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

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The Ubiquitous Hackeysack Our Championship Baseball Season SUMMER Summer Calendar 21

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JUNE JULY AUGUST JUNE 9 At 7:26 p.m., the lights go out across virtually all of Austin, Travis County and portions of four neighbor- ing counties. The blackout, caused when a station breaker between Austin and Bastrop blew, lasted 3 ' 2 hours. Those lucky enough to be on campus at the time are unaffected by the blackout since The University generates its own power. In a Daily Texan interview a few days later, the deputy director of Austin ' s electric utility department says, A bird carrying some type of metallic material to build nests seems to be the most probable cause of the fault on the circuit breaker. JUNE 9 Saying, Isn ' t it wrong to have an editor who is also a politician? Daily Texan editor Roger Campbell asks the Texas Student Publications board to reconsider the way editors are chosen. Texas is one of the few univer- sities in the nation that elects the editor of its student newspaper, but Camp- bell ' s proposal would change that. The plan would reduce student input to a preferential poll and have the TSP board appoint the editor. Although Campbell ' s plan on the sur- face seems innocuous, it meets strong opposition from several former Texan editors and Mitch Kreindler, Students Association president. Much of the op- position to the proposal is caused by the history of the paper ' s relationship with The University administration. Since the 1950s, Texan editors have repeated- ly clashed with administrators and regents, who have tried to exert greater control over the paper. Debate on the issue drags on through the summer, finally coming to a head at the TSP board meeting on Aug. 8. Mostly due to lack of support, no formal action is taken on Campbell ' s plan. A proposal by board member Isabella Cunningham, chairman, Department of Advertising, is unanimously accepted in its place. Cunningham ' s plan introduces a number of campaign reforms but re- tains student elections. That, so we thought, was the last of the issue. But it wasn ' t. On Sept. 20, the TSP board makes some changes in the roles of the Texan editor and managing editor. Henceforth, the editor will only be in charge of the editorial page. All major policy decisions and the day-to- day running of the paper are delegated to the managing editor, who, incidental- ly, is appointed by the TSP board. JUNE 11 The Longhorn baseball team wins the national championship by defeating Alabama 4-3 in the College World Series in Omaha. JUNE 18 In yet another victory for equality of the sexes, shuttle astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. AUGUST 18 Hurricane Alicia hits Galveston Island between 2 and 3 a.m., with 100 mph winds and 10-12 foot tides. Twenty-two persons are killed in the storm. Gov. Mark White, on a tour of the coast the next day, estimates damages at $1 billion. Although classes are not cancelled, the UT medical branch in Galveston suffers $9 million in damages. AUGUST 30 In yet another victory for equality of the races, shuttle astronaut Guion Bluford becomes the first American black in space. Alicia ' s Aftermath ) Summer Calendar

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o ORIENTATION Getting to Know You These two orientees ' enthusiasm was typical for the 600-900 people in orientation ' s seven sessions. h, if they only knew what they % were getting into. This Fall, 9,783 people were admitted to The University as entering freshmen. So young. So innocent. So unaware of how unpredictable their relationship with The University would be. Having been expelled from the safe shelter of high school, they had made their first Real World decision. Faced with the prospect of immediate entry into the drudgery of the job market or four years of relative ease in academia, these people made the only sane, in- telligent choice. They came here. And for 5,064 freshmen-to-be, summer orientation was their first blind date with The University. The orientees arrived, usually on a Monday afternoon, in the lobby of Jester East, home for their 3 Vz day stay. Most had something to say about the dormitory and its cafeteria. I heard about the food in Jester, and what I heard was right, Najiyah Najieb of Houston said. Jester ' s not as bad as people say it is. People make it out to be some kind of dungeon, Kent Morrison of Austin said. Fact was, though, most of the people staying in Jester had little time to worry about the dorm when they were in the midst of a flurry of discussions, meetings and tours. John Ragle, orien- tation director, said the program had a variety of aims, including helping orientees learn their way around cam- pus. People do worry that they ' ll get lost and never find their way back to where they started, he said. The ses- sions also tried to familiarize orientees with academic requirements and available services. The main draw that brought many people to orientation was the chance to pre-register for classes. After taking placement tests for beginning classes, orientees mapped out a course schedule for their first semester at meetings with orientation advisers. I thought I was going to have to plan out my four years. I really did, Kimberly Faulkenberry of Lubbock said. I thought we were going to sit down, go over my four years, and make sure I had all these hours. And I was going, ' Oh my God! ' We got in there and did one semester, and I was going, ' Phew! ' Semester by semester, I think I can handle that. Throughout the orientation process, the OAs played a crucial role in helping future students adjust to The Universi- ty; they were the experienced veterans leading those young, innocent orientees through a collegiate jungle. As Ragle said, They really are the heart of the program. Chosen in the Fall of 1982, the student advisers had primary responsibility for running the sessions. For many of the freshmen-to-be, orientation was a first confirmation of whether they had made the right deci- sion in coming to The University. It ' s either this or manual labor, as one orientee explained. And most had dif- ferent expectations of what the highlight of their college careers would be. Making it to class on time, Faulkenberry said. Morrison said flatly, Graduation. Ah, if it were only that easy. Brian Zabcik 22 Orientation