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The Battalion
Vol. 72 No. 51
12 Pages
Friday, November 10, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
How do you spell tax relief?
Wayne Peveto, a state represen
tative, spelled it A-M-E-N-D-M-
E-N-T at Texas A&M University
Thursday. See page 7.
A satellite designed to view what
scientists call “the invisible uni
verse” of X-rays will be launched
Monday. See page 5.
eporters ex
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oldjoke in Soviet Russia goes like this:
student says he doesn’t understand
difference between capitalism and
nmunism. His teacher explains, “Un-
capitalism, man exploits man.
'And under communism, it’s just the
site."
Washington Post journalist Robert
Kaiser
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
[he Soviet and American views of
nan rights are not “just the opposite,”
they are based on different ideas. Two
nalists — one Russian and one Ameri-
— who have covered each other’s
ntry described the difference Thursday
ntin Rudder Theater during a program
nsored by the Great Issues Commit-
•lelor Sturua, Washington bureau chief
■ the Russian newspaper Izvestiia, said
I first and most important human right
lolive, and to he able to obtain a living,
■he American said denial of expression
Baccess to information creates mistrust
■ween the countries critical to peace,
said that can only be alleviated by
nting Russians more rights,
iturua and Kaiser, who work in
ishington and have won top foreign re
ting awards, have often discussed the
rent “freedoms in their countries,
iturua, a Soviet citizen, said a person
|st have economic means and pos-
plities to live, and Russia provides
|nomic equality.
In affluence we are behind, the 50-
iwlcl journalist said. “But money really
t a measure of rights,
jberty and equality are different, he
“We stress equality. You stress lib-
lobert Kaiser, U.S. Senate correspon-
pit for The Washington Post, said
dleges separate Soviet leaders from the
sses, just as private wealth — con-
nned by Sturua — can separate
italists from the rest of society,
le agreed with Sturua that Soviet-
lerican views differ because of cultural
1 historical differences. Kaiser said the
isian emphasis on government as pro-
lor and provider comes from the begin-
g of the country as a group of tribes
king for security from a Seandanavian
g.
It gives rise to a theory and practice
y different from our own. ” Now, he
i, that outlook is reinforced as a matter
jolitical expediency and policy.
The whole notion of human rights is
very different (in the U.S.S.R.),” he said.
Freedoms Americans take for granted are
not a part of Russian tradition.
For instance, he said, the basic belief in
the sovereignty and worth of the indi
vidual is missing.
“This is simply not a Russian idea,” he
said. Americans expect rule by law, but
Russians still employ rule by man and are
only slowly evolving a system of rule by
law.
Later in the debate, Kaiser said the
banishment of Alexander Solzhenitsyn
showed improvement over a few years
ago, when the dissident would probably
have been sent another direction. But
still, he said, Russian leaders deny their
citizens’ rights out of insecurity.
The leaders of Soviet society, who are
elected by their predecessors, are not con
fident they enjoy the mandate from voters
that Western politicians have, he said.
“The leaders believe power depends on
controlling the movement of people,” he
said, “of controlling the information in the
newspapers. In 1976, he said, about
80,000 Americans visited the U.S.S.R.
That same year, tourist visas for 577 Rus
sians were granted by the United States.
Denial of the rights to know, to see for
themselves and hear conflicting opinions
leads to mistrust, said Kaiser, who was
The Washington Post bureau chief in
Moscow for three years.
Those rights are important, he said, be
cause we are human.
But more practically, he said, they are
important because they contribute to
trust. And any true detente between
America and Russia demands mutual
trust, he said.
“Trust is more difficult than it should
be, Kaiser said. As an example, the jour
nalist explained that Soviets have easy ac
cess to U.S. officials in Washington, can
watch debates in Congress and may lobby
for their country’s position.
“Everything is out in the open,” he said.
By contrast, American embassy officials
and reporters in Russia are denied access
and may not lobby for their positions.
“We simply don’t know what the argu
ments are in the Politburo (the policy
making body of the Communist party),"
Kaiser said. “We have no access to non
government ideas.
“We are in a dark room much of the
time and that makes it harder to trust
them.” The common Soviet’s lack of know-
lege about the United States also contri
butes to an underlying hostility, he said.
Sturua, whose father was once president
of the Soviet Province Georgia, said his
colleague put too much emphasis on the
right to know, to express himself and de
monstrate.
“If you just shout and don’t change any
thing,” Sturua said, “is it a real right?”
He said leaders can change bad laws eas
ily and that the laws prohibiting publica
tion of books and other opinions protect
the citizens.
Kaiser said that emphasis on freedom of
expression is where the differences lie. He
suggested that all Soviet censorship is not
for protection.
“I’d like to see The Washington Post
published in the Soviet Union,” the repor
ter said, or history books that include Sta
lin and Trotsky.
