Bill K 1
it>u.
PER9.
Prarie film
nice to oaks,
not ankles
See page 3
Park area
gift to A&M
from class
See page 4
Aggies beat
Longhorns
in overtime
See page 13
Hi | Texas A&M ■ ■ ■ ■
The Battalion
Serving the University community
175 No. 86 USPS 045360 16 Pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, February 1, 1982
EsJ.S. transmits film
• >—w 'i * 'i •
^supporting Solidarity
ram can
215 G.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — For 90 mi-
utes Sunday, the United States sent a
Bfeage around the world that the
olish people are not alone in their
ruggle for freedom.
Hhe message came in the form of a
idio and television program, “Let
oland be Poland.” It featured state-
lerm of support for the Solidarity
I ibor movement from President
l^san and the leaders of 14 other
|emocracies.
AD( Sponsored by the International
Miluommunication Agency, the prog-
agt clii im cost a bout $350,()()() to produce
Si50,000 to transmit via satellite.
iktndcWi^G^ official said 48 countries
'H Rtfugtfled to accept Sunday’s feed.
' sem" estimated the Sunday au-
Q . , ience for the broadcast was 90 mil-
on. Of that number, the agency said
14. k program was heard or viewed by
0 million in West Germany, 15 mil-
at ion ton in Italy, 11 million in France and
million in the Netherlands.
' Substantial portions of the prog
am were carried during prime time
L those nations, an ICA spokes
woman said.
The Public Broadcasting Service
also made the program available to its
affiliates in this country.
The Soviet Union and Polish Com
munist officials have denounced the
broadcast as propaganda interfer
ence from Washington. The film was
not aired in the Soviet Union.
The Soviet news agency Tass said,
“The ‘prayer for freedom’ (voiced in
the American film) comes from those
who encourage and feed the most
reactionary, dictatorial and anti
national regimes, those who arm the
Israeli aggressor and torpedo sanc
tions against the racist-ruled Republic
of South Africa, the huge concentra
tion camp."
The Kremlin also issued a rebuttal
in the form of a 45-minute radio
program stressing the flood of aid
going from socialist capitals to
Warsaw.
Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister
Jozef Wiejacz said on Warsaw Radio
that the film “was in bad taste. A
harmful act that may contribute to the
deterioration of East-West relations.”
Actor Charlton Heston was host of
the show, and there were appear
ances by actress Glenda Jackson,
actors Max Von Sydow, Kirk Douglas,
Orson Welles, Henry Fonda, singer
Frank Sinatra and comedian Bob
Hope.
The program also employed two
Polish diplomatic defectors and
Soviet conductor Mstislav Rostropo
vich, who left his homeland for the
United States years ago and is now
directing the National Symphony.
Romuald Spasowski, the former
Polish ambassador to the United
States said the spirit of the Polish peo
ple “has never been crushed.
“A war is now being waged in Po
land,” said the diplomat who was
ranted political asylum in the United
tales a few days after the Dec. 13
imposition of martial law in Poland.
“It is not a war of tanks, or guns or
bombs,” he said. “It is a war of ideas.
An idea is stronger than any weapon.
We must mobilize the moral force of
freedom.”
Reagan praised the “gallant” Poles
and repeated his warning to Com
munist authorities in Warsaw and
Moscow that, “If the events in Poland
continue to deteriorate, we will take
further steps.”
8
Vote of confidence’ has twofold meaning
You’re in the military now
Staff photo by Peter Rocha
Junior cadets Ken Bordelon, left, and Robert
Reese, right, inspect freshman Mark Cline in
preparation for the best drilled freshman
competition. Reese is a general studies major
from Houston, Bordelon, from Pearland, is a
chemical engineering major and Cline is a
petroleum engineering major from
Richardson.
Vandiver offers resignation to Council
Photo by Janet Joyce
J University president Frank E. Vandiver leaves Friday’s closed
Academic Council meeting.
by Angelique Copeland
. and Denise Richter
Battalion Staff
For the second time in two weeks,
University President Frank E. Van
diver offered to resign his position
because of events surrounding the
hiring of new Head Coach and Athle
tic Director Jackie Sherrill.
Academic Council members, to
whom Vandiver offered his resigna
tion, have given mixed reactions.
In a closed Council meeting Fri
day, Vandiver offered to resign but
Council members gave him an infor
mal vote of confidence.
Vandiver originally offered to res
ign Jan. 18, after regents decided to
hire Sherrill and instructed Vandiver
to fire Head Coach Tom Wilson.
Friday’s vote of confidence,
however, represents disappointment
in the Board of Regents as much as
support for Vandiver, a member of
the Council said.
Dr. John J. McDermott, disting
uished professor of philosophy and
medical humanities, said: “The
Academic Council offered its support
for Dr. Vandiver, and I hope that it
helps him. But, it (the vote of confi
dence) also represents disappoint
ment in the activities of the Board.”
Vandiver sent out confidential in
vitations Wednesday to Council mem
bers. As the first item of business, the
president called for a motion to close
the meeting for discussion of budget
and personnel.
However, Dr. Alex McIntosh, asso
ciate professor of sociology and
anthropology, said the issue was over
the hiring of the athletic director.
During the meeting, Vandiver out
lined the events that led up to the
hiring of Sherrill. After detailing both
his and the regents’ roles in the epi
sode, Vandiver said: “There’s my side
of the story ... I don’t know all the
answers. I think I told you all I can tell
you.”
He added, “I feel the credibility of
my office has been threatened.”
Vandiver then offered his resigna
tion to the Council.
