The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 40
14 Pages
Wednesday, October 26, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
/^Inside Today:
A light look at spirit and competition
here and elsewhere, pgs. 10 and 11.
A&M-UT game may be televised,
p. 13.
Review: “Robber Bridegroom,” p. 8.
irector says fund not missing money
lest
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
he $3,000 “missing” from Campus
is actually unpaid loans, said the fund
jrman in an interview Tuesday.
ie $3,000 is insufficient funds that
, cl /t been paid back over a three-year
/iod,"said Fred Pfeiffer, coordinator for
[dent benefits and director of Campus
est since November 1976.
the Battalion published an article Oct.
[stating Campus Chest books from 1974
pugh 1977 show a deficit of $3,000. “It’s
not all in one chunk,” Pfeiffer said. “We call
ourselves Aggies and go on honesty. The
reason the loans were never paid back is
be cause students took advantage of the loan
funds. Nothing in the contract said he had
to pay it back.”
“The Campus Chest will keep a very low
profile the rest of the semester,” said
Robert Harvey, student body president.
No money will be collected at home foot
ball games in barrels the rest of the semes
ter. Harvey said Monday $80 was collected
at the first home game with Kansas.
The Campus Chest will still make loans,
Pfeiffer said. The maximum loan is $50 and
payable in 60 days. Before Pfeiffer made
the changes, loans of $100 due in six
months were allowed. Pfeiffer must now
approve each loan; under the old system,
any member of the Student Government
executive council could authorize a loan.
Loans went unpaid because the papers
were lost and students moved, forgot or
tried to forget, Pfeiffer said.
“The goal for this year is to get back all
the money lent out,” he added. “There’s a
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Fog lends somber tone
In the heavy mist of a dark gray morning fog, the
names of staff members who have recently died are
placed under the central campus flag.
lot of money that hasn’t been paid back.”
He said in addition to loans made this
semester are loans from last spring made
when students were given six months to
repay. People who owe Campus Chest are
being traced, he said.
In the past, the fund was in poor man
agement, Pfeiffer said. “But because it
was a new fund, nobody really understood
how the Campus Chest should be directed
— they let it go. ”
Before, the chairman of the funds had no
authority to collect loans. The contracts
were not legally binding. Now they are.
“Dr. John Koldus (vice president for stu
dent services) agreed to let me block tran
scripts and registration, if needed, because
my money was not coming back,” Pfeiffer
said. Each blockage must be confirmed
with Dr. Carolyn Adair, vice president for
student activities.
Pfeiffer also requires enough information
from the student to trace him, he said. “It’s
all scare tactics to encourage them to pay
back the loans.” He plans to send three
letters: One before the loan is due, one
when the loan is due and one a month after
the loan is due. If the money is not repaid,
he plans to block registration.
Pfeiffer stressed that the Campus Chest
is still giving loans and paying for flowers
used at Silver Taps. “Campus Chest is not a
loan fund for just anything. It’s for
emergency reasons,” he noted. “The stu
dents must work with me. That means pay
ing it back.”
Carter makes decision
about U.N. sanctions
United Press International
President Carter says the United States
has decided whether or not to support
U.N. Security Council resolutions impos
ing tough military and economic sanctions
against South Africa. But, he won’t say
what the decision is.
Carter told reporters Tuesday his ad
ministration had reached a decision on
sanctions, but he did not disclose details.
“I think we made the right decision,” he
said.
The New York Times today quoted ad
ministration officials as saying Carter had
decided "in principle” to vote for imposing
arms sanctions on the Pretoria govern
ment.
The 15-member Security Council is
considering four African resolutions. The
demands include a full arms embargo and
a ban on investments in South Africa. The
ban would be in retaliation for the gov
ernment’s crackdown last week on dissent.
Carter said he was trying to coordinate
the U.S. decision with America’s Euro
pean allies and “also among friends we
have among African leaders.”
Carter said he had considered “various
kinds of sanctions against sale of weapons,
various degrees of economic sanctions’
and would now "modify the long-standing
U.S. position against sanctions.
The council is not expected to take any
decision on the sanctions before Friday.
The United States, which has re
peatedly vetoed attempts to slap sanctions
on Pretoria, has halted shipment of major
armaments to South Africa since 1963. It
still supplies material such as light aircraft
and rescue equipment.
Administration officials predicted the
United States would try to close the re
maining loopholes through which South
Africa buys arms, primarily from Israel
and France
But they said it was unlikely the United
States would support a crippling economic
boycott. South Africa spent about $1.35
billion in U.S. trade in 1976 and the
United States bought about $900 million
in South African exports, mainly
diamonds, wool and gold.
