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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1981)
•$ The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 74 No. 89 12 Pages Tuesday, February 3, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 edeker to head council By KATHY O’CONNELL Battalion StafT In executive session Monday night, the SC Council elected Doug Dedeker as the I81-82 MSC Council president. Dedeker, a junior management major Dm Dallas, was recommended to the ex- intive session by the council’s nominating immittee. The nominating committee edntsJj et over wee k enc i to discuss the four ednei fR 0811 * 8 ^ or ^ ie presidency. Other applicants were Todd Norwood, i lordinator of funds; Kirk Kelley, directo- te representative and Greg Hanks, ggiecon chairman. Dedeker, current vice president of ^ W Iministration, said his main concern for ' P r ® le new term is to meet the challenge of a.nU orking with the increased number of 10 p. juncil officers. i2pi T think I can make the organization andii mction under the new structure, but I see locate! iat it will need to be constantly evalu- Whilt •s «il ne wfii ated,” he said. At a Jan. 26 meeting, the council voted to approve reorganization of the council offic er structure. The number of members was increased from 9 to 25. “I think the first thing will be to see if we can fill all the new positions. It (the restruc ture) can be either an asset or a problem, depending on how it’s handled, ” Dedeker said. Dedeker will assume his office at the MSC Awards Banquet in April 11. The council will receive applications for other MSC officers until Feb. 13, with in terviews on Feb. 14-15 and selection Feb. 16. Applications for MSC Directorate chair men will be taken until Feb. 27, with inter views on Feb. 28-March 1. Selection date is March 2. Applications for MSC Project chairmen will be taken until March 27, with inter views on March 28-29. Selection date for these positions is March 30. In another action, the council unani mously approved a proposal to change the MSC awards system. The proposal differs from the current policy in the purpose of the awards and the number of award cate gories. Sara Morse, vice president of programs, said an evaluation of the awards system was necessary because recognition of good work by personnel should occur on an on going basis, rather than recognition for merely accomplishing their job. She said awards should be given to indi viduals whose achievements far exceed their job description. The new awards system eliminates approximately 17 potential awards. In a final action, the council voted to allow the Married Student University Apartment Council to be represented on the MSC Council. Brien Smith, president of the Married Student Council, said it is responsible for representing residents to other student groups. “We’re here to open a new com munication link from us to you all, ” he said. Smith pointed out that residents in Uni versity-owned married student housing are not represented by the Residence Halls Association nor the Off-Campus Aggies. He said approximately 1,300 students live in the University-owned housing. RHA, OCA, the Corps of Cadets, the class councils, the Graduate Student Coun cil and The Battalion are all represented by nonvoting council members. The council unanimously approved the proposal and it will go into effect April 11. After the meeting it was learned that Directorate Representative Katy Campana planned to submit her resignation today. Campana said she was resigning because of “academic pressures.” ^Desegregation committee to meet Former A&M president Miller on select governor’s panel ^ By TERRY DURAN D even- Battalion Staff A special governor’s committee will be- lu f a • in work later this week on plans to bring i ,:™ instate and its two mostly black universi- ' u ■ es into line with federal desegregation jquirements. aipmeil fhe Education Department said in a in, 15 release that Texas was in “partial runtk jmpliance with federal higher education esegregation standards under Title VI of 11 court ie 1964 Civil Rights Act. Texas must come pwith a detailed plan acceptable to feder- lauthorities by June 15 or risk losing mil ls in federal aid. Committee chairman Tom Rhodes has lid the committee probably will not scrap Ians already made by officials of the state’s iree largest university systems — Texas &M, the University of Houston and the Iniversity of Texas — and Texas Attorney leneral Mark White. The committee, appointed Jan. 27 by !ov, William P. Clements, includes; Rhodes, a UT regent and former member of the state college and university coordi nating board; Dr. Jarvis Miller, former president of Texas A&M; Dr. Leonard Spearman, president of Texas Southern University; Dr. Kenneth Ashworth, com missioner of the coordinating board; and an unnamed member of the attorney general’s office. Attorney General White had been hand ling negotiations with the