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Texas A&M m m m •
The Battalion
Off.
a, Vol. 87 No. 77 GSPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, January 20, 1988
Senates work on schedule for finals
Senior exam trial run receives F for failure
By Karen Kroesche
Staff Writer
I Both student and faculty leaders
agree that last semester’s trial run of
a;senior finals schedule ran less than
sinoothly, and they are working to
gether to find a more acceptabie al-
tlrnative.
B Speaker of the Faculty Senate C.
Richard Shumway said the Faculty
*nate did not originally anticipate
the scope of the problems that senior
finals scheduling would create for
students.
Shumway said he is anxious to
work with students and iron out the
conflicts.
“I think it’s got to be worked out
jointly between the Student Senate
and Faculty Senate,” Shumway said.
“And we are meeting as officers of
the Faculty Senate with officers of
the Student Government to see if
there are some alternatives that
could be considered.”
Speaker of the Student Senate Jay
Hays said Faculty Senate and Stu
dent Senate leaders will have a sum
mit of sorts Friday to compare notes
and try to hammer out a senior fi
nals schedule that is agreeable to
both parties.
“We have a meeting scheduled
with Dr. Shumway to go over these
alternatives,” he said. “And hope
fully after coming out of that meet
ing, we’ll have one recommendation
to give to each Senate for approval.”
Both Hays and Shumway said last
semester’s trial run of the senior fi
nals schedule created time problems
for both students and faculty.
“It pointed out a lot of problems
in the practical application of the
schedule,” Hays said. “There
weren’t any drastic, serious, Univer
sity-stopping problems, but it caused
a lot of inconvenience and a lot of
students felt that they were rushed
in the finals with the shortening of
dead week and then turning right
around and having to take fi
nals. . .”
“A lot of students felt like they
were really cramped by the schedu
le,” «aid.
Shumway agreed that students
did not have time to prepare for fi
nals, and he said the trial run came
at a pretty high cost, to both students
and to faculty.
“Some thought it went better than
expected, but there’s been a fair
amount of concern about it,” he said.
“We’re anxious to try to work out an
alternative that would be more satis
factory to both students and to fac
ulty.”
Shumway said, “Our preliminary
discussions with student leaders
would indicate that there are some
alternatives that may be preferable
to both groups.”
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Photo by Jay Janner
Steve Grychka, a sophomore biomedical science major, leads his team,
the Crocker Wildcats, as they compete in a game of tug o’ war against
the Walton Schopros during halftime at the Lady Aggies basketball
game Tuesday night.
OOP’s decision
prompts du Pont
to return to race
AUSTIN (AP) — Presidential
candidate Pete du Pont, one of the
prime beneficiaries of the Texas Re
publican Party’s decision to ignore
forged signatures on petitions, said
Tuesday the. GOP shouldn’t have
abandoned verification efforts.
But the former Delaware gover
nor said the decision puts him back
in the race for Texas delegates to the
Republican National Convention.
“Now voters will get the chance to
determine the much larger question
of who should serve as the Republi
can Party’s standard-bearer in the
1988 presidential election,” said du
Pont, who on Saturday had with
drawn from the Texas primary after
reports of forged signatures on his
ballot petition.
Reporters had found apparent
forgeries on petitions submitted by
du Pont, U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, U.S.
Sen. Robert Dole and Alexander
Haig. The Texas GOP initially de
cided to verify the required 5,000
signatures for each candidate. Such
action would leave any candidate
without enough verified signatures
on the ballot but ineligible to earn
delegates.
Reagan endorses
weapon airdrops
to Contra rebels
Initial Corp dorm renovation completed
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan on Tuesday authorized
the CIA to resume airdrops of weap
ons to Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, as
congressional opponents worked to
offset an expected presidential lob
bying blitz for an extension of mili
tary aid.
“This is really a gut issue for the
president,” said Rep. Lee Hamilton,
D-Ind., an opponent of the aid rene
wal Reagan is expected to seek for
the rebels on Jan. 26
ob-
iministra-
By Lee Schexnaider
Staff Writer
I The initial phase of a $31 million
■ve-year dormatory renovation plan
has been completed with the work
on two Corps of Cadets residence
.'halls, said George Thomas, Corps of
Cadets area coordinator.
H Students have already moved into
Dorm 12, Utay Hall, Thomas said.
Dorm 10, White Hall, will be ready
for occupation in two weeks, he said.
The entire long-term project, ex
pected to be completed in 1991, in
cludes renovations of 16 residence
halls, including the 12 Corps of Ca
det dorms and the four Corps-style
dormitories on the north side of
campus.
“It is a total renovation,” Thomas
said. “Other than the installation of
air conditioning somewhere in the
late fifties, there’s been no real reno
vation done to the dorms other than
normal maintenance. So this is the
first real facelift of the whole interi-
Thomas said the reaction from
the Corps cadets has been positive.
“You’re living in something that
hasn’t been totally renovated in
forty-something years, and now it is
totally renovated with all new equip
ment,” he said. “Their reaction is
great. It’s like walking into a brand
new building.”
Mark Andress, a senior aerospace
engineering major and a regiment
commander, said he was pleased
with the changes.
“They are plush,” he said. “They
look like you just checked into a ho
tel room.”
Jim Lane, assistant Corps area
coordinator, said the renovation
started in August 1987 and involved
all parts of the buildings’ interiors.
“The rooms were completely gut
ted.” Lane said. He said the work in
cluded all new furniture, heating,
ventilation, air conditioning, plumb
ing and electricity.
“It is his highest foreign policy
jective,” he said. “The adminisi
tion will pull out every stop in order
to win this vote.”
