n
The Battaoon
Wednesday, February 15, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Wednesday
Sculpture on display in Langford
Architecture Center, p. 5.
Waggies to form two Corps units, p.
9.
Baseball team opens season this
weekend, p. 10
Student senate elects
Humphrey as president
Mike Humphrey
)orm students
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
Mike Humphrey was unanimously elected
student “There are a lot of problems and
problems we need to solve right now,”
Humphrey told the senate T want this
body to take an aggressive stand — not
one that will be one to maintian the status
quo.
He pointed to the apparent ambiguity
surrounding grade requirements for
elected student officials and undefined
powers of the student senate judicial
board.
Humphrey, a graduating senior, called
for a constitutional con vention to suggest
ideas to solve the problems. The conven
tion is scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 25. The
site has not been confirmed.
The senate elected Humphrey after
they accepted the resignations of Robert
Harvey, student body president, and Vicki
Young, vice president for student services.
Under the student body constituion, the
senate had to choose the new president
from among the vice presidents
In a secret ballot vote of 31-27, senators
accepted the resignations after a 45-
minute closed session. One member
abstained and 16 senators were absent.
The senate requested their resignations
last week, voting 26-24 that student gov
ernment members who posted less than a
2.000 grade point should resign “according
to regulations as stated.”
Harvey and Young posted below 2.000
GPRs for last semester, and their cumula
tive or overall GPRs are 2.94 and 3.23,
respectively.
After Tuesday’s three-hour session,
Humphrey said he plans to solicit inter
views for vice presidents of student serv
ices and academic affairs, seats vacted by
he and Young. He is expected to sumit his
nominations for senate approval at the
meeting next Wednesday. Nominations
will also be opened to the floor before the
senate fill the seats by majority votes.
Members of the excutive committee and
the judicial board chairman resigned
Tuesday night, and those positions also
must be filled by the new president.
“It’s very possible to have reappoint
ments across the board, but I’m not in a
position to say right now,” Humphrey
said.
“More than anyting else I need to
familiarize myself with what Robert has
done.”
He said he has been talking with Harvey
for the past month about the matter and
plans for a “very smooth transition.”
Humphrey said he will have ample time
to fulfill the post. He explained that job
interviews, which took up much of his
time last semester, are finished and that
his most time-consuming duty as Corps
scholastic officer will be fulfilled by some
one else. He said he was responsible for
inspecting scholastic credentials, which
took about two to three hours on two
nights a week.
Before submitting their resignations,
Harvey and Young each addressed the se
nate.
Harvey told them that the senate s pri
mary legislative duty is to be a watchdog of
University actions and policies.
“The senate needs to consider having
stronger committees, he said. “Many
other legislatures have done this.
“Instead, we’ve wasted every other
Wednesday night in long drawn out meet
ings.” He added that more executive
functions, like the student purchase pro
gram and professor evaluations, should be
removed from the senate’s jurisdiction and
placed under the executive.
He said his reforms of the executive
branch have “come a long way,” but he
said the student body president needs to
continue improving the structure.
Harvey said the judicial board has be
come more Outspoken than ever before
and now requires a clearer definition of its
duties.
“The judicial board should not decide its
powers on the night of a hearing,” he told
senators. “If you give it that power without
restraint, you give up the power to legis
late. ”
In her remarks. Young stressed the
need for stronger committee organization.
She reviewed her committee’s projects
and praised the leadership within her stu
dent services committee.
“It’s vital to get continuity,” she said,
adding that committee structure was the
way to do it.
“I’ve been disappointed with my in
teractions with the senate this year,”
Young said. Senators did not route bills
through committees, she said, and the se
nate generally was forced to rely on the
author of the legislation for informaton
about it.
“My committee will stand intact,”
Young said just before submitting her res
ignation.
The senate did not immediately accept
the resignations. Senator Susan Rudd
presented a petition that she said was
signed Tuesday by 700 students.The peti
tion said the resignations were not in the
best interest of the students and recom
mended that the senate reject the resigna
tions.
After a short debate, the senate went
into closed session for 45 minutes and then
voted to accept the resignations.
illegal
using
Beans to fend off hunger
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■ m I by KAREN CORNELISON
c , es ", Although the food services at Texas
s lon f>wl University recently won two na-
awards, there are many residence
students who do not eat in the
erias on campus. Their reasons are as
d as the ways they cope with their
ition.
le number of students who eat in the
terias has stayed fairly constant in the
few years, said Thomas Awbrey, ad-
istrative services officer for food serv-
This semester, about 1,300 on-
ipus students must provide their own
Is.
ome students go off the board plan so
' do not have to pay for missed meals.
dents also said it is sometimes difficult
ay the board fee in one lump sum, or
n in installments.
fany female students said they did not
to eat in the cafeteria because the food
» fattening.
