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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1981)
More presidential candidates learned n V & C h* rD 0 By JANE G. BRUST Battalion Staff Three more names have surfaced from among he candidates under consideration for the pres- dency of Texas A&M University. J Dr. Steven B. Sample, executive vice presi- lent for academic affairs at the University of Vebtaska at Lincoln; Dr. Arthur Hansen, presi- lent of Purdue University at Lafayette, Ind.; rndDr. James D. McComas, president of Mis- iissippi State University, have interviewed for :he position, a Texas A&M source said. R:§ample visited the campus last week and itayed in a local hotel. However, Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert would not discuss Sample’s jandidacy for the presidency, f “I have no comment on it, and I cannot con- irm it,” Hubert said. SpSample, 40, earned his bachelor’s, master’s md doctorate in electrical engineering. He taught electrical engineering at Purdue, and has also served on the Illinois Board of Higher Edu cation. Hansen, 56, earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Purdue. He has his master’s and doctorate degrees in mathematics and was a research scientist for NASA from 1948- 49. Between 1966-69 he was dean of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he became presi dent of Purdue in 1971. In a telephone interview from his home, McComas, 52, would neither confirm nor deny that he is under consideration for the Texas A&M presidency. He said at least four major universities, including Texas A&M and Louisiana State University, have openings for presidential positions. “I cannot comment on my candidacy for any of them,” he said, “but yours is a very fine institu tion.” McComas has served as chairman of the com mittee on equal opportunity in the National Association of Land Grant Colleges and State Universities and as president of the Southern Land Grant Colleges and Universities organiza tion. He earned his bachelor’s degree at West Virginia University and his master’s degree and doctorate at Ohio State University. He was dean of the College of Education at Kansas State Uni versity 1967-69, and he was a dean at the Univer sity of Tennessee 1969-76. He became president of Mississippi State in 1976. A fourth person known to be under considera tion for the presidency is Dr. Jack E. Freeman, senior vice chancellor for administration at the University of Pittsburgh. Freeman, 49, visited the Texas A&M campus earlier this month, talk ing to University officials about the position. The president’s position opened when the Board of Regents fired Dr. Jarvis Miller in June. Miller, who is still on the University payroll, is currendy working for Gov. Bill Clements in Au stin. Dr. Charles Samson has been acting presi dent since then. A search committee authorized by the re gents screened over 400 nominees and finalized a list of 20. That list, passed on to the regents in January, is being screened further by a commit tee including Board Chairman H.R. “Bum” Bright, Vice Chairman John Blocker, former Chairman Clyde Wells and Hubert. That com mittee will recommend one final candidate to the full board for consideration. At the regents’ meeting last week, Bright said several of the first 10 candidates from the list of 20 have been interviewed. However, he said not all of the 10 have been contacted for an interview and he does not know if the others will want to be interviewed for the position. In response to rumors that Miller is being considered for the presidency once again, Bright said, “I can’t say anybody is not being considered — everyone is being considered.” The Eagle, the Bryan newspaper, is currently waiting for a Texas attorney general’s decision regarding the Texas A&M System’s release of the names recommended by the search commit tee. The System denied The Eagle’s request for the names, and the regents have refused to make public the names of those persons being consi dered. A February editorial in The Eagle said, “There can be no harm in making the public aware of those who are being considered for this highly important post. “There could, on the other hand, be consider able harm for the selection process to be held in total privacy.” os 'C m 2 n > * a rr Z z m 2 n x Battalion /ol. 74 No. 123 > '36 Pages in 3 Sections ft*- Serving the Texas A&M University community Monday, March 30, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 79 High 80 Low 61 Low 60 Chance of rain. none Chance of rain. . . . istorian expounds society’s problems £ st 3 n t/> 03 c H z By LIZ NEWLIN Mj Battalion Staff j Henry Steele Commager occasionally bounces up and lown on his heels when he lectures about American history. Somehow, one does not expect that from a white-haired nan who’s received honorary degrees from 25 universities, )oth here and abroad, for his scholarly work. He should be nore calm, especially since he’s more than 80 years old. But here Friday night the insight evident in his books was ranslated into a rapid-fire analysis of 150-year-old warnings merica. The University Lecture Series sponsored the pefech, an energetic capsulization of