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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1984)
1 Coogs beat Hogs; *■ I Aggies beat Horns ■ reca ptu re SWC titl e ■ in Austin, 72-57 I See page 9 1 Seepages ■hhhbwb Texas ASM ^ W A The Battalion Serving the Gniversity community Vol 78 No. 103 CJSPS 0453110 10 pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 27 1984 eagans dine ith governors United Press International WASHINGTON — President Pgan invited the nation’s gover- ors to the White House Sunday to derscore his commitment to a re- ilignment of government power that pbroven difficult to accomplish. JkHne president and Mrs. Reagan, jack from a relaxing weekend at ggnip David, arranged a black-tie 3 Inner for state chief executives in Own for the three-day winter meet- Bofthe National Governors’ Asso- iation. |j|After being wined and dined, the governors return to the White House Monday to hear such key figures as ludget director David Stockman and ^itional security adviser Robert Mc- ^llarlane explain — and defend — ad- ninistration policy. The dinner came hours after the jftj.S. Marines were airlifted from eir positions at the Beirut airport to the safety of warships off the Leb anese coast, completing a withdrawal announced Feb. 7 and begun one week ago. However, the officials acknowl edged these decisions — including further aid to Lebanon and special envoy Donald Rumsfeld’s return to the Middle East — were among those discussed at a pair of top-level meet ings Thursday and Friday, involving Reagan and his key foreign policy advisers. Reagan planned to use the occa sion to return to a favorite theme of his 1980 campaign and one of the fundamental goals of his presidency: shifting the pendulum of power from Washington back to states and local governments. Under pressure from Congress and state and local officials who viewed his multibillion-dollar propo sals with trepidation, Reagan has scaled back his New Federalism ini tiatives. Midterms not mailed; be at the Pavilion By KARI FLUEGEL Reporter Midterm grades will be handed ^ >14 again at the Pavilion instead of JBig mailed to students. ^ipiey will be handed out from 8 am. to 5 p.m. begining Wednesday, March 7. The Registrar’s Office changed its edure of mailing midterm grade rts to students last fall, but cop- lof the grades still are mailed to Iparents of students who have au thorized it. i “We think it is an effective way to give out grades and we will continue it again this spring,” Associate Regis trar Donald Carter said. f I About 29,000 grade reports were Jfeduced on undergraduates last se- "Bester, Carter said, but only about 50 percent of the grades were picked ap. ' “We had a few lines the first cou plet of days, because everyone was fl 'Jjiuous to get their grades,” Carter said, “but after that, it smoothed out fid there was very little waiting Jtte.” m Part of the reasoning behind the C lfitch in operations was the savings I postage. In past years, hundreds k grade reports were returned be- . ause of incomplete or incorrect stu- "itit addresses, Carter said. # “Kids are so mobile,” he said. “Ad- ||IIhses change and they don’t keep *r !t$ abreast of the changes or we don’t it them changed soon enough.” SAdditional labor had to be hired to Bid out the reports but the postage costs still outweighed the labor costs, Carter said. Another plus to handing out grades instead of mailing them is that students get the grades faster, he said. “It saves money and kids get their grades faster,” he said. “There are all these pluses, so we think it was a wise decision and will continue to give out grades.” Carter said Texas A&M is one of the few major universities that still gives midterm grades. He speculated that midterm grades one day will be done away with. “The question has come up before to do away with them and it is usually the AOC (the Academic Operation Committee), which is made up of as sistant and associate deans, that says ‘No, let’s not do that,”’ Carter said. Carter said many faculty members don’t like the extra work it requires to compute an average in the middle of the semester. He also said that the grades are often based only on one quiz and that the instructors some times give blanket grades. “I feel the deans that deal with the students feel the grades are impor tant, especially in flagging those stu dents who have all Ds or Fs,” Carter said. “They can catch these kids early in the semester so they can say ‘Hey, get on the stick’ or ‘Let’s get you some help.’ Since they are used this way I think we will continue to have mid term grades.” Photo by BILL HUGHES Miss TAMU 1984 Kim Elizabeth Walters receives her crown from Theresa Jones at the Miss TAMU scholarship pageant in Rudder Auditorium Saturday night. Walters is a senior secondary education major from Orange. Walters named Miss Texas A&M By ED ALANIS Staff Writer Amidst gala pageantry, reigning Miss Texas A&M University Theresa Jones handed over her crown Satur day night to the new Miss Texas A&M, Kim Walters. Walters, a senior secondary educa tion major from Orange, entertained the audience with a medley of songs from the Broadway musical, “A Cho rus Line.” Talent counted as half of the contestants’ scores. Walters will go on to represent Texas A&M in the 1984 Miss Texas Pageant, to be held in Fort Worth in July. As Miss Orange County 1983, she participated in last year’s Miss Texas pageant and received a special Judges’ Award. First runner-up was Dorothy Beeler, a freshman from Richmond. Beeler also participated in the 1983 Miss Texas Pageant as Miss Fort Bend County. Carolyn Coffey, a sophomore speech communications major form Sanger, was second runner-up. Third runner-up was Christy Lang ford, a sophomore computer science major from Spring. Theresa Fritz, a junior from San Antonio in her first year of veterinary school, received fourth runner-up. The 20 finalists participating in Saturday’s competition were picked by a panel of judges in November. Judges for Saturday night were model Willa Bratcher, past president of the Association of Former Stu dents Jack Fritts, and former Miss Texas, Sheri Ryman. Ryman was Miss Texas A&M 1981 and fourth runner-up to Miss America 1982. Mistress of ceremonies was Cindy Green, a former Miss Texas A&M and first runner-up to Miss Texas 1983. Green performed a piano solo for the audience. Other entertainment included a singing performance by the reigning Miss Texas A&M and a song and dance number by the Texas A&M Reveliers. For the opening number, the twenty contestants performed a song and dance routine to a medley from the Broadway hit “It’s Showtime.” In the talent competition, finalists danced, sang, twirled batons, played instruments, and one even acted out a dramatic monologue. Deana Tun- nell, a senior from Nederland, re ceived the non-finalist award for tal ent, for her oboe solo. The non-finalist award for the swimsuit competition was given to LaRhesa Moon, a sophomore from San Antonio. 1984 was the fifth year of the Miss Texas A&M University Pageant, a project of the Memorial Student Center Hospitality Committee. Dur ing its first year in 1980, the pageant was named Outstanding First Year Pageant within the Miss Texas fran chise. Several participants have gone on to receive recognition in the Miss Texas pageants. As the new Miss Texas A&M, Wal ters will receive a $1,000 scholarship, a $1,000 wardrobe allowance, use a 50-diamond pendant valued at over $3,000, the official Miss Texas A&M crown and trophy, and the use of a 1984 Cadillac. The runners-up will also receive scholarships. Last of U.S. Marines leave Beirut United Press International BEIRUT — The U.S. Marines ended their 17-month peace-keeping mission in Beirut Sunday with the last Americans leaving their airport base 40 minutes before U.S. warships fired their mammoth guns at Druze rebel targets. The last Marine amphibious as sault vehicle drove off Lebanese soil at 12:37 p.m. and churned its way to U.S. warships stationed off the Leb anese coast. .Six minutes later, Shiite Moslem militiamen, who are fighting to topple the U.S.-backed Lebanese government along with other rebel factions, ran up their own flag over the former Marine base at Beirut Airport. “If they wanted peacekeepers, they should’ve wanted peace,” said Lt. Peter Walton, a 25-year-old tank commander front Cincinnati, Ohio. “The only peace I saw was them shooting at us, shooting at each other.” Forty minutes after the Marines left for the safety of the 6th Fleet, U.S. warships opened fire for the second time in 24 hours at the Druze- held mountains overlooking Beirut. The roar of cannons, including the huge 16-inch guns of the USS New Jersey, the world’s only opera tional battleship, shook Beirut. “A routine air reconnaissance mis sion received hostile fire,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Hudson said in Washington. “The battleship New Jersey responded with 16 rounds of 16-inch and the USS caron added 50 rounds of 5-inch directed against the suspected hostile fire locations.” The mountain radio station of the Syrian-backed Druze rebels reported one U.S. plane had been hit, but Hudson said the single F-14 from the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ken nedy returned safely. The Caron’s rhythmic barrage of 5-inch cannon fire came 12 hours af ter the same American destroyer fired about 90 rounds at Druze rebel positions. Hudson said the first barrage was precipitated by rebel shelling toward “some U.S. forces — parts of the multinational force.” Hudson did not say where the troops were. A State Department source said the fire was to protect U.S. artillery spotters in the Christian mountain town of Beit Meri. Despite fears of drawing fire as they left, the Marines were