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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1981)
N J ) Battalion Ol. 75 No. 47 Pages in 2 Sections Serving the Texas A&M University community Thursday, November 5, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High . 78 High .. .80 Low . 55 Low .. .51 Chance of rain 10% Chance of rain . 10%c ew voters. V Vi. X Ji. JL ^‘‘•end proposals ^pearaiKj, ) as the 13. m 'W y of )gan lave i call inter 03 iron!'- m Jt' rro, lest ■The mm |te “>V' li i a By RANDY CLEMENTS Battalion Staff ow voter turn-out and highly publi- •A opposition were in part responsi- |e locally for the death of two proposi- jns in Tuesday’s election. College Sta ll Mayor Gary Halter said, alter, who is also a political science [lessor, said the election was typical ost amendment elections in that ewas a low voter turn-out. nd whenever opposition to a prop- on is highly publicized, as with [positions Nos. 3 and 4, it usually , the mayor said. razos County residents voted down position No. 4, the proposed Water d Amendment, 185-89. The problem I had with the Water 'ujul Amendment was it was the back- irapproach,” he said. ie Legislature needs to appropriate for a specific water plan, rather to rely on excess revenues as prop- by the amendment, he said. IHalter also attributed the proposi- J’s failure to a high voter turn-out in is County where a hotly-contested oralelection was conducted. Voters he county dominated the election i about 60 percent of the total votes the mayor said. But the outcome, he said, is not rep- ntative of the entire state. The people of Houston probably : no perception of water problems pared with the people of Lubbock, laid. larlene Muse, president of the Bra- County League of Women Voters, the proposed amendment failed be- the public realized there was no plan being proposed, he Texas Water Board will finally icup with a plan, she said. [I hope the Legislature won’t prop- again to have a small board (the ias Water Board) spend literally mil- of our dollars with no planning re hand,” she said. here’s a lot of work to be done on a r plan for the state, she said, and ias deserves a definite plan, t shows that citizens, by voting the isition down, want to see plans in definite terms, she said, position No. 3 failed 125-146, the est vote of all amendments. e proposition would have allowed late management committee to deal management budgeting matters ween legislative sessions, Muse High-flying freedom Staff photo by Greg Gammon The hot noonday sun outlines the high-flying flag in front of the Academic Building. Unusually warm fall weather has prevailed over College Station for the past few days. More of the same is expected for the rest of the week. Spring vegistviition Noy. 16 to 20 Students need to select courses [“Obviously the voters felt uneasy fitli this method. The LWV thinks the Rislature will have to seriously con- rmeetingannually, and quit relying ■special sessions to do their work,” she said. ■This is a growing state which needs a hl-time Legislature, she said. ■ The five amendments passed in Ecsday’s election are: I - Proposition No. 1, that gives ■es, towns and other taxing agencies a Tans of offering a reduction in proper- laxes through a redevelopment prog- It offers incentives to redevelop ed areas reinvestment zones of (city. ; - Proposition No. 2, that permits lieGeneral Land Office to issue titles to sons who have lived on state land for least 50 years under the belief they ned the property. —Proposition No. 5, that adds poul- and livestock to the definition of m products. Farm products are tax- impt. — Proposition No. 6, which allows es, counties and school boards to ex- pt up to 40 percent of the value of a nestead from property taxes for the irs 1982-84; up to 30 percent for 15-87; and up to 20 percent after 17. — Proposition No. 7, which autho- !s issuing an additional $250 million Tbonds for the Veterans’ Land Prog- The program is self-supporting was created after World War II. It ivides low-interest, long-term loans 'eterans wanting to buy rural land. " ie voting margin in the county and s bte for each proposition was: j— Proposition No. 1: 178 for, 94 fenst in the county and 471,373 for, 7801 against in the state; — Proposition No. 2: 249 for, 21 fast in the county and 630,015 for, 1,542 against in the state; — Proposition No. 3: 125 for, 146 fast in the county and 302,015 for, i,386 against in the state; I— Proposition No. 4: 89 for, 185 fast in the county and 339,218 for, ',204 against in the state; — Proposition No. 5: 191 for, 81 fast in the county and 532,544 for, 1,497 against in the state; —-Proposition No. 6: 150 for, 114 fast in the county and 552,834 for, (2,709 against in the state; — Proposition No. 7: 176 for, 92 fast in the county and 510,953 for, ),563 against in the state. The state figures are unofficial with )ut 2,000 votes yet not tallied. By GARY BARKER Battalion Staff Students who have yet to select which courses to take next semester should decide soon, as registration for the spring semester begins Nov. 16. Registration will take place in the Rudder Exhibit Hall Nov. 16 through Nov. 20. Students can register from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Associate Registrar Donald