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The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
January 26, 1979
Reflections
Williams resigns
gives no reasons
Dr. Jack K. Williams is no longer chancellor of the Texas A&M Univer
sity System.
We all knew that Tuesday. But we still don’t know why.
Did he resign on his own, or was he asked by the Board of Regents to
leave? For now, neither Williams nor the board will not say.
His resignation came as a surprise to some professors and students. But
for those close to Williams and familiar with the actions of the board, it
really was no shock. The action Tuesday was the end of a long, deliberate
trail of events.
Williams came to Texas A&M in 1970, continuing an already distin
guished career as an educator. He was the first commissioner of the Texas
Coordinating Board, Texas Colleges and University System, and served
on many national educational and corporation boards.
After his heart problems in 1976, the regents chose to have him relin
quish many of his former duties. They removed his responsibility for the
main campus and made him “chancellor” in 1977.
Surely, this was the start of something that led to his resignation Tues
day.
During the last year and a half his powers have eroded away.
Moody College, which has a separate president, began reporting to
Texas A&M President Jarvis Miller instead. The board’s creation of vice
presidents for agriculture and renewable resources made the Agriculture
Experiment and Extension Service and the Engineering Experiment and
Extension Service also report to Miller.
And then there’s the Georgian house on the main campus. It was given
to the Texas A&M president this fall.
For a man who had headed the whole show and proven his abilities
many times, this must have been hard to take.
Williams wasn’t known for going along with all the actions of the re
gents. An educator by profession, he didn’t always agree with men whose
background was a corporate boardroom instead of a university classroom.
The two new regents could have reversed this trend made his posi
tion less of a figurehead and more of a job. Maybe.
His resignation, though, came during the new regents’ first meeting —
an indication he saw no new changes coming.
But we don’t know for sure. It seems that either Williams had enough,
or that the regents decided to cut the few remaining strings.
c*\n&/cMAef>Tr&»e-
Carter philosophy:
take the middle road
By HELEN THOMAS
UPI White House Reporter
WASHINGTON — President Carter is
approaching the new Congress from the
middle of the road.
His $532 billion budget for fiscal 1980
has renewed the “guns and butter” con
troversy between liberals and conserva
tives.
Republican leaders, traditional foes of
big government, say the cuts could be
deeper. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., on the other hand, is leading the
liberal onslaught which condemns the
budget as an excessive burden on “the
poor, the black, the sick, the young, the
cities and the unemployed.”
Somewhere in between, stands Carter.
By reducing the estimated deficit to $29
billion and reducing federal spending.
Carter believes he is being responsive to
the first demand of the American people
— to fight inflation.
“The policy of restraint is not a casual
one,” he said in his budget message. “It is
imperative if we are to overcome the
threat of accelerating inflation.”
He said his budget “supports a balanced
fiscal policy” and will slow inflationary
pressures while permitting growth.
The fight for the federal dollar was an
ticipated. But Carter is in effect laying
down his blueprint for smaller, more effec
tive government and “a balanced budget
as soon as economic conditions permit.”
To those who criticize him for increasing
the defense budget by 3 percent. Carter
says: “As president, it is my central re
sponsibility to ensure that our defense
forces are strong enough to deter aggres
sion.”
Also, he is girding himself for the day
when he starts selling a strategic arms
limitation pact — after it is reached with
the Soviets — to the many Senate hardlin
ers.
“The spending restraint in this budget
means that in some areas the government
will simply not be able to do as much as it
has in the past,” Carter said. “Inevitably,
real sacrifices must be made if we are to
Editor:
Aggies have always fought to protect
others from injustice and persecution. In
World War II we sent 18,000 Aggies to
fight to protect the rights of the perse
cuted. That is a record to be proud of.
But, look at our own backyard. I am
talking about the Waggies. They are con
stantly discriminated against. There isn’t a
day that goes by, that some Waggie isn’t
recipient of obscene insults and outright
hatred. Freshmen refuse to meet Waggie
upperclassmen. And when Waggie fish try
to meet male upperclassmen they get ig
nored or cussed out.
