Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1981)
J The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 74 No. 136 Thursday, April 16, 1981 USPS 045 360 30 Pages in 2 Sections College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today High 78 Low 62 Chance of rain 100% Tomorrow High 81 Low 64 Chance of rain 20% District judge s ruling may affect AG decision By BERNIE FETTE Battalion Staff A ruling on an open records dispute recently handed down in a district court may affect Attorney General Mark White’s ruling regarding the Bryan Eagle’s request for disclosure of candidates for the Texas A&M University presidency. The Odessa American requested information March 18 on 14 applicants for chief of police after former Chief Jack Tomlin resigned March 4. After White ruled that the newspaper was entitled to the information, District Judge Joe Connelly said Friday that City Manager Kerry Sweatt must give the information to the American. David Donaldson, an Austin attorney representing the Eagle, said the Odessa ruling may have an effect in the Eagle’s case since the cases are very similar. “He (White) has consistently considered actions of judges in previous cases of this type,” Donaldson said. A presidential search committee selected 20 finalists from a list of over 400 possible candidates. Since then, the Bryan daily newspaper has been unable to acquire the list. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents, through the University’s legal personnel, has refused to give up the list. The Eagle claims the list is protected information under the Texas Open Records Act and the Board of Regents claims the list comes under an exception to the act. Susan Garrison, chairman of the attorney general’s opinion committee, said one contention being raised by the Regents is that this particular case contains questions which were not issues in former attorney general opinions. Garrison said that to speculate on whether or not the Odessa case would have any influence on the Eagle’s case would be difficult because of the different issues involved in the two. A search advisory committee was used in the initial con siderations and because the committee is not a governmental body the Regents claim it is exempt from the Open Records Act. Garrison said that when only repeated issues are involved, the committee does not make a formal opinion but relies on previous ones to maintain consistency. There were enough new facts in this case for a formal Open Records decision to be issued, she said. No definite completion date has been set for a ruling on the issue. But since the legislature is in session, Donaldson said, legislative opinion requests will take priority over all other requests. Four names which have come to light as candidates for the presidency are: Dr. Stephen B. Sample, executive vice presi dent for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska; Dr. Arthur Hansen, president of Purdue University; Dr. James D. McComas, president of Mississippi State University; and Dr. Jack E. Freeman, senior vice chancellor for administra tion at the University of Pittsburgh. New student senate views work ahead By TERRY DURAN Battalion Staff Although its first meeting was “un official,” the 1981-82 student senate be gan operations Wednesday night. The senate’s constitution says the legislative body is not officially “in” un til two weeks after voting returns are completed — in this case, April 23. Newly elected student body presi dent Ken Johnson emphasized the need to “hit the ground running” in the fall. Vice presidents for academic affairs, ex ternal affairs, rules and regulations and student services briefed both new and old senate members on what to expect in the upcoming school year. One plank in Johnson’s election plat form showed signs of swift fulfillment: expansion of the student academic affairs committee. Academic affairs vice president Kathy Bartholomew outlined a program to in crease student input into the policy making system. She said the Adminis trative Academic Council, made up of 150 faculty and administration mem bers and one student — the student body president — did not lend itself to representative thought in academic affairs. Bartholomew said the expanded academic affairs committee would be able to talk to faculty and administrators before a decision was made, thereby “letting the profs know what the stu dents think.” She said four areas her committee will concentrate on initially are revision of Q-drop policies, abolishment of senior finals, the “research vs. teaching conflict,” and professor evaluations. Senators Mike Wolff and Mike Law- she reported to the senate on the status of legislation currently before both the state house and senate which would double tuition for college students. They urged the senators to write letters to state legislators opposing the tuition hike, and to encourage other students to do the same. Johnson seemed pleased at the orga nizational progress made. As the Fall 1980 senate term began, he said, no speaker pro tem had been elected, no recording secretary appointed, and “eight or 10” senate seats were still vacant. Johnson said the speaker of the sen ate, who generally runs the meetings, and the speaker pro tem will be elected at the first