The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 04, 1981, Image 1

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    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.