I know most of the class of ’80 in both
women’s outfits. And I find them, without
exception, to be ladies of outstanding qual
ities. They have gone through as much as,
if not more, than I have in the past two and
a half years in the Corps. Yet they don’t
have the privilege to wear senior boots
next year. A privilege they have more than
earned. Nor can they work on bonfire, join
Ross Volunteers, or many other activities
the Corps in general take for granted.
The inscription on Sully says, “Soldier,
Statesman, Knightly Gentleman.” The
Corps teaches their fish to believe this
noble sentiment, however, we are nothing
but hypocrites as long as we stand by and
allow such injustices to go on.
We should stand by the Waggies, not
hate them. Surely we men in the Corps
are not so insecure in our masculinity that
we are afraid to treat the Waggies like
human beings. I am not saying that we
should treat the Waggies special just be
cause they are women. But we certainly
shouldn’t treat them like second-class
people either. I will be proud to wear my
boots side by side with a Waggie in boots.
—Gary R. Brock, ’80
approach the true feelings of the student
body but rather the sentiments of the
senators.
For these reasons, and not my personal
desires, I would like to initiate a petition
for a referendum of the entire student
body regarding this issue. Hopefully this
will result in a more representative result.
The views I expressed in a letter in
Wednesday’s (Jan. 24) Battalion were
motivated by anger, however their verita-
bility remains the same. I only regret not
speaking out sooner.
Perhaps it is because of where I’ve
been, and where you’ve got to go, that my
viewpoint is different. War is not nice, any
representation of it otherwise is an obscen
ity. The phrase “a P.O. W. never has a nice
day” was and still is very true. The am
nesty allows the ex-patriots to return home
but nothing allows the maimed or crippled
freedom from the prison their body or
mind has become.
I can’t escape from the thought of how
those that died in our country’s service —
preserving ideas and concepts for the liv
ing — would feel about injuring the needs
of the living for the needs of the dead.
How the survivors’ relatives feel about
this? How do their buddies feel about
their sacrifices?
This I spoke of in my letter before. The
expenditure of $20,000-25,000 for a hedge
remains a touching but empty gesture in.
comparison to the deserving living whose
sacrifices have so often been forgotten.
This issue can be taken up by a formal
petition signed by one-tenth of the student
body causing it to become resolved by the
popular vote.
—Jeff O. Bogert, ’84
Dianne Brown, ’82
Move to the front
Editor:
This short note is directed to Mr. Chris
topher D. Stewart, ’79, and concerns his
comment about “Waggies” being in the
“trunk” at Texas A&M.
I feel everyone deserves a little more
respect than that. So I’d like for him to
remember during elephant walk this year
that the trunk is in the front and not in the
back.
—Janet Kirklen, ’79
Petition against vote
Editor:
I have just returned from the student
senate meeting where the proposal for a
hedge around the Memorial Student Cen
ter passed. However, it passed after a lim
ited 30 minute debate without any input
from the student body (non-senate) that
was attending. I maintain this vote did not
i States’ rights’ return
Editor:
I am writing this letter to draw attention
to Wyoming’s heroic attempt to challenge
the national government’s ever-growing
circle of power. I quote from a UPI re
lease. “The Wyoming Senate tentatively
voted to ignore the nationwide 55-mph
speed limit and raise the state’s limit to 65
mph.”
The issue is not the speed limit, it is
whether or not the government has the
right to dictate, through the threatened
withdrawal of funds, actions totally with-
ing the state that have no effect on the rest
of the nation.
Statistics indicate that the reduction of
fuel consumed after the 55 mph speed
limit’s introduction resulted mainly from a
reduction in miles traveled. Since the
price of gasoline took a large jump the
same year as the speed limit reduction,
the resulting fuel consumption reductions
previously credited to the speed limit are
grossly over-estimated. In 1976 and 1977,
accidents per mile driven actually in
creased.
You probably haven’t heard these two
interesting facts before, and we think
communists are the only ones who use
propaganda.
