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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1981)
Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 50 High .. .60 Low 30 Low .. .30 Chance of rain. . . . . . 50% Chan ce ofrain . 20% Polish army threatens death to union strikers % 1 l Library open round-the-clock | for all-night finals studying By GARY BARKER and TIM FOARDE Battalion Staff (Letters will be sent out over Christ as break informing some Texas A&M f University students that they have been |ut on scholastic probation. Students on scholastic probation Ive become scholastically deficient; Kpwever, they are granted conditional pmussion to continue at the Univer- W.;,' Deans of each academic college de- Jrmine who goes on scholastic proba- i. Grade points are given on a scale of 4 per semester hour (A =4, B =3, c.). If a student receives an A in a ree-hour course, he has earned 12 ade points. A student’s total number grade points divided by his total [ours must equal at least 2.0. Other- ise, he has a deficiency that must be ade up . Probation terms will be set so the jdent can make up his grade point peficiency in one or two semesters. For ample, if a student has a 12 point leficiency below a 2.0, he may be re- uired to earn six grade points above a 0 for the next two semesters until his leficiency is made up. If the deficiency is large enough to ^danger a student’s chances for gra- uation he is put on scholastic proba- on, Dean of Admissions and Records d Cooper said. A student who does not meet the firms of his probation may be blocked irom enrollment at Texas A&M the next emester, Cooper said. “The dean of his college will notify his student immediately in order to give the student time to apply to other schools, receive transcripts or make other plans for the next semester.” Students expelled from school be cause of an academic deficiency may be readmitted if they improve their acade mic record at another school or acquire work experience related to their field of study. Once a student has dropped from en rollment in Texas A&M for any reason, readmission is decided by the dean of “The purpose underlying scholastic probation is to pre vent a student from becom ing academically bankrupt and making it mathematical ly impossible for that student to graduate. ” — Dean of Admissions and Records Ed Cooper. the college he wishes to enter, rather than the Office of Admissions. Cooper said the purpose of scholastic probation is not to expel or to weed out students who have academic problems. “The purpose underlying scholastic probation is to prevent a student from becoming academically bankrupt and making it mathematically impossible for that student to graduate,” he said. “One student was allowed to stay in school with 45 grade points below a C average. It would take three years with If finals week has you pulling all- H nighters and your roommate wants to || sleep, the Sterling C. Evans Library is the place for you. The University library is open 24- hours a day through Thursday so that students will have a place to study for || [their final examinations. Administrative and circulation ser vices are not available around the clock, however. Administrative offices are open be tween the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Books can be checked out between 7:30 a.m. and 11:50 p.m. The library will close at 1 a. m. Friday and will be open again between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. United Press International WARSAW, Poland — Die-hard Soli darity leaders who escaped arrest issued a call for a general strike from hiding today, but Polish army troops in full battle gear guarded factories and the nation’s new military regime threatened to execute strikers. The head of Poland’s powerful Catholic Church, Archbishop Josef Glemp, pleaded with workers to obey the ban on strikes to keep the nation from plunging into civil war, and Polish- bom Pope John Paul II prayed for peace. There was no immediate reported reaction to the strike call, and the new Committee for National Defense, now ruling Poland, flew Solidarity leader Lech Walesa from the Gdansk head quarters of the union to Warsaw for day long talks Sunday to avert a bloodbath. Poland’s army troops arrayed in full battle gear with fixed bayonets appeared to have pulled back in force from the center of the capital to concen trate on guarding factories in outlying areas — an indication it feared no upris ing in the capital after the emergency decrees that struck a death blow to Po land’s “Gdansk summer” reform move ment. The crackdown, which included a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew plus a ban on all meetings and the sealing of the nation’s borders, followed Solidarity’s demands Saturday for a referendum on a non- Communist government and for a gen eral strike if the government passed an anti-strike law. When martial law was declared, un ion diehards and supporters called im mediately for a general strike, but troops using water cannons dispersed taunting Solidarity supporters and in a stem communique, monitored by the BBC in London, warned the death pen alty would be applied to workers refus ing to report to work. “The death sentence will appply for workers refusing to serve under the reg ulations which are similar to wartime conditions,” Polish radio said in the London-monitored broadcast. The crackdown came after weeks of building tension in which the govern ment accused the union of trying to seize power and Walesa vowed the labor group would defend “like lions” its right to strike, won when Solidarty was born in September 1980. Police report campus mugging Battalion Staff A mugging was reported to the Uni versity Police Department at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. A girl was walking, probably up Coke St., when the assault occurred, said University Police Chief Russ McDo nald. “A gold and white pick-up truck with a white camper pulled up beside her, and a man got out wearing a ski mask and carrying a towel,” McDonald said. “He tried to put the towel over her head,” the police chief said. “She screamed, bit him on the finger, ran home and called us.” McDonald refused to identify the girl who reported the mugging. No suspects have been arrested in connection with the case, McDonald said. Slaughter