Battalion
Vol. 68 No. 82
College Station, Texas
Thursday, Feb. 26, 1976
SG proposes $16.50
for football tickets
Floating Illusionist
Photo courtesy of Steve Coble
|| Levitation was one of the illusions Andre Kole
brought to Rudder Auditorium last night. Spon
sored by the Campus Crusade for Christ, Kole
discussed the supernatural and the Bible during
the show. He said the last few centuries have
seen an increase in the severity and frequency
of wars, earthquakes and famines; signs the Book
of Matthew links with the Second Coming.
In 1974, Texas A&M University students
paid nothing extra for football tickets to
Aggie home games. The cost was covered
by student service fees.
In 1975, students paid $10 in addition to
the student service fees to see home games.
In 1976, an estimated 20,000 A&M stu
dents may have to pay an additional
$16.50 for season tickets.
This bill was passed at last night’s student
senate meeting, and is subject to the ap
proval of the Athletic Council and Presi
dent Jack K. Williams.
The approved proposal was one of three
athletic funding options presented to the
senate by Bill Flores, vice-president of fi
nancial affairs.
The three options were as follows:
1. $15 optional ticket price with $120,000
student service fee subsidy. (No reduction
in student service fees.) 2. $16.50 optional
ticket price with $90,000 student service
fee subsidy. ($1.60 reduction in student
service fees.) 3. $21 ticket price with no
student service fee subsidy. (Approxi
mately $4.80 reduction in student service
fees.)
Flores said the goal of the senate in ap
proving this plan is to gradually adopt a
policy of a separate users fee. This fee
would only be required of those students
who wish to purchase season football tic
kets.
The optional $16.50 for season tickets
plus the service fee would net the athletic
department $420,000 to help cover the in
creased costs of not only major sports such
as football, baseball and basketball, but also
women’s athletics and the payments on
Wofford-Cain Hall.
The approved proposal is a compromise
between the athletic committee’s request
(option three) and the student fee allocation
committee’s (option one).
Raj Kent introduced a bill to change the
present on-campus bookstore’s policy per
taining to used-book sales. The present pol
icy of the bookstore is to buy books back
from students at 50 per cent of the new-
book price and re-sell them at 75 per cent of
that price. This policy gives the store a net
profit of 25 per cent. The plan proposed by
Kent is to buy the books at 60 per cent of
the new-book price and sell them for 65 per
cent of that price. This gives the bookstore
a 5 per cent profit. This plan was passed by
the senate and will be recommended to the
Bookstore Advisory Committee.
Approximately 34 per cent of the profits
made by the bookstore are returned to stu
dent organizations on campus. The largest
single argument against adopting this pol
icy was that the student organizations
would lose this money if a reduction in
bookstore profits was made. Kent argued,
however, that of 110 organizations on cam-
S uperintendent
pus only 16 receive more than one-fourth of
their funding from the bookstore’s profits.
Profits would not be significantly re
duced because much of the income of the
bookstore comes from the upstairs portion
containing gifts and supplies, said Duane
Thompson, vice-president for rules and
regulations.
In other business covered by the senate
it was announced that Phil Williams will be
taking over for Scott Sherman as manager
of the student radio station. It was also
announced that Aggie Muster will be held
on April 21, at 5:30 p.m. on the east side of
the Systems Building. The featured
speaker will be Charlie Scruggs, vice-
president and executive editor of the Prog
ressive Farmer magazine.
Fouzi Ben-Ali was appointed as graduate
off-campus senator to fill one of several vac
ancies. Also, the first reading of the Stu
dent Radio By-Laws was made and discus
sed briefly.
Whether or not to add a monetary
stipend to the Thomas S. Gathwright
Academic Excellence Award was discussed
and postponed until the next meeting.
Due to the lack of time, a special meeting
was called for March 3 for action to be taken
on the proposed revisions of the student
body constitution.
— Randy Dusek and Louis Hejtmanek
\ike path studies
■^B-CS groups hope for
federal funds
County schools gone
By T.C. GALLUCCI
c following article is third in a series dealing with
I studies to establish a bikeway system in the
frCollege Station area. Part three covers a plan
nitted by the A&M Wheelman Committee and the
lironmental Action Council.
