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The Battalion
Texas A&M University ,
Thursday
April 19, 1979
Letters to Dr. Miller
Honor system unfair
Dear Dr. Miller:
There are two matters I would like to bring to your attention. The first
concerns the use of grades from other institutions in determining whether a
student graduates with honors from A&M. I assume you are aware that such
grades may lower but not raise the final GPR.
This to me is obviously a double standard and unfair. Texas A&M is not
supposed to be that way. The fair way to do things I think would be to either not
consider grades from other schools at all or let them raise as well as lower a
student’s GPR. For example, I know one graduating senior who will have earned
about 100 credit hours here and would most likely be Summa Cum Laude if just
those grades were used.
However, due to a poor freshmen year elsewhere, he will probably barely be
Cum Laude, which is still not bad, but is it what he deserves? Graduating with
honors should be a reward for hard work and an incentive to academic achieve
ment. I believe the present standard is not only unfair, but discouraging and
somewhat self-defeating.
Secondly, are mid-term grades justified? Personally, I believe they are largely
a waste of time and money. I believe the vast majority of students here know
fairly well at any time how they are doing in a course, and can find out easy
enough if they are in doubt.
Also, mid-terms are often based on only one test score and are not really
indicative of a student’s progress in a course. Such grades are also not a fair basis
to deny someone the right to preregister. I have talked with several students and
faculty members about this, and the consensus I got was that for freshmen and
anyone genuinely failing or about to fail, mid-terms are probably worth it, but
not for the whole 30,000 of us.
In the interests of fairness and efficiency I hope you will consider these ques
tions and suggestions. I would also like to thank you and your predecessor and all
the faculty, staff and other students here for helping make my education a really
gratifying experience. I have been very pleased with the consistently reasonable
and considerate attitude I have encountered time and again here from everyone.
Thank you all very much. —Chris Wahlberg, ’79
Dear Mr. Wahlberg:
The current policy relating to students graduating with honors was formulated
in 1972 in cooperation with representatives of Student Government. The logic for
its formulation is in two parts. First, an academic honor such as Summa Cum
Laude, Magna Cum Laude or Cum Laude is one of the highest recognitions which
an undergraduate can earn.
Thus, we believe that all college work must be considered when eligibility for
such an honor is determined. Students who do all their college work at Texas
A&M and have low grades in their freshman year are not permitted to exempt
those grades from their GPR when honors calculations are made. It certainly
would not be fair to them if we permitted transfer students to omit the low grades
made at previous institutions.
Secondly, the qualifications for Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or
Cum Laude are determined by Texas A&M University and not other institutions.
Thus, we believe that the GPR of all college hours attempted, as well as with the
Texas A&M GPR, must equal that required for the appropriate category of hon
ors. Again, I do not believe it fair to permit the student to graduate with an honor
higher than that to which the student would be entitled, based on the Texas A&M
GPR only.
Mid-semester grades are used very constructively by deans and other advisers
in academic counseling sessions. In these sessions, students at all levels may be
given assistance early in the semester to attempt to correct problems before they
become serious.
We take pride in helping students in all areas and stand ready to assist at all
times. Mid-semester grades are just one of the ways in which we hope to monitor
these needs. Both departmental and college counsellors assure me that these
grade reports are very helpful to them in their work with individual students.
—Dr. Jarvis E. Miller
President, Texas A&M
Slouch
by Jim Earle
/trn. /9-7 9
“Could you graduating seniors continue your count-down until gradua
tion in minutes instead of in seconds? It would be appreciated by those of
us who are not graduating.”
To pray or not to pray
Rumor mongers loose
By DICK WEST
WASHINGTON — Gee, it’s getting to
the point where a bachelor governor can’t
go on a safari with a pretty rock singer
without being stalked by eyebrow-raising
and idle gossip.
Actually, from all I can learn, there was
nothing between California Gov. Jerry
Brown and Linda Ronstadt save a mutual
regard for African wildlife.
Their recent foray onto the plains of
Kenya came about, I understand, some
what in this wise:
The governor and Miss Ronstadt hap
pened to bump into each other at a meet
ing of Citizens for the Constitutional
Amendment to Amend the Constitution.
It was the first time they had met since
being introduced to each other at a meet
ing of Citizens Against the Constitutional
Amendment to Amend the Constitution.
The governor asked Miss Ronstadt how
she had been getting along. Miss Ronstadt
said she had been getting along just fine,
what with her concerts, record albums and
all.
giraffe, she told the governor. And the
prospects weren’t much better on the back
roads.
The governor told Miss Ronstadt he was
well aware of that deficiency. He said he
would like to install a few herds of giraffes
around Sacramento but had been unable
to overcome recalcitrance in the legisla
ture.
He said if Miss Ronstadt really had her
heart set on observing giraffes in the wild,
he reckoned she would have to visit one of
the wildlife reserves in East Africa.
Speaking of that, the governor said, he
himself was planning a trip to Africa in Ap
ril. If Miss Ronstadt would like to go
along, he said he was pretty sure oppor
tunities for giraffe-viewing would arise.
