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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1977)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Friday, September 2, 1977 Another Aggie joke Slouch by Jim Earle What happens when tens of thousands of people, bicycles and automobiles are crammed into a very small area, with each one headed in a different direction? The kind of traffic chaos, confusion and occassional collisions that have appeared at and around the Texas A&M campus this week. Local police have reported a marked increase in traffic accidents, begin ning last weekend with the main wave of returning students. Yesterday a student was injured, luckily only slightly, when he was struck by a car just off the University campus. There doesn’t seem much hope the situation will improve in the near future. Much of the problem seems to come from drivers who are either in too big a hurry or are too reckless to notice pedestrians and other drivers. Being late for class, in a hurry to get home or just “off in another world” — whatever the reason, the result is the same. One of the least funny Aggie jokes in recent years has been the way most Aggies drive like that famous bat with the devil on his tail. The streets around this campus are hardly safe for man or beast on football weekends, and the situation doesn’t improve that much during the week. So its up to your choice every time you climb into the driver’s seat. But remember: the Aggie life you save may be your own. L. R. L. A grain of salt? The federal government’s “economic indicators” have been released and — as usual — you can use them to prove just about anything you want. For openers, the Consumer Price Index for July rose only four-tenths of 1 per cent, the smallest monthly increase since last December. That, obvi ously, is good. But industrial production rose only five-tenths of 1 per cent during the month, the smallest increase this year. That, just as obviously is bad. Meanwhile, new housing starts leaped 8.1 per cent last month, another encouraging sign that housing construction will set a record this year. However, personal income during July showed an increase of only eight- tenths of I per cent, with $5 billion of the $11.7 billion hike said due to a one-time increase in Social Security payments. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “If all the world’s economists were laid end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion.” Considering the July economic report, it’s easy to see why. Huntington W. Va. Herald-Disptach Do you really think it’s wise to get out in a hurricane just to go to class?’ On selling energy and canals Uncle Jimmy’s latest deal for you By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Experts are saying President Carter will have to do a tre mendous “selling job” to get the Panama Canal treaty approved. If that'Sounds familiar, there’s reason for it. Not very long ago they were saying the same thing about Carter’s energy pro- gram. Since it’s pretty hard to run two selling jobs at once, I got to thinking that maybe Carter should combine the canal issue with the energy crisis. Cetainly some of the arguments and admonitions used to promote energy con servation could be applied with equal force to the Panama issue. The lighter side Everyone agrees the main thing wrong with the Panama Canal is that it is located in a foreign country. Critics of the prop osed treaty point out that if the United States relinquishes operating rights, we will then be almost totally dependent on foreign canals. Oh, sure, we would still have a token capacity — the New York State Barge 'Canal, the Chicago Sanity and Ship Canal, etc. But even some of our domestic canals, such as those in the Great Lakes area, in volve Canadian interests. Should there be a foreign embargo, America would be up the creek canal- wise. So Carter’s course is clear. His campaign to win approval of the Panama treaty should be coupled with a drive to make the United States self- sufficient in canals. At one time, U. S. canal production was booming. Canal digging in the eastern part of the country was well advanced and the diggers were steadily pushing west. But then the railroads came along, and canal-digging went into a slump from which it never recovered. Had it not been for that, we surely would have had a coast-to-coast canal network by now. And the Panama Canal wouldn’t have much mattered. It’s not too late to revive the transconti nental canal concept. Reports that the Un ited States has a shortage of canal sites are misleading. It’s more a case of canal dig gers holding back hoping for more favora ble economic conditions. Let Congress provide a few tax breaks or other incentives and you can bet that plenty of new canal sites would be discov ered and developed. Maybe we don’t have an isthmus that compares with Panama, but we do have a perfectly good peninsula. And while dig ging a canal across Florida might have cer tain geographical deficiencies, symboli cally it would show that Carter was serious about reducing our dependence on foreign canals. Later, we could add a canal across Wyoming, a canal across Arkansas, and so on until one day. . . Well, I don’t know what the cangl dig gers’ equivalent of a golden spike would be, but the east-west link-up truly would be a great day for America. University coming out into the 6 open Education for the common man By RUDOLF KLEIN International Writers Service LONDON — Turn on your radio or television set early in the morning