(
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Symphony opens
new season tonight
See page 4
Bonfire centerpole
will be raised today
Slocum says 'Stangs
will test Ags' defense
See page 8
See page 9
Texas A&M #
The Battalion
Serving the University community
i|. 81 ho. 46 GSRS 045360 20 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, November 1, 1984
Members of the fightin’ Texas Aggie Band fire. The centerpole for the 75th-anniver-
work diligently in preparation for the bon- sary bonfire goes up today at 4:03 p.m.
Seniors get rings today;
new orders being taken
By KARLA K. MARTIN
Stuff Writer
It’s time for those Aggies who,
have earned their gold t,o enjoy it.
And while the Aggie rings ordered
in July will arrive today, another
ring order now is being taken in (he
Pavilion.
Until Nov. 30, Texas 'A&M stu
dents who have passed 92 semester
hours, with at least 30 of those hours
taken at A&M, are eligible to order
their senior rings. St udents who will
complete 92 hours at the end of the
semester should bring in their mid
term report for verification.
Students who wish to order their
rings should go by the Ring Office,
in room 119 of the Pavilion, and
leave their full name and iderttifica-
tion number. After one or two
weeks, students should return to or
der their rings.
Carolyn Swanzy, class ring admin
istrator, said this time lapse is to al
low the ring office to check students’
transcripts, but students who don’t
want to wait can bring in their unof
ficial transcript and order their rings
immediately. The unofficial tran
script can be purchased at Heaton
Hall for 50 cents.
Students must pay for their rings
when they order them. The men’s
ring prices are $233.50 for 10 karat
gold and $317.00 for 14 karat gold.
Women’s rings cost $122.00 for 10
karat gold and $150.50 for 14 karat
go'd.
While there is only one Aggie ring
style, students can purchase their
rings with either the rose-gold finish
or the antique-gold finish.
Students also may buy their rings
with a diamond, at an extra cost of
$58 to $600 depending on the size
and quality of the diamond.
Those who can’t afford the rings,
however, have two options. One op
tion is a Student Financial Aid loan.
Janice Cromer, a receptionist in
the Financial Aid office, said after
st udents’ transcripts have been veri
fied, students should go to room 229
of the Pavilion and fill out a short
term loan application, and write on
the back of the application that the
loan is for a senior ring.
Any full-time student with an
overall GPR of 2.0 is eligible for a
ring loan. The maximum amount
loaned is $233.50 for men’s rings
and $122.00 for women’s rings (the
price of the 10 karat gold rings). Stu
dents have six months to pay back
the loans, which include the ring
price plus 10 percent interest.
The loans will be distributed Nov.
26 from 10 to 11:30 a.m., and 1 to 3
p.m. Students should bring a copy of
their fee slip and their student ID
when they pick up their loans.
A second option students have is
the Lipscomb Anderson Perpetual
Ring Program. This program, spon
sored by the Association of Former
Students, began in May 1983 in
honor of Lipscomb Anderson, a
1927 A&M graduate.
Anderson encouraged the Board
of Directors to initiate this program,
in which former students donate
their Aggie rings to be remade into
new Aggie rings. Students who re
ceive these rings will have their
name along with the name of the
former student written inside.
While the Perpetual Rings cost
nothing to the students, they only
are available when when there are
ring donors.
Chile: No injuries from explosion
United Press International
SANTIAGO, Chile — A bomb ex
ploded outside an industrial fair
Wednesday while President Augusto
Pinochet was 250 yards away inau
gurating the exhibition, witnesses
said. There were no injuries and the
Chilean leader was in no danger.
The bomb exploded on a railway
track just outside the fence sur
rounding the Santiago Industrial
Fair grounds. The blast sent pieces
of the railway Hying into the exhibi
tion grounds.
The bombing came amid a rising
wave of violence and protest s against
11 years of military rule in Chile.
Seven people were killed and 330 ar
rested in demonstrations Monday
and Tuesday.
