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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1977)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 27 8 Pages Friday, October 7, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Today: ^ Getting off to the jazz, p. 5 Stepping off to the Texas Aggie Band, p. 6 Looking off to the Texas-OU clash p. 7 No’: University’s reply to fraternity to Waco at O’Malley Xt By KIM TYSON Battalion Campus Editor (Ipvas A&M University has denied offi- [ recognition to a national fraternity, a Phi Epsilon, which has been operat- ff-campus since 1965. fte rejection was issued this week by I John Koldus, vice president for student I ices, in a letter to Sigma Phi Epsilon "ident John Gilbert. e fraternity asked for recognition 31, 1977. It was the first Greek or- ■zation ever to officially apply for Uni- jty recognition. ,iat recognition would have given the inization the right to use campus (ties, opportunity to request student city funds, ability to advertise on cam- I use of the Student Finance Center and right to an official adviser. tie Koldus said in a prior interview that he was considering the Greek system as a whole and not just the fraternity that applied. In the one-page letter Koldus explained the reasons for his denial of recognition. He wrote, “During its long history, the university has developed its own unique approach to providing outstanding curricu lar, service, research, and student activity programs. Traditions have been developed which were considered to support the uniqueness of the institutional program, gave it strength and character, and were considered to be in the best developmental interest of the entire student body.’* Koldus said Texas A&M has chosen for more than 100 years not to include the national social fraternity and sorority sys tem as part of its education program. “The university has supported the prem ise that its social character was developed in the concept of togetherness in that all students were Aggies and that a social caste system would detract from this most impor tant concept which welded together the students that attended Texas A&M. “Suffice it to say that for oyer 100 years, this institution has been most successful in accomplishing this task.” He said, “as an administrator, it is my responsibility to attempt to perpetuate these traditions which have added not only to the character of the institution but to its strength.” Koldus was out of town and could not be reached for further comment. Freeman Fisher, spokesman for the fraternity, said his fraternity definitely would not seek legal action to get Univer sity recognition, but that he was unsure whether the decision would be appealed to Texas A&M President Jarvis Miller. Fisher said he did not agree with Koldus’ reasons for refusing recognition. “Tm unhappy with his reference that we would form a caste system on campus. We are not here to undermine tradition and we re not here to undermine the together ness of A&M,” Fisher said. “As far as the caste system is concerned, I think that the caste exists on campus any way as far as between dormitories, grade classification and between the Corps and noh-regs. “He (Koldus) mentions it was a tradition to not have fraternities and sororities on campus for over 100 years, but none have ever applied until this year,” Fisher said. He said he believed the rejection re sulted from the fraternity’s selection pro cess for members. “I think the main basis for rejection was the misconcept that we discriminate against various religions, races or socio economic status. “But I think our selection process is less stringent than Town Hall, OPAS or SCONA (all recognized organizations).” Fisher said his fraternity would like to compromise by working with the school, possibly through an inter-fraternity coun cil. Health Center alters iolicies ? raises fees lit! Spmj what ll >ii)K tolu tudy," I n investiJ the \( 1 By ELLIF LA PORTE 'm ^il 1656 are changing times, and changes 1 ■ ivi even become evident at the Beutel ehlth Center on campus. avers lm e cen ter has recently made several lliams fr« C y changes, such as charging for al- necausfi |y s h 0 ts, dispensing medicine through i I University pharmacy and raising stu- |t health center fees. tudents who used to receive free al- shots at the center are now required bi rfV a fee per injection, said Dr. he cafct) Ij^g Goswick, director of the health Iter. loswick said the policy was changed Charles I l ause not ** was f a * r f° r some Bents to bring chronic illnesses, such Irgies or migraine headaches, to school I expect other students to “foot the bill , ( j H em” through their health center fees, pother recent policy change made by health center concerns the Univer- s pharmacy. The pharmacy will no ;er refill prescriptions or supply medi- ions for chronic illnesses, Goswick said. reason for this change is because “a students grossly abuse the services by obtaining medication they do not Hy need, Goswick said, naddition, prescriptions must be filled a pharmacist or a physician for his own ients; nurses are no longer allowed to pense medicine in the pharmacy. leginning January, health center fees be increased from $14 to $15. The need for health center income has 'e higher than actual income has been, ” 1 Goswick. “We were on the verge of tiding money we didn't have to supply vices,” ksides offsetting the rising costs ol ■to-day services, such as laboratory ■ruitedqi linanctd h a Bran Her oft oothall friend man