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The BaTtaiion
Serving the University community
76 No. 53 USPS 045360 30 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
Friday, November 12, 1982
alesa freed; no longer a ‘threat’
United Press International
■WARSAW, Poland — Lech Walesa,
I charismatic leader of the out-
,ved Solidarity union, was f reed to-
ly by Poland’s military regime after
Jarly 11 months of internment, the
Ivernment said.
The order of the Interior Minis-
dreleasing Walesa) is being carried
}i right now,” a Justice Ministry
okesman said. “He is packing,
king goodbye, if he wants, getting
miself spruced up.”
The government spokesman’s
office later confirmed the order re
leasing Walesa had been carried out.
Officials said this did not mean
Walesa had left the plush government
hunting lodge at Arlamowo in south
east Poland where he had been held,
But other sources said Walesa prob
ably had already been taken some
where else.
There was no immediate word on
when Walesa would go to his home in
Gdansk, or whether he would stop in
Warsaw or elsewhere before return
ing home to the Baltic port city of
Gdansk. Although officials expected
him in Gdansk by Sunday, his family
had no concrete word of plans for his
release.
Walesa’s wife, Danuta Walesa, said
she was “full of joy and fear” at the
news.
“Fear because I can’t imagine the
crowds of people who will want to see
him,” she said.
Government spokesman Jerzy
Urban said Walesa, the fiery strike
leader who led the 10-million-
member Solidarity union for its entire
16 months of existence, was no longer
considered “a threat to internal stabil
ity.”
Urban announced at a news con
ference Thursday the charismatic
leader of the banned union would be
released “within a few days.” Walesa
has been interned since martial law
was imposed Dec. 13.
The spokesman said no conditions
had been attached in exchange for
Walesa’s freedom, but he stressed
that, like anyone else, W alesa could be
interned again should he begin activi
ties deemed harmful to the state.
The move was the strongest indica
tion yet that authorities feel the coun
try is under their control and that
they have the confidence to meet
their stated goal of ending martial law
by the end of the year.
Walesa’s release order followed a
meeting with Interior Minister Gen.
Czeslaw Kiszczak.
The release order, dated Nov. 10,
apparently was delayed one day to see
how Poles would react to the under
ground’s call for a general strike and
mass street demonstrations to protest
the Solidarity ban.
The response was muted, and au
thorities declared total victory, de
spite street clashes in three cities in
which about 40 people were hurt.
B-CS residents
protest election
ludder Exhibit Hall normally is full of art, but Thursday it was
mpty in preparation for the beginning of pre-registration Mon
staff photo by David Fisher
Empty now, but not Monday
day. The lines will probably be long, so be sure to go early.
by Robert McGlohon
Battalion Staff
A group of Bryan-College Station
residents is sending a letter to the
Texas attorney general asking for an
investigation of voting irregularities
in Brazos County during the Nov. 2
general election.
Gloria and Ronald Wilkins belong
to the group that signed the letter.
Mrs. Wilkins is chairman of the Bra
zos County Republican Party, but she
said she did not sign the letter in that
capacity.
Wilkins has no official connection
to the Republican Party and was not
involved in the election until the last
few days, but became involved be
cause he was “just plain getting irri
tated at all the crookedness,” he said.
One of the complaints listed in the
letter is one of class discrimination
against the predominately Republi
can students of Texas A&rM Universi
ty, who generally live in the southern
districts of Brazos County, he said.
“What was good in the north part
of the county wasn’t good, for let’s say
some funny reason, in the south part
of the county,” Wilkins said.
Discrimination was involved in re
gistration as well as voting, Wilkins
said. During registration, students
were not allowed to use a post office
box as their home address, he said.
But in other districts, voters were
allowed to use post office boxes as
their addresses.
During the actual voting, students
who had lost or never received their
registration cards were not allowed to
vote, he said.
“The main issue is when someone
comes in (to vote) without the voter
registration card, there are proce
dures to enable them to vote,” Wilkins
said.
I fa person does not have a registra
tion card, the pollster must allow him
to sign an affidavit swearing he is a
resident of the district in which he
wants to vote and that he either lost or
never received his card.
That procedure was not followed
in districts with large student popula
tions, he said. But in other districts,
residents were allowed to vote by
showing their driver’s licenses or So
cial Security cards.
The W’ilkinses ask that any student
who was turned away from the polls
call Launa Davison at 779-2661.
Bryan council undecided on zoning issue
by Robert McGlohon
Battalion Staff
The Bryan City Council will hold
noiher hearing on zoning in Bryan
n Dec. 13. And throughout the
Aonth, councilmen say, they will be
oliciting citizens’ opinions on the
sue.
Of the six Bryan city councilmen,
inly one said he opposes the zoning
iroposal. The others said they ha-
en't made up their minds.
Councilman Ron Blatchlev, one of
he undecided, said he sees two major
idvantages to zoning.
