search committee to be named
by DILLARD STONE
Battalion Stall
JThe search for a permanent president for Texas A&M
I University wil! begin today with the announcement of a search
“mimittee which will screen applicants for the post.
University source said the announcement of the commit
’s members will be made at today’s meeting of the Academic
uncil.
iThe number and names of the committee’s members are still
;ret, but it is anticipated that the committee will include
mbers of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents, Universi-
& faculty and staff representatives, representatives from other
diversities in the state, and Texas A&M students and former
dents.
Raul Fernandez of San Antonio, president of the Texas A&M
Association of Former Students, has indicated he feels alumni
should be represented on a search committee.
Brad Smith, president of Texas A&M’s student body, has
indicated a desire that current students be included in the
committee. Monday night, Smith said he had heard of a search
committee being formed, but that he had had no indication that
any student would be placed on it.
The committee will look for a permanent successor to Dr.
Jarvis E. Miller, who was reassigned as special assistant to the
chancellor at the July meeting of the Board of Regents. Dr.
Charles Samson, professor and former head of the civil engineer
ing department, has been named acting president until a
permanent replacement can be found.
Board Chairman Clyde Wells has said that Samson will be
considered for the position. Samson has indicated he would
accept the permanent presidency if it is offered.
Today’s Academic Council meeting, the first since April, is
Samson’s first as president.
Among the other measures to be considered at the meeting is
a request to make any undergraduate course at Texas A&M
available to students on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.
According to a memorandum from Dr. Diane Strommer,
former associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the proposal
is not intended to remove the restrictions on students as to the
number and kind of courses which can be taken S/U.
The memorandum also recommends that all necessary
changes be made in University records to replace the Pass/Fail
grade designations with S/U. The old designation is misleading
because pass/fail implies that a grade of D or better is needed to
pass the course, while to obtain a grade of P the student must
have at least a C.
Other matters to be considered include the approval of degree
candidates for the Aug. 16 graduation, and the Aug. 22
graduation from the veterinary college; additions and deletions
to the course catalogue; changes in curricula and a proposal to
place a minimum grade point ratio requirement for doctoral
degree candidates taking either preliminary or final examina
tions.
The Academic Council will meet at 1:30 p.m. in 601 Rudder.
Vol. 73 No. 184
6 Pages
Billygate gone, Carter hopes;
denies brother influenced policy
Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Tuesday, August 5, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Declaring his administration in
nocent of wrongdoing in the Billy Carter affair, Presi
dent Carter says he will order new rules to prevent any
future appearances of impropriety with his relatives.
In a nationally broadcast news conference from the
White House Monday night. Carter stressed his brother
Billy’s connections with Libya “had no influence or effect
on my actions or U.S. government policy toward Libya.”
The facts will show “neither I nor any member of my
administration violated any law or committed any im
propriety,” Carter said.
But the president said he will move to prevent such
controversies in the future by having his counsel draw
up rules preventing administration officials from dealing
with his relatives on substantive issues “that create
either the reality or the appearance of improper favor or
influence.”
Earlier in the day, Carter released to a special Senate
subcommittee a voluminous report describing when he
learned of Billy’s trips to Libya and of his conversations
with his brother about the matter.
The subcommittee is investigating whether Billy Car
ter’s connections with Libya may have improperly
influenced U.S. policy toward the North African nation
government officials say provides weapons to terrorist
groups.
Asked by reporters later if he thought he had put an
end to the controversy that has engulfed the White
House for weeks Carter replied: “I don’t know. It
depends on how you people handle it and how the
American people judge it.”
Carter conceded “we made a few mistakes” in previ
ous White House attempts to clear up the matter which
helped fuel the controversy.
Carter, in the report and the news conference, said
White House lawyers learned July 11 Billy Carter
received two big payments from Moammar Khadafy’s
government.
But the president said he personally did not find out
about the payments until July 15 when he “read about it
in the newspaper,” a day after Billy filed a public
statement with the Justice Department acknowledging
he was a foreign agent for Libya.
The president said he doesn’t know ‘where the money
went or where it might go,” and suggested reporters ask
Billy what he did with the cash.
Billy Carter, watching the news conference at a motel
in Americus, Ga., laughed at that suggestion and said,
“He has no influence on me.”
Carter also defended his decision to use Billy as an
intermediary in the hostage crisis in November. He said
there was nothing inappropriate in asking Billy to
contact his Libyan friends to see if they could influence
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to release the hostages.
But Carter acknowledged the move “may have en
hanced Billy’s stature in the minds of the Libyans.
“That’s the only down side to it that I can under
stand,” he said. “I did what I thought was best for our
country and best for the hostages and I believe that that’s
exactly what Billy was doing.”
The president went into detail on his relationship with
Billy saying, “We are personally close. I love him. He
loves me.”
