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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1981)
lonakfs 1 I® it EVERY JINC its id NOT MONDAt as the Badminton a relax, competition taking place ( es mat will be selected ami will play their mat spot. This best m will be used« itil the hole hs been fhe Class C winneti ermined by the only. This 18 l will be conducted afternoon, April 11 petition will also in- , Women’s, and Co- hange this year ii- rent of green fees, : collected this yea mural Office at tie y. Students will pij ound while faculty ouses will pay $1,(0 Klub members nuiil ir membership fee ime of entry so tbit be waived. Ready! M’s outdoor pool is ig break. Students >ol to enjoy a cool isurely weekend as nent would lil s that anyone 3. or a recreational have a swim valida- nent is also true for ire twelve years oi rent with a famil)' ; to swim by them- dministered by the n then have his/hei IM-REC SPORTS ig schedule of fees. nmer inly $20 $35 $20 The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 74 No. 109 10 Pages Tuesday, March 3, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High . . . 67 High ...68 Low. . . . 52 Low ...53 Chance of rain . . 98% Chance of rain . . 50%> UH board blasts teachers’ ‘sick out’ United Press International HOUSTON — The University of Houston Board of Regents Monday passed a resolution con demning the “sick out” of approximately 175 teaching assistants and said it assumed those who do not meet their teaching assignments had sub- (mitted their resignations. The “sick out” Monday was the second in less than a month for the teaching assistants, who make $350 a month and want a salary increase to $800 a month. In its resolution, the board also said it would not try to get money from any discretionary accounts to “solve the problem.” The resolution, which passed unanimously, said the board: “Deplores the action of those gra duate students who reject their part-time instruc tion assignments and responsibilities, and ignore the interests of their undergraduate students.” The resolution also bars any further discussion by the administration of the issue with those who have abandoned their present teaching committ ments. While saying it continued to respect faculty rights, the resolution also strongly critized some faculty members, hinting that in a “political con frontation” some faculty had “mislead their gradu ate students and jeapordized those students’ careers.” The board said it supports administration efforts to get other people to teach the classes, and it urged full-time faculty members to help meet “cri tical educational requirements.” nder individual or dull se do not wait until f the day that you leduled. arrange with your play prior to the [ .cheduled time, free to do so ai irt the results, day until after the | ime, then pi ;h your opponent | imural Office. nts iries by John Bra »y David Einsela iy: The “sick out” Monday affected nine university departments. Bonnie White, the university’s student body' president, said if and when the teaching assistants: were notified of termination, numerous other teaching assistants would join the “sick out. ” The sick out by teaching assistants has forced cancellation of a number of classes at the school — the assistants say 200 but UH officials say 68. University spokeswoman Wendy Adair said the college is not shutting down and is asking students to attend their scheduled classes. University official George Magner, who is rep resenting the administration in negotiations with the teaching assistants, said UH could exist with out the assistants. But he acknowledged “it would be hard times in some areas, ” because the teaching assistants grade papers, conduct discussion groups and teach basic courses. Magner said salaries of striking instructors will be docked for sick time this week and they will be terminated unless they return to work by the end of the week. He also said the school will not return to the negotiation table until the assistants go back to work. The assistants, represented by English profes sor John McNamara, have said the sick out prob ably would continue as long as the school refuses to pay adequate wages. “They are determined to stay out as long as it takes, until the university negotiates in a specific and satisfactory manner,” McNamara said. Pretty kitty Photo by Stuart Hinchey Maxine, a four-month-old bobcat, calmly stares at her own er, Hector Gomez, an agriculture education major from San Juan, Texas. Gomez caught Maxine on his ranch where she had been orphaned at the age of 2 weeks by the drought that plagued South Texas. When she is full-grown, Maxine will be twice her present size and weigh about 60 pounds. Maxine was seen walking Gomez by the MSG last week. Legislator, educator clash over Praire View bill By DILLARD STONE Battalion Staff Comparing the Prairie View A&M University president’s beliefs with those of former Alabama governor George Wallace, a state legislator has responded to attacks on his bill to close Prairie View. In a letter to Prairie View A&M President Dr. A. I. Thomas, a copy of which was received by The Battalion, Rep. Foster Whaley, D-Pampa, maintains his bill, H. B. 471, has “many lucrative benefits” for black people. Whaley was respond ing to a letter from Thomas which vigorously protested the bill. H.B. 471 calls for no new admissions to the predominantly black Prairie View A&M after Summer 1981, with a cessation of operations on Aug. 31, 1984. Prairie View A&M students and faculty would be absorbed throughout the other state colleges and universities. The bill’s purpose, according to Section 1, is “remedying past discrimination and eliminating