“A country that can t take the truth
about itself can’t be trusted.” Until Rus
sians are granted more rights, he said, the
climate will be “too tense for my nerves.“
Two journalists, one American and one Russian,
said different cultures and histories produced the
different systems of human rights in their two coun
tries. Their debate Thursday in Rudder Theater
was sponsored by the Great Issues Committee.
Robert Kaiser, left, won the Overseas Press Club
Award for best correspondent in 1974, when he was
Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post.
Melor Sturua received a comparable award for
Soviet journalists. He is Washington bureau chief
for the Russian newspaper Izvestiia.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
Dorm plan revised
By HARVEY IAAS
Battalion Reporter
A revised freshmen housing proposal
that would reserve 80 percent of available
space on campus for incoming freshmen,
has been submitted to Dr. John J. Koldus,
vice president for student services.
Current policy reserves 70 percent of
available space for freshmen.
The proposal was submitted by Ron
Blatchley, acting director of student af
fairs, and Ron Sasse, associate director of
student affairs.
In addition, the proposal would reserve
10 percent of available space for returning
off-campus students requesting dormitory
space and 10 percent for transfer students.
In the past no provision has been made for
transfer students.
The proposal also establishes quotas for
the allocation of space for each spring
semester. Eighty percent of available
space would go to returning students, 10
percent to transfers and 10 percent to in
coming freshmen. Previously there have
been no guidelines for the spring semes
ter.
The proposal includes a statement that
off-campus services need to be expanded
to aid freshmen who cannot obtain rooms
on campus.
This fall 1,800 freshmen received
rooms. If this proposal had been in effect,
about 250 more would have been able to
live on campus.
Because the renovation of Legett Hall
and the new women’s dormitory will pro
vide 700 new spaces in the fall of 1979,
Blatchley estimates the proposal would
provide 2,640 spaces for freshmen next
fall.
The original proposal that Blatchley and
Sasse submitted would have guaranteed a
room for all freshmen who wanted to live
on campus. Freshmen who accepted a
room would have done so with the know
ledge that they would only be guaranteed
a room one year.
Blatchley and Sasse developed the
proposal because they believed that
freshmen who were forced to live off-
campus were at a disadvantage in adjust
ing to college life.
It was revised because most students
and school officials opposed the idea of
forcing students to move off-campus and
believed it would lead to a loss of leaders
on campus.
Blatchley said response to the revised
proposal has been favorable.
He pointed out that there had not been
any provision for transfer students before
and that this plan at least gave them some
hope of getting on campus.
Koldus said he will discuss the proposal
with the Academic Programs Council be
fore making some form of recommenda
tion to President Jarvis E. Miller this
month.
Football tickets
available today
In Thursday’s ticket lottery for
the Texas A&M-Arkansas game, 318
out of 377 tokens drawn for tickets
were picked up. Students with lot
tery tokens that didn t pick up their
tickets may get them at G. Rollie
White Coliseum from 8 a.m.- noon
today. If there are any remaining
tickets, they will go to the general
public at 1 p.m. today on a first
come, first served basis at window 7
of the coliseum.
President says elections
won’t hurt him, SALT talks
United Press International
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Car
ter Friday conceded the Democrats lost
“some very key races,” especially in the
Midwest in Tuesday’s elections, but
thought his party did “fairly well” on a
nationwide basis.
Carter said he did not look at the mid
term elections as a referendum on his
presidency and said the fact the GOP
picked up three new senators will not hurt
the ratification of a new strategic arms
limitation agreement expected soon with
the Soviet Union.
He said he believes both conservatives
and liberals want a new SALT agreement
and said he would not hesitate to intro
duce controversial legislation to a more
Republican, more conservative Congress.
“I think the Democrats did fairly well on
a nationwide basis,” said Carter, two days
after the GOP added six governors to its
current total of 12 and added a dozen seats
in the House to go with its three new Se
nate seats.
“I think there is a general concensus of
approval around the country for the
Democratic Party,” he said.
Carter noted his party retained a major
ity of 60 percent in House, Senate and in
governorships and believes a SALT ag
reement will be approved by the Senate
next year.
“It will be a tough battle in the Senate,
but I don’t fear failure,” he said.
“I think liberals and conservatives favor
an agreement with the Soviet Union which
would limit the proliferation of nucler
arms in the future.”
Carter said he thought a “well-
balanced SALT II treaty “would be infi
nitely superior to no treaty at all.”
Carter said he had “no intention of cal
ling Congress into a special session to pass
mandatory wage and price controls, as
urged by AFL-CIO President George
Meany.
Carter said he will stick within his own
proposal calling for voluntary wage and
price controls to fight inflation and that he
will strive to keep upcoming labor contract
negotiations in line with that plan.
“Mr. Meany did not reject the voluntary
wage and price standards that I proposed.
