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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1978)
eh is t inned j The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 110 8 Pages Friday, March 3, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Friday: Warding off the wards, p. 2. Women s rugby team heads West, p. 7. Elephant Bowl may be in trouble, p. 8. - S S-Y. UT votes end student government in At i lUk w Nose to the grindstone 3oute Dwight Chaffin, Agronomy 485 instructor and turfgrass research technician at Texas A&M Uni versity, teaches students how to sharpen a reel Rhodesian lawn mower blade. Chaffin’s course involved selected problems in agricultural engineering. Battalion photo by Pat Searight United Press International and Battalion Staff The University of Texas has no student government at this time. Students voted 2,644 to 2,458 Wednesday to abolish their present student government organization, opening the door to a possible revision of the entire student government structure. The abolition vote, held simultaneously with student government elections, means officers lost their positions the same day they were elected to fill them. “The students have decided that the as piring politicos should be retired, said David Haug, co-founder of the Committee to Retire Aspiring Politicos (CRAP). “It's hard to be ecstatic when you get rid of something, but we re excited.” Haug said any action by the university regents to interfere with the student vote would be foolish. “Having 5,000 people voting on the re ferendum has reflected what students think," he said. “The other 35,000 students don’t even care enough about the associa tion to bother to vote and and that shows how they think.” Eric Samuelson, who withdrew his can didacy for student president and helped found the Constructive Alternative Move ment (CAM, formerly the Constructive Abolition Movement until the abolition goal was fulfilled), said student government is dying at UT. “We have given up, he said. A student poll showed that 96 percent of UT students do not know who their respective senators are, Samuelson said. In Wednesday’s election, he added, 23 of the 37 student senate candidates ran unop posed. Also, the vice presidential candi date ran unopposed and almost lost, receiv ing only a few more “yes than “no votes. Haug said student government is a “cruel joke because the organization has no real power. “There is no real reason for the student government to exist now because it doesn’t affect Our lives,” he said. Samuelson said the restructuring of UT student govern ment began Over a year ago when the se nate proposed the Student Association Re structuring Committee (SARC). The pro posal, a 28-page document, occupied the senate s attention for some time and then failed twice last year before the body that proposed it. CAM wants to revise the present student government structure to consist of only nine board members, Samuelson said. They would act as a junior body to the board of regents, which also has nine mem bers. Samuelson said that under the proposed system, an election would be held to fill the nine positions. The top five vote-getters would get seats on the board, then the top two would have a runoff for the chairman ship. The chairman would then appoint the other four board members, subject to ap proval from the original four members, Samuelson said. Under the old system, he said, if nine people ran for student president, eight would lose and leave student government, carrying their supporters’ interest with them. The new system would allow more “win ners”, in effect, establishing spheres of in fluence among the student body, and allow ing more students to participate indirectly in student government. Samuelson said that holding student elections and the abolition referendum on the same day put the abolitionists at a dis advantage because some students may not have known they could vote for aboliton. “It was the political machine against the public, and we still won,” he said. Although the 7-year-old student gov ernment system has been abolished by UT students, the elected officers are continu ing with plans for a presidential runoff next Wednesday. “We are going to challenge them under the First Amendment, Samuelson said. If the government has been abolished, he said, there is no reason to let it continue functioning. Cafeteria food: ‘boring but good’ black government, moderates end white supremacy )34, RE Foci )0 P. \Y CIAL Beef am >s anil jther ind B y! ia if: 0 CIAL 0[ D# i jee ;sW United Press International SALISBURY, Rhodesia — Prime Minis ter Ian Smith and three black moderates today signed a majority rule agreement aimed at ending nine decades of white supremacy on Dec. 31. Mexico uses U.S. as safety valve\ Castillo claims By ANDY WILLIAMS Battalion Staff Mexico uses the United States as a “safety valve” to relieve its unemployment problem, Leonel J. Castillo told a group at the Memorial Student Center Thursday night. Castillo, the commissioner of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Services, spoke on the economic impact of illegal aliens. The talk was co-sponsored by the Great Issues committee and the Commit tee for Awareness of Mexican-American Culture. Castillo said that 750,000 Mexicans enter the job market each year but that there was room for 300,000. This results in illegal immigration into the United States, he said. Castillo praised the hard-working characteristics of the illegal immigrants. He said that he’d found illegal aliens work ing at two jobs even in cities with the highest unemployment rates. But he said he did not favor raising the number of immigrants allowed each year. The limit is presently 400,000. Presently, there is no penalty for em ploying illegal aliens. Castillo said the proposed “Nine-Year Plan of the Carter administration will impose a fine on em ployers of $1,000 per illegal alien em ployed. The plan also includes a provision for joint economic development of the eight Mexican states from which most illegal aliens come. The United States and Mexico will each pay $1 billion. Castillo said very few illegal aliens are on welfare rolls and that most of them pay' taxes, but added that they did prevent American workers from being employed in many cases. He also said their presence kept wages low in some areas. All four men were jubilant as they signed their names to the document — even though millilant guerrillas have threatened to step up their war to destroy the settlement. The agreement is designed to create the black-ruled nation of Zimbabwe on the last day of this year. The signing at 10:20 a.m., 3:20 EST came three months to the day after the start of negotiations for an internal settle ment in Rhodesia. Bishop Abel Muzorewa, considered Rhodesia’s most popular black leader, wore a blue-and-gold caftan-style Liberian robe and pillbox