The Battalion
Vol.82 No. 103 USPS 043360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, February 20, 1987
Bryan couple found dead in home
Police have
no suspects
in slayings
Two Bryan residents were
found dead in their home Thurs
day morning but Sgt. Dale Cuth-
bertson said police have no leads
in what appears to be a double
homicide.
After receiving a call from an
unidentified witness at 7:11 a.m.
Thursday, officers found Beverly
Benningnoff, 25, and Charles
Gears, 21, dead in the living room
of their house at 408 Foch in
Bryan, Cuthbertson said.
He said Benninghoff, a restau
rant worker, and Gears, who
worked in a movie theater, .had
just moved into the house Feb. 9.
Cuthbertson said the apparent
cause of death for both victims is
multiple gunshot wounds, but an
exact cause of death won’t be
available until after an autopsy
report is completed.
Because of the nature of the
wounds, police haven’t deter
mined if one or more suspects
were involved in the killings.
Police estimate the time of
death to be late Wednesday night
or early Thursday morning, he
said. Cuthbertson said there are
no signs of forced entry into the
home.
No suspects are in custody, he
said, and no motive has been es
tablished for the crime.
Police are in the process of in
terviewing acquaintances and
neighbors of Benninghoff and
Gears.
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Police detectives remove the body of one of two people found dead
Thursday morning in a Bryan house.
Photo by Tom Ownbey
Senator:
Reagan
OK'd deals
for arms
WASHINGTON (AP) — The for
mer chairman of the Senate Intelli
gence Committee said Thursday he
believes President Reagan gave ad
vance approval to an Israeli arms
shipment to Iran in August 1985,
and “ought to stick with” that story
he reportedly once told investigators
but later retracted.
Sen. David Durenberger, R-
Minn., also said White House Chief
of Staff Donald Regan was “just
making problems” with his actions in
the Iran-Contra controversy.
Inside the White House, spokes
man Marlin Fitzwater announced
that Reagan stands ready to veto any
legislation halting aid to the Contra
rebels fighting the Nicaraguan gov
ernment. The Democratic-con-
trolled Senate Foreign Relations
Committee approved such a bill on
Wednesday, and Reagan’s spokes
man said the intent of the legislation
“is simply to abandon all Nicara
guans struggling to bring democracy
to their country.”
In Congress, meanwhile, Secre
tary of State George Shultz offered
no response when Rep. Robert Tor
ricelli, D-N.J., told him during a
hearing that U.S.-provided weapons
were having a “dramatic” impact in
Iran’s favor in its war with Iraq.
“There is a very real threat the
Arab world could be united under
this (Iranian) fundamentalist revolu
tion,” said Torricelli, just back from
a trip to Iraq.
See Iran, page 12
Education students A&M will relocate 32 students
it A&M score well Official: Action needed to combat Walton Hall 'vandalism
n new state tests
By Robert Morris
Staff Writer
With the new legislation govern
ing education in Texas firmly in
gplace, college students last fall were
Korced to take tests both to enter a
icollege of education and to gain state
certification.
The tests pointed out glaring dif-
Iferences in both the quality of educa-
[tion programs and students at dif-
jferent universities in Texas.
Problems with the tests and the
nanner in which they are adminis
tered also became apparent.
Teachers
want test
abolished
AUSTIN (AP) — The Senate Ed
ucation Committee approved a bill
Thursday that would abolish a test to
see how much teachers know about
|the subjects they teach.
The measure was sent to the full
Senate on an 8-0 vote, after wit
nesses of teacher organizations testi
fied eliminating the test — “TECAT
II” — would be a great morale
ooster.
Sen. Carl Parker, committee
thairman and bill sponsor, offered
two reasons for abolishing the test —
[ it is costly and fails to ensure quality
education.
Administering the test would cost
>the state nearly $14.4 million in
|1988-89, according to an estimate by
the Legislative Budget Board.
Parker estimated the cost at $10
nillion to $20 million. “We will not,
in our time, have enough money to
afford it,” he said.
