The weather
Partly cloudy and warm with
chances of afternoon and early
evening showers and thunder
showers through tomorrow. High
today in upper 80s, low tonight, in
low 70s. High tomorrow in low 90s.
Precipitation probability 20 per cent
today and tomorrow.
Che Battalion
►frMUA"
Vol. 70 No. 9
16 Pages
Wednesday, September 15, 1976
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
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SG leaders seek policy revision
By LEE ROY LESCHPER Jr.
tudent Government officials yesterday
asedapolicy statement calling for revi-
ofthe present University attendance
cy. The statement said the present pol-
requires compulsory attendance in di-
I conflict with Student Senate action
porting non-compidsory attendance
icy.
Diversity regulations have included a
Kompulsory attendance policy the last
academic years, the statement said,
he policy this fall specifically gives each
lessor the authority to require atten-
ire at his discretion except for specific
iversity-recognized absences.
In effect, it is compulsory attendance,”
in Stanfield, Student Government
e-president for academic affairs, said
today.
Dr. Diane Strommer, associate dean for
College of Liberal Arts, said last night
itthepolicy revision for this fall was not
ended as a major change. Strommer was
the University Academic Operations
[Rules and Regulations Committees
fere the revision originated.
lean vouch for the fact that the wording
inge was not intended by the people
worked on it as any major change, ” she
said. “Our intent was only to clarify the
policy and also make it clear to each student
what his rights of appeal are concerning
attendance.”
Stanfield and Fred McClure, student
body president, drafted the Student Gov
ernment policy statement released yester
day, Stanfield said. The statement was di
rected in Stanfield’s name to Student Gov
ernment members and students on univer
sity committees.
The statement said, “Student Govern
ment has not proposed nor recommended
any changes regarding class attendance
since 1974 when the earlier non-
compulsory attendance policy was insti
tuted.”
Before 1974 the University had always
had a compulsory attendance policy.
The policy statement urged Student
Government members and students on
University committees to adhere to (advo
cate) the earlier non-compulsory policy and
support a return to non-compulsory atten
dance for lecture classes.
Any change in the policy could not be
put into effect before Fall, 1977, Stanfield
said.
“We were caught by surprise by this pol
icy change,” he said. “It came out the first
day of school in the rules and regulations
booklet without our knowing anything
about it.”
The new policy went through several
University committees including some
with student representation before becom
ing a part of present University regu
lations.
Stanfield said the policy change origi
nated in the all-faculty Academic Opera
tions Committee, then went through the
student-faculty Rules and Regulations
Committee. Students on the Rules and
Regs Committee were not able to muster
enough votes to defeat the change, he said.
Stanfield was not on the Rules and Regs
Committee last year.
He said the student committee members
did amend the recommendation so that it
requires a professor to announce the first
week of classes if attendance will be
counted in grading for the course.
Duane Thompson, Student Govern
ment vice-president for rules and regu
lations last year, said he didn’t remember
the attendance policy change coming be
fore that committee.
“I was surprised myself when it ap
peared in the regulations,” Thompson said.
“There wasn’t much student discussion
in the Rules and Regulations Committee
on the attendance change,” Dr. Strommer
said. “As I remember it, it was presented
simply as a change of wording and was
treated in the committee as such.”
From the Rules and Regs Committee the
policy change was approved by the
Academic Council and then University
President Jack Williams.
“Possibly part of the reason students feel
there has been a great change in the policy
is because of the ambiguous wording in last
year’s policy,” Dr. Strommer said.
“Professors have always had the author
ity to count attendance as a part of students’
grade,” she said. “Some students and pro
fessors may have thought, because the old
policy was ambiguous, that attendance was
non-compulsory.
“But it has always been at the discretion
of the faculty member. It’s always been a
matter between the student and his prof,”
she said.
Strommer said she had not noticed pro
fessors paying any special attention to at
tendance because of the policy revision.
“As far as I know, in our college (Liberal
Arts) it hasn’t been a big deal,” she said.
“Some profs are always going to place a
great deal of emphasis on attendance no
matter what.”
Steelman criticizes Congress
Battalion photo by Jane Child
Alan Steelman
By JAMIE AITKEN
Battalion City Editor
Texas Rep. Alan Steelman, R-Dallas,
said yesterday that the average law-abiding
citizen of the United States is being ig
nored by a Congress bought off by big
business, big labor and big government.
Steelman, opposing incumbent Lloyd
Bentsen for United States Senator, said it
was time to give Congress back to the
people.
