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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
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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)