Help keep the Freedom of Information Act intact See page 5 Self-study to keep accreditation See page 3 d enou{ Pacific' erences ; receivf the PA( d, addn ould ha teen con ences ?gies we: ng chas shows t| : said have y for tl ts durii .ondrig; imeint! smsm Texas A&M g 1 M ■ The Battalion Serving the University community oiVqI. 75 No. 112 USPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, March 9, 1982 tlane U Louisia ay in c« :ribe ly to they will :tion free ibisa vi A&M mails out midterm rades today ACADEMIC DEAN S COPY PRELIMINARY GRADE REPORT by Rebeca Zimmermann Battalion Staff Midterm grades, what one college an calls the signal of “mid-course rrection time,” will be mailed today. These grades are not recorded lywhere on a student’s permanent cord and are simply a way of letting e student know where he stands in courses, explained Harold L. ice, assistant registrar for admis- )ns and records. Mid-semester grade reports are ailed to a student’s local address. If tudent’s parents request a copy, the port will go to the student’s home Idress. Final grades are mailed to a ident’s permanent address. Pace said midterm grades usually e processed and ready to mail by 2 on the day departments turn em in — in this case, today. The me-consuming part of the process is parating local and out-of-town ailing addresses, which takes about c hours, he said. Lorraine A. Kitchner, staff assis- nt for admissions and records, said lany reports are returned because of correct addresses. Because of the large volume of reports mailed, those returned are not mailed a second time. After receiving the grade reports, Kitchner said, students should im mediately check the classes and grades listed on the report. Some times a class that was dropped or added may not show up correctly on the report, she said. If class errors are found, a student should check with the records depart ment as soon as possible, Kitchner said. If an error is made on a grade, the student should see the instructor. If the student’s academic college uses midterm grades for pre-registration, an instructor must notify the college of the change. However, this is only for the acade mic college. Since midterm reports are not kept on file in the registrar’s office, a grade change is not made there. The registrar’s off ice keeps copies of the grades for two weeks, in case a student does not get a copy. Copies will be available Friday in the records department of the registrar’s office. Dr. Terry E. Shoup, assistant dean (Oxv, t CCXIB'J f|AM/ 4 \ ’ •HI -.1 \ 2 ENGL DOE, JOHN DON SPRING SEMESTER 1982 LXScR.PUvf *11.1 C> tr !h n ■ •* GPaOF i INTRO TO ANTHROPOLOGY ANT El 201 3 0 c 3 ! 6 0 INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY BIOL 113 3 0 B 9 3 INTRO BIOLOGY LAB BIOL 123 0 3 A 1 1 9 1 TECHNICAL WRITING ENGL 301 3 0 A 3 12 2 REQUIRED PHYSICAL EDUC P E 199 0 2 C 1 2 6 STATE l LOCAL GOVT POLS 207 3 0 F < 9+ GPR 2 5000, HR 50, GP 125 14 11 33 TOTAL HOURS 55 GPR THIS T ERM 2.3571 r L JOHN DON 123 MAIN DOE STREE' COLLEGE STATION, TX 77840 TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COUEGE STAriON. TE x Af> 7/R4 I GRADING SYSTEM A Excellent, U Good, C fcnr D E Fulling, I In, ..m'i.'I, !, VVP Withdrew Passing, V/F Withdrew Far S SuhsfiKtory, U Unsatisfoctoiy P Pass, Q Dropped With No Penalty 0 AY /: / GPR - Includes mid-semester grades HR - Hours attempted at Texas A&M (including mid-term) GP - Grade points for courses taken at Texas A&M (including mid-term) TOTAL HOURS - Hours completed (not including this term) including transfer work and credit by examination The grades also are used to deter- said midterm grades are the only of engineering, said the most signifi cant use of midterm grades is for pre registration, which will be held the week of April 19. For example, engineering students who have mid-semester grade point ratios below 2.0 are not allowed to pre-register. Shoup said he feels mid term grades are important because they let a student know when it is “mid-course correction time.” mine if a student is qualified to order a senior ring, Pace said. Some student organizations re quire certain midterm GPRs for membership. For example, the Corps of Cadets uses these grades for acade mic officers’ reports, he said. Mary J. Robertson, undergraduate adviser in the College of Liberal Arts, available indicator of a student’s per formance. Grade reports for liberal arts stu dents with a mid-semester GPR below 2.0 or liberal arts students on scholas tic probation are separated from the other reports, she said. These stu dents are sent letters advising them of their status for pre-registration, Robertson said. Report blasts Soviets United Press International WASHINGTON — The United States charged Monday that savage Soviet artillery and air bombardment killed hundreds of civilians this year in attacks on Kandahar and Herat, two of Afghanistan’s major cities. Deputy Secretary of State Walter Stoessel also told the Senate reports from Afghan detectors and