UR
DIO
1
mplex!
e Batt.
Rocy Smith takes a fall in the men’s team competi
tion of the Little Aggieland bike race. The event was
sponsored by the A&M Cycling Team and Baskin
Wipeout!
Robins Ice Cream Parlors and was patterned after
the Little Indy held annually at the University of
Indiana. There were fifteen teams entered in the
race. Each three-man team went 24 laps, approxi
mately 10 miles, around the drill field in front of
Puryear and Law halls. Nine of the starting teams
finished the race. Please See the story on page 10.
Photo by Dan Harrison.
The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 128 Monday, March 31, 1980 USPS 045 360
12 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
enators say $100,000 from Bookstore profits
By ANDY WILLIAMS and
DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
I Several student senators say the Texas
A&M Bookstore will be the source of
$100,000 they voted to allocate to the
omen’s athletic program Wednesday.
The senators, interviewed over the
I'eekend, said George Black, the student
Sice president for finance, told them the
poney would come into the student service
jccount from the bookstore profits fund,
^lacksaid he introduced the measure at the
leanest of University President Jarvis E.
Miller.
“That’s the first I’ve heard about it,” said
Charles Cargill, director of the University
Center, when asked if the money would be
transferred from the bookstore’s profits
account.
Asked later if the funds would come from
e bookstore’s reserve fund, Cargill said,
'I just don’t know. Keep in mind that all we
do is make the money. ”
The bookstore profits are used for a vari
ety of purposes, among which is the fund
ing of clubs recognized by the director of
student activities.
The senators voted in closed session on a
resolution to transfer the money to the
women’s athletic program from the student
service account — an account usually gen-
Please see related editorials
on page 2
erated by collection of the student service
fee, which costs each student $33.50 a
semester.
Texas A&M President Jarvis E. Miller,
asked whether the $100,000 would come
into the account through this fee, said
Thursday night, “I’m not prepared to
answer that.”
Miller, asked Friday whether the
$100,000 was being taken from a bookstore
account, said he had no comment.
“You’re making a mountain out of a mole
hill, creating a tempest in a teapot, ” Miller
said. “The editorial today (in Friday’s Bat-
|Battalion asks Kapavik
for open records compliance
By RUSTY CAWLEY
StafT Writer
Battalion editor Roy Bragg has requested
|brmally that Student Body President Ron
nie Kapavik make public all information
boncerning last Wednesday’s meeting of
[|the student senate.
Bragg asked for information under the
gate’s open records law.
He has also asked both Chancellor Frank
.R. Hubert and Brazos County District
\ttorney Travis Bryan III to ask the attor-
hey general for an opinion on whether the
(senate legally closed a section of that
neeting.
Bragg said he also intends to file a com
plaint with the Judicial Board, charging
that the senate went into closed session
without a unanimous vote, a violation of its
bonstitution.
In a letter to Kapavik delivered Friday,
Bragg asked the student president for “im-
aediate delivery of all information, mi
nutes, votes, bills, amendments and riders
germane to both open and closed session of
[the Texas A&M student senate meeting of
Vednesday, 26 March 1980.” Bragg cited
■several sections of the open records law to
Jsupport his request:
— Section 3(a) makes public “all informa
tion collected, assembled, or maintained
By govermenmental bodies pursuant to law
ordinance or in connection with the
(transaction of official business ....
— Section 2 (1) (F) defines a governmen-
|bl body as “the part, section, or portion of
(every organization, corporation, commis-
(sion, committee, institution, or agency
J'vhich is supported in whole or in part by
(Public funds, or which expends public
(funds. ”
This, Bragg says in the letter, includes
(ftudent government, since it is part of an
j'Ustitution which receives public funds.
Kapavik and other student leaders have
said they will not consider the request until
after a press conference which was sche
duled for 11:30 a. m. today in 216 MSC.
In letters mailed today, Bragg asked
Hubert and Bryan to request an opinion
from Attorney General Mark White.
If rendered, the opinion could settle
whether a student government at a state-
supported university must obey the state
open meetings law.
Bragg also said he intends to file a com
plaint with the Judicial Board. The student
government constitution requires a unani
mous vote for a closed session. Student
senate leaders claim they had a unanimous
vote.
