Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1979)
THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1979 Page 5 s revolt concentrate on education, drop social issues By DILLARD STONE ■ Battalion Staff How feasible is a second national student organization?” is the ques tion facing one Texas A&M Univer sity student. > I leb Hensarling, president of the illAmefican Student Federation is j m/intz to lay the groundwork for en Tl What he hopes will be an organiza- ' Ion devoted to the free expression natp Jf education-related ideas. 1 Not only is the future of the y and ASF J. S f" SO , mewhat ^ I,,! iloubt but its birth involves a great • . a, n pa l of controversy. Unt* 1 last summer ’ educational e i S8l ihbving on the national level had been the domain of two groups, the adVai1 National Student Association and ■ale,, the National Student Lobby. lid thed| tect b In] the spirit of unity, the two roiips voted to merge last summer. ,he [result was the United States f" '' Student Association. , However, all was not as rosy as ’ eS ° the merger would indicate. A group nfdissidents, led in part by Hensarl- f S u nt 1 Ing and calling themselves the Re- 3 p TormfCaucus, protested that USSA flpNSA/NSL had some major flaws to s tb H were unacce P tabie to a iar g e number of American college stu- 11 Probably most importantly, the eIe /reformers claimed that USSA em- eivet ™^Rzes “social issues,” like abor tion, at the expense of “educational ansm lPls,” such as federal financial aid to students. , | p “In fact, educational issues prob- 3 , et0 lbly took up a minority of their r3C ! ce! Ke,” Hensarling said, j ' These “social issues” have little < ? ean 'jignificance for students in the United States, Hensarling said. " 1 When USSA took an official posi- ee , t , on tion on a “social issue,” the result S j Isis a far-left stance which had little relation to the feelings of the aver- I sult i JKollege student, he said. prejudi^Kp w j]j conce ntrate solely on edifcational issues, Hensarling said, /en " since emphasis on social issues 111 bauscs two problems: misallocation . If rt sources and increasing di- nont iisiveness. nz W^V ith limited resources, we must II 011 Ppritize, ’ Hensarling said. “There ie P lm |j m p]y WO n’t be enough funding left attorneiL.l^ia] issues. att f f^B eCOn d, y° u * ntrot l uce social )a , 0 1 Issues into the educational arena, ■ you tend to have more divisive ness, he added. “There’s not a na tional student consensus on things like affirmative action. USSA thinks lent, i (ben is.” •V^ioth er arguments voiced against ipresenl^H Lindberghs diakinfW d undl levant’f iinessm Id have! USSA are that it does not accurately represent student opinion because the majority of board members are appointed, not elected, and because wealthy schools could afford to send more delegates to conventions than some larger, but poorer, schools. One of Hensarling’s main con cerns in the ongoing controversy is that most of the nation’s students don’t know or care that either or ganization exists. He stressed that they should know. “There’s an organization in Wash- ington called USSA going onto Capitol Hill and telling our con gressmen that students across the nation, including Aggies, believe in federal funding for abortions, na tionalization of key industries, and cutting the defense budget in half,” he said. Such positions are unac ceptable to a large number of American college students, he added. The status of USSA’s finances is another of Hensarling’s concerns. USSA is in serious financial trouble, he said. They owe the Internal Revenue Service an ungodly amount of money, as well as to many busi nesses in the Washington area,” Hensarling said. This lack of credi bility in the financial arena hurts USSA’s credibility as an effective lobby, he said. Another criticism of USSA is that its officials systematically suppres sed any attempts by dissidents to speak at the summer merger con ference. “On all issues, we got only one viewpoint, that of the far left. Those of us who wanted to present an op posing viewpoint were not allowed to do so,” he said. As a result of their increasing dis satisfaction with USSA, members of the Reform Caucus left the summer gathering, talking about withdraw ing from USSA and forming an al ternative student lobbying group. “I was on the board of directors for NSL,” Hensarling said. “I was involved in trying to reform the