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Dance Arts Society
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Texas Weslayan put
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The BaTTcmon
Serving the University community
Vo! 79 No. 139 GSPS 0453110 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, April 25, 1984
eavy security
effect since
"dorm assaults
)l)
By TRICIA PARKER
and SARAH OATES
Stall Writer
ecurity for dormitories in the
' 1 Central Area is being tightened and
^ ■dents are being advised to take
ta test™ Ira security precautions because of
11 ■ Ebrecent incidents in that area, said
Tim Sweeney, central area coordina-
move L
Dunaai») ur i n g t y ie p as t t W o weeks, two in-
Bn 8 c °[Bents involving harassment of fe-
citylfll®| e residents living in the Keathley-
^Bvler-Hughes area have been re-
adcic §)ru*cl to the University Police De-
erifl^ fertmcnt.
•Itt rtlt m) n April 14, one Keathley Hall
2' m C Ksident reported she saw a man
belie'KJjp a knife on the stairs behind her
she returned to her room early
Bt morning. Sweeney said the
plan reported the incident to her
Jident adviser, who called Univer-
|ty Police.
iSweeney also said that at approxi
mately the same time a man tried to
Inter a dorm room on the first floor
ij»f Hughes Hall but was unable to get
jjn. University Police were unable to
leiify this report.
|0n April 18, two women in Fowler
^hI were assaulted by two men who
imered their dorm room. No one
been charged in either case.
[Sweeney said harassing phone
sedto
of j#
if (If®
I based'
edtoitf 1
lls are a common occurrence but
Aaults such as the one on April 18
arc rare.
“These last few weeks are the First
time I’ve seen anything like this in
the four years I’ve been here,” Swee
ney said.
He said the Central Area OfFtce is
considering hiring a security guard
to patrol the quad between the
dorms. In the meantime, male RAs
are accompanying female RAs on
their rounds to increase security.
Sweeney said undercover police offi
cers are also stationed in that area.
Posters and signs urging residents
to lock their rooms have been put up
all over the Keathley-Fowler-Hughes
area to increase security awareness.
The North Area Office recom
mended that area residents take the
following precautions:
• Lock windows and lock and
chain doors at all times.
• Do not walk alone on campus at
night.
• Report any suspicious-looking
persons or activity to an RA and to
University Police.
Lauren Murphy, president of
Keathley Hall, said students need to
realize the importance of taking ev
eryday security precautions.
“It’s a pain for a girl to have to call
someone to walk her home when its
less than a block away, but this is your
life you’re playing with,” she said.
Murphy also said she would like to
see more security precautions taken
“If this University can afford a bell
tower,” she said, “it can afford one
night watchman.
Baton man
Photo by JOHN MAKELY
Conductor Bill J. Dean, conductor of the Sym
phonic band, lead students in renditions of
The Stars and Stripes Forever and other tunes
Tuesday by Rudder Fountain.
Inflation for March lowest in a year
United Press International
Consumer
percent
ItediP
(ready i**
son iftfl
ons iii j r
nvifc JWASHINGTON —
ted in Wees rose only 0.2 percent m
ajacb Barch, slowed by lower food and
e ttilM Watiug oil prices and stable housing
Texas] lists, the Labor Department said
foole : Tuesday.
e. BThere has not been a smaller
urt « inmthly increase in the Consumer
irther friie Index in a year, not since it
•gsdfjPRept up 0.1 percent in March 1983.
jtiiiOWfhe March slowdown suggested
lent' 'lb food cost acceleration of January
jtal February was more temporary
ie stiif* 1 tan most analysts expected.
ar-old
,od,
wSbl!
andas 5
If the weak March inflation per
sisted all year it would produce an
annual inflation rate of only 2.8 per
cent, the department said.
“This is very reassuring news in
view of the extraordinary growth of
the economy in the first quarter,”
said White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater. “For the consumer, it
means more and more jobs are being
created and paychecks are going far
ther.”
In a separate report, the Labor
Department said the spending power
of the average blue-collar worker was
0.3 percent less in March, after a 0.4
percent setback in February.
While weak inflation and higher
hourly pay helped maintain spend
ing power, those boosts were not
enough to offset a shrinkage in the
number of hours worked during the
month.
The strongest price increases for
the month were in transportation-re
lated costs, while the biggest declines
were in food categories and home
heating oil, down by 4.3 percent.
Beef and pork prices were down
slightly and egg prices tumbled 12.1
percent, the most since April 1970.
Gasoline prices, after seasonal ad
justment, rose 1 percent, the most in
10 months.
Used cars were 2.4 percent more
expensive, reflecting the problems
that high new-car prices present.
“We haven’t seen the sharp accele
ration in prices that a lot of people
(on Wall Street) have been warning
about,” said Commerce Department
chief economist Robert Ortner.
Government analysts still expect
an overall inflation rate for 1984 of
around 4.5 percent to 5 percent,
Ortner said, compared with last
year’s 3.8 percent.
The price index rose 0.6 percent
in January and 0.4 percent in Feb
ruary. f
“The surge during the winter
months was a temporary devel
opment,” caused primarily by bad
weather, said economist Jerry
Jasinowski.
The department’s Consumer Price
Index was 307.3 in March, equivalent
to a cost of $307.30 for the govern
ment’s sample “market basket” of
goods and services that cost $100 in
1967.
Social Security recipients, who in
years past would learn the size of
their next cost-of-living increase
when the March inflation rate was
published, this year must wait until
the end of the third quarter.
