The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol 78 No. 39 USPS 0453110 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, October 21,1983
anel to adyise
financial office
by Robin Black
Battalion Staff
ift Benson, director of student
[icial aid, is working with Student
ernment to increase the level of
[muni ation between students
[the financial aid department.
Jenson and Student Body Presi-
[Joe Jordan are forming an advis-
pommittee to advise Student Gov-
pent and the financial aid depart-
|t on matters concerning student
ncial aid. The group will be com-
|d of six students who have at
time received financial aid.
lenson said he is looking for feed-
Jfrom students about the efficien-
i student financial aid at the Uni-
Ity and ways the program can be
roved.
see the committee as a way of
Jiing up new lines of communica-
Ibetween students and the depart
ment,” Benson said. ‘‘Right now the
department is working in a sort of
one-sided manner, because we just
see how our end of the program
works. We really don’t have any way
of knowing how students are
affected.”
The establishment of the commit
tee shows that the financial aid de
partment is serious about using stu
dents’ ideas, Benson said.
The student board will be used in
many ways, he said. The department
not only will receive ideas from the
committee, but will be able to deter
mine if the financial aid programs are
well known. The department also can
get feedback from the panel about
department programs before they are
implemented.
“I feel that the best ideas for this
department are with the students
right now,” he said. “This committee
can be a positive vehicle to help me
and the financial aid department.”
Benson said he is optimistic about
the committee’s potential, because he
has always been impressed with the
quality of student leadership that ex
ists at the University.
“I have left the organization of the
committee primarily to Joe’s discre
tion,” he said. “He is the one who will
review the applicants and ultimately
choose the committee members.”
Applications for the committee will
be accepted through next Friday in
219 Pavilion.
Committee members will work with
both the Student Government and
the financial aid department. The
group should be organized by the end
of October, Jordan said.
ean says college
eeds recognition
by Robin Black
Battalion Staff
r. Robert H. Page, dean of the
ege of Engineering, said Thurs-
[that he hoped his new position in
Torsyth Chair would bring more
anal recognition for the Texas
1’s College of Engineering.
j)r. Page was named to fill the For-
jChair of Mechanical Engineering
veek.
The chair, which had been estab-
jd but unfilled since 1979, was
Ited as part of the estate of James
Hop” Forsyth, Class of’12, to pro-
scholarly leadership in mecha-
|1 engineering and develop and
ttain liaison with state and federal
icies, private foundations, con-
|ng firms and other national and
rnational research and education-
Jstitutions.
[age was on the east coast meeting
imitments to speak at national en-
ering conferences when he was
named to the chair, but was notified
of the decision by phone.
“I was excited when I found out,”
Page said. “I met Forsyth when the
chair was established in 1979, and I
was very impressed. He was a great
Aggie.”
Page, who said being named to the
chair was a tremendous honor,
thought it was sad that the chair
couldn’t be filled before Forsyth’s
death in 1981.
“Forsyth had great faith in the Uni
versity, however, and was confident
that the chair would be filled by a
qualified individual,” he said.
Ironically, the nation-wide search
ended when the University’s own
dean of engineering was chosen to fill
the first of six chairs in the engineer
ing college.
Page, an expert in fluid mechanics,
said the increased research that will
result from the chair should bring na
tional recognition to the University
and help its image in many ways. It
also will make the engineering college
internationally competitive.
The new position will reduce
Page’s teaching load somewhat, but
he will have more contact with stu
dents because the involvement with
research, which will involve students,
will replace the administrative work
he now is performing as dean.
Page said he is looking forward to
the increased interaction he will have
with students now that he no longer
will have the responsibilities of an
administrator.
“The prime advantage of the chair
is to the students, because more
opportunities to study and research
engineering on the newest frontiers
of technology will be available, and I
think that is very inspiring,” he said.
Page said he hopes the potential
technological contributions that the
chair’s research will provide will be a
great benefit to mankind.
Centerpole for bonfire
goes up 5 feet shorter
by Ed Alanis
Battalion Reporter
Bonfire ’83’s centerpole went up
Thursday at the traditional time of
4:03 p.m., keeping on schedule for
the Nov. 25 lighting.
The centerpole towers 54 feet
into the air — five feet fewer than
last year.
“This year’s centerpole is five feet
shorter than last year’s,” senior bon
fire coordinator Bill Guilt says.
