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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1981)
75 No. 4 ’ages in 2 Sections Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Friday, September 4, 1981 USPS 045 360 College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 1 The Weather 1 Today Tomorrow High 88 High ... .90 Low ... .75 Chance of rain 40% Chance of rain . . . . 30% ' bookstores, A&M debate logo rights By PHYLLIS HENDERSON Battalion Staff Old Sarge is involved in a fierce bat tle, and local bookstore owners hope he’s on their side. Old Sarge is one of seven emblems and insignia for which Texas A&M Uni versity may collect a 6 percent royalty when it is used — but not for long if four local bookstores and a manufacturer have their way. The University registered Old Sarge, the University seal, the Aggie ring crest, the slogan “Gig em’ Aggies,” the words “Texas Aggies” and the letters TAMU and ATM in the secretary of state’s office in late May and early June. The recent action entitles Texas A&M to collect the royalties for the use of the emblems which up until that time manufacturers plastered on everything from notebooks to toilet seats without charge. M&M Designs, a manufacturer who sells products stamped with the Univer sity emblems, is contesting the recent registration in a district court suit filed Aug. 27. And joining the manufacturer in the suit are Loupot’s Bookstore, Bother’s Bookstore, Texas Aggie Book store and University Bookstores Inc. The suit was filed in Judge W.T. McDonald’s 85th District Court. The bookstore owners are not asking for economic damages, but claim the University did not have the right to re gister these emblems and insignia, nor does it have the right to demand the 6 percent royalty. “These emblems belong to the stu dents, former students and friends of A&M — and to the state of Texas,” said Martha Camp, owner of University Bookstore. She added that the origin of many of the emblems is unknown and therefore, the University has no right of ownership. University officials disagree, howev er. Genevieve Graffeo, staff attorney for the University, said the emblems and insignia could be considered trade marks. modes ■iors and near-seniors interested in fcming the sixth Texas A&M student teceive a Rhodes Scholarship to Ox- I University in England have until ipt. 24 to apply. |lnterested students who are Texas iewts ox who have attended Texas M University for two years or longer uld contact Dr. John F. Reading in Jm211 Physics Building or Dr. Paul |;Van Riper, professor emeritus of the Jtical science department, in Room 1 Bolton Hall. Scholarship time nears Reading, Van Riper and Dr. R. H. Ballinger, professor emeritus of En glish, form the local selection commit tee for the scholarship. To be considered for the scholarship candidates must be single U.S. citizens betweeen the ages of 18 and 24. Qualifi cations of prior scholarship recipients also indicate applicants are expected to have a grade point ratio above 3.75 and to have a record of unusual achievement in some outside activity. Quality of intellect, character, and accomplishments are the most impor tant requirements, Reading, committee chairman, said. The two-year scholarships cover tui tion and fees, assistance for travel, and a maintenance allowance in pounds sterl ing equal to about 6,250 at present ex change rates. If successful at the campus level, a candidate is interviewed at state and regional levels in December, with four scholarships granted to the six-state re gion of which Texas is part. Thirty-two awards are granted annually in the Un ited States. Last year awards went to 13 women and 19 men. Five Texas A&M students have re ceived scholarships, the last being Wil liam C. Altman, who in 1979 received a bachelor of science degree in in electric al engineering, and Murray E. Fulton, who received a master’s degree in agri cultural economics in 1978. '180 firms to interview job-hunters ff 1 By TERRY DURAN » Battalion Staff The search is on. The Texas A&M Placement Center Jady has begun signing up students some 17,000 interviews with poten- employers. Interviews with the 780 ipanies participating will be held n Sept. 14 through Nov. 25. Placement Center Director Lou Van elt and Associate Director Ron Winn lid Tuesday they are “understandably loud” of the Aggie job-finding service: 5 percent of all job offers in the five- atesouthwestern area-—Texas, Okla- ba, Louisiana, New Mexico and fkansas — go to Texas A&M students. Van Pelt also pointed out a steady Irease in interviews since 1973 — icn the center moved to its present Ij icition on the 10th floor of Rudder !