Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 1978)
The Battalion Tuesday, April 11, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Tuesday Dickey named outstanding per former of Texas Relays, p. 11 Watch out for that first step, p. 8 Railroad tracks a “time bomb,” p. 2 Top Russian diplomat breaks with Soviet Union United Press International UNITED NATIONS — Arkady N. Shevchenko, the highest Soviet official in the United Nations, has gone into seclusion vowing never to return to the Soviet Union, plunging the world of diplomacy into a major crisis. Both the United Nations and the State Department said the 47-year-old Shev chenko had not defected, but diplomatic sources said Monday his rift with the Soviet Union was final. Soviet officials made themselves unavailable for comment. Schevchenko is the highest Soviet dip lomat ever to publicly break with his gov ernment while abroad. As undersecretary general for Political and Security Council affairs, he earns $76,000 a year and oc cupies a plush 35th-floor office in the U. N. Secretariat Building overlooking the East River. Officials said he left his office Friday and informed the State Department through his attorney that he would not return to the Soviet Union. He did not request asylum. A U.N. spokesman announced Shev chenko’s move Monday and said he “is con sidered to be on leave” pending clarifica tion of his status. He thus retains both his job and his residency in the United States. The spokesman said Shevchenko in formed Secretary General Kurt Waldheim “he is absenting himself from the office and in this connection mentioned differences with his government.” Diplomatic sources said Shevchenko’s wife left Sunday for Moscow. His daughter departed earlier and his son is an official in the Soviet Foreign Ministry. Shevchenko’s move appeared to be equally embarrassing for the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Nations. For the Soviet Union, the open break with its highest U.N. Secretariat official six weeks before the Special General Assem bly on Disarmament was particularly bit ter. The Soviets had ardently supported the calling of the session and Shevchenko was known as one of their disarmament experts. The State Department, 10 days before Secretary of State Cyrus Vance’s visit to Moscow, was quick in denying any in volvement in Schevchenko’s decision. “The U.S. government in no way at tempted to influence him in his decision,” said a Washington spokesman. “We will continue scrupulously to carry out our obli gations as the U.N. host country.” For the United Nations, the paunchy, gray-haired; introverted Soviet diplomat will become a headache if he does not re sign voluntarily. Although in his post nominally an inde pendent, Shevchenko holds a post assigned to the Soviet Union under the “equal dis tribution” system that governs the recruit ing of the U.N. staff, and particularly the selection of the higher officials. These offices are filled at the recom mendation of governments and Shev chenko was, of course, handpicked by Moscow when he was appointed five years ago. In his post, Shevchenko was in charge of he organizational setup of the U.N. Secu rity Council, highest political body of the United Nations. Wiretaps uncovered. Bell clamps FBI illegalities Wild and Battalion photos by Susan Webb Comedian Steve Martin uses a couple of his “trademark” props during his Monday appearance at Texas A&M University. Martin performed before a sold-out Town Hall audience. Guitarist Steve Goodman delighted the crowd with his opening act. Please see story, page 6. United Press International WASHINGTON — With former FBI chief L. Patrick Gray and two senior assis tants indicted, Attorney General Griffin Bell says accountability for illegal wiretaps and break-ins have been placed where they belong — at the top. This, Bell said Monday, means dropping all charges against John C. Kearney, re tired boss of New York City’s Squad 47, whose job was to track down fugitive Weathermen radicals who claimed credit for bombings in 1969. A federal grand jury in Washington charged Gray, associate FBI director Mark Felt, and former FBI intelligence chief Edward S. Miller with conspiring to violate the civil rights of Squad 47’s break-in targets. Bell said 68 other FBI agents and two Justice Department officials will be punished administratively. Kearney’s indictment last April stirred protest because no one knew higher offi cials were in line for punishment. Bell said a three-year investigation now shows Kearney was “acting under orders.” “That is not an excuse and it is not to be so construed in the future,” Bell said. The indicted officials were charged with 32 overt acts including writing memos, re ceiving reports of actual break-ins, and telephone taps of friends and associates in efforts to learn where the fugitives were hiding. The grand jury’s list of “overt acts in the alleged conspiracy included meetings at various locations, a talk Gray gave to a group of FBI officials, memos and reports to Washington about specific break-ins. About Oct. 6, 1972, in Quantico, Va., FBI agents attending a training course on the Weathermen “were lectured on how to conduct surreptitious entries,” said one charge. Justice Department officials said the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Gray has denied ever approving an il legal act, particularly burglaries. Among those facing disciplinary action. Bell said, is J. Wallace LaPrade, now direc tor of the New York City FBI office, “for his conduct in these matters and during the course of the investigation.” The disciplinary actions might range from letters of censure to forced resigna tions, bell said. Gray’s title during his brief time in office was “acting director” because the Senate never confirmed his nomination by Richard Nixon. Gray became caught up in the Watergate scandal and Nixon finally with drew the nomination. The Weathermen, who broke away from the Students for a Democratic Society, claimed