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Vol. 89 No.23 USPS 045360 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, October 3,1989
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New law repeals retirement age
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By Andrea Warrenburg
Of The Battalion Staff
A law enacted by the Texas Legis
lature in June will affect the retire
ment age of the more than 1,500
tenured professors at Texas A&M.
The legislation prohibits public
colleges and universities from im
posing mandatory retirement on
tenured faculty members when they
reach the age of 70.
“The important thing about the
new law is that it will remove a form
of age discrimination that has no
place in American society,” Dr.
Charles Zucker, director of the
Texas Faculty Association, said.
The law also reduces the combina
tion of age and years of service at
which a Teachers Retirement Sys
tem participant can retire with bene
fits.
At A&M, professors may become
tenured after going through a six-
year probation period. At the end of
the period, the Board of Regents re
views each candidate based on teach
ing, research and service to the Uni
versity and the community. If the
professor is not granted tenure, he
has one year to find a position else
where.
“It’s a long-term career commit
tment to that professor in terms of
employment,” Zucker said. “With
the new law, the tenure will go on
until the professor wants to resign.”
Zucker said Norm Whalen, pro
fessor of anthropology at Southwest
Texas State, was the instigator of the
bill.
Whalen was approaching 70 and
did not want to retire. He contacted
his local state representative and the
TFA, who in turn contacted the
Texas Legislature on his behalf.
“Just because someone hits their
70th birthday, that is no reason to
retire them,” Zucker said.
Texas joins other states in enact
ing a mandatory retirement prohibi
tion law four-and-a-half years before
the federal government is scheduled
to do the same.
In 1986, Congress passed a bill
prohibiting employers from forcing
employees to retire at the age of 70,
with the exception of tenured fac
ulty. It permitted universities and
colleges to compel tenured faculty
members to retire at age 70 until
Jan. 1, 1994.
“Texas is ahead of their time with
the new law — five years ahead of
the game,” Zucker said.
“People do outstanding, brilliant
work late in their lives. There is no
reason to retire them before they are
ready.”
Texas paves the way for highway program
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Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
A College Station police officer checks out the damage
caused by a 1988 Mustang driven by Christopher Manson,
20. The car crashed through a concrete wall at the intersec
tion of Jersey Street and Marion Pugh Monday morning
around 1 a.m. Carol Rose, the front-seat passenger, was
taken to Humana Hospital for back, neck and head injuries.
By Cindy McMillian
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas paved the way for cleaner
roads across America by starting the
first Adopt-a-Highway program in
1985, and the rest of the nation is
following its lead.
A recent survey by the Texas
highway department showed that 40
of the 50 states have or want to have
Adopt-a-Highway programs.
“It’s a plan we’re proud to see the
rest of the nation copy,” J. Don
Clark, director of the department’s
Travel and Information Division,
said.
Volunteers in 24 states regularly
take to the highways for clean-up,
and 16 more states are developing
plans for a program.
The hard work is paying off. Fol
lowing the program’s implementa
tion in Texas in 1985 and the “Don’t
Mess with Texas” advertising cam
paign, total roadside litter fell by 64
percent, the largest reduction in the
nation.
Nelda Riley, Adopt-a-Highway
coordinator for this district, said she
has noticed “quite a change” in the
local litter problem since Adopt-a-
Highway came to Bryan-College Sta
tion in 1986.
“It’s a lot more effective than I
ever thought it would be,” she said.
Riley said 46 groups have adopted
more than 100 miles of highway in
Brazos County. All the major road
ways are completely taken, including
Highway 6 north and south and
Highway 21 east and west, but Riley
said the department can always find
more places for interested groups.
Organizations participating in the
program assume responsibility for
keeping a certain stretch of highway
clean. In Texas, groups are assigned
a minimum of two miles of roadw r ay
and must clear it from litter at least
four times a year. The highway de
partment monitors the assigned
areas, Riley said, and notifies organi
zations if their section of the high
way needs an extra cleaning.
The department provides trash
bags and orange safety vests for vol
unteers and disposes of the litter col
lected. A four-by-eight foot white-
on-blue sign with the organization’s
name is erected at each end of the
area.
Adults, children and college stu
dents all take part in the program.
Groups in Brazos County that have
volunteered include 4-H Clubs, Boys
Clubs, fraternities and sororities, the
Bryan-College Station adult proba
tion department, the juvenile serv
ices department, Kiwanis Clubs, Li
ons Clubs, church groups and
departments at Texas A&M.