SWAMP group plans
MSC demonstration
despite controversy
By CAMILLE BROWN
Staff Writer
Students Working Against Many
Problems plans a demonstration
around the Memorial Student Cen
ter today at noon “to encourage a
general reconsideration of traditions
that we feel no longer reflect the atti
tudes of the majority of students at
A&M.”
SWAMP, an officially recognized
student organization, plans to sit on
the grass surrounding the MSC, but
heat from University officials is forc
ing members of SWAMP to rethink
their plans.
University officials fear violence
may break out because rumors are
circulating that a group of dorm stu
dents may use force to keep the
demonstrators off the grass. An un
signed flyer has been passed out to
residents of Davis-Cary Hall which
calls on “D.G. Fighters” to “be out
side the MSC at 12:00 noon” to “kick
some ass.”
To have a demonstration at A&M,
a group must have a permit issued
by the University. David Bergen,
who is in charge of issuing permits
for demonstrations on campus, said
that if SWAMP had filed for a per
mit for its demonstration, it would
have been refused. So SWAMP did
not apply for a permit.
“It (the permit) would be denied
on the basis of the reasonable time,
place and manner doctrine,” Bergen
said. “The University controls rea
sonable time, place and manner of
any event on campus, and we did not
feel that was a reasonable place to
hold that particular event.
“We were afraid for their safety
and the safety of others,” he said.
Robert Wiatt, director of security
and traffic for the University Police,
said he did not know what to expect
of the demonstration. Wiatt said
“appropriate action will be taken to
exclude the possibility of a violent
confrontation. They (SWAMP)
know exactly what kind of action I
will take given a certain situation.”
The consequences,of holding the
demonstration on the grass of the
MSC without a permit were laid out
for representatives of SWAMP in a
meeting held Wednesday in Wiatt’s
office at the University Police build
ing.
Students from SW’AMP were in
vited into the meeting but the press
was not. Wiatt closed the meeting to
the press because he said it was a
“business meeting in my own private
office.”
Hugh Stearns, a member of
SWAMP, said that in the meeting
Wiatt threaten^ to arrest anyone
who did not get off the grass after
one verbal warning.
“They said anyone on the grass
without a permit would be arrested
for disorderly conduct,” said
Stearns.
Among those present at the meet
ing were John Koldus, vice president
of student services; David Bergen,
student development specialist for
student affairs; Terry Anderson,
faculty adviser for SWAMP, rep
resentatives of SWAMP; Brann
Johnson of the American Civil Lib
erties Union; and Wiatt.
After the meeting Koldus said, “I
think we’re all in agreement that
protest is appropriate within the
confines and the rules and regula
tions of the institution. When they
go outside the confines we set up is
when it becomes a problem. We’ve
never allowed demonstrations on
that particular area of the grass.”
Anderson, the adviser for the
group, said the administration is op
posed to the protest. He said, how
ever, that he is taking no position on
the issue.
Despite threats from the adminis
tration, SWAMP will be at the MSC
at noon today. But whether they will
be on the grass or not is still to be de
cided by the members of the group.
“We will definitely be there to
morrow,” Stearns said, “but we have
no clear plans yet.”
Voters in Texas to consider
8 constitution amendments
United Press International
AUSTIN — Texas voters will
be asked on Nov. 6 to again alter
the state’s 108-year-old, bottom-
heavy constitution by approving
eight amendments, including
proposals to increase legislators’
pay and to set up a college con
struction fund.
Already laden with 263
amendments, the Texas constitu
tion has been systematically al
tered by voters every two years
since 1879.
Since 1881, state lawmakers
have sought voter approval of
higher legislative pay 20 times but
have been successful only four
times: in 1930, 1954, 1960 and
1975.
The last amendment set
monthly salaries at $600 for
House members and senators
and also established a $30-per-
day stipend for each day the Leg
islature is in regular session (140
days every two years) and special
session.