Complaints from residents along
Jersey Street have had more influ
ence on regulating height than has
the new University Press building,
which is next to the bonfire site,
Guilt said.
The height of the bonfire is reg
ulated by a city ordinance, as well as
by surrounding buildings and resi
dences.
The flag of Cobra C, Corps of
Cadets outfit C-l, waves from the
t(^> of the pole. C-1 is responsible for
the centerpole. Traditionally, the
men of C-l assemble the centerpole
and station it upright in the ground.
The centerpole arrived on cam
pus Wednesday. Members of C-l
worked full time to prepare it foj
Thursday’s raising, Randy Bretches,
a senior in C-l, says. Bretches is in
charge of centerpole construction
this year.
The centerpole does not come
from the cutting site, but is donated
by the International Paper and
Supply Co. of Navasota.
Tne centerpole is made from two
logs spliced together. C-l’s job is to
cut the logs, splice them together,
wrap cable around the splice for
support and dig a hole deep enough
to support the entire pole. A crane is
used to lift the centerpole. The men
from C-l guide it into the 10 foot
hole and tamp it with rocks and dirt.
Surveying instruments are used
to assure that the centerpole is
straight before it is permanently set.
With the centerpole raised, this
year’s bonfire will take shape quick
ly. Before the lighting, which isjust a
month away, bonfire coordinators
estimate that more than 7,000 stu
dents will have worked at either the
cutting site or the bonfire site itself.
On-campus students who wish to
become involved with the building
of bonfire should contact work
staff photo by John Makely
The centerpole goes up at 4:03 p.m. Thursday.
crews from their dorms. Off-
Campus Aggies also has organized
work groups for interested students.
Push Week officially begins mid
night Sunday, Nov. 13. Push week is
when bonfire builders work around
the clock to complete the stack. Bon
fire will be burned Friday, Nov. 25 at
dark-thirty.
uick cash machines
be ready soon
by Julie Ennis
Battalion Reporter
The automated teller machines
ated under the stairway between
Memorial Student Center and
dder Tower will be operational
[hin the next few weeks, a spokes-
for the fiscal department says.
[The 24*hour cash machines will
[available for anyone who has an
TACT or PULSE cash card.
[An MPACT or PULSE card is
mo obtain and convenient to use,
Robert Smith, controller and
ociate vice president for fiscal
.airs.
["All the major banks have some
of 24-hour cash access cards
The teller service will help de
crease the growing check cashing
lines at the MSC main desk and at
the Coke Building, he said.
Texas A&M is one of a few uni
versities offering check cashing ser*
vices, he said.
Two MPACT machines have
been installed and will be working
sometime next week, Smith said.
The delay is due to the lack of parts
for the machines. The PULSE
machines are expected to operate in
two weeks.
Smith said the banks are doing
Texas A&M a favor by installing the
teller service.
“All we had to do was provide the
if they don't they will very space and they paid for the installa
C Smith said. non of the machines, he said.”
Corporate grant pays for equipment
TI, A&M share computer cost
by Shawn Behlen
Battalion Reporter
Eighty-eight computers now are
being installed across campus, thanks
to a $608,407 grant given to Texas
A&M in September by Texas Instru
ments.
The grant is a cost-sharing venture
in which TI pays for two-thirds of the
cost of the computers and the Univer
sity pays for the remaining one-third.
The computers, including printers
and a wide range of software also
from TI, will be used by several de
partments, including industrial en
gineering, computing science, mathe
matics, mechanical engineering,
anthropology, archaeology and En
glish. Several also will be placed in the
Public Policy Center and the learning
resources division of the Sterling C.
Evans Library.
Dr. Ellen McDaniel, director of the
writing specialization program, said
the grant was awarded because of a
willingness by both parties to install
TI equipment at the University.
McDaniel said she learned of TI’s
interest in such a project through Dr.
Eugene Helms, vice president of TI’s
data systems group. Helms is a former
Texas A&M student.
McDaniel, Robert Young, profes
sor of industrial engineering, and
Norman Naugle, professor of mathe
matics, sent TI a proposal for the
grant in August.
“It was really a matter of knowing
somebody, who knows somebody,
etc.,” she said.
McDaniel said it is unique for a
liberal arts department such as En
glish to receive a business-supported
grant.
