itudent to represent
A&M at Cotton Bowl
■
See page4.
■
Texas A&M
The
Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol. 80 Mo. 72 (JSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, December 11, 1984
Nobel prize
ceremony
disrupted
United Press International
OSLO, Norway — South African
Bishop Desmond Tutu, the leader of
anon-violent crusade against his
country’s system of strict racial seg
regation, was awarded the 1984 No
bel Peace Prize Monday at a cere
mony disrupted by a bomb scare.
Tutu, an Anglican bishop, said
the prize meant “a new hope has
been kindled in the breasts of the
'millions who are voiceless, op
pressed, dispossessed, tortured by
ihe powerful tyrants.”
Norwegian Nobel Committee
Chairman Egil Aarvik presented the
$190,000 award and gold medal to
Tutu, saying, ‘‘Oh yes, deep in my
heart I do believe that we shall over
come some day.”
His words were from the hymn
We Shall Overcome” — which be
came the anthem for the U.S. civil
nghts movement led by Martin Lu
ther King Jr., the slain civil rights,
leader and minister to whom many
have compared Tutu.
Just minutes before Tutu was to
receive the prize, an anonymous
taller phoneu an Oslo newspaper
and svarned, “The auditorium will
be blown up.”
The 53-year-old Nobel laureate
and the audience, which included
Norway’s King Olav V and members
of the Norwegian cabinet, evacuated
the auditorium at Oslo University.
Policemen searched the building but
no bomb was found. The ceremony
resumed alter about an hour.
Mostof the audience returned but
the orchestra, which was to have per
formed music by Grieg and Handel,
failed to reappear. Instead, Tutu
called his family and colleagues up
to the rostrum and filled the hall
viith a chorus of South African
hymns.
The Nobel prizes in physics,
chemistry, medicine, literature and
economics were presented by Swe
den’s King Carl XVI in a separate
ceremony in the Swedish capital of
Stockholm.
At the end of the ceremony in
Oslo, Tutu bowed repeatedly to
King Olav V and the two men
clasped hands and laughed.
Photo by DEAN SAITO
In pursuit of knowledge
Tony Womack, senior finance major from Arlington, Va.,
walks among the columns of the library after studying for fi
nals Monday afternoon. Finals continue through Friday
morning.
Faculty Senate passes
civil rights resolution
By TRENT LEOPOLD
Staff Writer
The Texas A&M Faculty Senate
adopted a resolution from the exec
utive committee Monday afternoon
concerning discrimination here.
A similar resolution was tabled at
a Senate meeting Nov. 12.
The resolution passed by a roll-
call vote of 55 — 12 and reads as fol
lows:
"Whereas, categorical discrimina
tion based on race, color, sex, reli
gion, age, or national origin is inap
propriate and unacceptable in
employment and in the activities of
Texas A&M University; and
“whereas, such discrimination
through official policy contravenes
the ideal of toleration of ideas and
lifestyles which a university should
embody; and
“whereas, such discrimination be
smirches the reputation of Texas
A&M University and limits the bene
fits derived by students, faculty and
staff through participation in the
University’s programs, now
“be it therefore resolved that the
Faculty Senate of Texas A&M Uni
versity affirms its commitment to a
non-discriminatory University com
munity.
“Furthermore, the Faculty Senate
of Texas A&M University recom
mends that the University not only
strive to avoid discriminatory prac
tices but immediately resolve any
controversies which tend to charac
terize the University as discriminato-
r y”
Dr. Murray H. Milford, speaker
of the executive committee, said he
felt the majority of the committee
members would like to see certain is
sues now in the courts “put behind
them.”
“We would like to see controver
sial issues on this campus resolved,”
he said. “Controversy is not produc
tive on this campus.
“Issues such as women joining the
band and the recognition of the Gay
Student Services are not important
in determining if Texas A&M will
rise as a great university in the long
run.”
Milford said he felt most faculty
members think current publicity
surrounding the issues is couh-
terproductive.
