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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1978)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 152 8 Pages Monday, May 8, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Monday • Ags for mags, p. 5 • Texas track team over the Aggies by one, p. 7 • Aggies take double header, p. 8 Record number receive degrees at commencement Pat O’Mai in tnly one •ar, the of the F r the leal t, but ie has ament at the ston Oi Battalion photo by Ben Po President Jarvis E. Miller congratulated some of the 2,751 graduates at commencement exercise Friday night. For the first time in Texas A&M’s history, it took three separate ceremonies to hand out the record number of degrees. By MICHELLE SCUDDER Battalion Staff Texas A&M University took 49 years to award as many degrees as it did this weekend at commencement ceremonies in G. Rollie White Coliseum. In three ceremonies 2,751 degrees were conferred, 2,418 bachelors, and 333 graduate degrees. Dr. Jack Williams, Texas A&M Univer sity System Chancellor, used three hu morous fables from James Thurber to illustrate “philosophic truths” he said would be useful to the record number of graduates. In the first of the fables, James Thurber’s “Two Turkeys,” Williams urged the graduates to accept nothing blindly without confirming its validity. “Education should be used with calcula tion and care to determine when change is progress and when it is selfish destruc tion,” he said. “The Bear Who Could Take It or Leave It Alone” was William’s second tale. The moral, he said, was, “You might as well fall flat on your face to lean too far backward.’ Williams explained, “Extremism, regard less of the source, has never produced a solution to anything.” Williams urged the seniors to “use the wings God gave you” in his third fable. “The Hen Who Was Afraid to Fly. “Use your education the way it was in tended — for constructive leadership and selfless service to mankind, he said. Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to four men to recognize “ex ceptional contributions to society” and support of the University. Searcy Bracewell, ‘38; and James L. Sewell, ’27, received the award. Nominations were made from among Texas A&M’s 75,000 former students. An anonymous commit tee composed of faculty members and former students made the final selections. John Riddles of Pearland won the $5,000 Brown Foundation Earl Rudder Memorial Award. The annual award is given to the all around outstanding graduate. Riddles, who graduated in De cember, is on active duty in the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C. Riddles graduated with a 3.9 grade point ratio in industrial engineering. He was the recipi ent of the Doherty Award last December. The Doherty Award is given to a fourth- year Texas A&M Cadet who is taking a commission. Riddles is the first student to receive both awards. Michael Gentry of Huntsville received the $3,000 Doherty award at commission ing ceremonies Saturday. At the graduate commencement cere mony Friday, 333 graduate degrees were awarded — 75 doctorates and 258 masters. The main speaker at the graduate cere mony was Dr. Frand Vandiver, vice- president and provost of Rice University. Vandiver addressed “Truth vs. Research. He said “a channel of misunderstanding existed between the real world and the academic world until the 1960s. After Sputnik, academics became heroes, especially scientists. “Scientists became the priesthood of success, Vandiver said. Government af fection toward research scientists became great, and funding for applied research in creased greatly, he said. With this in creased government funding, Vandiver added, research replaced education and scientific methodoloy replaced learning in universities. Many professors busy with research handed their classes over to teaching assistants. Vandiver said a “patronship” evolved between the federal government and uni versities. Vandiver warned against such a close re lationship. “Scholars must always be the most in dependent of men,” he said, adding that those who remain loyal to truth are “Guaranteed no rose garden.’’ This year marks the first time that three separate ceremonies were necessary to a accommodate families and friends of Texas A&M students receiving diplomas. Presi dent Jarvis Miller said this may be due to the fact that 90 percent of all Texas A&M graduates receiving diplomas actually at tend the commencement exercises. Also appearing at the commencement ceremonies were Clyde Wells, chairman of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System; and Harvey Cash, president of the Association of Former Students. Both speakers brought greetings and congratulations to the graduates. ounty and state primaries Many changes in Brazos County 0U4 ' In Saturday’s primary elections, Brazos (flU (Bounty voters chose to make many wianges in area government positions. I Travis Bryan III won the Democratic la