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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1983)
Texas A&M College Station, Texas Serving the University community Wednesday, April 27, 1983 El Salvador to get $30 million in aid United Press International WASHINGTON — One congres sional panel is willing to give Presi dent Reagan half of what he wants in military aid for El Salvador, but charges that the administration is illegally aiding Nicaraguan rebels will make getting any more money for the region difficult. A House Appropriations subcom mittee voted 7-5 Tuesday to give Reagan $30 million for El Salvador, half the $60 million he wanted to shift from other programs. A move to de lay action for 90 days barely failed on a 6-6 vote. Reagan planned to address a joint session of Congress tonight in an effort to build support for additional aid to the Salvadoran government in its battle against leftist guerrillas. Reagan’s task has been complicated by charges the administration is illeg ally aiding right-wing guerrillas seek ing to overthrow the Sandinista gov ernment of Nicaragua. The Senate held one of its unusual closed sessions to discuss the charges and Reagan invited several members of the House Intelligence Committee to the White House to try to reassure them about U.S. actions in Central America. Just to win approval of the $30 mil lion, Reagan had to agree to a de mand by appropriations subcommit tee Chairman Clarence Long, D-Md., for the appointment of a high-level special envoy who will try to negotiate an agreement with all factions in El Salvador for open elections. Former Sen. Richard Stone, D-Fla., who chaired the subcommittee on Latin American affairs and has been closely aligned with Reagan’s policies in the region, is considered a leading candidate for the job. Long told his colleagues the envoy would be “charged with advancing the peace process.” Long, who returned Monday from a two-day visit to El Salvador, also won concessions from the Salvadoran gov ernment. « Included was an agreement to open prisons and detention centers to unannounced inspections by the Red Cross and release of political prison ers following early passage of an amnesty law. The administration also agreed to make a “high-level review” of FBI files on the 1980 slayings of four U.S. churchwomen to determine if Salva doran authorities had considered in formation in trying to prosecute the killers. Long said his compromise plan is “not a perfect solution, but it just might work.” The Senate Appropriations sub committee on foreign operations agreed last month to let Reagan shift the full $60 million, but since the House and Senate subcommittees came up with different figures, the lower amount — $30 million — is all the administration can use. Secretary of State George Shultz, in a letter agreeing to Long’s conditions, said the administration will resubmit its request for the other $30 million. Official says changes in student aid possible College Station firemen clean up water from burst pipes with mops and vacuum cleaners the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house on Athens Street. The mess was created during a fire at the house Tuesday morning. (See related story, page 3) indent computerizes center Interview system changing k 19 by Connie Edelmon Battalion Staff uture seniors, take note. No more ding in line to get a job interview. Texas A&M Placement Center is ig computerized. .ynn Slater, a senior computer sci- e major with extensive computer erience, worked all year on a sys- i to computerize the center. Slater I he chose to donate his time and >rts to improve the Placement iter, calling it a “lasting memorial” Texas A&M. The center, located on the 10th ir of Rudder Tower, offers career nseling for students, interviews summer jobs and job interviews graduating seniors and graduate lents. “Graduating seniors have long n upset with the way the Place- nt Center is run,” Slater said, liors have to visit the center several hts a week, he said, often waiting line an hour and not getting an irview slot. It’s always push, push, shove, fve,” he said. “That’s what I’m here iliminate.” The philosophy of the new system, said, is that no one will have to wait in line to sign up for an interview. John Gudelman, associate director of the center, said the center hopes to have preliminary runs starting May 15. Center personnel then will work on perfecting the system, he said. “We should be in full force by Sep tember,” Gudelman said. The system will be tested during summer graduate interviewing. If all goes well, it will be used next fall. Summer interviewing will be con ducted under the current system, so if problems occur in the computer sys tem, interviews won’t be disturbed. Under the new system, students still must register with the Placement Center to schedule interviews. Regis tering at the beginning of the fall semester would be wise, Slater said, because there may be a time delay before names are placed in the system. When registering, students will fill out a schedule showing when they can accept interviews during the week. Students will be assigned a Place ment Center