In odd-numbered years when
the Legislature meets, a law
maker earns a minimum of
$11,400 a year. Office expenses
such as staff salaries, postage,
etc., are paid from different
funds.
Amendment No. 8 on the Nov.
6 ballot asks voters to eliminate
the $30 per diem and make it a
floating amount tied to the maxi
mum allowable federal tax de
duction for legislative expenses.
That amount currently is $75 per
day, meaning the minimum
yearly in-session pay would rise to
$17,700.
Most legislators and other sup
porters of the pay hike argue it
would better enable less wealthy
working people to take time off
from their jobs to serve in the
Legislature, while opponents say
lawmakers already get hefty tax
deductions for their service and
should tighten their belts along
with other state employees.
Amendment No. 2, commonly
called Proposition 2, would set up
a $100 million a year construction
fund to be shared by 26 state col
leges and universities.
A 1982 constitutional amend
ment repealed the state property
tax, which had been set up to
fund college construction but was
unequally assessed.
Other proposed amendments
include:
• No. 1, which would give
state-chartered banks the same
rights and privileges enjoyed by
federally-chartered banks.
• No. 3, which would allow
parents, brothers and sisters who
are dependents of a public safety
officer to collect state aid if the of
ficers are killed while on hazard
ous duty.
• No. 4, which would abolish
the county treasurer’s offices in
Bexar and Collin counties.
• No. 5, which would permit
the Senate to elect a successor to
the lieutenant governor in the
case the lieutenant governor be
comes incapacitated or dies.
• No. 6, which would allow
public funds to be used to pay
mutual insurance companies’
premiums on “nonassessable”
hfe, health and accident insur
ance policies and on annuity con
tracts.
• No. 7, which would change
the membership of the State
Commission on Judicial Conduct
and alter the ways in which the
commission may discipline
judges.
Research park to be new home of Ocean Drilling Project
Editor s note: / his is the fourth of n
Inepart series on the Texas A&M Re-
s«ir7j Park.
By ROBIN BLACK
Senior Staff Writer
Texas A&M has a toehold on the
success of its new research park.
Mark Money, A&M’s vice chan
cellor of the research park and cor
porate relations, said he feels the
University should have six to eight
buildings in the park within the next
few years to ensure initial success.
Two years after its birth as the
brainchild of A&M Board of Re
gents Chairman H. R. “Bum”
Bright, the Texas A&M Research
Park has two confirmed residents
and plans for a facelift.
Ground was broken earlier this
month for a $5.5 million land reno
vation project that will install streets,
bridges, utilities and lighting on the
318-acres designated for the park on
the west campus.
While the landscaping project
goes on, the two buildings will be
going up.
The first building to go up will
house the Ocean Drilling Project, an
international partnership of scien
tists and governments who joined to
gether to study the structure and
history of the earth beneath the
ocean basins.
The program is being underwrit
ten by the National Science Founda
tion, a federal agency that has ap
propriated almost $30 million a year
for ten years to the program head
quarters at A&M.
The NSF has picked the Joint
Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. to
manage the program. The JOI is a
consortium of 10 major oceano
graphic institutions, including A&M.
In the program, scientists will
study the rocks that fill and underlie
the ocean basins in order to under
stand such phenomena as continen
tal drift, the structure of the earth’s
interior, and changes in climate
through time.
The scientists hope that through
the study they will be able to better
understand the structure of the
planet.
The ODP will provide core sam
ples from beneath the oceans’ floors
as well as the facilities to study those
samples.
Thoroughly studying the samples
will require the work of different
branches of science, from paleonto
logy to geochemistry and geophy
sics.
The facility at A&M will be re
sponsible for:
• Implementing science planning
and operations
• Engineering development and
improvement of drilling technology
• Staffing and supplying scien
tists on the drillship
• Curating and distributing core
samples and data
• Publishing scientific results
Cost for the ODP building is esti
mated at around $5 million.
The other building that is going
up in the park is a new administra
tion building.
See RESEARCH, page 8
Systems Administration Building