Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1985)
IllWIilPilllil! illi SWC tourney time Dallas next stop for Metcalfs Ags Page 13 — ■ « — i« The Battalion sVol. 80 Mo. 108 GSPS 045360 16 pages College Station, Texas Monday, March 4, 1985 Shultz’s meeting Ortega offers no breakthroughs Associated Press ■ MONTEVIDEO. Uruguay —Sec- ■tary of State George Shultz’s visit to South America last week was ■ned at giving liis blessing to the re- ■ al of democracy in the henii- sbhere, but he found his attention ■verted by,a new Nicaraguan peace (jflensive. ■ Shultz had viewed his three-hour ■it to Ecuador and his 36-hour trip |t| Uruguay as symbols ol l .S. sup- put for the fledgling dcnuH racies in ■ese countries. ■ But overshadowing all ol his a<ti\- iti s was his second meeting in nine ninths with Daniel Ortega, presi- ■rntol Nicaragua. ■ The meeting took plate against ■e background of steadily deepen- ■ghostility between the Reagan ad- ■inistration and the leftist SancJi- ilsta government. ■ The two antagonists were in Mon te Ico for the inauguration ol I'res jileiii Julio i^angumetti. who re- Baced a military regime in power ■nee 197S. Shultz and Ortega had leavyschedules and. when the Nica raguans suggested the meeting ETi- day, the only opening available to them was at 7 a.in. Saturday. Shultz arrived punctually at Orte ga’s hotel and was w hisked to a 17th- floor meeting room where the Nica raguan awaited him. Shultz sat a few feet away from Ortega, dressed in military garb, whom he had a week earlier said was leading Nicaragua into the “endless darkness of communist tyranny.” The meeting produced no break throughs. They agreed that the two-year-old Central American peace mediation effort being carried out by the Con- tadora group was the proper forum for achieving a regional settlement. In the past, however, the two sides have accused each other of sabotag ing the Contadora peace effort, led by Mexico; Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. The U.S.-Nicaragua meeting did provide one new twist: Ortega told Shultz that there were 800 Cuban military advisers in Nicaragua. Pre viously. Nicaragua had acknowl edged the presence of only 200. Shultz said he didn’t consider Or tega’s disclosure to be much of an admission because the American es timate on the numbers of Cuban military personnel is between 2,500 and 3,500. Although their meeting produced no concrete results, officials accom panying Shultz felt it was a political plus. “If we had refused to meet with Ortega, Congress would have com plained about it for weeks,” one of fi cial said privately. Concern over congressional atti tudes toward Central America domi nates the thoughts of Shultz and Or tega these days now that a legislative ban on CIA funding of the Nicara guan rebels has ended and a new proposal for $14 million is awaiting U.S. congressional action. The Reagan administration is placing the highest priority on win ning congressional approval for the measure, while the Sandinistas are attaching equal importance to ensur ing its defeat. Course outline is flexible Altering syllabus OK I By MICHAEL CRAWFORD Staff Writer I When a professoi changes an ■xamdate or alters the guiding sys- ■eniexplained in his syllabus, he isnT liolating University policy. Dean of Fauihies Clinton Phillips says. A syllabus is supposed to give (he itudent an idea of how tin- course vill be structured, Phillips says. “It’s not a binding contract.” lie lays, “A syllabus is supposed to, to he extent possible, outline what top es are to be covered, when exams vill be given and what the general grading policy is.” Phillips says although the admin- stration hopes the professors will allow their initial plans, syllabuses ire still subject to change. “I’m not one to say everything mist be laid out in black and white,” Phillips says. “There has to be some flexibility.” That’s one reason sylla buses should not go into detail on plans, he says. Associate Provost Charles Mc- Candless says that when a professor c hanges a test date, it is usually to the students' advantage. In all cases of change, however, the professors should use reason and common sense, he says. “Generally what happens is a pro fessor talks to the students and ex plains why he is doing it, especially when exams are moved up,” Mc- Candless says. “Students need enough time for preparing.” McCandless says professors should give notice of a change at least one class meeting ahead of time. If a student objects to a change, he should first speak to the professor, then the ciepartment bead and finally the dean if nec essary. Some cases have gone as high as the University president, he says. Final exams are supposed to be given during exam week at times es tablished by the University. T he only exception to taking the final during exam week is for one-hour lecture courses. Those classes, he says, may take the final on the last day of the class. McCandless says that even if the professor allows students to choose test dates, some students may be harmed. “If you’re in the minority, there’s a lot of social pressure to conform,” he says. In most cases, he says, the admin istration isn’t able to intervene be cause students don’t complain. “If the students agree (to the change),” McCandless says, “and the professor does it and no one says anything, then the administration doesn’t know anything about it.” Visitation RHA reviews dorm hours Faculty can still file for Senate seats By KIRSTEN DIETZ Staff Writer Only, seven faculty members had filed for 28 open Faculty Senate positions as of last Friday afternoon. The tiling deadline is Friday and elections are April 4. Murray Milford, Faculty Sen ate speaker, says he expects some one will file for each position by the deadline. The 28 positions open are in Agriculture (6), Architecture and Environmental Design (1), Busi ness Administration (2), Educa tion (2), Engineering (5), Geosci ences (1), Liberal Arts (4), Medicine (1), Science (4) and Vet erinary Medicine (2). The seven filers are: Gerald Miller (incumbent), place 4 engi neering; Donald Smith, place 13 engineering; William Kuvlesky, place 7 liberal arts; W’aher Buenger (incumbent), place 9 lib eral arts; Samuel Black (incum bent), place 1 medicine; Stephen Fulling (incumbent), place 7 sci ence; Thomas Caceci, place 