The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 05, 1983, Image 1

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    The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol 78 No. 66 USPS 0453110 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, December 5, 1983
bombs Syrian regions
United Press International
BEIRUT — American warplanes
nbed Syrian positions in Leoanon
or the first time Sunday, drawing fire
gat downed two jets and igniting
Wee artillery barrages that killed
tight U.S. marines in Beirut and
ounded two others.
|The two of the more than two
|en warplanes participating in the
kes shot down by Syrian gunners
|e the first American aircraft lost in
jjnbat since the Vietnam war, the
kagon said. ~
■■-i i n
One flier, whose plane crashed
into a home, bailed out and was res
cued, but two others parachuted into
Syrian-held areas and were listed as
missing. The White House said it
appeared they had been captured.
Hours later, gunners in the moun
tains east of Beirut unleashed the
worst barrage the Marines have come
under in Lebanon, prompting retalia
tory fire from U.S. forces using artil
lery and tanks and from American
warships off the Lebanese coast.
Marine spokesman Maj. Dennis
Brooks said eight Marines were killed
and two wounded even though the
Marines had been on top alert since
the air strike at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EST).
It was the worst day in combat for
the Americans since they arrived 15
months ago to help keep peace in
Lebanon and their first deaths since a
suicide bomb attack killed 239 Amer
ican servicemen at a headquarters
near the airport where the Marines
are based.
The fatalities, who were not im
mediately identified, belonged to a
unit sent to Lebanon after participa
tion in the invasion of Grenada last in
October.
No details were available on how
the Marines were killed during the 4.5
hours of shelling, believed to be the
work of Syrian-backed Druze Moslem
militiamen operating behind Syrian
lines in the Shouf mountains over
looking Beirut.
“Beginning at approximately 7
p.m. (noon EST) Marine positions
came under heavy rocket, Z-U23 anti
aircraft missile, mortar and small
arms fire,” Brooks said.
“The Marines responded with artil
lery, mortar and naval gunfire,” he
said.
The latest deaths brought to 255
the number of American servicemen
killed since the Marines were sent to
Lebanon for peace-keeping duties
following Israel’s June 1982 invasion.
There are now some 1,200 Marines in
Lebanon.
With U.S. troops using airpower
for the first time and unleashing the
first naval bombardment since Sep
tember, Lebanese Prime Minister
Chefik Wazzan complained that
American firepower was turning his
country “into a battlefield.”
In the morning two U.S. Navy jets
were shot down by Syrian antiaircraft
fire in the first American airstrikes in
Lebanon. One flier parachuted to
safety in the Mediterreanan but two
others were listed as missing.
see MIDEAST page 11
A&M’s ability
to offer tenure
attracts faculty
Truck-driving Santa
Eric Evan Lee, Battalion staff
This truck was one of many floats that participated in the
Bryan College Station Christmas Parade Sunday
afternoon along Texas Avenue. The
float won grand prize in Sunday’s competition.
x-prof tutors Fish Drill Team
by Kellie Dworaczyk
Battalion Reporter
The Fish Drill Team members are
ood at competing in military drill
Ijets. They also are working hard to
igood at something else — Chemis-
y 101.
The drill team is employing Dr.
E. Taylor, former chemistry pro-
lessor here, as a tutor. The drill team
s Taylor once a week to help 52 of
members who take the course.
Many students employ tutors for
ae individual attention they can get
iitside the classroom.
To facilitate the process of finding
tutor, Student Government is com-
iling a list of tutors from freshman
tonor societies, the Corps and other
npus organizations. Grant Swart-
inside
Around town
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[National
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Sports
State
What’s up ...
forecast
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High today of in the up
with a low tonight of 34.
zwelder, vice president for academic
affairs, says.
The lists of tutors, organized by
subject and listing mainly freshman
level courses, will be placed next to the
microfiche readers in the library to
day. Swartzwelder said Student Gov
ernment and academic affairs are
trying to expand the list to include
courses beyond the freshman level.
“We are trying to coordinate all
other organizations and use our re
sources to make a high quality and
well published program,” Swartzwel
der said.
Students are responsible for nego
tiating fees with the individual tutors.
Freshman honor societies Alpha
Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma
keep a card file of their members who
Police
man level courses. The files are in
cubicles five and nine in the Pavilion
and are arranged by subject.
Most departments keep a list of
graduate students who are willing to
tutor in the department’s classes.
“Everybody gets in trouble now
and then, and I like to help if I can,”
said Dennis Akins, a tutor and presi
dent of Phi Eta Sigma.
On the Nov. 9 Chem 101 exam the
Fish Drill Team average was 71.11,
said Mike Mark, senior adviser to the
drill team. The University average
was 69, said Dr. Larry Peck, interim
department head of the first year che
mistry program. Since the Fish Drill
team grades are calculated from self-
reported scores, Peck cautioned ab
out the accuracy of the grades.
Why is the drill team average high
er than the University average?
Mark said it is because of the tutor
ing sessions Taylor.
Taylor resigned from the Univer
sity June 15. He said he resigned in
protest to what he termed the syste
matic dismantaling and ruining of Dr.
Rod O’Connor’s chemistry program.
Taylor now tutors through a business
called Information Unlimited.
“We are trying to help Fish Drill
Team grades, and do something
more positive for grades,” Mark said.
“Maybe we will inspire others to do
the same.”
Taylor charges $75 an hour and
said he usually is hired by groups.
by Rusty Roberts
Battalion Staff
Dean of Faculties Clinton A.
Phillips says Texas A&M’s ability
to offer tenure to prospective fa
culty members is important in
helping them decide whether to
change institutions.
