THE RECORD

NOVEMBER 16,1976

NO. 31                            

LYNDON B. JOHNSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

EDITOR  Hoyt H. Purvis

 

LEGISLATIVE ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED AT CONFERENCE HERE

 

The Pre‑session Legislative Conference sponsored by the LBJ School and the Texas Legislature will be held at the Thompson Conference Center November 22‑24.

 

The conference program will include discussion of major issues confronting the 65th Legislature, which will convene in January.

 

This will be the fourth such conference organized by the LBJ School. Prior to the regular legislative sessions in 1971, 1973, and 1975, the School and the Legislature cooperated in sponsoring Pre‑Session Conferences for the purpose of informing new members on matters of legislative organization and procedure and to provide all members with authoritative presentations and a forum for discussion of major substantive topics of current importance.

 

Those addressing the conference will include:

 

Bill Clayton, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Priorities of the 65th Legislature.

 

Bob Bullock, Comptroller of Public Accounts, State of Texas Biennial Revenue Estimate, 1977‑79.

 

Ray Marshall, Professor of Economics, The Texas Economy: Short and Long-Range Impacts of National Economic Developments and Trends.

 

Lieutenant Governor William P. Hobby, State Government Operations: The Work of the Joint Advisory Committee on Government Operations. Hobby's remarks will be followed by presentations from representatives of subcommittees of the Joint Advisory Committee:

 

Calvin R. Guest, President, Bryan Building and Loan, Administrative Support and Fiscal Management.

 

Senator Peyton McKnight, Economic Development and Law Enforcement.

 

Senator John Wilson, Education.

 

Professor June Hyer, The University of Houston (Clear Lake), Health and Welfare.

 

Senator Grant Jones, Natural Resources.

 

Bullock's address is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and he will provide his estimates of the state's financial situation for the coming biennium.

 

Bullock will be followed by Professor Marshall and a panel discussion which will include Dean Alan Campbell of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University; Thomas Keel, director, Texas Legislative Budget Board; Charles Travis, director, Governors Office of Budget and Planning; and Harry McAdams, director, Texas Office of State‑Federal Relations.

 

The conference will end at a luncheon on Wednesday, with Land Commissioner Bob Armstrong as the featured speaker. Armstrong was a key figure in the Carter‑Mondale campaign in Texas.

 

Sessions on Monday and on Tuesday morning will be devoted to new member orientation on legislative rules and procedures.

 

At 1 p.m. Tuesday the opening general session is scheduled. Acting Dean Jurgen Schmandt will preside at the session, with a welcome by UT‑Austin President Lorene Rogers. Speaker Clayton will deliver the first address, followed by Lieutenant Governor Hobby.

 

Lieutenant Governor Neil Hartigan of Illinois will be the speaker at a dinner for legislators on Tuesday night. He is chairman of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors.

 

Wednesday morning will be devoted to four concurrent sessions on significant policy topics, each with panel presentations and participant discussion.

 

Topics for the sessions will be:

            Professional Malpractice Risks

            Energy Development and Regulation

            Property Taxation

            Crime and Criminal Justice.

 

Among the panelists will be Attorney General John Hill, Utilities Commissioner Alan Erwin, Railroad Commissioner‑elect Jon Newton, and a number of members of the Legislature.

 

Professor Marlan Blissett of the LBJ School will moderate the discussion on energy, and Lynn Anderson, director of the Office of Conferences and Training, which is coordinating the conference, will moderate the session on property taxation, with Professor John Gronouski serving as one of the panelists.

 

LBJ School students Bonnie Young, Marc Jacobson, Lea Johnson, and Mary Stack will serve as rapporteurs.

 

 

CONFERENCE VIEWS TRENDS IN LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS

 

The dialogue between ex‑Central Intelligence Agency Director William Colby and former Chilean official Jacques Chonchol highlighted the opening day of the LBJ School's conference on Conflict, Order, and Peace in the Americas, the first conference organized as part of the School's Tom Slick Endowment.

 

An overflow crowd in the LBJ Auditorium on November 10 heard Colby and Chonchol disucss their respective points of view. Colby remained cool and unflappable throughout, despite constant heckling and harassment from some members of the audience.

