Aggieland subject
for new board game
Creek overflow]
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eclinmg price of^
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will open again bftj,
it ion of new mZ
aid. Then Shafc
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of reopening th t
ends entirely ontfc'
prices go up, Shaf lt
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silver under Cibc|( _
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keeping their
id on the silver marl;
See page 4
Battalion's second
famous football picks
Rugby team hopes
to get physical in '84
See page 11
See page 11
Texas A&M —^ - - V •
The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol 80 Mo. 5 GSPS 045360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, September 7, 1984
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■caliber pi
found in Carden
‘Degree only’ policy
eliminated this year
By KARI FLUEGEL
Staff Writer
John was supposed to graduate in
the fall semester. He had completed
all his course work, but he missed
the deadlihe to apply for gradua
tion.
In past years, John would have to
re-register in the University for “de
gree only” — registered but not tak
ing classes — to graduate in the
spring.
But now, because of a University
policy change John does not have to
be registered in the University the
semester which he goes through
commencement.
Effective this semester, the policy
stating that students must be offi
cially registered in the University the
semester or summer term in which
their degree is conferred has been
changed.
Students who have completed all
their academic requirements for
graduation will no longer be re
quired to register for degree only.
They must, however, pay the di
ploma fee and make formal applica
tion for degree before the stated
deadline during the semester or
term they plan to graduate.
Today is the final day to apply for
degrees awarded in December.
Undergraduate students who fell
into the “degree only” situation in
past years usually fell into two cat-
agories, Registrar R.A. Lacey said.
Before the new policy went into
effect, undergraduate students who
had completed all course work, but
had applied for graduation after the
deadline had to register the next se
mester as degree only to go through
commencement.
Other undergraduates, who
found themselves in the degree only
situation, were those not passing the
required classes at the time graduat
ing seniors’ grades were due. If
those failing students took the final
and passed the class at the scheduled
time, they also were eligble to grad
uate the following semester.
With the new policy, students will
no longer have to pay the $15 de-
greee only fee, but will still have to
apply for graduation and pay the
$ 15 diploma fee.
Students are responsible for ap
plying for graduation before the
deadline, Lacey said. Undergrad
uate students can apply for their de
grees in Heaton Hall and graduate
students can apply at the Graduate
College in the l eague Rearch Cen
ter.
The Graduate College has had to
change some of its registration pro
cedures to accommodate the policy
change, Dr. Leo Berner, graduate
dean, said.
Graduate students who are in pro
grams that require a thesis, disserta
tion or record of study must register
for a minimum of four semester
credit hours in a 691 (research) or
692 (professional studies) class if
they have not submitted their thesis,
dissertation or record of study prior
to the first day of classes.
Those graduate students who
have already submitted their theses,
dissertations or records of study
must assume the responsibility of ap
plying for their degrees.
Students in non-thesis programs
must apply for their degrees and pav
the application fee before they will
be approved to take their final ex
aminations.
Though he understands why the
coordinating board made their rul
ing, Berner said he does not like the
change.
“We could lose track of the stu
dents,” Berner said. “We don’t have
any way to keep track of them.”
The degree only policy has been
in effect for more than 20 years, La
cey said, but he does not know the
reasoning behind the policy.
The policy was discontinued after
See DEGREE, page 16
Fraternity strikes it rich
with own Aggie oil well
Photo by PETER ROCHA
Senior Rings
Students were able to pick up their senior
rings at the Pavilion Thursday morning.
The lines were longest at the beginning of
the day and in between classes.
By DOUG VORWERK
Reporter
One of the best ways to raise
money for a new fraternity house is
to strike oil. Sigma Chi fraternity has
done just that with their Aggie
Sigma Chi Oil Well 1.
Sigma Chi President Chris Tiblier
said he doesn’t know how much
money the fraternity will get, be
cause the workover rig — which
pumps the oil out and can regulate
the flow of oil — was only set up on
Tuesday. He said the other wells in
the area are producing 200 to 500
barrels of oil a day and he hopes the
fraternity’s well will produce as
much.
“We should have production fig-
Signm Chi President Chris
Tiblier said he doesn’t
know how much money
the fraternity will get, be
cause the rig was only set
up on Tuesday.
ures in about a month,” Tiblier said.
Inexco, a Houston-based com
pany, began drilling two weeks ago
and struck oil at the end of last week.
Welex is handling the workover rig.
Sigma Chi owns 10 acres on Dowl
ing Road. The fraternity members
are considering building a new
house, but they haven’t decided
whether to build it on their 10 acres
or on the newly-zoned fraternity row
in College Station. The new house
would house 45 men — the one they
have now sleeps nine.
