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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1983)
The DaTtaMon lent, re teachingfi :es, butasmj ’anced dei Serving the University communily men toe jfol,76 No. 144 USPS 04536018 Pages In 2 Sections itsuisaid. B ' ' College Station, Texas Thursday, April 28, 1983 of not lid ’ iReasran urares Central America aid tulty of unisl f 'V €^w :heraistrydoJ V—V.— from wire services “IF ^ t j • tt i. tl. _ ta is 1.5 penal excluded' for grat is WASHINGTON — President gan urged a skeptical Congress to [brace his arms and economic prog- for Central America, claiming ie United States has “a vital interest, noral duty and a solemn responsi- ny" to save the region from the lef- strevolution. pa rare address Wednesday night joint session of the House and ate, Reagan said, “I say to you that light there can be no question: The [ional security of all the Americas is ptake in Central America. ‘If we cannot defend ourselves there,” Reagan said, “we cannot ex pect to prevail elsewhere. Our credi bility would collapse, our alliances would crumble, and the safety of our homeland would be put at jeopardy.* Reagan’s nationally broadcast address was primarily an attempt to salvage a proposed $110 million in U.S. aid for the besieged regime in El Salvador. Congress so far has balked over all but $30 million of that. But Reagan pressed Congress to approve his full request for aid for all of Central America, totaling about $600 million for 1984. “That is less than one-tenth of what Americans will spend this year on coin-operated video games,” the president said. He said the United States will sup port “democracy, reform and human freedom” in Central America, and called for open and fair elections in El Salvador and Nicaragua. He said the United States also sup ports economic development prog rams throughout the region. “In response to the military chal lenge from Cuba and Nicaragua — to their deliberate use of force to spread tyranny — we will support the secur ity of the regions’ threatened na tions,” Reagan said. Reagan noted the recent seizure in Brazil of four Libyan cargo planes loaded with arms en route to Nicar agua, and said “violence has been Nicaragua’s most important export to the world.” His speech in the House chamber marked the first time Reagan addres sed legislators on a foreign policy issue. Usually presidents address Congress only to deliver the annual State of the Union report. The speech came one day after the House Appropriations subcommittee chopped in half his request to shift military aid worth $60 million to El Salvador from amounts allocated for other countries. On the matter of Nicaragua, the House Intelligence Committee plans to vote today on legislation to cut off all secret aid to rebels battling the lef tist regime there. In a Democratic response to Reagan, Sen. Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut, instead called for more emphasis on negotiation and said the administration’s whole approach to Central America was ignorant. Dodd, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Peace Corps volunteer in the Domini can Republic from 1966-68, said, “The painful truth is that many of our highest officials seem to know as little about Central America in 1983 as we knew about Indochina in 1963.” Car bottle ban slowed from wire services A House committee Wednesday night sent to subcommittee legislation that would prohibit alcoholic bever age containers in motor vehicles, de spite urging from Speaker Gib Lewis, legislators and witnesses. The decision which will slow action on the bill was made after the House Liquor Regulation Committee heard witnesses, including Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, testify for the legisla tion. Lewis has not endorsed the open container proposal, but had asked the committee to approve the legislation so it could be voted on by the full House. Sending the bill back to the subcommittee delay that floor vote. The speaker also had asked that the legislation to raise the drinking age to 21 be approved by the panel. The proposal has been in a subcom mittee for three weeks. Jim Adams, Texas Department of Public Safety director, said Texans will never see any meaningful change in traffic fatality statistics unless atti tudes about DWI change. The only witness to speak against the legislation was Austin attorney Stephen Edwards, although lobbyists for the beer and liquor industries attended the committee meeting. Edwards said he did not oppose anti-DWI legislation, but added that an open container prohibition could open a new area of potential abuse by law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officials may currently stop a vehicle for a traffic violation or report of criminal offense, Edwards said. According to the proposal all officers would have to do is see a container at night to stop a car, he said. State board to consider requests bV • \ ^ - - V: ^ - " , A&M asks for new programs - fiouse to create thics committee from wire services The Texas House of v fpresentatives approved new rules Mm 1 will create an ethics committee to induct