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'ol. 73 No. 10 Friday, September 14, 1979 USPS 045 360
2 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
if you want to
graduate ...
Today is the deadline for undergraduate and graduate
students to apply for degrees to be awarded in December.
Stiffer Q-drop regulations
adopted by some colleges
By ROSEMARIE ROSE
Battalion Reporter
It sounds simple enough; following the
rst 12 class days, “with the approval of
ledean of the students college, a student
lay drop a course through the fifth class
ay following the reporting of mid-
mester grades” with a “Q” given to indi
te a drop without penalty, according to
sxas A&M University Regulations.
But Q-dropping a course in some col-
iges may not be as easy as it sounds. And
ifferent colleges have different criteria for
■anting Q-drops.
All of the academic colleges adhere to
basic university policy for granting
drops. The colleges of Agriculture,
ducation, Geosciences, Liberal Arts and
cience require approval of a Q-drop re-
aest only by the student’s adviser.
However, the College of Architecture
Environmental Design and the Col-
ge of Engineering require the specific
Recommended shopping center entrace
approval of the dean of the college. The
College of Business Administration limits
the number of “discretionary” Q-drops a
student may take, according to an April
16, 1979 memo for undergraduate stu
dents.
Students entering the College of Busi
ness Administration this fall will be al
lowed to make two unquestioned Q-drops
during their undergraduate career. Stu
dents entering the college before the fall of
1979, who have not taken a Q-drop in the
past, may also Q-drop two courses at their
discretion. But students who entered the
college before 1979, and who have exer
cised their Q-drop option one or more
times, may make only one more unques
tioned Q-drop.
If a student has used all his discretionary
Q-drops he must obtain the specific ap
proval of the dean to drop a course after
the 12th class day, according to the memo
issued by Dean C. A. Phillips and Assistant
Dean C.D. Stolle.
The Executive Committee of the Col
lege of Business Administration initiated
the restrictions because, according to the
memo, “Frequent exercising of the
Q-grade drop does not reflect favorably on
the quality of the students or the college.
Prospective employers may question the
quality of programs which appear to allow
students too easily to get out of courses
when experiencing difficulty. In addition,
many courses fill at registration because
places are occupied by students who have
Q-grade dropped the course in earlier
semesters and now must again occupy a
place in that class. There is indication that
students with higher grades may experi
ence a negative effect on grade curves
when the students with lower grades
choose to Q-grade drop.”
Dean Ned Walton of the College of En
gineering said that each Q-drop request by
an engineering student must have the ap
proval of the dean. Drops after the 12th
class day are only approved when a situa
tion arises which the student could not
reasonably have forseen and corrected,
Walton said.
The College of Architecture and
Environmental Design also requires per
sonal approval by both a student’s adviser
and his dean before a student may Q-drop
a course.
In a June 18, 1979 memo from Associate
Dean Gordon Echols to the faculty and
students of the college, he said, “The pur
pose of the Q-drop is to give a student
relief from unanticipated academic over
load or personal hardship,” and that drops
may not be granted only because a student
has “low grades in a course or an over
commitment from a job to earn money. ”
At present, the College of Business
Administration is the only college that has
officially limited the number of Q-drops a
student may make, but other colleges are
considering changing their policies.
Utilities tug-of-war
Towns to meet
This map shows a confusing situation in front of Culpepper
Plaza on Texas Avenue. The arrow on the map indicates the
location of the white arrow that refuses to disappear. The
hash marks indicated will be painted on the median Monday.
Map courtesy of the City of College Station
By RICHARD OLIVER
Battalion Staff
The College Station City Council met in
a five-hour marathon session Thursday
night, highlighted by a one-hour closed
discussion of pending litigation with
Bryan.
The open session, attended by 35
people, was mostly filled with debate over
rezoning several local plots by area land
developers.
The most pressing item on the council’s
agenda, however, was a closed session to
discuss what action would be taken in to
day’s closed session with the Bryan City
Council.