responsibility for a series of violent actions beginning with a window-breaking ll Survey results College of Science students express need for more advisers By RENEE’ PEVOTO L survey given to students who pre-registered in the Bege of Science shows that students feel there are not Ough full-time advisers to meet their needs. Most of the criticism of the system dealt with the advis- R being uninformed and giving poor guidance. [The results showed that although most students know W) their adviser is, their adviser doesn’t know them nor interested in them as a person. The majority of stu- Its see their adviser only once a semester but would to see him more. Other professors or friends are seen advice, while some students go to their dean for coun- ng and advice. ibout half of the participators said their adviser was -jpfiil and the other half said they filled out their own frse schedule. It fctudents said the most help they received came mainly i/ipe form of suggestions for courses to take. One topic Intioned on almost every survey was that students want lalk about job opportunities with their advisers. Other topics dealt with post-graduate studies, personal counseling, transferring credits, and extracurricular ac- tivites within the department. Some suggestions that the students had, were that they want to know their advisers better, they want their advisers to get better information on the required courses and electives, and they want them to learn more about the registration procedures. Although these other topics were discussed, again, the biggest complaint was that some full time advisers need to be hired along with the regular faculty advisers. Faculty are not readily available and when they are they are usu ally busy. This survey was a result of a bill sent from the Student Senate to the Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Dr. John Prescott. This bill requested the appointment of a committee to study departmental advising at Texas A&M. John Beckham, associate dean of the College of Science, is on the ad hoc committee created for this purpose. He suggested to the College of Science Student Council that rampage in Chicago in Novemeber, 1969. They also claimed responsibility for a se ries of bombings of public and corporate buildings between 1969 and 1972 — in cluding the Capitol, State Department and the Pentagon. Board delays hearing on election s validity By ANDY WILLIAMS Battalion Staff The student senate’s judicial board postponed until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday its hearing to determine the validity of the recent campus elections. Stan Stanfield, counsel for the election commission, requested the postponement at a Monday hearing. Stanfield cited a lack of time to prepare his case and gather witnesses. The Texas A&M University election commission is the defendant in a complaint filed by Scott Gregson, Austin Sterling, Joe Beall, and Laura Brockman. Stanfield also filed a request for a writ of injunction and a reprimand against student body president Mike Humphrey and Kirk Marchand, the executive director of student government. It asks that Humphrey and Marchand be enjoined from “any further participation in the planning, organization, or execution of any forthcoming election or referendum” and charges them with a “lack of communication, supervi sion, and recruitment of qualified personnel for polling places.” “I feel that the position I’m in is very good considering what the charges are,” Marchand said. He said he saw it as the duty of the election commissioner to run the election. Stanfield charged that Marchand had been contacted and asked for help three times by election commissioner Mike Barry. But Marchand said he was contacted only twice. Marchand said that he, Humphrey, and Bany, met once to talk about possible problems with advertising and voting machines. He said Barry called him later to ask that he use his “power in the Corps to round up workers for the polls.” Scott Gregson, one of the four plaintiffs, said he saw the filing of the writ as a “ploy” by the election commission to cast the blame on other people for problems with the election. Gregson said he saw the writ as asking Humphrey and Marchand, “Why didn’t you see that I did right?” “Sounds like a bunch of sour grapes,” Stanfield said of Gregson’s remarks. He said further that he felt the filing of the contestment of the election was “a sour grapes campaign for several people not listed as plaintiffs.” Stanfield said he meant candi dates who lost their elections, but would not name specific people. Of Humphrey and Marchand, Stanfield said, “they did not exercise the care that was demanded” in their supervision of the election commission. they run this survey to find out how students felt about their advisers. The council set up an advisory questionnaire commit tee, headed by Vince Schielack, secretary-treasurer of the Student Council. The committee consisted of one member from each department in the college. “First we set up a committee to write the questionnaire, then we gave it to the students at pre-registration,” said Schielack. “One member from each department inter preted the results and they were combined into a general report submitted to the Dean.” Every student who pre-registered in the College of Sci ence was given the chance to participate, Schielack said. Of the 2,190 undergraduate students in the college, 415 participated in the survey. Mitch Muehsam, an applied math major on the committee, estimated that the poll was 95 percent reliable. Schielack prepared the report of the above information and it was submitted to T.T. Sugihara, Dean of the col lege. Battalion photo by David Boggan When I grow up .. . Heros abounded at the Texas Relays in Austin last weekend, as did hero worshipers. Here, Texas A&M’s Curtis Dickey, winner of the Invitational 100-meter dash, talks with John Caster, an Aggie fan from Texarkana. For the complete story on how Dickey and his teamm«*r*s vf* rv><Tf* ii