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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1985)
Freshmen class officer, senate elections are today — Page 6 -i mmm It was an 'Unpredicta-Bowl' finish for A&M against Tech — Page 10 I tie tsattaiion Vol. 81 Mo. 220 (JSPS 075360 12 pages College Station, Texas ational faculty group discusses sick leave By SONDRA PICKARD Reporter State Representative Wilhelmina Delco, D Austin, said Saturday the new sick leave legulations, denying sick leave pay to Texas || college faculty on less-than-12-month con- ®racts, have been brought to the attention of H |ie attorney general’s office and that Mrhools are urged not to take any adminis- (Erative action until an official opinion has Kbeen rendered. ! ■ Delco, chairman of the House Higher ^Education Committee, spoke to the Texas Hiouncil of Faculty Governance Organiza- lons, an elected group composed of mem- ■ers of faculty senates across the state, in- ■uding representatives from the Faculty Senate at Texas A&M. The biannual meet- S ingof the group was held in Austin on Sat- Rurday. 80 injured, | killed in London riot Associated Press I LONDON — More than 500 Souths, most of them blacks and a Htew firing shotguns, battled police in 1 fierce street fighting Sunday night in Berth London. Officials said one po- ■|k eman was stabbed to death and fi Biore than 80 people were injured. ■ Scotland Yard officials said 40 po licemen were among the wounded ? and that two policemen and three leporters were struck by shotgun lellets. They said one officer was se- pously injured when he was hit by a ce of concrete dropped from a alcony. It was the first police fatality and the first gunfire reported in the riots ithat hit the south London district of Brixton last weekend and the indus- »ial cities of Liverpool and Birming- Kani last month. ■ Clive Appleby, administrator of I North Middlesex Hospital, said a po- Bceman died shortly after being ad- Biitted with a stab wound in the Beck. ■ Press Association, Britain’s do- niestic news agency, reported earlier |}|hat three policemen were shot dur- : ing the fighting in Tottenham dis- Elrict, and quoted one officer as say- f ing, “They are now using shotguns.” I The trouble began a day after a i|)lack woman died while police were Searching her home. Police said the Woman apparently suffered a heart Attack, but her family disputed that. About 200 youths, most of whom Were blacks and some wearing asks, hurled bottles and stones at he Tottenham police station Sun day afternoon, and then sat in the treet. They blocked traffic for bout an hour before dispersing, nd no one was injured. At about 7 p.m., gangs of black ouths started throwing objects at atrolling officers, and riot police in _ elmets and carrying shields con- erged on the area, a racially mixed eighborhood with mostly low-in- ome housing. Demonstrators overturned cars nd set them on fire, and set ablaze at least one house, Scotland Yard of- icials reported. Authorities dis- atched four fire engines, but police dvised them not to go into the area. Scotland Yard spokeswoman Gil- ian Humphrey said the situation as “pretty volatile,” as the rioting ontinued late into the night. In explaining the ultimate reason the new sick leave policy was passed, Delco mentioned the state’s determined effort over the past two legislative sessions not to raise taxes, resulting in the need to cut bud gets when it became apparent that the state would have no other significant new reve nues. “The whole posture of the Appropria tions Committee and the leadership was to say, in effect, let’s find those places where there’s significant and obvious fat in the budget and trim,” Delco said. “That way we can meet the needs of this state in a fiscally responsible fashion and not have to raise the budget.” Clarifying that the higher education committee spends a significant amount of money, Delco said it always becomes the target for ways to trim the fat. “As it turns out,” she said, “the institu tions of higher education ended up being the only significant fat-trimmers in the bud get. We provided the biggest difference in changing the budget in such a fashion that it was not necessary during that session to talk about taxes.” The recommendation to the legislature, she said, was an average 26 percent cut in Texas colleges and university expenditures. “Trimming the fat was one thing,” Delco said, “and the colleges and universities had agreed before to do that, but when you’re talking about 26 percent, you’re not talking about trimming fat, you’re not even talking about trimming meat, you’re talking about cutting bone. “And so the institutions were not looking at cosmetic, horizontal cuts, but rather deep, vertical cuts.” Delco said friends of higher education had to come up with ways to soften the cuts. which in fact, they did. The final appro priations bill involved a three percent ver sus a 26 percent cut in higher education. “Those are not good cuts,” she said. “Cuts are cuts and we’re still talking about impacting programs at institutions, but we are, nevertheless, talking about much less severe cuts than those originally compo sed.” Because of the different levels of em ployment in higher education, not found in other state agencies, Delco said it is difficult for the legislature to deal with them. She said the sick leave policy seems to be another reflection of the concern on the part of the administrative leadership of the state to treat all state agencies alike, partic ularly in stringent times." “When the documents came together be fore a conference committee, which met af ter the House and Senate had reviewed the appropriations bill and passed their respec tive versions, the sick leave issue was in the posture of almost an afterthought,” she said. “And that’s how so much damage is done as an afterthought.” She explained that, when the document finally got sent back to the House, those concerned with even greater problems in higher education, including herself, didn’t even notice the sick leave addition. “We were trying to do things we thought were much more important,” Delco said, “and, quite frankly, nobody even paid at tention to that little insertion as a rider to the appropriations bill. “Until this was called to my attention af ter the session was adjourned,” Delco ad mitted, “in the appropriations bill there were, quite frankly, other things of much See Sick leave page 8 f jp. i Heave Ho! Members of