Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1984)
Reagan meets with Caribbean leaders See page 8 1 Vol 79 No. 173 USPS 045360 8 pages Utility bills to jump; conservation pushed See page 3 Astros beat Expos; Tigers down Rangers See page 7 Battalion Serving the University community College Station, Texas Friday, July 20, 1984 ^Democrats unite !a|o select Ferraro n < United Press International I SAN FRANCISCO — A united Hemocratic Party nominated Ger- ternauonil Ferraro for vice president : White ^Thursday and heard its new presi- i Presidenptt'iial candidate, Walter Mondale, the Text t iV0\\ to fight President Reagan “for i announc 'thi: American future.” :al RepuM The history-making Mondale- ferraro ticket — the first in America p were n t-wiih a woman — began the 100-day iress aide war for the White House as under- to Austin i Vg s > but also as the beneficiaries of :ampaign a party united after a long and bitter ay tnat w ftimary season. B In the emotional highlight of the Texas w] four-day Democratic National Con- ite Bar irrigation, Rep. Fdrraro was nomi- ly 6. hated by acclamation in a frenzied demonstration as tears streamed down the faces of many madly cheering delegates. ■ Some 3,000 miles away in New York’s borough of Queens, her 78- Rar-old Italian-American mother, Antonetta, sat in a big bentwood -tocker and watched her daughter on television — smiling, laughing and blowing kisses at the screen. A sea of American flags waved across the massive convention floor as Mondale came before the conven tion to accept the nomination he wrestled from Sen. Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson. Mondale, in a personal and emo tional plea to the nation, asked not only the support of party loyalists, but of those Democrats who de fected by the thousands in 1980 to vote for Reagan. “Over the next hundred days, in every word we say, and every life we touch, we will be fighting for the American future,” Mondale said. To those who deserted four years ago, he said: “I heard you. And our party heard you. “Tonight we come to you with as new reafism, ready for the future, and recapturing the best in our tra dition,” he said. “We are wiser, stronger and focused on the future.” Mondale, 56, one of the last old- time liberals out of the New Deal mold, won the nomination on the first ballot Wednesday night. De spite his acceptance speech, the spot light on the final night of the con vention was on Ferraro, 48, the feisty three-term congresswoman from New York’s borough of Queens. “By sending an American woman to run for our nation’s second high est office, you send a powerful signal to all Americans,” she said. “There are no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on achievement, ” she said. Mondale, who picked Rep. Fer raro from a field that also included other women, blacks and minorities, said: “Tonight we open a new door to the future. Mr. Reagan calls that ‘tokenism.’ We call it America.” Sen. Edward Kennedy, who intro duced Mondale, said that by picking Ferraro, “Walter Mondale has al ready done more for this country in one short day than Ronald Reagan has done in four long years in of fice.” d no mi lot sent ystem notified of suit y former Tarleton prof :r class, slit! ' from this nd,thepl "S. By KARI FLUEGEL Staff Writer hat you ■ an assist The Texas A&M University Sys- jm received official notification ibout a lawsuit filed by a former ime day Tarleton State University professor for nowiLilate Thursday afternoon, urse, Islln the lawsuit, Dr. James W. ; a little p Shores, an assistant professor of so- beahou dal science, claims he was denied tenure at Tarleton “because of his race, black, and because of his exer- ond staniP 56 0 ^rights guaranteed by the First 4 until H °f * l he United States jEonstitution in challenging the tra ditions and existence of the Purple Poo on behalf of himself and in be- hall of black students.” I The Purple Poo is a student spirit Eganization in which members wear fiurple hoods and robes and mem- |ers’ identities are kept secret. H “He was likewise denied tenure at vill bejiislipU because he served as an advo- a j n cate for black students at TSU gen erally,” the suit states. 'SJ-y System officials have not yet com mented on the lawsuit, i Shores, 53, was the first black, jfull-time faculty member in Tarle- » (J ton’s 81-year history. He is suing the v iCi System Board of Regents, the Sys- jjem, Tarleton President Barry B. in. Thepiij utensils i '2:15 she Underra aping fro® :s inventofl Hals the J es the carlJ ce because Thompson, Vice President for Aca demic Affairs of Tarleton Robert C. Fain, Tarleton Tenure Committee members Don M. Beach, Lamar Jo- hanson, Jesse L. Tackett and Robert H. Walker and Tarleton faculty member Russell C. Long. Shores claims the System main tains segregation of its university faculty through policies, practices and customs that discourage black academicians from seeking and continuing employment with system schools. “TSU fostered such segregation by supporting and encouraging an official University organization known as the Purple Poo,” the suit states. Shores claims the attire of the Purple Poo is reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan outfits. Maurice Ham- onn, president of the male division of the Purple Poo; said Thursday that the robes and hoods have a his torical background. In the early days of the organiza tion, the students had a curfew. To get out to hang signs. Purple Poo members had to wear hoods and robes to avoid being caught and pos sibly punished, Hamonn said. The group has 20 members, 10 men and 10 women. The mem bership includes one black and one Hispanic. Besides promoting school spirit, Purple Poo members also hang signs around campus commenting about university issues. On one occasion cited in the lawsuit, a sign was hung containing a riddle to which the an swer was “fifty niggers.” Hamonn said that the person re sponsible for it was reprimanded. Purple Poo adviser Dr. Mike Leese, vice president for Student Services, said Shores complained about the Purple Poo about two or three years ago. About a year after the inital com plaint, Leese said Shores spoke with him again and said that after re searching the Purple Poo, he no longer objected to the organization. On May 24, 1983, Shores was den ied tenure at Tarleton by a majority vote. The majority consisted of Beach, Johanson, Tackett, Walker and Melvin M. Crawford, also a member of tenure committee. Shores is suing for immediate ten ure at Tarleton and that he be treated no differently