mawi pnmary for dish ict attorney by collecting 6 949 votes to incumbent Roland Searcy’s 1721. Since there was no Republican can- ~ dictate, Bryan will be the new district at- 4»rney. In the Democratic primary for district judge of the 85th Judicial District, Tom le2 ''■cDonald Jr. beat William Vance by well Motif <> v er 1,000 votes. The final vote was 7,388 For McDonald and 5,920 for Vance. There as no Republican candidate for district dge. S ■a Sets i & Ltd t with r Tea Ini Former Bryan mayor Lloyd Joyce and Dick Holmgreen will have a runofl to de termine the Democratic candidate for founty judge. Holmgreen received almost 3,000 votes more than Joyce, but Tommy Janik and two other candidates drew pough votes to counteract Holmgreen’s ad and force a runoff. Candidates must [arner a majority of the votes to win the rimary. In the Republican county judge prim- y, John Raney beat Bill Owens, 234 [votes to 153. Raney will face the Democra- : runoff winner in the November elec- ms. Democrat John Barron Jr. retained his osition as county attorney by defeating Ed Elmore, 7,135 votes to 5,762. There was no Republican candidate for the posi tion. In the Democratic primary for county commissioners, Walter Wilcox and George Dunn will have a runoff for the Precinct 2 position, while Bill Stasny won the Precinct 4 position unopposed. W. D. Burley kept his post as district clerk by winning the Democratic election unopposed. Three of five justice of the peace primaries were won unopposed by Demo cratic candidates. There were no Republi can candidates for justice of the peace. Jerry Hutchinson won the Precinct 3 position unopposed, Joe Novosad won Precinct 5 and A. P. Boyett Jr. won in Precinct 7, Place 2. Clyde Day defeated John Dockery for the Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace posi tion. Carolyn Hensarling took the Precinct 4, Place 2 election by heating Joe Marin and Frank Kahan. In the race for county tax assessor- collector, incumbent Democrat Gerald Winn beat challenger Gregory Rodriguez, 9,805 votes to 2,962. In the Republican primary Ed Valenta won unopposed, and will face Winn in the November election. Democrat Bill Elkins ran unopposed and won the county treasurer position, since there was no Republican candidate for the position. John Hill defeats Briscoe Sen. Moore iraises A&M Texas emergence as a maritime state vas emphasized Friday morning by state ien. William T. (Bill) Moore of Bryan at vioody College convocation ceremonies. Sen. Moore said it was sad to note the nited States, once dominant in the naritime field, is now a minor maritime Wwer. “Steps can be taken to reverse the de line of our merchant marine if the princi- >al parties commit themselves to a suc- essfiil solution,” he stressed. “As a state, we can take a bow for taking step in the right direction in correcting his sad situation,” Moore said. “I am )roud that Texas A&M University took on he added responsibility and moved to Deet the challenge.” Starting new programs successfully has >een the hallmark of Texas A&M, said the ienator. And nowhere has this been more he case than in maritime and marine sci ence fields. More than 200 students, parents and university officials were on hand for the Horning ceremony at the Mary Moody Northern Student Activities Center on the Mitchell Campus. The convocation in cluded presentation of academic awards, as well as U. S. Coast Guard licensing and mmissioning ceremonies. Texas Maritime Academy cadets who completed United States Coast Guard re quirements also received their third mate or third engineer license. Dr. William Clayton, president of Moody College, congratulated the 54 graduating seniors for their many years of work. Graduating seniors included 18 in marine biology, 11 in marine engineering, 11 in marine science, 10 in marine trans portation and three in maritime system’s engineering. The students will receive academic dip lomas at the Texas A&M commencement Saturday morning in College Station. Currently there are five maritime academies in the nation, and Moody Col lege is the only one on the Gulf Coast. It also is the only one that is part of a major university. “There can be no doubt that beginning a part of Texas A&M gave the College a major boost and placed it in a strong academic posture,” Moore said. “Moody College has come a long way in a short time,” Moore said. “Moody Col lege has the opportunity to provide the leadership to get people thinking posi tively about the sea once again and furnish the impetus for moving ahead. “As Texas truly becomes a maritime state, it only seems logical that Moody College and its maritime academy will play a prominent role as the vanguard of marine and maritime education,” he said. Texas Attorney General John Hill de feated incumbent Texas Gov. Dolph Bris coe in the Democratic primary Saturday. The victory virtually assures Hill of the governor’s position, if state political tra ditions run true. Although results