The program continues to grow
statewide. Currently 3,320 groups
volunteer their work on almost
7,000 miles of Texas highway.
Some states have tried other ap
proaches to the litter problem. Min
nesota offers a one-day volunteer
program called ‘Tick-a-Highway,”
and Rhode Island allows individuals
and groups to plan and carry out
beautification projects. Michigan en
courages litter watchdogs to call in
litter violations on a hotline and also
requires a deposit on bottles to en
courage residents to hang on to glas
beverage containers.
Clark said interest in Adopt-a-
Highway programs has spread even
across national borders. Canada,
Australia, Brazil and Europe have
requested start-up information from
Texas.
ains says education is cure for state problems
3y Michael Kelley
: The Battalion Staff
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack
Rains called for an “educational Renaissance
In Texas” to deal with prison overcrowding,
drugs and unemployment in the state.
Rains, A&M class of ’60 and former secre-
karyof state, told the A&M chapter of College
Republicans Monday night that the theme of
bis campaign is the improvement of the edu-
Icational system in the state through reform.
"It is time to deal w'ith the gaping holes be
low the waterline in education,” Rains said.
J'Some of my opponents are still taking the
frearrange-the-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic’
approach.
“Those gaping holes are soaring dropout
fates, falling test scores, and massive increases
In funding that are giving no measurable ap
preciable increase in the quality of educa-
|tion.”
t
Rains said he blames Texas’ prison over
crowding and drug abuse problems on educa
tion for not teaching youths to take responsi
bility for their actions.
“I propose allowing the Texas Educational
Agency to actually come in and take over
(schools with low education rates),” Rains
said. “I call it the ‘bankruptcy act’.
“If we value our savings so much that we
give examiners the power to see that the
money is safe, surely we value the future of
our children to allow the TEA to see their fu
ture safe.”
Rains stressed that the difference between
himself and his opponents is that he has had
experience in both the private and public sec
tors. Rains served as chairman of the board of
3D International, a billion dollar service com
pany in Houston, before being appointed sec
retary of state by Gov. Bill Clements.
“I can talk about both sides of the issues
(public and private) in Austin with credibili
ty,” Rains said.
Rains called the Gulf Coast of Texas the
“swing area” that will produce the Republican
votes needed to defeat any Democratic guber
natorial candidate. He said that he is the best
Republican candidate for governor because
he already has a large number of supporters
from this area.
In comparison to Republican gubernato
rial candidates Kent Hance, whom Rains
called “the funniest guy on the circuit” and
Clayton Williams, Jr., whom Rains dubbed
“the most colorful guy in the race”, Rains said
that his message is serious.
“Today, with dropout rates soaring, test
scores actually going down and one-third to
one-half of all the kids in higher education
not passing a basic skills test, someone had
better start using some oversight,” said Rains.
“The Texas Educational Agency has created
a vast bureaucracy that is attempting to run
education from the top down.
“They (TEA) assume that what works in
Brownsville will work in Bryan and that the
same plans will work in inner city schools,” he
said. “That’s not only highly unlikely, it has
proven to be absolutely impossible.”
Rains said he agrees with the Texas Su
preme Court’s decision in Edgewood v. Kirby
because Texas does not have an efficient edu
cation system.
“Education in Texas is in crisis, and the Su
preme Court has reaffirmed what some of us
calling for education reform have been saying
for a long time,” Rains said. “We don’t need
to raise taxes. Instead, we need to redirect
our educational funding.
“We are spending $13.5 billion on educa
tion and we’re not getting a return on that in
vestment,” he said. “What we need to do is to
get the money we’re spending into the class
rooms and into education.”
“Until the Texas taxpayers see a return on
the 50% increase (over the last five years)
they’ve just put in, it’s going to be extremely
difficult to get them to throw' more money at
the problem.”
Silver Taps
ceremony
to honor 1
The solemn sound of buglers
playing “Taps” and the sharp
ring of gunfire wall be heard on
campus tonight as one Texas
A&M student w'ho died during
the past month is honored
a Silver Taps cere
mony at
10:30 in
front of the
Academic Build
ing.
The deceased
student being honored
is:
® Marion Dwayne
Tompkins, a freshman
business administration
major from La Marque,
who died Sept. 23.