Bragg said two Battalion reporters at the
meeting saw at least three people vote
against the closed session.
Wednesday, the senate closed its meet
ing to discuss whether to funnel money
earmaked for the women’s athletic program
through student government. In this way,
the University administration hopes to in
volve the entire student population in any
discrimination suit the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare hopes to
bring against the university.
The open meetings law allows a body to
close a meeting if its members wish to dis
cuss pending litigation, land purchase or
personnel. The discussion Wednesday falls
under none of these catagories.
Student government leaders maintain
that the senate is not covered by the law.
Bob Heh, chairman of the attorney gener
al’s opinions committee said Thursday that
no ruling has ever been made on the issue.
If either Bryan or Hubert asks for an
opinion, and the attorney general rules
against the senate, each participating mem
ber could be held guilty of a misdemeanor.
The penalty for breaking the open meet
ings law is a fine of $100-$500 or a jail term
of one to six months.
talion) was a pretty low blow, and I don’t
have any more to say about this matter.”
The editorial said that the University
“suffers from a fear of public scrutiny,” and
said that Miller’s handling of KAMU-FM’s
budget two years ago was an example of
that fear.
In that incident. Miller turned down a
request from The Bryan Eagle that he re
lease information about the University-
owned radio station. He said then that tbe
budget represented working papers until
voted on by the Board of Regents.
Miller said the transfer of the money
from the student service account is an
attempt to involve all students in any action
by the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare.
Student Body President Ronnie Kapavik
also declined to comment on the source of
the money.
“I’d tell a student who wasn’t connected
with student publications,” Kapavik said.
Kapavik is also a member of the Student
Publications Board, the panel that names
the editors of The Battalion and the Aggie
land.
Kapavik said student government’s next
comment would be made today at 11:30
a.m. in 216 MSC, when a statement was
Officials fear
more floods
in south La.
United Press International
Officials today warned raindrenched
South Louisiana communities to prepare
for still more flooding from the Bogue Chit-
to and Pearl rivers, swollen by the worst
floods since the turn of the century.
Flood waters rose chest deep at Frank-
linton Sunday, forcing evacuation of about
400 people and bringing National Guards
men in boats to patrol for looters.
The National Weather Service stressed
the danger was not over simply because
five days of heavy rains cleared into blue
and sunny skies.
“Remember,” NWS officials said, “it
may take a day or two for the full effect to be
felt in urban and rural areas adjacent to the
flooding rivers. Listen to advice from Civil
Defense and other local officials. If you are
told to evacuate, do so while there is time. ”
The NWS warned residents to store ade
quate food, drinking water, medical and
other supplies and said sandbagging might
be needed to help keep water out of
houses.
Sheriff s deputies and National Guards
men were patrolling the evacuated Bogue
Chitto subdivision in flat-bellied “piro
gues” to watch for looters.
The flooding is the result of a five-day
downpour that let up Sunday, but left the
Bogue Chitto at 20.5 feet — more than 8
feet above flood level.
Franklinton officials said it was the worst
flooding since 1900, when the river crested
at more than 27 feet.
scheduled to be made concerning The Bat
talion’s request for records of Wednesday’s
closed senate meeting.
Brad Smith, student vice president for
student services, said student activities will
not lose any money because of the transfer
of funds.
Smith defended his and other senators’
reluctance to talk about the transfer of the
money and the closed session.
“We’ve got 80 senators in the senate,
each representing some part of the Univer
sity,” Smith said. “Nothing’s going to go
through that’s not to the benefit of the stu
dents. ”
Athletic Department plans
$50,000 fund-raising drive
By DEBBIE NELSON
Campus Staff
The Texas A&M University Athletic De
partment plans to have a money drive to
raise its $50,000 share of the $150,000
needed for compfiance with federal anti
sex discrimination guidelines.
The money is needed to offset the in
creased cost of University compliance with
Title IX rules. Title IX sets federal sex dis
crimination standards for educational insti
tutions.
Wally Groff, assistant director for busi
ness affairs for athletics, said the needed
$150,000 is part of the proposed $706,019
women’s athletic budget for 1980-81. The
proposed men’s athletic budget is
$3,211,801.
