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Serving the Texas A&M University community
Vol. 74 No. 64 ’ Monday, December 1, 1980 DSPS 045 360
10 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
*
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\eagan silent on cabinet
United Press International
LOS ANGELES — With his Cabinet selections well
Eder way, Ronald Reagan says his first order of business
■president will be to tackle the nation’s economic prob-
Ks.
jConfirming top aide Edwin Meese’s statement that he
chosen some Cabinet members, Reagan is continuing
guessing game by refusing to disclose their names.
J’T’m not ready to say that we’re ready to announce
lames,” he told reporters on his return Sunday from Palm
iirings, where he spent Saturday night with old friends
Ifrom political and Hollywood circles.
■When asked if he anticipated an early summit meeting
pith Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev, Regan re
lied, "Well, I think for the first few months, anyone in
position ought to concentrate on our economic prob-
jns and getting started on that. ”
IBrezhnev met last week with Sen. Charles Percy, R-
, the incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee
[airman. Percy said he recommended in a weekend
telephone call to Reagan that new strategic arms limita
tion talks begin as soon as possible.
Asked when he thought he could turn the economy
around, Reagan said, “I don’t know how soon. It took a
long time to get into this mess, but we’re going to start;
we re going to start soon.”
Continuing his talent search, Reagan said he planned to
begin telephoning prospective Cabinet members today.
There were indications that those under consideration
already are undergoing FBI and financial checks.
Outgoing press secretary Lynn Nofziger told reporters
Reagan hopes to send the names of his Cabinet members
to the new Congress in January, even before he is inaugu
rated, so that members of his team will be confirmed
quickly, and he can hit the ground running.
Nofziger also said he expects the White House to be run
by a “triumvirate” of three top advisers. They are Edwin
Meese, who will counsel Reagan on policy and the issues;
long-time trusted aide Mike Deaver, who will function as
an appointments secretary; and newcomer James Baker,
who as chief of staff will handle the day-to-day operations.
“I visualize it will be pretty much of a triumvirate, ” said
Nofziger.
Reagan has yet to name Nofziger s replacement, who
will become White House press secretary. At the Los
Angeles airport Sunday, Reagan and wife Nancy bid a
fond farewell to Nofziger, who is returning to private life
as a political consultant in California.
In a final interview, Nofziger drew a picture of Reagan’s
presidential style. He said tbe president-elect is very self
assured, has his priorities straight, knows how to sort out
the important from the unimportant, and does not feel
compelled to spend loftg hours in the office.
He also said he does not expect Reagan to make many
trips abroad. But he said that Reagan will be returning to
his California, especially his ranch near Santa Barbara.
“He’s in love with that place in the mountains, ” Nofziger
said.
No holiday today
for win over Texas
Classes were scheduled as usual to
day, despite Texas A&M University’s
24-14 football win over the University of
Texas.
Aggies received a day off from classes
after last year’s victory, and many be
lieve the unscheduled holiday is a tradi
tion.
Dr. Charles Samson, acting presi
dent, said classes were to be held today.
“We simply cannot make a habit of
missing a full day of classes every time
we beat UT,” Samson said, “and I’m
enough of an optimist to think that we
will have many more such victories in
the future.
“I’m not necessarily saying we ll make
a habit of whipping the Longhorns, but I
will point out this is the second win in a
row, the fourth in the last six games in
our series. I’m pleased to say it’s no
longer such a rarity that we feel compel
led to take an extra day off to celebrate. ”
Samson concluded, “We savored last
year’s win all year, so let’s do the same
this time.”
The extra-day-off tradition was fol
lowed during times when the Universi
ty’s class schedule called for the fall
semester to end in mkbjanuary.
University officials said the current
schedule, which calls for final exams in
two weeks, leaves no room for any extra
time out from class.
our years on gridiron leaves some degree-less
By JENNIFER AFFLERBACH
Battalion Staff
ler spending four years becoming inti-
Jately acquainted with a pigskin, some col
lege football players never even see a
sheepskin.
■Football players often spend four years of
Bgibility at a college, concentrating on
lotball, and then leave without receiving a
■gree.
■Ofthe 68 Texas A&M University football
Evers who lettered at least two years from
1974 to 1977, 26 are registered with the
■sociation of Former Students as gradu-
[ates.
■What happened to the other 41? Some
pent on to the pros, some went into the
Pork force and some went back to school.
Idenn Bujnoch chose the pros. After
Eying four years on scholarship for Texas
greM, he was drafted by the Cincinnati
ttngals, where he is in bis fifth season.
