL YOUNG CHIE AND INDlA^TdPRINCESSES TO GpEAT POW WOW. ORDER ROA£T BUFFALO AND BE INITIATED IN THE ROYAL ORDER OF rfUFFAtX) HUNTERS. THIS IS REAL BUFFALO ... NO BULL. ALL WHO PASS THE TEST WILL BE PRESENTED WITH INDIAN HEADBAND. ause of the interest of our customers to have a taste rf'the past we are going ro serve Ilumdp again this sprinjkand summer. It isjlhe opinion of many! that the Indians had ageod thing going witffthe ftwtftdfr yhereaYe many otheV tasty items-nn the meno thisSpnday but ^o rfiatter what you desire stahvpede to the MSC Cafeteria. “Quality First” [V/ENING ^7:00 p.m. i Members of the Student Publications Board are: Bob G. Rogers, chairman; Dr. Gary Halter; Dr. John Hanna; Roger P. Miller; Dr. Clinton A. Phillips; Steve Eberhard; Don Hegi and John Nash Jr. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services. Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through May, and once a week during summer school Reporters Paul McGrath, Gerald Olivier, Rose Mary Traverse, Steve Gray, Judy Baggett, Alan Killingsworth, SayeeRil Islam, Cathryn Clement, Cindy Maciel, Jim Peters, Don Middleton, Mike Kimmey, Jerry Geary, Jim Crawley, Jerry Needham, David Walker. Photographers Douglas Winship, David Kimmel, Gary Baldasari, Jack Holm, Chris Svatek, Steve Krauss, Kevin Fotorny, Tom Kayser, David McCarroll. Columnists Bill Sheen, Mike Perrin, John Vanore, John Tim Cowden Artists and cartoonists Dr. James H. Earle, Nguyen Dziem.i Brad Foster, Rodney Hammack, Tom Brents, Scott Morgan. pi am i s I SAW THAT* WU MAlLEP A love LETTER TO TRUFFLES, PlPN’T YOU?WELL, truffles poesn't loi/e you! she LOVES ME! 00 you UNDERSTAND?!