Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-12-17

              ST. 3 -
" Story on Page 6
70lh Year No. 79 foW Morning! ii Sttiunfay B)vv. 1 7. 977 1 6 Imjn 151 Uni I
In town-t- oday
7:pjn."ACSaistmaa Carol,"
Stephens College Storehouse
Theater.
Movie Ustiags eo Pages Mand 18.
-
Insight
Red menace
threatening
agriculture
Efforts to control
fire ants hampered
ByJamesP.Sterba
N.Y. Times Service
HOUSTON The forebears of
solenopsis invicta, like some other
American colonists, were stowaways.
. The best guess is that they hid among
nursery plants aboard riverboats out of
Paraguay and lands! at Mobile, Ala.,
around 190.
Leaving natural enemies in their old
country behind, they flourished in the
United States. Today, solenopsis in-victa
better known as imported red
fire ants infest 190,531,685 acres
(76,212,694 hectares) of pasture,
cropland, suburbs, parks and
backyards in 10 Southern states.
Their poisonous-Stin- g drives laborers
and livestock from fields and children
from playgrounds. Their colony
mounds ruin farm machinery and
lower land values. Their aerial
breeding habits make them difficult to
push back. They are moving west
across Texas at a rate of SO miles (4S
kilometers) a year.
Last Thursday, production ceased on
the one insecticide deemed most ef-fective
by farmers and ranchers at
controlling the ants. Called mirex, it is
a relative of ftepebe, a cancer-causin- g
order, must be expended by next June
30. After that, its use is banned.
, Farmers are frantic; en-vironmentalists
are pleased. And as a
political battle takes shape over the ant
and its antidote, scientists have stepped
up efforts to develop'new methods of
control.
"It's the top pest menace in Texas
right now," said Reagan V. Brown, the
state's agriculture commissioner. "We
have insecticides for cotton boll
weevils, and biological control has done
a wonderful job against screwworms in
cattle. But unless we can use an in-secticide
or find some biological control
breakthrough against fire ants, they
are going to knock a big hole in our
ability to produce food."
By adding other chemicals, scientists
. have developed a new form of mirex
that degrades, or breaks down
- chemically, much faster in the soil than
did previous formulations. But its
widespread use requires a minimum of
two years of successful animal feeding
studies. The Environmental Protection
Agency is under pressure from farm
groups to allow its interim use and from
environmental groups not to allow its
use untU testing is completed.
Brown, siding with Texas ranchers,
says that controlled use of mirex bait in
any form at one-dOO- th of a pound per
acre is far less damaging to the
(See FIRE, Page 16)
"nnneSBMBHnBBBnBBnB Med school dean prods faculty
ByMarkCstrSng
MtesoBriaa staff writer
uWe are far too concerned about form, and far
too little concerned about substance," the dean of
the University School of Medicine told his faculty.
Friday.
In his first formal assessment of the medical
school's progress since becoming dean more than
two years ago, Dr. Charles C. Lobeck delivered
what he called a "critical overview" to about 150
of the 360 regular faculty members.
Lobeck said the school's problems are
"reflected in over-administrati- on, emphasis on
how things operate, emphasis on how information
is delivered, not its quality . . emphasis on ap-pearance,
not the stuff of which we are made."
A specific indication of "our quality problem,"
he sain, is the stagnation In money being received
from grants, contracts and gifts. There has not
been an appreciable increase since 1974, when the
medical center received $5 million.
This is "disturbing," especially in light of a 20
percent increase in applications for federal grants
and a 90 percent rise in applications for non-federal
grants, he said.
"The easiest way to get a grant is to be so good
mat the quality of your work demands it. One or
two substantial pieces of work are worth more
man an infinite number of unimportant pieces,"
he said. "We must become more competitive."
He also complained that scholarly quality is low.
Of the faculty's 567 papers written in the past three
years, only 93 have been published in "major"
professional journals, he said.
This represents an "extraordinary" production
rate of almost two papers per faculty member, but
an acceptance rate of only 16 percent. He
estimated that in an average institution 50 to 70
percent of professional papers are published.
"It is my belief that our output of potboilers is
far too high and our true scholarly output far too
low," he said.
"Faculty responsibility is at least as important
as faculty freedom and is largely a question of self-disciplin- e,"
he said. "Faculty freedom is freedom
to pursue one's own intellectual course; it does not
include freedom to do nothing."
Lobeck said there has been some progress since
1975, when, he said, he found a medical center that
took "comfort in mediocrity without a stress on
the content or quality of our work."