In a speech before some 300 students in
Rudder Tower, Steelman asserted that
“large, elite special interests, who have the
clout, power and campaign contributions
to buy their way into tax bills” are the rea
son that “the majority does not rule.”
Steelman based his address on the re
forms necessary to “put the people back in
charge. ”
He first emphasized a need to reform the
way in which taxes are spent by govern
ment. His proposed Sunset Bill would re
quire government agencies to prove their
usefulness every four years. Stellman said
this zero-based budgeting would eliminate
obsolete agencies and needless increases in
agency funding.
ment, and offered legislation to preserve
that integrity. He proposes a financial dis
closure act that would require every
elected and appointed official making more
than $25,000 a year to make public their
sources of income, assets and liabilities.
Steelman, himself, has made such in
formation available in his own campaign.
Steelman is sponsoring the Lobby Dis
closure Act, legislation that would make
public the intentions, backers and finan
ciers of lobbyists.
Steelman said he opposes the proposed
Humphrey-Hawkins Bill, a full-
employment bill. He said that full em
ployment could not be considered without
also realizing the inflation it might bring.
Steelman said inflation would increase
drastically as a result of the bill, and that
solutions for both unemployment and infla
tion were needed.
He proposes a $28 billion tax cut,
coupled with a $28 billion spending cut. He
predicts more jobs and curbed inflation re
sulting from such a reform.
Steelman said the defense program re
quired the strength to command foreign
respect. He said the U.S. should examine
the moral issues and strategic interests at
stake before taking military action. He said
he voted against aid to Angola, but favored
U.S. intervention in the Mid-East and
South Korea.
Steelman said he envisions a massive so
cial security reform that would eliminate
earnings limitations and require citizens to
invest a portion of their income. He said
Social Security would then become an asset
that could be passed on to heirs. He admit
ted, however, that it would cost $80 billion
to institute the program.
Steelman criticized Bentsen as being un
reliable on the issues. He said Bentsen bet
rayed his constituency by approving the
New York City bail-out, reversing his favor
of right-to-work laws in light of his Presi
dential race, and ignoring the “voice of the
people” during his Presidential campaign.
Steelman praised his audience for the
large turnout and said that his optimism for
a victory in November was based on a re
newed interest of the people in govern
ment. Steelman said the A&M crowd was
the largest he has encountered so far on a
16-campus campaign swing.
^TOP OF THE NEWS-x
Texas
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader
told students at the University of Ar
lington yesterday that he is support
ing the formation of independent
groups to represent citizens in utility
rate cases.
He said these groups which he
calls Residential Utility Consumer
Action Groups are necessary since
users cannot depend on state regu
latory agencies. He said he feels that
any government regulatory group
that is exposed to the one-sided ad
vocacy of utility companies will be
weak and unresponsive to citizens.
Nader expects the Texas Legisla
ture to weigh the idea in 1977.
The Harris County district attor
ney’s office says a county criminal
court jury has sentenced a woman to
jail for the first time on a welfare
fraud conviction.
Arline Robinson, 45, was assessed
18 months in jail and $100 by a jury.
She was convicted of falsely claiming
$1,684 in food stamps benefits dur
ing 1975.
Prosecutor Matt Leeper said yes
terday it was the first jail sentence
assessed since the office began pros
ecuting cases under the welfare
fraud statute 18 months ago.
The University of Houston says
enrollment in their four-campus sys
tem has reached a record 39,032 stu
dents.
Central campus enrollment for
the fall term is 29,753, about the
same as last year.
The first shipment of swine flu
vaccine which was due to arrive this
month will not arrive until around
the middle of October in Dallas, Dr.
Lowell Berry, the city’s health direc
tor said yesterday.
The late and reduced quantities of
swine flu vaccine could cause an
epidemic if an outbreak of the flu hits
Dallas this fall, Berry said. He said
that federal health officials had pre
dicted in June that 100 million doses
would be available, but that number
has been sharply cut.
National
With 170,000 United Workers on
strike against Ford Motor Co. in 22
states, the key question is how long
the walkout will last.
There is almost no chance the
strike will be settled quickly, be
cause neither side expects contract
talks to resume before next week.
Officials for both sides say a repeat of
1967’s 66-day strike would hurt the
nation’s economic recovery.
The new 1976 tax bill moving
through Congress could mean a sav
ings of hundreds of dollars a year for
the elderly Americans with modest
incomes and provide an extra break
for persons over 65 who sell their
homes. Other sections of the bill
contain some good news and some
bad news for those concerned about
captail gains. The biggest change in
capital gains is a lengthening of the
time period required for an asset to
be owned.