Washington is seeking a course of action
that would satisfy black Africa’s demand
for punitive measures against Pretoria
without disturbing Western efforts to
negotiate independence for South West
Africa (Namibia) and to end the five-year
guerrilla war in Rhodesia.
Nigeria, black Africa’s richest and most
powerful nation, Tuesday demanded an
arms and oil embargo against South Africa
and a curbing of foreign investments in re
taliation for the government’s arrest of
black leaders and shutting down of two
black newspapers.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Joseph
Garba urged the West to take “prompt and
effective measures to arrest the present
deterioration of the situation.
“Our delegation will not be satisfied
with a mere condemnation of the arrests,
acts of brutality, repression and ter
rorism,” Garba said. “This has been done
several times without any satisfactory ef
fect on the regime in Pretoria.”
SWC Spirit
Beat the hell out of?
By KIM TYSON
Battalion Staff
Some may boast of prowess bold
Of the schools they think so
grand.
And they do.
But some schools express their
school spirit in ways that, to some
Aggies, border on the absurd.
Rice University and the Univer
sity of Texas are classics, at least as
far as A&M rivals.
Rice spirit is the unusual, or so
say its students. They say their goal
is to be different.
During cheerleader elections, for
example, some candidates try to
look peculiar to win votes. One
cheerleader even does a trick re
sembling a crab walk on hands to
amuse the crowd.
But what, then, is Rice Spirit?
“It’s not an outward feeling of
Wow, we go to Rice — let’s tell
everybody,” says Carter Davis,
Marching Owl Band (MOB) drum
major. He says when he tells people
he goes to Rice they either ask him
where the school is, or tell him how
bad the football team is.
“Football is something to do on
Saturday nights in the Fall,” says
Phillip Rosegrant, the Owl mascot.
“It’s a good cheap date.
“People aren’t dedicated to com
ing to the games. The MOB does
their show and yells a lot but there
is nothing on campus to compare to
A&M’s traditions.”
The closest thing to a yell practice
is Thursday night at Willy’s Pub
when everyone gets drunk together,
he says.
But interschool competition is
fierce.
“One hundred and twelve per
cent of the student body participate
in intramurals,’’ Rosegrant says.
The big event of the Rice year is
Rondolet weekend in the Spring.
This weekend is highlighted by a
beer-bike race, which some say is
more important than football. Each
"college” or dorm complex has two
teams: one to chug down a beer and
one to race bikes.
Both men and women compete,
everyone indulges.
A few years ago the event was
heralded by a hang-glide entrance
by some of the participants and an
Olympic horn salute.
“Even people who don’t care
other times get excited when their
college competes,” cheerleader
Nancy Hayward said.
Rosegrant said he couldn’t think
of many Rice traditions.
(See “Eeyore,” page 10.)
itsl
departments use computer simulation^
Students
. By PHYLIS WEST
^COMMANDER OF THE UNITED STARSHIP
You, ISE > FIRST, ... WE WANT YOU TO
lRnvV 1HAT YOU ARE IN SPACE, THE FINAL
H p v IIER SO MAKE CAREFUL RECORD OF
rKvX YAGES OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE.
I vr R 96 YEAR MISSION TO WIPE OUT THE
;7„ ^ON 39 DATFTD RATTTT P r'RTTTSPRS MAK-
ssion
K-p TrW’ 39 da TED BATTLE CRUISERS. MAK-
\n t !’ DALAXY SAFE FROM MOM, APPLE PIE
AVf, GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND. YOU WILL
hTfdti SUPPor T ing STARBASES. WHEN THE
eItt RISE DOCKS AT ONE (IS POSITIONED
\n m? 0NE ) IT IS RESUPPLIED WITH ENERGY
f PHOTON TORPEDOES . . .
For
pod SC 'n nee ~ Rc ti° n buffs, it’s just another Star Trek
, f° r students enrolled in some courses, it’s a
f > n decision-making.
kack e P ar t ments at A&M use computer simulations
C stl| dents in fields ranging from agriculture to
Enl r P ° litical scie nce.
