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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1984)
A&M physicist hosts classical music show See page 3 Aggie sports director is 'Mr. Information' See page 6 Ags' Sanders makes up for long absence See page 9 Texas A&M m m « • The Battalion Serving the Gniversity community Vol. 80 No.25 USPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, October 3, 1984 ispanic vote ajor factor By PAMELA WENTWORTH Reporter I “Well see the largest turnout of Hispanic voters that we’ve ever seen I in our election history,” Andy Her- Handez, speaker for the Southwest Hooter Registration and Education |Project, said Tuesday. 1 MSC Committee for the Aware ness of Mexican-Anierican Culture (let with Hernandez to discuss re pent trends in Hispanic political par ticipation. ■ “Evidence indicates that 1 lispanics Hre in the process of transforming Holitical life in this nation today,” Blernandez said. In the states critical ■dr the presidential electoral votes in ■he 1984 election, Hispanics regis- iHered to vote are a decisive factor, he ® id - ■ More than 4.4 million registered fflispanics are predicted to vote this ■ear — a significant increase from Hhe past two elections, Hernandez ■aid, and about I million of them re- ; side in Texas. ■ The number one issue among the Hispanic community voters is unem ployment and su hem ploy merit. The ■econd concerns the quality of edu cation, and the third involves social programs, Hernandez, said. I “Once you hold all these variables ■onstant, there is no gap between i^nglo-Americans and Mexican- p.Aniericans,” he said. I Hernandez stressed the need for ■nforcing the laws already in the Books and having a more humane ■pproach when dealing with immi gration. “We are the only people that have to prove our citizenship,” he said. SVREP is a non-profit organiza tion committed to raising the level of political participation of Hispanics and other minorities in the South west. “Our commitment is to give the Hispanic communities the tools and resources to make a political impact on their lives and their future gener ations,” Hernandez said. By doing this, “We feel it will give people a chance to have a voice in promoting future advancement for the His panic community,” he said. SVREP is an on-going project and has been around for 10 years, Carlos Cavazos, director of resourses for CAMAC, said. “It is the most organized voter registration drive either a Hispanic or Black organization has ever taken on in the United States,” he said. “Within the next five years, the United States will be the fifth largest Spanish speaking culture in the world,” Cavazos said. Because of these increasing fig ures, Cavazos believes that CAMAC will be an important organization at Texas A&M. “It is comprised of all classes, with a lot of influx of freshman, and is more structured than it’s ever been before,” he said. CAMAC] has been in existence for about seven years. It is designed to promote Mexican-American culture at A&M. Catch the Light, Catch the Fair Water-filled prisms are only one of the many crafts for sale at the Memorial Student Crafts Fair at Rudder Fountain. Here, Kirk Houser of Bastrop prices his water prisms. The fair will continue through today. Local group speaks against nuclear arms race By WALTER SMITH Reporter The nuclear arms race. It’s a critical national and global toncern. A group of Texas A&M students and local residents have banded to gether to demonstrate their discon tent with the current situation. They I are collectively known as the Brazos Valley Peace Action. “The nuclear arms problem is so large you feel you can’t control it,” paid Kris Parsons, a member of BVPA . “A lot of people, me in cluded, are tempted to give up. But another part of me says, ‘Wait a min ute! I’m a part of this world and I feel a responsiblity.’ Especially in the U.S., we have a responsiblity to speak up and tell our government what we want.” Brazos Valley Peace Action was started in December 1982 by 12 con cerned people. In its monthly newsletter, BVPA is defined as “a community organiza tion committed to peace and social justice through non-violent action and education. Members represent a diversity of backgrounds, religions and ethical philosphies that share a common goal of peace.” The main goal of BVPA is educa tion, Parsons said. “A lot of people are intimidated with all the technical stuff involved with the arms race,” she said. “There’s a lot of literature and bro chures that we make available that explain things to people very sim- pty.” In their monthly meetings at the College Station Community Center, members discuss possible protest ac tions and plan fund-raising projects and guest speakers. About 50 mem bers attend each monthly meeting; “I have managed to learn enough about the arms race to be even more frightened,” Parsons said. “The bet ter educated you become about it, the more you see that the experts and leaders that we are depending on to do all the right things don’t al ways know what’s happening. “Certainly nobody can predict the future. We are the ones who are going to suffer from someone else’s mistake or misjudgement, no matter how innocent their intentions.” BVPA has sponsored several ac tions, including a demonstration last spring at the College Station West- inghouse plant. Members often join other groups in the community to protest issues such as world hunger and human rights, Parsons said. Because the BVPA is not directly affiliated with any national organiza tion, it must raise funds for operat ing expenses through donations, ga rage sales and other money-making projects. “I was a teenager in the 60s,” she said, “and’ I flat can’t understand why young people aren’t interested in these subjects enough to get out there and start protesting and ask the government some really hard questions like, ‘Do you guys really know what you’re doing?’ “College is a time of questioning, and I think BVPA gets young people to think about these issues from an other point of view. I would just like to see students questioning a little bit more and not blindly follow author ity, especially here at Texas A&M where authority figures are re spected maybe a little more than they should be.” Student Peace Action, a Univer sity-recognized off-shoot of BVPA, is presenting Don Clark, a retired Air Force colonel who formerly was involved with defense planning at the Pentagon. Clark will speak Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in 601 Rudder. DPI problem at Battalion The Battalion has not had United Press International wire service since Sunday due to prob lems with transmission. UPI in Dallas sends transmission from Dallas to radio station WTAW via satellite, and The Battalion re ceives the stories from WTAW via phone lines. The problem is a local one, lying in- the phone lines oi computer equipment. A&M EDCI majors ‘have nothing to worry about’ By JERRY OSLIN Reporter Teachers in public schools have been under fire recently because of their reported “incompetence” to teach, but Texas A&M education graduates and undergraduates have little to worry about, an A&M pro fessor said Friday. “We start from a premise that a quality program attracts quality stu dents,” said Dr. William Peters, head of the Department of Education and Curriculum Instruction. Before a student officially is ac cepted into Ecl.C.I., he must pass an English proficiency exam and the state-required Pre-Professional Skills Test — which measures abilities in reading, writing and math. Once in the department, students must maintain a 2.25 grade-point ra tio overall and a 2.25 in their area of specialization. Starting in 1986, graduates want ing to teach in public schools must pass an exit exam testing their com petency in their area of specializa tion. Peters said tests and grade-point ratios are not the only ways a stu dent’s competency is measured. He said students are monitored in the Ed.C.I. classroom to see if they have any problems that might hinder their teaching ability. If a student has an inability to communicate or to relate with oth ers, the department would suggest additional speech classes or other means that would help him with that problem, Peters said. “We (the Ed.C.I. department) have such high standards because the teaching profession deals with the minds of our young people. “The medical profession might deal with the physical well-being, but the teaching profession deals with the mental well-being. When it comes to life and death, we feel that mental well-being is just as impor tant as physical well-being.” Peters said one of the practical benefits of having higher standards is the high graduate placement rate. Ninety-five percent of A&M grad uates who pursue teaching jobs ‘are hired almost immediately upon graduation. Another benefit is that graduates have a betler understanding of the realities of teaching and are more self-confident when they begin tea ching. “I’m not saying that our graduates are master teachers upon gradua tion,” Peters said. “I’m saying we produce a solid, well-rounded prod uct that can go into the public schools and very effectively teach a group of students.” Space future for U.S. looks good In Today’s Battalion By KIM JENSEN Reporter The past 20 years of space re- f Search and travel have seen growth P|rom small three-man space mod- j ules to final designs on construction of a 16-man to 18-man space station, Maynard Dalton, senior design engi neer for NASA, said Tuesday. ■ The Iowa State University grad uate spoke to a group of engineering students in the Zachry Engineering ; Center last night during a meeting of the American Institute of Aero nautics and Astronautics. B “The United States is behind the Soviet Union in many aspects of space research, but is ahead in seve ral other key spots,” Dalton said. He said the next 10 years will be very good ones for the United States in terms of space travel. He cited a lack of appropriate funding in the past as the main reason for the United States falling behind Other countries in space research. Dalton said it is lucky NASA did not try to fly the first space station he designed in 1963. “We were very naive then,” he said. “We would have had to had very small astronauts or packed them like sardines for the thing to work.” Dalton has been with NASA for 20 years. His first designs were large enough to accommodate a galley, a sleeping room and an experimental equipment storage area. Dalton said the crew quarters in the space modules were about as large as a Volkswagen’s front seat. Dalton said the late 1960’s brought about new concepts in ad vanced space design engineering when technologists began dealing with zero gravity levels. He said arti ficial gravity problems plagued space research before then. Dalton said it was not until three years ago however, that NASA offi cials began looking at operational space stations. He said plans for a “space service station” culminated this summer. Dalton said the United States’ first large space station is scheduled to fly in 1992. He said virtually every aero space organization and materials processing center in the United States has expressed interest in working with NASA to develop fu ture space stations. Local • State Rep. Neeley Lewis to discuss the Permanent Uni versity Fund at tonight’s Student Senate meeting. See story page 4. • President Vandiver’s wile calls herself a people watcher. See story page 4. State • The chairman of a company that is a 25 percent partner in the South Texas Nuclear Power Plant is optimistic about the plant’s future. See story page 7.