The Battalion
Serving the University community
/ol 76 No. 158 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, June 8,1983
r
mprovement center
esponse optimistic
>o bv Eric En
am
by Robert McGlohon
Battalion Staff
he response the Center for
■thing Excellence has received
luring its first year at the University
H been striking, says the center
f dinator.
lie center, which was established
■ar ago this month, helps faculty
nd administrators maintain and im-
irove the quality of instruction at
fwas A&M.
■Coordinator Glenn Ross Johnson,
■ember of the advisory committee,
fks appointed coordinator of the cen-
Bin January of this year.
“I’ve been amazed at how well this
■been received,” Johnson said.
■f the center, which is located on
he first floor of Harrington Tower,
Moil t0 ^ ave a s l°g an ov er its door, it
^pld read “Dedicated To Excellence
caching,” Johnson said,
verything that comes out of here
that slogan behind it,” he said.
In striving toward its goal of excell-
|e in teaching, the center offers
Jiy services. Johnson teaches short-
k workshops with such titles as
paration and Delivery of Lec-
Jts,” “Test Construction for Your
prse” and “Alternatives to the Lec-
He also teaches longer workshops,
such as “Cognitive Interaction Analy
sis” and “Enhancing College
Teaching,” the latter offered to both
teaching assistants and faculty.
Both workshops are offered on col
lege and department levels. However,
the long-term workshops require a
minimum of 10 faculty or administra
tors.
In addition to the workshops, the
center offers individual consultations
either through direct or videotaped
classroom observation. In the past the
consultations were offered by one of
Johnson’s assistants — who left in
May. The position will be vacant until
September.
Johnson stresses that any consulta
tion with the center is confidential
and is not used for instructor evalua
tion.
Despite the success of the work
shops and consultations, Johnson said
that by far the most popular of the
center’s projects are the “Network of
College Professors Teaching” and the
incentive grants.
The “Network of College Profes
sors Teaching” is Johnson’s own
brainstorm, one designed to make the
most of the talent at Texas A&M. He
isolated 350 instructors, deemed by
their peers to be especially proficient
at their jobs, and asked them to form
the network and lead seminars
throughout the year on subjects of
their choosing.
Surveying the 160 responses he has
received so far, Johnson said the reac
tion has been extremely favorable.
“I had no idea there would be that
kind of response,” he said.
Another program that has been re
ceived well is the incentive grant
program, Johnson said. Here the
focus is on innovative teaching. In
structors are to use the grants “to do
something different than convention
al,” Johnson said.
Examples of how the grants are
used include: computer-assisted in
struction, case studies and audio
tutorial programs. One instructor
used his $1,000 grant to buy the
apparatus necessary to videotape liv
ing microorganisms, Johnson said.
Originally, only 10 grants were
available. However, the Association
of Former Students recently donated
an additional $25,000 to the
program.
“(The incentive grant program)
has caught on quicker than anything
we’ve done so far,” Johnson said.
:OM£
icaraguans expelled
-United Press International
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicar-
S;H (j i® s ^ e ^' st R overnrnent arreste< ^ ^ ie
lets of an opposition party, charg-
ig'they had contacts with three U.S.
jplomats expelled for allegedly plot-
to kill the country’s foreign
Bister.
In harsh retaliation for the expul-
ti of the American diplomats, the
|e Depanmen: Tuesday ordered
21 Nicaraguans in diplomatic service
to leave the United States and closed
six Nicaraguan consulates in the
country.
The move in Washington brought
a swift condemnation from Nicar
agua’s ambassador to the United Na
tions, Javier Chamorro.
“This is one more step toward the
hardening of relations between the
U.S. and Nicaragua,” Chamorro said.
“I hope it does not lead to a situation
of war.”
Nicaragua accused Linda M.
Pfeifel, a political affairs officer,
David Noble Greig, first secretary,
and Ermila Loreta Rodriguez, second
secretary, of plotting to kill Foreign
Minister Miguel D’Escoto with
poisoned brandy.
HNG
ouse committee OKs
lutoff of covert aid
United Press International
n . WASHINGTON — The House
^Tftign Affairs Committee
i , pproved, 20-14, today a Democratic-
JT C13S5 Bed bill that would force the admi-
)r legal Aation to halt U.S. support for
„ , wj nd-Nicaraguan rebels.
