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College Station, Texas
Thursday, March 26, 1987
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THE CDlflPUTER RGE
Supreme Court upholds
affirmative action plan
Employers may act to 'balance workplace'
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Kathy Kerney, a sophomore landscape architec
ture major, sustained minor injuries to her left
knee and her left hand in an accident on her
moped Wednesday afternoon. Kerney was travel-
Photo by Doug LaRue
ing south on Spence Street at about 3 p.m. when a
car suddenly turned into a parking lot behind the
Agriculture Building. Kerney crashed into the
back right tire of the vehicle.
,&M Peace Corps volunteer
ays job screening is rigorous
By Lauren Naylor
Reporter
Unlike some volunteer organiza-
lons, the Peace Corps isn’t just wait-
ig for people to waltz in and “sign
Ip.” The road to being a Peace
lorps volunteer is a long and
Jugged one.
To volunteer Karen DeMoss, 26,
iie Peace Corps is not only “the
Jughest job you’ll ever love,” but it’s
pso the toughest job you’ll ever have
»secure.
“It was the most rigorous screen-
fig I’ve ever gone through for any
f>b,” DeMoss says.
The objectives of Peace Corps
|ork are threefold: to offer techni-
assistance to the host country, to
|romote a better understanding of
|ie United States in other countries
ad to develop a better understand-
Jigof foreign cultures.
I Texas A&M campus recruiter Co-
Ten McGarrity says the first part of
iie screening process involves an
jour-long interview with the appli-
Int who, if qualified to serve, is
[ominated to a program best suited
Bpr his interests.
The application and a total of
jght letters of reference then must
sent to the regional office in San
■rancisco to be evaluated by a place-
lent team, a process taking four to
Bve weeks.
1 If the placement evaluators de
cide the applicant is acceptable, they
will proceed to accept him only as a
rjominee, not as a volunteer. The
nominations are sent to Washington,
D C., where final placement evalua
tors complete the screening process.
1 In July, DeMoss will leave for Mali
— a large country in West Central
Aifica — to serve as an English tea
cher in a teacher-training college.
She says the tough screening process
revealed to her the priority stucture
of the Peace Corps.
n “I respect Peace Corps very highly
because the people who screened me
were certainly interested in me and
What my goals were,” she said, “but
more than that, I found they had a
dedication to the people I’d be work
ing with. I was tested more than they
let me sell myself.”
I; Like all Peace Corps volunteers,
DeMoss will spend her first three
months of a 27-month assignment
participating in a special training
program in her host country. She
will learn the native language (prob
ably French), develop technical skills
needed to execute her assignment,
and partake in cross-cultural train
ing. Cross-cultural training provides
extensive instruction in the customs,
manners, protocol, religions, his
tory, festivities, laws and lifestyles of
the host country.
McGarrity, who spent three years
in Zaire as a veterinary extension
agent, says 50 percent of the volun
teers are sent to Africa. Peace Corps’
overseas operations are adminis
tered through three regions: the 23
nations of sub-Saharan Africa, 19
Central and South American and
Caribbean nations comprising Inter-
America, and 18 nations in North
See Peace Corps, page 14
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su
preme Court, upholding an affirma
tive action plan for female workers,
ruled Wednesday that employers
may give special preferences in hir
ing and promoting women to create
a more balanced workforce.
By a 6-3 vote, the justices said a
1964 civil rights law banning on-the-
job discrimination allows such pref
erential treatment. And they said
employers may adopt affirmative ac
tion plans without admitting past
discrimination against women.
The decision was hailed as a mo
mentous victory for women’s rights.
“It vindicates our historic position
that sex discrimination, like race dis
crimination, can be remedied by af
firmative action measures,” said Ju
dith Lichtman, executive director of
the Women’s Legal Defense Fund.
As it has in a series of affirmative
action cases, the court rejected the
Reagan administration’s position.
Justice Department lawyers had ar
gued that individual rights should
not be sacrificed in the interest of
“casual social engineering.”
The court rejected an appeal by
Paul E. Johnson, who was denied
promotion to road dispatcher by the
Santa Clara County Transportation
Agency in California.
The job went to Diane Joyce, who
Johnson said was less qualified than
himself.
The court said Johnson, who
scored two points higher than Joyce
on a test, may have been minimally
more qualified for the job. But the
justices emphasized that their ruling
does not mean unqualified people
will be hired or promoted.
