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Women in the Corps
Faculty Senate urges
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See page 3
fiiJ Vol. 89 No.148 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, May 16,1990
lame games
Photo by Eric H. Roalson
A George Bush Drive street sign was covered with Jimmy Carter’s name as a practical joke.
Tradition faces possible change
Report examines bonfire issue
By HOLLY BECKA
Of The Battalion Staff
nddi
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Ugandan, University officials
explore idea for joint venture
By SEAN FRERKING
I Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M may help itself by helping Uganda re
cover from 14 years of totalitarian rule that has left the
once well-off African state in need of agricultural assis
tance.
The Ugandan prime minister and the Ugandan am
bassador to the United States visited the A&M campus
recently to tour the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The Ugandan delegation came to the University to
explore the opportunities a joint venture with A&M
might provide.
Dr. James Goodwin, coordinator of international ag-
ricultural programs, said A&M is helping many devel-
oping countries around the world by offering tech-
v w niques to improve the developing countries’ teaching
■«—| and research capabilities.
In return for the University’s help, Goodwin
A&M may gain new insights into different cultures and
politics.
Goodwin said that on the practical side, the ventures
often allow the College of Agriculture to work in new
environments and discover new techniques and genetic
strains in livestock and crops that may help the agricul
tural economy in Texas.
The situation and opportunities in Uganda, he said,
are similiar to other countries A&M has helped.
“We (the College of Agriculture) work with non-com
petitor countries like Uganda to help them get back on
their feet,” Goodwin said.
Dr. John Norris, director of international coordina
tion, said the military dictatorships of the 1970s and
early 1980s severely weakened Uganda’s agricultural
economy.
Five years of a stable democratic government has
opened the way for Uganda to ask for help from the
western world, he said.
“Right now, Uganda has a very large need in the area
of agriculture,” Norris said. “They came to A&M be
cause of our expertise in agriculture and our ability to
help Uganda with their situation.”
Although no agreement has been reached to help the
African country, Norris and Goodwin said they are op-
tomistic about A&M’s chance to help the impoverished
country.
Goodwin said the College of Agriculture would work
with Uganda in areas similiar to the needs in the Texas
economy.
“We would work with them in livestock, irrigation
and other projects,” Goodwin said. “If we’re doing it in
Texas, then we would probably carry that over to help
Uganda.”
Goodwin said student exchanges are a possibility in
an agreement with Uganda.
Short-term consultants from A&M could travel to
Uganda to offer advice to the government and private
industry. A&M also could work with the University of
Makerere in Uganda, Goodwin said.
The major obstacle to a joint venture between A&M
and Uganda, Goodwin said, is money. Some projects
could be as expensive as $25 million.
Norris said a large lending organization such as the
World Bank must provide the funds for any project be
fore any concrete plans can be made.
Norris said international funding usually requires a
great amount of time, but once the financing has been
identified the real work can begin between A&M and
Uganda.
Bonfire at Texas A&M could be
50 percent smaller by 1993 and
those who build the spirit symbol
could have a grade requirement im
posed on them if a recommendation
from the Faculty Senate is imple
mented.
Faculty Senate members voted to
send A&M President William Mob
ley a report examining ways to im
prove bonfire in terms of safety, lo
cation, environmental concerns,
humanitarian considerations and
academics of the students who work
on it.
The report was compiled by stu
dent leaders, faculty members, with
University and local officials consult
ing.
Senator Bill Stout, a representa
tive from the agriculture and life sci
ences college, presented the report.
He said bonfire is an important
tradition at A&M and the report
makes recommendations to accen
tuate the positive aspects of bonfire
while addressing University and
community officials’ concerns.
The report addresses the follow
ing concerns:
• Environmental considerations
— Concerns about environmental
consequences of cutting thousands
of trees each year have been ex
pressed.
The report recommends trees be
cut only if a site is available that al
ready was scheduled for clearing. If
no site is available in a given year,
bonfire will not be built.
A tree planting plan also was rec
ommended to replace trees cut for
stack. The plan suggests two trees be
planted for every one cut down. •
• Academic standards — The re-
g ort recommends a minimum GPR
e imposed on students working on
bonfire.
Bonfire leaders would be required
to maintain a 2.3 GPR in 1990, grad
ually increasing to 2.5 for bonfire
leaders in 1992. Bonfire workers
would have to maintain a 2.1 in
1990, increasing to 2.3 in 1992.
• Alcohol — The recommenda
tion that the consumption of alcohol
be eliminated at bonfire was made in
the report.