Remember Anne? She’s the green-eyed
|e-year old who has to ride her bike
day to school. People feel sorry for
[because she has to travel nine blocks in
rning rush hour traffic. And she has to
lit without the aid of safety bicycle lanes.
feme people in the Bryan-College Sta-
community have expressed concern
j Anne and children like her. These
[>ple, in the form of the U niversity Traffic
el, the League of Women Voters, sev-
urban planning students, the A&M
eelman Committee and the Environ-
Mntal Action Council, decided to take ac-
ftioi] to provide bike paths in the area. They
jducted studies, presented them to D.
■ Williamson, Supervisory Planning En-
Jieer for the Bryan District, and now are
liting to see if the plan will be eligible for
| million dollars of federal funds.
JThe Environmental Action Council and
le A&M Wheelman Committee proposed
[system compiled by Timothy L. Rose, a
ember of both organizations,
j Members of the groups took a traffic
funt on Sept. 30, 1975, of pedestrians and
^cycles entering and exiting the A&M
Impusat 11 major entrances. The League
[Women Voters took a similar survey two
eeks earlier concentrating on traffic near
leA&M Consolidated schools.
J The study, which took place between
J30a.m. and 6 p.m., revealed a total vol-
ne of 10,070 bicyclists and 9,075 pedest
rians. Rose said the count was made on a
Tuesday but traffic is heavier on a Monday,
Wednesday or Friday since more classes
are scheduled on those days.
The 11 entrances monitored were: New
Main Drive, South Bizzell, Throckmorton,
South Houston, Joe Routt Drive, Old Main
Drive, North Houston, Ashbury, Ireland,
Spence and North Bizzell. The count does
not include bikes and pedestrains heading
out University Avenue toward the veteri
nary complex. Rose estimated that the traf
fic missed at the unmonitored entrances
would not affect the total counts by more
than 5 per cent.
Specific recommendations and problems
noted by the two groups were:
New Main Drive/Bizzell intersection —
Bicyclists have difficulty negotiating chang
ing lanes to turn.
South Bizzell/Jersey/Timber intersec
tion — Automobiles cut in front of bicycles
on their turns. Bicycles cannot trip the light
signal from Timber and have long waits.
Throckmorton/Jersey/Dexter intersec
tion — Bicyclists do not stop when exiting
either Dexter or Throckmorton. Most
drivers and bicyclists fail to signal turns.
South Houston/Jersey intersection —
Traffic patterns are totally disordered since
nearly all bikes must turn. The bicyclists
neither signal nor stop.
Old Main Drive/FM2154 intersection —
Traffic is light, but the unpatrolled 40
mile-per-hour speed limit makes it danger
ous.
By JOE SCARMARDO .
When Dec. 31, 1978 arrives, Brazos
County School Superintendent Jack
Streetman will probably be out of a jol>—or
what there is of one.
The Texas Legislature last June ap
proved a bill which will discontinue fund
ing of county school superintendent offices
in counties which no longer have a county
school district. The last Brazos County
schools, Kurten and Fairview Elemen-
taries, were closed by the county in 1968.
Streetman’s remaining duties include
approving school district boundary lines
and authorizing purchase orders for school
buses and related equipment. Those duties
will be transferred to the individual school
districts, Bryan and A&M Consolidated,
when the county office is discontinued.
“There are practically no duties left,”
Streetman said.
Streetman, who was elected in 1974, said
all rural students living outside the city
limits of Bryan and College Station now
attend schools in those cities. However, a
few go to the Navasota school system.
W. D. Bunting, a former Brazos County
school superintendent, said the position is
not automatically abolished by the legisla
tion. But, the nearly $29,000 received an
nually from the state would have to be re-
Jack Streetman
placed with local funds if the office were to
continue, he said.
County Judge Bill Vance has said the
county commissioners are not considering
continuing the office and will abolish it
when funding ends.
Because of his few duties, Streetman was
appointed as coordinator of the Bryan
School District’s adult education program
when he was elected in 1974.
Several states, instead of phasing out the
office of county school superintendent,
have abolished all school districts within
the county and placed the administration of
both city and rural schools under the juris
diction of the county itself.
North Houston/University Drive inter
section — Since there is a 5:1 ratio of bikes
using the street compared to the sidewalk,
there needs to be a better way for the bikes
to cross University between College Main
and N. Houston.