“Sex is but one of several factors
that may be taken into account in
evaluating qualified applicants for a
position,” Justice William J. Brennan
wrote for the court. The transporta
tion agency “appropriately took into
account as one factor the sex of Di
ane Joyce in determining that she
should be promoted to the road dis
patcher position,” he said.
The dissenters said the ruling per
verts the 1964 law “into a powerful
engine of racism and sexism.”
Justice Antonin Scalia said, “We
effectively replace the goal of a dis
crimination-free society with the
quite incompatible goal of propor
tionate representation by race and
by sex in the workplace.”
He was joined by Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist and Justice
Byron R. White.
Brennan said employers may give
preferential treatment to overcome
“a manifest imbalance” in the ratio
of male to female employees.
“Voluntary employer action can
play a crucial role in . . . eliminating
the vestiges of discrimination in the
workplace,” he said.
Brennan emphasized that em
ployers should not be forced to ad
mit past bias before taking such steps
since to do so would expose them to
lawsuits for sex discrimination.
Joining Brennan’s opinion were
Justices Thurgood Marshall, Harry
A. Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell and
John Paul Stevens.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
voted to uphold Joyce’s promotion
over Johnson.
But she said in a separate concur
ring opinion that the court went too
far in endorsing affirmative action.
Marsha Levick, executive director
of the National Organization for
Women’s Legal Defense and Educa
tion Fund, said the decision “sends a
strong message to employers that
voluntary affirmative action is the
way to go to remedy past discrimina
tion against women.”
In another decision, the court
unanimously ruled that federal laws
containing an unconstitutional pro
vision — called the “legislative veto”
— may be salvaged by simply throw
ing out that part of the laws.
T-shirt protesting finals
for graduating seniors
can’t be sold anymore
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
The bright-red senior finals pro
test T-shirts, which had begun to ap
pear scattered throughout the Texas
A&M student population, may have
become a casualty of the war be
tween the A&M administration and
the Student Government over the
new finals plan — or they simply
may have fallen victim to a Conces
sions Committee permit technicality.
Either way, the shirts will no
longer be legally bought or sold;
they have been banned.
On Wednesday evening, Louis
Meneghetti, head of the Traditions
Council (which had been selling the
T-shirts), said that in a late-af-
ternoon meeting with Carolyn Ad
air, director of student activities, he
was forbidden to continue selling the
shirts.
The council had begun selling the
T-shirts, which carried the message,
“Save Our Traditions,” over the
words, “Vandiver’s Senior Finals
Plan,” in a circle with a line through
it, Monday in the Memorial Student
Center for $4, at the same table
where students could sign a petition
protesting the finals plan.
Tuesday morning, Traditions
Council members said Adair con
tacted them and asked to see their
permit.
Adair said the permit they had
been granted was for petition signa
tures alone, and at that point she or
dered them to quit selling the T-
shirts until they had applied for, and
were granted, a permit to sell them.
Council members said they’d
heard through the grapevine that
this action was not an independent
move, but the result of a dictate
from President Frank Vandiver’s of
fice.
However, Arthur Blair, assistant
to the president, said Vandiver has
been out of the country since Satur
day, and that he knew nothing about
the T-shirts.
“I know absolutely nothing about
anything like that,” Blair said. “I do
not think the president ordered the
permit to be pulled.”
Dr. John Koldus, vice president
for student services, said he may
have instigated the uproar with an
off-the-cuff comment he made to
Adair after the Student Services
meeting Tuesday morning.
“I haven’t seen the T-shirts — I’ve
heard about them, but I wondered
who had given permission for them
to be sold,” Koldus said. “I asked
Carolyn (Adair) where they got per
mission to sell them, and, sure
enough, it turned out they had no
permit.”
After their permit was pulled, the
See T-shirts, page 14
Mid-semester grades often inaccurate, useless
Official: Eliminating midterms ‘good idea’
By Amy Couvillon
Staff Writer
Eliminating midterm grade re
ports for all Texas A&M undergrad
uate students except freshmen is a
good idea, said Donald D. Carter, as
sociate registrar, not because of the
money that could be saved, but be
cause the reports are not picked up
by many of the students and the
grades reported are sometimes inac
curate.
“Of all the undergraduate grade
reports generated,” Carter said,
“only 30 percent are picked up at the
Pavilion by the students.”
In addition, almost one-fourth of
midterm grades are not accurately
reported and have lost much of their
usefulness, he said.
