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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1988)
The Battalion s > ton:r »es rein, [ s still U lie ii iat is ot fhensivt ‘y isdeaiii/ol. 88 No. 9 CJSPS 045360 16 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, September 8, 1988 atning He and I sevetali nive hisif superJ elass tr a knotii| 'ides, sot.; act tk e in far ponsiHt, nne stKji •'ass y poor pe. Iieardi rned tit iledtos 1 else’sj. of stue '"goodl iciousls, •d it. , si in the d for! to see i ICt edit?; tot ever id enp Ii lanfs I theitt: is to | 'reed r 1 sa» d m. I 20,!?' Raise your hand if you’re sure Photo by Jay Janner Marcus Chaloupka, senior stage manager of the University Center Complex, directs the lighting onto “The Hand That Was Not Called,” an 18th century work by Thomas Beach. The painting is part of the exhibit “Aspects of British Painting: 1500—1800” which opens today in the MSC. Testimony continues in dismissal hearing By Stephen Masters Senior Staff Writer The Academic Freedom, Tenure and Responsiblity Committee met for a third day of hearings Wednes day to discuss the contested dismissal of a tenured Texas A&M professor. Dr. Katharine Richards, an assis tant professor in the department of modern languages, was notified that she would be removed from payroll in May 1986 by Luis Costa, Modern Languages Department head, in a letter dated Dec. 16, 1985. Richards protested the action and is still on the University’s budgeted payroll be cause of continuing appeals within the school. The school is attempting to prove one or more of four accusations among "professional incompetence, continuing or repeated substantial neglect of professional responsibili ties, moral turpitude adversely af fecting the performance of duties or to the meeting of responsibilities to the institution, or to students or as sociates, and mental or physical dis ablement of a continuing nature ad versely affecting to a material and substantial degree the performance of duties or the meeting of responsi bilities to the institution, or to stu dents or associates.” Richards and her legal counsel, Gaines West of West, Aclams, Webb 8c Allbritton, have said the school has listed no actual incidents of any of the accusations and have filed a civil suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming the school is discriminating against her on the basis of her handicap, sex and age. Richards is 48 and has had poliomyelitis since she was 10. She joined the A&M faculty in 1970 and received tenure in 1976. She was elected to the Faculty Senate and its Research Committee in Spring 1988. The Academic Freedom, Tenure and Responsibility Committee nor mally follows basic court procedure, but some changes have been made to accomodate witness’ schedules. The prosecution normally calls all of its witnesses prior to defense wit nesses, but this has not been the case since the proceedings will last longer than the originally scheduled three days. Committee members do all questioning of the witnesses, but le gal counsel for each party can sub mit questions to be asked by the panel. Witnesses Tuesday said Richards gave few explanations in class, stu dents had problems understanding her and was absent-minded in class. Video depositions from some of Richards’ former students are ex pected to corroborate these com plaints. Costa said one student com plained Richards tended to call on a select number of students and ig nore the rest of the class. Another former student testified that she had no trouble in Richards’ Spanish 205 class, but was advised to retake the course with a different instructor af ter failing to keep up on the first day of Spanish 206. Wednesday’s testimony included two phone-in witnesses — Dr. Ad elaida Martinez, a former tenured associate professor in the depart ment of modern languages at A&M who now works for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and John Poin dexter, a May 1986 A&M graduate now working for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Both spoke to the commit tee via conference call. Martinez, who worked for A&M for six years through May 1987, tes tified that she had no way of know ing how Richards’ former students See Trial, page 13 I Cooke Cablevision properties for sale; Tteport says price could top $1.5 billion By Sharon Maberry Staff Writer Cooke Cablevision, the cable tele- 'ision company servicing Bryan-Col- Hege Station, is up Foi sale. “I don’t know the reasons why Mr. pack Kent) Cooke is selling his prop erties,” Tom Rose, manager of the Cooke cable’s Bryan-College Station jptfice, said. “He bought them from vlcCaw Cablevision about two years “As far as l know, Mr. Cooke, limself, is not giving any comment xcept that it is for sale.” Cooke could not he reached for omment. Rose says the sale should not af fect present subscribers. John Southard, southern region general manager for Cooke Cablevi sion in Knoxville, Tennessee, agrees that the sale should not affect sub scribers. “1 can’t imagine it having any ef fect on the subscribers,” Southard said. “Mr. Cooke ran a very good company. