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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1980)
kil I I All stud for the these v the act dures f in 4 p.nr j REQU \ •SUV l»v .••••< i•£•••« Slouch By Jim Earle “It feels good to be campaigning for an issue that is clear-cut and understandable.” Opinion Battalion not to endorse The Battalion will not endorse any candidates for student office this year. This does not mean we are neglecting our option of be coming involved in the political process: quite the contrary. Any student representative who voted to defy the spirit, if not the letter, of the Student Body Constitution does not deserve to be re-elected. The essence of a representative government is in the ability of a constituency to keep in formed about what that government is doing. To deny stu dents the right to know is inconsistent with the ideals of representative government. The Battalion urges students to vote for no student gov ernment candidate who voted to close Wednesday night s senate meeting to the public — since student leaders claim a unanimous vote for the closed session, that includes all present. They wanted to hide something from you — if you think they erred, don’t hide your displeasure. small society by Briclcman Viewpoint The Battalion US PS 045 360 LETTERS POLICY MEMBER U turs l„ the editor should not exeeed 3tX) words and are Tw »' Pr ‘ " subject to heinu cut to that length or less if longer The < on*r,^ editorial stuff reserves the right to edit such letttrs and docs Editor RoV Brazil not guarantee to publish ana lettt'r. Each letter must he A • . t-* w -.T --r. i ® signed, show the address of the writer and list a teleghone Associate Editor Keith Taylor numlnr for verification. News Editor Rusty Cawley Address eorres/tondenee to Lettirs to the Editor. The Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison Battalion. Room 2lfi. Reed McDonald Building. College Copy Editor Dillard Stone Station. Texas , ,S4'i Sports Editor Mike Burrichter H.-pr.'N.-nt.-d nationally by National Educational Adv. r- F()CUS Edit()r Rhonda Watters tismg Services, Inc.. New York City. C hicago and Los Angeles. ' City Editor Louie Arthur TV Battalion is published Monday through Friday from Cam P US Edit ° r Dime B,ake September through May except during exam and holiday Staff Writers Nancy Andersen, periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesdux Tricia BrunHart, AngeliqUC Copeland, The Battalion Texas A&M Univebsity Monday March 31, 1980 iftheSWHis NOTREM!© THE SPHINX WL SWlRIALfiJR CRIMES W KM!! By I Cam Have you going oversea; don or Madri Riviera? That quite an intei sive, experien ■ Overseas tr; sometimes it < Recause of the the big cities imany alternat European or A ably none as e as the Peace kough the Pe ble to the publ when it had a still performi Rther countrie ■ Today the yolunteers in places ranging jpn southeast / Rentral Africa 1 jteers are reqi wears. They u [rural areas wl preatest. K While the C be easy work ■laces, it does art By CHAP Senate’s closed session... Cam Celebrati: miversary of o! Mechanic. |A&M Univers petition for \ Birthday can< Senate has obligation to students ichry Engine 'eekend. Universities Ina, Arkansas, 1 were represei pie: I Last week, The Battalion printed several stories and editorials concerning the stu dent senate’s vote in closed session to give $100,000 to the Athletic Department. In editorials on Thursday and Friday, we attacked the senate for its actions. On Friday, we also printed a story that explained the reason for the closed session. In Friday’s story, the senator who intro duced the bill quoted University President Dr. Jarvis Miller as saying the senate was acting at his request to allocate the money. The money — reportedly to be taken from MSC Bookstore profits — is to be given to the Athletic Department to help make up an anticipated $150,000 deficit in women’s athletics caused by implementation of Title IX guidelines. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare is charged with enforcing Title IX, the law that sets federal anti-sex discri mination guidelines for educational institu tions. Miller said one reason for the financial tomfoolery is a legal ploy: to involve the student body in the issue and confuse HEW. Miller reasons that when HEW tells the University it’s in violation of the rules — and it’s at least an even-odds bet that they will — HEW will have to file suit against the entire student body. In the story, Miller implies HEW will have a harder time suing 30,000 people than if the case involved a few administra tors. The attempt at implicating the entire student body in possible litigation is appall ing. Miller, the administration, the Athle tic Department and the senate are operat ing under the assumption that no one cares if they use students for their own shenani gans. They’re wrong. We care. Our original contention was that the sen ate violated the Open Meetings Law. The senate