a dual system of higher education in the state.” In a Battalion interview earlier this year, Tho mas accused Whaley of having a “racist mental ity” behind the bill. Now, however, it is Whaley who has accused Thomas of bigotry. Thomas said a predominantly black institution is “essential to the progress of Texas. It’s essen tial to the democratic pluralism that we want to have.” The Battalion also has received a copy of Tho mas’ original letter of protest to Whaley. In the letter, Thomas wrote, “Texas has a place for Black-operated universities, White-operated universities, private-operated universities and public-operated universities.” Whaley replied that Thomas’ references to democratic and cultural pluralism were a throw back to the “separate but equal” laws upheld in the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. Those laws were in effect until the mid-1950s. “Now, 27 years later, Dr. Alvin Thomas and certain other black leaders are saying ‘There is a place for white universities and black universi ties and let’s keep them separate but make them equal, ” Whaley wrote. “Governor George Wallace would have been very elated if you could have been on camera with him making these pluralistic statements when he stood in the doorway of the Alabama University in 1956 in his effort to block the entry of Autherine Lucy,” Whaley continued. Thomas’ letter said, “Integration and desegre gation does not mean eliminating black people, black churches ... Or black universities. “It means the free access and entry into black, white or brown, public or private ... universities by anyone without regard to race, religion, sex and personal handicap,” the letter continued. The Prairie View bill was met with immediate opposition from the Coordinating Board, Educa tion Commissioner Kenneth Ashworth and Gov. Bill Clements. That opposition doesn’t deter Whaley, who claims to have many supporters for the bill. “You would not believe the favorable re sponse,” Whaley said last week. Many of his fellow legislators support the bill, he said, though he admitted they might be reluctant to support it publicly now. Those feelings may change should Texas lose its bout with the federal Education Department over racial integration in Texas public colleges and universities. The state has been found in provisional com pliance with the federal government’s Title VI desegregation requirements. Gov. Clements has until June 15 to submit an entirely accept able plan to Washington. The penalty for non- compliance is partial or total loss of some $300 million in federal funding to state schools. Whaley views his bill as one with enough advantages to merit passage on its own. But he’s also very aware of the bill’s chances as a contingency measure, to be used if a letter of noncompliance is issued. “If they say we haven’t got any trouble with the civil rights, my bill won’t pass,” he said. “If the courts say ‘You will do this, or else,’ my bill will sail, because there’s never been a desegre gation bill.” Whaley’s bill specifically calls for: — Cessation of operations in August 1984, with no new students permitted to enroll after Summer 1981. — Transfer of enrolled Prairie View students and faculty members to schools other than Texas Southern University, the state’s other primarily black school. — A $1,000 grant to each school recruiting and receiving a transferring student, and a grant of $5,000 to each school recruiting and receiving a transferring faculty member. — Use of the funds accrued from the sale of the university’s land and facilities in a special grant fund to be used solely for Negro students. While some think Whaley is a “kook” and others say he’s a racist, Whaley, who is a Class of ’49 former student, says he feels he’s doing something to help Texas. “I don’t give a damn if I get defeated if I feel like I’m doing the right thing,” he said. B-CS has a taste of the Orient Grocery is truly ‘Universal’ Council to decide commi ttees ’ fu tures By BETH GIBSON Battalion Reporter Pungent, spicy scents of Oriental foods drift out as the door opens. Strains of clicking Chinese conversa tions tickle the ears of customers mun ching on eggrolls, fried wonton and sweet and sour pork. Sound like a typical Chinese food market in the middle of Hong Kong? The scene might seem like Hong Kong, but it’s College Station and the customers are mostly Texas A&M Uni versity students, studying as they snack at the Universal Grocery Store and Snack Bar at the comer of Univer sity Drive and Nagle Street. The small grocery store, looking much like a rennovated U-Tote-Em sporting Chinese symbols on the out side wall, is owned by Helen Liu. Liu and her husband Nelson came from their native Taiwan to College Station in 1978. Her husband is study ing political science at Texas A&M. “The store opened about two years ago. I needed the business to help my husband and family,” she said. Liu, a short, plump woman with shining black hair and a constant smile, shifts easily from conversations in her native Chinese to a smooth “May I help you?” for an American customer. She said she longs for a few more Chinese conversations, though. “About 80 percent of my customers are Americans,” she said. “There are just a few Chinese people who shop here.” This fact is evident in looking over the wares offered in the store. Distinc tly American products are nonchalant ly mixed in with the more exotic Oriental groceries. Sitting around the store next to the cases of Pepsi Light are boxes of for tune cookies, instant Osuimuna and Tempura batter mix. For anyone with a sweet tooth, the yellow rock sugar, sesame seed candy and preserved plums are found right beneath the Tang and