See Renovate, page 8
The House will vote Feb. 3 on
Reagan’s request for an undeter
mined amount of new military aid.
If it approves the request, the Senate
will vote the next day.
The rebels are currently operat
ing on short-term humanitarian aid
approved before Congress’ recess.
The airdrops had been suspended
for the past week because of the
weekend meeting in Costa Rica of
the five Central American presi
dents who signed a peace accord
Aug. 7.
Under the law, Reagan must ask
for any new military aid next week,
triggering votes in Congress the fol
lowing week.
But the administration’s task in
winning new lethal was made diffi
cult when Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega promised to make
concessions to keep the peace proc
ess alive.
Ortega vowed to lift the state of
emergency in his country that has
curtailed civil liberties, to hold direct
talks with the rebels aimed at reach
ing a cease-fire and to release politi
cal prisoners when a truce is ar
ranged.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said Tuesday that the
amount and composition of the new
aid request will be determined by
what Ortega does between now and
then in fulfilling those promises, a
view shared by aid opponents.
Administration officials call the
promises a ploy to lure Congress
into a cutoff of Contra aid.
UPD allows
grace period
for parking
By Richard Williams
Staff Writer
H The Texas A&M University Police
Department is not going to issue
parking tickets to cars without park
ing stickers parked in red, blue and
green lots until Monday, said Bob
■Rhatt, director of traffic and secu
rity.
Cars not parked in the spaces pro-
;d
Court clears way
for investigation
of Oliver North
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ma
rine Lt. Col. Oliver North failed
Tuesday in a bid to have the Su
preme Court block a criminal in
vestigation into his role in the
Iran-Contra affair.
vided will still be ticketed and are
sjubject to being towed if they are
blocking the flow of traffic, Wiatt
said.
I The grace period provided by the
UPD doesn’t extend to brown or yel
low staff lots, he said.
i Individuals parking improperly
or parking in staff lots or reserved
spaces are subject to the towing and
ticketing regulations normally en
forced, Wiatt said.
The UPD usually provides a grace
•eriod during the first week of every
semester to allow individuals who
aven’t yet picked up their stickers
to park on campus without getting
tickets.
The justices, without comment.
refused to disturb a ruling that
Attorney General Edwin Meese
III properly delegated authority
to independent counsel Lawrence
E. Walsh to conduct the inquiry.
Walsh, said, “We are pleased that
any question as to the authority of
this office to carry on its investi
gation of the Iran-Contra matter
has now been laid to rest by the
courts.”
In other action Tuesday, the
Supreme Court:
Campus housing proposals
fail to solve student demands
By Kimberly House
Staff Writer
The high-court order clears
the way for Walsh to seek indict
ments against North and other
key participants in a scheme to di
vert the proceeds of secret U.S.
arms sales to Iran to the Nicara
guan Contra rebels.
•Left intact the perjury con
viction of Walter L. Nixon, a fed
eral trial judge from Mississippi.'
Federal prosecutors now may
seek a start to his five-year prison
sentence.
•Refused to throw out a law
suit charging singer-songwriter
Lionel Richie with infringing an-
Indictments are possible in the
coming weeks against North, for
mer national security adviser
John M. Poindexter, retired Air
Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Se-
cord and Secord’s business part
ner, Albert Hakim.
other composer’s copyright in his
1983 hit “Stuck on You.” Thejus-
tices, without comment, let stand
a ruling that a jury trial is re
quired to determine whether any
copyright infringement occurred.
Jim Wieghart, spokesman for
•Agreed to decide in a case
from Colorado whether states
may bar sponsors of ballot initia
tives from paying the people who
collect petition signatures.
Four proposed civilian residence
halls planned for completion in Sep
tember 1989 will provide accommo
dations for 1,200 more students on
the Texas A&M campus, but this will
not completely solve the current on-
campus housing demand problem,
with an estimated 44 percent of stu
dents who requested dorm rooms in
the fall were turned down.
Wesley Peel, vice chancellor for
facilities planning and construction,
said A&M is opening bids this week
on the pre-purchase of prefabri
cated modules for the new dormito
ries, which will be similar in style to
A&M’s five modular female resi
dence halls.
The contract for the building
modules will be awarded at the
Texas A&M University Board of Re
gents meetings on Sunday and Mon
day.
In November, the Board ap
proved plans to commission a design
for the four new halls. One will be
built east of Haas and McFadden
halls near the Fish Pond — housing
238 students — and the other three
will be south of the Commons and
east of Underwood Hall — housing
962 students.
However, the 1,200 new rooms
will not satisfy the current demand
for on-campus housing.
John White, housing services su
pervisor, said there were about
4,000 rejections sent to dorm appli
cants for the fall 1987 semester. The
Housing Office received about 9,000
applications for civilian housing,
White said, and only about 5,000 of
the 7,102 available spaces were
open.
The increased number of fresh
men in the fall upped the number of
rejections about 33 percent. White
said. Before that increase, the num
ber of people applying for dorms
had been decreasing since 1984, he
said.
The housing office uses a lottery
system for assigning numbers to in
coming freshmen applicants, White
said.
“The incoming freshmen who
wish to get a dorm room can apply
through January and all applicants
are randomly assigned a number by
the computer,” he said. “The stu
dents with (lottery) numbers up to
the number of available rooms are
assigned rooms.”
White said off-campus students
and transfer students are not given a
lottery number, but instead are put
on a waiting list according to the
date of their application.
In a recent Off Campus Center
survey of a random sample of more
than 400 freshmen, 58 percent of
those who responded said the most
important reason they were living
off campus was that they were un-
See Dorms, page 8