 

Chonchol opened the discussion with a lengthy commentray on current trends in Latin America. In particular he emphasized the "inefficacy of capitalism" for Latin America and the rise of what he called the "national security state" in the region.   

 

The former Minister of Agriculture under President Salvador Allende did not make many specific references to the Chilean situation, instead presenting an overall view of Latin America. He ranged far and wide to make his points, referring, for example, to traffic problems in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as evidence of his belief that consumer‑oriented capitalism was adding to the burden of Latin American countries while doing nothing for the middle class and the masses. He said capitalism was an unacceptable model for Latin American economic development.

 

Chonchol dated the growth of modern military regimes in Latin America from the enactment of the U.S. National Security Act of 1947. He said this placed the National Security Council outside the normal legislative and judicial procedures in the U.S. Chonchol added that "national security" has since become the slogan under which the military in Latin America control their societies. He cited the training received by many Latin American military officers in U.S. training programs.

 

Colby disagreed with Chonchol's view that the "national security state" was a recent development. "I'm not so sure that it is all that different from the previous situations in Latin America." Colby also contended that Chonchol's comments on the National Security Act reflected ignorance of the Act.

 

Colby noted that the military in Peru is deemed "good" because of its association with social reform, and questioned whether it was correct to make generalizations about the role of the military.

 

He also said that nationalization in Venezuela was being done with the cooperation of the U.S. Government and corporations and that Venezuela has a democratic government. He said "it is not necessarily a question of if there should be nationalization, but how it should be done."

 

Colby insisted that the U.S. has not limited its support to right‑wing groups and the military in Latin America. He said the group involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion, with CIA support, was not a right‑wing group, and not associated with the former Batista regime. He also said the U.S. had supported "center democrats" in Chile, although acknowledging that in the final stages of the 1970 Chilean elections, President Nixon had ordered that an effort be made to work with the Chilean military in preventing Allende from taking office. But Colby strongly denied that the CIA was involved in the 1973 military coup which overthrew Allende's elected government. He said that CIA agents were warned to stay away from a possible coup in Chile. "It would not be our coup. It would be theirs."

 

Chonchol blamed U.S. training of Latin American military officers for having instilled the notion of the "national security state." Colby defended the military training programs, which he said had been good and important for Latin America. He said many Latin Americans had been concerned with the threat of subversion as advocated by Che Guevarra and others, and that "in some cases the military eliminated those threats." Colby said the Latin American military has its own dynamic which has developed with Latin American social systems. The armed forces seize power, suspend constitutional rights, and use political and economic measures which suppress the social rights of the majority of the people.

 

Chonchol repeatedly returned to the dominance of the military in Latin American societies and what he said was a close tie between the military and "oligarchies and multinationals." He also referred to the "institutionalized violence" which he said works against the general good of the people.

 

The conference opened on Thursday afternoon with participants being welcomed by Acting Dean Jurgen Schmandt of the LBJ School and Professor Kenneth Boulding, the first Distinguished Visiting Tom Slick Professor at the School.

 

The keynote address was delivered by Ms. Helvi Sipila, assistant secretary-general for social development and humanitarian affairs of the United Nations. She emphasized the growing awareness of interdependence among the world's people as a necessary prelude to global thinking.

 

She also stressed the need for increased participation by women and youth in the decision‑making processes of Latin America.

 

At the Chonchol‑Colby dialogue eight persons were arrested by University police and charged with "disturbing a meeting."

 

Earlier in the week Chonchol spoke at an LBJ School brown‑bag luncheon. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Paris.

 

Further reports on the conference will be contained in the next issue of The Record.

 

 

"On the Record"

 

. Acting Dean Jurgen Schmandt has announced an administrative change concerning the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Placement. Both offices will become a part of a single unit—the Office of Student Affairs. Elizabeth Hall will be Director and Wilda Campbell Associate Director of the Office. Wilda Campbell will continue to devote most of her time to placement matters and in this capacity will continue to serve as Director of Placement.

 

. Forthcoming visitors to the LBJ School will include:

      Charls Walker, November 15‑16.

      John Macy, November 30‑December 1.

      Glen Wilson, December 7‑8.

