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Wednesday, December 10, 1980
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K misprint in the 1980-81 Undergraduate catal„ E l ists
F being worth five grade points. Thirty tho,,s!„j
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Tl 'i"> thousand of ^ave been
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Staff phpto by Greg Gammon
them. The error was nnT!?^ ^ to P co P* e requesting
was not noticed before it was nrinted
Tj "W n ° n °ticed before it was printed.
ndergraduate catalog mistake
akes an F worth aiming for
BY KATHY O’CONNELL
Battalion Reporter
With finals just around the comer,
ere’s always a last minute panic by
[Students to figure out their GPRs. What
san they do when that dreaded “F” fi
res in the average?
But this semester, a misprint in the
80-81 undergraduate catalog makes
it look like getting an F could be a
lucky thing.
On page 22 of the catalog an F is
fsted as receiving five grade points per
emester hour. If this were true, stu-
lents could take 15 hours, flunk every
course and still come out with over a
|0.
Sue Matula, director of catalog publi-
ation, said she doesn’t know how the
isprint occurred.
J
Its just one of those things that
happens when the pages are printed.”
Matula said she received about 20
calls asking if she was aware of the mis
take. Most of the calls were from profes
sors at the University.
Matula and her co-worker Linda Bus
by said they took a personal tally on the
number of calls that came in. “We got a
kick out of the people who called,”
Matula said.
Busby said she was sure some stu
dents looked at the misprint with wish
ful thinking, but knew it wasn’t true.
Matula said a few people xeroxed
copies and sent them to her office. She
said she even got a letter from Dr. J. M.
Prescott, vice president for academic
affairs, who asked if they were aware of
the mistake.
Probably the most humorous re
sponse they got was from a professor
who said he heard “people talking about
grade inflation, but this is ridiculous.”
Busby said 70,000 copies of the cata
log were printed and approximately
30,000 were mailed to people who re
quested them, “so somewhere out there
30,000 people are noticing the mis
take.”
Matula said she noticed the mistake’a
week after the catalog was published,
but there was nothing she could do ab
out it, except make sure it doesn’t hap
pen again. She said it would have been a
more believable mistake if the zero was
changed to a nine but she has no idea
how a five got there.
Matula added, “Just say we do it like
they do in a golf game: the lower the
score the better.”
Soviets to remain
in Afghanistan
United Press International
NEW DELHI, India—Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev was
to meet today with Prime Minister Indira Ghandi amid Soviet
assertions that its troops would remain in Afghanistan and calls by
India for an early “political solution” to the year-long crisis.
The talks were the second held by the two leaders since
Brezhnev’s arrival Monday on a four-day state visit, and came at a
time of heightened international tension over Soviet troop move
ments on the Polish border.
Poland was not discussed by the two leaders, but Soviet
information chief Leonid Zamiatin, responding to questions by
reporters, dismissed fears of a possible Soviet invasion of Poland
as American hysteria.
“This is more White House hysteria which it has encouraged in
almost every month for three years on one subject or another. It’s
time it came to a stop,” Zamiatin said.
Turning to issues raised in talks between Brezhnev and Gandhi
Tuesday, Zamiatin said Moscow had no intention of withdrawing
any of its 85,000 troops from Afghanistan — but neither would it
send more troops to the embattled central Asian nation.
“The reasons for our coming to Afghanistan are not vanishing,
but on the contrary are intensifying,” Zamiatin said.
He singled out outside interference in Afghan affairs by the
United States, Pakistan and China as the chief reason for the
Soviet military presence in Kabul.
But later, in a rare briefing with a group of Western reporters,
Zamiatin acknowledged that Afghanistan was “a difficult matter
for us.”
“The appearance on our southern border of a state that would
be hostile to us and endanger our security — not thousands of
miles away but right on our doorstep — herein lies the crux of the
matter,” he said.
In her talks with Brezhnev, Gandhi insisted on an “early,
peaceful political solution to the Afghanistan situation which will
ensure the sovereignty, independence and nonalignment of
Afghanistan,” an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said.
