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Vol. 68 No. 93
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, Mar. 23, 1976
Senatorial visit Bentsen denies
‘Government must be pruned to make it effective’ ClofocltC
Lloyd Bentsen
Confidently telling Texas A&M student
leaders that his polls show him ahead of his
opponent, U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen
spent Monday morning and afternoon in
College Station.
Bentsen’s opponent is Dr. Phil Gramm,
a Texas A&M economics professor on a
leave of absence during his campaign.
For 45 minutes the senator answered
questions from 22 students. Most of the
questions were aimed at Bentsen’s views
on current bills in the Senate and his ideas
about the Democratic presidential nomina
tion campaigns.
(See related editorials, page 2)
Bentsen said he is touring the state
answering people’s questions instead of
speaking in formal engagements.
When asked about the Democratic
primaries and his recent withdrawal from
the primaries, Bentsen said, “It has turned
into a personality contest with no real is
sues being discussed.” He added that no
one will be elected on the first ballot in the
convention this summer.
Asked about Hubert Humphrey getting
the Democratic nomination, Bentsen re
plied, “Of course he has a chance. I don’t
think you can ignore any possibility.
There’s a kind of warmth about Mr. Hum
phrey. ”
Senate Bill No. 1, which is a revision of
the U. S. criminal laws into a Code of Crim
inal Statutes, was favored by Bentsen if
there are changes in the section dealing
with the removal of certain “civil rights”.
Bentsen rebuked the use of the term
“bail-out”, in reference to his bill to help
relieve the New York City financial prob
lems. He said he didn’t favor giving them
money, only short-term loans.
One student asked the one-term senator
about his feelings on the Kennedy National
Health Insurance Bill and if he would vote
in favor of it. This received a quick response
from the otherwise thoughtful Bentsen. He
said the only insurance plan he favors is a
plan of catastrophic illness coverage.
“The people don’t want a bigger gov
ernment, they want a more effective gov
ernment,” Bentsen said, referring to what
he has observed during his campaign.
Using an analogy, he said “Government
should be pruned, like my citrus trees, so it
can be more effective.”
—Jim Crawley
in Senate race
“It’s the classic tactic of the candidate who is losing the race to ask for
a debate,” said U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen about his refusal to debate
his major Democratic primary opponent Dr. Phil Gramm.
On several occasions during the past few weeks, Gramm has asked
for a debate with the incumbent Bentsen.
Bentsen told Texas A&M student leaders yesterday that he plans to
speak on the issues and not debate his opponents in his re-election bid.
Gramm has said that Bentsen is at variance with a pledge he signed
for Common Cause. “I suggested the debate because he agreed to the
format of debate under the Common Clause Pledge he signed in
December,” he said.
The letter Bentsen sent to Common Cause, a public lobby involved
with government reform, concerned campaign standards the group
has asked all the candidates to follow.
Bentsen told the students that his refusal to debate was restricted to
the senatorial race because his debate pledge was only for the national
presidential race. Bentsen withdrew from the Democratic primary
race in early March.
The Bentsen pledge letter follows:
“I have reviewed your suggested standards for Presidential candi
dates and can assure you that my conduct will be consistent with the
goals you have set.
“As you are well aware, I was one of the early supporters of the
Federal Campaign Reform legislation. I applaud your efforts on behalf
of campaign reform and especially your call for a frill and in-depth
debate on the real issues which face our nation. ’
The letter is dated Dec. 12,1975.
Photo by Kevin Fotorny
BOARD OF REGENTS MEETING
A&M Regent William Lewie and W. C. Freeman, v.p. for administration discuss details
1976-77
election
I*!
lies open
Filing opens today for positions to
e filled in the Student Government
lection April 7-8. Candidates must
ile for the election in the Student
’rograms Office.
Class officers, yell leaders, and
Student Government president and
ace-presidents for 1976-77 will be
yoted in.
E Candidates are required to attend
a campaign procedures meeting be
fore they start campaigning. Three
uch meetings will be held at 7 p.m.
onight, March 25 and 29 in the Stu-
lent Programs Office.