Carter said he expects about 27,000 students to register that week. There is usually better turnout at early registration in the spring than in the fall because more students have had time to think about what courses they want to take, he said. All Texas A&M students are eligible to register in November with the exception of students with out standing debts to the University. Eligibility of stu dents on scholastic probation is determined by the deans of the colleges. Scholastic probation is conditional permission for a student to continue to study at the University after his record has indicated he is failing to make satisfactory progress. Students who are blocked from registration because of unpaid parking tickets, hot checks or other financial debts to the University have until Nov. 12 to clear their records in order to pre-register. Carter recom mended that students who are blocked from registra tion but who pay their debts during the week of early registration bring their receipts when registering. “The biggest point of irritation in the registration process is blocked registration,” he said. And, “Nine ty-nine out of 100 know they have an outstanding debt,’ he said. Carter said the registrar’s office does not block students from registration but only honors blocks placed by the fiscal office, the University police and other University departments. “We don’t block them, but we stand the heat, he said. Eighty percent of the time students get the courses and sections they specify. Carter said, but the safest way to register is to specify a section preference. Under this method, if a student’s preferred section becomes filled he will automatically be registered in another section. The other method of course registration is the “force” method in which a student indicates that he can only take a course at a specified time. Under this method, if the section is full the student is not automa tically registered in another section and therefore may not be able to enroll in the course that semester. Although fall registration was plagued with prob lems this year. Carter said, he doesn’t expect any problems in November because his office will return to using the original computer program that was used in previous semesters. The new program for add/drops which was used during fall registration was unsuccessful and caused problems for registrars and students. Some students who went through the drop-add process received classes designated “pass-fail” without having requested a pass-fail course. And others’ re vised schedules showed courses with 0 credit hours instead of the correct credit hours. When students begin the registration process in November, the first step is obtaining a card packet. Card packets will be issued by some colleges and departments beginning Nov. 12 with the rest being issued Nov. 13 and Nov. 16. After a student meets with his adviser in his major academic department and selects his classes, he should take his packet to the exhibit hall. Fee invoices and class schedules will be mailed to students’ local addresses beginning Dec. 7. This is a change from last year’s system when only fee invoices were mailed to students and class schedules were released when a student paid his fees. Students who wish to pay their fees before leaving for the Christmas holidays may do so in the fiscal office in the Richard Coke Building. But, Bob Piwonka, manager of student financial services, said the fiscal office would rather students mail their payments. All payments should be made by Jan. 4. Fee receipts will be mailed to students’ local addresses after Dec. 25. Students who fail to meet the Jan. 4 payment deadline will have their pre-registration cancelled and will have to register again. Only students receiving scholarships or financial aid are exempt from the dead line. Assistant Registrar Willis Ritchey said about 1,400 students had their class schedules cancelled during the fall because they failed to meet the payment dead line. Ritchey urged students to meet the deadline for fee payment because cancellations cause a double work load for the registrars. Registration for students who fail to pre-register during November or for students whose schedules werecancelled will be Jan. 13 through Jan. 15 and Jan. 18 through Jan. 22. Courses may be added or dropped during the week of Jan. 18 to Jan 22. Residence halls will open Jan. 12. Jan. 22 is the last day for enrolling in the University for the spring semester and for adding new courses. Students who live on campus must be enrolled as full-time students — those who are enrolled with 12 or more hours. But, students who drop hours after Jan. 22 will still be allowed to live on campus, Dena Todd, housing coordinator, said. It is up to a student’s dean to determine the max imum number of hours he can take. With his dean’s approval, a student with an overall grade point ratio of 2.5 may register for a course load in excess of 19 hours. Cheerleaders seek discipline of senior cadet By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff The Southern Methodist University cheerleaders say they will wait until Texas A&M University takes disciplin ary actions against Greg Hood before they decide whether to press charges against the cadet. Hood, a senior