or ganization. We butted our heads against the wall for six months, and decided the best way to serve the nation’s students was to form a new national student organization.” The result was the birth of the ASF, of which Hensarling was elected president in November. Hensarling said he hopes the group will develop into a viable voice for a great portion of the nation’s stu dents. “We don’t expect, nor do we de sire the organization to be an anti- Research sellers offer ‘custom’ jobs unhap; college haunt keeps old tag if th »AHOKIA. Ill. — The sign lead- o am ing into town reads, “Welcome to zompli Cahokia, Home of Parks Air Col- ipledi lege But there is no such school. 't* 6 school known as Parks Air louse Couege was taken over by St. Louis work Jlniversity 32 years ago and the said, nartu; was changed to Parks College s ren of Si. Louis University. <C f* 6031156 t f le college was fre quented by aviation leaders such as HHes Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart Jimmy Doolittle in their flying days, the students and town have I to the previous name, hen it was Parks Air College, IS a pretty romantic place,” ex- s a college official. “I guess it’s question of the heritage shining tirough.” 1BBY ISON I 1 fntnxuiarfl [OLtf| SON as 'LEXlf | (Continued from page 1.) it is a Class B misdemeanor. But as Zagano points out, for the most part these laws only prohibit these companies from doing busi ness in their own state. They say no thing about advertising and selling papers through the mail in states with no laws. She further says that even if she bought a paper in New York, a state with a law, from a company in California, it would be next to impos sible to prove that company was doing business in New York. Spokesmen at two term-paper companies — Pacific and Research Assistance of Westwood, Calif. — declined to give interviews when contacted. The Texas A&M University English Department is adamant about its dislike for the industiy. “As far as I’m concerned, a student who buys a paper should receive an ‘F.’ That’s a serious offense,” says David Stewart, department head. “With the purchased term paper, there is no question about plagiarism. ” Faculty members also say they have no trouble identifying a bought paper. “It’s really quite easy to tell,” says Dr. Samuel Kirkpatrick, head of the political science department. “The papers are so mediocre, they (stu dents) would be foolish to buy them.” Zagano calls them “terrible — ab solute junk.” She adds, “You just don’t know the quality of work you are going to get.” Stewart agrees, saying the papers are usually over-generalized and su perficial and at best would rate a “C” or “C-.” But the problem of purchased pa pers at Texas A&M does not appear to be serious. At least that’s what Stewart, Kirkpatrick and Dr. Keith Bryant Jr., the head of the history department, report. Stewart says there are only about 12 cases a year of plagiarism in freshman English classes, and that only two or three of those involve^ purchased papers. If a student is caught using.one, the teacher has several options. Among them are inviting him to re write it, giving him an “F” for the paper, failing the student in the course, or recommending he be ex pelled. 146-115 Jim King, Bookseller selling good books & atmosphere new, used (no text), out of print Woodstone Commerce Center Harvey Rd. hours 10-6 Now Better Than Ever. You Will Be Pleased With These Carefully Prepared and Taste Temptina Foods. Each Daily Special Only $1.79 Plus Tax. “Open Daily” Dining: 11 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.—4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. MONDAY EVENING SPECIAL Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy Whipped Potatoes Your Choice of One Vegetable ^oll or Corn Bread and Butter Coffee or Tea TUESDAY EVENING WEDNESDAY SPECIAL EVENING SPECIAL Mexican Fiesta Chicken Fried Steak Dinner Two Cheese and w/cream Gravy Onion Enchiladas Whipped Potatoes and w/chili Choice of one other Mexican Rice Vegetable Patio Style Pinto Beans Roll or Corn Bread and Butter Tostadas Coffee or Tea One Corn Bread and Butter Coffee or Tea /VAIT \\ BK FEtf ly ouc* ) J I THURSDAY EVENING SPECIAL Italian Candle Light Spaghetti Dinner SERVED WITH SPICED MEAT BALLS AND SAUCE Parmesan Cheese - Tossed Green Salad Choice of Salad Dressing - Hot Garlic Bread Tea or Coffee FRIDAY EVENING SPECIAL BREADED fish p ILET w/TARTAR SAUCE Cole Slaw Hush Puppies Choice of one Rmi r, ^ ve 9etable 0r Corn Bread & Butter T ©a or Coffee SATURDAY NOON and EVENING SPECIAL Chicken & Dumplings Tossed Salad Choice of one vegetable Roll or Corn Bread & Butter Tea or Coffee .