The Battalion
Vol. 72 No. 53 Tuesday, November 14, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
12 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Hogs, Aggies to be televised
ABC Television announced
Monday that the Texas A&M-
Arkansas football game Saturday will
be regionally televised. The original
kickoff time of 7:30 p.m. has been
changed to 11:50 a.m. Pre-game ac
tivities will air at 11:30.
Hill, Krueger seek
39-county recount
United Press International
AUSTIN — Democrats John Hill and
lob Krueger Monday began the process of
eeking vote recounts in 39 of the state’s
irgest counties to determine if any errors
ere made in tabulations which gave Re-
mblicans victories in the gubernatorial
ndU.S. Senate races.
Hill lost to Republican Bill Clements by
1,437 votes, and Krueger lost to Sen.
ohn Tower, R-Texas, by slightly more
ban 14,902 votes.
John Rogers, Hill’s campaign manager,
lid petitions seeking the recounts were
:nt to local campaign organizations in 39
ounties which used either voting
lachines or punch card ballots in Tues-
ay’s election.
Local campaign workers began present-
ig the recount requests to county com
missioners courts Monday, filing the first
ones in Bexar, Cameron, Nueces and
Webb counties, all areas carried by Hill.
Rogers said the recount requests were
being made Monday because that was the
deadline for filing such petitions, accord
ing to Secretary of State Steve Oaks. Re
quests for recounts in areas using paper
ballots may be filed later, Robers said.
“I’m sure Steve’s thought was that there
is a provision in the law that voting
machines can be cleared 10 days after the
election,” Rogers said. “We just wanted to
be sure all the votes were counted before
the machines were cleared.”
Rogers said the Hill and Krueger cam
paigns have had reports of some votes not
being counted when voters voted a
straight party ticket, then went back and
Results challenged
Brazos County
m
Two petitions filed Monday in
85th District Court challenge the re
sults of the governor’s and U.S. sen
ator’s election in Brazos County.
Kent Caperton, John Hill’s cam
paign manager for the county, filed
the petitons at 8 a.m. Monday with
Judge W.T. McDonald Jr.
The petitions prevent the election
results from being canvassed (cer
tified) until the votes can be re
counted.
Caperton said that Hill, the
Democratic candidate for governor
in the Nov. 7 election, and Bob
Krueger, the Democratic candidate
for U.S. senator, decided Friday to
challenge the results in Brazos and
40 other “key” counties.
The counties in which the re
counts will take place were chosen
with regard to population and voting
irregularities, Caperton said. Texas
has 254 counties.
“I only anticipate a one or two
vote change,” Caperton said, adding
that he had already checked the
votes informally.
Bill Clements defeated Hill by
18,437 votes, becoming the first
Republican governor in Texas in 105
years.
Incumbent John Tower defeated
Democrat Bob Krueger by 14,902
votes.
Caperton said he would talk to of-
ficals at the Texas Data Center
Monday night or today to decide
when to recount the votes. He said
he hopes it can be done Wednesday
or Friday.
attempted to vote for one candidate from
another party.
“All we’re doing is just making sure for
our own peace of mind and we have an
obligation to the people who voted for
John Hill to make sure their votes were
counted.”
Rogers said petitions for recounts were
sent to Bexar, Smith, Bell, Dallas, Galves
ton, Gregg, Harrison, Midland, San Pat
ricio, Victoria, Cameron, Harris, Hidalgo,
Nueces, Rusk, Tarrant, Angelina, Aransas,
Bee, Bowie, Brazoria, Brazos, Chambers,
Collin, Ector, El Paso, Howard, Jefferson,
Lubbock, Montgomery, Potter, Randall,
Tom Green, Travis, Webb, Fort Bend,
Pecos, Scurry, Nacogdoches and Taylor
counties.
He said, however, he was not sure the
recount requests would be filed in all of
those counties.
Rogers said those counties account for a
sizable portion of the 2.3 million votes cast
in the election, but said Hill’s campaign
workers have not attempted to determine
exactly how many votes could be affected.
“The only method we used to pick these
counties was that they used punch cards or
voting machines. That’s the only criteria
we used,” he said.
Standing in line is all part of preregistration, espe
cially on Monday, the first day. However, the line
moved along well with students only waiting about
20 minutes in the Rudder Complex. Preregistration
‘Registration 101’
will continue through Friday of this week. Students
must have their departmental advisers approve
course selection before going to stand in line.
Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco
Mismatch of_ interests and abilities
Aggies face ‘major’ dilemmas
Editor’s note: This article is the second
of a two-part series on students who run
into academic difficulty and want to
change majors. This article explores why
students tend to pick the wrong major in
the first place, and why they are reluctant
to change.
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
Bill didn’t know what to do. He had
wanted to be a doctor since he was 5. The
miniature stethoscopes and pill bottles
were presents from early birthdays.
says no stalemate;
hears from Carter
United Press International
Prime Minister Menachem Begin said
Monday there is no stalemate in the
Egyptian-Israeli peace talks and that his
cabinet will decide this week on steps to
reach agreement on a treaty.
“There are problems, but the public in
terest demands that I do not detail them
until after the cabinet meeting,” he said at
Tel Aviv on his return from a 12-day visit
to the United States and Canada. “For the
time being, there is no stalemate.”
The Israeli cabinet, which rejected new
Egyptian demands Sunday, was to go into
special session today to hear Begin s report
and again Thursday with the participation
ofForeign Minister Moshe Dayan and De
fense Minister Ezer Weizman.
As Begin returned, Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat met with his top aides at the
Suez Canal city of Ismailia to examine a
telephone message from President Carter
on the progress of the Egyptian-Israeli
negotiations on a peace treaty, govern
ment officials said.
The influential Cairo newspaper Al
Ahram said Egypt, backed by the United
States, wants a partial Israeli withdrawal
from Egypt’s Sinai desert to run parallel
with the establishment of Arab autonomy
in the Jordan West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Both would be completed nine months
after the peace pact is concluded, the
newspaper said.
Officials did not disclose the content of
Carter’s message, which was relayed to
Sadat in a long-distance telephone conver
sation Sunday night. The Middle East
News Agency merely said it dealt with the
“conduct of the Washington negotiations.”
Sadat immediately summoned Vice
President Hosni Mobarak and Prime
Minister Mustafa Khalil to a meeting at
Ismailia, which began in the early after
noon to study the message, officials said.
The peace talks in Washington also re
sumed Monday. Israeli Foreign Minister
Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer
Weizman, who head Israel’s negotiating
team, were expected to fly back to Israel
today for a special cabinet meeting.
The main outstanding disagreement be
tween the two sides is to what extent the
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty should be
linked to future negotiations on the Pales
tinians and the occupied territories.
Egypt wants a definite and direct link in
the document, while Israel does not. The
Israelis charge that recent statements by
Sadat insisting on this linkage represent a
change in the Egyptian position.
The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram said
Washington wants a partial Israeli with
drawal from Egypt’s Sinai desert to run
parallel with the establishment of Arab au
tonomy in the Jordan West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
Everybody in his family and hometown
knew he was going to be a doctor and prac
tice there. But Bill was a failure. He hated
Chemistry 101 at Texas Ais-M University
and made an “F” on his first test, even
though he studied. About the same was
true of his biology and pre-calculus
courses. Only in English and history did
he make “A’s” and enjoy himself But he
had to be a doctor. Freshman Bill didn’t
know what to do.
An obvious option exists for Bill and
other students like him — changing
majors — but many students are reluctant
to take it.
Dr. Lannes Hope, a professor in educa
tional psychology, says national estimates
are that 50 percent of students change
majors at least once.
At Texas A&M, a tentative study by the
Academic Counseling Center found a
higher proportion than that changed
majors.
OF THE CLASS that entered in 1976,
about 25 percent were in the same major
after three semesters at Texas A&M. The
other 75 percent had left school or
changed majors. Some students shift to
closely allied fields or within the same col
lege.
Dr. Arthur Tollefson, director of the
center, said many students choose a major
the first time for the wrong reasons: job
opportunities, money, glamor, prestige or
family pressures.
He and Hope say students often mis
match interests and abilities, with disas
trous results.
“Oftentimes,” Hope says, “students are
failing because they ought to change their
major.”
ALTHOUGH A LARGE percentage do
change majors, some are reluctant to
switch; they continue to work in a field not
suited to their talents.
Senator blasts SALT II negotiation
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
“To call SALT II an arms control
agreement is an insult to our intelli
gence,” Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah,
told a Texas A&M University audi
ence Monday.
Gam, a member of the Senate
Arms Control Subcommittee, told a
Political Forum gathering that the
SALT talks have brought the Soviet
Union from a state of nuclear in
feriority to one of parity with the
United States. He added that SALT
II negotiations currently underway
will give the Soviets nuclear
superiority by the mid-l980’s.