JiT dl rW'wbe bill, previously approved by
■ House Intelligence Committee,
K sent to the full House where
Biinistration supporters hope to
5 Kiify the absolute cutoff of covert
lentsati!
he vote to report the bill favor
ably was on almost a straight party
line, with just one Republican voting
for it.
The Democrats rejected President
Reagan’s claims that aid to the Nicara
guan rebels is intended only to stem
the flow of arms from Nicaragua to
leftist guerrillas in El Salvador.
The Nicaraguan insurgents “are
actively seeking to trigger a civil war
in which thousands would die,” said
Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass.
Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla., voted with
his fellow Democrats, but indicated
he will press efforts to reach a com
promise acceptable to both sides
when the bill comes up on the House
floor. Negotiations had been under
way between the Democrats and
administration officials, but the talks
failed to produce an acceptable plan.
In a key vote Monday, the commit
tee rejected, 21-12, a Republican
amendment that would have halted
the covert aid to the rebels only when
Nicaragua agreed to stop aiding lef
tist guerrillas in neighboring coun
tries.
Mike Lara displays one of his prize-winning
paintings. Lara will display at least 13 of
his paintings at the River Bend Art Gallery
staff photo by Peter Rocha
in College Station Friday from 7 p.m. to
9 p.m. Lara’s paintings will be exhibited
until June 18.
Engineering student
paints, shows portraits
by Scott Griffin
Battalion Staff
Michael Lara uses some interest
ing aids in his work as a painter — a
hairdryer, a toothbrush and a nail.
To some, the use of the tools
may seem rather unconventional,
at least for an artist, but Lara has
an explanation.
“In one of my mountain scenes,
I have these trees in the back
ground. I use a nail because it’s
sharp, and it helps lift up the trees.
And I love to use a toothbrush, it’s
my favorite. I can throw any color
on — it’s a finishing touch, like
dessert or something. I use the
hairblower to dry with if I don’t
want to work wet on wet.”
Lara will display at least 13 of his
paintings at the River Bend Art
Gallery in College Station Friday
from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The exhibit
will run until June 18.
A mechanical engineering stu
dent here, Lara began his painting
career in his pre-school days.
“I started drawing pictures
when I was in kindergarten, and
through the years, I kept it up.
“When I was in junior high, my
mom started taking me to art les
sons, and I painted in oils until my
senior year of high school,” he
says. “After oils, I started painting
in wash technique, which is acrylic
and watercolor. And then in 1982
and 1983 I started painting in
watercolors.”
Lara describes the steps in pro
ducing a painting. “Usually, be
fore I do any painting I go through
a week of preliminaries. I do a lot
of fast sketches and drawings, then
I start the painting.”
Lara takes about two weeks to
start and finish a painting, he says,
working three to four hours per
day.
“I usually work from about 10
at night until two or three in the
morning because I can’t paint
when people are around — too
many distractions.”
Lara says he likes to paint all
types of subjects. Ip his collection,
one can find everything from a
drawing of a rugged cowboy to a
painting of a sunflower.
But right now, Lara says he
doesn’t want to pursue painting as
a career, citing the low pay.
“Artists go month by month,”
Lara says, “and some months are
really bad. I’d like to get an en
gineering job, get some money in
the bank, and then take up art on a
full-time basis.”
He decided to attend Texas
A&M to study engineering be
cause of the challenge it presents,
he says.
But Lara says he enjoys paint
ing, and his efforts in that area
have not gone unrewarded. In
1980 and 1981 he won two scholar
ships from the Coppini Academy
in San Antonio.
He recently won first place in
the watercolor division of a contest
sponsored by the Brazos Valley
Art League, and won first place at
a watercolor contest this spring at
the University.
Lara says he’s learned to paint
with watercolors on his own, but
his mother has helped him.
“She gives me the critique I
need,” he says. “If I ever slack off
on a painting, she lets me know
about it and pushes me to work
harder.”
After college, Lara says he wants
to move back to his hometown, San
Antonio.
“It’s a good art area,” Lara says.
“It’s an art-oriented city, and it gets
better every year.”
niversity student charged with check forgery
by Kelley Smith
Battalion Staff
B Texas A&M student was charged
fuesday with forgery by possession, a
lird degree felony, said University
olice Detective John Phillips.
'Police arrested David Lackey of
agdoches Monday at the Coke
uilding while he was attempting to
i another student’s check, Phillips
cashed eight personalized checks for
a total of $1,425. The checks re
portedly were stolen from a student’s
condominium along with the stu
dent’s identification card.