■Bujnoch, who “came pretty close to gra-
|uating,” said of Texas A&M: “The school
good, but it was hard. I was there for one
Bason, to play football. Let’s face it. Foot-
players are not known for their
bdying.
mnon causes
fight at game
By MARCY BOYCE
I Battalion Staff
■ Two freshmen in the Texas A&M Corps
of Cadets managed to escape serious injury
in a fight that took place during the football
feme Saturday when they tried to fire a
■nnon guarded by several University of
lexas students.
I Traditionally the cannon guards, the UT
Silver Spurs, discharge the cannon at the
ginning and end of each game, and each
be the Longhorns score.
I An attempt by about 20 cadets to fire the
arded cannon near the end of the game
turday resulted in a fight involving sever-
UT Silver Spurs and two Texas A&M
Budents, University of Texas Police Lt.
IF. Rush said.
I Students began running down from the
Bands when the fight began, but were
liirned back by UT police, Austin City
bice and officers from the Department of
ublic Safety.
No one involved in the incident suffered
5rious injury.
Rush said UT Police apprehended the
TO freshmen cadets, but later released
ftem without pressing charges. UT Police
id not detain anyone else involved in the
icident, he said.
The names of the two Texas A&M stu-
lents have been released to Dr. John Kol-
jbs, vice president for student services,
bo will decide whether or not disciplinary
ction will be taken, Texas A&M Universi-
s Acting President Dr. Charles Samson
aid.
A similar attempt by freshmen in the
brps to fire the cannon at the Aggie-
-onghom football game last year was suc-
tessftil. However, Deputy Corps Com-
nander Dave Rencurell said it is not a tra-
lition within the Corps.
“Degrees aren't meant for everyone, ”
Bujnoch said. “You find the best way to
make money, whether through a college
degree or a job or whatever.”
Bujnoch works for himself during the
off-season selling beer in the Conroe and
Huntsville area.
Another Aggie in the pros, Cody Risien,
has a different attitude toward the degree
he hasn’t completed.
“Now that I Took back on it, I wish I had
devoted more time to academics,” said Ri
sien, who is playing his second year with
the Cleveland Browns.
Risien said football interfered with his
studying, but added, “That was my fault. It
shouldn’t have. Maybe if I had made some
sacrifices ...”
He plans to return to Texas A&M in the
spring to work on the 24 hours he needs to
graduate. He said he definitely wants his
degree in building construction to come
from Texas A&M.
Like Risien, Charles Marshall said he
wishes he had taken better advantage of his
education at Texas A&M.
Marshall played one and a half years with
the New York Jets after completing his four
years of eligibility at Texas A&M in 1977.
After he was cut from the Jets, Marshall
played for a year with a team in Canada.
Now he is working in a warehouse in
Dallas and hoping to play with the Houston
Oilers next season, he said.
However, “football is not a guaranteed
thing, ” he said, and not as important to him
as completing his education and getting a
job.
Marshall is 40 hours short of finishing his
degree. He said he plans to go to school in
Houston first to bring up his grade point
average, but would prefer to receive his
degree from Texas A&M.
Bucky Sams never made it to the pros
although he said he had planned to play
more football after college. He went on to
complete his degree and is a district super
visor for an oil and gas firm in Spring.
“I will always miss (football),” he said.
“The highlight of my life was playing foot
ball for A&M.”
Sams said he would have gone on to get
his degree even if he had been drafted by
the pros.
“That degree’s probably one of the most
important things in my life,”
he said. “If you’ve got that sheepskin, it
means a lot. Too many athletes rely on the
draft and don’t get drafted. They don’t have
the grades to stay in school and end up
being bums.”
Sams said football often conflicted with
his classes.
“Five or six hours a day was football,” he
said. “We’re out on the field learning plays
while others are studying.”
But, Sams said, there is a definite need to
“mend the old dumb jock syndrome. ”
David Brothers agreed. “It wasn’t just
football on my mind all the time,” he said.
Brothers, who completed his football eli
gibility in 1979, is still attending Texas
A&M and plans to graduate in December
or May.
Jimmy Hamilton said football was his
main concern at first.
“That’s why I didn’t graduate on time,”
he said. “I realized football is just not ev
erything. I learned that my junior year, too
late almost.”
Hamilton, who needs nine hours to gra
duate, sat out this semester to raise money
to pay for school. He is working as an atten
dant for a skin diving division in Louisiana.