| B'ver — from 10,290 to an expected E i.ftOO-plus for the 1981-82 school year, e said the Placement Center’s his- can be traced back to 1896 and F. E. secke, who served as director while Wring with the Texas A&M College Rmni Association. Vinn said “just about all” of the major itrgy, engineering, accounting, con- nction, retail and agricultural firms hrview through the placement office. We have firms that spend 100 man- ^ i]s a year interviewing Aggies,” he pil. One company alone finally hired a jhl of 162 Texas A&M graduates with nious degrees, he said, and another r;d over 40 Aggie engineers. Out of 58,742 engineering degrees 'irded nationally in the 1979-80 1 year, 994 (1.69 percent) were Texas A&M, and most of those dents got jobs through the Place- ent Center — “not an insignificant Ice of the pie,” Van Pelt said. Winn said about 65 percent of 1981 aduates used the center to find post- aduation employment. Students can begin their interview by going to the Placement Center id filling out a standardized informa- 311 file including a resume and a form ving consent to the center to show the adent’s file to potential employers. “We do insist,” Winn said, “that the 'tiu 0$ bo resumes be typed, so the student can put his or her best foot forward with the (prospective) employer.” Once a student’s file is started, the placement center keeps it and makes it available to companies making “paper searches” — looking for students with the right credentials for a job. Then, sometimes, the employer will contact the student, rather than the other way around. After establishing a file, the student brings a copy of his resume with him to each interview. Winn said students can register with the Placement Center up to three semesters before graduation. He said students can also register for summer job interviews, which sometimes turn into permanent employment after gra duation. Winn said students who already have signed military contracts are not ex cluded from interviewing, especially those who will only be on active duty a short time before going on reserve status. “They (students on reserve contract) should definitely go ahead and inter view,” Winn said. “Some companies fi gure the experience will wind up giving them a better employee.” The center has a career library, where students can find out about potential employers and prepare for in terviews with specific companies. “It’s really a very simple process” to use the Placement Center, Winn said. Since the center is open from 8 a. m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, he said, “just about anybody can work their schedule around to get in to see us. “One of the key things,” he said, “is to get everybody who’s graduating to get up here. If they have a file started, it greatly enhances opportunities that they might not have even known were there.” Orientation sessions for use of the Placement Center are being held today in 501 Rudder at 1p.m. and 3 p.m. Ses sions will also be held in 607 Rudder Sept 8-10 and Sept. 14,16,18, 22 and 24 at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. “A trademark is not the same as a piece of music or a story, ” she said. “The value of the mark isn’t the way it looks, but what it represents.” Since the emblems and insignia represent the University, she said, they belong to the University. Don Powell, director of business ser vices, said the University’s licensing program was begun to protect the Uni versity from enterprising outside firms. In the fall of 1980 an outside firm attempted to get the Southwest Confer ence athletic directors to sign over to it the rights to the athletic insignia of the conference schools. This incident prompted the Universi ty to develop its own licensing program, Powell said. “The possibility existed that the University could lose the right to its own name. The emblems have some value. We don’t give football tick ets away, and we don’t give our emblems away.” The program enables the University to control not only the use of the emblems, but also their quality, Powell said. But Camp contended the consumer should be the judge of quality. If it is shoddy, she said, they will not buy it. Texas A&M is not the only major uni versity with a licensing program such as this. Twenty-two others, including the University of Texas, Ohio State Univer sity and the University of Southern California have similar programs. Katherine Chapman, staff attorney for UT, said the university has experi enced no ramifications from its program. Graffeo said: “To my knowledge there has never been a suit brought against a university by private book stores (for licensing reasons).” This fact hasn’t stopped the bookstore owners. “I think it’s wrong here at A&M,” Camp said. “I think it’s wrong for any state-supported school.” Manufacturers, not retailers, must pay the royalty fee. However, Camp said manufacturers will pass on not only the royalty fee, but also administrative costs, and these will ultimately reach the consumer. Powell disagreed. The money made from the program will be used to sup port student activity programs, he said. “Our students, both present and for mer, have a history of supporting the University,” he said, “and if they know the money will be used to support stu dent programs, I think they will be will ing to spend a few extra cents.” Camp is skeptical, however. “I think there will be some price resistance,” she said. Powell said he had no idea how much money would be generated from the program, but added he was confident that enough would be made to support some student organizations. In response to Powell’s