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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1982)
Aggies skin Rattlers in season opener See page 15 Law Hall offering escort service to students at night See page 3 Idemess mam m Texas A&M ■ ■ ■ ■ The Battalion unistratioii; »mes in rest g public, favors reas. “d whathtl ational neftl egQintinJ Vatt cited J 75 No. 103 USPS 045360 22 Pages In 2 Sections chrome arijj iich the datf ' Soviet Ui a states. Serving the University community College Station, Texas Wednesday, February 24, 1982 Vandiver says A&M needs more money for research, faculty by Daniel Puckett Battalion Staff Texas A&M University needs more money for research and for faculty pay raises in some departments, Uni versity President Frank E. Vandiver said Tuesday. Vandiver discussed the Universi ty’s situation at the annual banquet of the Brazos County chapter of the Texas Society of Professional En gineers. About 100 people attended the dinner at Briarcrest Country Club. Vandiver has just returned from a meeting in Washington, where, he said, the main topic of discussion was the Reagan administration’s proposal for returning many social programs, including higher education, to the states. “The federal government would like to push education back to the states, where it originally was,” Van diver said, “and that’s where I think it belongs.” But the transfer of responsibility may hurt students, Vandiver said, since cutbacks in student loans and grants could reduce the number of people able to attend college. This could help solve the problem of Texas A&M’s skyrocketing enroll ment, he said, but it won’t solve the University’s severe financial difficul ties. Among the most important prob lems are finding money for research, graduate students and faculty, he said. Vandiver defined a university as a place “where people discover know ledge and teach it.” Research is just as important as teaching, but resear chers feel overlooked, he said. “I think researchers feel the way they do with good cause,” Vandiver said, noting that universities are doing less and less basic research. He attributed the drop to a decline in money available for equipment and salaries. With the federal government less willing to finance basic research, the University will have to look for new ways to pay for its programs. Vandiv er suggested that the government provide tax write-offs for businesses that loan equipment or personnel to schools. The University also will have to find ways to attract and keep faculty and graduate students. The fact that some graduating engineering stu dents can make more than their pro fessors makes this task more difficult, he said. “The marketplace is exercising a malign influence upon graduate schools,” Vandiver said. “Malign, but valuable.” The influence is valuable because it is forcing the University to discover ways to hold onto a faculty he de scribed as topnotch. A differential pay scale might be the solution, Van diver said. Under this plan, profes sors in disciplines like engineering and accounting would earn more than those in other areas. “This will probably go over like a lead zeppelin as far as the rest of the faculty is concerned,” he said. For graduate students, Vandiver suggested stepping up efforts to find private sources for grants and scho larships. He said one way to improve University research is to stop the de cline in graduate program enroll ments. Blit to improve the overall financial situation for universities, Vandiver said, universities must teach Amer icans that the nation’s security de pends on higher education. “In the present situation, the milit ary/industrial/education complex is vital,” Vandiver said. “If we can graft that idea onto the American mind ... then much of our present concern will be mitigated.” Turn out the lights photo by Todd Woodard The last of the barracks that had housed more than 11,000 Aggie families since 1949 was partially demolished Tuesday. The buildings had become a liability, says Frank K. Nicolas, manager of the student apartments, because they posed a fire hazard, and were a cover for pools that mosquitos spawned in... avy ships spying ff Salvadoran coast United Press International | WASHING I ON — For the past two months, the United States has conducted intelligence gathering mis sions off El Salvador and Nicaragua with destroyers outfitted with spy tear, administration officials and in telligence sources say. RThe naval presence in the Gulf of Idnseca coincides with warnings by jSecretary of State Alexander Haig of Bssible U.S. action in the Caribbean Basin to intercept the arms traffic flowing from Cuba to Nicaragua. Hlhe USS Deyo docked Tuesday at Charleston, S.C., after having been jstationed for nearly two months in the ‘Gulf of Fonseca, the body of water between El Salvador and Nicaragua, jsources said. B The USS Caron has taken the Devo’s position in the gulf, which Pentagon sources said, is being used as a route to funnel Cuban-supplied irms from Nicaragua to