By PHYLLIS HENDERSON
I ® Battalion Staff
problem in the computer used to
late Student Government election
•ns caused results to be delayed un-
metime today.
reg Dew, executive vice president
tudent Government, said it was
ght that the problem developed in
omputer tape which stored the bal-
linformation during the running of
ie program, but that nothing could be
lermined until a supervisor was con-
icted today.
■The Battalion will have complete
|ition coverage and information on
Wednesday’s run-off election
Student Government Judicial
d is scheduled to review today stu-
: body presidential candidate Matt
druffs request for appeal of the
ommissioner’s decision to
voting rights to graduating
election procedures challenged
e 3
Computer foul-up delays results
ruling in favor of Woodruff will
|ult in invalidation of the election re-
If the board’s decision goes
(Woodruff, he will have 48 hours
t a formal appeal to the Judicial
I for a hearing of the case.
“I just made the decision,” Leah
Whitby, election commissioner, said.
“The decision was based on the fact that
these elections are made for the school
year 1981-82 and constituency is the big
deal here. That’s what I’m basing this
thing on — constituency.”
Paul Bettencourt, Judicial Board
chairman, said: “The decision was made
because it (the election) doesn’t apply to
them (graduating seniors). It’s all based
upon what happens in the fall.”
Whitby said the decision was based
on a section in the student body consti
tution which states the student body
president will be elected by his consti
tuency for his constituency; however,
Whitby could not point out this phrase
in the constitution, nor could it be
found.
“Even if one were to accept that the
constitution makes such a statement,”
Woodruff said, “one fact remains: the
student body president assumes office
14 days after the election is certified.
Graduating seniors are still students at
this time; therefore, they are consti
tuents of the new student body presi
dent.
“An Aggie is concerned about the
University after he leaves. That’s what
makes us unique. However, the merits
of whether or not they should vote is not
the issue.”
The issue. Woodruff said, is whether
or not the election has been held in
accordance with the rules and regula
tions governing it.
In a letter to the Judicial Board,
Woodruff cited three other reasons for
his appeal:
— “The decision is in direct violation
of the 1981 Election Regulations.” Sec
tion 3400 states voter qualifications are
enrollment at Texas A&M and a valid,
current University I.D.
— “The decision also violates the
student body constitution, Article II,
Section II, ‘ . the Student Body Presi
dent who shall be elected at-large by a
majority vote of the Student Body dur
ing the Spring Semester.’
— “The violation is not due to over
sight, but rather to a willful and wanton
disregard of the aforementioned docu
ments by the election commissioner.”
“I don’t like loose ends,” Woodruff
said, “and that seems to be the problem
here — inattention to detail.”
Graduating seniors have always been
able to vote in Student Government
elections before. Woodruff said. “We
are now seeing a complete reversal of
this,” he said.
Although Woodruff made his appeal
Wednesday morning, before student
elections were over, the decision was
made not to review the appeal until af
ter the elections were over, Paul Bet
tencourt said. “If the policy had been
changed in the middle of the elections,”
he said, “the elections would have been
automatically appealed.”
Bettencourt said: “Nowhere is it (the
issue of graduating seniors) spelled out
in our rules and regulations.” The final
decision rests with the Judicial Board,
he said.
If the board decides in favor of Wood
ruff, Bettencourt said, in all likelihood,
a special election will be held next week
for graduating seniors only. The elec
tion, he said, would affect only those
offices that the seniors would be eligible
to vote in.
If the board decides against Wood
ruff, Bettencourt said, “he will have 48
hours to submit nine copies of his writ in
my office.” Both sides will be given a
chance to present their case, he said,
and they may obtain legal counsel to
represent them.
Reaction to Woodruffs appeal was
mixed.
David Collins, another student body
presidential candidate, said he agreed
with Whitby’s decision. “You’re talking
about allowing people to vote who
aren’t going to be here,” he said. “I
don’t think it’s necessary to have
another election. I don’t think the gra
duating seniors make up enough of a
proportion of the student body to make
a difference in the election.
“If there is another election, though,
we’ll be in there kicking.”
Marc Schneider, a third candidate for
the office, said he felt graduating seniors
had the right to vote. “I think they
should have a say in who’s going to be
student body president. If there are
enough graduating seniors who want
the vote. I’m for them getting the vote. ”
The two remaining candidates, Ken
Johnson and Mary Elizabeth Herring,
could not be reached for comment.
Jess Mason, Class of ’81 president
and a graduating senior, pointed up a
problem with the regulation. “I voted in
the election and several of my friends
who are graduating voted too,” he said.
Enforcement of the regulation was
left to the Aggie Code (of Honor), Whit
by said. “There’s no possible way we can
check 6,200 ballots,” she said.
“We ask them if they are a graduating
senior,” Bettencourt said, “and Aggies
usually respond honestly.”
