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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1981)
m iderwel, 35 wittil ea sier l ’’l| startiii; Ve thec% Ihe Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Thursday, May 7, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 . Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 84 High 85 Low 64 Low 66 Chance of rain 20% Chance of rain. . . . . . . 20% Student aid to be tighter 4 "Vx ';V ^ Staff photo by Greg Gammon Houston native Randy Majors (right) and Scott Hennigar (left) spend Wednesday afternoon in front of the commons wishing good luck to all undergraduates taking finals next week. With them are their creature comforts — a small wading pool and liquid refresh- Appoints University committee members ments (in baby bottles). Majors, a chemical engineering student and Hennigar, a range science student, will both be graduating F riday. By KATHY O’CONNELL Battalion Staff With proposed federal cuts in student financial aid and probable delays in re ceiving aid, students may have to think twice this summer before planning a two-week vacation to the coast, or buying a new stereo. Clair E. Fink, financial aid officer at Texas A&M University, said Reagan’s proposed budget cuts are going to affect “the overall student financial aid prog ram at Texas A&M by reducing the total amount of money available.” The maximum basic grant (Pell Grant) a student can receive in the 1981-82 academic year is $1,750 — a $50 dollar reduction from last year’s $1,800 allowance, he said. Fink said some students, particularly students from middle-income class families, may not receive grants at all. This is dependent on the changes Con gress makes, however. He also said students may not receive their grants at the beginning of the semester since the government halted processing on the Student Eligibility Report until April 11. The SER deter mines whether or not a student qualifies for financial aid and how much he can receive. The new Eligibility Index, which de termines financial need based on family income, the number of dependents and several other factors, will not be ready until Congress votes on the proposed budget cuts. It is expected to vote on the proposals sometime next week. For these reasons, many students’ grants will not be available until some time during September, Fink said. Bob Piwonka, manager of student financial services, said students can de lay fee payment until the first class day, but they must fill out a card at the Financial Aid Office stating they are re ceiving financial aid. Students who are receiving financial aid must “be prepared” to supplement their finances some other way, he said. Fink said students who want to se cure a Guaranteed Student Loan, should submit their applications to the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible. But it is still the student’s responsibility to find a lending institution that partici pates in the GSL program. The proposed changes in the loan program should be effective on or about Oct. 1, he said. Some of the proposed changes include eliminating interest subsidies to lending institutions and re quiring the student to establish financial need before securing a loan. This would mean students would have to go through a process similar to applying for a basic grant. Right now, there are no requirements to secure a GSL loan, other than that the student be enrolled at least half-time in an edu cational institution. 3,1^7 degrees to be awarded at ceremonies this weekend i Student Government wraps up year By TERRY DURAN Battalion Staff Elections, confirmations and some [uick legislating were the order of busi - iess Wednesday night at the 1981-82 tudent senate’s last meeting before ummer. One of the first actions of the newly fleeted legislative body was to elect a eaker of the senate to preside over jegular meetings. The first ballot saw e position go to Jeff Anthony, asopho- ore animal science and agricultural fdueatioii double major from DeSoto. h Anthony served as the senate’s peaker pro tempore during the 1980- |1 school year. J It took two ballots, however, to select Mike Wolff, as the speaker pro tern for 1981-82. He is a sophomore agricultural engineering major from Alexandria, La. Nominees recommended by Student Government President Ken Johnson for For more information on SG appoint- ‘ ments to University committees, please 1 see page 7. executive branch positions were con firmed unanimously by the senate, as; were 179 student appointments to 40 different University committees. Nominees had to be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the senate. There were still vacancies on two cooperative education committees and the Sbisa Dining Hall menu board. Johnson had said earlier that “no great controversy” was expected in the confirmation proceedings. Anthony, who was handed the gavel immediately upon election, told the confirmees, “Welcome to the family, folks,” after the uneventful confirma tion vote. Academic Affairs Vice President Kathy Bartholomew drew interest when she announced tentative plans to increase achievement awards for in structors. Bartholomew said an ad hoc commit tee of students, former students and fa culty were considering increasing both the number and the size of awards given to professors for teaching excellence. Six $1,000 awards are currently given to instructors for teaching excellence. Bartholomew said that number would probably be increased to 30, as well as adding three awards a piece in the cate gories of student relations and research, which currently hand out two and three awards per year, respectively. She said the two awards for those in volved in continuing education and ex tension work, as well as two staff or administrator awards, would be con tinued without change. Two bills before the senate on first reading were approved after being placed on emergency status, making them eligible for immediate action. The first measure set aside $300 for a new phone bank and tape delay system forcable radio station KANM, FM 99.5. The new equipment, said station mana ger Todd Gross, will be used to air a weekly talk show. Gross said the station, which current ly broadcasts from Lounge B-l, be tween Moore and Crocker halls, hopes to have the system in