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1111 Serving the Texas A&M University community
01.75 No. 60
doJ? Pages
Tuesday, November 24, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The
Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
. . 77
High
... 80
Low
. . 47
Low
.. .49
Chance of rain
10%
Chance of rain
10%
BY
Big as bonfire?
avis-Gary Hall freshmen took more than four hours to construct
their own rendition of bonfire and hang it outside of the dorm.
The sign was made from four bedsheets and required more than
eighty crayons to color it.
Regents committee approves
special events center study
By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Staff
Members of the Planning and Build
ing Committee of the Texas A&M Sys
tem Board of Regents Monday
approved a feasibility study for a special
events center if the regent backing the
study can obtain the necessary funds.
Regent William A. McKenzie of Dal
las, who was appointed to head the spe
cial events center funding committee,
targeted the Aggie Club and Association
of Former Students as potential donors
of the necessary $50,000.
“Such a structure is badly needed at
this University,” McKenzie said. The
center would he used for academic, cul
tural and athletic purposes, he said.
Under the System’s current five-year
plan, a feasibility study for the center
was not scheduled until 1985.
However, McKenzie suggested that
the study be undertaken now, although
the center probably won’t be completed
until after 1990.
Committee Chairman H.C. Bell of
Austin said there was “no doubt that a
special events center at A&M would he
a tremendous asset to the University
and to the community.” But, he ques
tioned making the center a priority con
struction item since the University is
facing a shortage of classrooms, faculty
Regent William A. McKenzie
offices and laboratories.
Bell cited the construction of the En
gineering and Physics Building and the
40,000-square-foot addition to the Hal-
bouty Building as two items currently
on the five-year plan that would he
affected by construction of the special
events center.
“With construction of a special events
center, academic (construction) plan
ning would have to slip,” Bell said.
McKenzie said: “I recognize all that
we have going and all that we need to
do. I’m only suggesting that a feasibility
study be commenced.”
However, Board Chairman H.R.
“Bum” Bright of Dallas disagreed: “A
feasibility study shouldn’t be made to
day, knowing that it will have to be
changed in a few years when (construc
tion of the center) comes up on the five-
year plan.”
Despite Bright’s objections, the com
mittee voted unanimously to authorize
the study contingent upon McKenzie’s
ability to raise the funds.
The committee also discussed a
$25,000 appropriation for the prelimin
ary design of the Biological Control
Facility. Estimated cost of the building,
to be constructed behind the Entomolo
gy Building on the west campus, is $1.7
million.
Following the committee meeting,
the Board met as a committee of the
whole and heard reports from the Plan
ning and Building Committee, the
Committee for Academic Campuses
and the Committee for Service Units.
The Committee for Academic Cam
puses introduced a plan designed to
control rapidly increasing enrollment in
the Department of Geology.
Under this plan, a minimum culmula-
tive GPR of 2.25 would be required for
enrollment in junior-level geology
courses. A minimum GPR of 2.25 over
all and 2.25 in all geology courses would
be required for enrollment in senior-
level geology courses.
Texas A&M President Frank E. Van
diver said this is the same plan to limit
enrollment that recently was intro
duced in the colleges of business and
engineering.
Vandiver stressed that the new re
quirements would not affect any stu
dents currently enrolled in the Univer
sity. “These requirements will take
effect when ... students entering in the
fall of 1982 or thereafter are ready to
enroll in junior-level courses,” he said.
The regents also discussed the crea
tion of up to 12 “alumni professorships. ”
Each professorship, funded by a
$30,0()0-a-year allocation from the
Texas A&M Development Foundation
and the Association of Former Stu
dents, would be given to an outstanding
faculty member to supplement his sal
ary and research activities.
The Board also discussed the creation
of the title of “System professor” for
faculty members participating in a facul
ty exchange program between Texas
A&M and Prairie View A&M Univer
sity.
SG members say Campus Canvass
effective but statistically invalid
By NANCY FLOECK
Battalion Staff
Student Government members say their Campus
Canvass is having positive effects, although biased
questions make the survey statistically invalid.
The canvass is acquainting students with their rep
resentatives and giving these representatives an idea
of constituency opinions, Lilli Dollinger, director of
public relations, said.