Today’s session, to be held at noon in
Left-turn lane confusing
By NANCY ANDERSON
Battalion Reporter
Aggie motorists returning this fall might
)e confused with the new left-turn lane on
Texas Ayenufe in front of Culpepper Plaza,
)ut help is on the way.
The lane has parallel lines from
Dominik Drive to the Shell station, but in
iont of the Three C Bar-B-Q entrance
hey taper to form a traffic island. It
sounds simple, but south-bound drivers
id it isn’t so.
One complication is a white, leftward
pointing arrow. Located in the middle of
the lane just beyond the main mall
entrance, it directs drivers to turn from
narrow end of the lane, instead of the
island.
According to George Boriskie, a High
way Department traffic engineer, the
arrow has been burned off twice, but the
heat causes it to reappear.
The other is the lack of yellow horizontal
stripes within the tapered end which
would define the island.
The Highway Department is planning
to correct the situation soon, Boriskie said.
It is just a matter of drivers becoming
familiar with and using the markings, he
added.
Work crews will be painting in the miss
ing horizontal stripes, accurate arrows and
the words, “left turn only” on Monday,
said resident engineer Bill Bodman.
Bodman said he is not aware of the re
curring arrow, but if he sees it, it will be
burned off again.
The lane is part of a six-lane expansion
designed to improve Texas Avenue traffic
flow. Due to established businesses and a
lack of funds, the Highway Department
had to “improvise internally,” which
meant merely rearranging traffic lanes,
adding traffic islands and the left turn lane,
said Boriskie.
The Highway Department also recom
mended that the City of College Station
close the Three C entrance, but Boriskie
said he doesn’t know if the city will act on
the recommendation.
Heavy use slows computer
Doak Elledge works with Wylbur, one of the computer terminals, in the
Data Processing Center. Battalion photo by Sam Stroder
By CINDY COLVIN
Battalion Reporter
It’s “Happy Hour” in the RCC (remote
computing center). Many students are
waiting to use the keypunch machines,
printers and terminals, and it won’t get
much better, said Ceceha Coones, infor
mation representative for the Data Pro
cessing Center.
The center, restricted to use by under
graduate students, is in the basement of
the Cushing Library.
“The use of the computer is growing
more and more popular among the differ
ent colleges on campus,” said Dan Galvin,
assistant director of operations. “The
heavy users are students in computer sci
ence and engineering.” Galvin said that
many offices on campus use the computer
also.
“The heavy use at peak hours is causing
a delay in response time, (from the com
puter to the user),” Coones said.
Last year, the Data Processing Center
installed 30 new terminals in the remote
computing center. These terminals are
known as ACT-V terminals, and are
equipped with a television screen so that
the user can preview the information be
fore printing.
Dr. Pete Marchbanks, assistant director
of services for the Data Processing Center,
said, “All the student needs to do now,
when using the new terminals, is to pre
pare a program, enter the data and edit it,
submit the program to the main computer,
and preview the output before submitting
the program to the printer.”
The terminals save some time for the
students, he said, because users will be
able to correct their programs while the
information is still in the terminal.
The computer is already connected with
a maximum number of terminals, Coones
said. But the Data Processing Center is
waiting for approval from the University
and the State Auditor’s Office for the pur
chase of a new computer, Galvin said.
Once the purchase has had final approval,
installation will begin, he said.
the Bryan Utilities Building, is the latest
in a series of sessions between the two
cities to discuss who will supply utilities to
the soon-to-be constructed Texas Instru
ments (TI) plant.
The TI acreage, located just east of the
East Bypass at Highway 30, has been an
nexed by College Station, but Bryan cur
rently holds the utility rights.
Prior to Thursday night’s city council
meeting, College Station Councilman
Homer Adams was confident that College
Station would win the debate.
“We think we’ll win in the end,” he
said. “But, then again, who knows? It’s
never a 100 percent deal until the finish.”
