Slouch
by Jim Earle
“If you insist on having a waterhed, could 1 trade you the
lower hunk?
Opinion
A close shave,
but Q-drop saved
Students nearly lost the Q-drop last semester.
Now, however, the deans have modified the policy and
the Q-drop will probably survive.
Sentiment ran strong in some quarters to abolish the
“forgiveness factor” that has saved many grade point ratios
and, in turn, many young careers. (The policy allows a
student to drop courses during a specified time without
penalty if he gets approval from his academic adviser and
dean.)
Sure, students sometimes abuse the Q by taking too
many courses, deciding which one or two are impossible —
and dropping them without penalty.
But other students use the Q-drop wisely — to compen
sate for honestly biting off more than they can chew or to
cope with unexpected personal problems.
Individual colleges decided to deal with the abuse by
restricting the number of Q-drops a person may claim or by
making them harder to get.
That was not fair — university-wide policies should
apply across the University. And honest students can be
penalized.
The new proposal is fair.
It moves the Q-drop cut-off day back by three weeks.
For instance, if the new policy were in effect this year,
the last day to get a Q-drop would be Oct. 5; instead, the
last day is Oct. 29.
The change — suggested by the student senate — must
be approved by the Academic Council next month, but it is
expected to pass.
The date change — from a week after mid-semester
grades are reported to the 25th class day — is a com
promise.
And in view of alternatives batted around last semester,
it’s a good one.
the small society by Brickman
The Battalion
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard
Stone
News Editors . .Karen Cornelison and
Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and
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Staff Writers Meril Edwards,
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Viewpoint
The Battalion #Texas A&M University m Friday • September 21,1
DICK WE ST
To fatigued joggers, presidents inclub
advice on how to quit the race graceful
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — I’ll leave to others
the debate over whether President Carter
should have been in the race in the first
place.
The only indisputable point seems to be
that he didn’t get out of it in time. He
waited until his legs turned rubbery, skin
waxen, breathing labored. All of which are
nature’s way of telling you you should have
stopped 20 minutes ago.
That the president failed to heed the
earlier warning signs suggests he has not
yet learned the most fundamental part of
long distance running, which is how to
quit gracefully.
The president apparently felt that if he
failed to finish the 6.2-mile course, people
would interpret it as a deficiency of
endurance or fortitude.
Inability to go all the way, he may have
reasoned, would have been another mark
against him in the polls and given Sen.
Edward Kennedy further incentive to seek
the presidency.
So he kept going past the time when
prudence dictated a strategic withdrawal.
Actually, as any experienced long dis
tance runner will attest, there were a
number of “outs he could have taken
without giving the impression he was too
pooped to continue.
Here are a few of the acceptable ploys:
Pulled ham string — Whenever a run
ner runs out of breath, good form requires
that he suddenly veer to the right, like a
moped with a blowout, and limp to a halt.
“Poor chap,” the other thousands of
runners will cluck sympathetically. “Ham
string.”
There is, of course, nothing wrong with
the runner’s legs. Indeed, if such medical
records were available they probably
would show it has been 20 years since any
one in this country pulled a ham string,
whatever that is.
In running circles, nevertheless, pulling
a ham string has become sort of a badge of
honor, the jogger’s equivalent of the
skier’s broken leg.
Equipment trouble — Everyone knows
you can’t expect a runner to stay on pace if
something goes wrong with his jogging
togs. Part of the mystique is that to feel
like a runner you’ve got to looklikeatj
ner. If, for example, your headbandsi
down around your neck, people
mistake you for a cleric. In those mu
stances, there is little point in going®
Beeper signal — Smart runners#
along one of those electronic devicesd
make beeping noises when someo®
wanted for an important message. Oil
has been modified so the runner can
tivate it himself if he starts flagging.
In the president’s case, the becji
would have looked exceptionally antk
tic, particularly if, when pulling outdj
race, he snapped his fingers and mullen
“Darn! Must he those Russian Ir®
again. " Too bad the presidentdidn’ll
of these cover stories before hebeca®
obviously winded.
Get Khrushchev
on the Hot Line I
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TT 1 a nTT/^VXT Sharing facilities: one way
JLLi JL> LJ V_v/Y A XvAIa colleges are saving bucks
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
United Press International
The idea’s as old as the United States of
America: sharing.
It’s the big movement in higher educa
tion these days as colleges and universities
lean into the next decade — full of shifting
enrollment patterns, higher costs and
growing public resistance to new buildings
and fatter budgets.
