Fhe Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Friday, October 9, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
74
High
.. .84
Low
62
Low
.. .64
Chance of rain. . .
. . . 40%
Chan ce ofrain
. 20%
Leaders fly to Cairo
amid security concerns
United Press International
CAIRO, Egypt— Police battled Isla
mic fundamentalists with submachine
guns in a city south of Cairo, increasing
concern for the safety of a U.S. delega
tion led by three former presidents who
flew to Egypt today for the funeral of
slain President Anwar Sadat.
Security officials said the fighting
Thursday in the Nile riverside city of
Asyut in the wake of Sadat’s assassina
tion by alleged Moslem extremists re
sulted in at least 10 dead and many in
jured.
Police beefed up their numbers to
prevent disorders as crowds gathered
for today’s sabbath prayers at the mos
ques Sadat had put under state control
last month in an attempt to curb fun
damentalist groups.
Before all three living ex-presidents
left Washington Thursday evening for
the Saturday funeral. President Reagan
held a special ceremony at the White
House. Secretary of State Alexander
Haig will represent Reagan, who was
convinced there was too much danger to
attend the funeral.
“On behalf of the country, I want to
express a heartfelt thanks to presidents
Nixon, Ford and Carter and Mrs. Car
ter for undertaking this sad mission,’’
Reagan said.
“Their presence in Cairo will express
to the Egyptian people the depth of
America’s grief and sorrow at the loss of
a great leader and a beloved friend. ”
National Security Adviser Richard
Allen told Washington television station
WDVN that their plane “will not be
alone.” He did not elaborate on what
might be escorting the plane, but did
say extra precautions had been taken.
Egyptian security sharply scaled
down ceremonies to prevent any out
break of trouble and to protect the inter
national mourners — including Israeli
Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
New enrollment standard
will not be retroactive
New look at MSC Bookstore
Photo by Chris Lakics
Brad Gottshalk, an agricultural economics
major, is building a temporary sales counter for
the first floor MSC Bookstore where the lockers
have been removed. The counter will be dis
mantled later in the semester to build offices
and rearrange the candy counter.
CS Council fixes maximum
for wrecker service tow charge
By RANDY CLEMENTS
The College Station City Council set
maximum charge Monday for
ecker services towing vehicles from
rivate parking lots without the owner’s
nsent.
Councilman Larry Ringer said
charges for towing currently range any
where from $47.50 up to $65 and that he
[wassurprised no one was present for the
public hearing to set the fees.
zoning standpoint.”
In other action, the council nomin
ated Anne Jones and Jim Dozier to rep
resent the city on the Brazos County
Appraisal District Board of Directors.
Nominations for the board positions
will come from College Station, the Col
lege Station Independent School Dis
trict, Bryan, the Bryan Independent
School District and Brazos County.
By TERRY DURAN
Battalion Staff
Business and engineering students
worried about their academic careers
can breathe a little easier.
Academic Affairs Vice President
J. M. Prescott issued a memorandum to
all faculty members Thursday saying
higher standards for enrollment in
junior level business and engineering
courses would not affect students
already enrolled at Texas A&M Univer
sity, quashing rumors to the contrary.
”... requirements for upper level
study in business administration and
engineering will become effective when
those students who enter in the fall of
1982 or thereafter reach the stage of
taking junior level courses,” the
memorandum states.
Confusion about whether the policy
would be retroactive began after the
July 28 meeting of the Texas A&M
Board of Regents. At the meeting the
regents adopted policies to manage en
rollment in the colleges of engineering
and business administration and to raise
entrance requirements for freshmen
and transfer students enrolling in fall
1982 and thereafter.
Included in Regent John R. Blocker’s
unanimously-approved motion was one
which limits enrollment in junior and
senior level courses in the colleges of
engineering and business administra
tion.
Business majors enrolling in junior
level business courses must have com
pleted 45 credit hours (at least 12 of
them at Texas A&M), have an overall
grade point ratio of 2.25 and have com
pleted a prescribed block of 100- and
200-level courses.
A minimum overall GPR of 2.25 will
also be required for engineers to take
junior level engineering courses. A 2.25
overall average and a 2.25 average in all
engineering courses will be required to
enroll in senior level engineering
classes.
However, the regents failed to in
clude a “grandfather clause” — a clause
which would exempt students already
enrolled at Texas A&M from the raised
grade requirements — in the policy
statement.
Consequently, rumors that the Re
gents’ decision would be retroactive
swung from grapevine to grapevine
through students in the two colleges
and across the campus, apparently fed
by partial information and exaggeration
as the semester progressed.
Scuttlebutt ranged from the new
standards being retroactive to informa
tion that one or more engineering de
gree programs were scheduled to be
phased out.
Officials in the college of engineer
ing, however, said no plans had been
made to drop any degree program.
The memo issued by Prescott says
the matter of raised standards for entr
ance to junior level courses “is governed
by University Regulation No. 37, which
states in part: Tn meeting the require
ments for a baccalaureate degree, a stu
dent is normally expected to complete
the course and hour requirements as
outlined in the catalog in effect at the
time of his or her entrance.’”
Malon Southerland, assistant to the
University president, said Thursday
afternoon the colleges of business and
engineering had interpreted the re
gents’ action “as being retroactive.”
“That interpretation,” he said, “got
back to (Academic Affairs Vice Presi
dent) Prescott and the president, and
they disagreed, so Prescott came out
with the memo.”
As to why the original measure
approved by the Board of Regents had
no grandfather clause, Southerland
said, “Sometimes things are done too
quickly. Then what happens is that
some things get left out, and the fallout
from that is that somebody has to go
back and clarify things.”
