oftball team starts regional
layoffs today in Oklahoma
See page 14
SWC coaches looking
for balanced tourney
See page 13
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The Battalion
Serving the University community
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Vol. 75 No. 150 USPS 045360 32 Pages In 2 Sections
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College Station, Texas
Friday, May 7, 1982 -
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Argentina, Britain
accept mediation
United Press International
Argentina and Britain turned to
the United Nations today for media
tion in their dispute over the Falkland
Islands but neither side appeared
ready to make the major concessions
necessary for peace.
Britain said Thursday it lost two
Sea Harrier jets on a patrol of the
200-mile exclusion zone around the
islands in bad weather. Argentina
claimed it shot them down earlier this
week but Britain said they may have
collided.
Britain joined Argentina Thurs
day in accepting U.N. mediation in
the dispute but repeated demands
Argentine troops withdraw from the
Falklands. Argentina said it would
not budge on its claim to sovereignty
over the islands.
No new outbreaks of fighting were
reported in the Falklands since the
battles Tuesday that knocked out the
British destroyer HMS Sheffield.
A U.S.-Pervian peace plan, pushed
by Secretary of State Alexander Haig,
collapsed Thursday when Argentine
Foreign Minister Nicanor Costa Men
dez said the plan “was not in line with
Argentine interests.”
Prime Minister Margaret Thatch
er, speaking in Parliament Thursday,
cautiously accepted the U.N. peace
proposals as a “framework” for furth
er talks but, at the same time, British
officials criticized the plan as “too
vague.”
A diplomatic source said it calls for
a cease-fire, withdrawal of Argentine
forces and the British fleet, negotia
tions for a settlement, an end to sanc
tions against Argentina and tempor
ary U.N. administration of the is
lands.
Argentina insisted it will not nego
tiate its claim to sovereignty of the
Falklands — the issue that sparked its
seizure of the islands April 2 after 149
years of British rule.
Now largest student group
Greek system flourishes
by Bill Robinson
Battalion Staff
Although fraternities and soror
ities are not recognized as student
organizations by Texas A&M Univer
sity, their total membership now
forms the school’s largest organized
group of students.
After spring rush — the process of
inducting new members into the
Greek system — fraternities and
sororities in the area had more than
2,000 members, a small increase from
the fall.
At the same time, membership in
the Corps of Cadets, which has been
the largest student group for more
than 100 years, had declined to 1,953.
The spring enrollment figure is more
than 400 below the Corps’ original fall
total.
And the trend among students to
go Greek — a title derived from the
fact that the groups use letters of the
Greek alphabet to identify themselves
— is getting stronger, Intra-
Fraternity Council Vice President
Don Marable said.
Some of the individual Greek
organizations are planning to in
crease their membership by as much
as 25 percent next year, Marable said.
A high level of scholarship is one of
the major reasons for the increasing
number of Greeks at Texas A&M, he
said.
“To remain in a fraternity or
sorority here you must maintain a 2.0
grade point ratio,” he said.
Another boost for the organiza
tions has been a more tolerant atti
tude by students.
Members of fraternities have
made great strides in attaining cam
pus leadership positions.
Two MSC Council directors, one
Council vice-president, the 1982 Miss
Texas A&M and first runner-up, the
1982 Fish Camp Chairman, some
MSC committee officers and a few
Student Senate members are Greeks.
“We’re everywhere,” Marable said.
“The mood has really relaxed on the
campus (toward fraternities),” he
said.
“Opinion has shifted. Students
may not welcome us with open arms,
but they’re not going to run us off
either.”
Life at Texas A&M has not always
been so easy for the Greeks, though.
Being run off was something Greek
leaders and members had to worry
about not too long ago.
During the 1981 fall semester, the
groups were the subject of vocal and
sometimes violent protests on
campus.
At that time, the Intra-Fraternity
Council and the Panhellenic League
— the governing bodies of the Greek
system — were seeking University
recognition.
Texas A&M students opposed to
recognition resorted to vandalism
and threatening phone calls —
threats serious enough to force for
mer IFC President Tom Graf to go
into virtual seclusion.
“His car was ripped up,” Marable
said. “He has had horse manure
dumped inside of it and
had the electrical wiring ripped out.
“It is really sad to see Aggies do
something like that.”
In addition, several more peaceful
protests against fraternity recogni
tion were launched by small, but voc
al, groups of students, primarily by
(See Greeks page 16)
Cadets to be commissioned
To catch a thief
staff photo by Peter Rocha
John Houseman, a Physical Plant
employee, installs a detection system in
the Memorial Student Center Bookstore.