’re-law counseling at A&M
s efficient, but hard to find
Quake
rocks
‘Frisco
United Press International
SAN FRANCISCO — A strong
earthquake rocked California Tues
day, causing highrise buildings in
San Francisco to sway and damage to
buildings in the San Jose area 50
miles to the south.
The quake was recorded at 1:15
p.m. pst and had a Richter magni
tude of about 6, enough to cause se
rious damage.
The University of California said
the quake had a Richter magnitude
of 6.2 and was centered 12 miles east
of Mount Hamilton near San Jose.
The seismograph recorded at least
four aftershocks.
At the National Earthquake Cen
ter in Colorado, scientists estimated
the quake at 5.8 on the Richter scale.
In Morgan Hill, near the center of
the quake, police dispatched all
emergency vehicles into the streets.
Damage was reported, but the extent
was not immediately determined,
according to an official.
In Hollister, southeast of San Jose
and near the center of many earth
quakes, people were “running
through the streets and cars sway
ing,” police said. Minor damage was
reported to some buildings in Hollis
ter.
The quake was felt as far east as
Reno and as far south as Fresno in
the San Joaquin Valley.
At the Lick Observatory, near the
quake center east of San Jose, Lotus
Bakes, a clerk, reported that it was
felt “as two bigjerks.”
“Everybody dashed out of the
building,” she said. “Dishes were bro
ken. Things fell off the shelves.”
She said that outside a large boul
der broke loose and rolled down a
hill, hitting the car on which her hus
band was working. He was not in
jured.
In the 20-story Federal Building in
downtown San Francisco, a prisoner
in custody of the U.S. marshall col
lapsed and an ambulance was called.
In Daly City, just south of San
Francisco, dishes were thrown from
cupboards.
At the toll-gate of the San Fran-
cisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Charles
Huff said he saw an untended truck
“rolling back and forth” as the earth
shook.
From the 12th floor window of the
United Press International office
workers could see the huge plate-
glass windows of a highrise across the
street bending and shuddering.
In Today’s Battalion
ywi
le.
051*
By KATHY WIESEPAPE
Reporter
Editor’s note: This is the second of a
bee-part series about pre-law students at
pas Ai^M.In the past 30 years,
Texas A&M has grown faster, far
mer, bigger and better. Academics,
extracurriculars, facilities, quality of
ludents and faculty — areas of pro-
[ress all.
But the University is backward in
e program it offers pre-law stu-
|ents — even though administrators
ecognize the vital importance of
aving graduates who are lawyers.
Associate Provost Charles E. Mc-
andless says lawyers who are for-
iet students benefit their alma
later in several ways.
“Many of the state legislators have
'gal training,” he says. “It’s helpful
'have people in the Legislature who
!refavorable toward A&M.”
Lawyers also tend to be civic lead-
rs, McCandless says.
Past administrations also realized
'at Aggie lawyers could exert a posi-
re influence for the University. The
Board of Directors, later the Board
of Regents, approved two proposals
— one in 1969, one in 1972 — to es
tablish a law school here. Both were
rejected by the Texas Coordinating
Board and the Texas Legislature.
A 1973 Battalion editorial said the
influence of alumni of Texas law
schools in the Legislature was the
main reason for the defeat.
The influence that Texas A&M
wanted — and didn’t have — effecti
vely kept it from establishing its own
law school to increase its clout.
John Milton Nance, history pro
fessor and pre-law adviser at Texas
A&M during this time, said the state
didn’t need another law school;
Texas A&M wanted one just “be
cause everybody else had one.”
With plans for their own law
school squelched, administrators
turned their attention to preparing
undergraduates for law school.
There had never been a cohesive
program for counseling students on
their way to law school. There still
isn’t.
Until 1953, preparation for law
school wasn’t even mentioned in the
Texas A&M catalogue.
From 1953 to 1967, catalogs listed
a three-year basic curriculum as pre
paration for law school — even
though by the mid-60s, most law
schools required a bachelor’s degree
for admission.
By 1968, the three-year course
had disappeared from the catalog. It
was replaced by a paragraph in the
liberal arts section recommending
eight elective courses for pre-law stu
dents to include in their degree plan.
Nance said there was a pre-law ad
visory committee in the College of
Liberal Arts during this time. The
members of the committee were sup
posed to keep up-to-date informa
tion about law schools and advise
pre-law students.
But, Nance said, it was an advisory
committee in name only. Most of the
members were rarely in their offices.
“Whoever takes on this responsibi
lity needs to be available,” he said.
They weren’t, and Nance ended up
doing most of the pre-law advising by
default.
Pre-law students either went to
him or to their departmental advisers
— who might or might not have cor
rect information.
In 1973, the Student Government
decided pre-law students had been
ignored long enough.
The Senate recommended the
University designate one person or a
group of people as pre-law advisors.
They would be responsible for coor
dinating a network of pre-law coun
selors in different departments; pro
viding information about the LSAT;
keeping up with information from
various law schools; writing the pre
law information in the Texas A&M
catalogue; and acting as the adviser
for the Pre-law Society.
See PRE-LAW page 7
Local
• Two Aggie enterpreneurs have opened a gourmet
snow cone eatery featuring 28 flavors right across from
campus. See story page 5. .
State
• Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and former Gov. Dolph Briscoe
announced they will support Walter Mondale. See story
page 3.
Nation
• Twenty-one members of a Minnesota high school
hockey team have been suspended from school for sending
a “Stripper-gram” to a birthday boy.See story page 8.