IC
The Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Vol. 74 No. 5 Friday, September 5, 1980 DSPS 045 360
16 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
High
....100
Yesterday
High
. . 100
Low
72
Low
...72
Humidity
...75%
Humidity. . .
. 70%
Chance of rain . .
. . slight
Rain
.. 0.0 inches
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By MARCY BOYCE
Battalion Staff
Of about 600 Texas A&M University students
aiting housing assignments at the first of this
leek, only 150 women have still not been placed
pnanently and may not be assigned the rest of
ie semester.
With the exception of the 150 women and 280
Aen assigned permanently to new married-student
pusing, all the other students promised housing
Joved into rooms not claimed by the 5 p.m. Mon-
Jiy deadline, Ron Hilton, director of housing, said.
Due to the worst overbooking ever by the Hous-
ig Office (about 600 students), at the first of this
eek men were being housed in study carrels in
ston and Dunn halls, in vacant rooms in the Corps
prmitories and three-to-a-room in North Area
|ale dormitories temporarily. Women were
signed three-to-a-room in the four modular dor
mitories.
Basically what we have left is around 150
females tripled in modular dorms (Hobby and Nee-
II Halls) and they’re probably going to be there all
■mester,” the director of housing said. “Some of
lem will get spaces, but they probably will be very
iw,” he added.
“We’ve moved everybody into all the no-shows’
laces. From now on it will be withdraws and those
rpes,’’ Hilton said, or students who choose to
love off campus in the middle of the semester.
Fees will be adjusted for all three residents of a
aom if they have to live in a temporary situation
lore than three weeks. But, Hilton said, the ad-
ijustment has not yet been determined.
Students received room assignments according
to the date of their housing application and deposit,
with priority given to those who applied on the
earliest date.
And rooms which become available later in the
semester will also be allotted according to the appli
cation dates of the 150 women waiting for perma
nent assignments.
Upperclassmen were given priority in most cases
by receiving those temporaries at the top of the list
so they would be moved out of the rooms the
quickest, Hilton said.
“It’s probably better for the upperclassmen and
better for the freshmen because freshmen usually
like to be with other freshmen and vice versa,” he
said.
Yet, Hilton still offered some consolations to
women forced to cope with the triple-occupancy
situation.
“If there is going to be three to a room, they (the
remaining women) have got the ideal spot by the
fact that they (the modular dormitory rooms) are
self-contained rooms.”
The modular dormitories have private bath
rooms, unlike the other dormitories on campus
which have suite bathrooms. So, Hilton said, even
with the temporary residents, only three women
have to share a bathroom versus four women in the
other dormitories.
“They’re not too bad off. Those are really nice
rooms over there,” he said.
Hadley Hoff, head resident of Hobby and Neely
halls, agreed.
“The rooms are plenty big. They each have a
bathroom, and there is plenty of room to lay an
extra bed out,” she said.
“The only people who have complained are the
parents. The girls only complain when it comes
time to move out because they don’t want to leave,”
she added.
“I don’t see any big problem,” Brenda Bivona, a
Neely Hall resident said, “because it’s not
crowded. The rooms are plenty big. But I feel they
should have refunded our money from the begin
ning because they knew from the beginning it was
going to be like this.”
The room fee also upset a resident in Hobby
Hall.
“It’s just a shame to pay that money and then
have to live like this,” Darla Migl said. “We’re
really not that crowded, but I just hope it doesn’t
last all semester.”
“I think it’s lousy. I really do,” Neely resident
Tammy Copeland said. “I just don’t think it’s right
that I feel like I’m inconveniencing them (my
roomates) when I’m paying this kind of money.”
“I’d rather them (the housing office) tell me I
couldn’t come, that I couldn’t be here this year than
for them to reassign me later to some dorm I don’t
even want to be in because I want to be in the
modular dorms," she said.
Other women objected to not knowing when or if
they were going to move and whether or not they
should unpack.
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Fire victims find new homes
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By TERRY DURAN
Battalion Reporter
Twenty-five Texas A&M students ousted from
heir Willowick apartments by fire Saturday night
ire settling into their new homes and getting ready
or the new school year.
College Station Fire Marshal Harry Davis ruled
Tuesday the blaze that romped through the two-
tory, eight-unit building was caused by a loose
:onnection in a breaker box between the second
loor apartments.
Jan Winniford, coordinator of the Off-Campus
Housing Center, said Wednesday all but four of the
students left homeless by the fire were either set
tled in new housing or in the process of moving.
Four former Willowick residents were still staying
in the Ramada Inn; Winniford said they were still
looking for an apartment they liked.
Winniford said that the fire victims had shown “a
really good attitude about the whole thing.”
Some of the former Willowick residents have
gone to see the students’ legal adviser though, she
said, because the apartment complex has no
insurance for renters’ belongings.
Sandy Castillo, a Willowick refugee, said the
apartment complex’s lack of insurance for renters’
belongings “kind of got me mad.