William Powell, president of the
Aggie Sigma Chi House Corpora
tion, said if the well produces as ex
pected it will be a “dream come true,
financially.” He also said more
money will be made because they
will not flare the gas that is found
with the oil, but sell it.
Sigma Chi’s national headquarters
is excited about the well and people
are curious about it, Tiblier said.
“At all our parties last week, peo
ple were lined up along the fence to
watch the rig work,” he said.
rogram teaches convicted DWI offenders
By KIM JENSEN
Reporter
recent review by the Texas
Commission on Alcoholism (TCA)
rates Brazos County’s alcohol safety
education program at Texas A&M
as “one of the better programs” in
the state in dealing with driving
while intoxicated offenders.
The program was conceived in
January 1985 by Dr. Maurice E. Den
nis, Texas A&M’s safety education
coordinator, 85th Judicial District
Judge W.T. McDonald Jr. and Bra
zos County chief probation officer
Dan Richard Beto.
During the program’s first nine
months of operation, Dennis said,
604 students enrolled, with a 91 per
cent completion rate.
He said that the program is self-
supporting and the students must
pay. The course costs $40 plus $15
each month for two years of proba
tion counseling.
One DWI conviction usually costs
the of fender $1,200 in legal fees and
fines, Dennis added.
Dennis said drinking and driving
is a hard thing to get a handle on in a
university community like Bryan-
College Station. He said studies
show that 85 percent of Texas A&M
students drink and it is hard for
them to separate drinking from
driving.
Dennis worked with the drunk
driving education program at Flor
ida State University before coming
to Texas A&M in 1976. After teach-
a class in alcohol and traffic
in g
safety here, he felt the “real-life ex
perience” of working with DWI of
fenders would be helpful to grad-
fety education
uate students in the
department.
Dennis also wanted to put his ex
pertise to work instead of lecturing
on theorems and principles.
“The program we have con
structed is designed to rehabilitate
convicted DWI offenders as part of
their probation process,” Dennis
said.
Participants attend a nine-hour
course taught by TCA certified in
structors and can keep their drivers
licenses if they complete the class
within 180 days of their arrest.
See DWI page 6
NG ON
OND
Candidates battle on religion’s role
United Press International
Walter Mondale accused the Reagan
administration Thursday of embrac
ing zealots on the “extreme fringe”
who want to use government power
to impose their religious beliefs on
the nation.
; ; While the Democratic challenger
blasted the intrusion of the Moral
Majority and religious right into
government. President Reagan said
the Constitution guarantees there
will be no state religion.
® The battle over the role of reli
gion in American government,
which has been simmering since
Reagan attended a prayer breakfast
in Dallas the morning after he was
renominated, escalated sharply as
the two candidates separately ad
dressed the national convention in
Washington of B’nai B’rith, the Jew
ish service organization.
The speech was Reagan’s only po
litical appearance of the day, while
Mondale sounded the same theme in
an address later to a Baptist conven
tion.
Before leaving Washington, Mon
dale met with House and Senate
Democrats who are concerned that
he must step up his campaign
against Reagan in order to win the
November election.
“The unique thing about America
is a wall in our Constitution separat
ing church and state,” Reagan said.
“It guarantees there will never be a
state religion in this land, but at the
same time it makes sure that every
single American is free to choose
and practice his or her religious be
liefs or to choose no religion at all.”
But Mondale said Reagan wanted
to tear down the wall when he told
the Dallas prayer breakfast that reli
gion and government “are insepa
rably related.”
“The queen of England, where
state religion is established, is called
Defender of the Faith,” Mondale
said. “But the president of the
United States is the defender of the
Constition, which defends all faiths.”
“No president should attempt to
transform policy debates into theo
logical debates,” Mondale said.
“I am alarmed by the rise of what
a former Republican congressman
calls ‘moral McCarthy ism,’” he said
refering to comments in Dallas by
former Rep. John Buchanan of Ala
bama. “A determined band is raising
doubts about people’s faith. They
are reaching for government power
to impose their own beliefs on other
people.
“And the Reagan administration
has opened its arms to them.”
Mondale said he believes in an
America where government does
not dictate religion. A force could be
unleashed, he warned, that would
divide the nation.
“Today, that force is being
wielded by an extreme fringe poised
to capture the Republican Party and
tear it away from its roots in Lin
coln,” he said.
In Today’s Battalion
Local
• Aggies urged to celebrate “Grandparent’s Day” by “a-
dopting” an older person. See story page 3.
• Problems with the shuttle bus system are being worked
out. See page 7.
World
• More than 1,360 have died in Philippines from Ty-
■ -
phoon Ike. See story page 3.
- / M