“The law is clear and and we don’t
want to argue specific issues,” he
said.
Milford also said some faculty
members felt the Gay Student Serv
ices should be recognized while oth
ers felt it should not be recognized.
“It is difficult to get a clear vote on
an issue such as this,” he said.-“Some
feel the gay students should be rec
ognized while others feel they
should not.
Dr. William H. Bassichis, an asso
ciate professor of physics, said he
feels it is now too late for the Faculty
Senate to do anything about the cur
rent band and gay-student issues.
“The courts will now' decide the is
sues,” he said. “The Senate hasn’t
heard all of the evidence, but the
courts have.
State officials speak out
on banning happy hour
United Press International
AUSTIN — Legislation banning
“happy hour” probably would not
work because of Texans’ resistance
to regulation and the difficulty of
enforcing such a law, legislators and
law enforcement officers agreed
Monday.
“My feeling, primarily, is I know
Texans, as a rule, don’t like to be
regulated,” said Col. Jim Adams, di
rector of the state Department of
Public Safety.
Speaking at a news conference to
kick off a holiday anti-drunken driv
ing campaign, Adams said he be
lieves bar and restaurant owners
might voluntarily restrict happy
hours where drinks are discounted.
“One thing we’d like to change is
when people talk of happy hour,
they woula change what they think
about and think of what they have to
be thankful for,” he said.
Ad Two legislators attending the
news conference also said they did
not think a law banning or regulat
ing happy hour is the answer to
drunken driving problems in Texas.
“I just have a problem in my mind
of how you write a law that’s en
forceable and keeps people out of
bars at 5 o’clock and says you can’t
have two drinks for the price of
one,” said Rep. Terral Smith, R-Aus-
tin.
Sen. Bill Sarpalius, D-Amarillo,
said it would be difficult to gather
statistics that would prove happy
hour contributed to drunken driv
ing. He said outlawing open con
tainers is a better solution.
Sarpalius said some night clubs in
his area had voluntarily agreed to
cease happy hour.
Ross Newby, executive director of
the Texas Commission on Alcohol
ism, said he is convinced that happy
hour does promote drunken driv
ing, but he agreed it would be diffi
cult to prove.
Newny said the 1984 campaign
will include 95 billboards and more
than one million pieces of literature
to be distributed statewide.
“The big idea behind this cam
paign is public education,” he said.
• See related story, page5
On campus housing down for spring semester
By PATRICIA FLINT
Staff Writer
When Spence was converted into
a women’s dorm last spring, there
was an abundance of on-campus
housing for wome/i. But everyone —
men or women — who wants to live
on campus this spring, now has the
opportunity to do so.
"We do have an abundance of
spaces, both for men and women.”
said Tom Murray, housing services
supervisor.
“We’ve exhausted our waiting list
and we still have some (spaces) left.”
Murray believes the reason for
this is two-fold.
“Our waiting list wasn’t as big for
the spring as it’s been in the past,
which leads me to believe that more
people are pleased with their off-
campus accommodations, price wi
se,” he said.
Secondly, Murray said there were
many more cancellations from on-
campus residents than in the past,
which he also thinks is related to
prices.
“You can no longer say that it’s
cheaper living on campus than , off
campus, and I think that’s obviously
a contributing factor with some peo
ple (moving off campus),” Murray
said.
The average rent for a one bed
room, furnished apartment per per
son is $162.25 per month, plus utili
ties.
The average price for a dorm
room (figuring only air-conditioned
dorms) divided into four months,
equals $ 164.25 per month.
The increase in cancellations and
lack of new applicants may lead to
unoccupied rooms on campus.
Murray said anytime the school
isn’t able to maintain 100 percent oc
cupancy, it can lead to problems.
The fiscal office handles the
dorms’ accounts, and business serv
ices sets rents for the dorms, so Mur
ray said he doesn’t know what the
impact of the spring’s vacancies will
be.