Adams said the College Station City
Council had offered to “buy the TI tract
from Bryan,” or, in effect, “buy the
power” from them.
After the meeting, however, Adams de
clined to elaborate.
The Texas Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) issued a restraining order on
Monday, blocking either city from supply
ing power to the TI plant site, but the
order was lifted Thursday after the cities
filed a joint motion asking for its dismissal.
Following the meeting, Adams was re
luctant to comment on any specific aspect
of the planned negotiations.
“These meetings are too important and
too much is weighing on it to make any
comments,” he said. “Just say we’re ready
to go.”
Adams said he believes College Station
has a right to supply utilities to the TI
tract.
“I think that it’s basic in all Texas law
that all land in the cities should be
provided with utilities from that city,” he
said. “The problem remains that Bryan has
the rights to the utilities. It’s no secret,
though, that we want to serve TI. They
don’t want to give up this right, and I can
understand this. At least, if I were on their
side, I’d fight for it, too. There’s a lot of
money involved.”
Adams added that if the dual certifica
tion were granted, TI would be allowed to
choose between the two cities. He be
lieves TI would choose College Station.
“TI asked us to annex them and supply
them with utilities,” he said. “It’s as sim
ple as that.”
.,.but what a view
Texas A&M University workers Robert Wright, Curtis Holder and
Richard Stone have quite a view of Texas A&M from the top of the
flagpole in front of the Administration Building. But the Physical Plant
workmen weren’t there for the view — they were replacing the flag
pole’s Cable. Photo courtesy of Malcolm Moore
Woman arrested in connection
with theft of bike, parts at A&M
By JETTIE STEEN
Battalion Reporter
A woman was arrested Wednesday eve
ning in connection with the theft of a bicy
cle and bicycle parts after police received a
call from the Texas A&M University Corps
of Cadets guard room, where cadets had
detained the woman.
David Duncan, cadet captain of outfit
N-l, said he received a phone call about
9:20 p.m. Wednesday that there were two
suspicious-looking persons around the
bike racks near the quad.
“I went out to see what was going on
and all I saw was one person, and she was
bending over a bike that was already miss
ing a front wheel and she had a pair of
pliers out fiddling with the gears,” Duncan
said.
“I asked her what she was doing and
when she wouldn’t give me any definite
answers I told her I’d have to take her to
the guard room and call the police.”
University Police Chief McDonald said
a woman with two bike wheels and a new
bicycle in her possession was arrested.
The young woman, an employee at Sbisa
Dining Hall, was taken to Brazos County
Jail.
McDonald urges students to keep their
bikes locked at all times, register them
with university police and report them if
stolen. He said engraving bicycles will
help and the police station provides
engravers for that purpose.
McDonald pointed out also the impor
tance of keeping dorm rooms locked at all
times. There have been two reported rob
beries in the past three weeks at the corps
dorms. The first happened during
freshman orientation week. The latest in
cident was Wednesday night during Aggie
Band practice.
A cadet told police he saw a 6-foot-2-
inch black male, approximate age 22, leav
ing Dorm 11 while most of its residents
were at band practice. Three rooms, all
reported unlocked, were robbed and a
total of $54 was taken. No suspect has
been apprehended.
Chromosome defect
blamed as a cancer cause
United Press International
BOSTON — Scientists for the first time
have traced a hereditary human cancer to
a chromosome defect, enabling doctors to
identify individuals who face a high risk of
developing the disea§e, the New England
Journal of Medicine reported Thursday.
Several types of cancer are known to
occur in families with predictable fre
quency, which suggests they may be
passed from one to generation to another
like other hereditary traits such as hair or
eye color.
Doctors at the Beth Israel Hospital in
Boston, studying a family with a history of
a rare form of kidney cancer, found spe
cific sections of two chromosomes — the
molecules that determine hereditary
characteristics — had become inter
changed in many members of the family.
Most of the individuals who had the
chromosome defect developed the rare
cancer, said Dr. Robert S. Brown, one of
seven physicians conducting the research.