Battalion
1-1 marii Jjpl.
a( l aj-i-i] I Pages in 2 Sections
is first ye,|
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Thursday, December 10, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
70
High
.. .72
Low
50
Low
.. .54
Chance of rain. . .
.. . 10%
Chance of rain
. 20%
Controllers unmoved
by president’s offer
United Press International
WASHINGTON — In an act of “com
passion,” President Reagan is allowing
fired air traffic controllers to apply for
federal jobs. Their union calls the offer a
cruel hoax.
Robert Poli, head of the Professional
Air Traffic Controllers Organization,
said because of budget cuts there are
few federal jobs available — a conten
tion the government disputed.
Reagan removed a legal barrier
Wednesday which barred fired control
lers from federal employment for three
years. But he remained firm that they
would not be allowed to return to con
trol towers and radar rooms.
“We view his offer of applying for
other employment to be a cruel hoax on
both the fired controllers and the Amer
ican taxpayers,” Poli said. “There are
few, if any, available federal jobs be
cause of budget cuts.”
But Teamsters union President Roy
Williams commended Reagan, saying it
“shows those of us in labor and the
American people that you (Reagan) are
truly concerned and responsive to the
plight of these men and women.”
Robert Belanger, president of PAT-
CO Local 202 in Nashua, N.H., was
unmoved by Reagan’s offer. “I think
that the president has not shown any
compassion,” he said. “It is a political
move on his part.”
Last August, Reagan fired some
11,400 controllers for an unlawful
strike. As federal workers, controllers
are prohibited from striking.
In making a partial concession
Wednesday, Reagan issued the follow
ing statement:
“We faced a choice last August. Con
cede to the demands of a union engaged
in an illegal strike — or dismiss the
controllers who violated their oath and
walked off their jobs, and keep the air
ways operating with the resources avail
able to us.
“We made the only choice we could
— law, due process and respect for the
public trust have been honored.”
But, he said: “at the same time there
is another principle we honor in Amer
ica — the tradition that individuals de
serve to be treated with compassion.”
Serving for Uncle Sam
Cadets to become officers
By MARY JO RUMMEL
Battalion Staff
Sixty-seven members of the Texas
A&M Corps of Cadets will be commis
sioned Friday in G. Rollie White Col
iseum.
Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland, com
mander of the Air University at Maxwell
Air Force Base, Ala., will present com
missioning certificates to the cadets at
the officer-commissioning ceremony
which begins at 1:30 p.m. Representa
tives from each branch of the armed
services will attend the ceremony as will
representatives from each of the Uni
versity colleges.
The Army will commission 27 cadets;
the Air Force, 21; the Marines, 10; and
the Navy, nine.
Commissions for all of the branches is
at least a six-year commitment to serve
in the armed service, but that time allot
ment varies with each cadet. Assistant
Commandant Donald Johnson said.
An Air Force contract is set for a
minimum of four years on active duty,
three years in Navy/Marines and three
years in the Army with the option of the
Army Reserves or the National Guard.
The remainder of the contract in each
branch is served in reserve duty.
If a cadet chooses to decrease his
active duty and increase his reserve
duty, the total time commitment in
creases, Johnson added.
“Many of the cadets do not go direct
ly into duty, but will work for a higher
(academic) degree — but they still have
a commitment,” he said.
Current Corps enrollment is a record
Happy Birthday
Staff photo by Dave Einsel
Local real estate
cautious after CS
President Frank E. Vandiver happily displays
the desk plaque given him by the administra
tion office staff for his 56th birthday Wednesday.
Vandiver was joined by his wife, Renee.
Respite new buildings, group
[hys campus needs more space
he doubling of Texas A&M Univer-
s enrollment since 1971 has left the
1 a million square feet short of floor
for classrooms, laboratories and
ifierfacilities, Texas A&M officials say.
Members of the Target 2000 task
Jle on academic institutions were told
iitsday that a formula compiled by the
Bbrdinating Board, Texas Colleges
id University System, shows the Uni-
jsity heeds more than 1 million addi-
lal square feet of floor space — the
[Divalent of six large buildings.
■This building crunch exists despite
12) million in construction during the
1st five years. New buildings include
dements, Haas, Hobby, McFadden,
Ifieley and Underwood dormitories,
le Academic and Agency Building,
bldenfels Hall, the Kleburg Center
M die Engineering Research Center,
iw under construction on the south
de of the Zachry Engineering Center,
jllniversity enrollment has increased
Ipercent during the last two years.
ill schedules
vill be mailed
JThe 600 students who did not receive
■ring class schedules in the mail with
PUr fee slips can pick up copies of their
piedules in the Coke Building without
Paying their fees.
j file schedules were not mailed be-
pse 600 old forms not containing sche
me slips inadvertantly were mailed in-
ad of the newer forms which do in-
de class schedules. The Battalion
[istakenly reported Wednesday,
wever, that the 600 schedules were
t mailed with invoices because of the
e and expense involved in doing so.
The fiscal office mailed the last of
,000 fee slips Saturday, in order to
ail them to each student’s local
Idress before the end of school.
Students may pay their fees at the
bice Building; however, fiscal office
rsonnel say they prefer to handle fee
biyments by mail.
from about 29,000 in 1979 to more than
35,000 in 1981. Because of this increase,
the Texas A&M System Board of Re
gents has instituted stricter enrollment
requirements for the colleges of en
gineering, business administration and
geosciences. These changes will take
effect in the fall of 1982.
