mu!
’ONS!
'DNlClii
■USS!
The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 38 Thursday, October 25, 1979 USPS 045 360
22 Pages in 2 Sections College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
Hotard Hall to close
for spring term?
A hallway on a landing of Texas A&M University’s
Hotard Hall shows the need for renovation. Presi
dent Jarvis Miller gave the Department of Student
Battalion photo by Sam Stroder
Affairs the go-ahead to close the dorm in the spring
for possible renovation. A&M’s Board of Regents
has recognized the need for repairs in Hotard.
By CAROL HANCOCK
Battalion Reporter
When Hotard Hall residents move out
of their rooms for Christmas break in De
cember, they won’t be coming back. Not
until next fall, anyway.
Texas A&M University President Jarvis
Miller gave the Department of Student Af
fairs the go-ahead early last week to close
Hotard during the spring semester for
possible renovation.
Although no formal renovation proposal
has been presented to the Board of Re
gents, some members of the board and
Chancellor Frank W. R. Hubert looked at
the dorm after viewing nearby construc-
ton.
The board has recognized Hotard’s need
for repairs and has been discussing the
idea informally, said Robert Cherry, assis
tant to the chancellor and secretary to the
board. There is, however, no renovation
item on the agenda for the November
board meeting, he said.
The Department of Student Affairs has
drawn up a proposal that includes renova
tion plans for Hotard — basically the same
as those done to Legett Hall last spring.
“What we really want to do is make it
a nice, livable place,” said Ron Sasse, as
sociate director of student affairs.
The proposal suggests all new furniture,
new doors and locks, aluminum windows,
air-conditioning, phones, carpeting, a
drop ceiling and new roofing. The dorm
would also be waterproofed and repainted.
The bathrooms would be totally redone
and some areas would be converted into
study rooms.
The proposal has been sent to the De
partment of Business Services to arrange
the financial aspect of it. Howard Vestal,
vice president for business affairs, was un
available for comment as to when the pro
posal would be submitted to the board.
Cherry said there is ample time for the
proposal to be presented to the regents
before the meeting in November. There is
also a possibility the board will have a spe
cial meeting in early November to discuss
the idea, he said.
There have been definite indications
Hotard will be renovated, Sasse said. Ap
proval for the dorm closing from President
Miller and the board’s interest in the pro
posal point toward the regents’ approval of
the plan, he said.
Many things were considered before the
request for permission to close Hotard was
submitted to Miller, Sasse said.
If Hotard is renovated, he said, work
will have to begin in the spring in order to
complete the dorm in time for the fall 1980
semester.
Room reservation cards for the spring
semester must be turned in next week,
Sasse said.
“Even though the proposal has not been
approved, we would hate for he guys to
sign up for Hotard and then have to move
them out if the proposal was accepted, ” he
said.
Another factor in the decision to close
Hotard was the inconvenience Hotard res
idents would have to put up with as the
two new modular dorms were built.
The construction of the two dorms paral
lel to Hotard is extremely noisy, Sasse
said. The noise would increase in the
spring, he said.
A high amount of dust and dirt can col
lect in the rooms. Windows are usually left
open because the dorm is not air-
conditioned.
Nolen Mears, area coordinator for
Hotard Hall, said all the discomfort and
noise might promote lower grades.
“With all things considered, I think we
took the best approach to the problem,”
he said.
Another inconvenience is the relocation
of water, sewer and electrical lines. Each
service will have to be cut off when relo
cated for the modular dorms.
Hotard residents have mixed feelings
about the dorm renovation proposal. The
immediate reaction was negative. Slowly
they’re beginning to accept the idea,
Mears said. Head resident David Bergen
is all in favor the idea.
“Hotard is physically in worse shape
than any (dorm) on campus,” he said.
Jeff Buzek said he wished Hotard could
be renovated during the summer.
“It’s going to be a big hassle having to
move out,” he said.
Alan Gragg, fourth floor resident ad
viser, said he thought the dorm physically
needed renovation but feels the people in
Student Affairs are unconcerned about the
opinions of the students .
“They have good intentions but it’s ap
parent we residents have been caught up
in the budget game,” he said.