A member of the Academic Coun
cil, who has not been identified, called
for a vote of confidence for Vandiver.
McIntosh said: “Basically, he was
waiting for someone in the crowd to
do that (call for a vote of confidence).
The vote of confidence was initiated
by the president. We were caught off
guard and didn’t know how to pro
ceed. Finally, someone shook himself
loose and made the move.”
The Council responded with a
round of applause. There was no dis
cussion or dissension.
As he was leaving the meeting,
Vandiver told reporters the Council
discussed “people and money.” When
asked what the applause was about,
he responded, “I told them there was
a little more money than they
thought.”
In a phone interview Sunday, Van
diver refused to discuss the meeting
or comment on his second resignation
offer.
Dr. Hugh J. McCann Jr., head of
the Department of Philosophy and
Humanities, said: “The vote was by
applause, not by count. I don’t know
whether it would be representative of
the whole faculty.
“I think there’s genuine sympathy
for Dr. Vandiver on the point of the
faculty. There was a sequence of
events in which he was not the leading
participant.”
McCann added that he felt the pur
pose of the vote of confidence was to
comment on how large a thing foot
ball is in the image of Texas A&M.
Dr. Henry C. Dethloff, head of the
history department, said: “I suppose
I’m pleased with the vote of confi
dence. I was saddened by past events
as I’m sure Dr. Vandiver was.
“It would have been good if we
could have had more discussion. But,
I see this as a good point of departure
from the whole thing. Maybe now we
can move on to bigger and better
things.”
Street fights erupt in Poland
United Press International
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s
military government increased prices
as much as 500 percent today and
blamed U.S. “propaganda” for
weekend street fighting in Gdansk
that injured 14 people and brought
the arrests of hundreds.
“February has started badly in the
streets of Gdansk,” the official Polish
news agency PAP said Sunday in a
commentary broadcast by Warsaw
Radio.
The Gdansk disturbances on
Saturday prompted the military
council to order a stricter 8 p.m. to 5
a.m. curfew in the Baltic port and sus
pend all public entertainment and
sports. Private cars were banned.
“The more severe regulations
which have now been introduced (in
Gdansk) express the authorities’ de
termination to maintain calm and
order” during the introduction of
new prices, the radio said.
The Interior Ministry accused de
monstrators of “abusing the succesive
steps undertaken by the authorities to
ease harships of martial law and of
acting against the interests and aspir
ations of the society longing for stabil
ity, calm and order.”
Authorities specifically barred
foreign correspondents from
Gdansk, but said they could travel to
other parts of the country for the first
time since martial law was imposed
Dec. 13 if they get prior permission
from the Foreign Ministry.
Even the Polish radio acknow
ledged prices had gone up drastically.
At one of Warsaw’s largest super
markets, shelves were filled mostly
with grapefruit juice, bread, pickled
vegetables, glucose and row after row
of chile powder.
A total of 214 people were arrested
and 14 injured in violent weekend
clashes with police in Gdansk on
Saturday.
Cuts prompt students to enroll early
by Jennifer Carr
Battalion Reporter
High school dropouts don't usually quit
^school to enroll in college. However, this semes
ter many high school seniors are doing just that
to avoid losing thousands of dollars in Social
Security benefits.
High school seniors across the country, in
cluding several in Bryan-College Station, are
hurrying to enroll in colleges and other post
secondary schools before May l.
Students not enrolled full-time in a post-
; secondary school, which includes college and
: technical, secretarial or business schools, by
May 1 will not be eligible for student benefits
because of President Reagan’s government
; spending cuts.
Students enrolled by May 1 will be eligible to
receive Social Security through May 1985 un
less they turn 22 or obtain a bachelor’s degree,
whichever comes first. Even so, benefits will be
reduced 25 percent each September and no
longer will be paid May through August even if
the student is attending school at that time.
Eleven students at Bryan High School con
tacted counselor Peggy White after she posted
an article concerning the Social Security cuts.
Of the 11, five decided to take their high school
equivalency exams and enroll in Blinn Junior
College.
Other than posting the article, White said she
did not encourage the students to drop out and
enroll in the junior college. Instead, she sent
students and their parents to the local Social
Security offices or to Blinn to learn more about
the options.
White said the five students who enrolled in
Blinn plan to finish high school and get their
diplomas either through night school, summer
school or by correspondence. Three of those,
White said, plan to attend Texas A&M Univer
sity but want to get their high school diplomas
first.
Gale Wood, associate director of admissions
at Texas A&M, said although several students
have contacted the University concerning early
admission because of Social Security cuts, none
of them met the requirements for the Universi
ty’s early admissions programs.
To enter Texas A&M before graduating
from high school, a student must have a letter
from his high school principal, a Scholastic
Aptitude Test score of 1,200 with at least a 600
verbal score and a high school average of 90.
Students who pass the,high school equivalen
cy exam are admitted if they meet the same
University requirements as incoming
freshmen.
Holly Rees, district manager for the Bryan
Social Security office, said the office neither
condones nor denounces students who try to
beat the deadline, although he said the obvious
intent of the legislation was that this year’s high
school seniors would not meet the cutoff.
A bulletin issued by the Bryan office # said the
logic behind the cuts in student benefits is that
there are now several federally funded prog
rams.
inside
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Local P a g e 3
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National page 10
Sports P a g e ^ 3
What’s Up page 9
forecast
Today’s forecast: breezy and cool
becoming mostly cloudy tonight
with a 60 percent chance of rain;
high near 60 with a low tonight in
the mid-40s. Tuesday’s forecast
calls for a 50 percent chance of rain
with cool temperatures.