imountet alxive wl to supply tests. X-rays and medication, the increase in fees will help offset salary increases the center must offer to attract good doctors, Goswick said. The fees, which students are required to pay, cover expenses for the many services the center now provides to students with out extra charge. These include: an unlim ited amount of out-patient visits, medica tion from the university pharmacy. X-rays, laboratory tests, physical therapy, 10 days of in-patient care (after 10 days students must pay $22.50 per day) and consulta tions with specialists (no charge if the cen ter sets up the appointment). “Eventually there should be and will be a charge for the things that we now provide free of charge,” said Goswick. A so-called “user fee, where the people who use the services would be the ones to pay for them, would be established, he said. Good times and all that jazz Wells “Kid Thomas” Valentine plays into his hat as the rest of the band joins in. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans played before an enthusiastic crowd in Rudder Auditorium Thursday night. See related story, page 5. Complaints not voiced in right way nsr NG CENTS sents icture Tenants, managers: bad communication By MARK POWER Apartment dwellers may have a lot to complain about in College Station. But sometimes residents fail to voice their complaints to the right channels. “There has been quite a breakdown as far as communication, said Bob Martell, president of Columbia Properties. “Unfor tunately, it’s like the tenants are on one side and the management on the other. That is not really true.” Martell manages six large apartment complexes in College Station: Sevilla, Scandia I, Taos, Aurora Gardens, Sausalito and Sundance. “The tenant wants a fixed packaged product, and we are trying to provide one,” said Martell. He rejects the idea that his tenants are unsatisfied. “I admit we have been very defensive about our image, but for good reason. We have been accused in the past of unfair rates and fuel charges by attorneys armed with half truths,” said Martell. teps oppose closing of tower mb inguez & iiega ^ exas A&M University is taking an act- interest in keeping Easterwood Air- ns control tower open. ursday the University sent two repre- .j v , e p to a Federal Aviation Adminis- L" hearing in Kansas City to fa. S P° s kion on the possible elos- !°' the tower. Q P. a ' / 'f’ director of management serv- atA&M, an d Howard Vestal, A&M’s 'erniU 6nt business affairs, will rep- ‘h 6 University and the Bryan- ,S e ;f on are a at the hearing. wi be our contention that Easter- Vfaa^ is a victim of timing in that • < teport did not take our growth into account, ” Davis said. referred to is a recent ■ ^ v that suggests Easterwood’s >r group gets ictory in House gainst business L 0tl T^ Press International |AS HlNGTON _ organized labor 111 tli 35 ItS ki§ victories on Capitol Sovp C 6 ! 31 ^ w iih House passage of a bill f j r f au ihe labor law and Senate ap- Neitk 3 . ^ minimum wage by 1981. lex tu* * ssue was settled finally by the Iren rsday - But AFL-CIO officials lor’s By their ability to reverse s J eCOi : d defeats in legislative bat- liAfo 'I 151 business, pate’s V ° te Was ex P ecte d Friday on the flier h rni / 1 ' murn wage proposal passed i s ome4 7 he -u° Use - ImtheS mi h°n workers would benefit t r e t;o nate ^ an to ra i se the minimum USinman 5 ne ^ Jan.l; $2.90 in 1979; hel l! , and $3.40 in 1981. i )Use Tj* )rbdl approved, 257-163, by the i y wou ld severely penalize ificp'. Prank °Tk i0late lab ° r laWS ’ »derf . k Tompson, D-N.J., floor hdouC . bdl, described it as a “tre- lasily tk v ' c ‘tory for labor — producing B a ?ner ^ J? 1081 pro-labor bill since the ■(Wm Ct more than 40 years ago. lau k nts a § ree d. “It’s 97 per cent of Ibrook^n nu nted , Said Rep- J ° hn W dared t If Vf* 110, A business coalition J ation of ^he most outrageous demon- tnescnJ Unt 'hecked union power ever esse d on Capitol Hill.” tower is not providing enough services to justify itself economically. The study is one of five FAA options that will determine the fate of 73 control towers in the country, including Easter wood’s. Under this option, the FAA would close all 73 towers in question. The FAA has presented its five options for public comment, and A&M is using this opportunity to express its views. “We find that out of the 73 towers, Eas terwood’s is number three in order of magnitude,” Davis said. In other words, Easterwood’s tower is more profitable than 70 of the 73 towers, he said. “The FAA study shows that Easter wood’s tower would lose about $8,000 over the next 15 years,” Davis said. “That would only amount to a little over $500 per year, and if our growth rate were taken into account that would probably be a gain instead of a loss. Martell was referring to a letter from the attorney at Hassle Free, the student-run organization for handling apartment dwel lers’ complaints, that accused Martell of unfairly charging tenants for fuel adjust ments. “That was just one issue that created a lot of hard feelings,” Martell said. Records show that Martell was passing on directly tile costs charged him by the utility com panies. “The utility company was charging a flat fee on a per kilowatt-hour basis, Martell said. “We just passed that cost on. ” Martell said his company is just now re covering from the publicity generated by the fuel adjustment fees. He admitted that he made a mistake handling the situation, and said if the situation were to