sur rounded Sunday only by curious Lebanese. The final pullout began at dawn — at the same beach where the Marines arrived Sept. 29, 1982 — with heli copters carrying men and equipment over the unseasonably calm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Inside the main compound encir cling Beirut airport, units of the Leb anese army’s 6th Brigade took up po sitions. Amal Shiite militiamen were on the perimeter. The brigade, which had refused to fight the Moslem rebel takeover of west Beirut three weeks ago, manned posts on the road to the airport and on higher ground in the center of the former Marine compound. The Marines followed the British and Italian contingents of the multi national force out of Beirut, leaving only the French. Candidates in special election defining main issues differently By KAREN WALLACE Staff Writer The March 10 special election to (the 14th district state representa tive seat vacated by Bill Presnal has en in the public eye recently. Can didates have been holding frequent ^ss conferences and some students !re upset about the election date. However, not much has been said out the candidates and the issues St are important to them. The jiree candidates are front-runners Beeley Lewis and Richard Smith, lutl a newcomer to politics John D. Kdman whe issue that appears most often Mween the front-runners is party ^Filiation. Beaman says the main issue is lexas A&M funding. ■Neeley Lewis, a College Station Rmocrat, says people need to look ^ the real issue — that the majority legislative leaders are Democrats. ■“The stakes are too high to risk jping to get a Republican into a lead ership position on a committee,” he said at a press conference where Sen. Kent Caperton announced his en dorsement of Lewis. Because he is a Democrat, Lewis says he would be in a leadership posi tion from the start. The first goals Lewis says he would like to meet are to find out the va rious legislative needs of people in the Brazos County, including Texas A&M, and to hold a special session dealing with education. Lewis says his eight years as Demo cratic Party Chairman gave him the experience in working with elected officials and a knowledge of the po litical process. “Richard Smith should be given credit for being mayor, but Lewis knows how to get the job done,” said Sen. Kent Caperton. Richard Smith, a Bryan Republi can, disagrees with Lewis’ stand on Democratic leadership in Austin. There have been many Republican leaders including Bob Davis who chaired the Ways and Means Come mittee for two sessions under former Texas House Speaker Bill Clayton, Smith says. Because of his experience as mayor and a councilman, Smith says he is certain he will be more effective than Lewis and that his party affilia tion makes no difference. Smith, who was mayor of Bryan for five years, is the only Republican in the race and the Texas A&M Col lege Republicans organizaton feels he is at a disadvantage because the election day is the first Saturday of spring break. Texas A&M students, who have a history of voting strongly Republican, will not be here to vote and absentee voter turn out usually isn’t very high. Smith, who wants a pay increase for classroom teachers, a new district court and repaired county roads, sayS he believes county voters ap prove of other Republicans, so his party affiliation should be an advan tage. John D. Seaman, also a College Station Democrat, says the main issue is preserving the Permanent Univer sity Fund. Presently, the PUF is divided be tween Texas A&M’s and The Uni versity of Texas’ main campuses. A proposed bill is asking that the Avail able University Fund — proceeds from from bonds issued against PUF lands — be made available to Prarie View A&M University as well as UT and Texas A&M. Seaman, a newcomer to politics, supports the House Joint Resolution 19 (HJR) which would keep the PUF and AUF as funds only for the Uni versity of Texas and Texas A&M. “The reason I’m in favor of the HJR is because any pie you can cut into too many pieces,” Seaman said. “The key to excellence is the more money you put into education at one school, the better that school is going to be.” Seaman, a College Station phar macist, says he is against parimutuel betting, favored a stronger Sunday closing law and wants to raise the drinking age to 21. In Today’s Battalion Local • The MSC Outdoor Recreation Committee will spon sor an Outdoor Horizons Conference beginning today. See story page 5. Nation • Colleges and universities around the nation are fac ing a stampede of freshman applications. See story page 6. • Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams were among several famous blacks inducted into the Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame. See story page 7. World • Alleged nude photos of Prince Andrew’s girlfriend appeared on the front page of a British newspaper. See story page 3.