refugees indicate more than 3,000 people died in Soviet attacks with lethal chemical weapons between 1979 and 1981. “Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or maimed as the Soviets and the puppet Afghan army have destroyed villages and crops, strewn anti-personnel mines over trails and inhabited areas, employed lethal chemical weapons and forcibly impressed young Afghans in the armed forces,” he said. In briefing the Senate Foreign Re lations Committee on the situation in Afghanistan, Stoessel said the Krem lin so far has rejected U.S. proposals for serious discussions in Geneva on a political settlement of the crisis. Such a settlement would include terms for a Soviet w ithdrawal, he said. uto workers repare for ontract talks United Press International [■DETROIT — United Auto Work- & leaders, who have given Ford Motor Co. up to $1 billion in return fo job security, say the attitude has I an ged about contract concessions d may reopen negotiations with B o automakers this week. I American Motors officials and the it non were scheduled to meet in Mil- Mtukee Monday to discuss possible r negotiation. The UAW’s 290- n ember General Motors Council w ill fleet Thursday in suburban Dear- b)rn to vote on whether to resume negotiations to reopen the contract lith the No. 1 automaker. I LAW President Douglas Fraser has said that with council approval, ■gotiations with GM could begin as I rly as Friday — a day after the vote, e predicted the talks could be com- eted within a week. Officials said the AMC discussions I ould center on what sort of benefits Bid job security the automaker will J offer in return for employee accept ance of a proposal made by AMC last III. At that time. AMC asked workers B> invest 10 percent of their wages for months to raise SI50 million to- I ard a SI billion product develop- lient plan. T he firm said at the time it Bmld start repayment to the workers |l 10 percent annual interest as earlv 1 1983. Ray Majerus, UAW secretary- treasurer, said the UAW’s American Motors Council w ill decide after the meeting whether to reopen the ex isting contract. Echoing Fraser’s prediction about GM, he said negotiations with AMC could begin immediately after final approval was given. Fraser is expected to attend the AMC talks. Anticipated rank-and-file opposi tion to a new GM contract was blamed in part for the breakdown of talks in January. Seven Flint locals, which provided more than 13 percent of all the votes cast at the last GM Council meeting and were reluctant to accept concessions, already have guaranteed their support for new talks. But faced with continued plant closings and an increasing number of layoffs, those workers and other opponents have softened. “The attitude has changed drastic ally out here, just in the past couple of months,” said Jim Osborne, president of UAW Local 1292 at the Flint Fisher Body plant. Osborne was a foe of UAWGM talks w ho has changed his mind. “I don’t have any problem now in supporting a resolution to go back to the table.” Fraser has cautioned that GM should not expect employee conces sions greater than those contained in the recent 31-month UAW-Ford set tlement. A personal or Constitutional dilemma? Abortion perspectives offered by Laura Williams Battalion Staff Almost every one of the 150 per sons gathered in Rudder Theater Monday night supported something heard in an in-depth discussion on abortion. Janice Frieve, executive director of the I exas Action Rights Abortion League, received a standing ovation after discussing abortion as a personal dilemma. She said the issue of abor tion is one of personal concern, rather than one of public concern. In contrast. Dr. Joseph With erspoon, director of the National Right to Life Committee Inc., pre sented his views on abortion as a pub lic, legal dilemma, maintaining that personal beliefs are overridden by Constitutional intentions. Abortion denies a human being the right to life, a right that the United States Constitution was founded on, said Witherspoon, a professor of law at the University of Texas. “Abortion is a problem of para mount proportions for all people of our society,” he said. “Abortion is a crime against the unborn child, the mother and society." However. Roe v. Wade, a January 1973 Supreme Court case, states that a woman has the constitutional right to have an abortion. “Americans should be terribly con cerned about how- the Supreme Court has used the Constitution to make a ruling such as in the case of Roe v. Wade,” Witherspoon said. Janice Frieve He said that even pro-abortion law scholars say the case lacks support. “This law says that the pregnant woman has the right to abort the un born child at anytime during pre gnancy, that the unborn child is not a person and does not possess the capa bility of meaningful life,” he said. Because of this gross misinterpre tation of Constitutional rights, With erspoon said. Right to Fife groups have been seeking legislative mea sures to protect the unborn