Gam spent the major part of his
presentation outlining the dete
rioration of the strategic triad. This
combination of land-based intercon
tinental missiles, manned bombers
and submarine-launched missiles
was the basis for the U.S. policy of
deterrence, which dominated
strategic thought through the 1960’s.
The senator described the in
teraction between the theory of de
terrence and the triad: “Even if they
would be able to knock out two legs
of the triad, we would still have suf
ficient retaliatory capability so that
the price of an attack would be too
great for them to pay.”
Deterrence, he said, was a good
national policy. However, he said,
Soviet military spending on de
velopment and deployment of new
weapons systems now exceeds that
of the United States by a two to one
ratio.
Gam began his examination of the
triad’s weaknesses by comparing
U.S.-Soviet strategic bomber
strength. The United States relies
on a fleet of 20-year-old B-52s, while
the Soviets have deployed more
than 100 advanced Backfire bombers
and are producing more each
month.
In SALT negotiations, the United
States has contended that the Back
fire counts as a strategic bomber be
cause it can reach the United States
if it refuels in mid-air. The Soviets
have claimed the Backfire does not
possess that capability.
Gam, an Air Force Reserve pilot,
said he has seen pictures of the
Backfire bomber which clearly
demonstrate its mid-air refueling
ability.
The Backfire has not been subject
to limitations in either the SALT I
treaty or the SALT II negotiations.
Gam criticized the aging fleet of
B-52s, claiming that more modem
alternatives exist.
“It won’t make any difference
how much money you spend beef
ing up the wings or re-engining it,
you can’t turn the B-52 into a B-l,”
he said.
The B-l, a low-level, supersonic
proposed replacement for the B-52,
was scrapped by President Carter
earlier this year. Carter favored
modifications to the B-52s which
would have made them more effec
tive in modem warfare.
Gam also criticized the unilateral
decision to scrap the B-l. “The B-l
should have at least been used as a
bargaining chip with the Soviets,”
he said. He explained that the
United States could have offered to
give up the B-l if the Soviets halted
production of the Backfire. This, he
said, was not done.
The triad’s second branch, the
Poseidon-Polaris submarines, will
be outdated by the 1980’s. In addi
tion, he said, they will be phased
out quicker than their replace
ments, the Tridents, can be put into
service.
Garn also stated that the sub
marines present the problem of
target inaccuracy, since their
missiles are launched from moving
undersea bases.
The third branch of the triad, in
tercontinental ballistic missiles
(ICBMs), were criticized by Gam as
being aging and defective.
“In another unilateral decision, in
1967, we decided not to deploy more
than our present 1,054 ICBMs,” he
said. “Most of these, the Min-
uteman IIs, are aging and have
cracked motors.”
There are no replacements avail
able for the aging missiles, Gam
said. The Soviets on the other hand
have nine new missiles, some flight
tested, some mobile. Soviet missiles
have the ability to deliver up to
seven times more explosives than
U.S. missiles. Gam said.
The United States maintains an
advantage currently, he said, be
cause its missiles are so much more
accurate that we don’t need to
match Soviet explosive power.
“But by the mid-l980’s, the
Soviets will surpass us in accuracy, ”
Gam said. “The Soviets are continu
ing to advance in ICBMs while we
do nothing. We closed down the
only ICBM production plant in the
free world this year, while the
Soviets continue to operate at least
four.”
Gam said that the tremendous
Soviet expansion is permissible
under the terms of the SALT I
treaty, as well as the SALT II
agreement now being negotiated.
He blamed State Department
negotiators for the concessions that
are making the United States an in
ferior power.
“The State Department has a
bunch of loyal, dedicated people,”
he said. “But they have to have an
agreement to be successful.
“That’s the reason they make
concessions—they must have an
agreement or they feel they’ve
failed.”
Tollefson says they tend to think weak
ness is revealed if they change a major.
“They don’t know what to tell their par
ents or friends,” he says. Some don’t
change when they should.
“Many of them simply can’t disengage
from their original objective fast enough,”
Tollefson said, “and have made psycholog
ical commitments to it.”
Both counselors suggested students
seek help if their major is intolerable or
impossible for them.
“THE MAIN POINT to be made is that
the worst thing that can happen to a per
son who finds himself making poor prog
ress is to sit and do nothing,” Tollefson
said.