North Bizzell — The entrance to parking
lot 50 where crosswalks have been placed is
congested from 7:30-8:30 a.m. with over
400 pedestrains and 225 bicycles. An alter
nate entrance is suggested. Since twice as
many bicycles than pedestrians use the
pathway, a separation of the two groups is
needed. A guarded crosswalk at the Col-
Index
A&M offensive football co
ordinator announced that the
Aggies will discontinue using
the Wishbone-T. Page 6
Traffic signal installation at
the intersection of Jersey Street
and Wellborn Road should be
gin in the next month. Page 5
Academic Affairs Committee
considered proessor evaluations
and honors courses. Paged
The history of women at
A&M, is recounted in ‘The first
100 years.’ Page 2
Weather
THE FORECAST for Thursday
and Friday is continued fair and
mild with the high both days, 77.
The low tonight 45. Southerly winds
will be at 5-8 mph.
All Faiths Chapel
lacks state funding
lege View apartments exit and University
Drive is needed to protect the 2,200
pedestrians and bicyclists crossing there
daily. It is also recommended that a break
in the curb be placed on the sidewalk along
Bizzell heading north by the Zachry build
ing so bikes do not have to travel against the
traffic.
Jersey and University — Due to heavy
traffic, a bicycle path should be constructed
along the north and south sides of campus.
These recommendations have been filed
with the Planning Department and will be
compiled with others into a final draft that
should be submitted to the public during
the first of March.
Tomorrow, part three will cover the system and
data compiled by three Urban Planning graduate stu
dents, Robert L. Bright, Chuck Fuhs and Steve
Richardson.
$126 in bookstore profits
bring John Birch programs
By TIM SAGER
Students for Responsible Expression
(SRE) is using $126 of last year’s bookstore
profits to present films and speakers
booked through the John Birch Society.
The films come through the society’s
American Opinion Bookstore in Houston
and the speakers through the American
Opinion Speakers Bureau.
SRE was approved as a student organiza
tion and granted the bookstore money al
though it does not charge dues. Collection
of dues from organization members is re
quired of all recognized student organiza
tions.
Dr. Carolyn Adair of the Board of Stu
dent Organizations Approval said that this
was an oversight and that the SRE would be
required to collect dues from its 12 mem
bers before spending the bookstore funds.
SRE plans to end the year with a surplus
of $148, according to reports filed with the
Student Finance Center. All of the
bookstore funds are scheduled to be spent,
however, or they would revert to MSC con
trol.
Terry Hunt Tooley, president of the
SRE, said a substantial number of the
club’s members are also members of the
John Birch Society but the two groups are
not officially related.
By SANDY RUSSO
The All f aiths Chapel has no funds for
maintenance.
A decision made by the attorney general
of Texas in the 1950’s makes it question
able for the University to maintain the
building with state funds.
When the chapel was donated to the
school by the Former Students Association,
it was given for the purpose of religious
activities.
The attorney general’s decision says no
building with its sole purpose being re
ligious activity may be funded by state
funds.
The former students gave the chanel to
A&M in 1957 with no provision made for
maintenance. Although the ruling was al
ready on the books, said Buck Weirus, di
rector of the Association.
Although there was a chapel fund ac
cumulated over the years, it could not han
dle any major repairs to the building, said
Logan E. Weston, administrator for the
chapel and campus religious director.
The University has done day-to-day main
tenance on the building since 1957. Such
things as replacement of light bulbs, sweep
ing, mopping and general cleaning is done
by University maintenance crews.
Major repairs to the building didn’t be
come evident until two years ago when the
University conducted maintenance surveys
on the chapel.
The first repair was replacement of the
carpet at a cost of $1,000. The $1,000 was
collected by the Former Students.
The roof was leaking and repair funds
for this came from chapel fund and dona
tions collected by Weston.
There still are major repairs to be made.
The air conditioning system is obsolete,
with parts becoming unobtainable, Weston
said. Repair to the system is prohibitive
because the University maintenance shops
are making parts as they wear out in the
system, he said.
To put the chapel on the University
chilled water system, which supplies air
conditioning for most campus buildings,
would cost about $50,000, said Howard
Perry, associate vice president of student
affairs.
The air conditioning will hold for an
other 10 years, Weston said.
Weston, in trying to build a maintenance
fund, has started charging from $10 to
$20 for chapel rental. He schedules wed
dings, the major revenue producer, as much
as six months in advance to maximize us
age of the chapel.
Weirus suggests that the Association re
consider the restrictions on the use of the
building so the University can hold classes
in it. At least it would be legal for the
University to maintain the building that
way, Weirus said.
The All Faiths Chapel has been a familiar part
of the A&M campus for twenty years. Since it
was built there have been no funds available for
Staff photo by Douglas Winship
maintenance. Repairs have been on an item to
item basis with funds being donated by former
students and others.