child who has reached seven months of age, un less it is necessary to protect the mother medically. Witherspoon, who has been a member of Right to Life groups for 11 years, said the formation of such groups in reaction to the court’s deci sion supports beliefs that abortion is a big problem. Right to Life groups have prop osed to Congress a Human Life Amendment, which says the unborn child is a person and should have the appropriate rights. The proposal cites the 10th and 14th Amendments to the Constitu tion and will prohibit any woman from having an abortion except to protect the life of the mother, With erspoon said. 4 aking another perspective, Frieve said the issue of abortion is not one of legality, but personal and private con templation. “The Abortion Rights League is not a pro-abortion organization,” she said. “We do advocate that every' woman have that choice.” Noting that 22 percent of the women interviewed in the early 1940s had illegally aborted a child, Frieve said abortion has not become a prob lem in response to the Roe v. Wade case. “Many think the case brought on the wave of abortion, but it has been an issue long before this,” she said. “Outlawing abortion will not end it, but only make it more dangerous for the woman.” Interpretation of the Constitution becomes emotional and religious in the case of abortion because there is no biological agreement, Frieve said, adding that such interpretations erode Constitutional rights. “If you don’t think abortion is right, don’t have one,” she said. “But don’t impose those beliefs on other Dr. Joseph Witherspoon people whose entire futures are at stake. “Abortion is not controversial. Abortion is personal. Abortion K made controversial by people who oppose it and insist on keeping it con troversial.” The program entitled, “Abortion: Both Sides,” was sponsored bv the MSC Great Issues Committee. #1 judge orders jBell to give back money " United Press International AUSTIN — Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. must begin refunding |23 million to Texas customers April 11 unless the company can get a court rder delaying the action, a judge led. Travis County District Judge lume Gofer Monday rejected a Bell equest to delay the refunds. The re- unds were ordered because Bell im- ilemented a S246 million rate in- rease in October 198 1 while the Pub- k Utility Commission was consider- nt» the phone company’s request for ligher rates. University budget relating to faculty Vandiver’s topic University President Prank E. Vandiver will speak Wednesday to fa culty members on “The Budget and Its Impact on the Faculty.” A discussion will follow Vandiver's address, which begins at 4 p.m. in 601 Rudder. The event is part of a meet ing of the Texas Association of Col lege Teachers. Vandiver said Monday night that his speech will probablv focus on the way the budget is formulated and on the effects of the present budget. Just before Christmas, Vandiver ordered a hiring freeze and a cutback in some operating expenses. The aus terity move also included a request that all departments submit plans for dismissing employees if layoffs be came necessary. Vandiver said the austerity mea sures were necessary to make Univer sity procedures more efficient and economical. He added that the money saved would mainh go toward impro ving the University’s computer sys tems. The measures caused some con troversy among faculty and staff members earlv this vear. but Vandiv er explained that the layoff plans were onlv contingency plans. He said the hiring freeze was intended more to make administrators careful about their budgets than to stop hiring altogether. Study puts A&M’s political science department 10th The Texas A&M Department of Political Science has been ranked 1 Oth in the nation by a Southern Illinois University study. The studv is based on the number of articles, written bv professors at each school, which were published in sev en political science journals from 1978 through 1981. said Dr. David Hill, assistant professor of political science. Dr. Charles Johnson, associate professor of political science, said the national journal of the Professional Political Science Association, official journals of each region in the United States and the American Political Quarterly are the seven journals used in the studv. Hill said the study is a measure of productivity and published research. It does not include international rela tions publications or the number of published books. Although an earlier studv, made bv another group, ranked Texas A&M 44th in the nation. Hill said the stu dies are comparable. Johnson said some of the previous studies included onlv schmils with political science doctoral programs which I exas A&M does not have. The University of Michigan, w hich has a doctoral program in the political science department, was ranked first in the nation. inside Classified 8 Local 3 National 7 Opinions 2 Sports 9 State 5 What's Up 12 forecast Today's forecast: Partly