Carter s campaign chairman
honored at the White House
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter
and Vice President-elect George Bush led
members of both parties Tuesday in needl
ing Robert Strauss for his part in the 1980
election — but praising him as “a builder of
America. ”
More than 1,000 persons paid $1,000
each to attend a tribute to Strauss, Carter’s
campaign chairman who served the presi
dent during the past four years as inflation
adviser, trade negotiator and Mideast
negotiator.
The proceeds -— $1.2 million in all —
went to the Lyndon B. Johnson School of
Public Affairs in Strauss’ native Texas.
Carter said he wanted early in 1980 to
win re-election and then go home to Plains,
Ga., “Bob has helped me achieve half that
goal,” Carter said to laughter.
Carter quoted Johnson in praising
Strauss: “The American people are tired of
wrecking crews, they want builders. ” Then
Carter added: “Tonight we honor a builder,
a man who knows how to bring people
together, to see what united people.”
Also present were Texans Bush and for
mer first Lady Bird Johnson, along with
California Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.
As the audience laughed and applauded,
Carter kept up his string of one-liners.
“As you may know, Bob Strauss was in
volved in the presidential campaign this
year,” Carter said, while the audience
laughed again, “despite what he would tell
you now.”
“He’s done a lot of memorable things to
me — I mean for me,” Carter said.
Carter recalled President John F. Ken
nedy’s statement after the Bay of Pigs,
“Victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat
is an orphan.” Carter recalled what Strauss
told a reporter recently.
“I understand he did a fair job as presi
dent, but of course, I never knew the man
personally,” Carter quoted Strauss as
saying. The audience laughed again.
Strauss, who was Democratic national
chairman during Carter’s 1976 campaign,
later served the president as inflation advis
er, Middle East negotiator and internation
al trade envoy.
Strauss, for once, was mellow. “For the
first time in my life, I have nothing to say,”
he said.
“I know of nothing that could give any
body more pride than to be in the White
House surrounded by family and good
friends and to let the whole world see the
warmth and friendship that exists between
Helen (his wife) and myself and a splendid
president and a gracious and lovely first
lady,” Strauss said.
duncil OK’s final quizzes for seniors
By DEBBIE NELSON
Battalion Staff
tarting in Fall 1981, Texas A&M Uni-
sity instructors will have the option of
'ing final quizzes to graduating seniors,
Academic Council decided Tuesday.
[The present policy of exempting gra
ting seniors from regularly scheduled
I examinations will still he followed,
iwever, if an instructor wishes to give
gree candidates a final look-over, he can
Jedule an exam for graduating seniors
|y, as long as their grades are turned in
the Registrar’s office deadline.
(Much discussion on the issue still re
ted in the acceptance of the Academic
grams Committee-recommended alter-
jtive.
Dr. J. M. Prescott, vice president for
demic affairs, said exemption from finals
not a gracious parting gift, it’s adminis
trative convenience. The registrar needs a
little time to fill out the diploma to hand it
to the student when he walks across the
stage.”
Brad Smith, student body president,
said, the student senate last week voted
against the proposal, because it would give
seniors one additional test before dead
week.
“It’s not so much that the policy is bad, ”
Smith said, “but it does open up doors for
abuse.”
Smith said if instructors schedule their
last major exam two or three weeks before
the final, seniors to be given another test,
(possibly equivalent to a comprehensive
final), would have little time to study for it.
Other council members said that many
seniors skip the last week or two of class
because they will not be tested on that
material.
In other action, the council formally
approved a list of degree candidates ex
pected to graduate December 12 and 13.
The council also awarded posthumous
degrees to Robert W. Ellison and Gehrig
D. Feuge, who would have received de
grees at this semester’s ceremonies.
Approval of an academic honors designa
tion for College of Medicine Graduates
with a 3.5 grade point average was also
approved.
A new curriculum in marine fisheries
was approved for Texas A&M University at
Galveston. Before implementation, the
proposal will be submitted to the Coordi
nating Board for approval.