I applaud Wyoming’s action and am
looking forward to the government’s reac
tion. Again from the UPI article, “Propo
nents vowed a court fight if the govern
ment cuts off cash because of the action.”
If other states would follow Wyoming’s
lead, the government would be forced to
return the right of speed limit determina
tion to the states.
—Dudley Smith, ’81
overcome inflation. In formulating this
budget, I have made every effort to spread
tha burden fairly and objectively.”
The document itself is a signal to Demo
crats that the party leader is ready to re
trench on the “Great Society” and other
programs that typified past Democratic
presidents.
He believes his approach is “compas
sionate and competent” but that there are
no new breakthrough solutions to the
problems that have plagued American so
ciety for decades.
“I have ensured that my budget include
adequate funds for programs that help
those Americans most in need,” he said.
Carter believes he is in tune with the
wave of the future and that the new Con
gress, in closer touch with the homefolks,
agrees with him that the time has come to
put the brake on the scope of federal gov
ernment and the tax burden.
“He is in the mainstream of American
politics,” said press secretary Jody Powell.
If that is true, then Ted Kennedy, a po
tential rival for the presidency, is out of
step with the public.
On the other hand, California Gov.
Edmund Brown is moving to the more
•conservative side of the party spectrum.
Some believe Brown may have gone
farther than his own party could ever go
with his call for a constitutional convention
to force a balanced budget.
But somewhere in the middle is Carter
— becoming more and more the moderate
that he probably always was before the
presidential campaign. He may wind up in
the Eisenhower mold. But his aides don’t
think that’s so bad. Eisenhower won two
terms which no one doubts Carter wants.
From here
to austerity
Waggies face discrimination, rudeness
By DICK WEST
WASHINGTON — Although a reaction
consensus would be hard to isolate and
identify, congressional comment on Presi
dent Carter’s fiscal 1980 budget was heav
ily laced with the word “austerity.”
“... stops short of imposing the austerity
needed.”—Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
“To describe such a budget as ‘lean and
austere’ is like talking about a ‘crash diet’
that permits banana splits and lemon
cream pie.” —Sen. William Armstrong,
R-Colo.
“We are in a period of economic auster
ity.” —Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo.
Etc.
Since there apparently is strong biparti
san support for a national austerity policy,
the chief remaining decision is how to
achieve that goal.
Some economists, among them Prof.
John Kenneth Turnipblood, favor the so-
called “trickle up” approach.
“Give the low income brackets a good
shot of austerity and it eventually will
trickle up into the high brackets where it is
most needed,” Turnipblood said in his
analysis of the budget.
Why not apply austerity measures to the
upper brackets directly?
“The upper brackets have a powerful
barrier against austerity,” Turnipblood
said. “It is called money. Very drastic
measures would be required to start an
austerity wave in the upper brackets.
“By contrast, a relatively small amount
of austerity will make itself felt in the
lower brackets. So the best policy is to aim
the austerity program in their direction.
Sooner or later, the higher brackets will
feel the effects of it, too.”
But other economists, one being Dr.
Sigmund Waterstock, argue that the lower
brackets already operate on an austere
level, thus making any further belt
tightening in that area ineffectual.
“To make austerity work, we’ve got to
have a program that attacks the roots of
sumptuousness. This means taking it right
at the upper brackets,” Waterstock told
me.
I’m sure that Congress, which has
shown exquisite wisdom in resolving such
issues in the past, will come forth with a
workable compromise — sometime in the
next decade. Meanwhile, there are foreign
policy implications to consider.
It is axiomatic that no nation can long
exist as an island of austerity in a world
that is striving for prodigality. To avoid of
fending our neighbors, we shall have to
avoid adopting an air of austerer-than-
thou.