here, and you are likely to be greeted by a lec ture on thermodynamics, medieval history or the social views of 19th century Russian novelists. This is the Open University, which pro jects the classroom into the homes of some 60,000 British teachers, engineers, work ers, housewives and others eager to im prove their knowledge. Begun by the Labor government a few years ago, the Open University is based on the notion that higher education in Bri tain, which has been traditionally reserved for a relatively small intellectual or social elite, ought to be available to citizens re gardless of age, income or background. In this sense it is one of the most in teresting experiments to be initiated in a decade, and it is being copied in the Un ited States by such institutions as the Uni versity of Maryland, the University of Houston and the University of Southern Illinois. An estimated 3,000 American students are enrolled in similar programs in four states. As it functions in Britain, the Open University is far more complicated than merely broadcasting talks by professors to auditors. On the contrary, a large and complex organization is involved in the operation. In addition to watching or listening to radio or televised lectures, students can take correspondence course • ' • •, •♦h part-time tutors at some 3iX» special cen ters throughout the country. They may also attend summer schools. The Open University has become so popular that nearly half of the 50,000 people who apply for entrance every year are rejected. Since the operation is liber ally endowed by the government, how ever, the tuition is low for those who are accepted. A studem, il is esiinjateci, can obtain a degree for no more than $700. The real obstacle is time. To win an Open University degree requires about 2,400 hours of study. And even though the curriculum is usually spread out over six years, this requires a good deal of dedica tion, since the majority of the students are either working at full-time jobs or running homes and caring for children. It is not surprising, therefore, that the dropout rate is relatively high. Of every five students admitted, two persist long enough to get degrees. A great many other collect course credits. The founders of the Open University are somewhat disappointed by the stu dents they have attracted. They had hoped to appeal to people with little schooling. But instead, they have gotten rather well-educated candidates whose ob jective is to raise their qualifications. Many of those taking Open University courses are schoolteachers, who are au tomatically eligible for higher salaries if they acquire advanced degrees. The rest of the students include scientist, en gineers, housewives and technicians of various kinds. About 20 per cent are above the age of 50. Clearly, the experiment has broadened educational opportunities in Britain. A larger proportion of students with working-class backgrounds are in the Open University than in conventinal in stitutions of higher learning. Besides, the Open University services prisoners in jails and handicapped confined to their homes. It is probably still too early to measure how successful the Open University has been in helping its graduates find jobs, especially now, when unemployment is high. From the start, however, the Open University has taken care to keep up its standards so that its degrees would carry weight. Sir Walter Perry, the head of the Open University, is a distinguished academic fi gure with doctorates in medicine and sci ence from the University of St. Andrew in Scotland. The faculty, which numbers 250, is also of high caliber. Given the geographical spread of its students and the disparity in their levels, the Open University has had to pioneer a new sort of educational technology. It has developed its own textbooks as well as special kits for science students using their homes as laboratories. It grades examina tion papers by computer. This somewhat packaged approach to education has meant that the Open Uni versity is designed to cope with the aver age ^student rather than encourage of the kind exceptional ones who attend the great British instituions. So its degree may be lacking in prestige. But the Open University is here to stay. Testimony to its acceptance lies in that, although it was created by the Labor party as an exercise in egalitarianism, it is sup ported by the Conservatives, who believe that individuals ought to rise through their own efforts. Thus it has transcended ideology, which is a tribute to its useful ness. (Klein, a senior fellow at Londons Center for Studies in Social Policy, writes on so cial issues in Britain.) Letter to the editor Laundry service defended Editor: The University Laundry Service has been a helpful service to the students of Texas A&M University for many years. Texas A&M is unique in that it offers the student a laundry and cleaning service. This past summer an off-campus firm was contracted to prevent tremendous losses to the University. Due to some misun derstanding between students and the Laundry Service, many students dropped their laundry service. A meeting was held on the first day of classes to discuss these misunderstand ings. The following compromises should demonstrate how the laundry plan will serve the student’s needs: 1. The 3 shirts and 3 pants allowed each week is intended to include any type of shirt or pants ( excepting tux shirts). 