regular senate meeting May 6. Cutting of students’ social security benefits foreseen By CINDY GEE Battalion Staff Students who plan to finance their college education on Social Security checks will prob ably find themselves without funds in the future. Just when that future arrives will depend upon whether a Reagan administration recom mendation or a Democratic counterproposal passes Congress. Both proposals would bring I the program to an end; the difference is when. I Bill Kelley, staff director for the House Social I Security subcommittee in Washington, said in a ; j telephone interview the benefits to students of | dead, disabled or retired parents will probably (I be ended in the near future. IIj The Reagan Administration has recom- ■j mended that no more students be added to the [■program after this year. It has also recom- 1 mended that benefits to students currently on ■ the program be cut out gradually at a rate of 25 j| percent each year until the student doesn’t re- if ceive anything. However the Social Security subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. J. J. Pickle, D-Texas, is working on a less drastic proposal. Kelley said the subcommittee’s proposal, still being drafted, is for the program to end after students who are currently juniors in high school finish college. Also, Kelley said, the subcommittee’s propos al would not cut the benefits to students current ly on the program. Instead the subcommittee has recommended freezing the benefits by en ding automatic cost-of-living increases, he said. Currently, students receive Social Security checks during summer months if they can prove they’ll be going back to school in the fall. Howev er, Kelley said, the subcommittee recommends payments be cut off during the summer unless the student is enrolled in summer school full time. “This is nothing new,” Kelley said. “The Car ter and Ford administrations also recommended phasing student benefits out. The rationale is that students can get assistance from other avail able loan and grant programs. “However that argument is a little invalid if those programs are also cut. But, we don’t have jurisdiction over the other programs.” Kelley said there is a good chance the bill will be passed this year. “The decisions are based on very hard, prac tical matters,” he said. “We’re concerned about financing the Social Security system. Taking this one step is not enough to get the system out of jeoparady.” United Press International reported earlier this month that the administration feels the be nefits are unfair since, in effect, 18- to 22-year- old workers who pay Social Security taxes are financing the college costs of people their own age who are going to school. But, Kelley said, that is not the main argu ment: “If you have to make cuts, where do you want to make them?” Kelley said that phasing out the student Social Security benefits will amount to about a $2 bil lion savings by 1985. The savings will increase in the years after that, he said. Pickle has introduced a bill to Congress that embodies all of the decisions of the Social Secur ity subcommittee, Kelley said. He said among those decisions are: — Phasing out the minimum Social Security benefits. This program currently entitles any person on the roll with a low or sporadic income to receive no less than $122 a month. — Lowering the cut-off age from 18 to 16 for children whose parents receive money for their support. Now checks are cut off when a child turns 18, unless he attends college. Several Texas A&M University students who receive Social Security checks said they would be upset if their checks were cut, but they agreed that if cuts had to be made in the system, they’d rather the cuts started with them. One sophomore who receives $199 a month because her mother retired disabled after 28 years with a company said: “I feel like it’s what my mother earned. But if they’re going to cut it out, I’d just as soon it start with me than some old person. I’d find some means of going to school." Another student whose father died when she was a senior in high school said it would be very difficult for her to go to school without Social Security checks. “After my father died, I didn’t know how I’d be able to go to school,” she said. “I feel like it’s more fair for me to receive the checks than some one whose parents are retired. ” And another student who receives $320 a month from Social Security and $340 a month from the Veteran’s Administration because his father died while flying in a Navy air show said: “My Dad paid quite a price for those checks. I’d be very upset if they cut them. My mother should not have to work two jobs to put her kids through school, she’s suffered enough. But if it (the Social Security program) is in that bad of shape, they need to give the checks to people who really need them. If I had to cut someone out, it would be the students. ” i Janet Cooke admits fraud of story Pulitzer Prize taken from writer United Press International J,; WASHINGTON — A tragic tale of an « 18-year-old ghetto kid hooked on heroin 'has turned into the real-life tragedy of a ' i‘talented and promising” young repor- I |terwhofaked the story and won joumal- ism’s highest award. J|| Executives of The Washington Post ^lldisclosed Wednesday