The Battalion
Serving the University community
I Vol. 80 No. 65 USPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Bonfire lit;
players show
| desire to win
By TRENT LEOPOLD
Staff Writer
he young and old alike wit-
iiessed the lighting of the 75th-anni-
Versary bonfire Thursday night on
Duncan Field.
I At about 8:15 p.m. the redpots
and Texas Aggie Band began
larching toward the bonfire stack,
orches were thrown on the 55-foot
jtack eight minutes later, and the
laze began.
Texas A&M President Frank Van-
iver and Jackie Sherrill, head foot-
ball coach, made short speeches be
fore a few of the football players
expressed their desire to beat the
Longhorns.
I “This is our year to win,” Van
diver said. “It doesn’t really matter
Ivhat the margin is as long as we
win.”
I Sherrill said the football team was
looking forward to going to Austin
to have a good time.
“I think maybe a lot of people
ive forgotten about the Twelfth
Man, but we are going to Austin to
epresenl everyone,” he said. “Eve-
yone on the team is looking for-
; ward to going to Austin this year.”
I Defensive end Ray Childress, de-
■cribed by Sherrill as one of the best
players to ever play that position,
just about blew the speakers off the
Stands when he shouted his desire to
at the Longhorns.
“We going to go down to Austin
and light a little fire,” he said.
1 Some older Aggies witnessing the
lire said it wasn’t qaiite like it used to
be.
“When 1 was in school the fire
sed to be a lot higher than it is this
■War,” Tip Patterson, Class of ’46,
Paid. “We also used to steal highway
Signs, but I understand they can’t do
iithai anymore.
I I would give anything to be young
||gairf so 1 could be more involved
; with this event.”
I Keith Beugelsdijk, a senior petro-
Beum engineering major, said the
warm weather took some of the bon-
■ire spirit away from the event.
1 “It is warm enough out here to
pear short sleeves, but I see some of
he football players have their heavy
oats on,” he said.
John Kelsmark, a junior biomedi-
al science major, had his doubts
ibout Saturday’s game.
“1 suppose the bonfire will stand
quite a while tonight because the
|vind isn’t blowing very hard,” he
aid. “I hope that means we will win
Saturday, but I have to see it to be
lieve it.”
I Tradition has it that if the bonfire
Veil leaders and red pots gather together be
fore lighting the Aggie bonfire. This was the
Photo by MIKE SANCHEZ
75th anniversary bonfire. About 20,000 peo
ple attended the event.
doesn’t fall before midnight, the Ag
gies will win the game.
However, this year’s bonfire fell
around 10 p.m.
Dave Roberts was busy selling
‘Horn Buster’ sweat shirts while a
worker for the A&M traditions
‘Bon Fired Up’ bumper stickers.
“We expect to sell quite a few
shirts tonight,” Roberts said. “We
are selling sweat shirts for $13 and
T-shirts for $6.”
Roberts was trying to convince
people the weather would soon be
council was passing out about 300 cold enough to wear sweat shirts.
Peter Kraus, a worker on the bon
fire, said he expected the fire to
stand well after midnight.
Officials at the A.P. Beutel Health
Center said only a few minor injuries
were reported at the fire.
Liberal arts grads getting good jobs
Students like department size
Editor’s note: This is the second
■ of a two-part series on the College of
I Liberal Arts at Texas A&M.
By KIRSTEN DIETZ
Reporter
Administrators and professors
I have mixed reactions on the quality
I of the liberal arts student following
I the 37.3 percent growth of the Col
lege of Liberal Arts since Fall 1982.
J Dr. Candida Lutes, associate dean
I for student affairs for the college,
I says the college will continue to grow
I and expand.
Lutes thinks the quality of the stu-
I dent is excellent.
“We have a fair number of Na-
I tional Merit scholars, and we have
I many honors students,” she said. “As
I a matter of fact, in the College of
Liberal Arts we have more students
who are University Lhidergraduate
Fellows this year than any other col-
jjlege in this University,
j “When you consider how few stu
dents we have, relative to some of
the other colleges, that’s not bad.”
