University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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B OM Iron, T, Scholars Increase The number of National Merit Scholars .it the University rose- V percent in ir i )-so. moving the University from 26th to 15th place nationally XX ' ith I ' M) National Merit Scholars enrolled, the Univcr- ranked third behind Rice University, which had 498 Merit Scholars, and Texas A M University, which had 19-1 Also, for the second consecutive year, the University ranked first in Texas and 19th nationally in the number of students with scholar- ships from the National Achievement Scholarship Program for out- standing Negro Students. Deadline Extended The : Baking a class pass 1 mbcr mee: if they v. The proposal was submitted for appr- .ird of Regents to go into effect in 1V V A committee, organized to investigate the allegations, interviewed more than 40 n and Communication Center employees. It recommended that both Harvey Herbst, general manager, and Larry White, station manager, be fired. A Committee to Save KLRN U, organized in June, asked the FCC to exam- ine rhc relationship between the Univer- ,nd SWTPBC Herbst resigned August 10, and Ander- son was fired when the Council decided not to fund his position. Ronald Bassett, associate dean of communication, v.- sen acting general manager in September and SWTPBC and the University organ- ized a three-member committee to re- define the relationship between the two entities and to work with a second com- mittee appointed by President Flawn. David Anderson, professor of law and SWTPBC member who resigned from the Council in July, filed another complaint with the FCC alleging the station retali- ated against employees who voiced criti- cism of the station. Two other members TPBC resigned in the fall. In October, Neil Fcldman, a former member of the Committee to Save KI.RN requested air time to present the opposing viewpoint to the station ' s pro- gram KI.RN U Under Fire under the FCC ' s fairness doctrine and was refused. Bassett resigned as acting general man- ager in late November pending the SWTPBC and the UT System Board of Regents approval of a new contract between the Council and the University The contract, approved by the Regents December 7, put control of the stations in the hands of the council and authorized inter? i UT students. Professors Lose Lawsuit Three to Appeal Decision Three of eight professors appealed a lawsuit against former University President Lorene Rogers and the LIT System Board of Regents of 1975 after they lost the case in U.S. District Court in March of that year. Eight plaintiffs filed suit against Rogers and the board four and a half years ago claiming they were denied salary raises because of their political activism. Judge Jack Roberts ruled March 13 that the constitutional rights of the professors were not violated according to the evidence and testimony presented in a two-day trial The plaintiffs: Larry Shepley and David Gavcnda, physics; Philip White, Standish Meac ham, and Tom Philpott, history; David Edwards, government; Forest Hill, and Edwin Allaire, philosophy, said they came together after rcali ing their cuts were a patten those who were outspoken and a White, Gavcnda and Shepley plan to appeal to the th -causc statements by Rogers pertaining to i uning the professors ' salaries made during the case warranted a need for appeal, said David Richards, the plaintiffs ' attorney. orene R . Shan Tikn- 219

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Fuse Funds SHOKT TAKES DOE,UT For Institute U.S. Department of Energy ' s announcement March 24 that it had .1 the University as the location ii theory institute promised bring leading plasma theorists from world to Austin and to naki ' -. ersity ' s 15-year-old ii Center one of the img centers for basic fusion IX )K pledged to provide $5 ii over a five-year period for the ;h the University adding funds. The institute will hav : nianent staff in addition to Prcsi the 1 ' nsion ed by Dr. ltd by IX)F. . :nic Kncrgy Texas Expe- i i I cr and n of the Texas ma containment device ix-rature and pressure : ! to initiate a fusion cd. Constructed at 3 cost of ; TliXT mer of I .. ' ,., : ! cheap Jentil . Enrollment figures at the University increased for both fall 1979 and spring 1980. A record-breaking total of 44,079 students attended the University in the fall, a 2.3 percent increase over fall 1978. Spring enrollment of 41,965 students was a 3.69 percent rise over spring 1979 figures. Enrollment reports showed Texas, California and New York contributed the largest number of students to the University, with Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Florida providing significant amounts. More than 5,000 students came from Travis (Austin) and Harris (Houston) counties. The controversy which rucked the man- agement of KI.RN I ' television station and spurred clarification of the Universi- ty ' s relationship with the Southwest Texas Public Broadcasting Council, which holds the station ' s license, began in February, when Panorama 90. produced by University instructor and KLRN-V news and public affairs director Bill Anderson, .nccled after a film on natural child birth was aired on tin ( ompi.cinis were sent to the Federal iiunications Commission in the spring alleging problems with the man- agement and possible fraudulent activity during a 19 T 8 matching fund pledge drive at the station. 218 Short Takes

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SCHOLARS HONORED Girl J. Eckhardt, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and former director of the physical plant, was awarded the 1980 Presidential Citation at the University Honors Day cere- mony April 12. During the program, 1,830 juniors and seniors who had grade point aver- ages of 3.5 or higher were honored as College Scholars, and 84 students with 4.0 GPAs received certificates recogniz- ing their academic excellence. Dr. Walter K. Long, lecturer in the Department of Zoology, received the Amoco Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award and Dr. Richard A. Chcrwitz, assistant professor of speech communication, was presented that foundation ' s award for Outstanding New Teacher. Deans or representatives of each col- lege, dressed in traditional academic robes, recognized the top scholars. The College of Liberal Arts claimed 31 stu- dents with all A ' s; Natural Sciences, 15; Business Administration, 13; Engi- neering, 1 1 ; Education, 6; Communica- tion, 4; Nursing, 2; and Fine Arts and Pharmacy, 1 each. Eckhardt, 77, the second recipient of the citation, spent 47 years at the Uni- versity before retiring. Students keypunch computer cards to be run on the new Cyber 170 750 machines. Not all literature classes mean trudging through pages and pages of lengthy novels. One English class, giving 3 hours of credit for both its regular and summer sessions, required more adeptness at social ability and sex than it does at reading. Dr. Jim Ayers ' Shakespeare class learns the script and the authors ' in tentions through performing the material rather than reading it. Each summer, a small group of students travel down to a small community called Winedale to live and breathe Shakespeare for six weeks. During that time they work towards the understanding of characters and the final production of their plays. In the fresh air of the countryside, and in an old barn which sets the stage, students of Shakespeare learn not only the plots and rhymes of the pieces, but also, they learn how to convey Shakespeare ' s pervading theme of sex and violence through their actions and words. HLCOHD1 PDT HflD STUDIES? According to the research by such schools as the University of Oklahoma, Kentucky and California, studies and pot, alcohol and sex do not go together. Through a series of learning task tests, in which the universities instructed their subjects to memorize word tests, results concluded the fact that both alcohol and marijuana impede the process of forming new memories. Whereas five or six drinks of alcohol will severely impair the retrieval of old memories, high doses of marijuana do not have as serious an effect. The potency of marijuana increases greatly when it is smoked rather than eaten because of the variation in absorption in body chemistry. The research done on sex and memory have not been conclusive, but evidence has shown incidents of temporary memory loss after engaging in sex. 220 Short Takes