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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1985)
New phone numbers Existing service to be updated Page 3 Tuition hike disputed Leaders squabble over increase Page 8 The Battalion Vol. 80 No. 77 GSRS 045360 16 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 16, 1985 white makes proposals for state Associated Press Cheating at A&M: a serious problem By KAREN BLOCH Reporter “tolerate those I 1 hey don’t even who do.” The Aggie Code of Honor. It’s [printed inside the front cover of the [Texas A&M University Regulations handbook, and everyone in Aggie- jland lives by it. Right? Wrong. Although 25 cases of cheating jwere reported to the Texas A&M iOftice of Student Affairs during the 1983-84 academic year, Assistant Di- |rector of Student Affairs Bill Kibler i estimates the number of cases that | actually occurred is much higher. I “Cheating cases are handled by I the individual colleges,” Kibler said. I “After the case is resolved a copy of the report is supposed to be filed with the student affairs office. “But the number of !h to Pi e cases re- e ported to us could be any percentatr of the number of cases that actually occurred. A lot of cases are probably handled informally between the fac ulty member and the student." Although there was an increase in the number of cheating cases re ported last year, Kibler said he doesn’t think that the actual number of cheating incidents has increased. "The policy of reporting cases to our office is relatively new,” Kibler said. “I think the colleges are just be ginning to report a higher percent age of the cases.” Besides convincing the colleges to report cheating, the University also has the problem of defining cheat ing. The official definition of cheat ing, or scholastic dishonesty, is given on page 13 of the 1984-85 regula tions handbook. Section 34 outlines the actions — all 10 of them — that are considered scholastically dishon est. Scholastic dishonesty is defined { under six categories: •Aquiring information. •Providing information. •Plagiarism. •Conspiracy. •Fabrication of information. •Violation of departmental or college policies. While some of the specific of fenses mentioned under these cat egories probably fit the classic defi nition of cheating, others may be more suprising. Many things most students do regularly may be consid ered cheating. Having someone edit an English paper, telling someone the type of questions that were on a test and working on an assignment with someone, according to regulations, can be considered cneating. The punishments assessed for the different offenses vary in relation to the seriousness of the offense. “Punishments (reported to the student affairs department last year) ranged from a grade penalty to re moval from the University,” Kibler said. Dr. Candida Lutes, associate dean of students in the College of Liberal Arts, said she believes that many professors don’t report cheating in cidents. “It’s our policy (in the College of Liberal Arts) to report all cases of cheating to student affairs,” Lutes said, “but I doubt it’s done. “It’s very important to contact stu dent affairs, because that’s the only way we can know if the student is a previous offender. The only reason the college doesn’t report all cases of cheating is because the professors don’t report them to their depart ment heads.” Lutes said she feels many of the professors are hesitant to report cases because they are concerned that the student may be assessed a very serious penalty. Professors don't want to ruin someone’s college career if the stu dent isn’t a “chronic cheater,” Lutes said. “They tend to wonder if maybe this was just a case where a basically honest student used poor judge ment.” But, she said, the professor’s fears are unfounded. Se£ Dishonesty, page 15 budget White's proposals called for reductions in state spend ing and workforces rather than increasing taxes, fie also asked legislators to enact a statewide water plan calling it “important to economic development'* as well as necessary for “human survival itself " In a speech interrupted by ap plause 14 times, White said he would support adding government work ers “only in the most essential areas.” He called on every agency and insti tution to immediately begin cost-cut ting measures, including: •Reducing the number of em ployees when possible. •Cutting rent, travel and other overhead expenses. •Beginning energy and water conservation projects. • Reviewing lee structures to make sure that those using services are paying for them. In a separate budget document, White recommended fee increases totaling $184 million for such things as marriage licenses, park use and utility companies seeking rate in creases. Although he branded his budget plan as “lean” and “austere,” White did seek support for some new mea sures. He said he wants lawmakers to fi nally enact a statewide water plan. “Water resources are as important to economic development as they are to human survival itself—-as important as anything we have done to im prove our schools, upgrade our highway system or preserve a low tax base,” he said. White called for a 150 percent in crease in funding for organized re Crazy Driver Comedian Ray Martinez tells the crowd at A experiences Good Humour Bar about his wild driving story page 5. Photo by PETER ROCHA Tuesday night. See related Former cadets recall yesteryear’s Corps search, from $31 million to $80 mil lion. He urged the Legislature to in crease the number of law officers in the state Department of Public Safety, particularly in narcotics en forcement, and to enact a strong anti-racketeering law to combat or ganized crime. The governor proposed trimming higher education spending by $460 million, while increasing tuition for some students. He proposed raising tuition for non-resident students, foreign students and students in some graduate school professional programs. AUSTIN — Saying the