Janet Cooke, 26, , who won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for A feature writing this week, admitted M under several hours of intense question- ^ ing she fabricated details of “Jimmy’s World,” the account of a child addict J living in Washington’s slums she wrote 'for the paper last fall. Jf J The Pulitzer Prize board, informed ' iof the hoax by the Post, withdrew the i dl.OOO prize from Cooke and awarded it ^ to Teresa Carpenter of the Village Voice ■ newspaper in New York. r\ "Janet Cooke is a talented writer,” said Post publisher Donald Graham at a itily called news conference. “That’s . _ tof the tragedy. She didn’t have to ‘do this.” The Post printed the news today of its fallen reporter on its front page across three columns just above the fold, and carried a lengthy editorial that began, “We apologize.” “The article was a serious serious mis representation which I deeply regret,” said Cooke in a statement published by the Post. “I apologize to my newspaper, my profession, the Pulitzer board and all seekers of the truth. ” The Post said editors first learned “irregularities might exist” Tuesday when questions turned up about Cooke’s autobiographical submission to the Pulitzer board. Editors “began a series of intensive interviews” with Cooke upon receiving these reports, the Post reported. “At first she insisted her Pulitzer autobiography was accurate. Slowly, one item at a time, she confessed to the untruths of the autobiography. These confessions prompted the editors to question the validity of the story for which she had been awarded the Pulit zer,” the Post reported. The newspaper said Cooke was con fronted at a meeting that lasted several hours. “Finally, early Wednesday morning, she confessed Jimmy did not exist, that he was a composite of several young drug users,” the Post said. Benjamin Bradlee, executive editor of the newspaper, then wired the Pulit zer Prize Foundation Cooke was declin ing the prize, the most coveted in American journalism, and resigning from the newspaper. Bradlee described the woman as “particularly talented and promising. ” “She was an extremely good writer and a good reporter,” Bradley told UPI. “She was bright, cheerful, intelligent, an involved person.” Bradlee said, “It devastated me.” A spokesman for Columbia Universi ty, which administers the prizes, said it was the first time in their 65-year his tory a winning story turned out to be a fake. The “Jimmy’s World” story, original ly run last Sept. 28 and reprinted this week after the prize announcement, was an account of a child, his former prostitute mother and her “live-in lov er” who sold drugs for a living and dis pensed it every day to the boy, “sending the fourth grader into a hypnotic nod. ” The story caused a major flap within the District of Columbia government. The Police Department and social agen cies scrambled to find “Jimmy.” Police spokesman Gary Hankins said the search involved “hundreds of personnel and thousands of man-hours over three weeks.” He said “virtually every male child of that age range in southeast Washington” was examined for needle marks. But Cooke refused to identify the boy and her editors backed her up. D.C. Mayor Marion Barry Jr., in formed by Bradlee of the hoax, said, “At the time of the story, I was very firm in my conviction that Ms. Cooke’s article was part myth, part reality ... compo sites of real situations and persons.” Former FBI officials granted full pardons United Press International WASHINGTON — President Reagan felt so strongly about the convictions of former top-level FBI officials W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller he granted them full par dons before they asked for them. Reagan granted a full pardon Wednesday to Felt, the FBI’s for mer No. 2 official, and Miller, head of its intelligence section, who were convicted of approving illegal break- ins in a search for active Weather men in the early 1970s. “Four years ago, thousands of draft evaders and others who violated the Selective Service laws were unconditionally pardoned by my predecessor,” Reagan said in a statement. “America was generous to those who refused to serve their couuntry in the Vietnam War. We can be no less generous to two men who acted on high principle to bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation.” Defense lawyers said the presi dent acted without a formal request from the two men. White House sources said the Felt and Miller case was “something the president felt strongly about,” even before his election. Reagan’s chief counselor, Edward Meese, contacted Miller’s lawyer on Jan. 30, 10 days after the inaugura tion to talk about a pardon, said Mil ler’s lawyer, Thomas Kennelly. Felt and Miller were convicted last November of conspiring to violate the civil rights of friends and relatives of the Weather Under ground by permitting agents to break into their houses in a hunt for fugitive radicals. They were fined a total of $8,500 following their trial that included testimony by five for mer attorneys general and Richard Nixon. And both men, who have lived with an investigation for five years, said they were following procedures then and would follow whatever pro cedures are in effect now for surrep titious entries or “black bag jobs. ’