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to change that.” The sale will not be finalized be fore the end of January or February, Southard said. "It all depends on who the buyer is, and negotiations during the pro cess,” he said. “There are no prospective buyers now. The sale book will he out this week sometime for the brokers (to give information to buyers). “It will be a bidding process. Peo ple will be making offers. We will know more on that line 45 days from now.” A spokesman for Drexel Burn ham Lambert, the firm handling the sale, said the firm is not free to dis close any information concerning the sale. However, an article in the Aug. 29 issue of Broadcasting mag azine reported that the sale price could “easily exceed $ 1.5 billion.” Cooke Cablevision has properties in 17 states: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, New' Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, South ard said. Cooke Cablevision operates three cable systems in Texas — Bryan-Col lege Station, Paris and Victoria. Broadcasting magazine reported that Cooke’s cable systems had close to 700,000 subscribers. Rose was not able to provide the number of Cooke Cablevision sub scribers in Bryan-College Station. Official: B-CS needs absentee voting By Susan B. Erb Reporter GOP Party Chairman Rodger Le wis plans to ask the Brazos County Commissioners’ Court next week to reconsider its decision to designate the Brazos Center as Brazos Coun ty’s only absentee voting site. In the past, absentee voters in Brazos County have voted at the county courthouse in downtown Bryan. At Tuesday’s commissioners’ court meeting, Lewis asked the com missioners to set up additional ab sentee sites on the I exas A&M cam pus and at Post Oak Mall. “What we want to do is put the boxes where the people are,” Lewis said. “The sheer fact that half of the county is on the A&M campus every day is enough to justify the place ment of a site on campus, and the second highest traffic area in Brazos County is Post Oak Mall.” Lewis’ Democratic counterpart, Ron Gay, said that he is not opposed to the placement of an absentee vot ing site on the A&M campus, but that it would not be accessible to Bra zos County residents because of parking problems. To set up enough sites to coun terbalance a campus site, he said, would be expensive — about $3,000 per site. Democrats suggested the Brazos Center, he said, because it is cen trally located, easily found and has adequate parking. The decision will be submitted to the U.S. Justice Department’s elec tions division, who must approve changes in absentee polling sites. Additional sites still can be added once a decision is made. Absentee voting, first established for voters unable to be in their pre cinct on election day, now is available to anyone. In an effort to boost lagging voter turnouts, the Texas Legislature in its last session extended the absentee voting period from one week to two. Absentee voters may cast their ballots Monday through Friday Oct. 19 to Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Brazos Center, pending Justice Department approval. UPD arrests 2 for burglarizing cars on campus By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer University Police officers ar rested a student and a former stu dent Tuesday night in connection with nine automobile burglaries occurring late Tuesday morning and early Tuesday afternoon. Sherry Ann Eckhardt, 19, and Charles Anthony Cabico, 22, were arrested after undercover police officers observed the pair breaking into a car in the parking lot behind the Commons, Boh Wiatt, University Police Depart ment director, said. Eckhardt, a sophomore busi ness major, and Cabico, class of 1985, were picked up by under cover officers Tuesday. Wiatt said the officers observed the couple “acting suspiciously” around one of the cars parked in parking annex 56. “They did not even know we were watching them,” Wiatt said. “The problem was that we could not see exactly what they were doing.” Wiatt said that the couple went from there to the Commons lot where they were seen standing around two other cars. “The officers saw the man stop in the Commons lot, walk over to a car and then walk back to his ve hicle,” Wiatt said. “As he was doing this a second time, the offi cer in lot 56 reported that the window of the first car had been smashed out.” At the time of the arrest, offi cers found two radar dectectors that had been reported stolen earlier in the day. A search of Eckhardt’s apartment turned up four more radar detectors. Wiatt said the UPD and the College Station Police Depart ment are considering filing addi tional charges against the men. “We have to check with the Dis trict Attorney’s office to find out how many charges they want fi led,” Wiatt said. “Rather than file nine separate charges, they may want us to file only one or two and lump them all together.” As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the men were being held in the Bra zos County Jail. ’Mobley speaks at first Student Senate meeting in ee 11 By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer The Fall 1988 Student Senate met for the first time this semester Wednesday night. While the meet ing was mainly devoted to organiza tional duties, it was highlighted by a “State of the University” speech from Texas A&M President William Mobley. In his first speech before the Stu dent Senate since taking over the President’s office Aug. 1, Mobley said he was impressed by A&M’s tra dition of student involvement