Associate deans in each college begin
checking for misplaced majors when mid
semester grades appear. If a student’s
grade point ratio is below a 2.0 on the 4.0
scale, the dean usually mails him an invita
tion for a conference and may withhold
pre-registration privileges.
The deans say they suggest a student
change major if it appears he has talent in
another area.
They agreed that students sometimes
pick tbeir first major for the wrong rea
sons. Most of them said the first two years
of college should be a time of exploration
anyway.
ABOUT 1 OF 10 freshmen is in a grow
ing University program designed to give a
broad overview of the 77 departments that
make up Texas A&M — the General
Studies Program. In September about 900
students of all classifications were in the
program, up from 600 students in 1977,
said Dr. Ed Guthrie, acting director.
Besides undeclared majors, some stu
dents “between majors” are also in the
program — those working to raise their
grades until they can transfer into another
college.
One dean, however, said students in
academic trouble should not be sent to
General Studies because the advisers in
that program cannot know all they need to
know about the University. Departmental
advice is better, the dean said.
BUT GUTHRIE AND Hope sav the
student’s adviser in his original college
loses interest in the case when a student
fails in the adviser’s chosen field. Hope
says the student needs and, in most cases.
gets an informal adviser in the college he
is thinking of entering.
The problem with advisers, Guthrie
said, is that the student’s first adviser may
misinform him and cause him problems.
“I’m sad to find out there are some lousy
advisers on this campus,” Guthrie said.
“They’re screwing up a lot of kids’ lives.”
Advisers in General Studies verily what
they tell students, he said. Its main pur
pose is to advise students in selecting a
major and help them choose courses that
apply to many different majors.
HOPE, WHO NOW teaches students
how to be counselors, says many freshmen
aren’t psychologically prepared to select a
major.
“We really place an impossible burden
on the freshmen because we say now is the
time to choose — and affect the rest of
your life,” he said.
Investigators into the psychology of
choosing have found that one-third to
one-half of people develop interest pat
terns only when they reach 19-20 years of
age.
“In reality, they’re not ready to choose,”
he said.
Texas A&M, because it is a technical
school, encourages early choice of major.
“That’s neither good nor bad,” Hope
says, “that’s just the way things are at a
highly technical school.”
DR. DIANE STROMMER, associate
dean of liberal arts, and other deans said
freshmen shouldn’t be penalized for hav
ing a disastrous semester or choosing the
wrong major. She also noted that students
often fail to see that their low grades are
serious and think they can handle the in
tense competition for grades.
“Students tend to err on the side of op
timism,” she said. “And their choice of
major is often less than perfect.”
Dr. Charles McCandles, who was as
sociate dean of liberal arts several years
before becoming director of academic
planning, echoed Strom mer when he said
students convince themselves that just one
more semester will be enough to raise
their grades.
“I’VE NEVER MET a student yet who
intended to foul up a semester,” he said,
but “things happen” and they do anyway.
“But they will say they’ve learned their
lesson.”
Powell
moved
still tube-fed;
to mental hospital
United Press International
RUSK, Texas — Officials at the Rusk
state mental hospital are planning
psychiatric treatment for convicted mur
derer David Lee Powell, who has been
kept alive by force-feedings since begin
ning a hunger strike more than a month
ago.
Powell was brought to the hospital
Saturday from his Death Row cell at the
Texas Department of Corrections unit at
Huntsville. The former University of
Texas honors student, convicted of killing
an Austin policeman in September with a
Russian-made machine gun, has said he
wants to kill himself by starvation.
His conviction is on appeal.
More than a month ago, however, Pow
ell, 27, went on a hunger strike and prison
officials had been force-feeding him to
keep him alive. Officials now say that
further forcefeeding could rupture Pow
ell’s esophagus.
Powell arrived at the minimum security
unit at Rusk Saturday for psychiatric
treatment and hospital officials said there
would be an announcement today on hi;
condition.
State District Judge James Warren
Saturday ordered Powell’s transfer and a
greed with arguments that Powell needec
special medical attention. The prisonei
was moved only a few hours after the deci
sion.
At the hearing, a prison psychiatrist tes
tified Powell was determined to die.
“David Lee Powell wants to die and ht
wants to die by being killed. And he want]
it to involve as many people as possible!
He wants us (TDC) to lx? a party to tin
ritual,” said Dr. Terrance C. Feir, chief o
mental services for the TDC.