Details about schedules for each of these visitors are printed elsewhere in this issue. Also scheduled is a visit on December 15 by Fred Ikle, head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

 

. The Columbia Journalism Review for November ‑ December includes this commentary on The Presidency and the Press, published by the LBJ School and edited by Hoyt Purvis. "In a laudable effort to strengthen the lines of communication between the White House and the press, the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs this spring sponsored a meeting of past and present presidential press secretaries and White House correspondents. This is the published transcript of their discussions. The rhetoric on such issues as responsibility for the public's current sense of alienation is relieved by revealing self‑justification (the misleading of the press in the Pakistan tilt episode, for example), a few sharp exchanges (Helen Thomas, for one, insisting firmly on frankness), and earnest expressions of professional philosophy. One point of general agreement is the desirability of increasing the press's access to the president. Among the suggestions: a daffy 15‑minute presidential press conference."

 

. Kent Talbot has announced that, as in the past, the LBJ School Library is planning on closing November 25‑28 for the Thanksgiving holiday period.

 

. State Representative Lance Lalor of Houston would like to have an LBJ student to work on the Elections Committee during the upcoming session. According to Representative Lalor, the student's prime assignment would be briefing Lalor and preparing summaries of legislation being considered by the Elections Committee. Second, he or she would be researching legislation to be considered by the Elections Committee. Further information may be obtained through the Office of Student Affairs.

 

. Fritz Efaw, who has been conducting a nation‑wide campaign to obtain amnesty for Vietnam War resisters and deserters, spoke at a brown‑bag luncheon at the LBJ School on October 27. Efaw discussed the issue in the context of the impact of the Presidential election.

 

. The LBJ School had a schoolwide "Election Night Returns Party" at Austin's Madison Square Garden on November 2.

 

. Professor David Eaton recently spoke to the Economics Department Seminar about his current research on multiobjective and stochastic techniques for grain reserve analysis.

 

. The annual LBJ School Follies, "The Worst and the Wasted," will be presented at 8 p.m. on Saturday November 20 at the Faculty Center, 25th and Guadalupe. Tickets are $2. Food and drinks will be served.

 

 

MACY TO SPEAK

 

John Macy, who has held a number of important government positions, will be at the LBJ School on November 30-December 1 and is scheduled to speak at a schoolwide seminar on Wednesday December 1.

 

Macy was chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission from 1961‑1969.

 

Prior to heading the Civil Service Commission, Macy had served as assistant to the under‑secretary of the Army, as executive director of the Civil Service Commission and as executive vice president of Wesleyan University.

 

From 1969 to 1972, Macy was president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

 

Since that time Macy has served as president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

 

 

CONTRACT AWARDED FOR SOUTH AMERICAN RURAL HEALTH STUDY

 

The LBJ School has received a $34,980 contract from the Technical Assistance Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) for a study on the location of rural health outposts in the South American nation of Colombia.

 

The project, according to its principal investigator, Professor David Eaton, will aid the Ministry of Public Health of Colombia to develop a procedure to determine the sites for nearly 1,800 health outposts to be constructed in poor rural areas of Colombia during the next four years.

 

The research will be conducted with Dr. Richard Church of the University of Tennessee and Professor Jaime Enrique Varela of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Graduate students in the LBJ School and the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) will also be involved.

 

Professor Eaton recently presented a guest lecture at the ILAS on the location of rural health outposts.

 

Eaton in Liberia

 

Eaton was on a mission to Liberia from October 6‑24 to advise the Government of Liberia and AID on methods for the location, construction, and operation of rural health outposts. The work involved discussions with officials of the Ministry of Health in Monrovia and more than a week of travel 'up country,' observing areas of Monserrado and Lofa counties in Liberia.

 

 

WALKER TO SPEAK ON ECONOMICS‑POLITICS

 

Dr. Charls E. Walker, former deputy secretary of the Treasury who now heads a Washington consulting firm, will be at the LBJ School November 15‑17 and will be meeting with students and faculty.

 

On Monday he will speak from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at a schoolwide seminar in the Student Lounge on "Economics and the Political Process."

 

Tuesday he will meet with first‑year LBJ School students from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and will have lunch and a discussion with the LBJ School faculty.

 

Dr. Walker served as deputy secretary of the Treasury in the first Nixon Admin­istration. Prior to joining the Treasury in 1969, he was for eight years executive vice president of the American Bankers Association.

 

Walker is a Texas native and graduate of The University of Texas (BBA, 1947; MBA, 1948). He received a Ph.D. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and later served as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank.