Hot dog. Miss Ronstadt replied. That
sounded like a good deal to her. She said
she would start shopping for pith helmets
right away.
Just where people got the idea there
was romantic involvement I cannot say.
By IRA R. ALLEN
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate’s 100
members belong to 17 different religions
or denominations, from the Christian Sci
entist belief of Charles Percy to the Greek
Orthodox practice of Paul Sarbanes to the
Schwenkfelder sect of Richard Schweiker.
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., wears his
Baptist religion on his sleeve and consid
ers himself the most conservative member
of Congress.
But his proposal for allowing voluntary
school prayer, adopted by the Senate last
week, is downright radical. The only sav
ing grace for civil libertarians in the
chamber is they were able to take Helms’
bit of constitutional mischief off an impor
tant education bill and saddle it on to a less
significant bill that is likely to be buried in
the House.
Helms, who spent a record $6 million in
his re-election campaign last year, would
make the Constitution worth about 2 cents
if his method of introducing voluntary
prayer were adopted.
His way of getting God back in the
schools was not to offer a constitutional
amendment, but a piece of legislation to
take away the high court’s jurisdiction over
state laws regarding voluntary prayer. To
him it is an essential matter of states’
rights.
To others, like Sen. Edward Kennedy,
D-Mass., Helms was trying to repeal the
nearly 200 year-old principle of judicial
review, the 1st Amendment and most of
the rest of the Constitution as well.
Aside from a general concern that pray
ing has to be a personal and a church mat
ter instead of a governmental concern,
Kennedy argued that Congress, under the
Helms precedent, could do any violence
to the U.S. system it chooses simply by
prohibitng in advance any Supreme Court
review.
Despite the North Carolina Republi
can’s impressive roster of 441 mostly
evangelical ministers supporting his move,
Kennedy explained why most major reli
gious groups in America strongly oppose
it.
“It is because they see that if the Con
gress of the United States is prepared to
exclude jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
in the area of voluntary prayer, why cannot
the Congress of the United States virtually
establish a religion in the United States of
America and provide for the Supreme
Court exclusion from ruling on the appro
priateness of that enactment?”
Religions have been more persecuted
by government than protected by it
throughout history, Kennedy argued, and
tampering with constitutional separation
of the two is alien to most established
churchmen.
“I want any senator to name just one
child — one child — who has been
harmed by being exposed to voluntary
prayer,” countered Helms.
But that’s not the question at hand, Mr.
Helms.
It is whether or not to circumvent the
law of the land for the sake of prayer — or
anything else.
Letters to the Editor
Rude Ags mar movie
she
The only thing missing in her life,
said, was giraffes.
Miss Ronstadt said she truly had a han
kering to see some giraffes in their native
habitats. She pointed out that California
was rather a poor place for gratification of
desires of that type.
One could drive for miles along the
freeways without laying eyes on a single
One possibility is that when Miss Ronstadt
dropped by a store to pick up some
mosquito netting somebody started a
rumor she was buying a bridal veil.
Anyway, she and the governor spent
so much time denying they were more
than “just good friends” they had precious
little time left for glomming giraffes.
That’s what comes, I guess, of being so
close to Canada. People start assuming the
private lives of public figures are like Mar
garet Trudeau’s book.
Editor:
I would like to address the issue of the
“Aggie stereotype. ” One of the factors that
has kept me from going to the Aggie
Cinema has been the totally absurd be
havior of so-called mature college stu
dents. I refer to their war-whoops, hisses
(“horse laughs“), and boos. Not only is it
totally obnoxious, but it disrupts the
enjoyment of the film by the more mature
students.
I’m sure you’ve receive many such let
ters concerning the Aggie Cinema. What
I’m addressing is their conduct in the local
community. Last night, I went to see
“Midnight Express” at the Manor East
Mall theater for what I hoped would be an
evening of entertainment, and to experi
ence what is considered to be a very, fine
display of art.
What I got instead was constant inter
ruption during key scenes by some war-
whooping, hissing, booing children. Too
bad, since this reflects to our local com
munity the ill-manners of Aggies. Since
people typically generalize, such behavior
can only be a detriment to the image we
project to the community. Please chil
dren, for the “Aggie Image,” behave your
selves!
—Julie Molleston, graduate student
Charles Raab, graduate student
GTE out of order
Editor:
I would like to add some information to
your article about GTE service in your
April 12 edition. The service has been
poor ever since I waited an extra day to
have the phone installed on Jan. 16, 1979
— with billing being the biggest
headache.
Now not getting a bill is always good
news. Who likes bills? But when you’ve
called GTE three times and you get three
different estimates that decrease in
amount due over a two-month period then
you definitely want a personal copy of the
bill. So I decided to make a trip to the
GTE phone mart at Culpepper Plaza on
April 2.
But I was politely informed to call the
business office. I called the business office
that day and was once again assured my
“lost bill” would be in the mail. That day
my telephone was disconnected. Surprises
like that make life interesting.
Then I wondered how I was going to
bug the business office about my deliquent
telephone bill. You know, the phone mart
just tells you to call the business office.
But how? Without a phone?!