leftist guer rillas in El Salvador. Both ships are Spruance Class des troyers especially outfitted with sophisticated electronic gear for spying purposes. The stationing for the first time of American naval vessels in the gulf re flects a deepening U.S. involvement in the war between the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government and the lef tist guerrillas. And it occurs at the same time the administration is trying to decide W’hether U.S. advisers in El Salvador may carry M-16 combat rifles. The Defense Department has cautioned against setting up a U.S. naval blockade unless the administra tion was prepared to order Navy ships to sink vessels carrying weapons to the guerrillas, incurring the risk of a war. The Pentagon has warned the United States is ill-prepared to go to war. El Salvador and Nicaragua have 3- mile offshore limits, but the sources said the spying gear aboard the Deyo is sufficiently sophisticated to ensure successful interceptions of radio traf fic from beyond territorial waters. The destroyer reported sighting many ships during its deployment in the gulf and “at no time did a ship from another nation try to stop the Deyo,” one source said. The nature of the ships sighted and their identities were not known by the sources. Information gathered by the ship relating to arms traffic plying the gulf or about guerrilla operations on the ground was not disclosed. The sources said the information was not relayed to the Salvadoran govern ment of President Jose Napoleon Duarte. “There is intelligence patrolling, and it’s only logical,” an administra tion official said. “We want to keep an eye on what’s going on because it’s a tricky situation there.” A fading part of A&M photo by Todd Woodard ... Ken Melson, foreman of student apartment maintenance, drives his bulldozer around the perimeter of the partially rotted wooden structure first, then tears into the supports to bring it down. Senate to consider constitution change by Cyndy Davis Battalion Staff Changes in the student body consti tution will be considered by the stu dent senate tonight at 8 in 204 Har- rington Classroom Center. | Rhonda Rhea, vice-president for biles and regulations said the prop osed changes would take out some of the legal jargon in the constitution and make it easier to interpret. I If the changes are approved, the fevised constitution will be voted on by the student body at the general spring election March 30-31. I Changes in the student body elec tion regulations also will be consi dered. Proposed changes would rear range campaign policies making them easier to understand, Rhea said. In addition, senators will vote on spring election polling places chosen by the election commission. Lance Wright, chairman of the Judicial Board, will explain actions taken by the Judicial Board Monday night. The hearing concerned alleged violation of senate by-laws about fill ing senate vacancies. Bills scheduled to appear before the Senate tonight include: Dead Week Library Bill — asks that the Sterling C. Evans Library stay open later during dead week, the week preceding finals. According to the bill, the library recognizes the need for these additional hours but does not have funds to pay workers for additional hours. If passed, the Senate will give the library up to $375 to pay for the pro ject. This week the library began ex tended hours, staying open an addi tional hour until 1 a.m., Sunday through Friday. The library con tinues to open at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and is also open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. It opens at noon Sunday. Electronic Message Center Bill — asks for support of an electronic mes sage center, a project of the. MSC Council. According to the bill, the message center would better inform the public of current University events. It would have construction similar to electronic message centers found on area bank signs, said Senator Kelli Kiesling. Department of Census and Re search Organization Bill — recom mends that a Department of Census and Research be formed to provide a statistically valid method of surveying students through senators. The Cam pus Canvass survey last fall failed to statistically represent the student body. Parking Research Bill — will be presented for the first time tonight. This bill asks that an external re search group conduct studies on cam pus parking, traffic and pedestrian problems and make a recommenda tion to the University’s five-year mas ter planning committee. Chris Langford, student vice presi dent for student services, said this bill may be given emergency status and voted upon tonight rather than being referred to a committee. inside Classified 6 Local 3 National 6 Opinions 2 Sports 14 State 4 What’s Up.. 10 forecast Today’s forecast: Partly cloudy and mild with a 40 percent chance of rain and a high near 78; low tonight near 48. Thursday’s fore cast calls for cooler temperatures with a high in the upper 50s and a 40 percent chance of rain.
