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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1981)
Page 18 THE BATTALION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1981 THE AGGIE TEX STUDENT EFRNMENT M UNIVERSITY * £ c CONNECTION The Aggie Connection is a monthly newsletter published by the Texas A&M University Student Government, the link between students and admin- istration. Vol. 1, Number 2 Recurring problems to be solved w student input Student Academic Council formed to represent opinions on issues When it comes to undying con troversial issues such as Q-drop policies, night exams, graduation with honors and changing cur ricula, faculty members and stu dents don't always see eye to eye. In an effort to remedy the imbal ance of input and communication between these two groups, the Student Government Academic Affairs Committee has formed a Student Academic Council. In the past, the strength of the student voice relating to academ ic matters has been nearly stifled. There are 160 University adminis trators, depatment heads and deans on the University Academic Council, and Ken Johnson, stu dent body president, is the only student representative. "Even though the Student Aca demic Council is still inthe or ganizational stages, its purpose will be to help present student opinions in a favorable light to the 160 members of the Academic Council," Coordinating Chairman Nancy Nelson said. "This project is the culmination of several years worth of work and we have the support and interest to see it through at this time." The student input on academic issues will come from members of the sophomore honor society. Lambda Sigma, junior honor soci ety members and other students interested in academic affairs. Two members will form a contact pair, and each pair will be re sponsible for meeting the Aca demic Council member from their assigned department once a month to discuss policy issues. A lack of organized strength in and between each college student council and the Academic Council has also been a problem for stu dents. "There needs to be a group 'up on top' to coordinate efforts in stead of having only one person represent all college councils." Lilli Dollinger, director of com munications, said. Kathy Bartholomew, Student Government vice president of ac ademic affairs, added: "There are a lot of misunderstandings be tween students and faculty. We want to get in and talk with the faculty and administration of the Academic Council before bills are passed. We want organized stu dent input, and we're trying to co ordinate this through every col lege council. Then we can utilize the influential people within each college council to help us present our ideas to the administration." Bartholemew instigated the plan for the new council. Nelson said: "We are expecting a favorable response from the fac ulty and administration and we think the students chosen for the Student Academic Council will gain their respect. We anticipate that the council will be a viable part of student/administration re lations." Furr awarded for distinguished service LAURA FURR (Spence. Briggs, Underwood) was selected outstanding senator for the month of October for her distinguished service in Student Government. Her constituents have been di rectly affected by her in volvement in three recent bills: (1) The Dorm Security Bill resulted in better awareness of female dorm security on campus. Furr is now the Stu dent Government represent ative on the Texas A&M Safe ty Awareness Committee. (2) The Rat Control Bill, af ter much research by Furr, resulted in the clearing away of underbrush in the Corps quad area, where rats hide. (3) The Consumer Safety Bill deals with traffic prob lems in the Skaggs shopping center. Furr, a senior elementary education major, went door to door in the three residence halls she represents in an ef fort to find out student opin ions for the campus canvass. She is presently working on a bill that would allow diet soft drinks to be sold at home football games, so that diebetics would not be dis criminated against. Editor's note: The senator of the month is chosen by the Student Government Awards and Banquet Committee on the basis of outstanding committee and constituency work and distinguished se nate involvement. Aggies give SC their 2<t worth Was Your Voice Heard? A senator's constituency is his common denominator in making decisions. Bearing this idea in mind the Canvass is not statisti cally accurate. The goal of the Canvass is to be an indicator to the senators of how to vote so that their decisions will be representa tive of their constituency's opin ions on issues. The Canvass simultaneously will aid in the job of producing more informed vot ers and better representative senators. Concerning recognition of Tex as A&M's growing Greek system the numbers show that the majori ty of students polled are not ready to accept Greek recognition. Stu