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.