Filing for election closes March
Absentee
deadline
Voters who will be out-of-town on
Election Day, Saturday, April 3,
should cast an absentee ballot before
March 30 at city hall. College Station
residents will select five city council
members, a mayor, and three school
board trustees in the elections.
Those who have not yet registered
to vote have until April 3 to register
for the May 4 elections.
Candidate for
well-informed
constituency
Regents lower fees
for student services
By JAMIE AITKEN
Anne Hazen, the only woman running in
the April 3 city council elections, said Col
lege Station residents are the victims of
ill-planned development projects in the
city.
Hazen, 44, is unopposed in her bid for
Place 5 on the council. The vacancy was
created when Larry Bravenec resigned to
run for mayor.
Hazen said residents are poorly in
formed of proposed construction and its
impact on the neighborhood. She said de
velopers do not want the property owners
to know the extent of development, thus
facilitating approval by the city council.
“As long as (a development complex) fits
in with zoning the developers don’t notify
the homeowners,” Hazen said. “And yet,
the homeowners might very much want to
know what’s going to happen with the
water run-off and which way traffic is going
to enter and exit. These are important to
people in a residential neighborhood.”
The mother of three children at 1205
Munson Ave., Hazen is a member of the
College Station Safety Committee, the
Brazos County League of Women Voters,
the Environmental Action Council, and the
Bryan Child Development Program.
She also was co-chairman of the League
of Women Voters Walkway and Bikeway
Committee which helped prepare a master
bike path system for Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Hazen cited the difficulties of children
traveling through heavy traffic to area
schools, flooding in low sections of the city,
and insufficient fire exits in apartment
complexes are some problems caused by
the city’s rapid expansion. She also em
phasized that parkland allocations by de
velopers should be checked to assure their
capacity for recreational facilities.
A four-year resident of College Station,
Hazen finds communication with the
community the key to successful city gov
ernment and endorses the present at-large
system of electing council members.
“There was a time when I first moved
here that we had one councilman from this
side of town and five from the other,”
Hazen said, “and I felt perfectly free to call
somebody on the other side of town to dis
cuss a problem.
“With the rapid growth of the town the
size of a ward could change in one or two
years,” she added.
Hazen said her presence on the council
may improve community input.
“I am free during the day and more avail
able to listen to the people in the commun
ity,” she said, “so they will feel freer to
contact me.”
Hazen said this time will enable her to
research council actions thoroughly.
Student Service fees were reduced to a
maximum of $19 by the Texas A&M System
Board of Regents this morning.
In other action, the regents approved a
life insurance program for dependents of
university employes, agreed to settle a law
suit out of court and approved expenditures
on a number of construction projects.
University President Jack K. Williams
told the board the student service fee re
duction was possible because less money
was needed for service programs than had
been earlier projected.
Service fees had been $19.80 and $9.90
maximum for regular and summer sessions,
respectively. The reduction brings fees
down to $19 and $9.50 for those sessions.
Williams said good management of ser
vice fee funds this year by Student Gov
ernment also made it possible for the board
to reduce service fees.
The optional life insurance program ap
proved by the board provides a special pol-
Index
A special tax break is open to
persons earning less than $8,000
a year. Page 3.
Senatorial candidates Lloyd
Bentsen and Phil Gramm state
their campaign platforms. Page
2.
Publication editors will be
selected next week. Page 4.
Memorial services set for his
tory professor. Page 5.
icy for dependents of University employes.
The program is an addition to the present
university employe program with South
western Life Insurance Co.
The law suit which the Board acted on —
Poole and United States v Williams, etal —
involves an employe promotion grievance.
“For a long time we’ve had a pending
case relating to a gentleman in Galveston
who brought suit against the University
and the State because of a promotion prob
lem,” Williams told the board.
Texas Attorney' General John Hill has
recommended that the University settle
the case by consent decree out of court,
Williams said. The board approved Wil
liams’ recommendation to do as Hill
suggested.
