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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1981)
“X The Battalion xas )l. 74 No. 148 I|12 Pages Serving the Texas A&M University community Monday, May 4, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 79 High 84 Low 67 Low 72 Chance of rain 20% Chance of rain. . . . . . . 20% raduation clearance eadline is Thursday NT J I By CAROLYN BARNES Battalion Staff 1 Graduating students may find Thurs- $iy that they owe Texas A&M Universi- !| more than they bargained for. And as a result, they may be dis- ipointed to discover they are not long those who have been cleared for ■aduation to be held Friday and today. The final list of seniors will be posted itside Heaton Hall at 8 a. m. Thursday, Idle the list of graduate students will bi posted around noon. If it is raining idents can check in the lobby of leaton Hall. Associate Registrar Don Carter said is “of the utmost importance” for stu- ents to check the list as soon as possible ecausethe absolute deadline for clear- nce to graduate is 5 p.m. Thursday. This year a new procedure is being sed. In the past a dot next to a student’s name indicated he was cleared for gra duation. However, this year the exact opposite is the case. A dot this year will mean the student is not cleared for graduation. If a dot appears next to a student’s name there will be a written indication of the reason. The problem is usually financial or academic. Financial problems, which are usual ly due to unpaid parking or library fines or returned checks, may be cleared up in the Fiscal Office in the Coke Build ing. The Fiscal Office may deduct un paid fines from dorm deposit refunds. Although a student cannot be block ed from graduation for financial reasons, transcripts will not be released until the student has been cleared by the Fiscal Office. Drop-add credit should be resolved with the cashier in Rudder Tower. Academic reasons for not being cleared for graduation include failure to make a written request to graduate (a degree-applicant letter) and not making the necessary grades. Students with these problems should check with Assistant Registrar Don Gardner in Heaton Hall. However, if the student does not have at least a 2.0 grade point ratio overall and in his ma jor, it is his responsibility to resolve the problem with his instructors. Final grades for graduating seniors were turned in by 4 p.m. Friday. Students cleared for graduation can buy their caps and gowns at the MSC Bookstore. Graduation announcements are available from the Student Finance Center in 217 Memorial Student Cen ter. Only a few extras are left and stu dents will have to order name cards from a printer. Sands slips into coma fter 65th day of fast United Press International BELFAST, Northern Ireland — IRA linger striker Bobby Sands lay in a ma today on the 65th day of a fast to eath, and Britain readied emergency Ians to prevent all out civil war be- veen Catholics and Protestants in lorthem Ireland. “He’s dying. My son’s dying,” Mrs. osaleen Sands said in tears Sunday [mergingfrom her vigil at Maze Prison, int at the same time she appealed “to ie people to remain calm and have no xcitement and to have no death or des- iction.” Oliver Hughes, brother of another lunger striker, saw Sands Sunday and said afterwards: “I thought he was dead. His eyes are sunken, bones sticking out, jeeth sticking out. I didn’t see a man of 27,1 saw a man of 90. ” The H-Block Committee, supporting lands’ protest for concessions to IRA irisoners, said the hunger striker had into a coma. But Britain’s 'Jorthem Ireland Office said Sands “is asleep” and early today reported no ;e in his condition — again avoid- use of the word coma. At the Vatican, Pope John Paid II asked the world to pray for Northern Ireland’s Catholics and Protestants, saying the two communities “live hours of growing tension, from which it is feared new grave acts of fratricidal vio lence can explode.” Sands, who is serving 14 years for firearms possession and was elected a member of British Parliament during his hunger strike, began his fast March 1 to press for political status for IRA pris oners — a demand that Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has turned down. In New York, hundreds of Sands’ backers marched up Fifth Avenue, saying “Margaret Thatcher must go!” and asking Britain to get out of Northern Ireland. Britain rules Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, directly from London. In Toombridge, 30 miles west of Bel fast, more than 4,000 people marched in support of Sands and three other hun ger strikers, also on a fast to death. Catholic militant Bernadette Devlin McAliskey appealed for calm at the march. “We don’t want to see a single riot, not a single stone, not a single pet rol bomb,” she said. On the Protestant side, Ulster De fense Association leader Andy Tyrie sought to ease Catholic fears, saying: "We are not spoiling for a fight. We realize that all-out war now would be the ruination of Northern Ireland. ” Despite the appeals for calm, Britain went ahead with emergency plans to prevent all-out fighting between the majority Protestants and minority Catholics in Northern Ireland’s six counties, where more than 2,000 peo ple have been killed in bombings and violence since 1970. Sir Humphrey Atkins, Britain’s top official in Northern Ireland, met Sun day for the second straight day with chief constable Jack Hermon and Brit ish army commandant Lt. Gen. Sir Richard Lawson and officials in charge of water, gas and electricity. Sands’ five demands for IRA prison ers are free association within the pris on, a 50 percent reduction in sentences, extra visits, permission to wear civilian clothes and to refuse to do prison work. Sands has turned down three appeals by a papal envoy and a European Hu man Rights commission to end his strike, while Mrs. Thatcher has ruled out concessions, saying Sands was con victed of a common crime and not a political act. The H-Block Committee, named for the area where Sands is imprisoned, said convicted murderer Francis Hughes, 27, was sinking fast in the 51st day of his hunger strike. The two other IRA men were in their 45th day without food. Qciv 0111 ^ Staff photo by Greg Gammon Brian Rice, a 161-pounder senior, sends Joel the middleweight