Folger’s Instant Coffee. Beside the ice cream freezer sit 25- pound bags of rice with mysterious Chinese writing on the cloth bags (even though the rice is produced in San Francisco, California and Beaumont, Texas). Most of the Oriental goods are dis played on the insides of the two rows of groceries in the store. A walk down this center aisle reveals more culinary mysteries for American eaters. Natural black fungus from Taiwan sells for $2.89 for a four-ounce pack age. Itowakome and Kombu, two varieties of dried seaweed, are priced at $1.79 for two ounces. Adventurous Americans may buy a 12-ounce can of fresh lotus root for $1.19, six ounces of pickled leeks for 79 cents or a 19-ounce can of sliced sour bamboo shoots for 99 cents. Consumers must beware, however — most of the cooking and serving directions are in Chinese. Some of the products do have direc tions in Enghsh. The label on a can of grass jelly says to serve the jelly diced and covered with syrup. A box of Tomoshiraga Somen — Oriental noodles — says to cook the noodles in water and to serve with sauce. While the inside rows of foods dis play the Oriental groceries, the out sides of the rows hold products more familiar to American shoppers — cat sup, popcorn, barbecue sauce, Campbell’s soups. The snack bar, a collection of bor- dering-on-rickety folding tables, is set up beside one of these American rows and some of the patrons have never seen the Oriental goods. Karen Williams, a Texas A&M stu dent, says she comes to the Universal Grocery once a week to study and snack, though she said she never knew about the unusual groceries. “I come for the eggrolls,” she said. “The food is good, and Mrs. Liu is really a nice lady. I never knew about any natural black fungus, though.” Williams said the store is usually not crowded and is quiet for studying, re laxation and snacking. Patrons of the snack bar can eat eggrolls, fried rice with chicken or fried wonton with sweet and sour pork. Then, to keep in touch with Col lege Station, they can wash it down with their favorite domestic beer or cola. 1 I By KATHY O’CONNELL Battalion Staff The MSC Council heard a progress report from the Program Study Com mittee concerning the effectiveness of four directorate committees Monday night. Recommendations from future Prog ram Study Committee meetings will be presented to the Council at the March 30 meeting. The four committees involved are Arts Committee, Black Awareness Committee, Committee for the Aware ness of Mexican-American Culture and Recreation Committee. Vice President of Programs Sara Morse said members of the four com mittees met with the Program Study Committee last week to discuss the problems of each committee. Morse said the study committee will recommend that CAM AC remain as it is now, with an elected chairman and con trol of its budget. The only stipulation is that the committee prepare a program- by-program budget, which is subject to approval by the vice president of prog rams and the adviser. Morse said these recommendations were unanimously approved by the three CAM AC members. She said CAMAC agreed to do four things: — “define goals of the committee so the members would understand them”. — set criteria for membership. — define job descriptions for officers. — devise a system of active program planning and a formal communication system within the committee for prog ram “idea generation” and program approval. It will be recommended that the Arts Committee’s budget be placed under administration of the Council; however, there will be a committee chairman. A program-by-program budget approval will have to be submitted to the Coun cil, since they have direct control of funds. Morse said the main problem with the Arts Committee is a lack of member ship. The questions surrounding the Re creation Committee are in the area of programming, Morse said. Recreation Committee is comprised of several “special interest” activities, such as billiards, chess and bowling. She said these sub-groups were more interested in special activities rather than programming as a group. Morse said a major restructuring of the committee’s officers will be recom mended. The number of officers will be expanded and they will be responsible for coordinating activities between the different interest groups. A member of Black Awareness Com mittee said, “They needed to bring the situation to the attention of the other committee members, so that they can provide input to help the Program Study Committee make informed re commendations about the future of BAG.” Filing for Spring ’80 elections starts today Photo by Beth Gibson Helen Liu, owner of the Universal Grocery Store, arranges fresh eggrolls to take to the customers at the store’s snack bar. Effing for Student Government and organization positions opens today in the S.G. office, 216A MSC. Offices to be filled include: student senators and student body officers; yell leaders; class councils and the graduate student council; Off-Campus Aggies and the Residence Halls Association. Filing will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Monday. Students wishing to run for a Student Government position must turn in a petition of signatures from their consti tuency by 5:30 p.m. on the last day of filing. Candidates for student body presi dent must have an overall grade point ratio of 2.5, while student senate vice presidents and college and living area senators must have a 2.25 overall. Election dates are March 31 and April 1. p d !S , ts of st r- oe 3V pn ed V. up he' he i of out ted “all op- oes, t or 1 or y or ban it of 9. It onal oany ink. d in i the ;lson amar uglas ston, filed s the npor- r cur- d gas ;d by it the