Departmental studies and chairmanship search
committees have been instituted, three new
chairmen have been appointed, the dean's office
staff has been reduced by more than half and a
council system has been established to provide
"faculty and student input into the decision-making
process," he said.
But more is needed, he said.
He emphasized that the medical school should
strengthen its recruiting efforts, improve the
quality of faculty and student thought,
aggressively seek funds from the public and
examine all "educational and scholarly efforts in
(See DEAN, Page 12)
Christnms glw Christmas has come to downtown
Philadelphia. The three 60-fo- ot (18.3-mete-r)
trees of lights spanning Broad Street brighten
UPItefepfeoU
the city with 450 light bulbs each. The light
trees lead to City Hall, r
Curators vote
to increase fees
for dormitories
By Sara Thomasson and Jeff Gordon
Missourian staff writers '
The University Board of Curators
voted 6 to 1 Friday to approve increases
of housing fees at the Columbia, Kansas
City and Roila campuses.
Curator Robert Dempster strongly
opposed the proposals because, he said,
he is "fearful we will deny seme of our
students the right to attend the
University."
Dempster said he particularly was
concerned with minority students being
unable to afford the 15 percent housing
increase coupled with a 13 percent
tuition hike both of which will go into
effect next year.
i"asImtuhcinhk awsethhaevyecsaonakbeed sthoeaksetudd,"enhtes
said. "Somebody here has to stick up
.fortbestadeofe."
He said the University is becoming
too expensive to serve its function as a
land-gra- nt institution.
Subsidizing the dormitories was one
proposal discussed to keep dormitory
- rates lower, but at a press conference
after the meeting President James C.
Olson emphasized that all housing
should be self-supporti- ng.
"All students should not be called
upon to subsidize those who do live in
the dormitories," Olson said. More than
6,000 students live in University housing
on the Columbia campus.
Dale Bowling, vice president for
business management, said that, if the
increases were not approved, the
University would be operating under a
SI million deficit on the Columbia
campus alone next year. Utility rates
have risen 30 percent in the last year
and inflation rates are continuing to
rise at 7 percent per year.
Housing rates on the Columbia
campus for the academic year will be
increased to $1,400 from $1,220 for a
double room and to $1,690 from $1,460
for a single room. Married student
housing will be raised $6 per month for
both one-bedroo- m and two-bedroo-m
apartments.
In better news, Olson announced that
full accreditation has been granted to
the College of Veterinary Medicine,
which has been on probation since its
first class graduated 27 years ago.
The primary reason for not having
accreditation until now has been poor
facilities and funding, not instructional
quality, Olson said.
The Council on Education of the
American Veterinary Medical
Association gave the college ac-creditation
because new buildings were
completed last spring.
Olson also reiterated his opposition to
establishing a school of optometry on
one of the four campuses until existing
programs are improved.
"It, seems to me that we must achieve
a greater level of quality with existing
programs before assuming massive
new responsibilities such as those
which would be entailed in a school of
optometry," he said.
Controversy over the possibility of
creating a school uf optometry two
years ago embroiled University o-ficiaJwia-- --di(in'r
want-- . it, . and
legislators who did.
The Coordinating Board of Higher
Education voted last Saturday to in-vestigate
again the feasibilty of putting
a regional optometry school on the
Mariiiac portion of the University's St
Louis campus. The proposed school
would cost $1.5 million if the Mariiiac
buildings were used, as opposed to $13
million if new buildings were con-structed.
Up to 80 percent of the costs of the
school would be paid by the federal
government, and the remainder would
be paid by states using the school.
In other business, the curators
received the first draft of a report from
a 13-mem- ber University committee
studying the uses of the Weldon Spring
property. Proposed uses of the 8,088-acr- e
(3,725-hectar- e) tract are:
Ecological research center for the
study of undisturbed shoreline in
relationship to its woods and uplands.
Youth recreational and
educational center to expand existing
facilities of a boys' camp located on the
property and provide for leadership
programs.
y Animal behavior center to study
indigenous animal life or breeding of
endangered and exotic species in
cooperation with the St Louis zoo.
v Culture environmental center for
developoment of extensive Indian and
preindustrial archeological sites to
educate students and public.
U.S. leaders: Israel offers 'sacrifices for peace
From our wire services
WASHINGTON Prime Minister Menahem
Begin Friday disclosed Israel's secret peace
proposals to President Carter and to senators
who called them "excellent" and said they in-volve
"many sacrifices ... on me West Bank,
the Gaza Strip, everywhere."
Carter briefed Egypt's President Anwar
Sadat by telephone immediately after a two-hou-r,
dosed White House meeting in which
Begin spelled out, with the aid of maps, his
proposals for a peace settlement with Egypt and
"a process for resolving the issue of Palestinian
Arabs."