U.S. Education Department. Under Texas law, any official negotiations with federal agencies must be conducted through the governor’s office. Miller said Monday the governor has charged the committee with advising Cle ments in negotiations with the Department of Education. “In the first place,” Miller said, “the Governor doesn-’t accept the -premise that Texas is not in compliance (with federal desegregation standards). Part of the com mittee’s job will be to put some of these allegations into perspective. ” . Miller charged the Education Depart ment with “faulty analysis” of statistics. “What the government does not say,” Miller noted, “is that, while black enroll ment at traditionally black schools was up less than 10 percent from 1972 to 1978, black enrollment at traditionally white schools almost doubled in the same time period.” Dr. Elizabeth Cowan, assistant to Acting President Charles Samson, said Friday that Texas A&M “was not embarassed” at its record of minority enrollment. “We had already begun to move before the federal authorities got into the pic ture,” she said. Cowan cited a 245 percent increase in black enrollment at Texas A&M in four years, from 87 blacks in 1976 to 300 in 1980. Total Texas A&M enrollment has increased 22 percent over the same time period, from 27,547 students in fall 1976 to 33,499 in fall 1980. She also noted Hispanic enrollment had increased greatly, from 269 in 1976 to 1,002 in 1980. Although federal requirements as yet make no mention of any minorities except blacks, a Dec. 5, 1980, Texas A&M Board of Regents policy statement calls for “an annual increase in the proportion of black and Hispanic students enrolled in ... prog rams at Texas A&M University, Tarleton State University and Texas A&M Universi ty at Galveston.” Texas A&M has had minority-oriented scholarships since the fall of 1979. Director of School Relations Loyd Taylor said the university currently offers 50 $l,000-a-year scholarships annually aimed at blacks and Hispanics. The four-year scholarships re quire only that the student maintain a 2.5 grade point ratio. Candidates for the scholarships are judged on their Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, high school grades and extra curricular activities. The Weather Yesterday Today High 46 High 52 Low 29 Low 25 Rain none Chance of rain. . . ... none Doug Dedeker is congratulated by Cheryl Leavitt after being chosen as the 32nd president of the MSC Council Monday night. Dedeker is a management junior from Dallas. i $ Silver Taps to honor three Three Texas A&M University students major who each died Dec. 5 from injuries will be honored tonight with the traditional received in separate auto accidents; and Silver Taps. Susan A. Dille, 22, a senior in environmen- The 10:30 p.m. ceremony in front of the tal design from Baytown who died Jan. 19 Academic Building will be the first of the from diabetic complications, spring semester. ^ Students being honored are Mary Kim Respecting traditions of Silver Taps, the Stalling, 23, a senior food science technolo- student affairs office requests that all lights gy student from Crystal City and John E. on campus be turned off from 10:20-10:50 Orgeron, 20, a junior computer science p.m. ’ Photo by Bob Lewis A Texas A&M University student, Helen Cecelie Chrisensen, is assisted by a Texas A&M University police officer and an ambulance attendant, after she received minor injuries when her moped and a pickup truck driven by Oliver Emmitt Smith, a University facul ty member, collided at Northgate at about 10 a.m. Monday. Dorm exclusion discussed By TERRY DURAN Battalion Staff Student leaders and university officials wrangled late Monday night over a propos al to prohibit graduate students and fifth- year seniors from living on campus, but official implementation was postponed un til after the student senate meets Wednes day night. Student Affairs Director Ron Blatchley said he called the meeting of staff members and student representatives to “get feed back” regarding a summer 1980 decision by then-President Jarvis Miller to exclude gra duate students and fifth-year seniors from on-campus housing. Blatchley told the senate two weeks ago that nothing could be done to reverse the policy. He said then that the only questions to be resolved were how and when the policy could be implemented. Four student senate bills introduced in the Jan. 21 meeting would suggest post poning or modifying the policy. The bills, titled “Discrimination Against Old Folks,” will be considered in the Wednesday meeting. The option of prohibiting graduate stu dents and fifth-year seniors from on- campus housing was originally considered in 1977, Blatchley said, because incoming freshmen were having problems finding housing on campus. The decision then, he said, resulted in the current “80-10-10” policy, under which 80 percent of on- campus housing is guaranteed to incoming freshmen, 10 percent to returning upper classmen