problems facing this iociety. teCommager said the warnings that Alexis de Tocqueville made in his 19th Century book, “Democracy in America, ” are itillj relevant. The emphasis, though, has shifted from ivhether majorities will be tyrannical to whether small special interest groups will capture the process of democracy. As examples, he pointed to the Moral Majority and tobacco lobbyists. These groups, he said, “are coming to take a very danger ous form. These voluntary associations, which once pro tected America from an overly centralized government, are beginning to control just enough of the democratic process — through voting and political campaigning— to exercise their will on the rest of the people. WVfter the hour-long address, which seemed like an enter taining 15-minute monologue, some listeners discussed the lecture’s importance, both through its substance and as an event in Texas A&M’s intellectual growth. He It's very reassuring to hear the words spoken,” said Joann Pappas, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Texas A&M, “to know this person who writes books is alive and well. P’lt’s refreshing to hear it spoken rather than just read.” A group of professors, standing a short distance away, was fajaiiliar with Commager’s message, and even more pleased it was heard on this campus. B it was nice at Texas A&M to hear someone who shares my own prejudices, ” said Dr. Dale Knobel, an assistant professor in history. Knobel, who studied at Yale University, called the speech “a good presentation of classical American liberal principles, which is easy to lose sight of in this campus en vironment.’^ Another said the speech was good for Texas A&M Universi ty, which doesn’t have an the active academic atmosphere found in most college towns. “This is not a university environment, ” said Dr. Robert W. Blake, an assistant professor in animal science. “This is a collection of professional schools that doesn’t provide a uni verse of opinion. ” He said this sort of event — which high lights the liberal arts — is beneficial because the liberal arts generally are ignored and considered only “service depart ments.” Everyone, even those in so-called technical fields, benefit by being aware of all different points of view, Blake said. Commager, in particular, used one of de Tocqueville’s warnings as a modem challenge to the Soutlv. He said the cry of “states’ rights” to protect people from the central government is historically incorrect. He asked whether blacks should look to states instead of the national government for freedom. The states enslaved them, the nation freed them. The same is true, Commager said, for women, labor, environmentalists and educators. That states’ rights arguments leads to another of de Toc queville’s warnings to the new democracy, one concerning the military. Commager described the modem danger; “In the last 25 years, the military has militarized the civilian authority.” He said the result, perpetual preparation for war, is the best example of schizophrenia in the present administration — “to decentralize government and strengthen the Pen tagon.” Because of Commager’s reputation as one of America’s most important historians, the Political Science Department videotaped the speech for anyone’s use. wB-CS growth causes staff i shortages in city utilities By PHYLLIS HENDERSON Battalion Staff f The phenomenal growth of the Bryan-College Station area has caused staff shortages in the cities’ service departments. BSince 1976, 5,940 living units, in the form of duplexes, fourplexes or apartments, have been built in the area. However, staffing of the cities’ service departments has not kept up with the growth. ■Bryan Assistant City Planner Cliff Miller said: “The city is operating staff-wise with the same number of personnel as before the growth began. The services are not as up-to-date as they should be because of staff problems.” rCollege Station City Planner Al Mayo echoed these thoughts. “No one expected it (the growth) to last this long,” he said. “We still have basically the same physical department as before.” | Bryan sewage treatment plants are operating with a 40 percent staff shortage, Jack Cornish, director of public works, said, and the water distribution and waste water collection cjfepartment is experiencing a 25 percent shortage. »“Our problem has been finding qualified personnel,” Cor nish said. The cities must compete for personnel with the industries of the area, he said. “The city is just not competi tive with the job market in the area,” he said. “The city council has authorized budget increases for new personnel, but unless it raises salaries, the staff openings won’t be filled. ” College Station also faces competition with industry, Miller said. “The salary levels are not competitive enough,” he said, “not only with other municipal governments, but also with industry in this area. We’ve had a hard time keeping person nel. We have a tremendous turnover.” However, neither the growth of the area nor the shortages of personnel have caused shortages in city services. “We haven’t had any serious water, electrical or sewage shortages,” Miller said. “We haven’t experienced