About one-fourth of the nation’s colleges
are involved in cooperative arrangements
— and insiders say the movement is grow
ing about 10 percent a year.
A report from the American Association
of State Colleges and Universities in coop
eration with the Council for the Advance
ment of Small Colleges explains:
“The desire for cooperation is prompted
in part by problems arising from
enrollments and financing, but also by a
genuine desire to avoid excessive govern
ment intervention by working together to
anticipate and implement needed change. ”
The report on 170 groupings of colleges
and universities involving 775 individual
institutions makes these points:
—Institutions studied reported 100 dis
tinct cooperative activities that have been
grouped as administrative, curricular, fac
ulty and staff, facilities, commmunity af
fairs and special interest.
—The 10 most frequently reported
cooperative activities are cross
registration, coordinated student advise
ment, faculty exchange, visiting scholars,
shared classroom facilities, joint majors and
degrees, library use, faculty development,
community events and loaned adminis
trators.
Three types of private-public coperative
groupings exist. To wit:
—Type A: Informal partnership of two or
three institutions in close geographical
proximity. Right now there are 65 such
partnerships.
—Type B: This largest and fastest grow
ing type is the regional urban cluster of
institutions. There are 73 such clusters on
the American scene.
—Type C: In this category institutions
are linked by special purpose such as inter
national interests or a unique research facil
ity. There are 32 groups in this classifica
tion.
Examples of each type:
1. Quachita Baptist College and Hender
son State College are located almost across
the street from each other in Arkadelphia,
Ark., a small town 75 miles southwest of
Little Rock. They’re into a Type A ar
rangement.
They are similar in size, around 3,000
students each. Students cross-register;
courses are cross-listed. Many cultural
events are joint. There is rivalry in sports
but a mutual boosters association.
2. The Five Colleges Inc. are an example
of Type B. This is the highly successful
venture of five Massachusetts colleges —
all in close proximity to each other and with
complementary campus features. The clus
ter, grouped since 1965, includes Amherst,
Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampton, and the
Amherst campus of the University of Mas
sachusetts.
It is just a 25-minute bus trip from one
end of the five-school campus to the other.
Cross registration is in the thousands. Fac
ulty exchange and visiting artists are fre
quent. Meal service, when necessary, can
be obtained without added charge on
another campus. The inter-campus buses
carried 800,000 passengers last year. Of the
6,200 cross-registrations last year, prefer
ence ran 2 to 1 for Amherst.
3. The Association for Graduate Educa
tion and Research for North Texas
(TAGER) is an example of Type C.
This association of seven institutions on
10 campuses and several major corpora
tions in the Dallas-Fort Worth:
provides academic programs on a teleii
network serving 20 locations.
The north Texas institutions Tagfl
elude Austin College, Bishop College,!;
las Baptist College, Southern Methd
University, Texas Christian Univeii
Texas Wesleyan College and three#
puses of the University of Texas.
General Dynamics, Texas InstniW*
and Xerox are among the industrial re#
ing locations.
The association offers course worN
graduate level to corporate employees!
others at $100 per credit hour. Courses
in computer science, engineering, hist#
mathematics, philosophy, psycholo!
sociology and statistics.
TAGER’s board is composed of®#'
sity and lay leaders.
Commenting on the cooperative®'
ment in higher education, Allan W. Os'
executive director of the American Assi
tion of State Colleges and Universi#
said: “As the resources available to hi?
education diminish, the quality of edi
tion will depend increasingly upon'
most effective use of the available#
sources.
“Cooperation is not a luxury, hs ;
necessity.”
Letters
A shade tree doesn’t help much in rain;
shuttle buses won’t keep you dry, either
Editor:
I enjoyed your “Opinion” on survival in
College Station rain. I wish to question,
however, your statement that,“The shut
tle buses ... are dry.
Perhaps you have not recently ridden a
shuttle bus in bad weather. I invite you to
ride my bus home one rainy day. We
probably won’t have to wait more than 10
Readers’ Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addition to
Letters to the Editor, are welcome.
All pieces submitted to Readers’
forum should be:
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
minutes for the bus to arrive and although
our stop has no shelter, there is a lovely
shade tree.
Once on the bus, you may have to
search a while to find a seat that has not
yet hosted a wet raincoat, umbrella or
body. And if you do find this seat, it will
probably be next to one of the windows
THOTZ
that doesn’t quite shut all the way. #
don’t worry, you won’t get wet — up
bus starts moving.
— Sharon Broun,
by Doug Graham
MSC AF
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