A
The Battalion
Si Serving the Texas A&M University community
^ Vol. 75 No. 30
, 14 Pages
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Tuesday, October 13, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
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A&M faculty senate
may be created soon
By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Staff
Texas A&M faculty members, in an
organizational meeting Thursday, are
scheduled to discuss creation of a faculty
senate or some similar body designed to
increase the faculty’s role in University
governance.
The move to establish a faculty sen
ate started in May when an ad hoc com
mittee comprised of 21 tenured faculty
members distributed a questionnaire to
about 1,200 faculty members asking if
they were “interested in increasing the
faculty’s role at Texas A&M” and if they
supported “investigation into the
methods by which that goal may be
achieved.”
The results of the questionnaire were
released in a Sept. 15 advertisement in
The Battalion. Of the 594 responses re
ceived, 538 faculty members (91 per
cent) expressed support for the idea, 49
(8 percent) disagreed with the idea and
7 (1 percent) were undecided.
The advertisement also invited all in
terested faculty members to attend the
organizational meeting Thursday at 4
p.m. in Rudder Theater.
“At this meeting we ll get a consensus
from faculty members and see what di
rection they want to go,” said Dr. Tho
mas J. Kozik, professor of mechanical
engineering, who is scheduled to co
chair the meeting with Dr. Robert E.
Stewart, distinguished professor emer
itus of agricultural engineering.
Dr. Paul A. Parrish, associate profes
sor of English, said, “There needs to be
a forum in which the faculty, on a regu
lar basis, has the opportunity to express
their collective will or sentiment.”
Kozik said, “A faculty senate would
provide a chance for faculty members to
bring forth and debate issues that affect
the faculty and students of A&M. We
need a forum to cut across the usual
college lines and allow faculty members
to get together and discuss issues as a
whole. ”
Parrish said, “If faculty opinion
should be heard, it would follow that
there needs to be an organization to
allow the expression of this opinion.
We’re interested in creating a represen
tative body out of this void.”
Currently, the Academic Council is
the only University-wide body dealing
with academic matters. The Council is
primarily made up of administrators,
deans and department heads — only 34
of the 167 members are elected faculty
members.
Parrish said, “(The Academic Coun
cil) cannot in its nature of representa
tion be seen as a faculty body. To draw
an analogy, I don’t think students would
be willing to call the Student Senate a
student senate if it was dominated by
faculty and administrators.”
Stewart said, “The Academic Council
doesn’t address questions that pertain
to the faculty. It s not a body that re
flects faculty opinion.”
Kozik stressed he felt the Academic
Council should remain a working body.
A bicameral senate, with a faculty sen
ate and the Academic Council working
independently, would be the best solu
tion, he said.
Another alternative, Stewart said,
would be a University Senate that
would include researchers and staff.
Texas A&M President Frank E. Van
diver has said he favors the idea of a
group to increase the faculty’s role in
University governance but said he
would prefer a University senate, one
which would include staff as well as fa
culty, to a faculty senate. However, he
added that he remains flexible on the
matter.
Ad hoc committee members have
stressed that no single issue precipi
tated the push for the faculty senate.
Kozik said he feels that any faculty
member who has been at Texas A&M
for any length of time has found that
there have been issues where faculty
opinion was needed but not solicited.
“Even if there had never been any
issues, the University has reached that
point of maturity and growth where a
faculty senate is not only appropriate,
but necessary,” Kozik said.
Prof says possible effects
of Sadat’s death unknown
m
Dissection helps students learn skills
Don’t be shy!
StafT photo by Greg Gammon
Jewel, right, looks on as Shy approaches her
first customer in Monday night’s performance
of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. ” The
musical will be presented again tonight and
Wednesday night in Rudder Auditorium. See
related photo and review on page 4.
Assessing the impact of Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat’s death depends
on which view of history one takes, says
a Texas A&M political scientist.
“The assassination of Sadat raises
considerable uncertainty about the fu
ture of the Mideast, especially the
peace accord between Israel and
Egypt,” said Steve Chan, who teaches
international relations and foreign poli
cy at Texas A&M.
“However, there are two ways of
looking at history — either man makes
history or history makes man.”
Chan said his personal opinion is that
history makes men. “That is, the socio
political conditions have to be appropri
ate if particular policies are to become
feasible.”
According to this view, Chan said, if
Sadat were not in power, some other
Egyptian leader would have taken the
same steps to initiate a dialogue with
Israel.
“This implies that Sadat’s death, even
though a tremendous tragedy, may not
cause irreparable damage to the
momentum of peace negotiations in the
Mideast,” he said.
Chan said the Egyptian peace accord
with Israel may not have been depen
dent on Sadat and his assassination may
not be the determining factor in
whether or not the agreement is final
ized.
“If Sadat were still alive, it wouldn’t
necessarily mean peace would con
tinue,” he said. Chan said it is too soon
to judge the impact of the assassination.
“Our interest in making sure Egypt
and Israel are at peace is to keep the
Soviets out of the Mideast.” he said,
pointing out the importance of the Mid
dle East for the U.S.’s strategic position
and trade, particularly oil.
Chan said those who think the situa
tion in the Mideast won’t radically affect
the United States would be “safe” in
their assessment.
“Usually things just go on the same
way as they have before,” he said.
Animal experiments touchy issue
By NANCY WEATHERLEY
| Battalion StafT
The study of anatomy has its roots in
the Renaissance of the 1500s. Artistic
greats such as Michelangelo realized
the importance of an accurate know
ledge of anatomy, and through dissec
tion, they were able to explore the sec
rets beneath the skin - how everything
looked and joined together to produce
the unity of the living body.
Doctors and researchers still use dis
section as a tool to explore the workings
of the human body. Sometimes dissec
tion must be done on live animals to
learn how organs and systems within
the body operate.
