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
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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.”
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