“The purpose of this is not a valid statistical poll, but
rather, (to get) a feel for student opinion,” she said.
“Senators are going to students instead of forcing stu
dents to come to us.”
Each canvass — two are being conducted this
semester— asks questions on campus issues, such as
whether fraternities and sororities should be granted
University recognition. Representatives are to go to
their constituents, talk with them about these issues
and record their responses.
But, Dollinger said, the canvass doesn’t just record
the number and type of responses; it’s also an informa
tion forum that opens communication between stu
dents and student senators.
“The purpose is not Only to get information, but also
to better inform students on what Student Govern
ment is doing,” she said. This way senators are able to
get involved with their constituency, and students
know who to contact for information and input on
campus issues, Dollinger said.
She said students reacted favorably to tbe opportun-/
ity to provide input: “People really started to let them
selves go on these questions. ”
However, the canvass does have problems, Dollin
ger said. Questions on the survey are “blatantly one
sided,” and senators are not able to reach all consti
tuents, especially those living off-campus, she said.
An example of a one-sided question is the one con
cerning night exams: “Should exams require addition
al class hours?” Obviously, students will say “no,”
Dollinger said.
Also, there is sometimes an overlap of student opin
ion, since some students may be polled twice — once
by their living-area senator and once by their college
senator, she said.
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40 pm
heerleaders
) be sidelined
i Thursday
By MARY JO RUMMEL
Battalion Staff
he University ofTexas cheerleaders
not be allowed on the playing sur-
of Kyle Field during Thursday’s
as A&M-Texas game, despite media
arts to the contrary,
iefore the game and at the begin-
of the third quarter, the cheer-
lers will be allowed to form a spirit
as the Longhorns come out of the
;er room.
owever, they have been instructed
tay on the sideline strip of turf be
en the field and the track, off the
alplaying surface, senior Yell Lead-
ohn Nesbit said.
The cheerleaders also will have the
ion of performing acrobatics behind
end zone, but that area is not consi-
ed a part of the actual playing field,
ident Body President Ken Johnson
1.
ohnson said the UT spirit line will be
upon the curve of the track lanes and
not interfere with the Aggie boot-
held at half-time.
Closed BThey (the cheerleaders) have
40 pm
Closed
Ti-3pm
41pm
40 pm
idnigM
n-5 pm
,41pm
ts. The
Jay and
Jonda)'
Ured us they will not go onto the
ying field, he added.
Tame activities were agreed upon
40 pm dnesday in a meeting between the
2-2 pm ’ Rally Advisory Committee and
11 P nl xas A&M University officials and stu
nt leaders. The two universities have
40 pm Id similar pre-game meetings each
ir since the incident in 1977 involving
Texas flag.
Vlembers of the UT chapter of Alpha
i Omega traditionally spread a giant
as flag on the field during half-time,
[t in 1977 they were chased off the
]d by Corps officers of the day.
his year the flag will not even be
night to town, Johnson said.
©tails also were worked out at
ednesday’s meeting concerning the
| ivities of the Texas Band; the Spurs
io take care of Bevo, the Longhorn
jscot; and the Texas Cowboys, care-
:ers of the UT cannon.
Among Texas A&M representatives
the meeting were Nesbit, Johnson,
Jniver-1 Jac j yell Leader Mike Thatcher,
V J 0 I" 1 1 >rps Commander Kelly Castleberry,
I terim Athletic Director Wally Groff,
^^^uhiversity Director of Security and
^^^waffic Thomas Parsons and Director of
|tudent Affairs Bon Blatchley.
Center begun in child's memory
Institute works
in cancer research
Photo by John K. Joyce
A donor gives white blood cells at the Wadley his body in two hours, filtering out white blood
Leukopheresis Lab in Dallas. This blood- cells and pumping the rest of the blood back into
separating machine can process all the blood in his body.
Editor’s note: This is the first of a
two-part series on the Wadley Insti
tutes of Molecular Medicine in Dallas.
Wednesday’s story will deal with the
institute’s research on interferon.
By DANIEL PUCKETT
Battalion Staff
DALLAS — A 6-year-old boy died of
leukemia in 1943.