open division, won the match- Akins to the canvas in a semi-final bout Satur day night at “Fight Night” sponsored by the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Rice, fighting in up with this knock-out punch and later went on to defeat Roy Harris in the finals for the Mid dleweight Open Division title. Reveille takes highest Corps rank Reveille and some friends finish off a chocolate cake in celebration of tier sixth birthday Friday evening. In addition to some bones, Reveille received some new “brass,” five diamonds to wear on her collar representing her superior rank in the Corps. By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff Who is the highest ranking cadet at Texas A&M University? The Corps commander? Wrong. Reveille? Right. Reveille IV, the American collie who is the University mascot, Friday achieved her new rank at a party given in honor of her sixth birthday. Reveille, bom May 1, 1975, in Golf, Kan., was donated to the Uni versity by Dr. Thomas L. Godwin, a veterinarian, when Reveille III died. In honor of her new position, Re veille received a set of “brass,” a leather collar with five diamonds. She also received several packages of beef jerky from friends in Company E-2, the mascot company. Wearing her new collar, she was more interested in the chocolate birthday cake bearing her likeness than in the beef jerky. “She eats like a horse, ” said Drew Laningham, 1981-82 Mascot Cor poral. “That’s why we won’t let her eat any table scraps in Duncan (Di ning Hall). If we did, she wouldn’t eat her dog food.” Reveille’s daily diet is a mixture of Kal-Kan and Alpo dry. She’s very photogenic, as her por trait sitting on Laningham’s desk proves. However, she was more in terested Friday in a steak bone, a present from Laningham, than she was in having her picture taken. The bone also took precedence over being interviewed for The Bat talion. Fortunately, Laningham was able to speak in her place. Reveille is extremely well be haved, he said. She’s a graduate of the Canine Hilton Obedience School in Austin and has been trained to march, catch a Frisbee and bark whenever the yell leaders get up to do a yell, he said. She has plenty of opportunities to do this, he said, because she attends all home football, basketball and baseball games. Reveille also attends some road games. She is scheduled to attend the University of California at Ber keley and Boston College games in the fall. Reveille shares a room with Laningham, a freshman pre dentistry major from Conroe, and his roommate. Bob LaRue, a fresh man environmental design major from Lubbock. Reveille is with a member of Company E-2 at all times, Laning ham said, and even attends classes. “She goes into the classroom and falls asleep or just sits there until it’s time to go. She’s just like any other student.” Texas A&M’s mascots have not al ways been registered collies. Reveil le I was a stray who was accidentally struck by a car carrying Aggies who were returning from a football game. They brought her back to the cam pus and that night she slept in a dorm in violation of military regulations. She was named Reveille because she yelped and barked as the bugler played “Reveille” the next morning. She was later named the official mas cot of Texas A&M. Reveille I died on Jan. 18, 1944, and was given a formal military fun eral in the center of Kyle Field. Reveille II was a brown and white Shetland shepherd donated by Au- rther Weinert of Seguin. She made her debut during a Corps trip to Dal las in 1952. She died in 1966 of arthritis. Reveille III was the first Amer ican collie mascot. She was bom in Anchorage, Alaska, and donated by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Husa of Fair banks, Alaska. She made her debut at a Texas A&M-Texas Tech Univer sity football game in 1966. In 1975 She died of a pancreas disorder. Window platforms banned in dorms By DIANA SULTENFUSS Battalion Reporter Window platforms in Texas A&M University residence halls have been officially banned effective June 2, the beginning of the first summer session. According to the new rule, no object is to be constructed out of a dorm win dow. The issue will be addressed in the new fall housing guide. After about a year of evaluation, the Department of Student Affairs agreed the platforms were a safety hazard and should be banned, Ron Sasse, associate director of student affairs, said. “We wanted to get the warning out in time so students don’t purchase plat forms from other owners for the fall semester,” he said. The platforms have been under dis cussion since a student fell out of a Corps dorm window while installing a platform during the fall semester. Another student dropped a flower pot off one of the platforms and almost hit someone in the head, Sasse said. In the past, some of the platforms have been connected to lofts inside the dorm rooms. Sasse said this new rule would have no effect on loft construc tion. If a student is caught with a platform, the residence hall staff will ask him to remove it. If the student refuses, he could either be taken before a J-board or sent to the area coordinator. “We’ll try to handle it at the lowest level possible,” Sasse said. The University had no policy on the platforms until about three years ago, Sasse said. “At that time, we had some real superstructures that would sleep six,” he said. “They were almost like a deck outside the window.” Sasse said University personnel be gan to get worried and a regulation was made to limit the size of the platforms to two feet. “We haven’t had a lot of adherance to that rule,” Sasse said. “It’s hard for the staff in the halls to enforce it. ” “We didn’t want to be in a situation where we had no ground to stand on (in a lawsuit),” he said. New fall, summer staffs take over The Battalion’s fall staff members have assumed their new positions with today’s issue. The fall staff will publish five papers during dead week on the regular weekly schedule. Fall staff members will also publish one paper during the week of finals, May 13. Summer staff members will assume their positions for issues of The Batta lion to be published May 20 and May 27. Beginning June 2 The Battalion will assume its regular summer schedule with issues coming out on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