dents who live on campus dis played a stronger objection to rec ognition, as opposed to students who live off campus, by voting 86.4 percent against and 10.1 pe- cent for recognition (Y-788, N-92, V-32). The task force on the issue composed of representatives of OCA, Corps, Inter-Fraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, RHA and Student Government was formed last year by a senate bill. This group will make a rec ommendation on whether or not Greeks should be officially recog nized by the university and will also discuss the question of a stu dent referendum. Due to the high interest level exhibited in the issue of obtaining cheaper long distance phone services, the student services committee is negotiating with two companies (in an attempt to pro mote competition) for the ability to sell these services in the MSC. Although the overwhelming majority of students oppose the issue of night exams as shown by the 72.4 percent against night ex ams and 25% in favor (Y-866, N- 2511, U-90), there remains the fact that those who are most affected by night exams are in favor of the policy. By polling students clubs in the college of business, the re sults favored night exams. With the academic college senators polling their consistents with this method, they were able to deter mine their views. However, the growing problem of unauthorized night exams has been dealt with by Vice President of Academic Af fairs J. H. Prescott. No night ex ams will be conducted without prescott's specific authorization. Those who use the service are those who should pay for the service was the sentiment reflect ed by polling the majority of stu dents on user fees. Students op posed the policy of the continued rise of student service fees for all students when not everyone uses the shuttle bus, health center and intramural services. Although there remains some disagreement on the extent of the rate hike for team sports, the idea of "those who use, pay" is the opinion sup ported by the majority of students. Student Government is actively working with the university ad ministration on improving Easter- wood Airport facilities due to the positive interest shown by the ma jority of students polled who ex pressed an interest in a more es tablished airline service. Howev er, further surveys and more com plete statistical data for market ing purposes will be required to finalize the project. Summary of Canvass # 1. 25% 50% 75% Greek m ~ m —15.4 Yes recognition mm 79.4 No mm 5.2 Undecided m__25.0 Yes m 72.4 No mm 12.6 Undecided ■ 192.3 Yes LD Phone No Service 1.4 Undecided ■ 186.7 Yes Concept 12.8 No mmmm .5 Undecided -69.1 Yes Service STUDENT OPINION CANVASS #2 FINANCIAL AID 1. Have you ever received a loan or grant or applied for a student job with the Financial Aid Office? YES NO Unaware of services offered If yes, were there any complications? YES No If complications, due to: A) lack of staffing B) lack of service attitude by staff C) lack of available informa tion on deadline or proce dures D) paperwork hassles E) others CONSTRUCTION ON CAMPUS 2. Do you support using current student recreational and park ing areas on central campus for new buildings? A) for student use (dorms, etc.) only B) for administrative purposes only C) both D) for no new buildings Are you aware of the plan to build the University Press building on the east end of Duncan field? YES NO TRAFFIC FLOW 3. Have you ever been hit by a bicycle or moped on campus? YES NO Close Call In your opinion, has the congestion of bicyclists, moped riders and pedestrians on the sidewalks of central campus reached the point of a traffic flow problem? YES NO Undecided What should be done? A) walk bicycles and mopeds on sidewalks from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and provide plenty of bike racks on campus perifery B) restrict bicycles only to streets between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. C) limit vehicular traffic to allow more bicycle traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. D) other SUMMER SCHOOL PRE-REGISTRATION 4. Will you know if you will be attending summer school at A&M and which courses you will be taking by late March or early April? YES NO If yes, would you pre-register for summer school? YES NO Name Phone Living Area (Apt. or Dorm and #) Academic College , Classification Make your voice count by completing the canvass form. 1. Save the form for your senator when he or she knocks on your door. or 2. Mail to: Student Government 216 MSC College Station, TX 77843 or 3. Drop in canvass box in 216 C MSC, the Student Government Office. THE AGGIE CONNECTION Editor Assistant Editor. Writers Canvass Results Director of Communications Susan Hopkins .... Shelley Starnes .... Julie Caruthers Donna Jones Jill Anthony Dennis Walters Freshman Aides '81 Lilli Dollinger The Student Government Office is located in 216C MSC, 845-3051. 1 ■ ■ f ( H H ( £ Is 2 ^ fi| s s !' P oo