Top of the News
STATE
Blown-out gas well monitored
Oil field workers and public safety officials Thursday monitored;
rogue gas well that blew out of control near Beaumont. No one J
injured and there was no fire in the Wednesday blowout of a 4,§,1
foot-deep Stovall Oil and Gas Producers well in Spindletop Field
south of the city. Wild Well Control Inc. of Houston was calledkn
control the well. However, a Texas Department of Public Safer
Official said he didn’t know if the well would be capped or not j
think it’s about to blow itself out,” he said. “It’s trying to sand over
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Strauss to leave Carter post om ° th(
i ave to w
Foreign trade ambassador Robert Strauss will leave the
administration as soon as he has completed a round of trade negofeR
tions in Tokyo between the United States and 100 other countries , In an e
Dallas newspaper said. The Times Herald Wednesday saidtl»Rs, ce
former Democratic national chairman plans to return to his privatrRe in re
law practice, and plans to be active in Carter’s 1980 re-electioncanH ste . l( j
P ai g n - Wnf ur
NATION
Snow stalls farmer tractorcade
One of two snowbound tractorcades headed for Washington!
western Illinois Thursday, but the other remained stalled
Greenville, Ill. The two groups, totalling 800 farmers and thl
families, belong to American Agricultural Movement caravans travel
ling to the capital to lobby against higher farm prices. The stakl
farmers busied themselves clearing snow from Greenville stree'f
“We had two snowplows break down Wednesday night, so theyij
really helping,” Greenville Police Chief Robert File said.
Carter appoints four to bench
1
President Carter Thursday named four people — including!
woman and a black — to the federal bench in Massachusetts. Tli
woman is Rya W. Zobel, a Boston lawyer; the black is Davidi i . ,
Nelson, associate justice on the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Hi I
others are Robert E. Keeton, an associate dean at Harvard b ' IM<
School, and John J. McNaught, associate judge of the state supm’ jp j'i'
court. All are subject to confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Coi
mittee, whose chairman. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, said he; L '
eliminating the old confirmation system under which senators k p ls
veto powers over nominees from their state. The appointments*! he fine
the first under the new omnibus judgeship law which provides for 13* is goir
new federal judgeships, the most any president ever has beenaitts the
thorized to appoint. «>i
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Tolmadge records subpoenaed
imaP
ijweic
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed Senate records on Sen. He; culati
man Talmadge’s office expense claims in 1973 and 1974. Talmadge, eryor
Georgia Democrat in his 23rd year in the Senate, already faces ai»
pline by the Senate Ethics Committee for five possible violation
including illegal expense claims and the conversion of campaign liini
to personal use. The jury’s subpoena is the first indication the Justin
Department may be pursuing an indictment against Talmadge orani^.. , 1
of his staff. “° n f
'1V1SK
Troopers ready for police strih
Louisiana state troopers are preparing for possible emergency wo’
if city police strike, state police Commander G.W. Garrisons
Thursday. The 800-member Patrolman’s Association of NewOrlei
has threatened a chotic Mardis Gras strike unless the city reston
vacation and sick leave benefits which were reduced to help coven
10 to 30 percent pay raise.
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WORLD
Britain threatens force in strike
Britain’s Social Services Secretary David Ennals said Thursday tl
government will use force if necessary to break a blockade by sti
pickets that is preventing deliveries of medical supplies to hospitjll
More than 50 cancer patients were sent home from Birminghamf
Queen Elizabeth hospital because striking public health servio
workers prevented medical supplies from getting through. The Wool
kading of drugs was the latest blow to a country already hit by weefel
of railroad shutdowns, food shortages and walkouts by public servkf|
workers and gravediggers.
Fin
1,500 Chinese apply for visas | o U ]
0
Applications by mainland Chinese to enter the United States b
reached 1,500 this month, a U.S. consul spokesman in Hong Koni
said Thursday. “We expect this figure to top 2,000 by the endofil*
month, the spokesman said. He added he expects an even higti«
figure in February. A year ago, the consulate handled only 30 vis
applications, but an easing of Peking’s restrictions after the esta!
lishment of diplomatic relations with the United States has senttk
number up.
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WEATHER
Overcast skies with 100% chance of rain. High today
40’s and low tonight in the low 30’s. Winds will be E.N.EJi
10 m.p.h.
The Battalion
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