Jnie th* 10n ® ames the calculated moves of a chess
[j n L ., e ris k- s of gambling in a casino and the pizzazz of
P T J'[ al1 game.
itone ^ ar gaming simulation is quite common
, many . l UniVerS iti es across the nation, says Wally
e Parti ^ rac ua I e assistant in the recreation and parks
Mati ( tnt ^ Ill ustr ates the role-playing involved in
av yT' ^ tu d en ts may never have to destroy a klin-
j) j d a supernova or travel through a space storm,
U( Ws 11 Sa ^ S tRat s °l v * n g these problems could help
Wh, S " n P rove their decisions in their own lives.
i^ ecic hng to torpedo a Klingon Battle Cruiser,
Meulpr ro l e ~playmg as star fleet commander, risks a
Each 1 K)n ' n target’s position,
ndoif, ( ecision * s followed by one of many possible
jjjj a ^ t<,rn puter responses, he says. After the student
jj^t vv ° r Pod ( ) j computer decides randomly if the
lat the^ l9 ' wasn’t, the computer might suggest
xin av U),n ! nanc Ier and his crew abandon the ship as
•ON shId ,e: “• • • ABANDON SHIP . . • ABAN-
AlLsIpP ■ ' • SERIES ENTER-BLITZ INTIATED.
YTKRPric AUTO-OVERRIDE INSERTED.
nr KISE COMMANDER AND CREW ESCAPE
learn decision-making
IN SHUTTLE CRAFT . . . ENTERPRISE REDUCED
TO SUB ATOMIC PARTICLES . . .”
In other words, the computer calls the shots.
“A better name for gaming simulation is experiental
learning,” says Dryden. But the word “gaming” suggests
chance. Dryden calls this a sort of Monte Carlo because a
student can never be sure how the computer will re
spond to his decision.
Dryden quickly points out that the Star Trek simula
tion isn’t emphasized as a learning tool in the depart
ment. It only serves to demonstrate the decision-making
process involved in various programs, he says. Whether
students spend a few hours playing star fleet commander
or the administrator of a municipal recreation depart
ment, the effect, according to Dryden, is the same.
No-Name City
The development of No-Name City is underway in the
recreation and parks department.
“We are using gamjng simulation for a brand new
game that attempts to program a computer for student
interaction. We are trying to expose students to a model
built of Boulder Colorado, ” or No-Name City as he pre
fers to call the area, Dryden says.
The Star Trek simulation was used to develop the pro
gram, which relates directly to the department.
The idea, again, is to make students handle decisions
like those they’ll confront on the job. Hypothetically,
students will become administrators, working with only
so much money and only so much time — a situation not
unlike the real world, Dryden says.
A student seeking aid in solving hypothetical problems
shouldn’t be surprised to find the terminal trained with
common courtesies. The computer may begin by print
ing out, “Good morning, sir,” and asking to assist the
student.
But computer back-talk, so to speak, isn’t unusual
either. If the student makes an incorrect decision (in his
hypothetical administrative role), the computer might
suggest the possibility of the student looking for a new
job, Dryden says. A student might make a mistake in
judgment that causes the destruction of the starship
Enterprise. One computer’s response shows that its pro
grammer has a sense of humor: “YOU HAVE BEEN
SENT BACK TO STAR FLEET COMMAND. YOU
ARE NOW IN COMMAND OF A NEW STARSHIP,
THE FAIRIE QUEENE.”
Yet computers don’t answer all students’ questions.
“Computers leave enough curiosity in the student’s
mind to continue in his digging in the library or talk with
other professionals at A&M and other campuses,” Dry
den contends. At this point, it becomes “fun” because
students can continue to do research.
The gaming simulation has been temporarily called
Rags (Recreation Administration Gaming Simulation.)
“We’ve been afraid to name it in case it falls on its face,”
Dryden says. All the bits and pieces of Rags have been
put together, and it’s in the process of being tested now.
But computers can’t do all the work. The possibilities
presented by a computer would be hard to match by a
human being. But people must interpret the data, Dry
den said.
Professors are beginning to find that students can
learn more if they put aside their pencils and papers
sometimes. A computer allows the student to go beyond
the writing on the blackboard to the types of problems
they might face on their jobs such as . . . testing hypoth
eses in political science, analyzing a school of fish in
wildlife and fisheries sciences, determining the innova
tiveness of students in agricultural education or lengthy
math problems almost impossible to do by hand in geo
sciences.
However cumbersome, some instructors have come to
depend on the use of computers for teaching. Without
computers, says Dr. Harry Zenner Jr., professor of the
business of analysis and research department, “it would
be like trying to teach a student to drive without a car.”
Computer simulation games may let you try your luck as the
commander of the Starship Enterprise or planner of “No Name
City.” The games are used in various university departments
to give students experience in decision-making.