Phillips says attracting the
best and the brightest faculty is
easy when the incentives fit an
instructor’s particular need. Te
nure usually is one of those
needs, he says.
“We have more tenure open
ings for faculty than any other
institution of our size,” Phillips
says. “With Texas A&M being
only 43 percent tenured, we are
able to attract new and old facul
ty to our University.”
Tenure is offered to faculty
with the rank of professor, asso
ciate professor, assistant profes
sor and instructor. The normal
tenure probation period for be
ginning faculty is five to seven
years. However, the number of
years is reduced according to the
amount of experience an incom
ing professor has. More experi
ence makes for a shorter proba
tion period.
Phillips says “new blood” is
needed to maintain a good ba
lance at the University. Attract
ing older, more experienced fa
culty is important, he says, but
adds that it’s also healthy to re
cruit the younger instructors.
The incentives Texas A&M
uses vary according to the in
structors needs and the Univer
sity’s limitations. For example, at
times Texas A&M will use pri
vate funding to help a new facul
ty member cover some of the
necessary moving costs. But,
Phillips says Texas A&M only
picks up a small part of that bill.
Phillips says he would like to
offer subsidized condominiums
or apartments for new and visit
ing faculty. This aid, he says,
could help the newer, less estab
lished instructors save money
for the first few years. But, such
a plan has yet to be im-
plemented.
However, Charles E.
McCandless, associate provost
for academic affairs, says hous
ing is less of a factor now than it
was a few years ago. Bryan-
College Station’s housing situa
tion is plentiful and interest
rates are low enough here to
make living easier for new facul
ty, he says.
Phillips says the faculty tur
nover rate at Texas A&M’s can
be a blessing or a curse. Too
much turnover is bad, he says,
and not enough isn’t good.
Texas A&M loses about 100 fa
culty members each year. But,
Phillips says that is a reasonable
number considering the size and
status of Texas A&M.
In trying to attract faculty,
Universities play the “raiding
game,” he says. It’s quite simple
— recruit whoever you want as
long as you have the resources to
satisify them, he says.
Phillips says Texas A&M
“raids” top name institutions
like Purdue, Penn State, the
University of Michigan and the
University of Chicago for facul
ty positions in Texas A&M’s Col
lege of Business Administration.
Texas A&M also raids schools
like Stanford, Berkeley and
Harvard for all areas of faculty
recruiting, he says.
Texas A&M is not immune to
being the target of this game.
Texas A&M’s colleges of en
gineering and business adminis
tration are the most vulnerable
to the raids, Phillips says. But, he
also adds that those two colleges
have the most openings for pro
fessors with doctorate degrees.
“For every ‘wet ink’ Ph.D. out
of the pipeline,” he says, “there
are 10 openings for each in the
College of Engineering and as
many as 20 openings for each in
the College of Business Admi
nistration. There just aren’t
enough Ph.D.s to fill the avail
able slots.”
After the recent resignation
by Dr. Keith Bryant, Phillips
says a search for a new Dean of
the College of Liberal Arts
already is underway. Another
position also needing to be filled
is Dean of the Graduate College,
a seat previously held by Dr.
George W. Kunze.
Phillips says Texas A&M is
looking for the “heavy hitters” as
well as “young and green” facul
ty-
Phillips says professors who
constantly move from one uni
versity to the next looking for
tenure can find a home at Texas
A&M.
Lectures and seminars now included among duties of C.S. police
by Maria Gautschy
Battalion Reporter
You are more likely to find police
Lt. Bernard Kapella advising senior
citizens on how to secure their homes
or teaching children to signal turns
when riding their bikes — than pat
rolling the streets and issuing tickets.
Kapella and officer Tom Lewis run
the College Station Police Depart
ment’s Crime Prevention and Public
Relations Unit. The officers give 350
lectures and seminars a year to busi
nessmen, civic groups, school chil
dren and anyone else who has ques
tions about crime prevention.
Some of the topics the officers talk
to people about are rape awareness,
protection against armed robbery and
identifying counterfeit money.
Kapella said one of the purposes of
the 4-year-old unit is to inform the
community and to reduce peoples’
chances of becoming victims.
We also want show the com-
iity that w'Alcjgidier things than
^ 'arrest' peopw^Wie said. “Our
nKefep function is to help people with
problems.”
He said his favorite part of the job is
talking to children in the schools.
“We want to show children that
they shouldn’t fear us and that we are
here to help them,” Kapella said.
“There was one child who was
scared to death of policemen because
she was afraid if she did anything
wrong she would be labeled as a juve
nile delinquent forever. I just sat
down and talked with her and showed
her that there was nothing to fear.”
He said they try to reach the chil
dren by teaching them with puppets.
Officer Ollie is the name of one of the
puppets who puts on skits for the chil
dren and teaches them about such
things as bicycle safety, avoiding
strangers, and child abuse.
The department also has a robot
dressed in a police uniform. The
robot is hooked up to a microphone so
when children ask it questions a police
officer can answer them. Kapella said
the department will eventually get
video tapes that will play from the
robots stomach and teach children ab
out safety.
Lewis, who has been working with
Kapella on the unit for two months,
said the robot is so eye-catching that
the children remember and learn.
He said although it is difficult to
measure how effective the programs
have been, he feels they have given
the public a different outlook on
policemen.
“It’s quite a change from the same
old stop-and-write-tickets or the same
old stop-and-lecture phase,” Lewis
said.
Kapella said one of the changes he
has noticed is the members of the
community calling in about suspicious
looking people more often.
“People have been responding to
what we have been doing,” Kapella
said. “There has been a great demand
for the programs we offer and it just
shows that people really want to be
aware.”
College Station Police Depart
ment’s new robot was one of
many that participated in Sun
day’s parade.