Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, April 21, 1978 Page: 1 of 6
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LAMAR
•Cards annihilate
Northwest Demons, Page 5
•St. Elmo’s ‘ignites’
theatre; critics confused
blit music clearly rock, Page 3 Serving the Lamar Community for 54 years
Good Morning!
Friday, April 21,1978
Vol. 28, No. 49
Daily Cougar denied
right to view records
W/ records of their financial transactions.” records of financial transactions wi
By SUE REEVES
of the U.P. staff
In a recent district court ruling, the
University of Houston student newspaper,
The Daily Cougar, was denied the right to
inspect financial records of the university
foundation.
According to David Hurlbut, managing
editor of the paper and the reporter in-
vestigating the story, the case originated
over the amount of money spent tor
academics versus the amount spent for
athletics.
The Texas Legislature has ruled that the
University of Houston is a university
system because of its many branch cam-
puses. The system and the central campus
have separate administrations. The case
involves the financial dealings of the
system’s administration with the Univer-
sity Foundation.
“There was not enough money going to
academics at the university and because
of the close connection between the foun-
dation and the University of Houston
system, we felt we had the right to see the
records of their financial transactions,”
said Hurlbut.
The president, the vice president for
development, the assistant vice president
and treasurer and the comptroller for the
University of Houston system all served
concurrently as officers for the University
Foundation, he said.
“Our position was that because of the
connection, the financial records were
university records and as such, should be
open to the public under the Open Records
Act,” said Hurlbut.
“The university is a private, chartered
corporation. The purpose of the foundation
is to raise private contributions for
the university. As a private corporation, it
is not subject to some of the same
regulations that a university is subject to,”
said staff counsel for the University of
Houston, C. Pat Bailey.
“The foundation and the university had
a few common officers, but the majority of
the foundation’s officers had nothing to do
with the University of Houston. The Open
Records Act only applies to governmental
records and therefore the foundation’s
records of financial transactions with the
university were not subject to public in-
spection,” he said.
Dr. Patrick Nicholson, then vice
president for development, was named in
the suit as a defendant. When contacted,
ne had no comment on the case. Nicholson
has since been made vice president for
public information and television.
Two of the four foundation officers no
longer work for the University of Houston.
One has taken early retirement and the
other resigned after talks with the Univer-
sity of Houston central campus ad-
ministration, said Hurlbut.
"We consider the financial records to be
those of the university. The ad-
ministration, and the court, consider them
to belong to the University Foundation,”
he said.
“We planned to appeal, but we didn't file
in time due to lack of money to pay court
costs. The university administration would
not allow us to take money out of the
paper’s funds to pay for this purpose,” he
said.
Sack relay race—A young contestant tries
for a win during the Special Olympics, held
Monday through Friday at the Ty Terrell
track and continuing next Tuesday
through Thursday.
Jewel Blanton
Closing out 36 years of ‘'teaching speech and loving it’
E-^§|
By ILENE HARRAL
of the U.P. staff
If Jewel Blanton had been a long-running play titled
“Teaching Speech and Loving It,” you might say that
the critics gave her rave reviews.
The curtain is closing now on her 36 years at Lamar.
In July, Mrs. Blanton, associate professor of speech
and regents’ professor, will retire from Lamar and
move to Lake Livingston, where she will work in real
estate with her husband Herman, a broker.
Saying that she feels her “well has run dry with
teaching,” she is ready to
move on to something dif- ^
ferent.
Teaching, though, has oc-
cupied a great part of her;
energy and efforts for more
than half of her life. And
she has set high standards
for herself.
“Jesus was the greatest
teacher,” she says,
“because of His use of
language, illustrations and
examples to get people to
relate to complicated, ab-
stract ideas. That’s what
teaching is all about; and it
isn’t easy.”
Mrs. Blanton says that it is hard for a teacher,
especially in speech courses, to learn how to criticize
without hurting a student’s feelings. Learning to give
constructive criticism, to emphasize good points and
show how to improve weak areas has been a “long, ar-
duous kind of growing” for her. “I would never, never
intentionally hurt any student’s feelings. I like students
and enjoy being around them."
In or out of the
classroom, because she is
friendly and because she is
comfortable with herself,
Jewel Blanton has the
ability to put others at
ease. She is fun to be
around. “I’m always in a
good mood — except when
I’m in a bad mood,” she
laughs and then quickly ad-
ds, “No, I’m always in a
good mood, except when
I'm ill.”
I And she always did seem
I to be in a good, even a
joyful, mood as I followed her around for days
gathering the information to try to capture her on
paper.
One day as we sat in her office, her desk piled high
with scrambled papers and books and other papers
with important messages and dates taped to the wall
(she always knew just where to find whatever paper or
book she was looking for), I asked her if she had any
hangups at all.
She unflinchingly respon-
ded that she did have. “I
am insecure with an
authoritative person. I tend
to back down. But — if you ;
push me too far — look out,
I’m ready.”
The thing that she always
seems most ready for is
good conversation; it is one
of her joys in life. With her
hands energetically
gesturing and punctuating,
she serves up conversation
the way Julia Childs whips
up a souffle.
“I had an uncle who used to tell me to sit on my hands
and then see if I could still talk,” she laughs. (And I
couldn’t help thinking that it would be hard, if not im-
possible, for her.)
Her electrically-alive, gracefully-active body reflec-
ts her cheerful outlook on life. Stylish, tailored clothes
envelope her small frame. And with her short, curly,
gray cap of hair, she might be mistakenly taken for a
Junior-League-style clubwoman.
Though she says that she “enjoys going places,”
clubs and “women-type”
activities haven't held any
real interest for her. In- wWH
stead, she has con-
centrated her seemingly
endless energies on making
a home with Herman (“I
dreamed about being
married for years and then
decided to live it,” she ex-
plains.) and helping
students to learn (“You
can’t teach anyone
anything, but you can
make it possible for them
to learn it”).
Mutual cooperation seems to be one of her avenues co
success in teaching. “Teachers and students need to be
fair, open and honest with each other,” she says.
“We’re all totally dependent on one another.
“If you are going to be a teacher or work with
anyone, and if you feel that you are any better than
anyone else, you might as well just forget it.”
In her teaching career, she says that she has had no
compunction about saying “I don’t know, but let’s try
to find out” when the occasion arose.
Mrs. Blanton says that teachers get respect if they
deserve it. “If they are good, the students know it.”
Grading students is not a
pleasure to her. “Com-
munications is, to me, a
very difficult area to grade
or evaluate,” she feels. “I
don’t think there ought to
be any grading — either
you do it or you don’t—A or
F »
She uses her grading as a
tool to help students see
areas in which they could
improve and to measure
that improvement.
Mrs. Blanton doesn’t
separate herself or her
teaching from Lamar as a whole, as if she is an ex-
tension of the school — or as if the university is an ex-
tension of her. She evinces a type of mother-love
toward Lamar and its students.
Listening to her talk about her years at Lamar in-
duces the feeling that she has nurtured the school,
carefully and caringly watching as it grew.
Some of Lamar’s present administrators and
teachers studied under her when she wasn’t much
older than they were. Andrew Johnson, W.S. “Bud”
Leonard and George
McLaughlin (all of whom
are now vice presidents at
Lamar) as well as basket-
ball coach Billy Tubbs
number among her former
students.
She can tick off the
names of past and present
administrators all the way
back to September of 1942
when “Dr. (John) Gray,
then president, employed
me before he went into the
service.”
The campus housed a
grand total of five buildings
and about 250 students when she started teaching here
in 1942.
“At first,” she tells, “I was teaching shorthand and
business machines, for which I had no formal training
— just business college. My degree (from Texas
Christian University, Fort Worth) was in speech and
English."
ill
m
m
She had attended Port Arthur Business College (now
Lamar at Port Arthur) after high school and after
graduating from TCU, she returned to her hometown of
Port Arthur to teach sixth grade for one year.
She doesn’t remember that experience as exactly
fulfilling: “I swore I’d never teach again.”
Nevertheless, she did end lip teaching at Lamar. “I
taught a year, and we didn't have any speech — and
speech had always been my first love. I offered to
teach one extra course, if I could teach a speech cour-
se.”
It snowballed quickly. Within a year, she was
teaching two speech courses. Soon, she was teaching
courses in English, too. But in 1945, when classes star-
ted swelling with returning servicemen, she says, “I
taught nothing but speech, because that’s really what I
wanted to do.”
Effects of World War II
showed up on this campus
as it did all over the nation.
“Right after World War II,
the students were coming
back,” recalls Mrs. Blan-
ton. “Many of them were
veterans who were coming
back to get an education.
And they realized —
because they had been un-
der pressure, because they
had seen a great deal of the
horrors that exist in the
world — that they wanted
to get an education.
They wanted to be professional people who had some
kind of skill to offer besides just working with their
hands. Many young men came back from the service
wanting to be lawyers and physicians and
professionals in the business world.”
There had been a change in priorities. Education was
on the way to being considered a necessity and not a
luxury.
“Since the war, insofar as I’ve had experience with
students,” she says, “most of them have had most of
the material things that they want. They consider an
education their right; it isn’t a privilege as it was when
I went to school.
“When I went to school,”
1 ^ s^e says, "it was a struggle
and a privilege — because I
graduated from high school
right in the middle of the
depression.”
When she ended up
teaching at Lamar and
decided that she wanted
speech to be her specialty,
she decided to further her
own education in that field,
and she attended Nor-
thwestern University,
Evanston, 111., for a year.
Fall of 1947 found her with a new master’s degree in
hand and once again teaching at Lamar. She became
head of the new speech department. “There were only
two speech teachers,” she says. “And then there were
three. And then about 1948 or ’49, we added a couple
more, so there were five of us.
“In 1951, Lamar became
a four-year school, and I
became acting head
because I didn’t have a doc-
torate.” With a slight pause
she adds, “And I also
married that year — it was
a big year.”
Since 1951, she has con-
tinued to teach speech,
avoiding returning to
school for a doctorate and
getting back into ad-
ministration because she
prefers the classroom.
See BLANTON, Page 2
■ gp ^ mm ■**«
I MS
m
-““*1 a
:
Students approve
SGA amendment
by 100 - 20 vote
By TIM MEECE
of the U.P. staff
A proposed revision of a constitutional
amendment restricting the executive of-
ficers of the Student Govermment
Association (SGA) from holding executive
position in other campus organizations
was approved by Lamar students.
The amendment passed, 100 for, 20
against.
The original amendment restricted the
president of SGA from holding an
executive position in other campus
organizations and restricted the vice
president and secretary-treasurer from
holding the presidential office of other
organizations.
The revised amendment allows the vice
president and the secretary-treasurer to
hold the presidential position, but will con-
tinue to restrict the president of SGA from
holding any other executive position.
According to newly-elected SGA
president Tony Sekaly, the new amend-
ment will increase student participation in
the SGA.
“I feel like this was a positive move by
the SGA,” Sekaly said. “We have opened
the door for more applicants” (to SGA of-
fices).
Concerning the sparse turn out of voters,
Sekaly said, “I felt it was a good turnout
for a second vote. The people who came by
(to vote) came by because they knew the
issue.”
Sekaly said that the reason for the
revision of the amendment was because a
new constitution, proposed by the present
outgoing administration, had not
materialized.
“(The revised amendment) would have
been in the new constitution. We were
limited in the number of qualified people
for the executive offices (of SGA) and none
of them were eligible because of the amen-
dment as it stood in the old constitution,”
he said.
Branch campuses
drain, boon to LU
By MARK KNOWLES
of the U.P. staff
Fee allocations, budget requests and
program expenditure—all are frequently
used terms in stories centering around the
financial affairs of Lamar University at
Beaumont.
But what about Lamar University at
Port Arthur and Orange? Where do these
branch campuses draw their budgets and
are they a drain on the university budget?
According to vice president for finance
Oscar K. Baxley, budgets are based on the
independent needs of each branch and
drawn from the overall formula funding of
the university budget.