He said he was satisfied that the
est is not a practical way to guar-
ntee quality in the classroom. “We’d
d better to stick with evaluators.”
The bill was supported by rep-
esentatives of the Texas State Tea
chers Association, Texas Classroom
eachers Association, Association of
exas Professional Educators and
Che Texas Speech-Language-Hear-
ng Association.
Charles Beard, president of
fSTA, said Parker’s proposal is
probably one of the biggest morale
Fosters in a long time.
Texas A&M education majors
scored well on both exams. The last
exit exam for which scores are avail
able was given in October, and the
Texas Education Agency reports
were sent to the schools in early Jan
uary.
A&M, which now produces more
teachers than any other school in
Texas, scored well above the state
average, said Dr. David W. David,
assistant dean of the College of Edu
cation.
Out of 616 tests taken — the most
in the state — 544 A&M students
passed, for an 88 percent success ra
tio.
Ninety-four percent of the educa
tion students at the University of
Texas at Austin passed the test.
Most other major universities had
scores in that range, but smaller
schools tended to score lower.
Tarleton State University, a
branch of the A&M system with an
enrollment of about 4,500 had an 84
percent passing rate — above the
state average.
Prairie View A&M University,
also part of the A&M system, with
about 250 education majors, had 34
percent.
However, that low score is mis
leading according to Dr. Paul Mehta,
dean of education at Prairie View.
“About 80 percent of the people
who took the test in October were
the same ones that failed it the pre
vious May,” Mehta said. “There
were only two, perhaps three, stu
dents who were new out of approxi
mately 20 who took the test. And I
believe two of those three passed.”
Those students that took the test
last May did it in a transistion pe
riod. Because of an injunction, they
didn’t take the entrance exam
(PPST) upon entering the college of
education, he said.
“We are sure the ExCet scores will
improve now that the PPST has
taken hold,” Mehta said.
Another problem when compar
ing the small college to the major
university is the speed with which
the 1984 standards of education
were set in place.
“We operated under 1955 stan
dards for a long time, then came the
1984 standards,” he said. “We went
through the process throughout
1985 to make sure the 1984 stan
dards were incorporated into the
content of all education programs.
The people who took the test in May
had taken their course work under
the 1955 standards.
“Also, minority students as a
See Tests, page 12
By Carolyn Garcia
Staff Writer
Residents of Walton Hall’s ramp E have until 5
p.m. Saturday to vacate their dorm rooms follow
ing a relocation order by University officials.
The housing department’s North Area Office
has ordered the 32 dorm residents to leave in an
effort to combat what University officials call
vandalism.
North Area Coordinator Jay Lemons said the
students won’t be affected financially by the deci
sion. Students can choose to accept alternate
dorm assignments at no increase in cost, he said,
or can move off campus and receive a prorated
rent refund.
Since Nov. 7, residents of ramp E have re
ceived four letters from the office demanding
that the responsible students come forward and
pay for the damage caused by vandalism. The
letters also warned the residents to stop the
rough-housing.
The damage cleanup included reinstallation of
a water fountain that had been ripped from the
wall, replacement of two window frames and the
installation of two window panes. A memo from
Lemons placed the cost of the cleanup at $718.
The student who damaged the window frames
has been identified and is paying for the damage,
Lemons said. However, the students say that they
had nothing to do with the water fountain inci
dent.
Hall residents are upset that they must relo
cate in the middle of the semester. But Ron
Sasse, director of student affairs, said the admin
istration is just in its decision to separate and re
locate the group.
“We have a responsibility for those buildings,”
Sasse said. “We’re talking about stuff that we
could go disciplinary about. We’re just trying to
solve the problems.”
Sasse said the residents took advantage of the
appeals process open to them, but University of
ficials did not change their decision.
This is not the first time the housing office has
relocated a group of students. Lemon said 12 to
18 students were moved out of Davis-Gary Hall
at the end of the Spring 1986 semester.
Ron Latta, a senior finance major, said the res
idents were just having fun.