Dating back almost a
century, the stately tradition of
Silver Taps is practiced on the
first Tuesday of each month from
September through April, when
necessary. The names of the de
ceased students are posted at the
base of the flag pole in front of
the Academic Building, and the
flag is flown at half-mast the day
of the ceremony.
Lights w'ill be extinguished and
the campus hushed as Aggies pay
final tribute to fellow Aggies.
The Ross Volunteer Firing
Squad begins the ceremony,
marching in slow cadence toward
the statue of Lawrence Sullivan
Ross. Shortly after, three volleys
are fired in a 21-gun salute and
six buglers play a special arrange
ment of “Taps” three times — to
the north, south and west.
and’s half-time show honors former director
;By Michael Kelley
|0f The Battalion Staff
M embers of the 1989 Alumni Band, consisting of for
mer members of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band,
Ireunited Saturday in the Adams Band Hall and on the
JHaney Drill Field to practice the music and marching
Iskills they developed as Aggie bandsmen.
The band later played in Kyle Field during the A&M
University of Southern Mississippi football game to
help the Aggie Band honor Col. Joe T. Haney.
The Alumni Band was composed of bandsmen who
Iplayed under the direction of the first three Aggie
3and directors — Col. Richard J. Dunn, Col. E. V. Ad
ams and Haney. The classes represented in the Alumni
[Band ranged from the Class of ’27 through the Class of
T89.
The Alumni Band marched onto Kyle Field at half
time to join the Aggie Band, whose formation spelled
out “COL HANEY.” Both bands then played “Noble
Men of Kyle,” which w as composed by Haney in 1973 to
honor the Aggie Band.
“This is the first time in the history of the Aggie
Sand that former students who were in the band were
Sble to march with the Aggie Band on the same turf at
halftime,” said Maj. Jay O. Brewer, Class of ‘81, w ho is
associate Aggie Band director and coordinator for the
Mumni Band.
From what I can get from all these former students,
''e may have now begun another Aggie Band tradi
tion,” Brewer said. “We made history today and broke
the ice.”
Bill Schwennsen, Class of ’77, served as head drum
aajor for the Alumni Band.
“When I left A&M, I never really thought I would
get to do anything like this again,” Schwennsen said.
“Being able to come back to Kyle Field and play the
“War Hymn” and “Noble Men of Kyle” w r as really spe
cial. Going out onto the field as an alumni w as an added
treat, since it has never been done before.
“Tonight was a very emotional time for many of the
former band members because being able to play and
march again w'as a way for them to re-create part of
their past, which many thought they would never get to
do again.”
The Alumni Band consisted of members of the
Texas Aggie Band Association (TABA), an organiza
tion of former Aggie Band members who support the
Aggie Band through donations.
“The TABA is here to perpetuate the Fightin’ Texas
Aggie Band as we know it today,” John Otto, president
of the TABA for the past two years, said. “Our organi
zation is here to help financially through giving tutor
ing funds to the band, helping pay for new instruments
and trips, as well as sponsoring a barbeque dinner for
graduating seniors in the spring and for the entire band
when they return for the fall semester.
“We have established three endowments in the
names of the former directors — Col. Dunn, Col. Ad
ams and Col. Haney. It is the income off of these en
dowments that goes to support the Aggie Band.”
Otto said that last vear, the Association gave more
than S4.500 to the Aggie Band to be used for tutors and
trips.
The TABA on Saturday elected David Marion, Class
of ’65, to serve as president of the Association for the
next two years.
“The next four years are going to be really exciting in
the Aggie Band because we are coming up on our 100th
anniversary in 1994,” Marion said. "One of the main
objectives and reasons for this Texas Aggie Band Asso
ciation is to perpetuate remembering and keeping
going of the tradition of the Aggie Band as a military
marching unit that is unique in its style in the way we
operate and the way we learn the drills.
“I think everybody who goes through this organiza
tion carries with them a lifetime of what they learn
about discipline, pride and organization. It is about
going out and doing the seemingly impossible each
weekend during halftime, yet making it come out with
precision. That, to me, is the Fightin’ Texas Aggie
Band.”
&
The Aggie Band and alumni march in honor of
Col. Joe T, Haney. The alumni march in the
Photo by Fredrick D. Joe
rectangular formation, separate from the cur
rent band members.