investigations of charges of ies Beakers’ misconduct. ' |lawmakers approved the creation Ian ethics committee, after oppo- . BRYAN fcnts succeeded in changing the bd by indicating that the ethics Adelines were being considered in ndon of House rules. Goodin BThe House leadership accepted a Tu«m«U> r{|x>sa! to form the ethics panel Mn the House General Investigat- Committee, instead of the House linistration Committee, he ethics panel would be prohi- |d from inquiring into lawmakers’ uct 120 days before a primary or |eral election. he ethics committee was prop- Iby Rep. Jim Turner, D-Crockett, in late January was named to a special subcommittee created Investigate the spending of Rep. Wilson, D-Houston. Turner’s lel also planned an inquiry into ise Speaker Gib Lewis’ failure to |y disclose his financial dealings, he Senate also tentatively foductivity upswing from wire reports [Productivity in non-farm business |e at an annual rate of 4.8 percent Ihe first quarter, the best showing ■wo years and a fair sign of eventual povement in the job market. ■The Bureau of Labor Statistics re- Tted Wednesday that productivity, [luding agriculture, grew at its fas- i quarterly pace in two years. The Isonally adjusted indicator had fn only 0.4 percent in the fourth arter of 1982. [Private economists said the impro- Ig productivity performance could fcntually enhance job prospects for T nationals 11.4 million unem- pyed. Productivity measures the sum of jods and services produced in an lur’s paid working time. approved a bid that would save the state $220 million in 1984-85 by low ering the state’s contribution to public schoolteachers’ retirement. The bill would not reduce teachers’ retirement benefits because of salary hikes and an increase in the number of teachers contributing to the fund. Sen. Grant Jones, D-Abilene, said. The Senate Finance Committee re commended lowering the state con tribution from the current 8.5 per cent to 7.1 percent in the appropria tions bill currently pending before the Senate. Teachers contribute 6.65 percent to the retirement fund. Other bills approved by the House: • Bill that would increase state re venues by $48 million in 1984-85 by hiking fees charged by 20 state agen cies. • Bill that would require judges to dismiss charges of driving without automobile insurance against drivers who can prove they have insurance. The bill faces another House vote be fore going to the Senate. • Bill that would make it a third degree felony for officers of a hous ing authority to have an interest in publicly funded housing projects. Bill was sent to the Senate. by Beverly Hamilton Battalion Staff Requests for new degree programs within the Texas A&M System and approval of the construction of a $ 1.2 million chancellor’s residence will be considered at the quarterly meeting of the state Coordinating Board on Friday. The board will consider Texas A&M’s request for a doctorate of phi losophy in applied psychology with majors in industrial and organization al psychology and community clinical psychology. In its consideration of new doctor al programs, the board invites teams of out-of-state consultants to assess the quality of existing programs in the state and to determine whether addi tional programs are needed. The University also has requested that the board consider establishing a Department of Computer Science. Currently, the computer science divi sion is included in the industrial en gineering department within the Col lege of Engineering. The proposed department would offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The board also will consider the request for construction of a 7,291- square-foot house for the System chancellor. The estimated cost of building and furnishing the house is $1.2 million. The Texas A&M De velopment Foundation will provide initial funding for the project, but will be reimbursed through individual donations. The proposed house, to be located on a 13-acre site off Jersey Street, is scheduled for completion by Decem ber 1984. In other action, the board will con sider revising its eligibility guidelines for the Legislative Academic Scholar ship Program to encourage a broader ethnic mix at public universities in Texas. The new criteria would re quire grant recipients to be members of an ethnic group that constitutes less than 40 percent of the popula tion. The revised guidelines are in tended to increase enrollment of black and Hispanic students at institu tions with relatively low percentages of minority students. White students also would be eligible for the awards for the first time if they enroll in uni versities with largely black or Hispa nic populations. Current criteria re quire only that recipients be members of an ethnic minority of the state population. The revised guidelines would allo cate $4,000 to $20,000 in scholarship funds to 30 public universities. The recommended allocations are based on past funding levels of $250,000 per year. To help maintain the revolving sta tus of the Hinson-Hazelwood College Student Loan Program, the board will consider the transfer of $2.6 million in federal money into the state loan