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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1985)
Tuesday, April 30, 1985/The Battalion/Page 3 STATE AND LOCAL Jury foreman parachutes from tower Associated Press ■MISSOURI CITY — A 29 -year- old man dressed in a gorilla suit Sonday and parachuted from a (broadcast tower. ■Donald W. Trest, was the fore- man of a jury that awarded $ 19 mil- ilion io the families of five ironwork- lers who were killed in the collapse ofthe 2,000 foot structure. 1 ^ Me was arrested at about 9:30 pi. by Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputies and charged with criminal Vspass, Lt. T. Milton Ray said. He jwa^ released after posting $1,000 bond. j. ITrest opened his parachute and jmped at about 50 feet from the top of the tower, Ray said. ■Trest said he climbed the tower for publicity and because he was cu- about how it felt to fall from the tower. ■ The five ironworkers, who were Jled in the collapse of the tower, were strapped to the tower antenna, witch was to be hoisted to the top. The workers fell 1,500 feet to their deaths. Their survivors filed a law suit over the incident. ■ Trest and the other jurors ■itched videotapes of the collapse dtune the federal trial of the suit. Hi said that as a skydiver, he could ijust imagine how those men felt. He said a local advertisement de licts an ape climbing the Transco lower, similar to King Kong on the Empire State Building. The jury assessed the award against Stainless Inc. of North yales, Pa., the company that was the eneral contractor at the project and Janufacturer of the radio and tele vision tower. Last week, a judge re duced the award to $ 14 million. Jin November, Trest donned a Peter Pan costume, climbed to the top of the Astrodome and unf urled a,banner that read: “With Michael |tckson’s Help, We Can Beat It — ancer." Food Services accepts MSC Council’s leftovers Photo by Anthony S. Casper Mental Solitude The statue “The Graduate” provides a quiet study area for Rick Sambucini, a sophomore electrical engineering major from San Antonio. By JENS B. KOEPKE Staff Writer The 36th Memorial Student Cen ter Council transferred the authority to prepare food in Rumours to the Food Services Department at its first regular meeting Monday night. The council also established a process for the literary magazine, “Litmus,” to deal with objectionable material in the future. Robert Hawkins, executive vice president for administration, said the council will continue to set poli cies such as scheduling for Rumours. Food Services agreed to several conditions for the transfer: • Renovation and redecoration of the Rumours area, including im provement of the acoustics and the provision for a large-screen tele vision. • Creation of the Rumours Advi sory Board, appointed by the coun cil, which will provide input on food selection, hours, pricing, style of service and other aspects of opera tions. • Retention of existing student workers and the present Rumours manager. But Food Services denied the in stallation of a salad bar due to lack of space and cost of maintenance. The council decided to divest it self of Rumours, Hawkins said, be cause it was losing money and was beginning to have problems meeting health standards. A transition date has not been set, Hawkins said, but transfer will prob ably take place at the end of July. The new process for the MSC Lit erary Arts Committee came as a re action to the furor created by the submission of a poem with a ques tionable word in this year’s edition of “Litmus.” The poem was voluntarily sub mitted to the council for approval by the Literary Arts Committee, said Robert Bisor, vice president for cul tural programs. But council mem bers said they wanted to be certain they had a process that would allow decisions to be made at a lower level. The committee’s lower boards must now mark the submissions as questionable along with a writtenjus- tification of the work’s literary mer its before passing it on to the com mittee’s upper board. If accepted for publication by the upper board, the pieces will be re viewed by a special committee. After deliberations, the vice president for cultural programming will decide whether the material will go before the council for approval. “I don’t think it’s going to be censorship at all — it will give the council some direction in dealing with questionable material,” Bisor said. In other business, Jill Thrash, vice president for development, said the development committee inaugu rated a new drive to raise $6 million worth of endowments for use in gen eral programming, lectures, lead ership development, international travel, performing and visual arts. The $6 million goal was set by