Squadron 12 in the Corps of Cadets test their muscle power during the first bonfire cut Saturday. After groups cut down the trees at the Photo by GREG BAILEY site, the logs were carried to an open place so they could be pulled by a tractor. The next cutting weekend is October 19 and 20. Senate debate delays voting on debt cut-off Associated Press WASHINGTON — Despite a last- minute plea from President Reagan, the Senate refused Sunday to choke off debate on a proposal mandating a balanced budget by 1991 and left in doubt urgently needed legislation to continue the government’s bor rowing authority. The Senate voted 57-38 for the so-called cloture motion to limit de bate on the amendment, but it was seven votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority and meant that further action on increasing the na tional debt limit remained stalled. The meaning of the tally was muddled because it did demonstrate a strong majority backed the pen ding budget plan. After the vote, it was unclear when a debt limit increase could be considered, although another vote to shut off debate was scheduled for today. At the White House, spokesman Albert R. Brashear said he could not say what specific problems would be caused by failure to enact the debt limit measure. “Zero hour is approaching,” Rea gan said in a statement issued from his weekend Maryland retreat at Camp David just hours before the Senate convened Sunday afternoon. .“By tomorrow (today), the federal government’s cash balances will be virtually exhausted and we will be facing a financial emergency.” Debate on the balanced budget plan offered by Sens. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., has held up legislation increasing the na tional debt limit, which Treasury De partment officials have said must be done by today to avoid disruptions of government financial operations. Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., told his colleagues that some senators “don’t want to cut spending.. . . Some don’t want to do anything unless it’s raise your taxes and dismantle defense.” Nonetheless, he fell short of the necessary majority. Since a change in Senate rules is involved, it would take a two-thirds majority of those voting instead of the usual 60 for a so-called cloture motion. Democrats and Republicans alike have agreed that passage of some sort of balanced budget legislation is likely and would be worthwhile. But Democratic leaders, and some Republicans, have resisted efforts by GOP leaders to force quick action on the plan that is being offered as an amendment to the measure raising the current national debt limit from its current $1,824 trillion to $2,078' trillion. Jobs Survey reveals roller coaster future for college grads looking for work By SCOTT SUTHERLAND Staff Writer Overall, 1985 has been a topsy turvy year for college graduates en tering the job market. Placement centers across the country say grad uates are reporting lower rates of employment than were predicted by one of the country’s most respected surveys. But a government agency says graduates need not despair; the llinois to be plant site ler “I cm icti you that I will sleep . ell tonight^ fee said. >| | i ':Simon saflf^iand Seal; Alan J. future looks encouraging. The College Placement Center, and its 163 member centers at col leges from coast to coast, issued its annual salary survey this summer and the results showed surprises and disappointments. Officials at the Texas A&M Place ment Center say the salary survey is an accurate indicator of average sal aries for graduates in their respec tive majors. The survey is comprised of re sponses by graduates who have re ceived job offers between September 1984 and July 1985. The survey con sisted of nearly 45,000 responses. Social science majors recorded surprising increases in salaries and offers, while salaries and offers for computer science majors fell fiat. In November 1984, Michigan State University issued its Recruiters’ Survey, which is a study of expected hiring figures for 1985. Patrick Sheetz, a researcher with Michigan State, imported that the time the survey preoicted an average of 9 percent more jobs than last year. But just last week, Jon Sargent, a researcher with the Occupational Outlook division of the Department of Labor, says increases in employ ment were probably closer to 6 per cent. Sargent also says, however, that employment trends for most college Nationwide Survey | | JULY 1984 B JULY 1985 Buai. Chem. E. Mech. E. Afl. Sc. Soc.Sc. Elec. E. Pet. E. Comp. Sc. Currlculums College PUcement Center Survey look odd, with most in- employment-continuing at r better than average lev- majors creases in average or els. Despite the disappointment that jobs would not be as available as pre dicted, there was encouraging news for social science majors. Social Science majors, which gen erally finish low on the placement councils’ list of job offers and salary increases, turned in a surprising per formance. A 6.4 percent increase in starting salaries and an increase in job offers is the best performance reported by social science majors in the last 5 years. The recruiting survey had pre dicted only a 2 percent increase in salaries for social science majors. Sargent said his division is pre dicting average growth in the future for social science majors. But the future is not as bright for computer science majors. Computer science majors re ported smaller salary increases than expected. According to the report, salaries increased only 1.8 percent over 1984 offers. But Sargent said computer sci ence majors can look forward to bet ter than average increases in jobs and salaries. Sargent said his department is predicting a 77 percent increase in the number of computer analysts and an 85 percent increase in com puter programmers in the next thir teen years. Sargent added that these 422,000 new jobs will mostly be filled by col lege graduates. Right now, computer science ma jors are finding the most jobs in the electronics field, while the highest pay is going to graduates working in automotive and mechanical indus tries. As expected, engineeers drew the largest starting salaries. Petroleum engineers reported the best average salary of $2583 per month, an increase of 4.8 percent over last year. But the placement council report also cited a roller coaster year for pe troleum engineering salaries. In De cember graduates were reporting average salaries of $2,683, but by See Fluctuating, page 8