The board approved 15 recommenda
tions relating to construction. The recom
mendations include additional renovation
for Sbisa Dining Hall and bids on streets for
the west campus.
The regents also made additions to the
revolving bank accounts for the Texas
Forest Service and Prairie View A&M Uni
versity. Clyde Freeman, executive vice-
president for administration, said a large
number of recent forest firest has reduced
the Forest Service’s available funds. Prairie
View has had unexpected increases in
payroll costs which reduced its funds.
Housing situation bleak
First of a 4-part series dealing
with the housing situation for
students in Bryan-College Station
By STEVE GRAY
and
SUZANNE DEATHERAGE
Remember the nursery tale about the
old woman who lived in a shoe and had so
many children she didn’t know what to do?
There is a similar situation here at Texas
A&M where housing officials have notified
at least 2,500 incoming freshmen that no
on-campus housing will be available for
them this fall.
It’s no nursery tale: the campus housing
situation at A&M this fall looks bleak.
University officials have predicted an en
rollment this fall of 27,500 students, an in
crease of more than 12 per cent over 1975
figures. About 7,900 of the 24,300 students
now enrolled live in the 33 dormitories on
campus.
With enrollment increasing rapidly,
university administrators have expressed
growing concern over whether the univer
sity and College Station can accommodate
the influx of new students, particularly
those wishing to live on campus.
And the waiting list is long for those
wanting to get into a dormitory.
Ed Davis, assistant director of manage
ment services at A&M, said he expects
each dormitory to be filled to capacity this
fall. There were 706 individual - student
vacancies as of March 2. Dorm 3, in the
Corps area, was closed temporarily last
December because of a decline in the
number of Corps members. Davis said the
few remaining Corps members in Dorm 3
were transferred to fill vacancies in other
Corps dormitories, thereby saving money
on utilities.
Dorm 3 is presently being renovated as
part of the university’s $250,000 dormitory
- remodeling program for this year.
Davis said there are presently no plans to
construct additional on-campus housing.
The newest dormitories, Aston and Mosher
Halls, were completed last summer at a
cost of $10 million.
“One of the reasons that we aren’t plan
ning to build anymore dormitories, ” Davis
said, “is that the city has seen its role as
satisfying part of the housing demand. The
trend seems to be that students are living
off-campus more these days.”
In spring 1973, the university relaxed its
regulations to allow more undergraduate
men to move off campus and to make room
for women wishing to live on campus. Stu
dents are still required to receive permis
sion from the university to live off campus,
according to university regulations but this
rule is seldom enforced.
Davis, however, did not completely rule
out the possibility of constructing more
dormitories on campus.
“If there is a decrease in local building
activity and a corresponding increase in en
rollment then we would probably look at
that possibility, depending on the desires
of the A&M Board of Regents.”
Students wishing to live on campus are
confronted with still another problem: ris
ing utility and maintenance costs.
Dormitory room rent has jumped nearly
30 per cent since late 1972. Davis said the
biggest jump was a 15 per cent increase
during 1972-73 when the country was be
ginning to feel the effects of the fuel crisis.
The Board of Regents in January approved
a 6.3 percent increase in rent. Laundry and
board plans, which are optional, were also
increased.
Room rent for this fall ranges from $135 a
semester (for a non-air conditioned room
without phone) to $390 a semester (for an
air-conditioned room with phone in the
Krueger-Dunn and Aston-Mosher com
plex).
“One thing that has increased the room,
board and laundry fees is the rising costs of
utilities,” Davis said. “Right now the uni
versity pays the industrial rate of $1.40 per
thousand cubic feet of natural gas. The
rates are not like they used to be.”
Lone Star Gas Company, which serves
the university and the Bryan-College Sta
tion area, is asking for a rate increase that
would amount to an additional monthly
charge of about 80 cents for residential us
ers.
“If that rate increase is granted it could
(See housing, page 3)
Staff Photo By Douglas Winship
A THIRD OF A&M STUDENTS LIVE ON CAMPUS
There’s a long waiting list for dorms and officials say no new dorms are
planned.