Texas Tech University - La Ventana Yearbook (Lubbock, TX)

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AAB offers seminar to help control stress without drinking Betty Ford speaks out You ' ve got a history test at 7:30 the next morning. Apartment rent is due and your checking account is just about empty. What do you do? Some students might be tempted to drini their trou- bles away. A better choice, howev- er, might be Valerie AverilTs M M — DQ relaxation method. Averill, Doak Hall director, ex- plained M M — DQ as mood and music, darkness and quiet. People can take a particular song or a particular environment and key in to it as a relaxer, she said. Averill presented a Moans, Groans and Alternative Relaxation Techniques seminar during Drink For Your Health week in February. The Dean of Students Office and the Texas Tech Alcohol Advisory Board coordinated the event. Averill ' s main point was that trying to make good grades, work- ing 15 to 20 hours a week and main- taining a social life can cause stress. And stress can lead to over- consumption of alcohol. Many students say, I can ' t make my problems go away, so I ' m going to drink and forget about them , said Averill. She said there are bet- ter ways to relax. At the seminar, Averill turned off the lights and instructed partici- pants to take off their shoes. Listen- ing to music from the movie Some- where In Time. the small group performed stretching exercises while lying down, sitting and stand- ing. As a final treat, the participants paired off and gave each other back rubs. Averill said the trick to giving a good back rub is to not expect a back rub in return. I can give a back rub for more than an hour if I ' ve got good music on, she said. Averill said an occasional drink is not harmful. The problem arises when a stressed-out student takes that occasional drink more .Sludenls from various organizations were reprcsenled on the board, where they met bimonthly to make students more aware of responsible drinking. and more. The use of alcohol doesn ' t have to turn into the abuse of alcohol, she explained. Steve Powers, another speaker, described how a person can help an alcoholic friend. Powers, from LISTEN Seminars, presented I Think My Friend Needs Some Help and Listening To Your Neighbor ' s Heart. He stressed that students need to help and confront an alcoholic friend. He said overdrinking in col- lege too often is applauded. We give them awards in fraternities, Powers said. We ' re reinforcing this guy ' s alcoholism — it ' s crazy. Powers said the antics of an alco- holic never should be laughed at. For example, the student who blacked out at a party the night be- fore and then can ' t remember throwing the punch bowl when he wakes up the next day should not be reinforced with laughter. Powers also emphasized the im- portance of not tempting an alcohol- ic friend with a drink. If you were my friend and you knew I was a diabetic, would you take me to Swenson ' s? he asked. The week ' s keynote speaker was Betty Ford, wife of former Presi- dent Gerald Ford. Ford describes herself as a re- covering alcoholic who had trouble admitting she had a drinking problem. Ford emphasized that alcoholism is a disease; the American Medical Association and World Health Organization recognized it as such about 30 years ago. Yet alcoholism is not like most other diseases. The symptom separating alcoholism from other diseases is the concept of denial, said Ford. And believe me, it ' s spelled with capital letters. Ford said she denied her problem with alcohol until her family and two doctors confronted her at home one day. She said her first thought was, What a wonderful surprise! Everyone ' s come home together! At her family ' s bidding. Ford then entered Long Beach Naval Hospital as an alcoholic patient. Ford said the professional help she received at Long Beach Naval Hospital was essential. An indi- vidual can ' t beat his alcoholism alone, she said. It ' s not a sin to be an alcoholic, said Ford, but it is a sin to not do something about it and not go look for help. Ford now helps other alcoholics. She is especially interested in treat- ing female alcoholics, and about 50 percent of the patients at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., are women. — Camille Wheeler 26 — Alcohol .Advisory Board