However despite the tougher admis
sions policy, enrollment next fall still is
expected to increase.
“I’m not sure the new admission
standards are going to be a limiting fac
tor,” said Vice President for Student
Services John J. Koldus. “Other univer
sities which have raised standards have
only attracted more students and there
fore increased enrollment.”
The 230-member Target 2000 group
was appointed by the Board of Regents
to study the needs of the Texas A&M
System through the year 2000.
All work being done by the group
remains in the discussion stage. The
group’s formal report is expected to be
submitted to the Board of Regents in
December 1982.
By DANIEL PUCKETT
Battalion Staff
Local real estate agencies, shocked
by the slaying of a College Station agent
last week, are taking extra precautions
to ensure the safety of their staff mem
bers.
The body of Virginia Bradford Free
man, 40, was found Dec. 1 in the back
yard of a vacant home on Greens Prairie
Road near Wellborn. Freeman had
been stabbed several times and
strangled.
A spokesman for the Brazos County
Sheriffs Department said Wednesday
that the department is still investigat
ing the murder but that they cannot
report any progress in the incident.
To aid the investigation, the Bryan-
College Station Board of Realtors and
the Bryan-College Station Homebuil
ders Association have raised a $10,000
reward for information leading to the
arrest and indictment of whoever was
responsible for Freeman’s death, Jim
Behling, president of the board, said.
The reward is being handled by Bra
zos County Crimestoppers, who
guarantee callers’ anonymity. Anyone
with information about the murder can
reach Crimestoppers at 775-TIPS.
Behling also said the board has orga
nized a crime-prevention seminar de
signed for business people. The seminar
will start at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday at
the Brazos Center and will feature pre
sentations by members of the College
Station Police, the Bryan Police and the
Brazos County Sheriffs Department.
The seminar will be open to the pub
lic, he said.
In addition to encouraging agents to
participate in Wednesday’s seminar,
local real estate agencies contacted said
they were being more careful in their
policies regarding new clients.
At the Real Estate Mart, the agency
where Freeman worked, two rules are
in effect, owner Bob Prall said.
Agents no longer meet clients at the
clients’ homes. They now ask clients to
come to the office and they then go to
2,374, but the size of the commissioned
class is comparable to that of previous ,
fall commissionings, Johnson said.
The Corps traditionally commissions
more officers than any school except the
military academies. Commandant
James R. Woodall said.
Cleveland, who will present the
commissioning certificates, graduated
from the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point in 1949. He earned a mas
ter’s degree in political science at Xavier
University and in 1969 completed the
advanced management program at Har
vard University.
Among Cleveland’s decorations and
service awards, are the Distinguished
Service Medal (Air Force), the Legion
of Merit and the Distinguished Flying
Cross.
agents
murder
the property in the agent’s car. And
instead of operating open house tours of
homes alone as they have in the past,
agents are now accompanied by at least
one other person, he said.
The owner of Aggjeland Realty, Tho
mas Vetters, told his staff to refuse to
meet new clients at the sale property,
and said no agent is to go alone to a
meeting. While Vetters said his agency
has always followed these policies, he
added that agents are all observing
them more strictly now.
“It’s just good business practice;
agents going out alone is just trouble
waiting for a place to happen,” he said.
And Adelle Jones, broker-owner of
GlenDelle Realty, said her agency is
logging all calls and noting the license-
plate numbers on cars customers leave
at the agency.
“None of our agents goes out alone
now,” she said, “and we always ask our
clients to come by the office. That has
hurt business some ... but the security
of our agents is more important.”
Additional federal dollars found
Rep. Gramm aids cyclotron funding
By LAURA WILLIAMS
Battalion Reporter
The Department of Energy has in
cluded approximately $800,000 in its
1983 budget for Texas A&M’s Cyclotron
Institute «— support which DOE au
thorities had previously said would not
be available.
University President Frank E. Van
diver credited U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm
(D-College Station) with going to bat for
the University again.
“The budget for ‘83 is done in Janu
ary of‘82, so we usually wouldn’t know
what amount we were getting until Feb
ruary or March,” Dr. Dave Young
blood, cyclotron institute director, said.
The Cyclotron is a nuclear research
facility used to study properties and be
havior of subatomic particles, as well as
the effects of radiation on certain types
of bacteria. Some findings have applica
tions in medicine.
Youngblood said the $800,000 is not
additional funding for the institute’s
planned expansion, but annual funding
that was expected to be cut from the
1983 budget.
Earlier this year, the institute
announced an $8.8 million expansion
project, to begin in March 1982.
However, “This kind of device is
continuously being modified and im
proved, so you can’t say it will be
through in ‘85,” he said.
After expansion, the University’s
Cyclotron will be second in power only
to Michigan State University’s national
lab.
But, Youngblood said, “We wall not
be second class to their facilities. Their
power capabilities pick up where ours
leave off, so we’re really not in direct
competition with them.”
Of the four facilities in the U.S. com
parable to Texas A&M’s, none are uni
versity cyclotrons primarily for the use
of students and faculty, he said.
“National labs are open to all users,
and this large access makes it difficult
for students at those Schools to experi
ment,” Youngblood said.
The facility is primarily used by pro
fessors and students in the chemistry
and physics departments.
“It is not a facility with a direct mis
sion,” he said, “but one for general re
search on problems which interest the
students and professors.”
The Texas A&M Cyclotron
Staff photo by Dave Einsel