Lutes said a survey of liberal arts
[graduates indicates they routinely
get into graduate programs and get
hired for good jobs.
Dr. Terry Anderson, associate
professor of history, agreed with
Lutes’ assessment of the students’
quality.
“I think that the students I know
in liberal arts are getting better every
year at A&M, even though it’s a pe
riod in which more technical educa
tion or business oriented education
is very important,” he said.
Bob Rogers, professor of journa
lism, said he thinks the number of
top students in the journalism de
partment has remained about the
same. So, because the enrollment
has increased, the percentage of top
students has decreased. He said
there are more marginal students.
“I think that will always happen as
the numbers grow,” he said. “The
distance between the top and the
bottom w'il! always get larger.”
Dr. James Payne, professor of po
litical science, said he sees the quality
of his students decreasing judging
by the number of students failing his
tests.
“One thing that’s tended to hap
pen is I think I have noticed myself
cutting back on the total amount of
material I give the classes because
they don’t seem to be able to handle
it as well, so it takes longer,” he said.
The political science and journa
lism departments have had the larg
est increase of students since 1982.
Enrollment in the political science
department has risen 54.9 percent to
395 students and enrollment in the
journalism department has risen
49.2 percent to 458 students, accord
ing to 1984 Fall enrollment figures.
Lutes predicts continued devel
opment of the College of Liberal
Arts in terms of increasing the num
ber of graduate degrees in the col
lege and possibly the creation of new
departments.
But, she said, A&M does not de
cide to create new degrees and de
partments, the Coordinating Board
of Texas College and University Sys
tem does.
The board recently approved a
Bachelor of Arts degree in speech
communication for the Spring. Stu
dents also have the option of obtain
ing certification to teach speech in
secondary schools.
Anderson said, “I think we’re im
proving every year We’ve made tre
mendous strides in the five years I’ve
been here. If we take a look at the
quality and the size of the college, it’s
obvious to anybody what we’ve done
in the last decade is just a fantastic
achievement.”
Until about the mid 70s, the Uni
versity was a teaching institution,
Anderson said. Now it’s a publishing
and teaching institution — in order
to stay, the professor must publish,
he said.*
“That, of course, puts a lot more
demands on the professors,” he said.
“The result is that you get a lot more
national recognition.
“You get a lot of student recogni
tion from being good teachers,
•which is fine, but you get national
recognition from publication and re
search. That’s also important for de
veloping a fine, nationally ranked
university, which is what we’re trying
to do.”
As an example, Anderson pointed
to his department, history, in which
See LIBERAL, page 6
Friday, November 30, 1984
900,000 people
face starvation
By CATHIE ANDERSON
Reporter
The millions of dollars in aid con
tributed to Ethiopia by the United
States may be too late to save many
of the 900,000 people in danger of
dying in that country, an agricultu
ral economist at Texas A&M said
Tuesday.
The government in that country
should have been working against
this situation long ago, Dr. Wes Pe
terson said. Peterson worked as a
Peace Corps volunteer in West Af
rica for several years before coming
to A&M.
“No one woke up two months ago
and just decided to create this fami
ne,” Peterson said. “They (Ethiopian
officials) let the famine develop until
it finally got so bad that they couldn’t
divert attention from it anymore.”
Peterson said that even though
the United States has made a com
mitment to help, the aid will take a
long time to actually get to the Ethio
pian people.
“Then when the food gets there,
the government won’t have the
means to distribute it,” Peterson
said.
He said the food is often distrib
uted by trucks, but since the roads
are bad, it is difficult to keep the ve
hicles working.
“The famine in Ethiopia was a
long time in the making,” he said. “If
one had been monitoring things, it
would have been fairly easy to figure
out what was happening. The Marx
ist regime in Ethiopia probably tried
to hide information about food pro
duction and availability.”
Marxists are always embarrassed
to admit their mistakes, said Dr. Jim
Payne, a political scientist at A&M.
“They believe that they are mak
ing a better world, and they’re
ashamed when they fail,” he said.
Peterson said several other factors
have made the famine more difficult
to control.