Dr. Robert H. Page, dean of the Col
lege of Engineering, says “about 90 per
cent” of the engineering classes this
semester are overcrowded. Twelfth
class day engineering enrollment fi
gures show 11,418 students, up from
10,214 in the fall 1980 semester.
Page said some lab classes are “run
ning junior and senior labs at the same
time, which poses something of a safety
problem.” Sometimes, he said, up to
one third of the students in a lab cannot
participate because of overcrowding.
However, under the new standards,
the student with over a 2.0 GPR —
needed to stay in good standing with the
University — but under a 2.25 “will not
be dropped,” Page said. Instead, they
will be able to take anything but upper
level engineering courses.
“They will have the opportunity to
raise their grades, and then enter (the
upper level courses) when they have a
2.25. They’re not being cut out.
“We just don’t have the space or the
faculty to keep on going like we’re
going,” he said.
Page said he thought the reason be
hind the regents’ decision was “to main
tain the quality of the program.
“This will be extra motivation for
someone just getting by academically to
raise their grades. It might be hard on
the student who’s just squeaking by, but
it’s hard on the top students too, when
the classes are so overcrowded,” Page
said.
The same problem — overcrowding
— exists in the College of Business
Administration, Dean William V. Muse
said.
“Enrollment has grown faster than
resources,” he said. “It’s a problem in
terms of having enough faculty, space
and other things needed to respond to
that level of enrollment.
“The student-faculty ratio has gotten
out of hand,” Muse said. “It’s above
what we like to have and what the accre
ditation people like us to have. We have
to reduce the rate of growth, so our
resources can catch up and we can re
duce the class size to a level that’s man
ageable.”
Bright asks Target 2000 to plot A&M growth
| No maximum fees were set for tow-
;ing from private parking lots with police
officers present and towing from public
property.
City Manager North Bardell said
these towings required the wrecker ser
vice to be on 24 hour stand-by for
'emergency calls and that the city should
•not set fees.
; The standard charge for the emergen
cy calls is $47.50, Bardell said.
Most of the complaints about over
charging come from the towing of vehi-
j cles from private parking without the
E owner’s consent, he said.
The council postponed setting the
fees two weeks ago at the request of
wrecker service owner Sparky Hardee.
Hardee requested the postponement
so that he could supply the council with
financial papers showing his justifica
tion for what he charges.
i However, Hardee was not at the pub
lichearing and has not brought the pap
ers to the council or city staff.
In other action, the council also
changed the ordinance requiring per
mits for having a garage sale.
The ordinance states that signs adver
tising a garage sale may be posted only
on the property of the person having the
garage sale. A garage sale also may not
exceed 72 hours and may not be held
more than once in a six month period.
Violating the ordinance carries a max
imum fine of $200.
Bardell said half the people having
garage sales don’t get permits and en
forcement is difficult.
I The ordinance gives us proper con
trol without having permits,” he said,
i and lets our people investigate on a
By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Staff
The chairman of the Texas A&M Sys
tem Board of Regents Thursday asked
members of the Target 2000 Project to
study the economic, social, political and
technological trends facing the System
and to determine a long-range “road
map for the University to follow.
Speaking at the organizational meet
ing of the project, Regent H.R. “Bum’
Bright told members to examine tradi
tional values as they set goals and objec
tives for the year 2000, but to be open to
new ideas “because the greatest organi
zation is one that has the flexibility to
meet ... change.”
The Target 2000 Project, a planning
study encompassing the four academic
institutions and seven major service
agencies of the Texas A&M System, is
scheduled for completion and presenta
tion to the Board of Regents in Decem
ber 1982.
The project will be funded by dona
tions from foundations, corporations
and individuals. Total cost of the project
is an estimated $500,000 — about
$150,000 has been raised. Bright said at
a Sept. 21 meeting of the Brazos County
A&M Club.
The project’s structure was designed
by John Blocker, vice chairman of the
Board of Regents.
The 230-member Target 2000 Pro
ject committee is divided into three task
forces: one dealing with the four acade
mic institutions, one dealing with the
agricultural agencies and services and
one dealing with the three engineering
agencies and services.
Each task force will be divided into
four work groups of which each will deal
with one of the following areas — prog
rams, clientele, resources or organiza
tion and management — of the institu
tions or agencies that fall under the
scope of the task force.
Work groups will meet today in Rud
der Tower.
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting,
Blocker told the group to “be aware of
historical perspectives and still be will
ing to break from habitual patterns of
thought. ”
The Target 2000 Project will “speci
fically shape the future of Texas A&M
and all its parts, ” Blocker said. Because
of the wide scope of the University,
members of the group have the “oppor
tunity to relate the future of the Univer
sity System to the future of the state of
Texas,” he said.
Issues facing the Target 2000 Project
include possible means of limiting en
rollment at Texas A&M University
while promoting growth at Prairie View
A&M University, Tarleton State Uni
versity and Texas A&M University at
Galveston and the preservation of the
Permanent University Fund.
The PUF is an endowment fund
shared by the University of Texas Sys
tem and the Texas A&M System.
Speaking at the Target 2000 execu
tive committee meeting Sept. 25, Sys
tem Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert
said the PUF plays a vital role in the
support of “this mega-buck conglomer
ate of higher education.
“We hope that growing out of this
study will be a network of support and
assistance that could be used in the pro
tection of the PUF, he said.
Staff photo by Creg Gammon
Regents Chairman H.R. “Bum” Bright, John Blocker and System Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert (1 to r.)