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Texas A&M
Battalion
Serving the University community
College Station, Texas
Thursday, February 4, 1982
ewer parking
tickets issued
in fall 1981
r
by Sandra Kay Gary
Battalion Staff
Last semester University Police
issued 537 fewer parking tickets than
^vere issued during the fall 1980
emester, which could be attributed to
n increase in fines or a decrease in
he number of police officers.
Last semester 40,343 parking tick
ets were issued, as compared to
0,880 issued during the same period
in 1980.
University Police Chief J. Russ
McDonald said: “We wrote fewer tick
ets this year, but I don’t know if that’s
due to the increase in the cost of park
ing tickets or if it’s because of the
shortage of officers that patrol the
parking areas.
“1 don’t think the increased price
has had much impact on the number
of parking violations.”
The price of parking tickets was
raised from $5 a ticket to $10 a ticket
at the beginning of the 1980-81
academic year. This increase was in
stituted by the Traffic Panel to dis
courage students from parking illeg
ally.
Another possible reason for the de
crease in parking tickets is the fact
that the police department has been
understaffed.
“Generally, last semester we ran 10
to 12 officers short of what we nor
mally run, which means a third fewer
officers to patrol the parking areas,”
McDonald said.
More officers have been hired, but
they’re in training school and won’t be
available for full duty until March, he
said.
University Police records show
16,226 parking tickets issued in Sep
tember; 9,883 in October; 11,198 in
November; and 3,036 in December.
During this period, $153,210 was col
lected for parking violations.
But, not all students who receive
tickets pay their fines, and the Uni
versity Police has a way of dealing
with them.
“Students who don’t pay their
parking tickets can be blocked from
registration,” McDonald said.
“They can also be referred to
academic affairs as chronic violators,”
he said. “And after a student has re
ceived at least three tickets, his car can
be towed from campus.”
“We tow anywhere from 60 to 100
cars a semester.”
If a car is towed from campus,
however, students aren’t forced to
pay their tickets, but they do have to
pay the towing fee, McDonald said.
See related editorial page 2
“We have some students whose cars
are towed from campus, and they go
down and pay the $25 to get it out,” he
said. “Then they bring it right back
and park in a no parking zone, and we
tow it off again.”
Money collected from parking tick
et fines goes into a parking facilities
account which is used to build and
maintain parking facilities because
state funds don’t cover such projects,
McDonald said.
There are 18,100 parking spaces
on campus, he said. Of these, 3,200
ate marked specifically for staff, ab
out 10,000 spaces are reserved for
students and about 4,000 spaces are
for joint usage.
Thomas R. Parsons, director of
security and traffic, said 25,750 park
ing permits have been issued to stu
dents and staff this year.
Union resumes negotiations,
proposals called‘interesting’
United Press International
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. says-
the United Auto Workers should
accept its proposal to freeze cost-of-
living allowances and eliminate paid
personal holidays so a third of its
work force — now laid off— can be
gin returning to work.
United Auto Workers and com
pany bargainers planned to return to
the main bar gaining table today as the
pace of early contract negotiations at
the No. 2 automaker picked up.
Earlier in the week the two sides
planned merely to hold subcommit
tee sessions on specific issues but now
are concentrating efforts in full meet
ings.
Ford officials confirmed Wednes
day they have a contract proposal that
calls for a freeze on the cost-of-living
allowance for its union workers and
elimination of paid time off. In ex
change, they said, veteran workers
would get at least 50 percent of their
base pay until retirement.
Finals
Chief union negotiator Donald
Ephlin admitted the union found
portions of the proposal “interesting”
but he said the union has “no inten
tion” of accepting Ford’s offer with
out substantial modifications.
Peter Pestillo, Ford’s vice president
for labor relations, called the plan
“defensible” despite the concessions
requested by the company.
“Ifs not the kind of plan our em
ployees have become accustomed to,
but then we are not accustomed to
having one-third of our work force on
the streets,” he said.
In another sign ot the auto indus
try’s gloomy state, carmakers said
Wednesday the January car sales rate
was the worst in 21 years with com
bined monthly domestic sales of
368,138 — down 18.5 percent on a
daily rate basis from the 469,832 cars
sold in 1981.
Ford’s sales dropped 6.1 percent
last year and the company is expected
to lose $1.1 billion when 1981 books
are closed. Pestillo said even the com
pany’s concessions proposal will not
make it competitive with General
Motors Corp.
“It’s designed to begin to meet our
competitive problems,” Pestillo said.
“It’s a major start but we’re realistic.
We can’t get all the way back at one
time.”
The Ford proposal calls for a 2'/2-
year contract that includes a 15-
month freeze on cost-ofliving allo
wances; workers now receive $2.03 an
hour on top of base wages.
Paid personal holidays — now ab
out nine per year — would be elimin
ated and vacation time would be cut
by a week. Some senior workers now
get five weeks a year.
The company also wants workers
to put in five years service before re
ceiving full wages and cost-of-living
benefits; new workers would be hired
in at slightly less than 80 percent of
the full wage.
In return for the givebacks. Ford
offered to guarantee workers with 15
years seniority at least 50 percent of
their base pay until retirement. Work
ers with more seniority would receive
a greater pay guarantee.
