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