“After all, ” she said, “it wasn’t any of the tenants’
fault. ”
The manager of the apartment complex and her
husband lived in one of the apartments destroyed
by the fire, but she was unavailable for comment
Wednesday.
Castillo and her two roommates — one of them
her sister — have moved into a duplex now. She
said they had “the hardest time” finding an apart
ment for the three marketing majors from Houston,
and finally had to contact a realtor to find their new
home.
Castillo said her parents’ insurance would cover
the loss of the two sisters’ belongings; the third
roommate’s losses will also be covered by a parental
policy.
Castillo said General Telephone Company has
been very helpful. She said the three girls had been
told they could keep their old number and that the
phone would be replaced free of charge at their new
location.
Staff photo by Pat O’Malley
Nanette Wade, a freshman pre-medicine major from League City, takes a
big bite of watermelon at the Great Watermelon Munch Thursday after
noon. The event was sponsored by a group known as Oasis.
aily Texan editor free on bond;
/DC, photo controversy not over yet
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United Press International
AUSTIN — The editor of the University of Texas
j, student newspaper will not have to return to jail for
failing to relinquish to a judge unpublished photo
graphs of protesting Iranian and Palestinian stu
dents, but his legal problems are not quite over.
Mark McKinnon, the Daily Texan editor, was
brdered released from further confinement after
County Court at Law Judge Jon Wisser found 12 of
16 students guilty of disrupting a speech by a for
mer Iranian ambassador Jan. 31 on the UT campus.
However, McKinnon still must pay a $100 fine
ievied against him by Wisser when he was found in
contempt. The student editor also was jailed for two
hours Tuesday before being released on $1,000
bond.
Steve McCIeary, one of the assistant county
attorneys prosecuting the case, told state District
Judge Pete Lowry that McKinnon should be re
leased from further penalties because the issue had
Sbecome moot after Wisser’s verdict.
McKinnon must appear before Wisser later this
(month to show cause why he should not pay the
fine, which his attorney said would be appealed.
The attorney, Jim George, said there were legal
problems with Wisser’s show cause order.
“(But) I still got my pictures and my guy is not in
jail,” George said.
The trial took longer than a week to prosecute
and was overshadowed by McKinnon’s refusal to
relinquish the unpublished photographs of the inci
dent.
Jeff Blackwelder, who prosecuted the case, said
he would recommend that the students not receive
any additional jail time when they appear for sen
tencing on Sept. 24.
The class B misdemeanor conviction carries a
possible $1,000 fine and-or six-month jail.term. The
prosecutor said the students already had spent nine
days in jail after their arrest, and that was enough
punishment.
Bill Allison, the head of the six-member team
defending the students, said he had expected the
verdict and would file an appeal after the sen
tencing.
The attorney said McKinnon’s claims that relin
quishing the photographs would have infringed on
the student newspaper’s First Amendment rights
detracted from the main issue — the guilt or inno
cence of the defendants.
“It was made much more difficult by Mr. McKin
non’s case. The judge was not able to keep his eye
on the real issue,” Allison said.
Malcom Greenstein, another defense attorney,
said the ethnic background of the students was a
major issue in the case. He said had the students
been American, the case would not have proceeded
to trial.
The photographs in question were taken during a
campus speech by Fereydoun Hoveyda, Iran’s
ambassador to the United Nations under the late
shah. The students disrupted Hoveyda’s speech
because, according to defendant Mehran Ebrahi-
mi, they did not consider the former ambassador a
true representative of Iranians.
Ebrahimi, one of the 12 students found guilty,
said the university and prosecutors had tried to
make a criminal case out of a “political case.”
Aggie jokes promote game
By JANA SIMS
Battalion Staff
“Hello out there, you WTYX radio fans. This is your
favorite disc jockey coming your way from Jackson, Miss.
We’ll have a word from our cuh-razy sponsor in just a
minute. But first let me read this important bulletin.
“Did you know that Aggies carry turkeys around
under their arms for spare parts?”
The previous blurb might be a typical broadcast from
the 94.7 FM rock station in Jackson which has been
conducting an Aggie joke contest for the last three weeks.
Disc jockey Terry Stenzel said WTYX is not normally a
promotion oriented radio station, but the station decided
that an Aggie joke contest “would be a good solution to
arouse interest in Saturday’s Ole Miss vs A&M game.
“I’m having a lot of fun with the contest, ” Stenzel said.
“Did you hear about the Aggie who bought a pair of cuff
links and had his wrists pierced?
Stenzel said that just as Texas A&M University has a
rival school, the University of Mississippi has a rival —
Mississippi State University. So to get Jackson citizens
more involved in the Texas A&M game, WTYX thought of
the Aggie contest.
“Actually,” Stenzel said, “we’ve heard so many of the
jokes as Ole Miss and State jokes, that they’re not really
funny anymore.”
The contest is open to anyone. Stenzel remarked that
“in this town, everybody gets into this” as he browsed
over an entry from Popeye s, a chain of fried chicken
restaurants (checking first to make sure the joke was
clean).
As of yesterday evening, the station had received about
30 entries — a number which Stenzel considers normal.