any brown outs or anything of that nature. We’re putting people on less space than we used to, and it causes us problems only in the areas that water and sewer lines were designed for less dense populations. “Our projections into the future give us a much better handle on what we’re going to have to deal with. It’s going to cost a lot more dollars. The voters have seen it in a couple of bond issues and in another coming up.” College Station voters will vote on a $7 million bond pack age April 4. Miller predicted there will have to be additions to the sewage plant and possibly even a new plant in the future. Polish leaders rule out force United Press International WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Com munist Party, desperately trying to stave off Soviet intervention, gave a vote of confidence to moderate leader Stanislaw Kania and authorized 11th hour talks today with Solidarity, but ruled out force to avert a general strike threatened for Tuesday. As the talks got under way, the offi cial news agency PAP quoted both De puty Prime Minister Mieczylaw Rakowski and Solidarity leader Lech aig not harmed by Bush struggle Walesa as offering hope for a settle ment. “The government position has come to approach our stand, although not as closely as we had hoped, ” Walesa said, without explaining further. The union has demanded dismissal of officials it says were responsible for police beat ings of union members in Bydgoszc March 19. The Central Commitee session Sun day came in the midst of Moscow’s grimmest assessment yet of the Polish situation, with the official Tass news agency accusing Solidarity of openly challenging “legitimate communist rule.” A separate Tass dispatch from Warsaw said “The situation in Poland is extremely tense.” In Washington, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger warned the Soviets of “grave consequences” if there were an invasion to kill Solidarity. The 140-member Central Commit tee, seeking to preserve party unity in the face of the threatened nationwide walkout and continuing Soviet-led War saw Pact maneuvers in and around the nation, rejected resignations of hard liners seeking a crackdown on Soli darity. Instead “a vote of confidence was pas sed for the Politburo and Secretariat,” the official PAP news agency said in a brief communique after the 16-hour meeting, confirming that the moderate approach toward dealing with the union had prevailed. United Press International ^WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Alexander Haig says the events of pc past week, in which he nearly res- d in a dispute over foreign policy ffles, have not harmed his effectiveness >n any way. ■ But Newsweek magazine quotes a senior White House aide as saying, "Vv Tiile every one of the key players has i^eal respect for Haig at his best, we’ve seen far too much of Haig at his worst. ■ “The result is that there’s very little desire left to accommodate his ego and his personal style.” H The magazine said Haig was so upset at the announcement President Reagan had named Vice President George Bush to head the administration’s crisis man agement team that he went so far as to dictate his resignation. But Haig’s “in ner circle” persuaded him to sleep on it and the president, after a 43-minute meeting with Haig the next day, went out of his way to say Haig was still run ning foreign policy. Appearing on “Meet the Press” Sun day, Haig said, “I think the real ques tion here—and that comes up regularly — is my effectiveness influenced by these passing events? My answer to that is, not in any way at all. You know, it is dealing with the real issues, that my report card will be rendered at some point in time, by the president and the American people.” Haig said the situation “has clearly been resolved and resolved in a happy way, as the president said.” Asked if there were any serious differ ences between the White House and himself, Haig said, “Well, I’m not aware of a single instance thus far in my re lationship with President Reagan that we had any differences, either of nuance or even tactics, in the conduct of the nation’s foreign affairs.” Haig said to avoid future problems, he and the president will have more regular meetings, “and it involves some other steps which will be taken in the near future in the form area. ” Haig was not asked to explain what he meant by “other steps.” Newsweek suggested Haig had stretched his welcome badly with the three men closest to the president; White House counselor Edwin Meese, chief of staff James Baker and deputy chief of staff Michael Deavers. It quoted a “White House higher-up” as saying, “You never want to be in a position where your margin of error is zero, and Haig is damn close.” Polling places open Tuesday Polling places for Student Govern ment elections will be open from 9 a. m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Be sure to see Voter’s Guide, an election supplement in today’s Batta lion, which gives candidates’ platforms and election information. The five primary polling places will be set up outside the Memorial Student Center, Sbisa Dining Hall, the Com mons, the Guard Room and Sterling C. Evans Library.