identification number to avoid violation of federal privacy laws. Every senior will be allotted a num ber of points to bid on interviews, Sla ter said. The number hasn’t been de cided, he said, but fall graduates probably will be given more points than spring graduates because fewer companies interview before fall gra duation. A certain number of points will be allotted for each semester and cannot be saved from one semester to the next. When all points have been used, students still may sign up for inter views, but will have lowest priority in the system. Companies will not be told how many points a student bid. For the system’s format, notices of interview dates will be posted in the center and across campus one month before interview dates. The notices will give the name of the company and majors that they seek. After checking notices, students can fill out a card giving their center identification number, the name of the company and the number of points they want to bid for the inter view. The schedule given at registra tion can be overridden by writing in a special schedule for that week only on the bid card. See INTERVIEWS page 10 by Melissa Adair Battalion Staff Qualifications for student financial aid won’t change much next year, but Congress is looking at proposals that would make it much tougher to obtain financial aid during the follow ing year. Students applying for financial aid for the 1984-85 school year may find some programs eliminated and others reduced, but Alvin P. Bor- mann, assistant director of student financial aid at Texas A&M, says he is not discouraged by those proposals. “Changes constantly occur here in financial aid,” Bormann said. “What is proposed today may nibver even take effect.” Congress has proposed that all guaranteed student loans be awarded strictly on a need basis. Currently, any student whose family income is less than $30,000 a year automatically is eligible for a guaranteed student loan. If the proposal passes, students would have to prove a need for the loan regardless of family income. That proposal would cause prob lems for students here, Bormann said. “A large part of our students are from middle-class families,” he said. “If this proposal passes, many of them will be eliminated even though they may need a grant.” In addition, banks probably would guarantee fewer loans under this type of program, he said. “Incentives have to be built into the program to get the banks to lend,” he said. “Most students who would qual ify for grants under this new program will have a hard time getting the banks to lend money to them because their families haven’t built a good re lationship with the banks.” Bormann said the proposal also makes it harder for students to get loans of the size they now are getting. Virginia Rayburn, coordinator of the long-term loan program, said the proposal to award smaller loans will cause difficulty in borrowing money from the banks. “Lenders prefer to mi.ke large loans because they get a better return on large loans,” Rayburn said. “This proposal will make it harder to get more (money) so students may not be able to get banks to lend to them.” But, Bormann said, Texas 'A&M has several advantages over many other schools. The cost of going to school here is relatively low compared to private schools, he said. “We also have the Southeast Texas Higher Education Authority in the area that is basically a secondary mar ket for guaranteed student loans,” he said. Rayburn said the education au thority creates an incentive for the banks to lend. “They buy the loan immediately from the bank that has guaranteed it to the student,” she said. “Because of this, banks tend to lend more money because they get an immediate return on their loan.” Bormann said former students have a reputation for paying back their loans on time, which helps Texas A&M with financial aid. This year, more than $2 billion was allocated for national student finan cial aid, he said. Universities whose students pay back their loans, will re ceive “their fair share of this money,” he said. Another proposal by Congress tot ally would eliminate two major grant programs in 1984-85. The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and the State Student Incentive Grants would be cut to zero funding by the govern ment— eliminating them completely. More than $350,000 was given to students at Texas A&M through the SEOG and the SSIG this school year. One change, however, is expected to take effect July 1. Unless the effective date is changed, a new law that deprives draft non-registrants of all federally funded financial aid will be enforced by Student Financial Aid. The law requires students to sign a statement of compliance with draft registration laws before they can re ceive loans or grants. Even women would have to sign the statement although they are not required to re gister with the Selective Service. Men required to register would have to show an acknowledgement letter from the Selective Service or some other proof of registration. Bormann said he is opposed to the law. “I’m concerned because I don’t think we should be given this respon sibility,” he said. “We don’t work