3 vet erinary medicine. Each senator serves three years with no senator serving more than six years in a nine year pe riod. Last year, 770 faculty mem bers, or 37 percent of the eligible faculty, voted in the election. By ELIZABETH MICKEY Reporter The Residence Hall Association will consider a proposal to extend dormitory visitation hours at its meeting in two weeks. The external affairs committee will present the proposal at Tues day’s RHA meeting. The proposal would extend the present visitation hours on weekdays, which are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and weekends, which are 10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. The proposed times are: Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to midnight, and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Director of External Affairs Tracy Triplett said RHA decided during the first meeting that extending vis iting hours would be one of this se mester’s goals. An RHA task force conducted two surveys: one which went to 5 percent of the residents of each dorm and one which went to all resident advi sors, Triplett said. From these sur veys, the external affairs committee wrote its proposal, she said. Tom Murray, housing services su pervisor, said if the bill is passed it will be presented to Ron Blatchley, director of student affairs. Blatchley will approve or disapprove it based on feedback from the Residence Life Staff, composed of area coordina tors and student affairs profession als. Gina Harlow, president of RHA, said that if approved, the new visita tion hours could be in effect for the Fall 1985 semester. Triplett said the committee is looking for possible problems that could occur because of the new visit ing hours. Included in the proposal will be a suggestion that the outside doors of womens’ dorms still be locked at 10 p.m. Another sugges tion is to let each dorm decide its own visiting hours, as long as they stay within the maximum limits. Other problems the committee foresees are increased noise and pos sible security problems, Triplett said. Gary Niekerk, head resident for Aston Hall, said if the hours are ex tended, resident advisors would be required to stay up until visitation hours end to check the halls and, in womens’ dorms, to lock the outside doors. Ronda Duckers, head resident for McFadden Hall, said that the only problem she foresees is more noise. Duckers said she hopes the doors will be locked at 10 p.m. so guests in the dorm will be escorted by a resi dent. Monica Christen, area coordina tor for the north area, said the staff of north area dorms is split between wanting longer hours and keeping hours the same. “I don’t foresee any real prob lems,” Christen said. “There shouldn’t be a noise problem on the weekdays, and if the doors lock at 10 p.m., there shouldn’t be a security problem.” Photos by WAYNE L. GRABEIN Big Event successful For the first time in its three- year history, Saturday’s Big Event went oil without a hitch, Mantza Pena, organizing committee chairman, says. “Never have I seen it run so smoothly,” Pena says. “I was very pleased that it ran so well. We were better organized than we have been.” About 5,000 students, working with 130 organizations, com pleted more than 80 community projects for the Big Event. The Big Event is a community wide service project sponsored by Student Government. Student volunteers worked in the community painting, clean ing, gardening and visiting hospi tals and rest homes. Also, residents of Moore and Briggs Halls and the Off Campus Aggies washed fire trucks. Pur- year and Keathley residents hosted a picnic for the Boys Club of Brazos Valley. Several organi zations recorded the names in 12 Bryan and College Station ceme teries for the local genealogical society. West German envoy seeks better relations with Soviets Associated Press MOSCOW — The West German foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, arrived in Moscow on Sunday for a surprise meeting with Andrei A. Gromyko. The visit was one more in a Hurry of East-West ex changes preceding the U.S.-Soviet arms beginning in Geneva on March 12. The official news agency Tass said Genscher arrived Sunday evening for a short working visit and gave no details. Hours before, Politburo member Vladimir V. Sh- cherbitsky, who meets Pres ident Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz in Washington 1 hursday, left for the United States. Genscher’s visit was announced Sunday morning, when sources in Bonn, the West German capital, said he would go to Moscow and also squeeze in a six-hour trip to Warsaw, Poland, between already scheduled vis its to Helsinki, Finland, and the Bulgarian capital, So fia. The last-minute additions to Genscher’s itinerary re flected renewed West German efforts to mend rela tions with the Soviet bloc damaged recently by NATO deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles and by bloc accusations that Bonn wants to recover German territory lost in World War II. Diplomats in Moscow, who, like the Bonn sources, spoke on condition they not be identified, said Gen scher would meet Gromyko Monday, then travel to Helsinki. The talks will mark Gromyko’s third meeting with a West European foreign minister in a week. He re turned Saturday from a trip to Spain and Ital) during which he reinforced Kremlin protests against U.S. plans for a space-based mis sile defense. Soviet officials and news media have concentrated on the space weapons issue and their objections to Rea gan’s Strategic Defense Ini tiative — commonly called “Star Wars” — in the run up to the Geneva arms con trol talks. Moscow diplo mats said Gromyko would likely raise the issue with Genscher. Diplomatic sources in Bonn and Moscow said Gen scher would outline the West German position on the Geneva talks to Gromyko and also note that the corning 40th anniversary of the Allied triumph over Nazi Ger many — to be widely marked in the Soviet Union — should not revive old animosities but strengthen de tente. v Chancellor Helmut Kohl took another step toward reducing tension with the Soviet bloc last week by reaf firming in an important parliamentary speech that West Germany haa no ambitions to forcibly regain Ger man territory lost to Eastern Europe at the end of World War II. reflected req&wed to mend refatiom