Although tragic, children’s deaths
are common and so are deaths from
leukemia. This death, like many others,
may have passed almost unremarked in
the medical field to be soon forgotten
had it not been for the boy’s grand
father.
Texarkana oilman J.K. Wadley, spur
red by the loss of his only grandchild,
decided to apply his modest fortune to
cancer research and to the establish
ment of a regional blood bank for the
Dallas area.
In 1951, the Wadley Institutes of
Molecular Medicine first opened their
doors. And financed mostly by private
grants, they have become a world lead
er in cancer research.
The institutes operate a modern hos
pital for cancer patients and offer the
latest in computers and research tools to
their staff. The institutes’ blood bank
supplies 44 hospitals, as well as their
own research facilities, with as many as
500 pints of blood a day.
One of the best sources of that blood
is the Aggie Blood Drive, said Dr. Nor
wood O. Hill, president of the Wadley
Institutes. This semester’s drive, spon
sored by Student Government, Alpha
Phi Omega and Omega Phi Alpha, col
lected more than 2,000 pints of blood.
But, Wadley requires much more
than that to continue operations, so the
blood bank conducts a number of blood
drives throughout Texas. It also oper
ates blood collection stations in Dallas
and Denton.
In all, the Wadley blood bank col
lected about 65,000 pints of blood in
1980, said Bob Mahurin, blood drive
coordinator at the institutes. Although
supplies sometimes run short, and the
bank is forced to borrow blood from
other banks, it normally manages to
keep pace with demand, he said.
Collecting the blood is just the first
step for the blood bank. Collected blood
is put through the following process:
Technicians test the donor’s blood-
type and put his blood through anti-
body-screening and hepatitis checks.
They label the plastic blood-bag with all
information discovered and record the
donor’s name and his Rh factor in the
computer system. The blood is then
sent to the fractionating lab.
In the fractionating lab, technicians
separate the plasma from the rest of the
blood and divide the blood into its com
ponent parts by applying pressure to it.
Blood elements, such as platelets, white
cells and red cells, have different
weights, and thus can be separated by
gently squeezing the bag.
Plasma is put on dry ic and the other
components are refrigerated.
Once fractionated and registered, the
blood must be distributed. Some is sent
to the research labs, but much of it
eventually is distributed to hospitals in
several counties around Dallas.
To facilitate distribution, Wadley
provides hospitals in Dallas and Denton
with computer terminals which are link
ed to the institutes’ computer. And
when a hospital needs more blood, it
enters its order into the system.
Within minutes, one of the blood
bank’s four delivery vehicles can be sent
out with the blood, Mahurin said.
The computerized system does more
than make fast delivery possible,
however, he said. If the blood turns out
to be contaminated with a disease which
escaped detection at the time of dona
tion, the blood bank can find out the
donor’s name and every location to
which his blood fractions were sent.
This enables the bank to pull con
taminated blood from shelves before it
could do anyone harm, Mahurin said,
adding that the method has saved more
than one life.
But whole blood is not the only dona
tion Wadley seeks. It also maintains labs
in which only white cells or platelets are
extracted from donor’s bloodstreams.
White cells, or lymphocytes, are part
of the body’s defense system against in
fection and foreign substances. Some
patients, such as those undergoing
radiation therapy or chemotherapy,
have an impaired ability to produce
lymphocytes, and so they must receive
transfusions of the cells.
Wadley produces these transfusions
in its leukopheresis laboratory. Donors
are usually members of the patient’s
family because they must be plugged
into a blood-separator for three hours.
The lymphocyte donor lies on a com
fortable bed with a tube leading out of
one of his arms. The blood is separated
into its component layers and the white
cells collected. The remainder of the
blood is warmed and pumped back into
the donor’s other arm along with an
anti-coagulant to keep the blood from
clotting.
In the three-hour procedure, all the
blood in the donor’s body is pumped
through the machine one and a half
times. The amount of lymphocytes
obtained depends on the donor — his
white-cell count and the volume of
blood in his body.
Donors in the lab said the process was
painless, except for the initial prick of
the needles going into their arms. Their
main problems included feeling cold or
See WADLEY page 6
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