Mason said graduating seniors should
be able to vote in the elections. “I think
they have the experience at A&M,” he
said, “and I think they have the respon
sibility to vote.”
Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Thursday, April 2, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
82 High
84
Low
63
Chance of rain.
md.
jer, Fr<!
)fficer
[.Taste
Clayton introduces
college financing bill
-^frady speaks first word
ince shooting incident
Z
Two explosions called attention to a fire in the
Facilities, Planning and Construction Building
on the corner of Asbury Street and University
Drive around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Kenneth Stephens, night custodial superin
tendent, said the cause of the fire is unknown.
He said the explosions were probably caused by
chemical spray cans on janitorial carts in the
closet where the fire apparently started.
Lt. Robert Krupe of the College Station Fire
Statt photo byUreg Uammon
Department said firemen had the fire under
control 21 minutes after their arrival.
Krupe said the fire gutted the janitorial closet
where it began and scorched the ceiling in the
hall and rooms which adjoin the closet. He said
smoke damage occurred throughout the
building.
No estimate of damage was available Wednes
day night.
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
Easter may bring more than chocolate bunnies to Texas
state colleges. By that time, the House of Representatives is
expected to approve a bill to create a huge endowment for
college construction and repair.
The plan, presented by House Speaker Bill Clayton, would
also protect the Permanent University Fund basically as it is
now. For several years, universities outside the University of
Texas and Texas A&M systems have been greedily eyeing the
fund, a guaranteed source of money during uncertain budget
times.
The proposed constitutional amendment would re
institute the state property tax to finance the new endowment
until it exceeds $2 billion, then abolish the tax.
In hearings earlier this week, Texas A&M and the Univer
sity of Texas endorsed the plan along with the Coordinating
Board, Texas College and University System, and other uni
versities not covered by the PUF.
George Works, press secretary for House Speaker Bill
Clayton, said Wednesday that the bill should pass the House.
Now the bill is in a subcommittee for technical revisions.
“We’re fairly certain it’ll be passed out of subcommittee
and to the floor,” Works said in a telephone interview from
Austin. “He (Clayton) is fairly confident that it will pass in the
House and get a thorough airing in the Senate.”
Seven constitutional amendments were scheduled for
hearings at the session, but only Clayton’s bill was heard.
Robert G. Cherry, assistant chancellor for Texas A&M,
said, “The speaker, apparently, had been able to get the
authors of these bills together behind a common bill. All
seven of the bills were laid on the table, with the exception of
the ... substitute for House Joint Resolution 111.”
Cherry, a long-time observer of the Legislature, expects
the bill to pass both the House and Senate.
The only significant opposition to the plan is from Rep.
Wayne Peveto, D-Orange, who said Monday the PUF will be
big enough to finance construction and repairs needed by all
state colleges. He released a study that shows the deregula
tion of oil prices will increase the PUF to more than $4 billion
by 1990. Other legislators, however, disagree, and Works
said the Peveto’s opposition is rooted in the state tax provi
sion.
“It’s because of the taxing structure,” Works explained.
“He does not want to reinstitute any kind of state income tax.
It was a Peveto bill that wiped out all but a tiny fraction of the
tax.”
Technically, the 10-cent state property tax is still on the
books, but a 1979 Peveto bill levies the tax against only .0001
percent of property market value. The Clayton plan calls for
reducing the tax rate to 3 cents and levying it against 100
percent of market value. This, it is estimated, would raise
$133.8 million in 1983 and $315 million a year by 1992.
Clayton’s bill proposes dedicating $100 million a year of the
revenue to use for new construction, land acquisition, major
repair and rehabilitation projects, equipment and library
books. Each school’s board of regents would decide how to
spend its allocation. The excess would be put in a “higher
education endowment fund” every year until it totaled $2
billion, estimated to occur in 1992. The property tax would be
abolished the next year.
Thereafter, the new endowment would provide $100 mil
lion to $200 million annually for state universities outside the
UT and Texas A&M systems.
The PUF, shared by the state’s two super-systems, would
remain about the same.
In one change, all schools in both systems would be able to
use the fund for construction and major repair. Now in the
Texas A&M System, Moody College is ineligible for construc
tion funds, as are several of the newer schools in the UT
System. Those schools have moved into the system since the
Texas Constitution was last amended to include then-newly
added schools as participants in the fund.
The bill would bar schools in the UT and Texas A&M
systems from asking the Legislature for money for projects
included in the plan. Only Prairie View A&M and Texas
Southern University, the state’s historically black collges,
would be able to petition for money to bring them up to
current standards.
In another provision, the “enhancement fund” would re
main the sole possession of UT-Austin and TAMU at College
Station. This fund is composed of money left over from PUF
profits after construction bonds and interest are paid. In the
fiscal year ending 1980, for example, Texas A&M received a
total of about $28 million. Of that, $8.5 million paid for bonds
and interest on projects throughout the system. The $19.5
million left over went to Texas A&M at College Station.