Kay Don, women’s athletic director, said
the athletic department plans to raise
$50,000 through public donations from
Aggie clubs and Texas A&M mother’s
clubs. The administration had told the de
partment it would supply the other
$100,000.
Last week, the student senate approved
a recommendation allocating the $100,000
— reportedly from MSC Bookstore profits
via the student service account — to the
Athletic Department.
Women athletes contacted by The Batta
lion over the weekend said men’s teams
may have slightly better facilities and fund
ing than women’s teams. However, they
said they saw insufficient grounds for an
anti-sex discrimination suit.
Women’s track team member Sande
Lambert said, “I see no grounds for a suit.
When I came here (in 1976) women had no
shoes, no warm-ups — now we do. I don’t
think we can expect a lot. We don’t bring in
any money.”
Groff said until this year all sports ran at a
deficit except football. “This year men’s
basketball paid its own way,” Groff said.
“All other sports (men’s and women’s) are
supported solely by men’s football.”
Groff said there are approximately 100
women and 240 men in University athle
tics. Over half of the men are in football.
Men’s athletics cannot afford to continue
funding the women’s programs, Groff said.
Kay Don, women’s athletic director,
said, “If you want a high caliber program,
you need to spend money on women’s
athletics. ”
Don said women’s teams don’t have
assistant coaches, while men’s teams do.
This is the main area where men’s and
women’s athletic programs are not equal,
she said.
Groff said men and women athletes get
comparable money for travel, scholarships
and equipment. Salaries aren’t equal, he
said, due to “experience and longevity in
the field.”
Basketball team members Lisa Hughes
and Peggy Pope both said although male
athletes may have things a little better than
female athletes, they saw no grounds for a
sex discrimination suit.
Women’s softball player Nancy Sullivan
said the men’s baseball team has its own
field, but the women’s softball field will be
completed by next fall. “The women’s faci
lities are very good,” Sullivan said. “I can’t
complain.”
Don said, “We re gradually getting
there. ”
Young, unskilled workers
get jobs through council
By TODD WOODARD
City Reporter
Sixteen-year-ola Paul Rios had a dream.
He wanted to work as an artist.
But Paul was unskilled and young. For
his goal to be realized, he needed someone
to take a chance, to hire him. Employers
normally do not take risks.
Now 18, Rios is working in graphics at
KAMU-TV, the Texas A&M University
television station. Rios had help getting on
at KAMU.
Brazos County has an organization to
give young, unskilled job seekers a chance.
The Brazos Valley Development Council
uses federal funds to employ youths in a
summer program.
Youths applying for jobs through the
council must be between 14 and 21 years
old. Being economically disadvantaged is
another factor.
Melissa Harris, lead counselor for areas
relating to in-school classroom training and
on the job training at BVDC, said that “the
neediest are selected. ” She said that needi
ness takes priority. Income levels for a
family, supplemental income from govern
ment, and handicaps are all considered for
eligibility.
“If you're handicapped or a foster child,
we automatically consider you economical
ly disadvantaged. These criteria, age, in
region, and disadvantage, qualify people
for our program,” she said.
The region qualification means living in
one of seven surrounding counties: Robert
son, Madison, Leon, Washington, Grives,
Burleson, and Brazos.
This is the way the council works. Bill
Stanley, labor and market analyst for
BVDC, said funding for the programs like
summer youth employment comes from
federal money.
“The Comprehensive Employment
Training Act was passed in 1973. CETA
money goes to the Department of Labor
which then passes money to the Texas De
partment of Community Affairs, our prime
sponsor. We contract with them for funds,”
he said.
Those funds are paid to workers who
have qualified at BVDC. Harris explained
that the council finds employers who are
willing to take on youths as summer help.
CETA funds from BVDC pays their
wages,” she said.
Harris said, “A lot of them are on public
assistance, but they don’t want to be. They
can get control of their lives with job ex
perience.
“The main purpose is to get them em
ployment and training. A lot of kids we get
have no idea about working. They can learn
about being on time, getting along, being
employable. ”
“I could have found work on my own.
There is no way a high school student could
have the job I have now. I’m glad I didn’t go
out and sack groceries at Safeway now,”
Rios said.
Youths in the summer program as well as
people in other CETA financed programs
start with a disadvantage. Harris said
Continued on page 5