operation by the first week of the fall semester. The second bill passed Wednesday night recommended setting aside funds for printing “Discovering Aggieland Guides,” aimed at giving new students consumer tips, banking and eating in formation, etc. Other bills appearing before the sen ate for the first time proposed: — Separating KANM radio station from Student Government and making it an autonomous student organization within the student activities office. — “Encouraging” the use of “secular, nondenominational prayers” at events such as football games, Aggie Muster, etc. — Recommending repair or replace ment of carpets in the Memorial Stu dent Center. By CARLA SUTTER Battalion Reporter Texas A&M University diplomas will be presented to 2,807 undergraduate students and 380 graduate students this weekend. This figure is tentative at the mo ment, however. Don Gardner, assistant registar, said there is a probable variance of 20 or 30 because of either academic or financial reasons. Too, some graduates don’t show up for the ceremony, Gardner said. The University will graduate 1,208 students at 2 p.m. Friday. This figure includes the 380 graduates receiving master’s and doctorate degrees. Also being graduated Friday are 532 students in the College of Agriculture, 166 in the College of Science and 130 in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Friday at 7:30 p.m., 1,027 students will receive their diplomas. The College of Engineering has the largest number of undergraduates with 745. Forty- seven students in the College of Geosci ences and 235 in the College of Liberal Arts will also be graduated. The last graduation ceremony will be Saturday at 9 a.m. with 952 students participating. There will be 143 stu dents from the College of Architecture, 570 from the College of Business, 183 from the College of Education and 56 from Texas A&M University at Gal veston. Vending machines often not appreciated By MICHELLE OROZCO Battalion Reporter Vending machines — an 800-pound species which lurks around campus fre quenting hallways and dorms of Texas A&M University; are frequently ignored, sometimes abused. Some students may hardly notice the soft drink or candy machines, yet let an urge for a snack arise and the tempting treats dispensed by the coin-operated venders are only 30 cents to 40 cents away. The machines are usually taken for granted and few people even stop to think about how much they actually cost or the maintenance they require. For example, campus vending machines (the soft drink and snack vari ety) grossed approximately $1.07 mil lion in the fiscal year 1979-1980 accord ing to Jim Ferguson of the Department of Business Affairs. Figures for 1981 have not been tallied. At 35 cents a can with a recent boost to 40 cents a can, soft drinks brought in more money than any other type pro duct dispensed in vending machines, said Russell Hanna, manager for the dis tribution of the vending machines on campus. The three most popular soft drink items on campus are Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper and Sugar-Free Dr Pepper, he said. With 120 soft-drink machines and 60 snack machines on campus, keeping the machines full might seem to be a prob lem. However, Hanna said only six workers, who work days and nights, are responsible for filling them. There are also two service men who service the machines for repairs and replacements. How often the machines are refilled depends upon their locations which are determined by the Coca-Cola Company or by the University. Seventy-five per cent of the machines are filled once a day, while others are filled on a Mon- day-Wednesday-Friday schedule, or a Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Hanna said vending machines are installed upon the request of University personnel and are usually only removed if it doesn’t make money. Machines can be moved if noise from their use became annoying. Sometimes soft-drink machines are placed in halls outside of classrooms and they will have to be removed because their noise in terrupts classes, Hanna said. “Students seem to congregate around Coke machines and it some times can be disturbing to classes,” Hanna said. Hanna said soft drink sales increased subsantially in the 1950s when bottled drinks replaced those in cups, and even more profits were made when can drinks machines were installed at the University. Sales are the highest in September and October due to students returning firom summer vacation, Hanna said. April is the next biggest month, with the lunch break being the busiest time of the day on the avarage. The vending machines were first in stalled at the University in the 1950s and on the average can hold 480 can drinks and 240 bottle drinks. Bottled drinks take up more space. Vandalism of the machines is not as much of a problem on campus as it is in the industrialized sections of town, Hanna said. “Overall, I think the students are pretty good with them (the machines), ’’ Hanna said. The most trouble with van dalism is in the dorms late at night. He said when people lose their money, they sometimes get mad and even beat on the machine if no one is around. Hanna said the worst case of vandal ism on campus was when the mechanic al engineering shop was being remod eled and a soft drink machine dis appeared. He said they later found it in someone’s duplex. Another problem with the machines is getting refunds for money lost in the machines. When this happens the cus tomers are told to go to the refund cen ters on campus, with the MSC and the Academic Building the most used cen ters. According to Jolinda Parker, secret ary in the Academic Counseling Center wbo handles refunds, the Coca-Cola company gives the center a supply of money and they have a list for the stu dents to sign, state their name, address, ID number or drivers license number, location of the refund and time of re fund. The centers continue to give re funds until they run out of money, which is usually within a couple of days. Parker said an average of 25 people a day go in for refunds at the Academic Counseling Center. A swift kick in the belly may not necessarily be the way to get a vending machine to cough up a drink or Staff photo by Greg Gammon the money, but it sometimes makes a person feel better after having lost 40 cents.