claims that they’re not covered by the Open Meetings Law. Based on a pre liminary indication from an official in the I The cars rar inches to ovei Ji i!, Texas A cfhairman. J The objects |iat would go I attorney general’s office has probably right. But the legality of the action is point — it's the idea of keepin] issue secret that’s frightening. If senators think they can get this nonsense, they’re wrong. Theyfl moral obligation to the students olii A&M University. They don’t towei the student body — they are pi Everything the senate does ii or part of the student body. Closi ing that involves the entire student to the extent that they are made lawsuit — is a violation of the publics — Ho) ith a maximi laid. The first pi 'ellkamp fro I'oxas. Tellkar .5 feet per The Tokyo I ;d of $1,700 The cashier Senator’s silence on issue confusing ame into the round, then pachine. He hange. He pulled o he fashion to During the senate’s closed session Wednesday night, William Altman, judi cial board chairman, told Battalion repor ters that if students wanted to know what happened at the senate meeting, they could call their representatives the next day. On the face of it, that statement is ridicu lous. In practice, it’s even more so. Have you tried calling your student sena tor to find out what the senators talked about? The Battalion has. For five days, Batta lion reporters and editors have followed Altman’s advice, asking student govern ment members for details on what they talked about Wednesday night. Very few people are talking. Those who are talking are scared of something. Whether they fear for their reputations or question the legality of their actions, we don’t know. What’s more incredible, though, is the line used by some senators, including Stu dent Body President Ronnie Kapavik: T’d tell a student who wasn’t connected with student publications.” What that statement means is that there are 30,000 students on this campus who are free to know about what went on at the meeting, and who are free to disseminate that information at will — in short, every body, except those whose job it is to pub lish the news. The idea of requiring 30,000 students to call their student senators so they can find L . . , jck. She ham out what occurred at a senate meefcf^, t ] lcn f| e( j practical. That’s why newspaperswei« owns } lire S ] vented. te'WWHUMJUypi What is a newspaper if not an e of the public? What is the basis of a in paper’s request for information if extension of the public’s right to b> Student senators obviously bavef ions inconsistent with those norn about the role of the press in afreeso Constitution violated by bylaw changel The student senate’s attempt to circumvent the students’ interests by going into closed session to discuss a grant of money to the athletic department was in violation of the student government constitution. The senate wanted to discuss the alloca tion in closed session, but according to Sec tion V of the constitution, “all meetings of the Student Senate shall be open to the public unless the Senate enters into execu tive session by unanimous consent.” In order to change the unanimous vote requirement, the matter must be submit ted to a student referendum — the consti tution cannot be changed otherwise. The senate got around this rule by attempting a parliamentary flim-flam. Paul Bettencourt, vice president for rules and regulations, proposed an amendment to the student senate bylaws that changed the requirements for going into closed session from a unanimous vote to a two-thirds ma jority. The senate then approved the amendment — an action in violation of the constitution. The senate then then passed the entire bill. As soon as the bill had been passed, Bet tencourt’s copy, with penciled-in amend ments and changes, was passed to Rip Van Winkle, speaker of the senate. Van Winkle signed the bill, and passed it to Ronnie Kapavik, student body president, who also signed it. The senate’s next order of business was a motion to go into closed session under the newly passed unconstitutional bylaws. The vote to go into closed session was not unanimous, but student observers and two Battalion reporters were nonetheless told to leave the meeting. Then, the senate applied its own version of Catch-22. After the closed session began, senate leaders said, those who voted against it changed their votes. Senate leaders, therefore, claim a unani mous vote. It was a unanimous vote, but it occurred in closed session and the closed session itself was unconstitutional, fore, the changes in the vote that off-j in the session were invalid. It’s a circular argument that has its in itself. Going into closed session in to justify the closed session isn’t cut it. The Battalion is filing a complainl' 1 the student government Judicial Bos» void any actions taken by thesenatein 1 closed session. Even if the action taken in closed 0 is not illegal understate law, itisagaM senate’s own charter. — Tim St Thotz 109-111 Bo