You can’t find the steak under the
ading,” said Lori Kesseler, a Mosher
1 resident.
)ther students complained of too much
< ch and grease in the cafeteria food,
dcularly in Sbisa.
“It’s OK the first week,” said Anne
O’Connor, who was on the board plan for
two semesters, “but then afterwards ev
erything tastes the same.”
Other students complained about unap
petizing names on menus (such as “pre
cooked pork patties”) and about gelatin
salads with “anything from last week’s
menu mixed with gelatin.”
Some dorm students fend off starvation
by breaking the rules. According to Uni
versity regulations, cooking in the dormi
tory rooms is not permitted. Only four ap-
plicances are allowed: popcorn poppers
(used only for popcorn), blenders, ‘hot
pots” (used only for boiling water) and cof
fee pots.
“We have a few illegal appliances,” said
one student. “We have a toaster, a pizza
maker and a slow cooker.”
“We cook in the bathroom,” another
student said. “We turn on the shower, and
put damp towels under the doors so it
doesn’t smell. It’s easier than you’d think. ”
Unusual ways of dorm cooking include
hanging a deep fryer out the window so
that it’s not “inside” the dorm, “ironing”
steaks wrapped in foil, and cooking nachos
in the sauna.
Dr. Charles Powell, director of student
affairs, gave some reasons for the cooking
rules.
“Cooking in the dorms is a definite
health and safety hazard,” he said. “We re
trying to avoid anything to do with grease
and anything that attracts ants and
roaches. One of the basic problems is the
fire hazard — there’s no ventilation.”
Powell also mentioned the danger of
overloading circuits in the dorms, which
are not geared to take the load of cooking
appliances.
Although students cook in dorms, very
few are caught. Richard Kreuz, judicial
board chairman for Moore Hall, said there
has not been a cooking violation in Moore
for two years. Larry Crowley, judicial
board chairman for Puryear Hall, said the
last case of cooking he remembers was one
and a half years ago.
Cindy Wetsel, judicial board chairman
for Krueger hall, said only 20 percent of
the cases brought before the board are for
illegal cooking. This semester there have
been fewer cooking violations than usual,
she said.
“That’s not a good indication of how
many are actually cooking,” Wetsel said.
“Most just don’t get caught.”
Penalties for cooking violations differ,
depending on the case. But Wetsel said
she knows of no one who has been asked to
leave the dorm because of cooking.
Kim Castillo, a resident adviser for
Mosher Hall, said she thinks the board
plan should be mandatory for dorm stu
dents.
“The food’s not that bad,” she said. “The
dorm is not made for cooking, and I don’t
believe you can get a balanced meal with
out cooking (if you are off the board plan).“
Collecting energy:
key to survival
By KAREN CORNELISON
While doomsday prophets are
predicting the end of the world, Dr.
Harlan J. Smith sees a much
brighter future for the human race.
Smith, director of McDonald obser
vatory at the University of Texas,
spoke Tuesday evening at an As
sociated General Contractors meet
ing about possible means of collect
ing solar energy in space stations
and converting it to useable energy
on earth.
“The key to the material prob
lems of the human race is energy,
Smtih said. “The visible light of the
sun radiates 10,000 times as much
energy as the human race uses. It is
an effectively infinite source.”
Smith said conditions on earth,
such as weather, make large-scale
solar energy converting devices im
practical because of their high
maintenance costs. But in space, he
said, there is no atmosphere, no
dirt, and sunlight can be used 24
hours a day.
Smith showed slides illustrating
two possible solar space stations
now being developed. One possibil
ity, he said, is to build large net
works of reflectors, perhaps five to
ten miles in length. Another possi
bility is paving structures will miles
of solar cells. With either of these
structures, sunlight could be con
centrated and converted into a mi
crowave beam, which would travel
to earth and be converted to elec
tricity.
“The point is that all this is not
just Buck Rodgers stuff,” Smith
said. “Things like that are going to
be up there, roughly beginning in
the 1980s.
Cost is a major problem with
these proposed space structures.
Smith said. Most of the cost in
volved is in getting materials into
space. Some ways to avoid cost
which Smith said scientist are work
ing on include using materials from
the moon, and even capturing as
teroids and “towing” them to where
they are needed.
Construction of the space stations
could be accomplished by machines
in space that would “squeeze out
building beams like toothpaste,”
Smith said.
Smith also discussed possibilities
of future societies living in space sta
tions, much as man does on earth,
with houses and shopping centers.
