m ’s
m. 71
8 Pages
No. 87
Tuesday, January 31, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
r
Inside Tuesday:
In Metcalfs defense, page 2.
Looking for more rain? page 5.
Baylor ran out of prayer, Aggies win
58-56, page 8.
V
,\1
our student officials issued subpeonas
c
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
our student government officials, including Student Body President Robert
ey, were subpoenaed Monday night to appear at a student body judicial board
g concerning academic qualifications for their offices.
cheating, open to the public, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room
f the Memorial Student Center. The specific subject of the hearing is whether
not the board should issue a writ of mandamus requiring the student government
hers to provide adequate evidence of their qualifications for office,
rit of mandamus is a court order commanding an official to perform his duty or
jeet the requirements of his office.
rvey said this morning that he plans to be at the hearing.
|s defense, he said, will center around his feeling that he should not have to sign
ver form until it is backed with legislation.
he legislation passed should set up a waiver form and who will receive it and
it will be administered, Harvey said.
t Wednesday at a student senate meeting, Harvey refused to resign or sign a
■ /l/wfiver allowing a check of his grades, saying the student body constitution is not
■"li'/iton the matter. He also said he posted below a 2.0 GPR last semester.
Jdicial board chairman Stan Stanfield delivered the subpoenas to students who
e not provided adequate evidence of their qualifications for office.”
Ags iiAibpoenas were also issued to Vicki Young, vice president for student services,
9 pnj r ,|.H senators Joe Young and Austin Sterling.
Mars pm Paterson, chairman of the student senate credentials committee, distri-
Red waivers at the senate meeting last week which allow student government
the gaJials to check GPRs with the registrar’s office.
e; avers* Paterson said then that if someone did not maintain or post a 2.0 GPR last
good. !<|ester, a letter would be sent to the person, the student body president and the
their Jlioial board. Paterson said Monday night that a copy of the letter would be kept
=iidslii lit not sent immediately to the judicial board.
^erceniisptudent government officials checked the GPRs of 57 of about 80 senators and
utive committee members who signed the waivers, Paterson said. No letters
sent.
was \ -»iany of the senators were absent, and Paterson said he will check their GPRs
week if they sign the waivers. The absentees are returning signed waivers to
he said.
r said l® 16 student initiating the action is Jim Connor, who resigned as chief administra-
)raeti(. Jaide to the judicial board and court clerk Monday night. He resigned to become
Me to petition the board.
50 si,) biy student has the authority to petition the board for a writ of mandamus which
g OOI1 l aires action on the part of a student government official,” Stanfield said.
“We'vei onnor acted for the student body in the petition for the hearing, which could be
eenlagei sidered a class action suit, Stanfield added. “The writ does not require a
ring, he said. “I have already set hearings. Failure to appear would be taken
miorefe ) account by the board in deciding if the writ of mandamus should be issued.
The only other thing accomplished by not coming is not having his opinions
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“If the cards fall against them, the judicial board may require them to present
their qualifications for office within a certain time period,” Stanfield said. The writ,
if it is deemed necessary, will be drafted by the board Wednesday night.
Quoting from the board s by-laws, which have been approved by the senate,
Stanfield said the writ is issued to inform officials that adequate evidence of
negligence of...duties has been shown.
‘ A case for remedial action or removal may be submitted to the board if adequate
evidence is shown that the writ has been ignored,” Stanfield said.
Remedical action means the officer would be enjoined from his position and not
allowed to perform the duties of the office. Any action on that count, he said, would
probably occur next week at another hearing.
“The hearing is not an admission of guilt, ” Stanfield said. “It’s merely a procedure
to go through.”
Harvey and the others will have a chance Wednesday night to defend their refusal
to submit qualifications for their offices.
Harvey said last Wednesday that the student-body constitution is unclear on the
matter, so he would not sign the waiver or resign.
“I’ve attempted to determine, through the constitution and by talking to several
people, what I should do,” he told the senate at the end of his “state of the campus”
report.
“It’s not productive to require officers to post their GPR while requiring them to
perform other duties,” he said after the meeting.
Two parts of the constitution concerning academic reuirements are in conflict, he
said.
One states that executive officers, including the student body president, shall
“post at least a 2.000 GPR during their term of office.“
The other section, found within the article describing the legislative branch, says:
“No person elected within the provisions of this constitution may be removed
because of scholastic reasons unless he is placed on scholastic probation, in which
case he shall be removed from office immediately.”
Harvey said he believes the latter provision is the only one which should apply
and called it “more workable.”
Scholastic probation is defined by University regulation as a provision allowing a
student to continue in school after he has become academically “deficient.”
Scholastic deficiency is generally defined as having below a cumulative “C” aver
age, or below a “C v average on courses in a major.
The student’s dean must decide to place him on schoastic probation.
Vicki Young, vice president for student services, said Monday night she will not
be at the hearing. “I have a committee meeting scheduled that night,” she said.
But that’s not the only reason she gave.
“I am so opposed to the whole idea - there has been no writ issued. This hearing is
to find grounds if the writ should be issued.
“The senate needs to look in its constitution and its by-laws for procedures and
devise methods of enforcement. Until such time, the j-boardhas nothing to act on,”
Young said, adding, “I don’t think the senate would choose to act ex post facto for
this year.
nion firemen blame deaths
understaffed department
within an hour after the fire was reported
about 4 a m. Saturday was “adequate.”
However, firemen at the scene Saturday
complained there was not enough man
power to fight the fire and man rescue lad
ders to pluck people from upper-story
window ledges. Several jumped to their
deaths before firemen could reach them.