2. If the full allowance of 3 shirts and 3 pants is not utilized, the remainder may be substituted for any 4 miscellaneous items (except towels). There will be no extra charge for miscel laneous items if the items exceeding the allowance do not exceed one pound. The following is an example of approximate weight; 8-9 pairs of socks per pound 5- 6 T-shirts per pound 6- 8 drawers per pound Fabric-Care has agreed to make refunds at a later date if this system does not meet your needs. The University has also ag reed to let students get back on the laun dry plan if they have already resigned. Payment should be made in the Fiscal Of fice. Due to the inconvenience of doing one’s own laundry, I would recommend that each student consider the advantages of this program. Your suggestions and ques tions are welcome and should be directed to the University Laundry Board. —-Scott Patton ’79 Member, University Laundry Board Top of the News! Campus Senate, Judicial Board open An election will be held during the first meeting of the Texas A&M University Student Senate to fill the position ofSpeakei of the Senate. The Senate will meet Sept. 7 at 7:30 in room 204, Harrington Center. Senators and non-senators are eligible for the position. Applications for positions on the Student Government Judi cial Board will be accepted through Monday, Sept. 5. Two seats are open for each of the following: sophomore, junior, senior and graduate student. Applications will lx? accepted through Monday, Sept. 5foi the position of Director of Information for Student Govern ment. The director will be responsible for all aspects of public relations for Student Government. A meeting for anyone interested in becoming a Student Government aide will be held on Monday, Sept. 5 at 7:30p.m. in room 410 Rudder Tower. State Massage parlor law barred A federal judge yesterday temporarily barred Harris Count) from enforcing a new ordinance restricting massage parlors from massaging of persons of the opposite sex. The judge said enforcement of the ordinance would cause irreparable harm to the operators of 18 massage parlors who filed suit. The plain tiffs contend the ordinance would require them to violate fed eral sex discrimination laws. Court vetoes Yarborough plan The Texas Supreme Court yesterday rejected an attempt by former Associate Justice Donald B. Yarborough to block the opening of his disbarment trial next week. Yarbrough resigned from the Supreme Court July 15 in the face of legislative pro ceedings to remove him from office. In addition to the disbar ment suit, he also faces criminal charges of forgery and perjury in Travis Countv. Nation No change in Social Security The Carter Administration is trying to dispel fears that the retirement age for full Social Security benefits may be changed. Juanita Kreps, who advanced the idea of raising the retirement age for full benefits from 65 to 68 as a possibility to help the Social Security System’s financial pinch, said the ad ministration is not actively considering any proposal to alter the present system with full benefits at 65. Wizard says IWY attended The Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard was quoted in yesterday’s Detroit News as saying the Klan has been infiltrating the wo men’s movement for the last three or four years. He said hun dreds of members of the Klan’s Ladies Auxiliary have attended most of the state International Women’s Year meetings “oppos ing the women’s libbers” and will attend the Nov. 18-21 Na tional Women s Conference in Houston to “oppose what’s going on. ” Waylon charged for cocaine Country singer Waylon Jennings, 40, and an assistant to his business manager have been ordered held for a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine. “The prosecutors don’t have enough to convict, but they have enough for probable cause,” U.S. Magistrate Kent Sandidge III told one of Jennings’ attorneys. There was no indication when the grand jury would hear the case. World Rhodesian plan suggested Britain yesterday formally unveiled a joint Anglo-American peace plan for Rhodesia, calling for Prime Minister Ian Smith to step down, both the Rhodesian army and black guerrillas to be disbanded and a U.N. peace-keeping force to be stationed in the African country for six months before transfer of power to a black majority government. The plan was handed to Smith in Salisbury by British Foreign Secretary David Owen and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young. The 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 Re gents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated hy students as a university and com munity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. 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United Press International is entitled exclusive!) use for reproduction of all news dispatches credilfd 1 Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein re* Second-Class postage paid at College Station, ft MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Jamie Managing Editor Mary Alice Woc^ Editorial Director Lee Roy Lesch^ Sports Editor Paul Reporters Julie Sp^ Clenna Whitley, Darrell Lanford, Carol Meyer McGrath, Kim ; Photographer Ken Hr 1 The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Mondays and Wednesdays. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. All subscriptions subject Student Publications Board: Bob G. Rogers, Chfl Joe Arredondo; Dr. Gary Halter, Dr. John W. H' 1 Robert Harvey; Dr. Charles McCandless; Dr. Cli* Phillips; Rebel Rice. Director of Student PublW' Donald C. Johnson. 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