Cherry said no opposition surfaced to continuing this
arrangement.
This year Texas A&M used part of the $19.5 million to hire
40 professors to help cope with the unexpected growth in
enrollment.
Reagan still progressing,
may leave hospital soon
United Press International
Washington — “Raccoon,”
lispered White House press secretary
Brady, his first word since losing a
flionofhis brain to a would-be assas-
(s bullet.
Raccoon” is Brady’s nickname for
wife Sarah. And Mrs. Brady, at his
dside, then gently encouraged her
IIcritically ill husband to count aloud
im one to 10.
Itwas that kind of progress Wednes-
y, considered against the backdrop of
near-fatal wound, that prompted
bite House chief of staff James Baker
call Brady’s recovery “miraculous.”
There were other encouraging signs
R Brady, 40, was responding well to
iatment after the attack Monday that
also left President Reagan, a Secret Ser
vice agent and a District of Columbia
policemen wounded. Doctors said
Brady was “breathing well” on his own,
was able to wiggle his left arm and leg
and even “played catch” with a rolled up
ball of gauze in the intensive care unit of
George Washington University Medic
al Center.
Brady was able to move his right side
Tuesday, but movement of his left side
was considered crucial to his recovery.
The movement was “minimal, but
hopeful,” a spokesman said.
A large portion of the right frontal
lobe of Brady’s brain, which controls the
left side of the body, was removed dur
ing a 6A4-hour operation Monday. The
bullet entered his head above the left
eye and passed through the tip of the
left frontal lobe before tearing into the
right side of the brain.
Considering the severity of the
wound, news that Brady and his wife
were “playing catch” was warmly
greeted in the White House press
room.
Mrs. Brady, whose nickname “Rac
coon” relates to her dark eyes, was said
in classic White House understatement
to be “very encouraged” by her hus
band’s progress. And, through Brady’s
deputy Larry Speakes, she relayed her
appreciation for the support and prayers
for his recovery from Brady’s friends
and erstwhile antagonists in the White
House press corps.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan, still suffering some soreness on
his left side where a bullet pierced his
lung, had his “best night’s sleep” since
entering the hospital and was in “ex
tremely good spirits” today, his doctor
said.
Dr. Daniel Ruge, Reagan’s personal
physician, reported the president
“looks fine,” had nine hours of sleep,
and was “awake, alert and talking to
hospital personnel” at 6 a.m. EST.
“His vital signs are normal, although
he is still complaining of soreness on his
left side, which is quite normal,” Ruge
said.
The doctor said the president is in
“extremely good spirits” and had his
“best night’s sleep” since he entered the
hospital.
Senate and House committees called
hearings today to pose questions about
how well the president was protected
during Monday’s assassination attempt
— which left three others, including
White House press secretary Jim
Brady, critically wounded.
Reagan’s accused assailant, John W.
Hinckley Jr., 25, also had a preliminary
hearing scheduled for today.
While still sore from the surgery he
underwent for removal of a bullet
lodged in his lung, Reagan was up and
around his $234-a-day hospital room
Wednesday for the first time since Mon
day’s assassination attempt.
Law enforcement sources said the
bullet that hit Reagan — one of six fired
in his direction — probably ricocheted
off his limousine and then struck him in
the chest. There was speculation a
ricochet would account for the badly
“mangled” slug removed from Reagan’s
chest.
CBS News reported FBI analysts
based the ricochet theory on a microsco
pic fleck of black paint found on the
slug.
There also were reports Wednesday
the president was more seriously in
jured than first thought when brought
to George Washington University
Medical Center.
Two paramedics who helped Reagan
enter the emergency room said he
looked pale, his eyes rolled back and his
knees buckled.
“By the look on his face — he was so
pale — we thought he was having a
heart attack. I thought we were going to
lose him,” said Roberto Hernandez, a
fire department paramedic.
Officials said Reagan’s condition was
never serious. But in Los Angeles, son
Michael Reagan said the president told
him Tuesday he felt “like the gun had
exploded against his rib” — he coughed
up blood, had trouble breathing and
“said it was the biggest fear in his life.”
There have been no photographs of
the president in the hospital, but depu
ty press secretary Larry Speakes said
some may be released today. Officials
insisted the delay was not a coverup but
a matter of privacy.
In a medical bulletin issued Wednes
day afternoon. Dr. Daniel Ruge,
Reagan’s personal physician, said:
“The president continues to make
excellent progress toward full recovery.
He experienced some pain during the
day, which is normal for one experienc
ing an injury and surgery of this type.
He is now resting comfortably.”
With his recovery picture bright,
aides were saying Reagan may be able to
leave the hospital sometime next week
to continue his convalescence at the
White House.
The president would like to travel to
the West Coast as planned to meet with
Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo
April 27 and 28 in San Diego, Calif., and
Tijuana, a spokesman said. But there
were estimates it would take at least two
months before he is feeling up to par
again.