and great heritage in developing student leaders. “Compared to other schools, we continue to produce a disproportio nate number of leaders in all fields,” Mobley said. “I want to continue to Isupport and nurture that long ■standing committment to student I leadership.” Mobley pointed out the great am- [mount of cooperation between stu- sdents and faculty over the finals Ischeduling issue and expressed his I hope for that kind of working I relationship between the students land his office. “There will be many times when 1 [will come to you and ask you for your opinions,” Mobley said, “and I will always welcome them. My door is open to your suggestions.” Mobley took the chance to outline GO T l£ X ; TUDENT RNMENT 1 UNIVERSITY tant investments the state can make,” Mobley said. “If we are to continue to grow we are going to need the help of the state legislature.” After Mobley’s speech, the senate unanimously passed a bill expressing their approval of the new finals schedule and a bill setting the sched ule for Freshman Elections. Freshmen wanting to run for the four class officer positions (presi dent, vice-president, secretary and treasurer) and the 10 freshmen sen ate positions can file between Sept. 19 and Sept. 23. A mandatory infor mational meeting for all candidates will be held on Sept. 27. Cam paigning will begin on Sept. 28 and end on Oct. 4. Elections will be held on Oct. 5 in the MSC flag room, the Kleberg Building, Evans Library and Sbisa Dining Hall and run-off elections, if needed, will be held on Oct. 10. During committee reports, Jody Manier, Chairman of External Af fairs, announced that her committee would be registering students to vote Oct. 4, 5 and 6 in the Commons and the MSC. Mobley presents finals schedule plans to eliminate several issues of student concern. In response to several student complaints about the lack of space and too much noise in Sterling C. Evans Library, Mobley said that his office has identified four possible sites to open up for individual and group study. He said the MSC] din ing area, Sbisa Dining Hall, Pie Are Square and the Pavilion were chosen for their large spaces and movable tables. “The variety of choices for studey in the evening,” Mobley said, “should help to maintain quiet and order in the Library.” On the issue of campus security, Mobley said they are conducting a study of campus to find out where more lights need to be put up. He said that plans are already underway to put up lights and emergency tele phone boxes along the jogging trail near the President’s house and in all parking lots. Plans are also being made for bike trails on campus. “The bike trails may eliminate a few parking spaces,” Mobley said, “but it will make it safer for bikers and pedestrians who have to some times dodge them.” Mobley pointed but that many of these problems are the result of be coming an increasingly large and complex university. A&M is the sev enth largest university in the United States, he said, and ranks in the top ID in a variety of indicators. With a new legislative session starting in February, Mobley said that it will he difficult schools to get the support they need. “We need to convince them that education is one of the most impor By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer The latest edition of the long-debated and much-re- vised semester finals schedule was introduced to the Student Senate on Wednesday night by President Wil liam H. Mobley. The new schedule, which faculty, student and Ad ministration officials have haggled over for more than a year, will go into effect at the end of the Fall 1988 se mester. According to the new schedule, finals will start on the Monday of last week of the semester. The last final will be given on Friday morning and Commencement will be held on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Commissioning, Final Review and Boot Dance will be held Saturday afternoon and evening. “The new schedule means that the campus will still be populated at the time of graduation ceremonies,” Mobley said. “It also means that all of the ceremonies associated with graduation will still be accommodated.” The new plan has three other major points: • Finals for graduating seniors will be administered with other student finals. This means that faculty mem bers will have to write only one set of final exams. • Dead week, which Mobley said was never really “dead” anyway, will be eliminated. Instead, the Thurs day and Friday before finals week are designated as “Reading Days” during which no classes will be held. • Graduating seniors will receive unsealed, unoffi cial diplomas when they walk across the stage. After their grades have been verified and all requirements are completed, a seal will be provided to affix to the di ploma, thereby making it official. The new schedule is the result of efforts on the part of a joint Faculty Senate/Student Senate finals commit tee and the President’s committee on student finals. Mobley said he was astonished by the amount of coop eration between faculty and students and wants it to continue. “I had my own opinion from the the sideline,” Mob ley said. “When I suggested my option, I found out it would probably take three weeks to get through finals. That quick dose of reality showed me how difficult the situation really was.”