The biggest advantage of zoning
inside
Around town ... 4
Classified 8
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forecast
Today’s Forecast: Clear skies to-
davand Saturday. High in the low
/Os. Low in the lower 30s, with gus
ty winds from the northwest at 15-
25 rnph.
>/
is to be able to plan,” Blatchley said,
“as a city, your growth — to be able to
know what’s going to be located here,
w'hat’s going to be located there, what
kind of services, what kind of lines
you need to put in tea service a particu
lar area, what kind of feeder roads as
opposed to major thoroughfares.
“Simply, the greatest advantage to
zoning, for the city, is the whole idea
of being able to literally plan out your
community and make it work with
some sensible method.”
Zoning is advantageous to the indi
vidual citizen as well, he added.
“On the other hand, the advantage
by Kathleen Hart
Battalion Reporter
Assigning a letter grade of passing
or failing based on the number of cor
rect answers on a test or paper is one
of the most difficult tasks facing a
teacher. And understanding how the
teacher arrived at that grade is diffi
cult for many, if not most students.
But whether the student under
stands the grading process, once his
grade is determined, it can affect his
life dramatically.
How arbitrary a grade is, how diffi
cult the class was, how inflated the
grade was and how it was determined
do not appear on the transcript for
prospective employers or graduate
schools to see. And many students are
concerned about how those hidden
factors affect their grades.
Dr. Bryan Cole, associate dean of
the College of Education, said letter
grades are arrived at in two ways:
criterion referencing and normative
referencing.
Criterion referencing is a statistical
to the citizenry — and they make up
the city — is that they’re able to make
plans about where they particularly
have purchased a home or business,”
Blatchley said.
Peyton Waller is the councilman
who opposes zoning.
“I just don’t believe in telling peo
ple how to use their property,” Waller
said. “I think it’s one of our rights.”
Blatchley said objections based on
people’s property rights is a “simplis
tic approach.”
“I don’t care what land you have
now.” Blatchley said. “If it’s inside the
city limits there are going to be some
measure of how much a student
knows. Normative-referenced grad
ing places students’ grades on a curve
and assigns letters according to their
placement on that curve.
For example, a professor could say
that if a student knows facts X, Y and
Z, he will receive an A in a criterion-
referenced situation. In a normative?
referenced situation, the professor
could say that the top 10 percent of
the grades would be A’s, the next 10
percent B’s, the next 10 percent C’s,
the next D’s and the bottom 60 per
cent would fail.
Normative-referenced grades
often appear much more arbitrary
than criterion-referenced grades. For
example, a student could receive an A
on a test with a 92 and on the next test,
the same student could make the
same number grade and end up with
a B.
But one grading system is not
necessarily more reliable than the
other. And the type of test is another
variable that must be considered.
restrictions on what you do with that
property. You’ve got to meet subdivi
sion ordinance restrictions. You’ve
got to meet building restrictions.
There are already some controls in
place.
“It (zoning) may not be any more
restrictive than subdivision ordi
nances and quite possibly not as re
strictive.”
Waller also said zoning would cost
too much.
“It’s been estimated that it would
take 16 employees to put zoning into
force in the city of Bryan and they’re
all high-priced employees,” Waller
“If all you want to know is if some
body knows a particular fact or for
mula, then an objective test is fine,”
Cole said. “If, on the other hand, you
want to make certain that a person has
taken that fact or information and
made it a part of his own repertoire,
then you would want to go to an essay-
type exam, which can measure high
er-order levels of thinking such as
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation,
which a purely objective test cannot
measure.
“If a person can put knowledge *
into some kind of new setting and
draw from other areas and see how it
relates to those, then it’s more likely to
be a part of them from then on than if
it’s strictly memorization and regurgi
tation.”
Dr. Candida Lutes, associate dean
of students for the College of Liberal
Arts, said that one testing method is
not necessarily any better than the
other because much depends on the
teacher’s ability to make out a good
See Grades, page 8
Grading systems difficult
for professors and students
said. “It doesn’t produce anything
constructive. All you’re doing is dire
cting people in the (use of) property
they already own.”
The 16 employees would cost
Bryan taxpayers $500,()()() a year,
Waller said.
Blatchley said the increase in staff
would be minimal and most of the
work would be done by an unpaid
zoning board.
But Waller said Bryan residents
already have made their decision ab
out zoning.
“It’s been in front of the voters in
Bryan three times,” Waller said. “All
three times it’s been presented to the
voters, it’s been overwhelmingly defe
ated. I feel like we’re just wasting the
citizens' money and wasting their
time. They’ve already said what they
think.”
Under the Bryan city charter, zon
ing can be enacted by a vote of the city
council. The council considered hav
ing a referendum on the issue but
decided against it.
Councilmen John Mobley and Pies
Turner said they have not made up
their minds on the issue. Mayor
Richard Smith and Councilmen
Wayne Gibson and Henry Seale were
not available for comment.
i*.