He said the contest was announced on the radio and had
two write-ups in the city newspaper.
Entrants were requested to send a postcard with their
favorite Aggie joke, hoping to be the winner chosen Fri
day morning. Stenzel said probably the station manager
and program director will be the judges. The lucky person
will receive tickets to this weekend’s game and have his
name placed on a banner that will fly behind an airplane as
it cruises over the stadium on Saturday.
Drop-add ends
Today is the last day to register for Fall classes,
add classes to existing schedules or drop classes
with no record.
Registration and drop-add will continue through
today at 5 p.m.
Courses may be dropped through Oct. 3, with a
record of “Q” appearing on the student’s grade
report.
* Texas ruling on schooling of illegal aliens upheld
Decision allows tuition-free education in Texas
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell
Thursday cleared the way for thousands of illegal alien children to
enroll tuition-free in Texas public schools, a decision opposed by
the governor and state attorney general.
Powell’s order reinstated a landmark ruling returned in Hous
ton on July 21 by U.S. District Judge Woodrow Seals who de
clared unconstitutional a 5-year-old state law which limited public
school funding to undocumented alien children and citizens.:
Seals said to exclude illegal aliens from public education would
guarantee that most eventually will become wards of society.
Powell, in an 8-page ruling, agreed, saying: “Not only are the
children consigned to ignorance and illiteracy, they also are de
nied the benefits of association in the classroom with students and
teachers of diverse backgrounds.
Powell said delaying enrollment of the children posed greater
harm for the aliens than for the affected school districts, many of
which did not believe enrollment would “unduly strain their
abilities to provide a customary education to all their pupils. ”
He said, however, if a district could show enrollment of the
illegal alien children would severely tax its facilities, then a stay
may be justified. He said individual school districts, or the state on
their behalf, may apply for individual consideration.
The civil rights lawyer who argued the case praised Powell and
characterized the state as selfish for accepting taxes from the
working parents of the potential students while keeping the chil
dren out of school.
“Justice Powell’s decision ... was received by our clients with
joy and tears,” said Peter Schey, director of the National Center
for Immigrant Rights.
“Our long battle in federal court to establish that un
documented children are persons under our Constitution and
entitled to some level of protection by the Bill of Rights has
finally found acceptance in the Supreme Court.”
Powell vacated a stay granted by a three-judge panel of the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which responded on Aug. 12 to
arguments by the Texas attorney general’s office it was too late to
enroll the aliens this year.
By then, some school districts already were registering the
aliens based on Seals’ ruling. No one knows how many thousands
of children are in the state illegally.
A spokeswoman for the Houston Independent School District,
the largest in Texas, said undocumented children would be admit
ted immediately.
“As far as I know, we will begin admitting illegal alien children
Friday as long as they have their shot records complete and they
meet the age requirements,” said Geri Koningsberg, a spokes
woman for the HISD.
White labels Powell’s decision an ‘unfair shot’
United Press International
Texas Attorney General Mark White said Thursday a Supreme
Court justice’s ruling requiring the state to provide free education
to illegal alien children was an “unfair shot at the state of Texas.”
“The federal government does not grant any social services to
aliens, so why should the state be required to provide them?”
White said. “The state should not have to do what the federal
government fails to do.
“I think these people should be filing the lawsuit against the
federal government. I think it’s unfair shot at the state of Texas by
the Justice Department.”
While White was predicting the state ultimately would win its
case with the Justice Department, the civil rights lawyer who
successfully challenged the state law denying public school fund
ing to illegal alien children heralded Justice Lewis Powell’s deci
sion as a landmark in education.
“For the children who now find the schoolhouse gate unlocked
for first time in five years, this is a magnificent day,” Peter Schey,
director of the National Center for Immigrants Rights, said in
Washington after Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell cleared
the way for the aliens’ tuition-free enrollment.
“No law in this country since the times of slavery has sought to
totally exclude an indefinable group of children from the public
schools,” Schey said. “More than being unconstitutional, the
Texas law is morally indefensible given that the state concluded
the last fiscal year with a surplus of approximately $2.15 billion
and welcomes the cheap labor which migrates north from
Mexico.
Schey filed suit on behalf of the aliens in September 1978 and
argued the case before U.S. District Judge Woodrow Seals in
Houston for almost two months this spring.
Ruben Bonilla, president of the League of United Latin Amer
ican Citizens, expressed “sheer elation” with Powell’s ruling. He
said the Republican Party — meeting in state convention in
session at San Antonio — should adopt a resolution supporting the
Supreme Court’s action.
Despite Powell’s decision, Dallas school officials still had no
plans to begin enrolling illegal aliens until U.S. District Judge
Robert M. Hill issued a ruling in a local alien education lawsuit. A
hearing was set for Monday morning.
Rodney Davis, spokesman for the Dallas Independent School
District, said DISD officials felt Powell’s decision affected only
the school systems involved in Seals’ case.
“Those schools have all been charging tuition for alien stu
dents,” he said. “Dallas’ local policy has always been that aliens
are not citizens so they have no public school rights.”