“Quality First’ SUNDAY SPECIAL NOON and EVENING ROAST TURKEY DINNER Served with Cranberry Sauce Cornbread Dressing Roll or Corn Bread - Butter - Coffee or Tea Giblet Gravy And your choice of any One vegetable thesis to the USSA,” he said. “We are more interested in providing an intelligent forum for debate and dis cussion of national educational is sues.” Hensarling cited the success of a California state student lobby, ranked as one of the 10 best in California by that state’s press. He said the reason for the group’s suc cess was that it focuses only on edu cational issues. Forty schools have already joined ASF, Hensarling said, and more are expected to follow should the fledgl ing take flight. Some schools are waiting to see how viable the or ganization is. Others are already committed to USSA for the rest of this fiscal year, Hensarling said. ASF’s plan of attack involves sev eral steps toward its eventual goal of opening a Washington office. These include: —Incorporation, already accom plished in New Jersey under that state’s corporate laws. —Obtaining financial support from charter member schools. Each member is being asked to contrib ute $300 toward helping form the organization. —Withdrawing member schools from USSA. Texas A&M Univer sity’s student senate voted to with draw from USSA at the same time they decided to join ASF. —A massive recruiting campaign, initiated several weeks ago and con tinuing through the spring. Hensarl ing said he is tallking to many stu dent body presidents, trying for more personal contacts. “We’ve been pretty successful, particularly in the South,” he said. —Obtaining financial support from corporations, funds and foun dations. —Setting a national conference for April 20-21, in Dallas. Hensarl ing expects about 75 delegates from 25 schools to attend. —And finally, setting up a Wash ington office, possibly by the fall. “Initially we ll be concerned with recruitment,” Hensarling said. “We need 100 schools to be a viable stu dent organization. Prospects for viability look good, he said, al though, as with any new undertak ing, the future is uncertain. saiTa^ HOMETOWN CLUB MEETING WED. 7 MARCH 7:30 P.M. Rm. 109 Military Science Bldg. Plans For Spring Break Party in San Antonio Will Be Discussed “What we want to do is send a synopsis of legislation, with pros and cons attached, and let individual student legislative bodies act on it. If 60 percent approve it, ASF will lobby for it,” he said. Thus, rather than the USSA telling member schools what to think, ASF will ask member schools their opinions on educational issues. Another of Hensarling’s problems is a lack of office help. He currently has four of five students helping ASF on the Texas A&M campus, but, he said, he could easily use that many more in such areas as public relations, research, and information gathering. “We want to evolve into the ac tual voice of the nation’s students, and we think we can be very effec tive in that role,” he said. Jeb Hensarling, American Student Federation president Battalion photo by Jeaam IAY - JUNE Aggies go to Europe .or info: call MSC Travel 845-151 LAKEVIEW CLUB 3 Miles N. on Tabor Road Saturday Night: Country Side From 9-1 p.m. STAMPEDEDANCE" Every Thursday Night $2.00 per person All Brands, Cold Beer 45 Cents 8-12 Contemporary cuts for guys and gals^ ‘No Hassle” Hairstyles, Permanent Waves, Sculptured Nails and much more. Our Place is That Place 696-6933 Say OI^ to Spring Break in LaredoJ Ole! Spring Break is finally here! So forget about term papers and exams, forget about Professor Makeitdifficult, an< forget about thinking. — PACKAGE INCLUDES: Soothe your battered brain • 2 Nights/ 3 Days with <1 margarita, • Welcome "Margarita treat your dorm- # Tour of Nuevo Laredo food weakened • Unlimited use of pool stomach w ith some PER PERSON* • Transportation to/from South of the Border Bridge and Airport carne asada, and escape • $20 for extra person in the terrors of classroom ^ same room anxiety in an authentic Mexican cantina. Head Guarantee your room today by for Laredo and forget calling the Laredo Hilton Inn your troubles! (5 I 2)722-24 I 1 . "IT Laredo 1 J LHilton Inn 'Overlooking the Rio Grande