fund. The $2.6 million is available through the Special Lender’s Allo wance Fund, which compensates len ders for providing low'-interest stu dent loans. Other proposals within the System include: • Consideration of a bachelor program in computef science at Prairie View A&M. The proposed program would require legislative start-up funds of approximately $800,000 over the next three years. • Construction of a dormitory at an estimated cost of $3,966 at Tarleton State University. The board meets at 9 a.m. in the Bevington A. Reed Building, 200 East Riverside Drive in Austin. Energy committee vote weakens part of Reagan’s natural gas price bill from wire services WASHINGTON — The Senate Energy Committee voted to weaken a key provision of President Reagan’s natural gas price decontrol bill. By a 12-4 margin Wednesday, the committee voted to give residential consumers and others a new way to block a change in the traditional flow of gas from producer to customer if it threatens consumers with unneces sarily higher prices. The change in the flow, called for by the Reagan decontrol legislation, is called contract carriage. It means that an end user of gas, such as a big fac tory or wholesaler, could shop around for gas from a producer, buy it directly and contract with a pipeline to get the gas to the customer for a fee. Pipelines would have to carry the gas if they had the capacity. As it is now, pipelines buy gas from produc ers and decide which customers can buy it from them. Benjamin A. Cooper of the Senate Energy Committee staff said the main contract carriage provision in current natural gas law applies only to emergencies: In times of shortage, a big customer can buy directly and the pipelin can be directed to carry the gas if it has the available space in the pipeline. The Reagan contract carrier prop osal is seen as a way to soften opposi tion to his plan to free all gas from federal price controls by 1986. He would allow direct buying and selling of gas under certain circumstances, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission policing the process. “This is the most important provi sion of this bill,” Energy Committee chief Counsel D. Michael Harvey said. Summer registration may double by Karen Schrimsher Battalion Staff The number of provisional stu dents in summer school here this year may be double the number who attended last summer, the director of admissions and records says. Provisional students are fresh men who begin classes in the sum mer because they are denied admis sion for the fall semester on the basis of their Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Dr. Billy G. Lay, director of admissions and records, said about 20 percent of all high school stu dents who apply for enrollment here are not accepted because their SAT scores do not meet adrqissions requirements. Last year, an estimated 350 peo ple who applied at Texas A&M were offered provisional student status. So far this year, the program has been offered to about 700 appli cants. As of April 1982, 152 high school seniors had expressed an interest in the provisional student program. This year, 433 students have said they are interested in the program. In the first summer session last year, 176 students actually enrolled. More stringent admission re quirements than last year are one reason for the increase in the num ber of provisional students, Lay said. Under the new requirements, ap plicants in the fourth quarter of their high school class must have an SAT score of at least 1,200, appli cants in the third must score 1,100, those in the second quarter must score 950 and students in the top quarter must score 800. Students in the top 10 percent of their class have no minimum score requirement. When applicants are rejected on the basis of SAT scores, they are offered two options for admission. They may try the provisional prog ram in the summer or transfer after a semester at another university or junior college. Provisional students can enroll for the summer sessions and stay for the fall semester if they meet the requirements set by the admissions office. A provisional student is required to enroll in nine hours of assigned academic class work during the first and second summer sessions. The courses include a study skills class and a writing lab. The decision to allow a provision al student to stay for the fall semes ter is based on summer school grades, Lay said. To remain at the University for the fall semester, the provisional student must pass all courses and have a C average for the nine class hours. Lay said that during the past five years about 55 percent of the provi sional students have remained at the University for the fall semester. After a student passes the admis sion office requirements for provi sional students, the student’s per manent record will not show the provisional status. inside Classified 8 Local 3 Opinions 2 Sports 9 State 6 National 11 Police Beat 4 What’s up 12 forecast Partly cloudy skies today with a high of 83. Southerly winds of 10 to 15 mph. Clear to partly cloudy tonight with a low near 65. Partly sunny skies Friday with a high near 86.