One suspicion Gragg and others have is
the possibility that Hotard might be made
into a women’s dorm if it is renovated.
Mears said the men in Legett were told
the dorm would be made a women’s dor
mitory after renovation. There has been
no proposal to make Hotard a women’s
dorm.
Mears said Hotard residents will be
given first priority to dorm room vacancies
in the spring. There is no guarantee there
will be spaces where students want them,
he said, but all head residents are working
with Student Affairs to reserve spaces and
keep roommates together.
etv campus fire alarms still ‘getting the kinks out’
By ANGIE JONES
... 4 J Battalion Reporter
IIOi 4b A new campus fire detection system is
lJ| almost finished. Although it is safer, a few
MOi ti l ^ Se a l arrns are inevitable.
Ml |Records from the Physical Plant, in
I40n[i charge of campus maintenance, show 20
M* 1 fire alarms have gone off on campus be-
60i f| tween Oct. 1 and Oct. 21. Harry Stiteler,
to' 1 safety and health officer at the Physical
Plant, says an average of one alarm per day
is not unusual, considering the number of
buildings on campus and the sensitive fire
LJ equipment being installed.
Last year only 35 buildings had fire
alarm systems, Stiteler said. So the Physi-
It
ks
cal Plant business office recommended
that the systems be upgraded. The propo
sal was approved and now 85 buildings will
have had some form of added fire detec
tion by December.
Every building is connected to a main
monitor, called “Hawkeye,” which regis
ters a signal at the Physical Plant and at
the University Police dispatcher’s office
when an alarm goes off. A campus police
man is sent to the site and if there is a fire,
the College Station Fire Department is
called.
Some of the buildings which have just
been connected to the Hawkeye system
Eighty-five buildings will have had some form of added fire
detection by December — Harry Stiteler, safety and health
officer at the physical plant.
are going through a “burning in” period.
This is the time it takes to “get the kinks
out of the equipment,” Stiteler explained.
Rudder Center is going through its burn
ing in period; three false alarms have gone
off there.
The Soil and Crop Center has had two
real fires. One began in the hay sampling
room and another was caused by a faulty
light fixture.
University police have determined that
five fire alarms were set maliciously by
• • •
F.Y.I.
Miscellaneous notes
s ,
• r
i.ll*
■
overlap '
...Eodi
Joeli
‘Fall back’
It’s time to change the clocks again.
Sunday at 2 a.m. we will officially
go off Central Daylight Time and back
to Central Standard Time.
So set your clocks one hour back —
i.e., to 1 a.m. If this confuses you (as
it does most people), just remember
you’re getting an extra hour of sleep.
Freshman elections
Votes from Wednesday’s freshmen
elections have been counted, but re
sults aren’t official yet.
Some top vote-getters may not
qualify for office because of low mid
term grades. Bruce Russell, student
government election commissioner,
said grades were to be checked today.
Early Thursday morning Russell
said turnout appeared “pretty good”
with 1,500-2,000 voting out of about
7,000 in the class. Turnout was higher
than last fall, Russell said.
“There were more candidates (97)
than last year,” he said. “Maybe they
just knew more people.”
Q-drop: last chance
Students have until Monday to
drop classes with no penalty.
A student’s record will show a “Q”
for classes dropped through that day.
A “Q” does not figure into the grade
point ratio.
Students who drop a course after
Monday will receive an “F” unless
unusual circumstances exist.
To drop a course, students must
first see their academic advisers.
Change in grading system
possible this semester
people either burning the heat detectors,
removing them or pulling the alarms
where fire extinguishers are located.
Capt. Elmer Schneider, University
Police dispatcher, said a false fire alarm is
a Class A misdemeanor. The penalty is a
fine not to exceed $2,000, or a jail term not
to exceed one year, or both.
John White, coordinator of special serv
ices, said if a student is caught tampering
with fire alarm equipment he will be billed
for the damages.
A different type of fire protection sys
tem is being installed in the Data Process
ing Center, though it is still connected to
the main Hawkeye system.
The Halon Fire Protection system dis
perses pressurized liquid halon through a
network of pipes when a fire is detected.
The halon costs $7 per pound, Restivo
said, and there are 6,072 pounds of the gas
in the system here.