for the Selective Service.” He also said the law would monitor only the students who apply for finan cial aid. “We feel it penalizes the student who really needs financial aid,” he said. “If the Selective Service wants to check up on college students, they should check up on all college stu dents.” nre found n Bolton College Station firemen re- •onded to a call on campus at about a.m. today. A spokesman said someone re nted smelling smoke in Bolton all. “When we got here we found lined paper in a box,” Lt. Fred ipczyk said. He said he is uncer- in whether the fire was arson. The cardboard box was found in e office of Associate Professor of alitical Science Kenneth R. ladenka’s office. Also in the room ere scattered papers and over- irned books. inside Wound Town. . . 4 Classified 10 -ocal . . 3 Opinions 2 iports 11 State 5 National 13 3 olice Beat 4 that’s up 14 jfl# forecast Mostly cloudy skies today with a high of 82 and a 20 percent chance af showers. Becoming partly cloudy in the evening with a low near 61. Clear to partly cloudy Thursday with a high near 84. Anniversary of admitting women today by Mary Jo Rummel Battalion Reporter When Dot Hedges came to the A&M College of Texas in 1960, the campus was smaller, the Corps of Cadets was mandatory and the stu dent body was almost all male. However, 20 years ago today the Board of Directors of A&M College voted to allow “qualified women” to attend the school on a limited basis. According to the University Arc hives: “The ruling provided that Texas A&M would admit qualified women students on a day-student basis to all graduate programs and to the School of Veterinary Medi cine. A&M would also admit to undergraduate programs qualified women who were either A&M staff members or the wives or daughters of students and college employees.” In 1965, Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr ruled that the li mited enrollment of women in the school was unconstitutional, so the directors opened the doors to all women. In fall 1963, 150 women officially enrolled at Texas A&M and the female enrollment has been increas ing each semester since that time. T oday, 13,697 women — 38 per cent of the total enrollment — are enrolled at Texas A&M. And enter ing classes have higher percentages. Hedges, now a lecturer in the che mistry department, attended classes before the official admission of women. “It wasn’t official — the profes sors said they just wouldn’t see you in the classrooms,” she said. Hedges continued her graduate work after 1965 and completed her doctorate in 1975. “A&M changed so much all at once —- the compulsory Corps was eliminated, black students and women students were admitted all about the same time,” Hedges said. All things considered, the transi tion was remarkably smooth. “I didn’t experience any real opposition to my being in the clas srooms, though I was usually the only woman,” Hedges said. “Initially they (men) didn’t think the women could do anything, but the ones that did enroll in the early times were serious about school and worked hard. I think it surprised them.” On the other hand, a 1963 Batta lion survey indicated that 60 percent of the Texas A&M students were against the ruling when 1,875 out of 2,462 cadets signed a petition against the admission of women to the University. But the ruling stood. The fight to allow women into Texas A&M has risen several times since the early life of the University. The first record of women attending Texas A&M is in the 1895 yearbook, the Olio, which names Ethel Hutson, daughter of a Texas A&M professor, an honorary mem ber of the Class of 1895. She re ceived a certificate, not a degree. Daughters of faculty members attended the college off and on until 1925 when the campus was closed to all women. Special cases again were allowed in the early 1930s when the depression hurt the enrollment of male students. It was opened again in the 1940s to female veterans or wives of students and faculty for special extension classes. During the 1950s, the coeduca tion question faced more opposi tion. One news story published in the Bryan Daily Eagle in 1958 quotes a former student as sayihg that admitting women in the college was a football recruitment ploy be cause “the opportunity to stroll hand in hand across campus with a blonde in a sweater makes for a bet ter adjusted football player.” Others felt that admitting women would be detrimental to the school’s military tradition — women would distract male students and female students couldn’t handle the work, according to other articles filed in the University Archives. “The attitudes about the women have changed,” Hedges said. “Women at Texas A&M are accepted as a matter of course, in stead of exception. But there is still much work to be done.” With the admission of women as students, women faculty have been hired, but not at the rate the Univer sity has grown. According to fall 1982 data from the Office of Planning and Institu tional Analysis, 11 percent of the faculty — including instructors and lecturers — are women. About 3 percent of the faculty holding posi tions of professor or associate pro fessor are women. See WOMEN page 14 I