hat at the ceremoney. In contrast, Smite and the other two na tionalists — the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole and tribal chief Jeremiah Chirau — were dressed in conventional dark suits. The four delegation heads each signed four copies of the five-point agreement, shook hands with each other then with the members of the full delegations who wit nessed the ceremony. Details of the accord were expected to be released later today. Smith has repeatedly predicted that in exchange for his willingness to step down from power, guerrillas would lay down their arms and the international commu nity would lift the trade sanctions that have crippled Rhodesia s economy. The white regime and the nationalists agreed Thursday on an interim govern ment headed by an executive council in which Smith will be outnumbered by blacks 3-1 The announcement climaxed often- bitter negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power to the black majority in an inter nal settlement that guerrillas of the Patrio tic Front have vowed to destroy by force. The rebels, who have been waging a five-year war against Smith’s regime from sanctuaries in Zambia and Mozambique, have not taken part in the talks. By GAIL SM1LA Meals at Texas A&M University might be boring, but according to students who took a recent survey the food is good. The department of food services con ducted the survey in January. It included an evaluation of meals, personnel, and the dining hall areas in Sbisa, Duncan and the Commons. About 200 to 300 students evaluated the three dining halls for the survey. The department administered a meal evaluation sheet to students eating in these areas. Students were asked to evaluate meals on quality, appearance, taste, and quantity. Evaluation of personnel included service, courtesy, appearance and cleanli ness. Students also were asked to evaluate the dining hall areas and were encouraged to make any remarks or suggestions for im provement. The survey showed that most students believe there should be a greater variety of food and longer hours of operation. Lloyd Smith, assistant director of food services, said the purpose of the survey was to find similarities in advice and comments. “We look at the remarks most,” Smith said. “There are no tabulations made, we just look at trends in their comments.” Smith said results of the survey will be reviewed by the dining facility manager and the menu board. The menu board con sists of students and University staff mem bers who work to improve the meals served to students eating on the board plan. Smith said die board votes on such things as placement of tables in the dining halls, serving hours and recipe variations. This is not the first time a survey has been conducted in the dining halls. Smith said about 260 changes in the dining halls and menus were made last year as a result of the surveys and the actions of the menu board. He said while some people have no com plaints, others have specific complaints, such as diet restrictions. He added that food services has a dietician to help answer questions. No definite plans have been made for changes as a result of this survey. However, the cost of the board plan will increase as a result of the recent increase in the minimum wage. Smith said. He said he does not know exactly how much the increase will be, but it will not be effective until fall semester of 1978. Smith said another survey is scheduled for this semester, but added that students are encouraged to voice their opinions at any time. Lack of quorum forces cancellation of zoning meeting By FLAVIA KRONE The College Station Planning and Zon ing Commission turned away a full house Thursday night when lack of a quorum forced cancellation of their meeting. The commission needs at least four members in order to hold a meeting. Onlv th ree members were present Thursday night. The absent members included commissioners Vergil Stover, Bob White, E. Mini Bailey and Don Sweeney. Commissioner Violetta Burke said that it was the first time in three years that a plan ning and zoning meeting has been cancel led because of a lack of a quorum. About 30 persons attended the meeting to hear debate on the question of granting a conditional use permit for construction of a sorority house to be located between Mun son Avenue, Dominik Drive and Univer sity Oaks Drive. Because public hearings such as this re quire a 15-day notification period, the question of the sorority house construction can not be placed on the agenda again for about four weeks, said City Planner Al Mayo. Also to be rescheduled is a public hear ing on the question of granting a condi tional use permit for the construction of an apartment project on an extension of Hol- leman Drive. Other business on the Thursday night agenda will probably be discussed at the next Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting on Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m. Pinball addicts: man vs. machine By TERESA HUDDLESTON Eveiy Monday through Thursday at 10:45 a.m., Keith walks into the graduate student offices and asks Ed, Dave and Paul if they are ready to go. They immediately drop what they are doing and the four hurry over to a local bar. They go for lunch and for two hours of sharpening their con centration, improving their timing and proving they can do something right. Every Friday night the same four men meet at the same bar with their dates for an evening of entertain ment and competition. It’s a contest of man versus machine and in this case the machine is an electronic pinball machine. “Since pinball went electronic there has been a whole new interest in the game,” said Eddie Ilschner, part owner of E&M Music and Vend ing Co. When pinball came out in the late 1920s, it was manual. There were no flippers. Points were scored when a ball fell in a hole. But in 1932 the game changed to electrical operation. Miles of wire were coiled underneath each machine’s playboard and this made servicing machines difficult. But two years ago the wire was replaced with solid-state electronic components and circuit boards which take up about a fourth of the space of the wires. Servicing the machines became as simple as re placing a circuit board. As technology changed, so did the features of pinball. A tune is played when money is put into an electronic pinball machine and it has a digital scoreboard with a memory. “People complained before be cause if they hit two targets at the same time they would only get points for the lower target,” Ilschner said. “But now that the scoring has a memory, people think they can beat the machine more often. But spending hours watching a ball roll around a table hitting things and ringing bells is kind of hard to explain. Keith and Ed said that they do it because they are addicted to pinball. When they play they become to- (See Pinball, pg. 4)