Murray said he doesn’t expect to
have dorm vacancies next fall.
“That’s another factor that leads
to spring vacancies because we have
so few incoming freshman,” he said.
“Where as in the fall, we have
more (incoming freshmen) than we
can accommodate.”
In the fall, 80 percent of the dorm
spaces go to incoming freshman, 10
percent to transfer students and 10
percent to returning students, Mur
ray said, so upper classmen have a
much better chance of getting an on-
campus space in the spring.
“If anybody’s interested in living
on campus, we would caution them
not to break their lease or leave their
roommate stranded,” he said, “and
if they have any questions about
their lease, to call off campus cen
ter.”
Deciding who stays, who goes not cut-and-dried
Most students are treated on an individual basis — sim
ply because most students’ problems aren't that they
can't make the grades.
Editor's note: This is the second
Micle in a three part series on schol-
istic probation.
By SUZANNA YBARRA
Reporter
Lei's pretend you were on scholas
tic probation last semester and
Deeded to make at least two B’s or
One A to be allowed to stay in the
University.
Let’s pretend you didn’t make the
grades. What now? Will the dean of
tour college really kick you out?
Deciding whether a student may
continue at the University is not as
cut-and-dried as you might think.
Most students are treated on an indi
vidual basis — simply because most
students’ problems aren’t that they
can’t make the grades.
Candida Lutes, associate dean for
student affairs for the College of
Liberal Arts, says she knows there
can be many reasons students don’t
perform well scholastically. For
some, she says, it can be more than
one.
Some students don’t have good
study habits which makes it difficult
for them to be competitive, Lutes
says.
“Some don’t know how to study —
a real problem for bright students,”
she says. “They didn’t have to study
in high school and did fine. In this
environment it doesn’t help to be
just smart — you have to be per
sistent.”
Other reasons may be that the stu
dent has financial problems or per
sonal problems, she says. Maybe the
student simply doesn’t have the in
telligence to be here or doesn’t want
to be here for the academics, Lutes
says.
“Anyone can have one or six of
those problems, ” Lutes says. “My
problem is trying to Figure out which
one of those are the problem, be
cause what I tell the students de
pends on what their problems are.
“For example, a personal prob
lem. I’d be a jerk if I said to them,
‘Well, you just have to study more.’
I'd suggest to go to work on their
personal problems, which may in
clude withdrawing from school for a
while because they can’t work on
both at the same time. It’s a job that
requires a crystal ball.”
A crystal ball could come in handy
when the dean has to decide
whether to allow a student to con
tinue here.
Davis Falquist, associate dean for
the College of Geqsciences, says he’s
willing to give a student a chance as
long as the student knows exactly
where he stands.
“Sometimes you try to lay it on the
line Firmly,” Falquist says. “There’s
no way you want to make the stu
dents feel badly about themselves.
That’s the hard part of the job.
“Some students are forever opti
mists and it’s hard to say no to a stu
dent who says, T know I can do it.’”
Sometimes it’s discouraging, Fal
quist says.
“It’s irritating because the stu
dents will not recognize they’re not
suited for it (the major), that they
should look for another,” he says.
Leland Carlson, associate dean for
undergraduate programs for the
College of Engineering, says the big
gest problem he sees are students
who are mismatched with the apti
tudes needed for engineering.
“A lot of people have started engi
neering who really weren’t inter
ested in it,” Carlson says. “High
starting salaries tend to attract more
people.”
Money has a big impact on the
students’ choice in majors but some
times it also plays a big role in how
well they do in school.
Falquist says he senses that more
students are working more hours
outside of school than a few years
ago, which means less time for
studying. The generally accepted
rule is that a student should study at
least three hours for every hour in a
class. That’s a 45 hour academic
week. A full-time job in itself.
Bryan Cole, associate dean for
student af fairs for the College of Ed
ucation, says sometimes the best
medicine is time away from school.
See Deciding, page 7