At Texas A&M University, the Col
lege of Veterinary Medicine, College of
Medicine and the biology department
all use animals to teach students.
These students, as well as their in
structors, must learn how to use lab
animals to their fullest extent so the
animals’ deaths are not in vain.
“When you dissect an animal in class,
it’s for a learning experience and you
aren’t just randomly cutting them up,”
said Carole Baas, a junior biomedical
engineering major.
Many people are under the impress
ion certain practices used in animal dis
section aren’t justified, and they suggest
using models or slides.
But Dr. Jon F. Hunter, assistant pro
fessor of veterinary physiology and
pharmacology, said animals are used
because certain physiological processes
can’t be modeled to provide the same
control systems and feedback a live
animal provides.
“Like any other profession, you must
practice certain skills to be competent
and some of these skills involve
surgery,” he said.
In his class, Hunter said, any time the
skin is opened, the animal is killed be
cause the students aren’t advanced
enough to repair what they do. The
animals are anesthetized and killed
painlessly, usually by an overdose of
anesthesia.
In terms of personal justification.
Hunter said he looks at all possible be
nefits derived from animal experi
ments, and remembers the animals are
from pounds and other institutions
where they would have been killed
anyway.
“In my mind, I say at least this one
dog will not have been sacrificed need
lessly,” Hunter said. He said that a ma
jority of the animals in pounds are killed
each day and their lives, in a sense, have
been wasted.
Trudie Estridge, a junior biomedical
engineering student who wants to enter
medical school, said she couldn’t see
entering her profession without some
on-hands experience.
“I’d hate to be under the knife of a
doctor who hadn’t had some experience
other than books and computers,”
Estridge said. “I see nothing wrong
with it if the animal is going to be sacri
ficed anyway.
“I must dissect to know how the parts
of the body work together, so when I am
designing an artifical limb or organ, I
will know what I’m supposed to be de
signing.
“If you haven’t seen a real organ and
observed it in the body, you don’t have
an understanding of what you are mak
ing.”
Hunter said using animals for re
search is not something to be taken
lightly.
He said the fear of needless killings is
always present when doing research ex
periments on animals.
“When you rationalize it all, you can’t
even walk outside without the fear you
may kill something,” he said. “It’s hard
to draw the dividing line on what anim
als you use; the life of a mouse should be
equal to the life of a fly.
“One criticism we can make upon
ourselves is that we should tighten up
the controls in our experiments and eli
minate all the variables we can, then we
could reduce the amount of animals we
use.
Commercial firms provide 90
percent of research animals
• ■,,< By NANCY FLOECK
Battalion StafT
More than 4,000 animals are used yearly for research at
[ Texas A&M University. But where do they come from and
: what happens to them when they’re no longer needed?
Dr. Gary Joiner, director of the laboratory animal re
sources and research facility, said 90 percent of the research
; animals at Texas A&M are bought from commercial firms
which breed and raise animals solely for this purpose.
; Others are donated or bought from animal pounds, he said.
The exception to this is primates; monkeys are not raised
commercially in the United States, Joiner said, but are cap
tured overseas and sold through importers.
[ The acquisition of dogs varies, depending on the experi
ment. Sophisticated studies, such as pharmaceutical studies,
use pure-bred beagles bought from commercial firms. Joiner
said. Most others are bought from pounds, not always local
' ones.
| Joiner said the dogs used by the animal resource facility are
.from near-by cities like Houston and Waco. The facility pre-
/ fers not to use animals from local dog pounds because it can
cause public relations problems, he said, although several
other departments on campus do get their dogs and cats from
. local pounds.
Humaneness in research is a major concern of both the
state and the University. Dr. William McCulloch, professor
of veterinary public health, said no research is done that has
not been approved by the animal care center, or does not fall
under federal and state humane and research laws.
The University is required by law to file annual reports with
: the state describing what research projects occurred, and the
I specie and number of animals used in each,
i Questions on whether the experiments caused pain and
: whether pain-killers were used are included in the annual
| reports. The forms ask if the experiment would have been
painful without pain killers, then asks if pain-killers were
administered.
Joiner said the reports almost always come back saying no
pain was involved in the experiments, but he added that it was
impossible for his facility to verify all the reports from the
various departments on campus that use animals in experi
ments.
When experiments are concluded, the University follows
guidelines from the American Veterinary Medical Association
when killing research animals. Joiner said. Most are killed by
euthanasia, put to sleep with chemical injections or gas, he
said. Joiner said no pain is experienced by the animal as this is
done; the animal slowly nods off, as if going to sleep.
In some cases, decapitation is used for smaller animals like
rabbits and guinea pigs. Joiner said. Often the researcher will
need blood samples, and the quickest and most economical
way of killing the animal and collecting the sample will be by
removing its head, he said. This method immediately kills the
animal and is painless, Joiner said.
Carcasses also are disposed of according to AVMA guide
lines, which recommend incineration. Carcasses cannot be
thrown away or used to fill sanitary land fills, for example
Joiner said.
However, Dr. Stewart McConnell, professor of veterinary
microbiology, said research horses with equine infectious
anemia, or swamp fever, are often sold to a slaughterhouse in
Palestine, instead of being incinerated. Such sales generate
revenue needed to feed other horses, as well as solves the
problem of disposing of carcasses, he said.
Joiner said that although slaughterhouses are shocking,
bloody operations, animals killed there feel no pain. He said
the electric prods used to stun the animals render them totally
insensitive, so they experience no pain when slaughtered.
Movements after the stun are reflex actions. Joiner added, not
reactions to pain.
Pet owners who donate their animals are told of these
disposal methods beforehand, Joiner and McConnell said,
and are required to sign a release form relinquishing all rights
at the time of donation.