comment Camp said, “They have not made money on it yet.” Fire in Aston Hall intentionally set By JANE G. BRUST Battalion Staff A fire in an Aston Hall community bathroom Thursday night summoned three fire trucks and one ambulance to the Texas A&M campus. The fire extinguished itself before firemen arrived at 8:20 p.m., 10 mi nutes after they were called. Although fire alarms did not sound, a resident noticed smoke and called the fire de partment. The fire contained in the first floor bathroom cause no injuries. “Someone piled toilet paper in the tub and caught the (plastic shower) cur tain on fire,” said Capt. Tim Fickey of the College Station Fire Department. "It was deliberately set, but there’s no way to prove who did it.” Fickey said he has seen such fires in University residence halls before. “That’s pretty common in the Corps dorms, but it’s the first time it’s hap pened in a civilian dorm that I know of,” he said. Aston Hall, located in the Commons Area, is the largest men’s dorm on cam pus, housing 484 students. Fickey estimated the burned shower curtain and the bathtub stains amount to $50 damage. University police inves tigating the scene could find no matches or other clues as to how the fire was set. The dormitory fire alarm did not sound, although there was enough smoke to set off the alarm, said Aston Hall Head Resident Roger Rockenbach. He said a resident living across the hall from the bathroom came to tell him about the smoke while another resident called the fire department. “I walked in on the fire,” Rockenbach said, “but I had to come out — the smoke was too bad.” A sensing device located in the return air vent in the hallway outside the bath room should have detected the smoke and sounded the alarm, Rockenbach said. There is no such detector located in the community bathrooms; however, sensing devices are located in residents’ dorm rooms. Rockenbach said he understood that the residence hall’s fire alarm system had been checked prior to the hall’s opening for the fall semester. He said both University police and fire depart ment officials Thursday assured him that the system would be checked. Each of Aston’s suite-style rooms houses two residents; four residents share a bathroom. Two additional bath rooms located on each floor contain a bathtub, commode and sink. During the spring semester, two re sidence halls held unannounced fire drills in order to test fire alarm systems and to execute hall evacuation plans. “There’s definitely a need for fire drills,” said Anita Taraba, resident adviser in Mosher. “This incident in Aston is more evidence of that fact—we need them in all halls across the campus.” Open house to acquaint students with activities By NANCY FLOECK Battalion Reporter Deciding which of Texas A&M’s many student organizations to join can be like deciding which one of 31 flavors of ice cream to choose at an ice cream parlor. But students will have the opportun ity to shop around Saturday and decide if they want to join any organization when the Memorial Student Center hosts its annual open house. Booths and displays from over 100 U niversity-recognized organizations will be set up on the second floor of the MSC from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m with repre sentatives on hand to answer questions and to pass out information. The goal of the MSC Open House is not only to acquaint students with the activities, but also to let them know the organizations are available to answer questions and to help solve problems, Noel Watkins, MSC Open House stu dent chairman, said. Although Open House was originally designed for freshmen, Watkins said, upperclassmen can also benefit from it. “It’s geared toward anyone,” she said. Transfer students and other upper classmen even have an advantage over freshmen because more than likely they are better able to determine how much free time they will have, Watkins said. The Open House chairman said she expected more than 4,000 students to attend the exhibition, which will also feature entertainment. The Aggie Allemanders, the fencing club, the Society for Creative Anachronism — Texas A&M’s medieval society — and other organizations will provide some of this entertainment. The MSC Hospitality Committee will host a fashion show. From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., a country- western band will play at a street dance in front of G. Rollie White Coliseum. A reception in the MSC Ballroom will give students a chance to meet faculty, administrators, student services staff and student leaders. Walk-ins offered rooms today Beginning at 1 p.m. today vacant dorm rooms forfeited by students who didn’t claim them will be assigned to walk-ins. Priority will be given, however, to those who filed their housing applica tions earliest in the year, said Dena Todd, housing services supervisor. In terested students should apply at the housing office in the YMCA Building. The vacancies are the result of a un usually large number of students who failed to claim their rooms earlier this week. The 185 students previously housed three-to-a-room filled the initial vacancies.