A gas well fire that had burned for
two days in Hamilton, Miss., was
smothered in mud and sea water yes
terday by workmen summoned from
Houston.
Workmen said the sea water was
heavier than fresh water and
blended better with mud to resist
pressures within the well and snuff
out the fire. Early yesterday morn
ing the water finally extinguished
the flames which had flared up to 60
feet in the air and were powerful
enough to blow away a chemical
foam used by the first wave of fire
fighters.
World
Secretary of State Henry A. Kis
singer meets today with President
Julius Nyerere, forewarned that
Tanzania’s leader wants quick, effec
tive American action to end the rule
of the white minority in southern Af
rica.
Nyerere’s government, in a com
mentary issued on the eve of the
meeting, said Americans who fought
for their own independence must
concede the same right to black
guerrillas who have taken up arms
for freedom.
The three-day strike by black
workers in Johannesburg eased
slightly today on its last day, but
many of Cape Town’s 200,000 non
white workers began a two-day work
boycott despite leaflets postponing it
a week.
Three more blacks were killed by
police gunfire last night in Johan
nesburg’s Soweto township, raising
the toll to at least 16 dead since the
start Monday of the job protest.
ns in tin
Razzano
ke to s«
louse may authorize
ssassinations inquiry
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The House is ex
ited to vote on whether there should be
newinvestigation into the slayings of John
Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and
obert F. Kennedy.
A resolution authorizing the probe has
»t drawn much interest from the House
ules Committee, which must approve it
it action on the floor by the full House,
lit the measure now has support from
Kong the Democratic leadership.
The Rules Committee, which had
igeonholed an earlier, more limited mea-
“fe, put the resolution on its agenda to-
However, controversial legislation
ns ahead of it and it was uncertain when
iecommittee would act.
The resolution would set up a special
House investigating committee, limited to
the life of the present Congress, which goes
out of office in January. But if preliminary
inquiries showed cause for a full investiga
tion, the investigative committee would
presumably be recreated in the new Con
gress.
The House leadership had been cool to
an earlier proposal for a special committee
to reinvestigate President Kennedy’s
death. But it yielded to requests from the
Congressional Black Caucus for establish
ment of a committee empowered to also go
into the King case. Coretta King, widow of
the civil rights leader, reportedly has
pressed for an evaluation of alleged new
information.
What could be better than watching A&M play football? Try earn
ing $37 in two hours and getting to see the game free. Mark Wil
liams, a program seller since the age of eight, works from the back
of his truck at home football games.
Schorr refuses appeal
to reveal House source
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Television reporter
Danied Schorr today refused to tell the
House Ethics committee who leaked him a
copy of a secret House intelligence com
mittee report.
The CBS correspondent said in tes
timony prepared for an appearance before
the committee that “in some 40 years of
practicing journalism, I have never yielded
to a demand for the disclosure of a source
that I had promised to protect. I cannot do
so now.”
Schorr, who was subpoenaed to appear
before the panel, has said he would prefer
to go to jail under a possible congressional
contempt citation rather than compromise
what he considers his constitutional rights
Youth enjoys
program job
Home football games mean extra
earnings for sixteen-year-old Mark
Williams of College Station. Mark
has been working at Kyle Field since
he was eight, selling programs to
Aggie football fans and earning about
$37 a day.
There are several benefits to
Mark’s job: free tickets to every
game (he arrives in the middle of the
first quarter), a pay rate of $15 per
hour, and an occasional tip from a
customer.
“One time someone gave me a $20
bill and walked off,” Williams said.
But there are bad days, like the
rainy Baylor game last fall when he
earned only two dollars.
“People would try to steal our
programs and sell ‘em themselves,”
he said.
Program salesmen get eight cents
for each copy of the $1 publication,
and Mark works for three hours to
sell his 950 copies.
Mark is a linebacker on the A&M
Consolidated football team, and is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M.
Williams.
as a reporter to protect his confidential
sources.
The congressional confrontation with
Schorr over the rights of the news media to
gather and publish news has been building
for five months since Schorr acknowledged
he gave a copy of the House intelligence
report to the Village Voice, a New York
weekly newspaper. The paper printed the
secret report in full.
Aaron Latham, a senior editor of New
York magazine and the author of a foreword
to the Village Voice’s publication of the
report, also testified before the committee
and refused to answer one of the panel’s
questions. Ethics Committee Chairman
John J. Flynt Jr. warned Latham he could
be subject to a contempt of Congress cita
tion and a prison sentence.
Latham still refused to answer the ques
tion.
Latham testified he did not know
Schorr’s source. But he refused to answer
the broader question of whether he had any
knowledge whatsoever about the circum
stances of how Schorr got the report.