state bu reaucracy is overweight and needs to go on a diet. Gov. Mark White on Tuesday offered the Legislature an “austere" budget and promised no new taxes. “We could raise taxes,” White said in his state-of-the-state address to a joint session of the House and Sen ate. “But I think there is not a per son in this room —myself included — who intends to do that.” White said trimming the state workforce, reducing expenses and increasing user fees are oetter ways to deal with the state’s financial trou bles. I “Frankly, there was little incentive By MIKE DAVIS Reporter Almost 50 years have gone by since Gen. Ormand R. Simpson, Class of ’36, grad rated. In that amount of time, the administration of the Corps of Cadets and the life styles of its members have changed dramatically. Formations, uniforms, mobility and policy making are all major dif ferences between the Corps of 1936 and the Corps of today, said Simp son, assistant vice president of stu dent services. “Today your leaders in the Corps have a great deal to say about the da ily running of the Corps,” Simpson said. “In that Corps (1936), we had none. We had Saturday thorning classes. We had three meal forma tions a day ... and they did it seven days a week.” during those years to save,” he said. State Comptroller Bob Bullock has predicted that state income will fall up to $1 billion short of what currently is being spent on programs and services. But White said an economy drive can keep the state out of the red. “We can tighten our belts and bring our spending levels down to our income levels,” he said. “And I believe we can do it without major disruptions or undue hardships or layoffs or governmental chaos.” White said he would submit a budget to lawmakers totaling $36.1 billion for the 1986-87 fiscal years. That total, he said, would fall within the comptroller’s revenue predic tions without a tax hike. Saturday morning classes no longer exist at Texas A&M, and the Corps does not hold formations three times a day. Saturdays and Sundays are generally free also. The Corps, however, does have formation twice each weekday to raise and lower the U.S. flag and then marches to morning and eve ning meals. Don Powell, Class of ’56, said one big difference between his Corps and the Corps of today is where ca dets may wear their uniforms. When both Simpson and Powell were ca dets, they were required to wear their uniform until they were 20 miles off campus. “If you went home for the week end, you wore your uniform all the way home,” Powell said. “You might wear it to church Sunday, too, be cause all the girls thought it was really terrific.” One of the highlig enior year was when set d go “non-reg,” Powell said. “It was a big deal that finally for the last month or two that you were going to be here, you could go non- reg in the evening if you were a se nior,” Powell said. Today all Corps members must wear their uniform only when going into a building on campus other than a dormitory. Powell said that having to wear the uniform when leaving campus came in handy because the most popular mode of travel was hitchhik ing. Both Powell and Simpson said that most students had to hitchhike because few cadets had cars, The in creased mobility of today’s Corps is one of the most significant differ ences, Simpson said. “The school was entirely dif ferent in those days,” Simpson said. “It was not a mobile student body.” Mobility was restricted by the De pression, Simpson said, “but nobody felt poor because nobody else had any money.” Seven out of the 4,100 students owned automobiles, Simpson said. The keys to the cars were kept in the commandant’s office, and the car owner’s could only use their cars if they had a pass to go off campus. “There may have been a few peo ple that had some money, but they disguised it pretty well,” he said. Corps Commandant Donald Bur ton, Class of ’56, said one reason for the increased mobility of the Corps is the affluence of students’ parents today. “The big thing that I see is that students are more affluent today by a large margin than we were,” Bur ton said. Cadets frequently borrowed other cadets’ cars, Burton said. “There was always a lot of double-dating,” he said. Because no women attended Texas A&M, the cadets either im ported women or went out of town. “The highways were generally crammed on Saturdays and Sun days,” Burton said. Another major difference is the leadership of the Corps. Simpson said that when he was a cadet the commandant ran the Corps. “The commandant ran it essen tially through a group of tactical of- See Corps, page 14 Movement supports refugees By KIRSTEN DIETZ Staff Writer No one can live a Christian life unless he is free to reach out to the needy and oppressed, Rev. Jeffrey Schiffmayer told about 20 people Monday at a Sanctuary Movement forum by Rudder Fountain. The Sanctuary Movement is a na tionwide network of churches that give refuge to Central Americans, who are considered illegal aliens by the U.S. government. Schiffmayer, a minister at St. Francis Episcopal Church in College Station, was the main speaker at the forum. Sponsored by a coalition of community members, students and religious leaders, the forum was to focus attention on the pre-trial hear ings of Jack Elder, a leader of the Sanctuary Movement. Elder was indicted last April on three felony charges for transport ing Salvadoran refugees. Immigra tion law prohibits individuals from transporting people whom they know are illegal aliens if the intent is to help them remain here illegally. Shiffmayer said that, according to the Bible, any human being deserves care and assistance and, in the name of humanity, other people are obli gated to help. Alex Madonik, a member of Am nesty International at Texas A&M, said the United States has always been a sanctuary and should not stop taking refugees now. Brann Johnson, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the government must impose restrictions on consistently.