First, the Ethiopian government
pursues a cheap food economic pol
icy, which Peterson said has contrib
uted to the hunger problem.
Under this policy, government of
ficials decide to keep food prices
low, he said. Thus farmers are paid
low rates for their crops, and farm
ing and farm expansion become un
attractive.
Payne said Marxists usually have
bad agricultural economies.
“They believe that any wealthy or
successf ul person is undesirable, and
they get rid of wealthy farmers
first,” he said. “They don’t realize
that wealthy farmers are doing most
of the production. If you wipe them
out, then you’re wiping out produc
tion.”
While the amount of food pro
duction remains the same in Ethio
pia, the population is greatly increas
ing, Peterson said. Many of the
diseases that once plagued the Afri
can continent have been completely
eliminated. Because of this, more
people are living longer.
Another factor that has made the
famine difficult to control is the
drought, Peterson said. Food cannot
be grown easily because the land is
so arid.
The Ethiopian civil war, which has
been going on for about three years,
has created difficulties also since it
has displaced many people, he said.
They can’t grow food because they
f requently have to move.
ERA
Reagan names new head
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan named toxic waste expert
Lee Thomas to head the Environ
mental Protection Agency Thurs
day, and Thomas immediately pro
claimed his~“style is not to get into
fights.”
Ruckelshaus, the outgoing chief,
denied congressional suggestions he
decided to leave rather than face se
vere budget cuts for the agency.
“It has nothing to do with the
budget,” he said. “Nothing to do
with it. The annual budget struggle
is an annual event, and not unusual
in this job. It’s something you ex-* 1
pect.”
Ruckelshaus, 52, said after 25
years in and out of government,
“your stomach tells you when its
time to leave, and my stomach tells
me this is the time to break.” He said
he has no specific plans.
Ruckelshaus praised Thomas,
who headed the toxic waste unit of
the agency, as one of the best gov
ernment managers he has ever
known.
He said, “I plan to speak for the
kinds of resources and political di
rection I think we need to run the
programs, working with (the budget
office) and working with the White
House.
“My style is not to get into fights
with any particular people,” he said.
“I’m part of an administration team,
and I can work with people in the
administration.
“Clearly, I think President Reagan
is committed to a strong environ
mental program. I think he demon
strated that over the last two years.”
Thomas was referring to
R ickelshaus’s 20-month reign at
EPA after charges of mismanage
ment and scandal in the toxic w'aste
program led to the resignation of
Anne Burford in March 1983.
Thomas, 40, came to the EPA
with Ruckelshaus to help dean it up,
serving as acting deputy administra
tor before succeeding the fired,Rita
Lavelle as chief of toxic wastes.
He said he spoke with Reagan
about his own commitment to envi
ronmental quality and said “I feel
comfortable” with the president’s
commitment.
Thomas said he was surprised at
the culmination of a quick rise
through state and federal bu
reaucracies.
Sen. Robert Stafford, R-Vt., head
of the Senate Environment Commit
tee, predicted quick confirmation.
Reagan met with Thomas at the
White House Thursday before an
nouncing the nomination, taking
Ruckelshaus’s advice to act quickly
before controversy arose over a suc
cessor.
“I certainly applaud the presi
dent’s wisdom in appointing Mr.
Thomas,” Ruckelshaus said. “He
couldn’t have made a better choice.
“Lee Thomas is one of the finest
and most able public servants whom
I have had the opportunity to work
w ith and know.”
As for Thomas’ talent for manag
ing an agency, especially one so con
troversial, Ruckelshaus said, “He has
an instinct for it, he understands it,
and does it in a superior fashion. He
is not ideological in one sense or an
other.”
“I consider myself a professional
public administrator,” said Thomas,
a native of Ridgeway, S.C., and a for
mer state director of criminal justice
programs. “I feel very comfortable
and committed to this administra
tion.”
Correction
On Thursday, Nov. 29 The
Battalion incorrectly reported the
dates for picking up fee slips.
Fee slips can be picked up to
day through Dec. 3 in the Jravil-
ion from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After
Dec. 3, fee slips w'ill be sent to stu
dents’ local addresses.