Carter said when asked about Meany s at
tacks on the proposal.
But he noted Meany had strongly ques
tioned the effectiveness of voluntary con
trols on prices and had called for a special
session of Congress.
“I do not have intention of doing this,”
said Carter, “and I don’t think Congress
would approve.
Preregistration begins Monday
Preregistration for the spring semester
begins Monday and continues through
Friday for students currently enrolled at
Texas A&M University.
Students should preregister as early as
possible because courses fill up on a first
come, first served basis.
“The system is designed such that those
who come first will have a better chance of
receiving the courses they request. There
are some departments that fill up fast, but
generally, during preregistration, we can
honor about 75-80 percent of the re
quests,” said Robert Lacey, Texas A&M
registrar.
Lacey said that it is important for the
students to see their advisers to be sure
they are taking courses that will work to
wards their degree.
Fee slips for the spring semester will be
mailed to those who preregister and must
be paid by Jan. 2, 1979. Failure to pay fees
by this date may cancel the student’s pre
registration .
Class schedules are available in Heaton
Hall so students may arrange a tentative
schedule before they preregister.
Registration card packets are to be
picked up from the department of the stu
dent’s major. Registration advisers in each
department will help students in course
selection and check the final schedule for
time conflicts.
General studies students should see an
adviser before the preregistration period,
especially if they wish to declare a major,
said Hilliary Jessup, a general studies ad
viser.
“The students should come in before
preregistration because we have over 800
students in the program and they will not
be able to get much help after Friday,”
Jessup said.
“To help the student decide on what
courses he will take, the Personal Counsel
ing Service offers career planning work
shops and the Academic Counseling
Center gives interest evaluations,’ Jessup
said.
Career planning workshops may be
scheduled for Dec. 1 by calling 845-4427.
Tests from the Academic Counseling
Center may be arranged by calling 845-
1651.
Students with physical disabilities who
may need assistance in preregistration
should call the Texas Rehabilitation Com
mission at 846-4781.
Norman Rockwell dies at 84;
‘America’s Rembrandt’ gone
Here at last
&(■
Ol.
The center pole of the bonfire is being raised today
at noon. And with only 20 days ’til bonfire, the crew
is working continuously to have it ready on time.
They have breakfast at Duncan Dining Hall at 5
a.m., and leave for cutting sites at 6 a.m. Persons
interested in helping out may call Wendall Pool
at 845-1948 or Rod Luedeker at 845-5174.
Battalion photo by Mike Bailey
United Press International
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Norman
Rockwell, whose hundreds of homey
paintings depicted the fabric of American
life like no other artist, died at his home
late Wednesday. He was 84.
Rockwell, who drew 317 covers for the
weekly Saturday Evening Post, was in fail
ing health for two years and had been un
able to work in the studio he kept in the
Berkshire mountain town of Stockbridge.
On the easel at the time of his death was
his last painting — an unfinished depiction
of Stockbridge.
Rockwell’s personal physician. Dr.
Franklin Paddock, said the painter died at
11:15 p.m. EST, of an undisclosed illness.
“Norman Rockwell as a man was very
much like his paintings,” said Paddock.
“He had a most delightful and charming
personality and was a wonderful person.
But in addition, beneath that, he was a
very well-read man of much greater depth
than his illustrations would appear to
show.”
If he was sometimes dismissed as a pan-
derer to sentiment — one critic called him
the “Lawrence Welk of painting” — he
also was praised as “America’s Rem
brandt” and its favorite painter.
His gaunt figure, wavy hair and ever
present pipe were as much his trademark
as the signature that appeared on hun
dreds of his works. He consistently re
ferred to himself as an “illustrator” or “a
storyteller” but not an artist, although an
original Rockwell fetched $27,000 and he
was once asked to make an even trade of
one of his own paintings for an original
Andrew Wyeth valued at $50,000.
“If you can tell a story in a picture and if
a reasonable number of people like your
work, it is art,” he said.
Bom in New York City Feb. 3, 1894,
Rockwell dropped out of high school at 16
and on the strength of a few months’ edu
cation at the Academy of Design, began
illustrating youth magazines. In three
years he was art director of Boys Life
Magazine.
He sold his first painting to the Post
when he was 22 for $50. It showed a young
boy reluctantly pushing a baby carriage
and marked the beginning of an era.
Over the next four decades, he turned
out throat-catching, eye-wetting scenes
that caught Americans being American —
a doctor patiently examining a little girl’s
doll, a bare-bottomed boy ready to receive
a shot, a family solemnly giving thanks be
fore dinner, Rosie the Riveter doing her
part for the war effort.
“I didn’t set out on purpose to paint a
sunny America,” he said. But gentle
humor and charm characterized the
Rockwell style until the troubled and divi
sive 1960s drove him to comment with his
paintbrush.