The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 10, 1981, Image 1

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    The Battalion
The Weather
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Yesterday
Today
High
66
High
75
Low
52
Low
27
Rain
.... 0.07
Chance of rain . . .
...17%
Vol. 74 No. 94
12 Pages
Tuesday, February 10, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
sy
Fire: multi-story hassle
nferencet,
ft Texas ft
rsity, UI:
‘stfield)( his is the second in a two-part series on
ffexas A&M’s compliance with city build-
raeed l '8 c °ties and the potential hazards of fires
a campus buildings.
i ready for
e cantajj
iur main
rciament!
By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Reporter
The Nov. 21 fire in Las Vegas’ MGM
rand Hotel and Casino that left 85 people
ead has brought about a heightened in-
e meethi 6rest * n ^' re precautions for high-rise
withasc® uildin g s -
thellooiii although Texas A&M University has
8.9andif iree high-rise buildings, Harrington Tow-
r, the O&M Building and Rudder Tower,
lie University is a state agency and is not
squired by law to conform to city fire and
lilding codes.
Each ofTexas A&M’s high-rise buildings
as fire plans, evacuation procedures and
(airways equipped with fire walls and fire
o&rs able to withstand fire for IVh hours.
However, the ability of local firefighters
effect a rescue from the higher floors is
pen to some question.
Third-floor and beyond
Because of a lack of the necessary evacua-
ion equipment, such as ladders, the Col-
:ge Station Fire Department is unable to
escue people above the third floor of any
uilding, College Station Fire Marshal
larry L. Davis Sr., said.
Davis said the department would be
ble to handle a large fire “if it was strictly
tructure involved, with no life loss.” If
ecessary, the Bryan Fire Department
ould provide additional assistance.
“If they could get to the stairwells, we
/ould assist them out, but that’s pretty
luch the extent of it,” Davis said.
All but one ofTexas A&M’s 35 dormitor-
:s have four above-ground floors; Legett
has three above-ground floors. In
ddition, most other campus buildings
lave at least four floors.
High-rise precautions
Jake Canglose, fire marshal for the O&M
[uilding, said the building has at least two
tre proctors on each floor, a reporting sys-
:m located on the first and 12th floors and
seven-step emergency plan devised by a
uilding committee made up of the dean
ddepartment heads within the building.
This emergency plan is posted by each
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FIRE AND SMOKE DETECTION. / ,ALARM SYSTEM
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A Division of Baker Industries, Inc. Cedar Knolls, New Jersey
elevator along with a map giving the loca
tion of fire extinguishers on that particular
floor.
Rudder Tower’s second, eighth, ninth,
tenth and 11th floors are designated as
office floors. People working on these floors
Stairways in the tower are
equipped with battery-
powered lights on each landing;
they did not function during the
recent power failure.
are informed of the evacuation plan and
each office floor has a designated proctor
who is responsible for seeing that the floor
is evacuated in the event of fire.
The conference floors (the third through
the seventh floors) have no posted evacua
tion plan. However, Sodolak said Services
Supervisor Jerry Nucker is working on the
plan and it should soon be ready.
The evacuation plan posted on the office
floors warns building occupants to take the
stairs instead of the elevators. Stairways in
the tower are equipped with battery-
powered lights on each landing; but be
cause they did not function during the re
cent power failure, Sodolak said new bat
tery packs are on order and should arrive
soon.
Elevators are especially dangerous be
cause a fire could melt the control panel
and call the car to the floor where the fire
has been reported, Sodolak said. Because
of this, tower foremen and all facilities su
pervisors carry keys that enable them to
manually call the elevators to the first floor
and lock them.
The dorms and Hawkeye
Texas A&M dormitories are connected
to the Hawkeye fire reporting system.
When an alarm goes off, a light flashes on a
central reporting panel in the head resi
dent’s room. A two- to three-minute delay
before the general alarm sounds enables
the head resident or resident adviser to
check the floor where the fire has been
reported and determine whether it is a fire
or a false alarm.
Each head resident and resident adviser
is equipped with a chemical fire exting
uisher; if the fire is one they feel they can
handle, they are advised to put it out them
selves. However, in the case of a large fire,
the College Station Fire Department is
notified and responds.
The Corps-style and modular dormitor
ies are equipped with smoke detectors and
pull stations on each floor, while the Com
mons dorms have built-in fire protection
systems.
Fire- and smoke-detection equipment
in balcony-style dormitories presents a
problem, however.
Stiteler said the balcony-style dormitor
ies are equipped with duct detectors.
Under this system, smoke from a room has
to travel down the building’s return air sys
tem before it triggers the detector. The
smoke is usually so diluted by the time it
reaches the detector, it will not set off the
detector.
Stiteler added that the University Office
of Safety and Health is studying a plan that
calls for smoke detector heads to be instal
led in each room.