the Enrichment Fund Board in 1981 to meet the long-range needs of the MSC, said James Reynolds, director of the MSC. The Board is composed of 24 former students, three faculty members, two MSC staff members and five MSC Council officers. The Enrichment Board had spent so much time in the past few years helping committees raise money for annual operating costs, that they made little headway in reaching their endowment goals, he said. “We are poised to cause these en dowments to happen,” Reynolds said. Women leaders of MSC have positive outlook By GIGI SHAMSY Reporter “MSC Student Programs Of fice — Can 1 help you? You’ll need to speak with MSC President Denis Davis. Hold please and I’ll transfer you to her office — Yes, sir, her — Denis Davis is a woman.” Davis is one of 35 women who have recently been selected for lead ership positions in the Memorial Student Center. While Davis has been involved in MSC activities for four years, Jody Boarnett, the new chairman for MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society, says she joined the MSC only a year ago. She said she assumed an executive position as OPAS’ director of public relations when the former director resigned. Boarnett promoted the perfor mance of “Cinderella” though it had sluggish ticket sales. Although the women in lead ership positions have done well in their jons, they may have to work even harder in their new positions. Adviser Paul Striffolino said next year’s female MSC president may have to work harder for acceptance when rubbing shoulders with past and present campus administrators. But adviser Arlene Manthey, said she has witnessed a positive reaction to the large number of women ap pointed to leadership positions. “A&M is catching up with the rest of the country as it reflects how the real world out there is,” Manthey said. Olga Perez-Garcia, the new chair woman of MSC Hospitality, has ap pointed three male executive offi cers to assist her. “Hospitality has always had the image of having more female mem bers than male members,” Perez- Garcia said, “but we have had very We Have A Special For You MARGARITA MOADAY St TEQUILA TUESDAY gl.OO Margarita’s capable male officers in the past and we expect increased male involve ment from both non-regs and mem bers ofthe Corps.” Michele Mobley, chairwoman of MSC Wiley Lecture Series, said she does not think former students will have a negative reaction to women in the MSC. “They may be a little nervous at first because some of them attended Texas A&M when it was a male- dominated institution,” Mobley said. “Hopefully, once they get to know us, they will see we’re just as capable and knowledgeable as the male offi cers have been.” Linda Thomas, who was selected to chair SCONA 31, said she was ex- more opposition to her se lection. Instead she said she’s re ceived a lot of support. MSC Director Jim Reynolds said that women and men are capable of equal performance in high-powered, stressful leadership situations. “I never have noticed any differ ence in the skills that males and fe males possess in this organization,” he said. “The hard-working, solid and aggressive leaders get the same things done — regardless of sex.” Reynolds said it bothered him to see that women have had a limited level of participation in the MSC. He said he believed that the aver age woman in the MSC is not in clined to be involved in higher lead ership positions. Instead, he says they choose to work in lower positions where they can see immediate and tangible re sults. MSC Assistant Director Richard Reynolds said he doesn’t foresee any resentment because of the trend in female leadership. “We won’t have people saying ‘My God! The foundation of SCONA will shake with a woman as its lead er,’ ” Reynolds said. Katie Shuman said she’s not ex pecting any opposition or resent ment because of her position as chairwoman of Political Forum. Executive Vice-President for Ad ministration Cory Courtney said: “It was a shock because it has been about a fifty-fifty percentage of male to female involvement in the past. I don’t think it will be a problem and, if it is a problem, it will be so for ad ministrators and former students.” Courtney said he thinks Davis can exhibit the charm and personality needed to make the following year a success. Davis said she doesn’t expect a lot of criticism for her position. “No one will balk at me for being a woman or for having stereotypical female strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “However, many men do expect more from you if you are a woman in a top position.” CASH FOR YOUR ROOKS We Buy Books Every Day at Texas A&M Bookstore We are located in Memorial Student Union Frozen or Rocks all Day Monday & Tuesday