After the meeting, council members
heard a report from an Ad Hoc Computer
Steering Committee on the progress of
computing at Texas A&M.
The committee, set up last November,
has examined Texas A&M and other Uni
versities to determine this University’s
needs and deficiencies in computing.
The report recommends other commit
tees of administrators and faculty be
formed to set up a campus-level organiza
tional structure.
Committees will then decide needs for
computers, such as when and where com
puters will be placed.
Eventually, the committee hopes to
have a networking project that could tie
together computers all over the campus for
better utilization. Significant graphics,
word-processing and type-setting and com
puterized instruction would also be possi
ble once a computer system is set up at
Texas A&M.
Graduate list posted
in Heaton Thursday
The only thing left standing between
seniors hoping to graduate this Friday
and Saturday and that long-awaited di
ploma is a little black dot.
A list of all seniors who have applied
to the registrar’s office for a degree this
semester will be posted outside of
Heaton Hall Thursday at 8 a.m.
If the student has been cleared to
graduate, a black dot will appear by his
name. If the student has not been
cleared, there will be a notation next to
his name saying where to go to clear up
his obligation.
Students have until 5 p.m. Thursday
to clear up all academic and financial
obligations. If a student misses the
deadline, he will not graduate and must
reapply next semester to receive a de
gree in May, said Donald Carter, associ
ate registrar.
n n nn 1 *11 ^ man obsessed with John, who stalked the Beatle
idlllUil j dCCUSCCI Killer: and even got his autograph just hours earlier
United Press International
pW YORK—John Lennon’s accused killer, held today under
4-hour suicide watch in a hospital psychiatric ward, was a pudgy
security guard so obsessed with the former Beatle that he
led out from his last job as “John Lennon.”
Mark David Chapman, 25, of Honolulu, stalked his idol for
ee days and got Lennon’s autograph only hours before gunning
h down Monday night “in a cool, calm, rational and intelligent
nner,” prosecutors charged at Tuesday’s arraignment.
Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, mother of their 5-year-old son,
in, said there would be no funeral service, but a “silent vigil”
[uld be held later this week for friends and fans who wished to
Iray for his soul.”
JHundreds of stunned rock fans, many crying, held a vigil in the
p outside the Dakota apartment building where Lennon lived,
atle drummer Ringo Starr was mobbed, with fans frantically
|iching his hair, as he slipped through the crowds after visiting
10.
Lennon’s look-alike 17-year-old son by a previous marriage,
[lian, arrived from London Tuesday night, but it was not known
jeither ex-Beatles Paul McCartney or George Harrison planned
jeome to New York.
In Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday, Lennon’s accused killer
od mute as he was charged with second-degree murder and
lered sent to Bellevue Hospital for 30 days’ observation be-
ise of his history of mental problems and suicide attempts.
4 former hospital print shop worker and security guard in
waii, he had no police record.
His attorney Herbert Adlerberg described his client as a very
ifused individual,” who was hospitalized for mental problems
Honolulu in 1977 after he rigged a rubber tube to the tailpipe of
f s car, ran it inside the car and rolled up the windows in an
tempted suicide.
This defendant is not fully cognizant of what is happening to
lib at this time,” Alderberg said.
Assistant District Attorney Kim Hogrefe said authorities had “a
very strong case” against Chapman for the “premeditated execu
tion of John Lennon. ”
Witnesses told police that Chapman dropped a .38-caliber gun
after shooting Lennon and stood quietly by, reading a copy of
“Catcher in the Rye” until police arrived to arrest him.
Asked if Chapman had committed the slaying, Adlerberg told
reporters, “He did shoot him, yes.”
Chapman’s motive, however, remained a mystery. The stocky,
dark-haired young man had been ecstatic when he got Lennon’s
autograph only hours before the shooting.
Fans mourn ex-Beatle s death
United Press International
Hundreds of mourning fans lined
sidewalks outside record stores Tuesday
before the business day began to buy
John Lennon’s "Double Fantasy”
album. Candlelight vigils and memorial
services paid tribute to the slain musi
cian.