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policy the state. Tech should claim the same responsibility to its students as well. Other students had differing opin- ions. Scott Thompson, a sopho- more in the College of Arts and Sci- ences, wrote a letter to the editor of the University Daily that appeared on the Viewpoint page of the paper. Personally, 1 find it hard to be- lieve that 40 percent of the faculty plan to seek other employment if the tenure policy is not changed. If I were a member of this university ' s administration, I would take this statistic as a serious indication of the faculty sentiments and. there- fore, treat them with more respect than they have recently been shown, wrote Thompson. Despite the protests of many fac- ulty members, the Board of Regents approved the proposal, but only af- ter certain revisions were made at the request of the faculty on the morning before the vote. One such request was that an insert be made to include a due process clause that would apply to the termination of employment action and causes of dismissal. The new clause allows a tenured faculty member to be dis- missed only for good cause, with the burden of proof resting with the university. Yet, even with specific revisions made, many faculty members still were not pleased with the wording and content of the policy. Faculty Senate President Evelyn Davis spoke during the committee session to request additional changes in the revised tenure policy. Much to the dismay and disappointment of the faculty, Regent Jerry Ford ex- plained to Davis that it would not be appropriate to edit and re-edit the policy at this stage. The board went ahead with its plans to pass the new tenure policy. By spring, the issue had been pushed aside temporarily as faculty and administration tried to cope with looming budget cuts. — Jane Qiiinn Faculty members show concern in poll No confidence Though the Board of Regents passed the controversial tenure pol- icy on September 28, the cold war between Tech faculty members and administrators was by no means over. Faculty members continued to fight by showing rebellion against the main administrator whom they felt brought about their defeat, university President Lauro Cavazos. Almost immediately after the de- cision was made to pass the tenure policy opposed by most faculty members, the Faculty Senate began planning a campuswide faculty vote to determine the extent of the facul- ty ' s confidence in Cavazos ' pres- idency. I hoped the time would never come that the faculty of a university would have to vote on the com- petency of their president. This is the most somber occasion in my ser- vice at Texas Tech University. said Henry Wright. Horn professor of range and wildlife management. Faculty members said the vote was taken in response to several campus issues, of which tenure was only one. In the resolution voted on by the faculty, Cavazos was said to have intervened inappropiately and subsequently failed to resolve problems in the administration of a faculty research project in the de- partment of electrical engineering. resulting in loss of morale, faculty, and research funds. The resolu- tion also stated that Cavazos re- fused to adhere to established te- nure procedures, precipitating the series of events that led to the te- nure controversy. According to the faculty, Cava- zos twice sought adoption of tenure policies against the interests of both faculty members and students. The faculty ballot also pointed out that Cavazos rejected repeated solicita- tions by the faculty to meet faculty or its representatives to discuss the faculty ' s views. The results of the faculty ' s vote of no confidence were announced less than a week after the tenure policy passage b y the Board of Regents. Of 672 voting faculty members who re- turned ballots, 81.1 percent indi- cated that they did not have confi- dence in Cavazos as president. Only a little more than 12 percent of the faculty indicated they did have con- fidence in Cavazos. and 6.2 percent of the faculty abstained from voting. No major outcome was the result of the no confidence vote by the faculty, but the vote itself was just one of the many defiant actions taken by the faculty to show discon- tent with the approval of the tenure plan. — Donan Young Tenure Policy — 25

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I ' wo sludcnts enjoy refreshmenis between sessions of ihc leadership conference in ihe University Center. The ALII.C offered many types of sessions for campus leaders. Mull Brunworlh Conference oilers leaclership skills Variety and fun Be the best leader you can pos- sibly be. That was the battle cry of the eighth annual All-University Lead- ership Conference. Featuring for- mer U.S. Rep. Kent Hance as a keynote speaker, the two-day re- treat in February showed students, officers and potential student lead- ers how to polish their leadership skills. Every step of the way was to show that events can be exciting and fun, said Darlene Whipple, AULC ' s co-coordinator. Whipple is assistant coordinator of student activities and works in Student Organization Services. Hance was a dynamite speak- er, said Whipple. He stressed that power comes from vision . . . leaders have to see beyond tomor- row. Hance received his B.B.A. degree at Tech and was vice presi- dent of the Student Association. He also was a Saddle Tramp. He later taught courses at Tech. Hance spoke at the AULC Chinese Theatre Luncheon. Appropriately, chopsticks were used in place of forks and knives, and Chinese music was played. Hance ' s speech was serious, but Whipple said the atmosphere de- liberately was made fun. We were trying to show you that an awards lunch doesn ' t have to look like sauteed chicken every time, she explained. The Chinese luncheon had another purpose — to bring together administrators and students. Stu- dents could choose whether to eat at the same table with such campus notables as Robert Ewalt, vice pres- ident for student affairs; Gilbert Dunkley, editor of The University Daily; Jeanine McHaney. women ' s athletic director; or Nelson Long- ley, director of the University Center. Keynote speaker Earl Reum offered a bit of laughter to students at the Picnic Chit-Chat luncheon. He said leaders should sharpen their caring skills as well as leadership skills. In all, 27 admi nistrators attended the luncheon. Whipple said the administrators presence drove home one of AULC ' s main points. A student needs to know that You ' re very much appreciated — you make this campus alive outside the classroom door, said Whipple. The Picnic Chit Chat, featuring Swap Talks, let participants sit at tables with designated conversation topics. The 14 topics included Hazing on Campus, How to Deal with Organization Apathy, Keeping the Faith: Religious Pro- gramming at Texas Tech and Can ' t Take Any More? Stress Management. Whipple said students were not shy during the Swap Talks. We could hardly get everyone to leave because they were having so much fun talking, she said. Earl Reum was the Picnic Chit Chat ' s keynote speaker. He saw the lighter side of life, said Whip- ple. He kept coming home to the point that one should see the lighter side of things. Reum, coordinator of student activities for Jefferson County Pub- lic Schools in Lakewood, Colo., said leaders need to sharpen their caring skills as well as their lead- ership skills. The AULC offered 30 sessions, including Greek system sessions and educational sessions. Whipple said the 10 Tech orga- nizations that planned and coordi- nated AULC did a bang-up job. They literally took charge, she said. I watched them grow from a committee who didn ' t know each other into an organization that ran a very smooth retreat. The 10 organizations were the Panhellenic Association, the Resi- dence Halls Association, the Inter- fraternity Council, Lambda Sigma, the Freshman Council, Order of Omega, the Wesley Foundation, Women ' s Service Organization, the Student Senate and University Center Programs. — Camille Wheeler Mall Bruriworlh AULC — 27