“Industry is usually interested in
engineering or business, but a compu
ter is a very useful tool for what we do
also,” she said.
The English department plans to
use the computers for word proces
sing, evaluating language theory, re
searching computer-human com
munication, computer-aided instruc
tion, studying the effects of writing on
a terminal instead of paper, studying
S eech synthesis and technical pro-
ictions, she said.
“I’m sure that further uses will be
discovered in the future,” she said. “I
think this will benefit the department
greatly.”
McDaniel said another benefit of
the grant has been the speed at which
the computers are being received.
“Usually, equipment such as this is
bought as the University has the
money,” she said. “That takes a long
time. Depending on the circumst
ances, it might take nearly two years.”
McDaniel said she thinks the grant
also will help TI.
“I think it was a smart thing for
them to do,” she said. “Lots of stu
dents will be trained on TI equipment
and will want the same later on.”
McDaniel said that with the compu
ter business so competitive, she hopes
this will open the door for more
grants of this type.
“I think it’s an excellent deal for
everyone concerned,” she said.
exas nuclear waste sites considered
■ United Press International
[USTIN — Unless someone steps
vard with another land offer with-
the next 30 days, the state will
ose between two sites in South and
Jt Texas for a low-level nuclear
Jte disposal facility, officials said
iiirsday.
■The two prime candidates are a
Rvately-owned 456-acre tract in
amit County, about three miles
south of Asherton, and 640 acres of
University of Texas System land in
Hudspeth County near Sierra Blanca.
Bob Avant, assistant general mana
ger of the Texas Low-Level Waste
Disposal Authority, said the state
plans to make a tentative decision by
mid-December.
Officials of the authority, which
was created in 1981 to locate a dispos
al site, will meet with Dimmit County
officials next Tuesday to discuss the
proposed project.
The 300-acre facility, which will
cost between $10 million and $12 mil
lion, will store low-level radioactive
waste generated by Texas hospitals,
universities, laboratories, medical re
search centers and some industries.
The facility, which will open in late
1987 or early 1988, will be designed to
handle 139,000 cubic feet of waste ex
pected to be produced annually in
Texas from 1990 to 2020.
Avant said about 30,000 cubic feet
of low-level nuclear waste was gener
ated in Texas in 1982, but the total is
expected to be raised significantly
when four commercial nuclear power
plants become operational in 1990.
The facility will not store high-level
spent fuel from nuclear reactors, but
it will accept low-level radioactive
materials from nuclear plants.
The nuclear plants now under con
struction are expected to generate an
additional 105,000 cubic feet of low-
level nuclear waste.
oviets still may walk out of arms talks
United Press International
|ENEVA, Switzerland — The
Ilf Soviet delegate at talks with the
Ited States to limit medium-range
(dear missiles in Europe hinted
lin Thursday the Soviets might
:out, saying he sees no chance for
fement.
fuli Kvitsinsky issued the gloomy
assessment before a session of the In
termediate Nuclear Forces talks —
the 97th since the negotiations on
limiting medium-range missiles be
gan Nov. 30, 1981.
Kvitsinsky said the Soviets are pre
pared to stay at the negotiating table
to find an accord “as long as it is neces
sary and if there are prospects; but
there are none.”
The comment implied a renewed
threat by Moscow to break off the
negotiations, but after the two-hour
plenary session the delegations
agreed to meet again next Tuesday on
schedule at the Soviet mission.
President Reagan, at a news confer
ence Wednesday, confirmed Moscow
has been threatening to walk out to
protest NATO deployment of
medium-range missiles to counter ex
isting Soviet weapons aimed at west
ern Europe.
However, Reagan called the Soviet
warnings a “great propaganda effort”
to prevent NATO deployment and
said if Moscow carries out its threat,
“we’ll just wait at the table, and I think
they’ll come back.”
He said he believes the Soviets will
“talk seriously” once they see the mis
siles being deployed.
Paul Nitze, the chief U.S. nego
tiator, has long argued that Moscow
has refused to bargain seriously in
Geneva in the belief the NATO allies
would cancel deployment because of
pressure from anti-nuclear move
ments.
inside
Around town 12
Classified 12
Local 3
National 9
Opinions 2
Sports 13
State 7
What’s up 4
forecast
Partly cloudy skies, with a 30%
chance of rain. Highs in the upper
seventies.