Also, the office has to set priorities and
provide additional protection to buildings
as funds become available, Stiteler said.
The fire department is informed of those
areas that have less protection than others,
he said.
Recent fire history
Seven major fires have occurred at Texas
A&M within the past four years. Their
dates and amounts in damages:
— $203,500 damage in the MSC base
ment storage area on July 8, 1977;
— $21,000 damage in the Chemistry
Building Annex on March 26, 1978;
— $19,000 damage in the Range Science
field lab on Nov. 12, 1978;
— $15,000 damage in the Biological Sci
ence Building on Feb. 14, 1979;
— the old Board of Directors home (on
the site where Hobby and Neely halls are
now located) was destroyed on Feb. 27,
1979 and loss was estimated at approxi
mately $500,000;
— $118,000 damage in the Soil and Crop
Science and Entomology Building on July
12, 1979;
— and $74,000 damage in the Biological
Science Building on Nov. 29, 1980.
No one was injured in any of these fires.
A seminar to discuss building codes will
be held at Texas A&M Feb. 17. The semi
nar, sponsored by the College of Architec
ture and Environmental Design, will deal
with life-safety regulations. in Texas and
focus primarily on fire.
31
h
11
rs Service fee hearings begin tonight
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Staff photo by Brian Tate
By FRANK L. CHRISTLIEB
Battalion Reporter
The yearly student service fee allocation
rocess begins tonight, as Finance Com-
littee members begin reviewing 1981-82
quests.
The Student Government Finance
ommittee will hold hearings on four days
review each 1981-82 student service fee
squest.
The money is divided among nine stu-
ent service users who make budget re-
uests each year, which vary according to
nancial needs of each area.
Tracy Cox, student vice president of
nance, said that each year nine areas
hich provide services for Texas A&M
Iniversity students request different
mounts of money from student service
The nine areas are the Department of
ntramural Athletics, A.P. Beutel Health
Center, MSC Council, Personal Counsel
ing Service, the shuttlebus service, De
partment of Student Activities, Student
Government, Students’ Legal Adviser and
Student Publications.
So far, five users have submitted their
requests to Cox. The hearings for these five
will be held tonight and Thursday night.
The areas which have made requests so
far, as well as the amounts they are asking
for are:
— Student Activities, $166,750, up 25
percent from last year’s allocation;
— Student Publications, $34,000, up 6
percent from last year’s allocation;
— the shuttlebus service, $169,000, up
22 percent from last year’s allocation;
— the intramural-extramural depart
ment, $527,042, up 28 percent from last
year’s allocation;
— Student Government, $40,592, up 26
percent from last year’s allocation.
The other four areas, Cox said, will sub
mit their requests later this week, and the
hearings for these will take place Feb. 17
and 19. All four of the hearings will be at
7:00 p.m. in the Former Students Confer
ence Room in the Memorial Student
Center.
The hearings are open to the public.
At the hearings, the Finance Committee
will go over each area’s budget, and will
consider the needs of each area. Cox said
each area will have its own reasons for mak
ing the request which it makes. These may
be needs for hiring new student workers,
for making salary increases or for buying
new equipment.
He said the areas whose needs appear to
be the most valid are the ones who will
probably receive most of the amount they
request.
Cox stressed that the requests made by
each area are just that — requests. Most of
the time they do not receive the amount
they ask for.
The actual procedure of dividing the stu
dent service fee money begins when stu
dents are required to pay the $33.50 fee
each semester. The money received in the
1980-81 school year will be allocated after
the committee’s recommendation.
The amount drawn in from the fees paid
this year was $2,173,392, so this is the
amount the committee has to work with in
making the allotments.
After the committee is through with the
requests, they will be brought to the Stu
dent Senate for approval. They will then
have to gain approval of Dr. John Koldus,
vice president for student services.
If Koldus approves the requests, as he
generally does, they will be sent to the
president and the Board of Regents.
Cox said the process for approval of the
requests will last about three or four weeks.
Unsponsored evangelist
George “Jed” Smock, a self-proclaimed evangelist, preached by the
Memorial Student Center again Monday afternoon. Some of his audience
argued with Smock, who has been on campus since Thursday, because of
his condemnation of people in the crowd as sinners.
Spring enrollmen t
topples previous high
A record number of students is enrolled
at Texas A&M University this spring.
After 12 class days the official enrollment
was announced to be 31,427, up 2,125 from
the previous spring record of29,302 set last
spring.
This marks a 7.25 percent increase,
which is also up from the 7 percent increase
of last spring.
The figures were released by the Reg
istrar’s Office and will be reported to the
Coordinating Board, Texas College and
University System as the official spring en
rollment.
A breakdown of the figures into classes
will not be ready until about the end of the
week, a spokesman for the Registrar’s
Office said.