are still not final. Hill has about 52 percent of the total vote to Briscoe’s 42 percent. Preston Smith, who was seen as the potential spoiler, came in a distant third with slightly more than 5 per cent of the vote. In the Republican primary Bill Cle ments defeated* Ray Hutchison, receiving about three-fourths of the votes cast. Briscoe had still not conceded the Democratic election by Sunday, but Hill has expressed confidence in his victory. Hill’s confidence is supported by his lead of almost 150,000 votes, with 246 of Texas’ 254 counties reporting. In Brazos County, Hill received 8,298 votes to Briscoe’s 4,897. In the Republican vote, Clements took 236 votes in Brazos County to Hutchison’s 158. However, the Sixth Congressional Dis trict Democratic race is not so clearly de cided. Three candidates are so close that officials are waiting until all results are in to announce which two will be in the runoff. As of Sunday night, Chet Edwards led with 21,029 votes. He was followed closely by Phil Gramm with 20,813 and Ron God- bey with 19,730. Edwards and Gramm both received over 5,000 votes in Brazos County, while Godbey got slightly more than 1,000 votes. In the Republican primary for the 6th district, Wes Mowery defeated Carl Krohn. Mowery will face the winner of the Democratic primary for the position next November. Mark White surprised many by defeat ing Price Daniel Jr. in the Democratic primary for attorney general. White will face unopposed Republican winner Jim Baker for the position next fall. U.S. Rep. Bob Krueger won the Demo- W. Germany, Russia sign economic pact United Press International BONN, West Germany — Ailing Soviet President Lenoid Brezhmev and Chancel lor Helmut Schmidt signed an economic pact Saturday but failed to make progress on political and disarmament questions at the end of three days of talks. The talks, which concluded with Brezhnev flying off to Hamburg after mak ing a disarmament appeal on West Ger man television, produced a 25-year eco nomic cooperation pact to infuse Soviet industry with West German technology. Although they apparently got nowhere on the thorny issue of Berlin, disagreed over Cuban intervention in Africa and ex pressed their desire for disarmament in general terms only, both leaders called their talks “necessary, useful and rich in substance. ” cratic primary for one of Texas’ U.S. Sen ate seats by defeating Joe Christie. Krueger will face incumbent Republican Sen. John Tower, who won the Republi can nomination unopposed. Incumbent Democrat Bill Hobby won the primary for lieutenant governor, and he will face Republican winner Gaylord Marshall, who ran unopposed. Although Brazos County voters pre ferred Harry Ledbetter over Warren G. Harding in the Democratic state treasurer primary, Harding won the state election by almost 300,000 votes. No Republicans ran for the position so Harding will be the new treasurer. Reagan Brown had no trouble beating Joe Hubenak in the Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner. Brown took over 70 percent of the vote in Brazos County, and about 53 percent of the statewide vote. There was no Republican candidate for the position. Mack Wallace defeated John Henderson in the Democratic primary for railroad commissioner, and will assume the posi tion because there was no Republican candidate for it. In an election to fill an unexpired rail road commissioner term, Democrat Jerry Sadler won a plurality but not a majority, and will face John Poerner in a runoff. James Lacy won the Republican race un opposed for the unexpired term. Bob Armstrong won the Democratic race for land office commissioner. He was unopposed and will assume the position because there was no Republican candi date. Texas voters once again defeated the issue of pari-mutuel horse race betting. If approved, pari-mutuel betting would have been presented to voters on a local option basis. The Beginning and the End Finishing the term in fine style, 94 cadets were commissioned in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps (above) and later passed in final review with the Corps of Cadets. Marine Corps Commandant, four-star Gen. Louis H. Wilson (right), congratulates one of the new Marine Corps 2nd lieutenants, Steve Harron, a graduate in computing science. Instead of delivering the tradi tional speech to the new officers about their career, Wilson ad dressed U.S. military strength in relation to the Soviet Union. He said Americans are in danger of losing their freedoms unless greater effort is made to regain military might at least equal to that of other superpowers. Saturday afternoon Company B-l seniors gave their last salute during Final Review on the Drill Field. John Weber (far right) left the University because of financial rea sons. His company buddies asked him to come back for the senti mental ceremony that marks the end of corps participation for Senior cadets. Battalion photos by Pat O’Malley and Paige Beasley