The report says the efforts of stu
dent leaders to reduce alcohol con
sumption and publicity about the
elimination of alcohol are encour
aged.
• Safety considerations — Rec
ommendations include criteria for
bonfire site and a reduced size of
bonfire.
The report says by reducing bon
fire’s size, fewer trees would be cut,
less student time would be spent
working and risks of personal injury
and property damage would be less
ened. The reduction would be grad
ual, so as not to reduce the visual im
pact of bonfire all at once, the report
Faculty Senate votes
for 13-level grade scale
By HOLLY BECKA
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M Faculty Sen
ate narrowly passed a resolution
to replace the present grade scale
to one discriminating between
student performance within a
grade range.
The resolution passed by a 36-
34 vote.
The Faculty Senate recom
mended a 13-level scale be imple
mented that would include A +,
A and A-.
An A+ would be equal to 4.33
grade points, an A would be equal
to 4.0 and an A- would be equal to
3.67 grade points, and so on
down the scale.
Various faculty senators said
the present grade scale does not
provide the flexibility to distin
guish student performance
within a grade range.
Senators said there is not
enough discrimination between
the exceptional student earning
98, for example, and a student
who makes the more common
grade of 90.
During discussion about the
resolution, Alice Wolf, a senator
representing the small animal
. medicine and surgery depart
ment, said a numerical scale
should be used if A&M faculty
members want to discriminate be
tween exceptional and mediocre
students.
Other senators said the new
grading scale would make it
harder for A&M students to get
fellowships, scholarships or into
graduate schools because the
pluses or minuses would be trun
cated. This would hurt A&M stu
dents instead of help them.
An A&M senator who taught at
Rice University and used the 13-
level scale said she was not aware
of any difficulties students en
countered while applying for
fellowships or graduate schools.
She said the system worked
well at Rice and she had been dis
satisfied with A&M’s present
grading scale.
One senator said he believed
the 13-level grading scale would
not allow students to “play the
game of life.”
He said part of life was risk and
the finagling of points so that stu
dents could concentrate efforts in
a class they found difficult and
ease up in a less-difficult class, but
still end up with, for example,
two Bs.
Brennan Reilly, Texas A&M
Student Government representa
tive, said he didn’t like the recom
mendation.
“I don’t think there was
enough evidence presented,”
Reilly said. “We looked at it in
Student Senate and there weren’t
enough facts either way. To me,
this was a decision not based on
statistics.
“I think if this is implemented,
you won’t be able to do as much
to change your grade — you
won’t have incentive to make that
last minute push to raise your
grade because the scale will be
different.”
In other action, the Faculty
Senate resolved to shorten the
drop-without-record period to
coincide with the present period
for adding a course.
Senators said this resolution
would allow more students to ob
tain desired classes and prevent
open seats in classes after the date
to add a class is past.
says.
This could be accomplished by re
ducing the height of bonfire by 2.75
feet and bonfire’s circumference by
7.5 feet each year for four years to
attain a 50 percent reduction by
1993.
• Neighborhood relations — The
report recommends clean-up crews
move through local neighborhoods
the day after bonfire to pick up gar
bage and repair damage. The crews
could be organized by the Corps of
Cadets, dormitories or other campus
organizations.
• Humanitarian concerns — The
report says that every year an excess
of wood is not used for bonfire. This
wood could be sold as momentos
and profits would be donated to
charity.
Other fund-raising efforts for hu
manitarian purposes could be asso
ciated with bonfire, the report says.
• Publicity — The report recom
mends publicizing the positive as
pects of bonfire including the im
provements.
Brennan Reilly, co-chairman of
the Ad Hoc Committee on Bonfire,
said the recommendation was passed
unanimously by students and faculty
members on the bonfire committee.
“It’s a solid recommendation,”
Reilly said. “Joey Dollins, next year’s
senior redpot, was on the committee
and he was extremely satisfied with
the recommendation. He felt it was
best for bonfire.”
Warrington’s life remembered
Former A&M president
dies after 47-year career
By KEVIN M. HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
Dr. M.T. “Tom” Harrington, who
dedicated his life to serving Texas
A&M University, died Monday in a.
Bryan hospital at the age of 88.
Harrington worked in many ca
pacities at the University during his
47-year career.
After his graduation from Texas
A&M in 1922 with a degree in chem
ical engineering, the Plano native
worked in private industry for two
years. He soon returned to the Uni
versity in 1924 to teach chemistry.