He said he handles the diving equipment
and “keeps them alive under water.”
“I’m going to try to get my degree first,
then try out again (for football),” he said.
Dale Meggas, a research assistant for
NCAA, is critical of the practice of analyz
ing college football players who don’t gra
duate.
“Just because someone plays football
he’s supposed to graduate,” Meggas said.
Football players are put under a micro
scope, he said, and “scrutinized when they
fail.”
“Other people don’t graduate either, but
we don’t study them. Tom Snyder never
graduated, but he’s making lots of bucks.
“If (football players) get a chance to go
pro, they go. They don’t turn it down just
because they haven’t finished their de
gree.”
And just because someone graduates
does not mean he will be successful, Meg
gas said.
“A player may not want to go to college,
but he’s given a free ride with a scholarship,
so he goes,” he said. “Then if he decides it’s
not for him after all after a year or two and
quits, he’s criticized.”
Neither the Texas A&M University
Athletic Department nor the Southwest
Conference keeps statistics on the gradua
tion rate of football players, because the
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of
1974 prohibits release of information on
whether a student graduates unless written
permission is given by the student. It is also
difficult to keep track of those who come
back later to complete their degrees, a
spokesman for the Texas A&M Athletic De
partment said.
NCAA also has no records of the number
of football players who graduate. However,
Dr. James Maxey of American College
Testing has just completed a survey for
NCAA to determine the graduation rate
over a five-year period of time of males who
entered college in the fall of 1975. Maxey
said he has not analyzed the data yet, but
hopes to have some results by Christmas.
Maxey said he previously conducted a
similar survey just on athletes who won
varsity letters. That survey showed that
athletes graduate at a higher rate than the
average males of the class, he said.
Retail-store Santas
may become scarcity
Turkey trot
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
Freezing temperatures Thanksgiving morning didn’t
dampen the spirits of these runners as they set out for a
three-mile run in the annual “Turkey Trot.” More than
150 persons showed up for the 8 a.m. event, which began
at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The runners followed a
route down Jersey Drive, around the the Texas A&M
golf course and finished back at G. Rollie White. Certifi
cates were presented to the finishers at the end of the
race. For more pictures on activities over the Thanksgiv
ing weekend, including the Texas game, see page 5.
United Press International
DALLAS — The desperate state of the
economy will be felt in many areas this
Christmas, including one that many may
feel should be exempt from the fickled
curve of the corporate profit chart — Santa
Claus.
Western Temporary Services, which in
the peak years of 1975 and 1976 placed 180
Santas in some of Dallas’ leading retail out
lets, this year reports just 30 of their over
weight men in red and white suits are lis
tening to the pleas of children.
“Some guy sitting at the top with a pencil
and paper is thinking, ‘Where can I cut
expenses?”’ said Dean Reynolds, a Santa
for the last eight years who this year is
teaching others the tricks of the trade.
“(Some stores) see Santa as a liability
instead of an asset. ”
Some of the top stores in the area, such as
Sears, Joske’s and Dillards, have indicated
they will either just have Santas on
weekends this year or will bypass the tradi
tion altogether.
“Many stores are letting the malls they
are in take the responsibility of getting a
Santa,” Reynolds said. “But I can remem
ber when the mall and all the large stores in
it would have Santas, and the lines of chil
dren waiting to see them still were long. ”
At $10 per hour, the going rate for a
rent-a-Santa, Reynolds can understand
why some businesses might find St. Nick a
luxury item they can do without, but he
quickly protests that the profit column
might be helped at the expense of the
holiday.
“Without Santa Claus, Christmas is no
thing but crass commercialism,” the full
time insurance man said. “Santa is a
catalyst to the Christmas spirit. When
you’ve got someone in your store like him
spreading good cheer, and everyone’s
laughing and smiling, then it adds to the
spirit of the season. ”
Reynold said he got into the Santa busi
ness when he was out of work and his for
mer mother-in-law was combing the want
ads for a job “even you could do. ”
“I wasn’t too crazy about kids to begin
with,” he said. “And the suit was hot and
uncomfortable. You couldn’t see because of
the wig and beard. The chair was some
thing out of a torture chamber, and you’ve
got kids crawling all over you. They kick
you in the stomach and step on you in other
not-so-friendly spots.”
In time, however, he said he got the
hang of being a topnotch Santa and de
veloped several rules for himself and other
Santas going out to the stores.
The first rule is to make no promises.
“Our job, basically,” he said, “is to pass
the buck onto the parents.”