Because of the high cost of the gas, the
fire detection system is designed with a
two-step alarm signal. The heat detector
sends a signal to the control panel in the
computer room. Here the signal stays in a
“holding pattern” in case of false alarm. At
the same time a signal is sent to the Haw
keye monitor. If the first signal is not voi
ded a second signal releases the gas after
30 seconds.
By ELLEN EIDELBACH
Battalion Reporter
Texas A&M University’s student senate
will recommend a change in the Univer
sity grading system before the end of the
semester.
The Academic Affairs committee will
consider several different proposals to
alter the present four-point scale of grad
ing before making a recommendation to
the senate, said John C. Calhoun, student
government vice president for academic
affairs.
Senators heard one such proposal at
Wednesday’s meeting, presented by Dr.
John A. McIntyre, professor of physics.
Under McIntyre’s system, students
would receive grades beginning at 0.0, or
the equivalent of a 55, and ending at 4.5,
which would be equal to 100.
Every point in between 0.0 and 4.5
would relate to the numbers 55 through
100 on an increasing scale. For example, a
56 would be 0.1 and a 57 would be 0.2.
“The trouble is now, the man who
made the 98 gets the same grade as the
man with a 92,” McIntyre said. “I’m not
changing the scale at all I’m just making it
finer, so it’ll represent what the student
did.”
There is not much difference between a
student with an 89 and one with a 90, but
there is between a B and an A, McIntyre
said. The new system would point these
differences out.
This grading system proposal and others
are being considered by student senators
in an effort to improve the present one.
“What we re trying to do is get a more
accurate grading system,” Calhoun ex
plained.
Another item being considered by the
rules and regulations committee would
ban bicycles from the central campus from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
“The number of bicycle accidents has
been going up lately,” Paul Bettencourt,
vice president for rules and regulations,
explained. “I’ve heard of eight to 10 acci
dents happening a day.”
Bettencourt added that any bill would
be a recommendation to the University
Traffic Panel if it is passed.
In other action, the senate passed three
bills which would:
— provide staplers and scissors for stu
dent use near copying machines in the li
brary
— change student seating for baseball
games to both upper and lower decks on
the first base side of Olsen Field (Pres
ently, students occupy all of the upper
deck only)
B-CS gas stations plan to stay open
(through SMU-A&M game weekend
By SANDRA SEFCIK
Battalion Reporter
1 Even though area gasoline dealers won’t
iget their allocation figures for November
(until the first, most are going to be open
(the weekend of the Texas A&M-SMU
vgame.
Most of the station owners said they are
meager for the football weekend to arrive.
They are planning to be open all weekend,
(although on a regular weekend some close
[ at noon on Saturday or all day Sunday.
Bryan-College Station is one of the few
areas in Texas where gasoline prices have
not risen to over $1 per gallon.
According to an American Automobile
Association survey released October 18,
average gasoline prices for premium un
leaded in Texas reached $1 a gallon for the
first time. Gasoline was over $1 at many
full-service pumps in Austin, Beaumont,
Port Arthur, Waco and Midland-Odessa,
the report said. However, availability has
improved over last month.
The cities surveyed by the AAA had
regular gasoline prices under a dollar, as is
the case with stations in this area.
In addition to lower prices here, there is
more gasoline available.
Prices, however, will soon increase, said
Dick Broach, an area wholesaler.
“There is a grim forecast concerning
gasoline, but there is gasoline at the
pumps,” Broach said.
Broach said he noticed prices in
Bryan-College Station rose about three
cents per gallon this week. He added that
the price to the wholesaler rose five cents
last week.
“If people don’t panic and start filling
their tanks and keeping them full, then the
shortage won’t be felt as much as it was
this summer,” he said.
There was a definite shortage this sum
mer, Broach said, and people who nor
mally don’t fill their tanks started keeping
them full, making the shortage more
noticeable.
We should be thankful that not all cars
rim on diesel fuel, Broach said. Diesel fuel
prices have increased 10 percent within
the last month.
Dispatcher Nicole Marshal operates “Hawkeye,” a main monitor to
which all campus fire alarms will be connected. Hawkeye registers a
signal at the Physical Plant and at the University Police dispatcher’s
office when an alarm goes off. Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco