University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 40, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 1983 Page: 1 of 4
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Good
Morning!
UNIVERSITY PRESS
It’s Wednesday
March 2, 1983
Vol. 59, No. 40
Serving the Lamar community for 59 years
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Pooch patrol—
German shepherd Buncky and poodle Rocky perch atop their
owners’ Evangeline Street home in Beaumont’s West End. Mr. and
Mrs. E.M. Wood say their pets can usually be found on the roof wat-
ching the world go by—unless a would-be intruder forces them into
alert watchfulness. The dogs reach their porch-top post by means
of a ladder that is located in the rear of the home.
Photo by MARTHA JONES SMITH
Technical Arts using robots, computers
Shipper: 4We always need more’ equipment
By SANDRA SCHROEDER
UP reporter
Electronics, robots, fuel injection pump
stands, and computers.
All of these items have one thing in com-
mon: They can be found in the College of
Technical Arts.
As the only technical arts college in the
state that is a part of a senior college, the
department is not completely up-to-date
with today’s growing technology.
“Of course, like most departments, we
always need more,” Dr. Kenneth E. Ship-
per, dean of technical arts, said, “but we
have made progress.”
One of the problems of keeping up-to-
date is the cost of the equipment, Shipper
said.
“We have good machine tools, but they
are old and expensive to replace,” he said.
Shipper said the college is waiting for
the results of the current Legislative ses-
sion to see what its budget will look like for
the next year.
“I believe we are fairly high in priority
for about 1500,000 from the special
budget,” Shipper said.
The College of Technical Arts relies on
state funding only, while technical arts
departments in junior colleges, such as
San Jacinto Junior College, rely on local
taxes, Shipper said.
“Junior colleges are able to purchase
more equipment because they rely on local
taxes,” he said. “This places them ahead
of us.”
However, the department has been able
to purchase a couple of major items
recently.
A new addition to the diesel mechanics
department is the fuel injection pump
stand. Diesel engines do not have spark
plugs, but the fuel is injected into the
cylinders of the engine. This $30,000 ap-
paratus is used to test different pumps for
fuel injection.
The electronics department is currently
assembling a robot which will eventually
talk and walk, Shipper said. The robot is
for a study in electronic progress.
Another problem with keeping up-to-
date with technology is the quality of the
student coming into the program, Shipper
said.
“If students coming from high school
had better math courses and better
English courses,” he said, “the students
would be better prepared.”
Shipper said the college could offer more
advanced technological courses to
students if they (the college) did not have
to work so much on the basics.
The third block to keeping up-to-date for
technical arts, as with most industry, is
the economy. More specifically,
unemployment is the problem.
"Everybody is looking for high
technology, but our local industry is lagg-
ing behind in technology,” Shipper said.
With a tight job market, Shipper said
many companies are hiring those who
were laid-off rather than new graduates.
This is especially true in drafting, machine
works and welding, he said.
In today’s economy, Shipper said diesel
mechanics, business data processing and
electronics are fairly strong.
“Because jobs are tight, most students
would probably say they were not pleased
with our department,” Shipper said.
“When they can find employment, most
are pleased.”
By JOHN TISDALE
UP editor
Eighty percent of the students
provisionally admitted to Lamar’s general
majors program failed to make passing
grades in the university’s lowest level
developmental courses.
A report on the program for the fall was
given by Dr. David Geddes, vice president
for academic affairs, at a retention council
meeting Thursday.
“These students, if they flunked
everything, are still able to attend school
in the spring,” Geddes said.
According to the Lamar bulletin, studen-
ts with a grade point deficiency of 25 or
more grade points at the end of a semester
shall be suspended. But, no first-time
college student shall be suspended at the
end of the first semester.
“(I) expected higher attrition (from this
program), but it didn't happen because we
paid more attention to these people than
anyone else has before,” Geddes said.
The general majors program consists of
English 137, Math 1313, Psychology 120 and
Speech 1311.
Of the 245 students who participated in
the program, 38 to 65 dropped one or more
courses.
The program was set up for students
who had a Scholastic Aptitude Test score
between 400 and 600, Geddes said.
On the United States distribution for SAT
scores, with an average score of 850, the
Lamar curve for all freshmen is
homosedastic or disproportionate to the
left.
The Lamar curve peaks at about 745
because “about two-thirds of our students
have a lower score” than 745, Geddes said.
“It also was estimated that most studen-
ts (in the general majors program) would
receive passing grades in Speech 1311,
Psychology 120 and in physical
education,” Geddes said.
The pass rates (A,B and C grades) in
English were 19 percent and 17 percent in
math.
According to the report, the pass rate for
regular, non-provisionally admitted
students was 28.5 percent.
“The pass rate for Math 1313 was lower
than for English 137 but it should be noted
that an additional 45 students completed at
least six of the 10 required units and were
given a grade of I-Q,” Geddes said.
The I-Q grade allows a student to finish
the course the following long semester.
Geddes said most of those students have
registered again for Math 1313 and it is
estimated that at least one-half will com-
plete the 10 units.
“It should be emphasized, however, that
the mathematics competency of those
completing Math 1313 is at the seventh to
eighth grade level,” Geddes said.
Students completing Math 1314, Geddes
said, would have competency at the ninth
grade level.
The general major students were coun-
seled by nine faculty advisers, and
although some students avoided coun-
seling, according to the report, the
majority saw their advisers four to five
times during the semester.
All of the students participating in the
program had SAT scores of less than 600 or
an ACT score of 13 or less.
The regular Math 1313-English 137
students with Test of Standard Written
English scores less than 31 percent had
SAT scores ranging from 400 to 1140.
Although Texas rates 46th out of the 50
states in low SAT scores, Geddes said this
is misleading because 32 percent of Texas
students take the test, compared to four
percent in some states.
“If 32 percent of students in other states
had to take the test it might show the true
measure of Texas students,” he said.
The average SAT scores at Lamar are
“awfully low,” Geddes said, because “we
have a disproportionate number of ill-
prepared students.”
Geddes said Lamar teachers “are more
dedicated than at other schools” and that
teachers here “teach to the middle” of the
class.
‘ ‘When you have to teach to the middle of
the class, the poorer students cannot keep
up and the better students get bored”
because they are not being challenged, he
said.
“In the past few years, we have started
to take a hard look at developmental”
education, he said. “With an open ad-
missions policy, we did not provide the
remedial education when we started.”
In 1965 the grade point average for
students was 2.5 and in the early 1970s it
rose to 2.75, but SAT scores have gone
down, he said.
Geddes said the same trend, concerning
grades, has happened in high schools but
that “many high school students have the
illusion that they can make it. They are not
well prepared.”
He also said that Lamar’s increase in
enrollment could be attributed to ad-
mission policies at other schools being
“tightened.”
“Some of those schools that used to have
open admission policies have raised their
standards and some of those students who
cannot get into those schools are coming to
Lamar,” he said.
“All students need some type of develop-
mental education, but we do not have
enough dollars to help everyone,” he said.
LUPD ‘here to help’
Executive sues
Fluor company
for $11 million
IRVINE, Calif. (UPI)-A former
$ Fluor Corp. executive says he learned he
was out of a job by reading a company
reorganization chart and has filed a $11
million wrongful firing suit against the
firm.
Jay Reed, 57, a former Fluor vice
president, filed the suit Tuesday in
Orange County Superior Court.
Reed, who worked for Fluor 33 years,
was one of the corporation’s most promi-
nent executives and earned $120,000 an-
nually. His lawyer said the firing may
have been connected to Reed’s recent
( divorce from Fluor Corp. chairman J.
Robert Fluor’s sister.
Reed said he was fired last March
without warning after he asked why his
name was not on the international con-
glomerate’s reorganization diagram.
He is seeking $10 million in punitive
damages and an additional $1 million in
general damages for the loss of his
salary and other benefits.
By ELAINE BUTLER
UP reporter
February was a quiet month for the
Lamar Police Department, but Chief E.W.
Carpenter said police officers did not find
less work to do.
“Each officer maintains alertness to on-
campus happenings,” Carpenter said,
even though the fact that little crime is
committed on campus is welcomed.
Students, faculty and staff can help keep
crime prevention an on-going program
every month by informing the Lamar
police whenever they feel a criminal act
has happened or is about to happen, he
said.
“We are here to help,” Carpenter said.
"However, we can only help if people will
let us help them. Many times when there is
a theft, such as books, the student will
shrug it off, figuring they’re gone, rather
than report it.
"No report, no theft,” Carpenter said.
“But, if the student takes time to inform
us, we are alerted and can work toward
recovery plus advise him how to keep the
theft from happening again.”
Carpenter said there are many times
when stolen merchandise has been
recovered but nobody knows to whom the
items are to be returned because a report
hasn’t been made.
“I advise everyone,” he said, “no mat-
ter how trivial the theft may seem, to
report it to our department.”
One way students can identify books is to
mark them in some manner known only to
them.
For females living in dorms, Carpenter
advised that they not only stay aware of
their surroundings but to also be aware of
unusual situations.
“Even if you are going out of your room
for just a few minutes,” he said, “be sure
to lock your door. It only takes a criminal a
few seconds to commit a crime.”
Carpenter recommends that all females
staying late on campus make use of the
department’s police escort when they are
leaving a building and going to their
automobile or dorm. The number to call is
838-8311.
“The Lamar Police Department,”
Carpenter said, “is service oriented. We
pursue a constant crime prevention, keep-
ing the campus a safe environment.
“We do not wait for crime to happen. We
work to keep it from happening.”
Institute’s annual report due in March
By GAIL MARCEAUX
UP reporter
The Gray Institute annual report should
be received by members of the board of
trustees, advisory board and financial sup-
porters by mid-March, Martha Ann Reed,
director of public affairs, said Monday.
The institute began with a staff of three a
year ago. The staff has now grown to 20.
f The physical structure of the institute is
also enlarging. Work on three buildings,
which will have space for meetings, con-
ferences, seminars, visitors’ quarters and
an auditorium, is proceeding on schedule,
Reed said.
“The three buildings are targeted for an
early fall opening,” she said.
She added that bids are now being
reviewed on the landscaping. “Contracts
have been let for furnishings and some
. equipment,” Reed said.
Dr. Bernard L. Weinstein was recently
appointed assistant director for research
and policy at the institute.
“He will be on the site frequently until
June, at which time he will be full time,”
Reed said.
JOHN E. GRAY
INSTITUTE
Weinstein’s newest publication for the
institute is entitled, “Industrial Develop-
ment Opportunities for the Golden
Triangle in the 1980s.”
“In the past year, representatives of the
institute completed research and publish-
ed eight reports,” Reed said.
Other activities of the institute have in-
cluded conducting training modules,
which focused on working with plant
management and mid-management in
order to train and retrain employees and
jb
I
improve work attitudes.
The institute also just completed its
fourth media seminar for industrial plant
managers. Based on the concept that long-
range labor-management relations hinge
on the public’s correct understanding of
the situation, the seminar made an effort
to help reporters present an accurate
view, Reed said.
An arbitration seminar, which will be
open to the public, is slated for April 6.
The institute also has a new sound slide
show relating to the history of labor in the
Golden Triangle which is available for
groups to show.
The 33-minute production was designed
to be used in apprenticeship training pro-
grams to illustrate the value of labor in the
area.
Another project is underway to work
with the three water ports and airport in
the area to possibly develop a foreign
trade zone.
|
Amy Dowden, Beaumont sophomore
Blood Drive continues today
Lamar students, staff, and faculty
donated 143 pints of blood as of noon,
Tuesday, Vivian Tyner, Southeast Texas
Blood Center spokesperson said.
“Most of the donors were experienced
because they’ve given before,” Tyer said.
“Some are gallon donors.
"Last time the drive was held in the fall
and during rush week. This time the blood
donors are more settled.
“The people who organized the drive
here are doing a good job. They help us fill
out information cards and hand out
cookies and cokes to donors.”
Alpha Phi Omega National Service
Fraternity, Monday, was leading a close
race against Alpha Tau Omega Social
Fraternity in pints of blood given. The two
have challenged each other for club par-
ticipation.
Pi Kappa Alpha Social Fraternity has
challenged Sigma Phi Epsilon Social
Fraternity, and the challenger was leading
Monday, according to Sandy Stanko,
Pearland freshman and chairperson for
the drive.
Tommy Gard, Nederland sophomore,
said that he gave blood Monday because he
might be able to save a life. “That’s
gratification enough,” he said.
“I also want to help Pi Kappa Alpha
make up for losing the President’s Award
to Sigma Phi Epsilon.”
Benny Flournoy said he always gives
blood. “I plan to give as much as I can,” he
said, “just in case my family needs it.”
Donna Ferguson, blood drive volunteer,
said she heard all kinds of excuses when
she tried to recruit blood donors last week.
“People told me they had colds or had
sneezed the day before,” she said.
“Those people don’t realize how many
people they could save and that their
families are insured for a year in case they
need blood,” Ferguson said.
"I gave because it was a chance to help
someone else who needs blood,” Angela
Faggard, Beaumont freshman and Gam-
ma Phi Beta sorority member, said.
“It’s Lent and you’re supposed to do
things for other people.”
She said that she had tried to give blood
a few other times and her blood count
wasn’t high enough.
The blood drive will continue through
Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and
noon to 3 p.m., in 125 Setzer Student Center.
The goal is 315 pints.
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Tisdale, John. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 40, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 1983, newspaper, March 2, 1983; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500039/m1/1/?q=music: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.