Like departments around the Beaumont
campus, such as liberal arts or education,
these branch campuses submit budget
requests to the university for their ap-
propriations.
Baxley said that at present, both Port
Arthur and Orange each receive ap-
proximately 2 percent of the total univer-
sity budget. This figure represents the
basic operating budget and does not in-
clude general administrative charges.
Lamar University at Port Arthur was
originally founded as Port Arthur College
in 1923.
In August 1975, the 64th Texas
Legislature appropriated $600,000 and
authorized the merger of Port Arthur
College and Lamar University, thus
creating Lamar University at Port Arthur.
Lamar University at Orange opened in
1969 and received state funding in 1971.
Classes were originally held at Tilley
Elementary School until 1971, when the
structure burned. A community fund-
raising effort netted over $250,000 for the
purchase of the former Sabine Supply
Company building, where classes have sin-
ce been held.
At that time in 1971, the Texas
legislature passed legislation enabling
Lamar to operate a two-year education
center, removing the extension status and
allowing students to take two full years at
the Orange center.
The Orange facility is a single two-story
masonry structure valued at over $1
million, including a $500,000 renovation
program completed in 1976.
Additional property of the Orange center
includes eight acres of land acquired from
the Naval Inactive Ship Storage facility.
This property is valued at over $400,000
and includes a gymnasium, tennis courts,
and sv:mming pool and houses two barges
used by the welding department.
A unique feature of the Orange campus
is the four-day school week, with most
classes offered on a Monday-Wednesday
and Tuesday-Thursday basis.
Both the Port Arthur and Orange cam-
puses are accredited as education centers
of Lamar University by the Association of
Texas Colleges and Universities and the
Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools.
Both campuses operate with the view
that their responsibility is to identify the
particular skills, knowledge and attitudes
needed for success in each field of en-
deavor. They seek to meet this need by
making available a variety of vocational
and learning opportunities to the people of
the area.
Since the recognized merger of each
branch, enrollment has steadily risen.
Baxley said that the rate of student growth
at both branch campuses exceeds that of
the Beaumont campus.
“By the fall of 1979, we anticipate that
enrollment will average about 900 students
per school,” Baxley said.
“While we can safely say that the branch
campuses are not draining the overall
university budget, we cannot say for sure
if they are carrying their own weight or
supplementing the budget.”
With current statistics predicting a
slight decline in national university
enrollment and Lamar expecting a slight
increase within the next few years, it will
only be a matter of time before the facts
will determine the impact of branch cam-
puses on the university budget.
Reed receives nomination
for presidency of NFPW
Martha Ann Reed,
director of public in-
formation for Lamar
University, was
nominated for
president of the 4000-
member National
Federation of Press
Women (NFPW) last
weekend in Amarillo
at the annual
meeting of Texas
Press Women
(TPW).
Martha Ann Reed
Reed, a former president of TPW, has
served on the NFPW board for eight years,
including terms as second vice president
and first vice president in charge of
professional development. She holds more
than 100 communications awards from the
state and national communications con-
tests.
Reed, also a sweepstakes winner in the
1978 TPW annual communications contest,
was nominated by Holly Wood, editor of
the New Braunfels Herald and past
president of TPW, who said, “Texas is on
another threshold with an opportunity to
nominate the next president of NFPW.”
Ann Faragher, managing editor of the
Greenville Herald-Banner and also a past
president of TPW, called for unanimous
support for Reed’s election in 1979 in In-
dianapolis, Ind.
Before joining the Lamar staff, Reed
was Family Living Editor of the Beaumont
Enterprise and Journal for six years and
before that, was Women’s Editor of the
Baytown Sun for eight years. She has also
worked in television and radio and
operated her own advertising agency. She
has conducted professional development
seminars and arranged travel workshops
for members of NFPW.
Texas Press Women will host the 1978
NFPW convention in June in San Antonio.
Reed is chairman for funding.
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Cowles, Roger. Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, April 21, 1978, newspaper, April 21, 1978; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500317/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.