in Squadron 2, was serving as an officer of the day at the Texas A&M-SMU game when he tried to chase some of the SMU cheerleaders from Kyle Field, brandishing his saber. A formal hearing for Hood will be held next week, although the date has not been set. He must respond to charges of assaulting SMU students, im properly using a weapon and creating a disturbance. He could be acquitted, re primanded, temporarily suspended or expelled from the University. Dave Schmidt, SMU head cheerlead er, said: “The cheerleaders are holding off any suit or legal action until we find out what the Corps does. We don’t want to rub salt in his wounds but we don’t want the incident to go undisciplined. “(Pressing charges) is my decision to make. Tm debating and talking to peo ple in the university — I need to think it over really well.” If the cheerleaders decide to file charges, Schmidt said, they will claim either assault and battery or assault with a deadly weapon. Southwest Conference Commission er Cliff Speegle said Tuesday a routine report on the incident would be filed by the SWC representative who attended the game. “We have someone at every game to observe not only the game but the atmosphere surrounding it,” Speegle said. “If any action is taken, it could be taken at our next meeting (Dec. 11).” Texas A&M students have reacted strongly to the episode — as of Wednes day, The Battalion had received about 100 letters concerning the incident. However, reaction at SMU has been mild. Stephanie Smith, assistant managing editor of The Daily Campus, the SMU newspaper, said Wednesday that the newspaper had received five letters concerning the saber incident. “The students here are really apathe tic,” Smith said. “They’re looking at it and saying, ‘Oh, big deal — it happened last weekend. ” The Daily Campus reprinted the edi torial by Battalion Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Wednesday and is planning to run a photo essay and updated story today, Smith said. Priddy’s editorial was published in The Battalion Monday. The saber incident also received attention nationwide. Johnny Carson mentioned the episode at the beginning of the “Tonight Show” Tuesday and Paul Harvey included an account of the incident on his syndicated radio show. In addition, newspapers across the country carried photographs or stories of the saber incident. Papers in which the story was carried include: the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Chicago Tri bune, the Houston Post and the Hous ton Chronicle. Remodeling of animal pavilion begins by MARTY BLAISE Battalion Reporter The conversion of Texas A&M Uni versity’s animal husbandry pavilion into a registration center began Saturday. The converted two-story animal pavilion, near the Sterling C. Evans Library, will house a registration cen ter, drop-add center, computer opera tions for admissions and records, snack bar, the student financial aid depart ment and the student activities offices. The conversion should be completed by the end of summer, said Wesley E. Peel, vice chancellor for facilities plan ning and construction. Presently there are no permanent centralized facilities to house the regis tration center and drop-add center on campus. Tables are set up temporarily in the Rudder Exhibit Hall each semes ter to accommodate the process. The women and men who register students have to move card files, pack ets, tables and equipment used in regis tration to Rudder Tower, the Memorial Student Center and/or G. Rollie White Coliseum several times a year. The computer operations depart ment of the admissions and records de partment is presently housed in the Data Processing Center. The new registration center will also house student activities offices and a lounge area for use when registration and drop-add is not in progress. Peel said. The conversion, estimated at about $2.7 million, was designed by architect Steve Evans. The Sentry Construction Co. of Bryan will do the construction. Sentry will demolish the pavilion’s concrete stands and partitions under the stands, remove five feet of fill dirt and build two floors. All windows, doors and frames will be replaced and interior partitions, stairs and elevators will be installed. The exterior of the building will re main the same. Peel said, but it will be cleaned up and a new roof will be put on the building. The first floor will contain admissions and records offices, the registration cen ter, computer operations, financial aid small loans and a snack bar. The second floor will contain student financial aid offices and the student acti vities department, including rooms for Student Government, conference rooms and other student organizations. The animal pavilion was built in 1916 to provide a place for livestock judging. Texas A&M is waiting on contract bids for a new animal pavilion which will be constructed near the Horse Center and Sheep Center on Jersey Street, Evans said. in,,. iilllmw ittififfi iSIlSi, i*»*!i8»»»*iiiM»* sifiattaii ■22SIISSM RiaHIIIMRIRMMI |l>ai«||S| Sill mMgmmm®*****^^ siiMllll! I - :i Staff photo by Dave Bins being constructed in preparation for Upon completion, the two-story pavilion will of the animal husbandry pavilion. house a student registration center. K i; 1 11 I I * ii i "