Ephlin called the so-called
“guaranteed wage stream” plan “one
of the more interesting features.” He
said the plan could help many of the
55,100 Ford workers on indefinite
layoff and 25,325 on temporary
layoffs.
Other parts of the Ford plan call
for improvements in the union’s pen
sion program that will encourage em
ployees to remain on the job beyond
30 years service, when they are eligi
ble for full benfits.
The proposal also calls for a one-
year moratorium on plant closings
not yet announced and preferential
hiring for workers displaced by the
previous shutdowns.
Policy authorizes exam for grads
by Hope E. Paasch
Battalion Reporter
Confusion still surrounds the poli
cy regarding finals for graduating
seniors at Texas A&M University, de
spite a revision in that policy last year.
Current policy authorizes an end-
of-semester exam exclusively for gra
duating seniors, said Associate Regis
trar Donald D. Carter, hut several re
strictions limit the exam procedure.
University regulations specify that
an end-of-semester exam:
— must be scheduled to comply
with the registrar’s schedule for sub
mission of graduating seniors’ grades
— must be given during a regular
class period, and should not be a di
rect substitution for the final exam.
(Content of the test should include
material covered since the last major
exam.)
— must be announced by the in
structor at the beginning of the
semester.
A graduating senior’s average,
without a final exam, counts as that
student’s final grade. If a student’s
grades do not meet graduation re
quirements, he can take the regularly
scheduled final exam in any course in
which he wants to improve his grade.
if the grade on the final exam
meets graduation requirements, he
will receive his degree the next time
degrees are granted. It is the student’s
responsibility to notify the instructor
of his intention to take the final exam.
Dr. Bryan R. Cole, associate dean
of the College of Education, said
many faculty members consider the
policy revision a minimal comprom
ise. A non-comprehensive exam fails
to properly assess a student’s progress
in many courses, Cole said, especially
in professional courses.
A solution to the problem of [
er assessment, Cole suggested, would
be to give the instructor the option of
giving a comprehensive final to gra
duating seniors. The exam would be
administered the week before dead
week in order to comply with the re
gistrar’s schedule, he said.
Samuel M. Gillespie, assistant dean
of the College of Business Adminis
tration, said the current policy also
places excessive pressure on the regis
trar’s office, the instructor and the
marginal student.
See FINALS page 16
Vandiver receives
retroactive raise
staff photo by Eileen Manton
... Sheri Hope, a sophomore physical therapy major from
Austin, joined him to listen in.
by Daniel Puckett
Battalion Staff
Texas A&M President Frank E.
Vandiver received a $ 10,000-a-year
raise retroactive to Jan. 1 at th^ last
meeting of the Texas A&M LJniversi-
ty System Board of Regents.
This raises Vandiver’s salary from
$90,000 a year to $ 100,000 a year. He
now receives $5,000 a year more from
the University than new Head Coach
and Athletic Director Jackie Sherrill.
Sherrill, hired last month from the
University of Pittsburgh, receives a
base salary of $95,000. However,
other benefits promised in his con
tract reportedly will raise his income
from this position to more than
$200,000 a year.
During the same meeting, the sal
ary of System Chancellor Frank W.R.
Hubert was raised from $100,000 a
year to $135,000 a year. Hubert
announced at the meeting that he will
retire in August.
When asked whether the pay raise
was meant to induce Vandiver to
withdraw his resignation, which he
offered to the board last month, Re
gent Royce E. Wisenbaker of Tyler
refused to comment. Other regents
either could not be reached for com
ment or refused to answer questions
concerning the pay raise.
Vandiver originally offered to res
ign Jan. 18 after regents decided to
hire Sherrill and instructed Vandiver
to fire Head Coach Tom Wilson.
Vandiver offered his resignation
again Friday during a closed meeting
of the Academic Council. However,
the Council gave Vandiver an infor
mal vote of confidence.
Vandiver, who is in the Dominican
Republic, could not be reached for
comment.
He is attending an international
conference on higher education
which opened Wednesday in Santo
Domingo. Also attending the confer
ence is Dr. Terrence R. Greathouse,
vice president for international
affairs.
The two left Monday for a meeting
of CAMESA, which translates to Ajijic
Center for the Improvement of High
er Education in America.
The organization of North and
South American universities is dedi
cated to advancing higher education
in the Western Hemisphere, said Dr.
Donald M. Boucher, director of inter
national services.
Boucher said the trip was arranged
to allow Vandiver and Greathouse to
attend the CAMESA meeting and to
inspect University projects in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic. The
University is providing assistance to
the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture
on soil conservation.
Vandiver and Greathouse will re
turn from their trip Sunday evening.
inside
Classified.
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Etc
page 16
Local
page 3
National. .
page 10
Opinions .
page 2
Sports....
page 13
State
page 7
What’s Up
page 16
forecast
Thursday’s forecast: partly cloudy
and cold with the high near 40 and
the low in the mid-30s. There is a
30 percent chance of rain. Friday’s
forecast calls for cold temperatures
again and a 40 percent chance of
rain.