“Between 20 percent and 25 per
cent of the grades submitted by the
faculty on midterm reports are ei
ther left blank, or have I’s (in-
completes),” Carter said. “Or they
give what we term ‘blanket grades’
— like all B’s or all C’s.”
The proposal to eliminate mid
term grade reports for upperclass
men — approved by the Faculty Sen
ate on March 9 — is one item on a
29-page list of proposed changes to
the 1987-88 University regulations,
submitted to the Senate by Rules and
Regulations Committee Chairman
Bill Kibler.
To become policy, the proposal
must be approved by President
Frank E. Vandiver.
Kibler said the regulations com
mittee took time to weigh the pros
and cons of the midterm proposal.
New midterm grades policy may force
organizations to reconsider guidelines
By Amy Couvillon
Staff Writer
The use of midterm grade reports
by some Texas A&M organizations
may need to be reconsidered if the
grade reports are eliminated for up
perclassmen.
Midterm grade reports now are
used by many students to order their
class rings. Carolyn Swanzy, ring of
fice manager, says the office will ac
cept a ring order if students can
show that they are passing enough
hours at midterm to bring their total
hours up to the required level of 92.
If upperclassmen reports are
eliminated, students no longer will
be able to order early, she said, but
instead will have to wait until the end
of the semester when the 92 hours
are completed.
However, Swanzy said, ordering
rings solely on the basis of final
grades probably would be less of a
hassle for both the students, who
have had to deal with inaccurate
midterm grades, and the ring office,
which has had to deal with an over
load of midterm orders.
“Midterm is traditionally a hectic
time for ring orders,” she said. “If
they . . . were eliminated, our orders
would probably be more spread out
over the year.”
If rings are ordered at the end of
the semester, all of the needed infor
mation will be in the computer,
Swanzy said, which will make verifi
cation easier.
Swanzy has found end-of-term
grades much more likely to be accu
rate. Students wanting to order a
ring rarely have to track down the
professor to get an incorrect final
grade changed.
But when professors give blanket
C’s at midterm or leave the midterm
grade reports blank, students have
trouble proving they are passing
enough hours to order their rings.
Midterm grade reports also are
used by some colleges and depart
ments to decide whether students
with a scholastic deficiency will be al
lowed to preregister.
Scholastic deficiency is defined
differently by the various majors,
and decisions about Scholastic proba
tion often are made on a case-by-
case basis.
For example, Leatrice Bouse, a
spokeswoman for Dr. Robert Che-
noweth, undergraduate assistant
See Policy, page 14
“The original proposal was to
eliminate them altogether,” Kibler
told the Faculty Senate at the March
meeting. “We had a pretty lively de
bate, but the final assumption was
that the students who have the great
est need for the midterm grade re
ports are the freshmen.”
Kibler said the research done by
committee members showed that
many sophomores, juniors and se
niors do not want or need midterm
grade reports.
Carter agreed with the research
findings.
“I think it’s really significant to
have them for freshmen,” Carter
said. “They’re the ones that are
likely to be floundering, because, af
ter all, this is a new experience for
them.
“If a freshman shows all D’s and
F’s on that first exam for all courses,
that’s an indication that the student
is really starting out on the wrong
foot, and it gives the adviser or the
dean an opportunity to get them in
there and say, ‘Hey, let’s get you
some help,’ and try to salvage some
thing.”
If students get through the first
year at A&M, Carter said, they prob
ably know where to get help and are
less likely to want or need midterm
grade reports, which often are not
reliable indications of the actual
grades.
“An undergraduate who’s been
here for a year or so knows the sig
nificance of doing well the whole se
mester,” Carter said. “Midterm
grades normally reflect only one ma
jor exam.”
A&M is one of the few major uni
versities around the country that still
give out midterm grades, Carter
said. Most schools have discontinued
them, he said, but A&M has contin
ued out of a desire to help the stu
dents.
“A&M has traditionally been con
cerned about how the students are
doing,” he said. “And we still are —
it’s just that our size has gotten so
large — 36,000 students and we’re
looking at close to 38,000 this fall —
that it (generating midterm grade
reports) is almost an unmanageable
situation.”
Carter estimated that producing
midterm grade reports under the
current procedure costs A&M be
tween $4,000 and $6,000 each se
mester.
Carter said his rough estimate in
cludes production of grade report
sheets for faculty to turn in, produc
tion of actual student grade reports,
production of additional reports to
See Midterms, page 14