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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.