Lennon’s last album, recently re
leased, was to be pivotal in his re-
emergence into public life. One cut
appropriately was titled “Starting
Over.” But the comeback ended
quickly.
Lennon was shot to death Monday-
night in New York and a 25-year-old
Beatles’ fan was charged with his
slaying.
Radio stations, deluged by phone
calls, played Beatles music back-to-
back. It was little solace for a sleepless
night. In San Francisco, the mecca that
attracted thousands of disillusioned
young people in the 1960s, disc jockeys
wept on the air.
“The shock is unbelievable. It’s the
first rock V roll assassination,” said
Ruth Whitmore, director of advertising
for station WRIF in Detroit.
Lines formed even before some re
cord stores opened Tuesday. Store man
agers reported albums by both Lennon
and the Beatles were sold out.
A cold wind whipped at Howard Pau
ly, 28, as he stood in a long line outside
Tower Records in San Francisco to buy
the “John Lennon-Plastic Ono Band”
album.
Pauly said he would “never be able to
say ‘Thank you, John Lennon.’ It was
like saying goodbye to an old friend.”
In Chicago, downtown record stores
reported the sale of Lennon and Beatles
records made up 85 percent of their
morning business. Record stores in
Baltimore reported being sold out of
“Double Fantasy” within three hours.
Customers in search of Lennon re
cords were knocking on the door at Eli’s
records in Casper, Wvo., before the
store opened. A customer at another
Casper record store ordered a full Bea
tles collection.
But even those making the money
weren’t happy. “It’s the wrong way to
sell records,” said Bill Abbott, Chicago
distribution manager for Capitol Re
cords Inc.
Barbara Gesshel-Green, who was
waiting in a line of Philadelphians to buy
Lennon’s album, said she and her family
“sat in front of the TV last night and
cried.”
Baltimore station WIYY-FM pro
vided a sympathy card for fans to sign,
and later to be sent to Lennon’s wtfe,
Yoko Ono. About a thousand people
signed Tuesday alone.
Candlelight vigils were held in Dal
las, Fort Worth and San Antonio. One of
the largest, in San Antonio, attracted
3,000 people dressed in everything
from blue jeans to three-piece suits.
They carried lighted candles as they
Friends who grew up with him in Decatur, Ga., described him
as an ardent Beatles’ fan who “played records all the time” and
learned to play the guitar in high school. Like his idol, Lennon, he
married a woman of Japanese descent and reportedly had Beatles’
music played at their wedding.
At the time of his arrest, he was wearing wire-rimmed glasses
similar to Lennon’s and was carrying dozens of Beatles’ tapes.
When he left his last job as a security guard-maintenance man at
a Waikiki vacation apartment Oct. 23, he signed out on the
logbook as “John Lennon” and told fellow workers he was going to
London, said Mike Bird, who replaced Chapman.
Prosecutors claim Chapman borrowed a substantial sum of
money—of which $2,000 was found on him — “for the purpose of
coming to New York City to do what he has done.”
He stalked Lennon for three days in New York before getting
the musician to autograph a record album as he left the Dakota
Monday night to go to a recording studio, where he was finishing
work on a new album.
Paul Goresh of North Arlington, N.J., who photographed the
signing, said Chapman told him, “John Lennon signed my album.
Nobody in Hawaii will believe me.”
When Lennon left, however, Chapman urged him to stay and
wait for the singer’s return, Goresh said in a copyrighted New
York Daily News story.
“He said: Td wait. You never know if you’ll see him again. It’s
possible he could go to Spain or somewhere tonight and you’ll
never get your album signed.”
Hours later, police say, Chapman gunned down Lennon. The
British rock star died in a police car before he reached the hos
pital.
The Chief Medical Examiner ruled Tuesday that Lennon was
hit with four bullets, two of which entered the left back, passed
through the left chest, striking the left lung and exited from the
body.