The complaints were repeated Monday
by John Germann, president of the Inter
national Association of Firefighters Local
42, who called the staffing situation early
Saturday “deplorable. He told Wheeler
the number of firemen who responded
Another fireman said the city, which had
placed three instead of four men on pum
pers in an effort to trim the budget, had
left parts of the downtown areas without
sufficient fire protection.
“I do know that some people did die
because a dollar figure has been put on
human life in Kansas City,’ fireman Louie
Wright told Wheeler angrily.
Deputy Fire Chief Charles Fisher, who
was on duty early Saturday and directed
most of the firefighting efforts, agreed that
fire companies should be more heavily
staffed, especially in the inner city.
“There’s no doubt the first moments are
the most critical, Fisher said. “We’ve
stated time and time again that we need
four men on these pumper companies.”
Wheeler, who has called for an evalua-
of the response to the Coates House disas-
disaster, acknowledged some areas need
improvement. But the mayor defended a
fire plan put into effect last May. Imple
mentation of that plan — fought by the
firemen’s union — changed shifts from 24
hours on and 48 hours off to 8-hour
spans.
“My greatest concern is whether the
Coates House hotel was inspected prop
erly,” Wheeler said. “There is no place for
firetraps in Kansas City. Fire inspection
procedures need to be beefed up.”
Police had identified eight of the victims
late Monday: Marcella Ellis, 2; Candy El
lis, 4; Harry Jones, 52; James Swickard,
62; Lawrence J. Karnoski, 59; Herbert
Richmond, 45, and his wife Penny, about
29; and Elsie Johnson, age unknown.
Well, it looks like snow
But it’s not. Just another soaping of the fountain in the hear the maintenance men grumbling.
mall area in front of the Chemistry building. You can almost Battalion photo by Ken Herrera
This could mean any law passed by the senate this year would not affect Harvey or
others if they made below GPR requirements.
“The j-board is getting involved where there’s nothing to act on.” She said the
board has “veritably established its own hearing” through Connor’s petition.
She said she did not sign the waiver because there was no legislative mandate for
it.
“A legislative committee can revise and propose rules, but they can’t enforce
rules.
“They have no legal authority to perform grade checks on behalf of a legislative
committee. There’s no precedent for it to act in an executive capacity.“
Harvey distributed a bill at the senate meeting which proposes guidelines to be
used concerning academic qualifications for office. Harvey, prohibited as president
from introducing legislation to the senate, submitted the bill to the senate rules and
regulations committee this week.
An open meeting of the committee to discuss the bill is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Thursday in Room 704 A&B Rudder Tower.
Refuge from the weather
Terri Huff, a sophomore English major from Crockett, is sil
houetted against the archways of the Academic Building, out of the
rain. Battalion photo by Susan Webb
Utay men unhappy
about dorm change
Utay residents are not happy with pos
sible changes being made for next fall.
Dr. John Koldus, vice president of stu
dent services at Texas A&M University, is
recommending that Utay, a civilian dorm,
be converted into a Corps dorm. In addi
tion, he said that Dorm 3, now a dorm for
men in the Corps, would house women
next fall.
Koldus said that Title IX of the Health,
Education, and Welfare (HEW) bill says
there needs to be housing available equal
to the percentage of women enrolled in
the University.
Koldus said there are 2,130 women liv
ing on campus now, which is 25.3 percent
of the total enrollment. The fall enroll
ment of women was 33.1 percent of the
total enrollment which means there
should be, according to Title IX, 7.8 per
cent more space available for women’s
housing.
Koldus also said that it is not necessary
for his recommendation of changing Utay
into a Corps dorm to be brought before
the Board of Regents. He said it was up to
President Jarvis Miller to decide if he
would bring the issue before the board.
Koldus said the next board meeting
would be in about one month.
David Carson, president of Utay, said
that he and the other men in Utay are “not
happy” with Koldus’s decision. They said
they are planning to attend and explain
their situation.
Although Carson said the men in Utay
feel they have a chance to change the deci
sion at the board meeting, he “feels it’s a
lost cause.”
Ron Sasse of the Texas A&M housing of
fice said, “It's up to them (the residents) to
decide if they want to move to another
dorm.”
Carson said about half the men want to
move to another dorm, but the rest would
rather move off campus than be split up.
Sasse said that each spring, room as
signment cards are handed out to give stu
dents presendy on campus a preference of
room choices. He said that Utay residents
would receive the dorm assignments they
want. There is room available for every
resident, he said.
Sasse said that by having Utay become a
Corps dorm, 224 more “needed” spaces
will be available for women students.
Sasse also said that Legett Hall is being
renovated possibly for women’s housing.
Young girl flees
kidnapper s car
through light hole
United Press International
RICHFIELD, Minn, - Police say
they’re amazed at the courage and pres
ence of mind of a tiny 11-year-old girl who
escaped a kidnapper’s car trunk by remov
ing the tail light and wiggling through a
narrow hole.
The girl, an avid fan of Nancy Drew
mysteries, was abducted Saturday night,
sexually molested in a garage and put in
the trunk of a 1970 Ford.
Dressed in only a blouse and with a
blanket wrapped around her, the 80-
pound youngster spent more than 10
hours in the car, police said.
But she unscrewed several bolts and es
caped through a 12-by-6 inch tail light
hole.
She walked down the street, flagged
down a car and was taken to the Richfield
Public Safety Office. She had suffered
frostbite in her fingers and toes in the sub
zero temperatures.
A suspect was expected to be charged
with kidnapping and criminal sexual mis
conduct today. Police found him by track
ing down his car with the rear light miss
ing, then questioned residents in the area
about the owner of the car.