Three new regents discuss Texas A&M’s priorities
iced
table. Till' ih;
ir for $1®
By JANE G. BRUST
Battalion Staff
While the three new members of the Texas A&M
n! FeM University System Board of Regents say they have
riuch to learn about the Board’s business, they agree
at compliance with Title VI is a top priority.
The three new regents — H. R. “Bum” Bright and
iVilliam A. McKenzie, both of Dallas, and Joe C.
lichardson Jr. of Amarillo — began their first six-
fear terms with the Board meeting Friday. They
we appointed in January by Gov. Bill Clements.
They succeed Alfred I. Davies of Dallas, Joe H.
Reynolds of Houston and Ross C. Watkins of Uvalde.
The three new regents all are graduates of Texas
McM.
Bright, 60, and McKenzie, 57, agr eed that the
Board’s number one priority is compliance with Title
Hof the Civil Rights Act which calls for desegrega
tion of state institutions of higher learning.
T think our Board of Regents will give considera-
Bon to policies adopted in the past, and this will be a
s P aUgh >itical thing,” Bright said.
“Were going to do what the law says,” McKenzie
said.
Richardson, 53, said Attorney General Mark
White called him two weeks ago and complimented
the System’s plan for recruitment of minority stu
dents. That policy, adopted in December, calls for
five-year goals to he set in the recruiting of minorities
it Texas A&M, and for more white students to Prairie
Hew A&M University.
He said we led the entire nation with our plan,”
Bichardson said.
The strides we are making here are what they
ire looking for. ”
Bright and Richardson said they think the System
■s in compliance with Title VI at present.
We re as near as can be possible at this point, ”
Bichardson said. “Until it’s 100 percent all right with
ihe Supreme Court, we won’t really know.”
Richardson pointed out that another challenge fac-
on this
f sho"'
enough
)nly, ai
ed theB
h Pabsh
Joe Richardson
ing the System concerns the Permanent University
Fund.
The PUF is the constitutionally mandated and
protected endowment of 2.1 million acres in West
Texas that contains oil and gas. Money from the PUF
is invested, and the return on that investment is
known as the Available University Fund.
Two-thirds of the AUF goes to the University of
Texas System, and one-third goes to the Texas A&M
System. Now other state-supported schools want a
share of those funds.
“One of our biggest challenges is holding on to our
H.R. “Bum” Bright
share of the PUF,” Richardson said.
For the next two years Bright will serve as chair
man of the Board, succeeding Clyde Wells of Gran-
bury who completed his sixth consecutive two-year
term as chairman.
Bright admitted Clements favored his election to
the position even before his appointment to the
Board. He said he was not at all surprised by the
Governor’s appointment — they have been friends
since 1934. Bright said Clements had previously dis-
William McKenzie
cussed the appointment with him.
The new chairman would not specify any changes
in Board action now that he has assumed the posi
tion.
“As presiding officer I will move in the direction
the regents expect to go,” he said.
Bright said he expects to spend more time working
as chairman than he would spend if he were not
chairman, but he said, “not so much time that I can’t
handle.”
Bright is a senior partner of Bright & Company, an
oil and gas producing firm.
Richardson, an independent oil operator, said hei
was surprised with his appointment to the Board.
“I was in Hawaii at the time, and I nearly jumpedl
through the ceiling,” he said. “I had hoped I’d get it.
— I’ve never been so honored.” }
Unlike Bright, Richardson has known Clements?'
only a few years. e
r
“He’s more interested in A&M than any other’ 1
governor in my lifetime,” he said.
McKenzie, a senior partner in the law firm ol
McKenzie and Baer, said he too was “surprised and j
delighted’’ with his appointment. He has known Cle
ments 20 years.
Not one of the new Board members said he has had^
adequate time to review the reorganization of the?’
System that was implemented a year ago. The cur- s >
rent plan transferred authority over the research 01 ”
stations and extension services from the University 01 "
president to the chancellor. The president is now 01 "
responsible for the University alone. ln
Bright said he has only a “general awareness” ol °*
the controversial reorganization. ^
“I know what the chart looks like,” he said. “As tc ia ^
the merits of it, I’ve not had enough time to see how^T
effective it is. The effectiveness depends on the peo
ple in the slots. j n
“Whatever the Board’s position is will be my posi-he
tion. It is the present status, it is the Board’s position,on
it is my position.” iar
With their first Board meeting behind them, the^® 5
three regents said they were favorably impressed 311 ’
with their new positions.
“We re in an awe-inspiring situation with the mag-led
nitude of the physical plant and the budget,’the
McKenzie said. “I’m impressed with the manner andor-
the method in which the meetings are conducted, ur-
Richardson agreed. “The board is very profession- gas
al in conducting its business,” he said. “We had oui by
agenda a week and a half ago — it’s the most profes-the
sional board I’ve ever been on.”