But, he said, “I am deeply concerned that Billy has
received funds from Libya and that he may be under
obligation to Libya. These facts will have to govern my
own relationship with my brother Billy.”
Worst E. Caribbean storm in 1900s
Hurricane leaves 8 dead
—j
Ton got a strong grip, lady!
A pair of female arm wrestlers do battle while members of the San
Antonio Cowards arm wrestling association look on. The action took
place over the weekend at the 9th Annual Texas Folklife Festival in San
ntonio.
Photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
United Press International
CASTRIES St. Lucia — Hurricane Allen the “most
intense and dangerous” storm to strike the Caribbean in
a century is in open water today and gaining strength.
While the Windward Islands count their dead and assess
damages Jamaica is bracing for Allen’s 170-mph winds.
At least eight people were known dead on the resort
island of St. Lucia after Allen struck it, Barbados and St.
Vincent Sunday night and early Monday. On Barbados,
10 ships were reported lost.
Forecasters predicted Allen, now dubbed a “great
hurricane” because of its potentially devastating capaci
ty, could reach Jamaica in the West Indies by Wednes
day afternoon.
A hurricane watch was in effect today for the south
west peninsula of Haiti and the southern Dominican
Republic which share the island of Hispaniola.
A bulletin issued by the National Weather Service
said reports from reconnissance flights indicated Allen
“continues to strengthen,” and is now “the most intense
and dangerous hurricane in the Caribbean during this
century.”
At 2 a.m. CDT, Allen’s 7-mile-wide “eye” was located
near latitude 15.3 north and longitude 69.0 west or about
280 miles southwest of San Juan moving slightly north of
due west at 20 mph. No change of speed or direction was
expected today or tonight.
The eye of the storm passed just north of Barbados and
crossed the south end of St. Lucia. Radio Antilles at
Monserrat reported the greatest destruction at the
southwest tip of St. Lucia in the towns of Dennery and
Vieux Fort, which was described as being “a total
shambles.”
In Castries itself, a wing of Victoria hospital was
demolished and six ships, including a Venezuelan war
ship, were blown aground in the harbor. Roofs were
blown off three-fourths of the homes in the city’s hillside
Mome section. Utility lines were felled and at least two
banana plantations demolished.
In Barbados, officials said the government of St. Lucia
had asked for emergency donations of medical supplies
and personnel.
One of the 10 ships lost at Barbados where the
hurricane first struck was a freighter smashed on the
rocks in the harbor at Bridgetown. Twenty-eight fishing
boats also were destroyed and many others damaged.
Inter-island schooners sank in the harbor at Kingston
on the island of St. Vincent and the capital was flooded.
Storm-driven rains also caused flooding in the islands of
Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica.
As for its next target, Jamaica, he said, “A little bit of
deviation one way or another could make it go to one
side or the other of Jamaica. Jamaica is a pretty small
target. But I don’t think there is too much doubt
anymore that Jamaica is going to get some effect from a
storm as large as this one.”
The only Caribbean storm that might have been
comparable to Allen was a November 1932, hurricane
that hit the south coat of Cuba, killing 2,500 people.
ones expects Afghanistan to heat up
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Staff says the Soviets are having more trouble in
hanistan than they anticipated, and he expects them
[step up military operations now that the Olympic
nes in Moscow are finished.
|I would expect somewhat increased intensity in their
^rations in Afghanistan particularly now that the
lyrapics are over,” Gen. David Jones said in an
jlusive interview Monday. “It’s hard to say what the
: of that increased activity would be.”
during the interview, the top U.S. military officer
Ice about a broad scope of issues ranging from his
tinued support of the SALT II treaty to what he
siders a major problem — U.S. military readiness,
ones, 60, former Air Force chief of staff, projects the
ige of an intelligent manager skilled in the art of quiet
suasion rather than that of a flamboyant military
Asked about the situation in Afghanistan, Jones said:
“The Soviets are not without problems in the area. I
believe they underestimated the magnitude of the
problem in Afghanistan.
“I have not been particularly impressed — in fact I’ve
been unimpressed — with some of the ways they have
planned and executed in Afghanistan.
“However, I don’t mean to imply it’s a quagmire and it
will have such a drain on their military forces they won’t
be able to do other things. But it is a greater problem I
think than they anticipated.
“They’ve got forces in the Soviet Union — whatever is
necessary — and they could send in a lot more.”
Pentagon officials said they have not detected any
signs yet of new Soviet operations in Afghanistan, but
they also expect fighting to flare up now that the
Olympic Games are over.
Despite the Soviet aggression, Jones said he and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff support the SALT II treaty as a
“modest but useful” contribution to strategic stability.
“We would have liked to have achieved more —
greater cuts — but we’re not addressing any other treaty
but this one. We recommend that it be ratified.”