arise again, he would find a place large enough to assemble his tenants and explain the situation. “We might be laughed at, but we are trying to upgrade a product here and we will do whatever it takes to make our people happy,” he said. Residents in Sevilla have mixed reac tions toward Martell management. “It has taken some time to get things done, but they are pretty good,” said Paul Michael, a sophomore majoring in aero space engineering. “The rent seems high and the response to complaints seems low at times, but I am satisfied. Paul Burns, a junior computer science major, reported a different story. “I have complained several times about holes in the wall and broken towel racks,” .he said. Peggy Cowgill, manager for Sevilla, readily admits that maintenance is the number one concern for Martell. “The biggest and hardest problem we had was just getting people moved in dur ing September,” she said. “The apartment complexes were, for the most part, left va cant during the summer months and we were deluged with problems when the new tenants moved in. Cowgill blamed the slow response to problems on the volume of requests she receives opposed to the number of maintenance men at her disposal. “We are just now getting to repairs re ported at the end of August because of our ordering of priorities, ” she said. The management repairs broken appliances and air conditioners first, be fore taking on repairs such as walls and peeling wallpaper. The problem of maintaining all Colum bia Properties frills to Margie Sikes, prop erty manager for Martell. She said a new maintenance program may be expected as of Oct. 15. “We are going to have two people on call at all rimes to handle emergency re pairs and minor appliance repair,” said Sikes. Major repairs will be handled by outside contractors with experienced, trained repair crews. Maintenance costs are mostly incurred by the owner of the complexes, but in some cases where damage is caused by the tenant, repair costs are deducted from a security deposit. “We have $30,000 in deposits and use only $3,000 of those deposits to make re pairs,” said Martell. That works out to each tenant forfeitting, on the average, 10 per cent of his security deposit. “To make up for the inconvenience of collecting security deposits, we pay five per cent interest on the deposits,” Martell said. He is the only apartment manager in College Station to pay interest on any type of deposit. Israel, Palestine headed for peace The new library construction has attracted the attention of many a passersby, but Thursday the project was being observed by a self-proclaimed supervisor. Liudas Motekaitis, 5, son of Mr. .and Vm the supervisor Battalion photo by Jim Crawley Mrs. Ramunas Motekaitis of Bryan, spent several hours watching and commenting on the early phase of the project. The completion date is Spring 1979. United Press International Israel and the Palestine Liberation Or ganization appear headed toward a com promise that will allow a resumption of the Geneva peace talks with West Bank mayors taking part in a Palestinian delega tion. Both Israeli and PLO officials said Thursday they were willing to accept an arrangement in which the Palestinian mayors of towns on the West Bank of Jor dan would join the talks, perhaps as part of an all-Arab or Jordanian delegation. Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, in appearances in Chicago and Atlanta, said the Jewish state will allow the PLO to designate delegates to Geneva, as long as they are not PLO members. “If the PLO would authorize them or say we think they would represent its posi tion, then that’s their business. But as far as we re concerned, they must be non- PLO leaders of the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank,” Dayan told a news con ference in Atlanta. “We would take them at face value.” Dayan said feven if a representative is “a sympathizer with the PLO — we shall ac cept him.” U.S. officials in New York went one step beyond Dayan’s comments, saying Israel had agreed to accept low-ranking PLO members mingled with other Palestinians in a group officially called “Palestinian representatives. ” The officials said the Palestinians would form part of an all-Arab delegation and later split off with the Jordanians to discuss the future of the West Bank and compen sation for refugees. One element of the compromise, U.S. officials said, is that it will not be detailed in any official agreement, and another is that neither side will discuss it publicly until there is agreement. The officials said that could take weeks. At the United Nations, a high PLO offi cial said Thursday “all Palestinians are members of the PLO” and that the West Bank mayors could be included in a dele gation to Geneva. But Zehdi Labib Terzi, the PLO’s Per-, manent Observer, said the key to the PLO’s participation in a resumed Geneva conference would be “an official invitation to the PLO to participate. “We will insist that a formal invitation to the conference must be extended to the PLO,” Terzi said in an interview at U.N. headquarters. “Once it is extended, the PLO will designate its delegates.” Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, the cen tral figure in intensive diplomatic negotia tions over the past 10 days, expressed guarded optimism in a New York speech to American ambassadors, but said, “Many uncertainties and difficulties lie ahead. “But when we look ahead, and compare it to the last year, the outlook in the Mid dle East has improved,” Vance said. —