Begin and Carter also scheduled a follow-u- p ,
meeting for tonight to keep the ball rolling while
the preliminary Cairo peace talks .were in
weekend adjournment ; ,. r
After his White House conference, Begin
lunched at Blair House, bis guestlodgings,' with
a group of senators influential in congressional
foreign policy matters and disclosed, his
proposals to them as well on condition they '
tell no details. -- '".' "I think it is an excellent plan," said Sen.
Henry Jackson, D-Was- h. "They are most im-pressive
proposals, and when the world finds out
about mem, they will see we are really on the
toad to peace.
'! think the moderate Arabs will buy it Ithink
the moderate Palestinians will buy it. The
radical Arabs and Palestinians will not buy
anything anyway," Jackson said.
Sen. Jacob Javits, R-N.-Y., a staunch friend of
Israel, called the proposals "a credible basis for
peace" and said Begin "is asking his country to
make many sacrifices."
. Asked what the sacrifices were, Javits said,
"I think sacrifices in every area in which
sacrifices are expected, respecting the position
of the Israelis today and where they stand on
the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, everywhere.
"I think that the prime minister is deter-mined,
if it can be humanly done, to bring peace
now," he said.
The Carter-Begi- n meeting took place against
' a background of speculation that Begin would
offer limited autonomy to the West Bank Jor-danian
territories where some Arabs want to
build a Palestinian state and to withdraw
from most of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula lands,
v
Neither would comment on the reports, some
of which originated from what seemed to be
officially inspired leaks in the Israeli press.
Carter refused to answer reporters' questions
as he ushered Begin to his car, and the Israeli,
entering Blair House, would say only that "we
discussed the most important problems con-cerning
the peacemaking process."
The White House issued a statement saying
the two leaders "discussed underlying prin-ciples
which could guide future negotiations"
(See SADAT, Page 12)
Sea life foiled faetgw ice shelf
WASHINGTON (UPI) A television camera
lowered down a quarter-mil- e (.4-kilome- ter)
deep bote through Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf v
has revealed a rich community of marine life
neubottcmof the "toet sea" below, it was
, The initial picture alio bowed tfcat.the.aM ..
floor 0(0 feet (MM meters) beneath ttohWtom v
of the great ice sheet was paved with small
, iwgr stone cowed by a thin layer of.
i On two occasions, a fish i&towjy swam across
the view of toe camera and Hght after it was .. .
lowered tatotb.fjiunj.fitoi1fcf,te.,; ,.
firsttimetlnrBday. '
A message from John (Sough, scientific --
director at the scene of the international ex-ploratory
project, said the television view .
showed other signs of life in the forms of fracks,
trails and burrowson the sea floor. ' "
"Tt indicates a rich t bottom : dwelling
comayniity of -- ecgtixfe&aV' aiid --Dowa-yne"..:-
Andanon, chief adettiat for polar programs jot :
the National Science foundation; which directs .
''V&ktodoflibtarctte.'-'-- ' -- .".':,. -'- ',:
CVx$h!sald Qwatere,beoeath the fto Ice .
SbeSf have been oorared for at least' 130,000
yswa. Thtre bjrf St efaioa iha4 acia
ttsts would find a lifeless environment beneath
the ice because of the absence of sunlight and
because the area isso farfrom nutrient sources.
"Th& is dearly not the carei" Anderson said.
- "There evidently is sufficient .circulation to
bring in adequate nutrients to sustain a
relatively rich coouramityV' ;
, The next step' in the effort to explore the dark
- watersbeneamtbeicewillihcludethelcnralng
. of baited lines and traps to:by to capture some ofthecreatures. "t? ' ' '-
-v --'i.
- Summer, is ajproeddnn Antarctica and
Exotic hens
!ff golden eggs
Chickens rule the roost at the Marti
Poultry Farm, the largest producer of rare
and exotic chickens in the state. This week,
Vibrations observes the varieties of fowl at
the Windsor, Mo., farm and finds mat hens
laying golden eggs an nothing to squawk si
Children around the world are the subject
of a Vibrations photo gallery this' week.
ODurtyg an h trip to 26 coustrieVeur- -
pbotographer discovered it's a snail world
after an.
Seventy-year-ol- d Ed Tttrbett has been
fascinated with railroads aod trains for the
last' 84 years. A former brakamaa and
mechanic be spends most of hit tbfio today
at the Jefferson Ctty train depot, watching
the trains comeaod go. Rand rat end mew
in Sundays Vlbrationi migatjnr, part rf the
CblumbtoMlaaettrtajL "
, ,