Then I wondered if GTE had my correct
address after four telephone inquires.
Hell, who knows, but I have the correct
address. Because on April 10, I received a
notice to disconnect my phone April 2.
Now the service has been disconnected
and I’m still waiting for an itemized bill. I
guess every month I could have taken time
away from studies to keep up with GTE
and chase all over town after my bill. After
all why else am I paying (or have not paid
for yet) for telephone service? To serve
GTE?
I have found a solution. If the telephone
is a modern service that has not been con
veniently served — return the telephone.
One last thing. I’ve event thought about
going to college someplace where there is
a Southwestern Bell system. After all I’ve
had four years of good interrupted service
from Bell and I’ve had GTE only two
months.
—Delmar L. Milligan Jr., 81
Top of the News
CAMPUS
Library art prints due May 1
Art pieces in the Texas A&M University library’s lending print
collection are due by May 1. Prints are to be returned to the circula
tion desk in Evans Library. A library spokesman said borrowers are
responsible for lost or damaged prints.
Computer to expand cataloging
For
job thr
at sor
hope
Inst
rifles,
other
Texas A&M University libraries will soon acquire a public service
terminal that will link Evans Library with a computerized catalog in
Ohio. The Ohio College Library Center is a national system that
allows member libraries to share cataloging records. This terminal
will be available for use in the Reference Division of Evans Library,
It will operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and
Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
STATE
Airlines argue over merger
Texas International Airlines has accused National Airlines of decep
tion in its handling of TIA’s recent merger offer to the Florida-based
carrier. TIA said Tuesday that National mailed stockholders pros)
materials last week recommending a merger with Pan American
World Airways, ignoring TIA and violating National’s responsibility
to the stockholders. A shareholders’ merger vote is scheduled May
16.
Decision to come by weekend
The divorce suit of socialites T. Cullen and Priscilla Davis has
dragged on for five years now. But a judge reports he’ll have a deci
sion by the weekend on how their community property should he ^
divided. But no matter what property settlement is announced, at
torneys for both sides have indicated they will appeal — which wil
further delay a divorce decree. Judge Clyae Ashmore, the third jurist
to preside in the much publicized case, says he’ll announce Fridayhis
decision on community property. Davis’ attorneys have claimed
there is no more than about $600,000 to $700,000 in community
property. Mrs. Davis’ attorney has claimed the community property
figure is closer to $50 million.
Witnesses charged with perjury
A Bartlesville grandmother and her two sons, whose testimony
during the Gene Leroy Hart murder trial was instrumental in his
acquittal, Wednesday were arrested and charged with perjury. Joyce
Paine, Owen Short and Larry Short were arrested by Mayes County
Sheriff s deputies armed with warrants charging the three had 1
under oath during the trial. Paine was scheduled to be arraigned in
district court Wednesday. Court officials said arraignment decisions
had not been made yet for her sons.
NATION
Journalists have to answer up
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a journalist who is sued
for libel by a public figure may be compelled to answer questions
about the editorial process that went into preparation of a story. A
six-member majority on the court overturned a U.S. appeals courts
ruling- that a producer for the CBS “60 Minutes” program need no:
answer questions during libel proceedings about the “state of mind"
he had when putting together a television documentary.
Evans to contest death penalty
Confessed murderer John Louis Evans III faces his second date
with the electric chair April 27, but his attorneys and state prose
cutors are confident a federal judge will stop the execution so he can
challenge Alabama’s death penalty law. The Alabama Supreme Court
set his latest execution date Tuesday, four days after the U.S. Su
preme Court terminated a temporary stay that had saved him from
the electric chair on April 5. Attorney John Carroll of the Southern
Poverty Law Center and Assistant Attorney General Ed Carnes
speculated that federal district Judge W. Brenard Hand most likely
would block Evans’ latest execution date at a hearing in Mobile, Ala.,
Friday. Carnes said last week that Evans’ execution might be stalled
from two to four years in the appellate process now that the inmate
has decided to resist the death sentence.
WORLD
Earthquake causes little damage
A minor earthquake and six aftershocks shook much of eastern New
England Tuesday night, but no injuries and only minor damage were
reported. The quake was centered about nine miles from Wiscasset,
Maine, site of the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. plant, which had
been closed because of the geologic fault that caused the temblor.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered Maine Yankee and four
other East Coast nuclear plants closed March 13 because design prob
lems with the plants’ cooling systems raised concern about potential
earthquake damage.
Nader calls "last resort’ a lie
In a news conference Wednesday, consumer activist Ralph Nader
said President Carter has lied to and misled the American people
about nuclear energy. Nader said Carter had called nuclear energy a
last resort” during his campaign for the presidency, and then changed
his mind and accepts growth in nuclear energy. “In the case of nu
clear power, I believe President Carter has lied and has deceived the
American people,” Nader told the news conference. Nader said he
wants existing nuclear plants to close and no new ones to be built
Opponents of nuclear energy said Wednesday they will march
thousands strong on Washington May 6.
The Battalion
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Opinions expressed in The Battalion are Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit '
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—Delmar L. Milligan Jr., 81