“It’s kind of a crazy dorm,” Latta said. “We’ve
occasionally gotten out of hand. We’ve had some
water fights and stuff, but we’ve always cleaned
up after ourselves. It’s nothing that’s not done in
other dorms.”
Since Jan. 30 the North Area Office has been
notified of ten incidents of misconduct charged
.
cream fights, firecracker throwing, ramp flood
ing, glass objects being thown from the windows,
and an attempted assault of the resident adviser
by a group of 10 to 15 masked persons.
Latta said that none of the E ramp residents
were involved in the attempted assault.
“We didn’t attack the RA,” Latta said. “None
of us like him, but we wouldn’t attack the guy.”
Although the students are angered by the de
cision, Lemons said, the University has to look af
ter itself.
“It is very easy to slip on those stairs when they
are wet,” Lemons said. “The University doesn’t
need another liability suit. There is one pending
right now for $500,000 with someone who
slipped on some stairs.”
Lemons stressed that although the decision
may seem like a disciplinary action, it was taken
because officials felt the environment wasn’t con
ducive to the students’ academic success.
The residents, however, dispute that claim: In
a letter requesting that Texas A&M President
Frank Vandiver review the action taken by the
University, they state that 10 of the 32 students
carried a 3.0 grade point ratio last semester.
See Vandalism, page 12
A&M’s Langford Architecture Center
deteriorating, needs major repairs
By Sondra McCarty
Reporter
Rapid deterioration of the Lang
ford Architecture Center has
prompted Texas A&M officials to
consider an overhaul of the 10-
year-old building.
Professor David Woodcock, head
of the architecture department,
said apparently there are problems
that shouldn’t exist and they need
to be resolved.
“The problems are a leaking
roof, spalling (falling) concrete and
a somewhat imperfect air-condi
tioning system,” Woodcock said.
Ted Maffitt, professor of ar
chitecture, said architects will pre
sent a renovation plan to the facili
ties planning and construction
department Feb. 27.
The plan will outline the require
ments needed to repair the build
ing, he said.
Woodcock said the A&M System
Board of Regents has appropriated
$2.5 million for the resolution of
the problems.
“The program of requirements
will decide what the problems are,
the cost of fixing them and the
cause of the problems,” he said.
One of the reasons the problems
arose. Woodcock said, is because
the building is made of pre-cast
concrete.
Large panels were constructed in
one place and put together, like
Tinker Toys, at the building site.
“This type of building has joints
— the more joints the more sus
ceptible to problems,” he said.
Inherent flaws in the building’s
design and improper construction
also are sources of the problems, he
said.
Maffitt said the damage probably
was caused by cold weather.
“Water gets into the cracks in the
concrete and expands when it
freezes to cause breakage,” Maffitt
said. “This is not uncommon.”
Woodcock also said water causes
building damage.
“The extra weight of the water is
not a danger,” he said. “It is just an
irritation.
“It’s hard to say if it was a design
problem, or if it was the architect’s
fault or if it was the contractor’s
fault.”
Vela Gregory, a graduate stu
dent in urban and regional plan
ning, however, said the building
was poorly designed.
“The soil in College Station ex
pands and shifts,” Gregory said.
“There are cracks in the floor,
there is putty in cracks in the wall.
It (Langford) is a joke. It’s a fire-
trap.”
/
1
Photo by Doug La Rue
Concrete peels from a wall at the Langford Architecture Center.
In addition, the air-conditioning
system is hard to control, she said.
“When it’s cold outside, it is cold
inside,” she said. “When it’s hot out
side, it is hot inside.”
Woodcock denied rumors that
the center is going to close.
However, Gregory said the occu
pants of Langford section A, the
administration section, will be
moved into section C, the classroom
section.
“It is going to be a real problem
in the fall, fitting everyone in,” Gre
gory said. “Some juniors and all se
niors, graduate students and fac
ulty are there (section A).
They are going to put four floors
into two floors if they cannot fix the
problems one section at a time.”