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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1985)
Thursday, October 24, 1985/The Battalion/Page 7 •i areas, jail," Codfc, late fur inmv. >ne panicuh, 11 >i>directsi£ Fortunate!; d area on t ates can pla some frerli e a multipui “going to tif etu and pos tables. We possibity i t for the: also has twi toxifiation ed with boit vection ova ad booking s when raw inpleted.tt' tier 100 inti i be equipp )r violent i and a niedn Kenovatioii pleted injat Teachers, not foes, decide games Law clips Texas football obsession Associated Press HOUSTON — Friday nights in Marathon aren’t the same now that the football season has ended pre maturely, not at the hands of oppo nents but of teachers who issued re port cards. Half the members of the football team in the West Texas town of 800 failed at least one class, making them ineligible to play for the next six weeks under the state’s no pass, no play rule. The statute, which runs counter to Texans’ obsession with high school football, ultimately will face scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court. “It really hurts this town,” Gary Lamar, Marathon football coach, told one reporter. “This is a football town. That’s all they have here.” The rule, passecl during a special legislative session last summer, bars students failing any course during a six-week grading period from par ticipating in extracurricular activities for the next six weeks. The activities aren’t limited to the playing field. In Dallas, the H. Grady Spruce High School March ing Apache Band abandoned all plans of marching during halftime after 26 of the 48 band members failed at least one class. Band director Don Patmon said, “I had eight trumpet players before. I have one now.” The remaining 22 members, dubbed the “The A Team,” now as semble in front of the drill team each game and play a single tune. Statewide, the rule benched 15 percent of high school varsity foot- oall players, according to the Texas court ruling now is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Anthony refused Wednesday to grant an injunction requested by at torney Anthony Sheppard that would have barred schools from en forcing the rule until the federal court decides its constitutionality. However, the judge set a Nov. 18 trial date to hear testimony on the Within the Houston Independent School District, the state's largest, 637 of 2,771 athletes were removed from the rosters because of the no-pass, no-play rule, includ ing 416 of 1,371 sub-varsity football players. Four schools have scrapped freshman football schedules. High School Coaches Association, the only group that monitors the failing rates of football players. Failure rates among sub-varsity players were higher, about 25 per cent in the junior varsity and 38 per cent for younger players, the coaches’ group says. Earlier this summer, State District Judge Marsha Anthony of Houston threw out the no pass, no play provi sions, but her decision was over turned by the Texas Supreme Court. An appeal of the state high merits of the case, which now is a class action suit involving Texas’ 1,100 school districts. Sheppard contends the rule im pinges on the fundamental rights of students. “It affects more than sports,” he says. “We do not think regulation of extracurricular activities is a compel ling state interest.” But Gov. Mark White, who ap pointed the panel that suggested the rule, disagrees, saying Texans should put academics before athlet ics. “There is more at stake here . . . than a district football championship,” White says. “What is at stake are jobs for those young men and women when they get out of school. The real issue is going to be no learn, no earn.” Within the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest, 637 of 2,771 athletes were removed from the rosters, including 416 of 1,371 sub-varsity football players. Four Houston schools already have scrapped freshman football sched ules. In the San Antonio area, 790 ath letes cannot play ball because they failed at least one class. John Kincaide, athletic director for the Dallas Independent School District, said 123 of 765 varsity foot ball players were declared ineligible. Schools in Texas’ Panhandle fared better, with 40 of 101 schools not losing a varsity football player and 30 losing only one, officials said. fder n says no* a selves throcc in which pra i review tki What’s up Thursday OFFICE OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATION: Walt Disney World in Florida will have a meeting for students who are interested in an intership position with them in Spring 1986. Students majoring in journalism, speech commu nications, theather arts, management, marketing, agricul ture, and horticulture are invited to attend an information session in 108 Harrington at 6:15 p.m. TAMU STUDENT ART FILM SOCIETY: will show Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” and a trailer for an up coming film “The Canterbury Tales” at 7 p.m. in 103 Soil Crop Sciences and Entomology Bldg. SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURAL MANAGERS, APPRAIS ERS AND CONSULTANTS: will meet at 7 p.m. in 115 Kleberg to hear a speaker. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURAL ENGI NEERS: will meet at 7 p.m. in 208 Senates to hear a speaker. A yearbook picture will be taken at 6:45 p.m. in Aachry lobby. TOMBALL HOMETOWN CLUB: will meet at 7 p m. in 402 Rudder. POSSUM KINGDOM AREA HOMETOWN CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. at the usual place. MSC CEPHEID VARIABLE: will show “The Forbidden Planet” at 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. in 701 Rudder. Price: $1.50. AGGIES’ SPACE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY: will meet at 7 p.m. in 401 Rudder to hear a speaker. ACCOUNTING SOCIETY: will meet at 6:45 p.m. in Rudder Theater to hear a speaker. CYCLING TEAM: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 401 Rudder. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEATING, VENTILATING & AIR CONDITIONING ENGINEERS: will have a speaker at 7 p.m. in 342 Zachry. STUDENT Y YOUTH FUN DAY COMMITTEE: will meet at 7 p.m. in 225 Pavillion. OFF CAMPUS AGGIES: will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Rudder Fountain to go to yell practice. TAMU FENCING CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. in 267 E. Kyle. Friday INTER-VARISITYCHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: will meet at 7 p.m. in 501 Rudder. HILLEL FOUNDATION: will have a sophomore/freshman dinner at 6:30 p.m. CLASS OF ’87: is selling t-shirts in the MSC through Oct. 25. CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: will meet at 7 p.m. in 701 Rudder for a leadership training class. UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY: will have Bible study at 6:15 p.m. at A&M Presbyterian Church offices. Items for What's Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no less than three days prior to de sired publication date. Cheerleader flunks typing, cut from team Associated Press FORT WORTH — A freshman cheerleader, booted out of the ranks after failing an introductory typing course, is asking officials at a Fort Worth high school to investigate their grading policies. Laurie Schellstede expected to pass her typing class, but when she received her report card Friday, her final grade was a 48. “I was shocked,” Schellstede said. “She (the typing teacher) never told me I was about to flunk her class.” Schellstede was barred Friday from the six-member cheerleading souad under the state’s no pass, no play rule. Students must pass all their courses to participate in extracurri cular activities under the new rule. “At the very least, I expected to make an 85,” sne said. Schellstede’s problem, her teacher later told her, was her typing tech nique, she said. “She checked our posture and how we curved our fingers and said that was half our grade,” Schellstede said. “It’s not fair because she never told me before that I was failing. I expected to make at least an 85. If I had known I was in trouble, I would have tried harder. I would have tried to do everything differently.” The typing teacher, T.V. Meek, could not be reached by telephone for comment Wednesday. Annice Elliott, the district’s direc tor of vocational office education, said she was investigating the dis puted grade and planned to meet with the teacher Wednesday. Elliott said that under the school district’s curriculum guide for begin ning typing, technique accounts for about 50 percent of the typing grade. Schellstede complained about her typing grade to school board mem bers Tuesday night. She said she made a 97 on the typing test and av eraged 96 in the classroom work. “I feel I’ve been treated unfairly,” Schellestede told school officials. “I wish you would check into your grading system. “I thought this (no pass, no play) was for students who don’t study hard enough.” Tumor cells could replace damaged brain tissue Associated Press DALLAS — Initial experiments suggest that brain cancer cells, treated so they cannot reproduce, might someday serve as a replace ment for brain tissue that has been damaged by disease, a researcher says. Human brain tumor cells deacti vated by chemotherapy drugs and other agents have survived and grown in the brains of monkeys, without triggering new cancer growth, according to Donald Gash of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, N.Y. He reported the finding Tuesday at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Furthermore, the brain tumor cells grew extensions into surround ing brain tissue. That is an indication that it might be possible to encour age the transplanted tumor cells to make working connections with the brain and thus restore lost brain functions, Gash said. Alzheimer’s disease is one ailment that might eventually yield to this kind of treatment. Gash said, al though human experiments of this sort are likely to be many years away. A variety of animal experiments have been done using animal brain tissue to correct brain damage. But such experiments in humans pose a central problem: Where will the brain tissue come from? Gash’s ex periments are intended to show that numan tumor cells, grown in the lab oratory, can provide the replace ment tissue. Ordinary human brain tissue can not be grown in the laboratory be cause normal brain cells eventually fail to reproduce in cultures, Gash said. However, part of the cellular ir regularity of cancer conveys an im mortality on the cells. FRANK REAUGH (1860-1945) r> ' 79 Luminous pastel paintings by an early Texas Master Rudder Exhibit Hall o Exhibiting through November 14 o '< 8:00 a.m. -11 p. m . daily O Trained tour guides are available to provide tours of this exhibit for your class or club! Please call 84^-8501 to malce reservations. MUBU TANU 104 Old College Main at Northgate Walk-ins are welcome. Call 846-9779 for an appointment. HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED STUDYING IN the united kingdom? COME TO AN INFORMATIONAL MEETING ON 24 OCTOBER 8PM IN ROOM 203 MSC. study abroad office 101 academic bldg, tel: 845-0544 PEACE Special Work CORPS For Special People Peace Corps volunteers are people pretty much like you. Peo ple with commitment and skills who have assessed their lives and decided they want to be of service to others in a troubled world. The problems our volunteers deal with overseas aren’t new. Such as the cycle of poverty that traps one generation after another because they're too busy holding on to get ahead. The debilitating effects of malnutrition, disease, and inade quate shelter. Education and skills that are lacking, and the means to get them too. Your college training qualifies you to handle more of these prob lems than you might think. Such as teaching nutrition and health prac tices; designing and building bridges and irrigation systems; working on reforestation and fisheries pro grams; introducing better agricul tural techniques; advising small businesses and establishing coopera tives; or teaching math and science at the secondary level. The number of jobs to do is nearly as great as the number of vol unteers who have served since 1961: Nearly 90,000. More volunteers are being chosen now for two-year assignments beginning in the next 3-12 months in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. Our representatives will be pleased to discuss the opportunities with you. The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love Peace Corps Reps on Campus-—Memorial Student Center, 8:30 to 5 p.m.. Weds. & Thurs. 10/23-24. For more information stop by the booth or call 1-800/442-7294 ext. 124. RPCV’S are encouraged to give us a call about twenty-fifth anniversary activities. Battalion Classified 845-2611