and 10 percent to transfer stu dents; no restrictions were made then for fifth-year and graduate students. Last summer, the Housing Office sent a letter to about 125 identifiable fifth-year seniors and graduate students who lived on campus, asking them to give up their slots to make room for new students. About 10 people moved after the appeal. The proposed policy reads: “Effective with the Fall, 1981 semester, on-campus residence hall housing will not be guaran teed for graduate and fifth year students. This policy will remain in effect thereafter until the shortage for on-campus housing eases.” The policy says it is based on “the need of new students as compared to the conveni- [ ' ence of graduate and fifth year students.” I j Assistant Student Affairs Director Ron Sasse said the proposed housing policy was | j not “a matter of right and wrong, it’s whose need is greatest.” The policy sets an eight semester max- j imum residency limit, dating from the ori- i ginal housing application, regardless of i whether the student lives on campus all | ; eight semesters. Exceptions would be Re- j sidence Halls Association executive posi- ! tions and resident advisers. Responding to charges he waited too i j long to announce the policy to those j affected, Blatchley said he forgot about it , until October 1980, when the “initial rush of the semester was over. ” “I just flat goofed, ” he said. The policy also provides for an appeal process for students who feel they should ; be allowed an exemption or extended dorm privileges. The appeal board would be composed of the housing services coordina tor, a student affairs office staff member, a ; residence hall advisor and four representa tives of student organizations. Bilingual ruling won't kill state’s dual language efforts ; United Press International The Reagan administration’s vow to scrap a proposed national program for bilingual education could signal a with drawal of federal involvement from the program, but it will not mean the end of bilingual education in Texas, public school officals say. Hispanic leaders Monday quickly labeled the plan by Secretary of Education Terrel Bell to drop the Carter administra tion’s bilingual program a setback for the education of minorities. “This is but one more example that the Reagan administration is trying to dis embowel the Hispanic community,” said Ruben Bonilla of Corpus Christi, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “Dr. Bell is very rapidly earning a repu tation as denying educational opportunity for Hispanic Americans,” Bonilla con tinued. “The decision represents a major setback toward Hispanic educational achievement. ” Dan Ives, superintendent of the Harl ingen Independent School District, had a different view. “I think it will give us more flexibilty in meeting the needs of the youngsters,” he said. “I think we will be able to do a better job at the local level. But just because these proposed regulations have been scrubbed doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsbility to meet the needs of our youngsters. ” Brad Duggan, executive director of the Texas Elementary Principals and Super visors Association, agreed that Bell’s deci sion could put bilingual program back under state and local control. And he also stressed that no school district should ignore the educational needs of any one group. “We are very pleased that the federal government decided that the state needs to take a look at its own issues and the local districts need to look at the needs of their own children,” Duggan said. Leonel Rosales — director of bilingual education for the Brownsville Independent School District, where 12,000 students are enrolled in bilingual programs — said the outcome of the decision could not be deter mined immediately. “At this point I can’t say whether it would be beneficial,” Rosales said. “It seems to me like it’s going to put the responsibility tc ijjr the state. At this point, the state is not very '* involved. Unless the state becomes more *> involved in bilingual education programs, ir it may require greater expens e from us (the! ,r local district).” >r Texas Attorney General Mark White " pointed out that the bilingual program nov is being considered in the federal court; , after a decision was issued Jan. 12 by U.S ; District Judge William Wayne Justice o l 7 Tyler. c ‘ The ruling, made in response to a suf 1 filed by the Mexican American Legal De r e fense arid Educational Fund, orderec ' Texas to implement a comprehensive L bilingual program in all public schools. | ! n The proposed guidelines, which woulc p i have gone into effect in June, were intro I duced to the public last September b? ( ed then-education secretary Shirley M. Hul he stedler. 3r ' ; ar- She conducted a series of six public hear , as ings across the nation to gain input for edu j; j cators and community representatives oi , y, e the proposed package. The first session wa held in San Antonio.