“Systems of this kind, I believe,
will come to pass — assuming we
get over the next 30 years or so. It
doesn’t have to end as doomsday
prophets say. The human race’s fu
ture could go on for millions or bil
lions of years.
Harlan J. Smith earned his doc
torate from Harvard University, and
has served on the faculty of Yale
University and on the astronomy
panel for the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.
All employees must have one
Physicals: hastily completed exams
Food services
conducting study
on cost of waste
f
By MARILYN BROWN
Aggies are supposed to feed the
world, right?
Right. But first they’ve got to feed
themselves. And as efficiently as
possible.
The Department of Food Services
is now doing a study on plate wastes
in Sbisa, Duncan, and the Com
mons dining halls. The study will
determine how much food is left on
plates each day in the three dining
halls.
Food services initiated the study
to see how much we re losing in dol
lar amounts,” said Lloyd Smith, as
sistant director of food services. It
should be completed in two to three
weeks.
Since the beginning of this semes
ter, the edible plate wastes have
been weighed after each meal.
Three students and the food serv
ices dietician are carrying out the
study as a food technology problems
course. The weights will be related
back to food costs.
“We hope the results will make
people more conscious of eating
what they take,” Smith said. “In a
world short of food it’s a waste to
throw any away.”
Smith said unserved leftovers are
served “in one form or another”
such as soups or stews.
At present plate wastes are sent
down garbage disposals. In the past
they were sold to individuals to feed
livestock, and before they they were
used at the University swine center.
The pork industry discourages
garbage feeding because of the “im
age of filth” it conveys to the public,
said Thomas D. Tanksley, professor
and Agricultural Extension Service
swine specialist. He said he thinks
the need for food will eventually
outweigh the cooking energy and
the work involved in recycling for
swine feed.
Smith said he did not expect the
handling of plate wastes to change as
a result of the food services study.
The main goal is for students to
waste less and consider their
capacities before they go back for
seconds.
For the Aggies, that would be one
more step toward feeding the world.
By TERESA HUDDLESTON
A prerequisite for becoming an em
ployee of Texas A&M University is receiv
ing a physical from Beutel Health Center.
The only pain involved in the physical is
the waiting time.
It usually takes from two to three hours
to see a doctor. The physical takes about
10 minutes.
The physicals are not supposed to be
thorough or complete.
“There is not enough time in a day to do
a complete physical. Therefore it is a cur
sory exam, said Dr. Claude Goswick, di
rector of the center.
Webster s Dictionary defines cursory as
“hastily, hence often superficially, done,
or passing rapidly over something without
giving enough attention to details.”
Why would a physical that is done has
tily be a requirement for employment?
The University carries its own workman’s
compensation insurance. The Health Cen
ter screens prospective employees and re
jects them if they have a serious problem
that would keep them from doing their
job. For example, the Health Center ex
pects to find problems such as hernias,
back trouble, or contagious diseases
through the exam.
The University Personnel Department
pays the Health Center $15 for each phys
ical given. This money comes from an as
sessment on each department of the Uni
versity’s total payroll.
Goswick said the personnel department
feels that they “save enough money in
claims to warrant the money spent on the
physicals.
John Honea of the personnel depart
ment said the physicals are useful to the
prospective employee and to the current
employees.
“We protect our employees by keeping
out any contagious diseases and we have
picked up useful information to prospec
tive employees such as high blood pres
sure,” he said.
Honea said there are around 1,000
workman’s compensation claims per year
at A&M. He said he does not feel that any
claims are related to something that the
Health Center might have missed in the
exam.
One student employee of the Data Pro
cessing Center said she did not even get a
cursory exam at the Health Center. The
day that she received her physical the
Health Center was crowded and busy.
“When the doctor finally got to me, he
signed my yellow sheet and said “You
didn’t see me not examine you, she said.
Goswick said he was not aware that this
had occured.
“They should be right or not at all. I will
do something about it,” he said.
At one time people were asked to tell
their weight and height for theam. T have
asked that they weight the person now.
Dr. Goswick said.
The physicals are required of each em
ployee for each separate em
tent. The only exception is for someone
whose religious beliefs do not allow them
to see a doctor. In this case, the person
would release all responsibility and not re
ceive workman’s compensation in case of
an accident, Honea said.
Migrant farmworkers panel
Battalion photo by Jan Williams
The status of Texas migrant farmers was the sub
ject of a panel discussion sponsored Tuesday by
The Committee for Awareness of Mexican-
American Culture and Great Issues. Panelists
were (left to right) Jose Gomez of the United
Farmworkers Union; Joaquin Avila, of the
Mexican-American Legal Defense Educational
Fund; State Sen. Carlos Truan, and Antonio
Orendain of the Texas Farmworkers Union.
Please see story, page 9.