Jones also supports moves to start a new round of
negotiations to limit American and Soviet long-range
missiles in Europe.
The general said he is happy with the $52.9 billion
weapons procurement bill agreed upon last week by
House and Senate conferees.
“I would just hope we don’t end up with a budget
which takes money out of readiness, spare parts, mis
siles, training and all the rest” he added.
Of those categories Jones said military readiness
remains his major problem. “We’re in far better shape
than we were at the end of the Vietnam War, but still we
have considerable to do to get readiness up to where I
would like to see it. I just hope we don’t end up with cuts
in readiness.”
r
Yesterday
The Weather
Today
>
High
95
High
....99
Low
80
Low
.... 77
Humidity. . .
49%
Humidity
.. .50%
Rain
. 0.0 inches
Chance of rain
. Slight
McCandless named
interim Lib Arts dean
alias heat breaks temporarily
D-FW reports first below-100 high in 42 straight days
United Press International
42-day string of 100-plus degree temperatures —
t linked to the deaths of 100 Texans and responsible
illions of dollars in crop losses — was finally broken
nday by gray clouds that scattered light showers over
I road area of North Texas.
] be respite, however, was predicted to be very brief,
s the temperature slowly climbed early in the
moon it appeared the overcast skies were succeeding
Biding temperatures below 100 for the first time
June 23, but it wasn’t until 5:20 p.m. that the
ional Weather Service in Fort Worth was certain the
iperature would not go above 95.
ie high at the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport
afternoon was 95 degrees,” declared the weather
eau’s special statement. “This ended the 42 day
g of recorded 100 degree plus high tempera-
is...”
One-hundred was the magic number, ” said forecas-
in-charge Billy Cook who issued the statement. “The
it wave isn’t really broken. It’s mostly psychological,
was the mark we were going by.
“The string of 100-degree days is broken, but it won’t
last more than a day or two if that long. We ll have some
more 100 degree days before the summer is over. . .
probably before the week is over.”
Cook said the temperature-breaking clouds formed
late last week over the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico
and drifted east in the form of a cold front. The clouds
reached North Texas late Sunday and Monday were
sufficiently stalled to keep the sun from burning through
to the ground.
Although two rain storms moved through in the 42-
day period, neither proved strong enough to hold
temperatures below 100. The highest area temperatures
went during the siege was 114 in late June. Low
nighttime temperatures were consistently in the upper
70s or low 80s and the humidity rarely exceeded 40
percent.
In the days since the heat wave settled over Texas
more than 100 persons died either of the heat or of
causes directly attributable to the heat. Nationwide, as
the heat wave spread across the South and Midwest,
more than 1,200 lives were lost.
The medical examiners in Dallas and Fort Worth said
77 died of the heat in those cities alone — mostly the
elderly and poor who could not afford air conditioning.
A drought accompanying the heat wave has blistered
field laden with corn, hay, beans and other crops,
shriveling them to nothing and costing Texas farmers
billions. Even if heavy rains came, it is considered too
late for those crops.
The heat and lack of water also has caused most cities
in the North Texas area to adopt some kind of water
conservation plan.
As an ironic twist to the end of the string of 100-degree
days Julius Leach of the federal Community Services
Administration said Monday was the first day that area
agencies received government checks to assist the poor
in paying their utility bills, buy fans or rent air condition
ing units.
Leach said the end of the intense heat was "fantastic"
but said he wasn’t surprised the government checks
were arriving one day too late.
“Isn’t that the way things usually work?” he said.
Dr. Charles E. McCandless, Texas
A&M University associate vice president
for academic affairs, was appointed in
terim dean of the College of Liberal Arts
last week.
McCandless replaces Dr. W. David
Maxwell, who left to accept the post of
vice president for academic affairs at
Clemson University. Associate Dean
Diane W. Strommer also left, to accept a
new position as Dean of University Col
lege of Rhode Island.
McCandless expects to serve as dean
“until the new dean is selected, probably
inside of two months.” Since it will be a
short term, McCandless said, “the main
thing (he will do) would be to see that the
college keeps going in the direction it
wants to go.”
McCandless will continue to serve in his
capacity as associate vice president for
academic affairs, he said. He was named to
♦bat position last year.
McCandless, who has been a member of
the Texas A&M University faculty since
1961, served as associate dean of liberal
arts from 1969 to 1974.
A search advisory committee was
formed in June to consider nominations
for the position of dean of the College of
Liberal Arts. Dr. Clinton Phillips, dean of
faculties and chairman of that committe,
said that his recommendation report was
turned in “about three weeks ago.” Phil
lips said that he could not reveal the
contents of the report, and he did not
know what action had been taken on it.
Phillips said that the committee’s report
was nothing more than a recommenda
tion.
Dr. Charles McCandless