speaks of technology Graduates look at future Probation makes students ware of degree requirements a maxirpum course load and nothing but As for this student to graduate from Texas A&M University. “When graduation day comes, it has to be 2.0 overall and 2.0 in their major course of study or they don’t make it. That’s what we re trying to do: keep them on that line.” Standards should be high enough that students aren’t given false hopes about graduating from Texas A&M, Cooper said. Scholastic probation also draws atten tion to the student’s problem, he said. The advisers can try to identify the problem and discuss measures to help a student improve his academic perform ance. “Many times just putting a student on scholastic probation is enough to make him try harder.” In the past, he said, there have been differences between the various col leges regarding scholastic probation policy. “We found that some of the deans would drop a student if he fell 12 grade points below a C average while a stu dent in another college could drop 25 points behind and still be allowed to continue,” Cooper said. Because of this disparity, he said, the Academic Operations Committee has made the scholastic probation standards among the different colleges more uni form. Guidelines for scholastic proba tion policy were produced this fall in a report by the AOC, a committee of the University’s associate deans, which Cooper chairs. But, Cooper said, the guidelines for standardizing scholastic probation poli cy are to be interpreted and adjusted to specific cases by the deans of each col lege. In order to avoid strict adherence to the suggestions in the guidelines, the AOC has limited distribution of the re port to college deans. This is to empha size to students, advisers and depart ment heads that individual considera tions and exceptions should be made. The function of these guidelines is to provide some degree of uniformity throughout the colleges in the Universi ty, Cooper said. “Students at A&M — as far as con tinuation in school is concerned — should be treated basically the same re gardless of the college they are in.” By LAURA WILLIAMS Battalion Staff Science and technology will affect the future of any Texas A&M University graduate, regardless of the graduate’s chosen career. Dr. John B. Slaughter told degree candidates at Friday’s com mencement ceremony in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Slaughter, director of the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., said graduates should continue their education by becoming involved in the nation’s technological growth. “The most precious resource of a free society is the full participation of in formed and concerned citizens,” he said. “Unfortunately, the majority of our fellow citizens frankly regard them selves as too poorly informed about sci ence to help make these decisions, even though many of the choices will have a major impact on their future.” Slaughter spoke of concern for the little more than half of the country’s eligible voters who vote in political elec tions. He said the best hope lies with the graduates who will leave their uni versities to become a knowledgable public. “I am troubled by a public reluctant to participate in the decision-making processes of technology,” he said. “We ’ are becoming scientifically illiterate. “Yet here we are talking about an area of human activity (technological adv ancement) which will have a far more pervasive and longer-term impact on our lives than any presidential elec tion.” Slaughter, who has been director of the NSF since September 1980, said that because Texas A&M University has large research and development prog rams, graduates will have an advantage in dealing with the sophisticated future. He also told candidates that their continuing growth would determine the growth of the nation. “The search for excellence which you began when you started your education will continue after you leave here. Although you will find it never ends, it does get easier.” Baccalaureate degrees were awarded to 1,666 students in the colleges of agri culture, business administration, geos ciences and liberal arts. Graduate de grees were awarded to 405 students. Tigg '/ £ 5 ^ Vic Svatek raises his diploma after being awarded a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering at the Saturday commencement. Grads owe taxpayers, Prescott says By JOHNA JO MAURER Battalion Staff Graduates must strive to be life-long students, Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice presi dent for academic affairs, told degree candidates at Saturday’s commence ment ceremony in G. Rollie White Col iseum. They must not stop learning just be cause they are no longer in an academic atmosphere, he said. “Be curious, tough and adventurous throughout life,” he said. Baccalaureate degrees were pre sented to 908 graduates in the colleges of architecture and environmental de sign, education, engineering, science and veterinary medicine. Sixty-four graduates of Texas A&M University at Galveston also received baccalaureate degrees. The administrator told graduates they have an obligation to their parents, friends and relatives. It’s important to thank them for the support they have provided, he said. Graduates also have an obligation to the Texans who have, through their work and taxes, funded a major portion of their education at Texas A&M Uni versity. “Never imagine that your education makes you superior to them — it’s just an advantage you had,” Prescott said. Only about 4 percent of the cost of a college education in a Texas public col lege or university is paid from student tuition and fees, he said. “There’s a large population out there to which you will always be indebted,” Prescott said. “You are the recipients of a quality education at less personal cost than you could have obtained anywhere else that I know of in the United States.” Development of a fierce loyalty to the University where they received that education is another obligation the gra duates should assume, he said. After 30 years at Texas A&M Univer sity, Prescott is stepping down from his vice presidential position effective Jan. 1. He will spend six months doing re search at Harvard Medical School be fore becoming director of the Universi ty’s new Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.