Phillips said that until Tuesday
police had no leads to who had been
cashing the student’s checks. Howev
er, police notified workers at the Coke
Building that someone was cashing
forged checks and they were told not
staff photo by Peter Rocha
Looking over a four-leaf clover
Approximately 2,300 4-H members and sponsors form a
giant clover on Kyle Field Tuesday evening to have their
picture taken. The photo session was part of the 75th
anniversary of the 4-H Roundup held here.
to cash any more of the student’s
checks.
It was when Lackey tried to cash
the check Tuesday that a worker at
the Coke Building called the Univer
sity Police.
Lackey allegedly used the student’s
stolen identification card to cash the
checks, Phillips said.
Lackey resembles the photograph
on the identification card, he added.
The penalties for a third degree
felony range from two to 10 years in
prison and up to a $5,000 fine.
However, Phillips said the penalties
sometimes can be reduced.
Lackey is awaiting an indictment.
He also may face University action,
Phillips said.
Lackey’s attorney and the district
attorney will decide whether there
will be a plea bargain. In a plea bar
gain, the defendant pleads guilty and
the case does not go to court. The
suspect usually receives a lesser
charge and sentence in this type
arrangement.
If a plea bargain is agreed upon,
Lackey could receive two to five years
in prison, a $10,000 fine or about a
six-year deferred adjudication term
and restitution — paying back the
money.
Under deferred adjudication, the
suspect pleads guilty but is not found
Thatcher asks British voters
for a conservative landslide
United Press International
LONDON — Prime Minister Mar
garet Thatcher headed into her final
campaign day today, challenging vo
ters to give the Conservatives a land
slide election victory and banish tht
“dark divisive clouds” of socialism
from Britain.
“The choice at this election is cru
cial. It is about the very nature of the
country our children will grow up in,”
Thatcher told a standing crowd of
supporters in Fleetwood in her last
major speech before the balloting
Thursday.
The latest opinion polls today put
Thatcher on course to win a spectacu
lar victory for five more years of Con
servative government, with as much
as a 252-seat majority in Britain’s 650-
seat Parliament.
The opposition Labor Party and a
Social Democratic-Liberal Alliance
were battling for second place. Two
new polls showed the Conservatives at
45-46 percent, with the main Labor
opposition at only 28 percent and the
Alliance just behind at 25-26 percent.
“At this election, we have a chance
to banish forever the dark divisive
clouds of extreme left-wing Socialism.
It’s a clear decisive choice,” Thatcher
said. “And we are asking for a clear
decisive mandate, a mandate to carry
out the will of the people.”
Unlike the American system, Bri
tain does not vote as such for a prime
minister. The party with a majority of
seats is invited by the queen to form a
government and that party’s leader
becomes prime minister. Despite her
lead in the polls, Thatcher faces 10
opponents in her own district, more
than any other candidate defending a
constituency. Only two are consi
dered serious contenders, however.
Thatcher’s fringe opponents in
clude a man dressed in a Batman cos
tume anxious to enter the Guinness
Book of Records for polling the smal
lest number of votes, and the rock
singer Screaming Lord Sutch from
the Monster Raving Loony Party who
wants to bring back the village idiot.
On the last day of campaigning, the
rime minster turned her attention to
er own constituency of Finchley in
north London, while opposition
Labor leader Michael Foot headed to
his electoral home base in south
Wales.
Both had problems on the cam
paign trail Tuesday.
Outside her wildly successful Fleet-
wood speech, the mood was ugly. A
crowd of about 100 people yelling
“coward” threw eggs and posters at
Thatcher’s car. She was unharmed,
but one man was arrested.
Foot, an easy target in an open bus
while campaigning in Manchester,
was hit in the shoulder with a tomato.
A woman with Conservative suppor
ters hurled an egg at the Labor Party
bus, and in a third incident some
youths threw a flour bomb at Foot
and missed.
guilty or innocent. The suspect is
placed on a probation term, which if
completed without problems, can re
sult in the charge being taken off the
suspect’s criminal record. If the sus
pect causes trouble during the term,
the charge and a guilty sentence are
permanently placed on his record.
Phillips said there is no guarantee
that there will be a plea bargain or
that the student’s money will be paid
back.
inside
Classified 10
Local 3
Opinions . 2
Sports 11
State 4
National 7
forecast
Clear to partly cloudy skies today
with a high of 86. Winds from the
southeast at 10 mph. Mild temper
atures tonight with a low near 66.
Partly cloudy skies Thursday with a
high near 88.