Harrington also earned a master’s
degree in chemical engineering
from Texas A&M and a doctorate in
inorganic chemistry from Iowa State
College in 1947.
After working through the faculty
anks, he was appointed dean of the
School of Arts and Sciences in 1948,
and then became Texas A&M’s 14th
president in 1950.
F Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who
Rthen was serving as president of Co-
Rlumbia University, spoke at Harring-
g,ton’s inauguration.
| While serving as dean in 1948, he
Ijtelped create the Texas A&M Uni
versity System and served as the sec-
s !ond chancellor of the system in
1953.
In 1957 Harrington was president
of both the A&M system and the
University. He again served as chan
cellor from 1959 to 1965.
Harrington also helped organize
Ifexas A&M’s oceanography and
Jneteorology departments in 1948.
He was the first Texas A&M grad
uate to serve as president of his alma
mater.
After he retired as chancellor,
Harrington was coordinator of in
ternational programs at Texas A&M
until his retirement in 1971.
Texas A&M System Chancellor
Perry L. Adkisson praised Harring
ton’s dedication to the University.
“I knew Dr. Harrington for more
than 30 years, and I knew him to be
a person who cared deeply about
this institution and who contributed
to it in many ways,” Adkisson said.
Robert G. Cherry, former secre
tary to the Board of Regents, was
first appointed to his post by Har
rington.
“Dr. Harrington’s contributions to
Texas A&M and the A&M System
are not likely to be duplicated,” he
said. “As dean, president and chan
cellor, he contributed immeasurably
to the greatness we see in place to
day.”
A&M President William H. Mob
ley said Harrington was “a source of
valuable personal counsel” during
his presidency.
“He will be greatly missed by the
entire University community,” he
said.
Harrington is survived by his
widow, Ruth Norris Harrington; his
son, Dr. John Norris Harrington of
Dallas; and two grandsons.
Services were this morning in
First Baptist Church of Bryan,
where Harrington was a member for
57 years. He will be buried in the
College Station City Cemetery.
Russians
By JILL BUTLER
Of The Battalion Staff
While visiting the local commu
nity from May 5 to 12, nine residents
of Kazan, Russia, signed a document
officially establishing Bryan-College
Station and Kazan as sister cities.
The Russian delegation included
a student of Kazan State University,
a photojournalist and two officials —
equivalents of vice presidents —from
Kazan State University.
Bryan-College Station has sent
two groups of representatives to Ka
zan within the past year.
Dr. Olga Cooke, A&M assistant
professor of Russian, said plans to
create a Russian sister city for Bryan-
College Station have been in the
works for three years.
“Our organization wanted to find
a sister city with which we could con
verse on many different levels,”
Cooke said. “We want to be able to
express our concerns for peace in
the future.
“We want to focus on our similari
ties, not our differences, with Ka
zan.”
Cooke called the Russian dele
gation’s visit a “goodwill mission”
and said she hopes the visitors
reached various groups of people in
the local area.
“We are going to meet and discuss
plans for high school students, A&M
students and community members
to visit the Soviet Union in the futu
re,” Cooke said.
While in Bryan-College Station,
members of the delegation were
kept busy with meetings, luncheons,
banquets and parties.
The delegation experienced
country and western dancing, barbe
cue and gospel music. The visitors
visit B-CS, sign document
also saw the fire department, city
hall, the chamber of commerce, hos-
itals, the police station, schools,
anks, a local television station and
the Texas A&M campus. Some dele
gates visited Houston.
The visitors went shopping, at
tended a luncheon hosted by A&M’s
President William Mobley and were
given T-shirts and cowboy hats.
Kazan State University student
Dmitry Kounitza met with Ty Cle
venger, A&M student body presi
dent, and a committee of A&M stu
dents to sign a goodwill agreement
between the two universities.
“The delegates came to meet the
people of Bryan-College Station,”
Cooke said. “We tried to give them a
good idea of how businesses,
schools, hospitals and banks are op
erated here.”
She said many Bryan-College Sta
tion community members attended
the various banquets and dinners.
“It was exciting to see so many
community members come out and
meet the Russian delegates,” Cooke
said. “The fact that 150 people at
tended the banquet and 200 people
attended the barbecue tells us how
far we’ve come in the past few years.
“The members of the Russian del
egation were moved and touched by
the hospitality of the people in
Bryan-College Station.”
Photo by Sondra Robbins
Ty Clevenger and L. Aleksandra Gilliland watch as Dmitry Kounitza signs a goodwill agreement.