than any other faculty member or that he be awarded $750,000 for loss of pay for the 17 years of tenured employment at Tarleton. » Prairie View A&M: Looking beyond Dunt ieei By REBECA ZIMMERMANN Editor ft (Editor’s note: This is the third of 3 three-part series on Prairie View A&M University.) At Prairie View A&M University, acilities are inadequate and aca- lemic standards have been low — a result of almost 106 years of neglect by the Texas A&M University Sys- :em. “There’s so much to be done that you don’t know where to start,” says Dr. William V. Muse, Texas A&M ystem vice chancellor for academic rograms. But the president of Prairie View l A&M and System administrators foresee a bright future for the uni- f versity. I “We’ve made some significant steps forward,” says Dr. Percy A. P’ierre, president of Prairie View “ T fhink we’re on a course Prairie View A&M Many improvements are already in the works. The university has committed $55 million to various construction and renovation projects as part of a long-range plan for Prai rie View A&M. A large clearing marks the site for a $16 million li brary. An $8.5 million engineering technology building and extensive landscaping are among other sched uled projects. “Capital investment in this place over the last 20 years has been a pit tance,” Pierre says. “In the last five years significant improvements have been made.” One such improvement has been installation of sidewalks and street lights — a simple yet major im provement. An All Faiths Chapel will be completed in April or May 1985. Alumni Hall, the dining fa cility on campus, is spacious and modern -— providing a sharp con trast to some classrooms that still lack air conditioning and have crum bling walls. But Pierre has more planned than improving facilities. The university is upgrading academic programs and standards. The university’s course inventory has been pruned. Two-year vocational programs are being phased out. “It’s becoming more academic,” says Student Body President Kevin Dennis. “It’s slowly getting a brain- bank type thing.” A new scholarship drive will focus on academics rather than general need, and recruiting of non-black students — 92 percent of Prairie View A&M’s students are black — will receive more attention. In addition, admission standards have been raised. Until this year, stu- Gunman United Press International AUSTIN — A gunman fired one shot Thursday to force his way into a television station newsroom, where he held employees at gunpoint and made a rambling, videotaped politi cal statement before surrendering to police. There were no injuries to the four people present in the KVUE-TV newsroom when the gunman, identi fied by police as Walter Joseph Sauder III, a native of San Antonio, burst in with a 9mm pistol. Sauder, 30, an unemployed oil field worker who moved back to Texas from Portland, Ore., in May, was charged by police with aggra vated kidnapping and was jailed in lieu of $25,000 bond. Anna Marie Garza, a camera op erator sitting in for the receptionist, was the first to encounter the gun man when he entered the station’s lobby. "He came in to me at the front and said he wanted the newsroom — now,” said Ms. Garza, 24. “He had the gun in my back and we walked past the control room. He said, ‘Hit the ground.’ They went about their work — they thought it was a birth day party or a singing telegram or something. I hit the ground. Then he said, T’m serious’ and fired a shot.” Ms. Garza crawled to another of fice and called police, who arrived a few minutes before the gunman grabbed another employee and pre pared to make what he thought was a live, on-air statement. His remarks instead were videotaped. Sauder surrendered to police im mediately after making his statement Enrollment highest ever Photo by PETER ROCHA Hot practice Firefighters at the Texas Firemen’s Training School work with overturned tank truck. See story and pictures page 5. By SARAH OATES Staff Writer Enrollment figures are the highest ever for Texas A&M University’s second summer session, with a re cord 13,034 students registered. Based on figures from the Regis trar’s office, this is a two-and-one- quarter percent increase over last year’s second summer session enroll ment of 12,746 students. More students also were regis tered for the first summer session this year than ever before, with 14,486 enrolled. “The second summer session is al ways lower than the first,” Associate Registrar Don Carter said Thursday, “but this is the highest second ses sion enrollment we’ve ever had.” Don Wood, of the office of Plan ning and Institutional Analysis, said a possible reason for the high second summer session enrollment is that more students are being encouraged by their advisors to attend summer school. Tougher fall admissions stan dards also could be a factor in the high second summer session enroll ment. Associate Director of Admissions Gale Wood said that before the stan dards were raised in 1982, about 160 to 175 freshmen registered for sum mer school under the Provisional Admission Program, which allows freshmen who do not meet the en trance requirements to attend sum mer classes. The registration procedure this summer was changed to facilitate the process. The Registrar’s office is us ing a system of alphabetically divid ing students into six groups instead of five. the cracks In Today’s Battalion dents were admitted with Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of 600, gradua tion in the upper 50 percent of their high school class and a grade point average in high school of at least 2.0. Effective for the 1984 school year, the SAT requirement has been in creased to 700. At Texas A&M stu dents in the top 10 percent of their high school class may be admitted no matter what their SAT score is. But for students in the top 25 percent of their class, the lowest acceptable SAT score is 800. The score rises with lower rankings. Improving general morale also has been on Pierre’s agenda. “I’ve spent 80 percent of my time up the university, across Pierre says. Pierre’s efforts have been noticed. “This administration encourages students to be involved in the destiny of the institution,” says Rev. Van Johnson, student activities director at Prairie View A&M. See PRAIRIE, page 4 just shoring the board,” Local • Steve Holik, 74, remembers when all Texas Avenue had was a one grocery-gas station. See page 5. State • Dallas Cowboy Randy White fails to report to training camp. See story page 7. National • Gang robs Brinks armored car in California. See story page 3.