The security device will alert store per
sonnel if someone walks out of the book
store with unpurchased merchandise.
Nearly 100 senior members of the
Corps of Cadets will be commissioned
as second lieutenants in the United
States Armed Forces at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. E.C.
Meyer is the scheduled speaker for
the ceremony.
Forty cadets will receive commis
sions in the Army, 35 in the Air
Force, 16 in the Navy and 11 in the
Marine Corps.
These men and other senior cadets
will march in their Aggie uniforms
for the last time during Final Review
at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Final Review
will be held on the Main Drill Field
During the annual event, the
Corps first passes in review as it has at
other times during the 1981-82 year.
The seniors then drop out of the for
mation and the juniors, sophomores
and freshmen assume their positions
for the 1982-83 year. This group then
passes in review.
Col. Donald E. Ellis, a former
Texas A&M quarterback, will lead a
flyover of four T-38 supersonic jets a
few minutes before the start of the
During the flyover, one of the four
jets will fly away from the other three,
symbolizing the departure of the
seniors.
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Vandiver urges profs to strive for excellence
By Hope E. Paasch
Battalion Staff
Faculty and staff members were
challenged by President Frank E.
Vandiver to help protect the Perma
nent University Fund and to help
establish Texas A&M as a world uni
versity during the only University
wide faculty meeting of the year.
The combination faculty meeting
and awards ceremony was held
Thursday afternoon in Rudder Audi
torium.
Distinguished Achievement
Awards were presented to 18 faculty
and staff members in recognition of
their accomplishments in teaching,
research, student relations, con
tinuing education/extension, or their
contribution to the University staff or
administration.
Vandiver said in the year he has
served as president, he has been im
pressed with the research conducted
at Texas A&M.
“The research at Texas A&M has
had a world-wide impact,” Vandiver
said, adding that research was help
ing to establish Texas A&M as a world
university.
“Our national position goes up ev
ery year,” he said, “and the idea of
Texas A&M as a world university is
catching on.”
Vandiver also urged faculty and
staff members to share a good word
with friends across the state concern
ing the PUF.
“The Permanent University Fund
is always of concern, but especially
now since a special session of the Leg
islature has been called concerning
construction at universities,” he said.
Jack Fritz, president of the Former
Students Association, said the PUF
won’t be tampered with during the
special session.
“I have been assured by the powers
that be — the powers that are — that
no attack on the Permanent Universi
ty Fund will be made in this session,”
he said.
Dr. Charles E. McCandless, in
terim vice president for academic
affairs, gave what Vandiver referred
to as a “state-of-the-University”
speech.
McCandless announced the tenta
tive dates of completion for much of
the construction on campus: the Phy
sics Building, Winter 1982; the Meat
Sciences Building, Winter 1982; the
Pavilion conversion, Spring 1983; the
Cyclotron Institute, Summer 1983;
Faculty and staff members received Distinguished Achievement Awards for their contribution
to the University.
and the University Press Building,
Summer 1983.
Concerning the admission of new
students, McCandless said that as of
Saturday, 849 fewer students had
been accepted for the next fall than at
the same time last year. The break
down, he said, is 231 fewer freshmen
and 618 fewer transfer students.
Texas A&M already has recruited
180 National Merit Scholars, exceed
ing the number recruited last year.
Princeton and Texas A&M each had
149 National Merit Scholars last year,
tying them for second in the nation.
The average SAT score for next
year’s recipients of President’s En
dowed Scholarships is 1,404 — a very
impressive figure, McCandless said.
The amount of money set aside for
research has increased, he said, from
$64.6 million last year to $72.7 million
this year.
A new Agricultural Education doc
toral program has been approved by
the Coordinating Board in Austin,
McCandless said, along with a bache
lor ’s degree in scientific nutrition
and a new bachelor’s degree in busi
ness.
(See Awards page 16)
inside
Classified 8
Local 3
National 9
Opinions 2
Sports 13
State 3
What’s Up 7
forecast
Sunny, mild and dry through Sun
day. Highs of 80 today, 83 Satur-
; day and 85 on Sunday.
Correction
A headline in Thursday’s Battalion
incorrectly said a Bryan man was shot
and killed behind Duddley’s Draw
Wednesday. However, the shooting
did not occur there. The Battalion
regrets the error.