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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1982)
962 state Battalion/Page 3 August 31, 1982 dUT-Arlington image buried in metroplex United Press International ARLINGTON — The Uni- e timeJersity of Texas at Arlington has definite image problem. The president of the urgeoning school, which is still thesm datively unknown outside ademic circles, jokingly sug- estsUT-A would be better off it were somewhere in West 'gtos, i was artmej ivatingi the htii exas. We’re located between Dal- isand Fort Worth in a dynamic letroplex’ area and we don’t t'onsai et much attention,” said Dr. ipentoi fcndel! H. Nedderman. If we could move the city of 1,000 with the state’s fifth irgest higher education institu te the plains, there’d be at astone newspaper and some canevt iajor radio and television sys- s instiu ms and we’d get noticed.” UT-A is sandwiched between etterknown Southern Method- doffin 11 University in Dallas and exas Christian University in a PP rf |ort Worth. To show how bad things have arraoti een,when a new NBA franch- tunbit ingsom ise formed in Dallas two years ago and chose to be called the “Mavericks,” UT-A fans pro tested the pros had stolen their team name. The NBA folks said ...Even locally, many view the University of Texas-affiliated school as a commuter college with only a few degrees to attract a few thousand students. they had no idea what UT-A, just 15 miles down the street, cal led their teams. Even locally, many view the University of Texas-affiliated school as a commuter college with only a few degrees to attract a few thousand students. During a summer orientation, many pa rents paying tuition for their offspring thought the school only had about 5,000 students. In fact, the school has seen a truly amazing growth in 22 years from 5,500 students and 18 de gree programs to 21,000 stu dents, 97 degree programs, 43 master’s degree areas and 15 doctor of philosophy programs. Half of the students live in Arlington. Faced with rapid growth and overflowing buildings, the school is lobbying hard to re ceive benefits from the Universi- ty of Texas and Texas A&M sys tems’ Permanent University Fund. The fund allows the two universities to share in the oil and gas wealth for construction. UT-A is one of 14 components of the UT system. Nedderman acknowledges it is the school’s location between Dallas and Fort Worth that is re sponsible for its growth, attrac tion of talent and fine reputa tion. UT-A, which started its fall semester Monday, is one of the fastest growing schools in Texas and has maintained constant growth in a time when many schools are reporting losses. “Some people have asked why UT-Arlington continues to grow,” he said. “We have a very strategic location. W r e’re in an urban setting. We are accessible to people.” The school has a wealth of ta lent within 25 miles to use as speakers and lecturers. It is accessible to thousands of businesses and institutions where student can get on-the- job training. UT-A boasts the nation’s sixth largest business college with 7,000 majors, am engineering school with 4,000 majors (mak ing it the third largest in the state and one of the 25 biggest in the nation), the Southwest’s largest graduate school of social work and one of the largest nursing schools in Texas. UT-A’s Institute of Urban Studies graduate program in urban affairs has been ranked No. 1 in the South and South- khool officials complain Illegal enrolling a burden United Press International SAN ANTONIO — Older kool districts say they are not educate significantly lumbers of un- d Mexican children an last, but many say r is more than their n bear. :y all came in and 50,000 homes, we ne,” said Brownsville ntendent Raul Besteiro. hen they come, they can’t to buy the taxable prop- that offsets the burden they tuse the district.” The U.S. Supreme Court in une struck down a ’Texas law at had allowed school districts charge tuition to the children [illegal aliens. The court said le children could go to school fee as long as they lived in the Tool district, regardless of leir immigration status. Most school districts had already begun to admit the un documented children after fed eral Judge W'illiam Wayne Jus tice originally ruled against the Texas law’ in 1978. About 25,000 illegal alien children are believed to be in the Texas schools at an estimated cost of $62.5 million, state offi cials have said. They predicted the figure could rise to 100,000 under the Supreme Court rul ing, but most school districts along the Texas-Mexico border said only a few more illegal alien children than last year have shown up. Brownsville registered 219 illegal alien students among nearly 29,000 children who attended classes the first four days of school, but that figure reflected only the new students. Most of the 813 illegal aliens who attended last year will be back, officials said. Neighboring Harlingen has signed up 42 undocumented children so far. To register, the children must show a birth certificate and proof they live in the school dis trict. Those without documenta tion papers are considered illeg al aliens, Gomez said. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has no ac cess to the school records, so un documented families will not be caught by enrolling their chil dren, said Walter Cheedie of the Harlingen INS district office. In Hidalgo, across the border from much larger Reynosa, ab out 300 illegal students are ex pected — the same as last year, said Superintendent Alejo Sali nas, who worries more about children attending Hidalgo schools while living in Mexico. “We keep a very close eye on the bridge,” he said. “We actual ly have people at the bridge checking the children coming over. We have to educate them if they’re living here but not if they’re crossing the bridge every day.” In Tyler, the school district which filed the original lawsuit to keep from having to educate illegal aliens, there are no re cords yet to tell how many un documented children have en rolled, said Bob Barr, assistant superintendent for personnel. But Tyler expects no more than 200 among its 16,000 students, he said. The same is true for the San Antonio Independent School District, said spokesman Robert Zamora. “For the most part, we’ve been happy to have them,” he said. “I think the feeling is that if we don’t educate them now, they’ll become a liability to the city and the state and the nation later.” west and seventh in the nation. Its Energy Systems Research Center is rated as one of the top five in the world and its new doc toral of science in chemistry de gree is unique in the nation. Although UT-A draws facul ty from across the nation, it is ...Nedderman acknow ledges it is the school’s location between Dallas and Fort Worth that is responsible for its growth, attraction of ta lent and fine reputa tion. not widely known outside acade mia. But the school shuns using athletics to gain notoriety. “Traditionally that has been the case with schools like Alaba ma, Nebraska and Oklahoma,” Nedderman said. “In the mind’s eye of the public, sports has been one of the marks of a major uni versity. “But I think we are seeing a more discerning public, a more sophisticated public able to make the separation between academics and athletics. We have no aspirations of being a major football power.” Nedderman believes athletics will become less important in the next decade as athletic prog rams suffer from inflation. UT- A currently competes in sports as a member of the Southland Conference, which includes schools in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Nedderman does not consid er UT-A a commuting college, but acknowledges the student makeup is different from re sidential colleges. For one thing, the average age is 24'/a. “We have a growing student body, what I call a ‘working class student body’ that is goal oriented, willing to work,” he said. But he notes UT-A does not shut down at night as at least 8,000 students participate in in tramural sports and other extra curricular activities. While Nedderman wants to see UT-A’s image improved, the school needs assured financial support to accomodate growth. That’s where the PUF fund is a factor. UT-A was blocked this year from getting PUF funds that feed UT, Texas A&M and long- established branches such as the UT medical school, but Nedder man said another effort will be made in the next legislative ses sion. The hang-up is many of the 17 non-PUF state schools, who are blocking the addition of any other Texas A&M or UT system components. They want to be assured of a funding source now that the state property tax is ex pected to be repealed by voters Nov. 2. Bell’s rate increase request called unfair United Press International AUSTIN — Southwestern Bell’s $471.5 million rate in crease request places the burden on residential customers by re fusing to raise long-distance rates for fear of losing custom ers to rivals like MCI and Sprint, says the attorney for the Texas Municipal League. “Somehow in their own mind they come to the conclusion that their cost increases do not affect their long-distance activities where they have competition,” said TML attorney Don Butler, whose group has intervened on behalf of the Bell-service cities it represents. “They attempt an annual snow job of the public and the press whereby they quote a cer tain figure for the cost of provid ing local service,” said Butler. “We think long-distance should bear some fair share of the in- The 13.4 percent request, which would be the biggest util ity rate increase in state history, translates to $471.5 million and would raise basic residential rates by $4.60 a month. A hear ing before the Public Utilities Commission begins Wednesday and is expected to last six weeks. This is the fifth consecutive year the telephone company has asked the PUC for permission to raise rates for its 4.4 million Texas customers. The TML has recommended Bell receive an increase of only $217.9 million. Last week, the PUC staff re commended a $304.5 million in crease. The PUC traditionally has granted Southwestern Bell increases of less than half the amounts requested. In five sepa rate rate cases filed in 1976 and 1978-1981, the company asked for a total of $796.1 million in increases, and the PUC granted $370.2 million. The company says it needs the increase in revenue this year to keep up with population growth in Texas and to meet continuing cost increases and other capital expenses. “We’ve increased sales, we’ve improved productivity and we’ve worked at holding down expenses,” said Paul Roth, a Bell vice-president. “However, con tinued cost increases impact our cost of doing business.” In addition to increases in re sidential rates, Southwestern Bell has asked for increases in one-party business rates ranging from $1.55 in Houston to $6.55 in smaller cities, a decrease from 10 to 3 in the monthly allowance for directory assistance calls and a minimum fee of $63.85 for in stalling or moving a telephone. In addition to long-distance, no increases were requested in pay phone rates. 1771 tMfZ CEICr^*|Z\I C I Am JhLiI ivl Em ^Lm iferl cherf class. J anesl classul in. if lardal tell f it lo»1 BOSE 301 • Direct Reflecting • Concert Sound • Reg. s 180 each Now Only S 129 M ea. 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