Clay Felker, publisher of the Village
Voice, testified he never talked with Schorr
about publishing the intelligence report.
Instead, he said, he dealt with New York
attorney Peter Tufo, who was a go-between
for the Reporters Committee for Freedom
Relocation
would cost
$842 million
Associated Press
HOUSTON — A study presented to a
congressional subcommittee says reloca
tion of crew training and mission control
functions from the Johnson Space Center
to Cape Canaveral could cost as much as
$842 million.
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) report also said “no
management,, technical or budgetary ad
vantages” would be realized in such moves.
It said the moves could cause a two-year
delay in the space shuttle program.
“The relocation would seriously affect a
smoothly functioning, highly efficient or
ganization at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center and would cause either an unac
ceptable scheduled gap in the space shuttle
program or require duplicate facilities and
personnel to eliminate the gap,” the report
said.
Rep. Donald Fuqua, (D-Fla.), a member
of the House Committee on Space, Science
and Technology’s subcommittee on man
ned space flights, requested that NASA do
the study last June.
Brazos council OKs funds
to build meal facility for aged
By KARLA TIMMONS
Federal and local funds are expected to
finance the construction of a catering facil
ity in Bryan, to be used in a lunch program
for the elderly in Brazos Valley.
The funding was approved Friday in the
executive session of the Brazos Valley De
velopment Council (BVDC).
BVDC officials considered the action to
aid the “Years for Profit Nutrition Pro
gram,” a service used to cater lunches to
the elderly five days a week.
Pending federal approval, $246,220 will
come from the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare (HEW) to sub
sidize the construction of the food prepara
tion facility. An additional $24,622 in local
funds will also be supplied for the project.
“It is the only meal all day for some of the
people,” council member Kathy Morgan
said. She explained that the participants
are too poor or handicapped to cook for
themselves.
In past years, the “Years for Profit Nutri
tion Program” has operated out of Allen
Academy in Bryan and a cafe in Caldwell.
But BVDC officials reasoned that the new
facility would prove less expensive for the
program.
The facility is to be built at West 30th and
Bryant streets. Program planners say the
facility will cut the $1.24 per person meal
cost, but no revised fee has been projected.
Meal programs are currently serving
seven surrounding counties: Brazos,
Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison,
Robertson and Washington.
In other action, the BVDC also approved
application for continuing action funds for
the Community Referral Service of the
Brazos Valley Mental Health-Mental Re
tardation Council. This program utilizes
trained volunteer counselors to help dis
turbed juveniles. Available funds are
$26,525.
Approval of an application for a $137,259
ctontinuation grant for the Brazos Valley
Community Action Agency was also made
toy the council. This agency grant from the
HEW and $35,819 in local funds will be
used for the Head Start program in Bryan
and College Station.
Head Start, located in the Southgate Vil
lage apartments, serves 135 children of
low-income families. From September to
May it provides medical, dental and
psychological screening.
A request by the City of Bryan for
$650,000 from the Economic Develop
ment Administration was also approved.
This grant and local matching funds will
provide Bryan with a new two-million gal
lon elevated water tank.
Students can check out
art prints at library
The Sterling Evans Library will
circulate approximately 90 framed
art reproductions to Texas A&M
University students for their per
sonal use Thursday, Sept. 16, at 1:30
V
p.m.
“This is a service we (the library)
provide the students,” Mel Dodd,
who is in charge of circulations, said.
Each spring and fall semester, one
day is set aside for checking out the
prints. Students may keep the prints
until the end of the semester. The
computer is set up with a special due
date and for that reason, the prints
must be checked out on a “one-shot
deal,” Dodd said.
The service began in January 1966
with the purchase of 80 fine art re
productions of paintings by old and
modern masters. Recent purchases
from book sales as well as donations,
from friends of the library have
brought the number to 90.
Reproductions include works by
old-world artists Degas, Gauguin,
Gogh, Matisse and Rembrandt and
by American artists Rockwell,
Wyeth and Hurd.
In addition to lending art repro
ductions this week, the library will
begin a new system of paperback
book distribution Sept. 20. Under
the present system, paperback
books must be checked out at the
circulation desk.
The new system will feature a tra
ding post where students will bring a
paperback book of their own in ex
change for one on the book rack.
Changing to this system, Dodd
said, will eliminate the cost of pro
cessing by the library staff.
Paperback books are “one of the
most popular things we deal with,”
Dodd said, as he expressed the hope
that the new system will work.
Dodd added that anyone wishing
to dispose of his paperback books can
bring them to the circulations desk
on the first floor of the library.