 

His visit to the LBJ School is being coordinated by Dr. Jared Hazleton.

 

 

GAMING SIMULATION FOR URBAN POLICY PLANNING

 

On December 3‑4, the LBJ School will be the site of intensive instruction in gaming/simulation techniques for urban policy planning. Internationally known experts in this field will discuss gaming/simulation with students in Planning modules Friday morning and then offer participation in several urban games/simulations Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, open to students and faculty of the School, the University community, and the general public.

 

Visiting the School will be Dr. Richard Duke, chairman of the Urban Planning Department at the University of Michigan and author of several books on gaming/simulation, and Dr. Allan G. Feldt, professor of Urban Planning at Michigan and creator of several policy‑oriented simulations.

 

Professors Duke and Feldt will meet with Dr. Gery Williams' sections of the Planning module on Friday morning, December 3, to discuss the role of games/simulations in urban policy development and techniques for developing and using games and simulations. That afternoon, Duke and Feldt will conduct two "board" games, which will be open to anyone interested in participating. The two games will be: "They Shoot Marbles, Don't They"—a simulation based on social contract concepts and specifically designed for police-community relations policy; and "HEX"—a simulation developed for UNESCO for urban and regional planning purposes in developing nations. The Friday afternoon session will run from 1 to 5 p.m. It is hoped that there will be an opportunity to participate in both games.

 

The Saturday morning session will feature an urban simulation focusing on municipal capital budgeting decisions, entitled "METROPOLIS", which is motivated through computer simulation, as opposed to boards. Participants simulated community decision‑making. No computer expertise is required. Decisions are fed into the computer program by computer programers and the computer output initiates the next round of decision‑making by participants. The Saturday session will run from 8 a.m. to noon, with an opportunity to analyze the game afterwards.

 

These sessions are open to the public and will be located in Rooms 3.107, 3.109, and 3.111 of Sid Richardson Hall. Physical arrangements will be facilitated if the number of anticipated participants is known. Please notify Anita Valles, at 471‑5758 or Room 3.226A, if you plan to attend.

 

 

ARNOLD AWARDED HONORARY DEGREE

 

Dr. R. Keith Arnold, associate dean of the LBJ School and president of the American Society of Foresters, has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Florida at Gainesville.

 

Dr. Arnold, a nationally known natural resources scientist, received the honor during the recent dedication of a new building for Florida's School of Forest Resources and Conservation, where he was the principal speaker.

 

The UT scholar is assistant vice president for research as well as associate dean and professor in the LBJ School.

 

In his Florida remarks, Arnold said "today man must cope collectively with nature" at a time when "urbanizing society is rapidly separating people from the natural environment."

 

"In an urbanizing society," he continued, "man disassociates himself from natural ecosystems" to such an extent that he no longer associates "the need for more homes with the need to grow and cut timber at a balanced and rapid rate. "

 

But material products are not all that man is now demanding from the forest environment, Arnold said.

 

"Quality of life—that elusive dimension—demands more and cleaner water and air, more beauty, more quiet, increased nondestructive use of wildlife and fish, more of the spiritual enrichment that comes from close ties with wildlands. Quality of life must include man as an integral part of the some 300 ecosystems that make up our natural resource heritage."

 

He said tomorrow's managers of natural resources will have to exercise a "creative stewardship" that will entail the "ability to manage social resources related to a multidisciplinary work force, to a wide array of resource users and to those who determine resource policies."

 

In addition to being "professionally multilingual," natural resrouces managers must be able to communicate with a wide range of persons—from bird‑watchers to those using resources for productive enterprise—who demand much from the wildlife environment, Arnold said.

 

 

WILSON TO SPEAK ON SCIENCE POLICY

 

Glen P. Wilson, a senior member of the staff of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, will visit the LBJ School on December 7‑8. He will speak on "Science Policy and Congress" at a schoolwide seminar in the Student Lounge at 4 p.m. Wednesday, December 8.

 

Dr. Wilson is a native of Waco, Texas, and has a Ph.D. in psychology from UT-Austin, where he took an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering.

 

He began his service in the Senate as an assistant to then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson in 1955.

 

His involvement in the space program began in 1957 when he became a staff member of the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee under the chairmanship of Senator Johnson. This subcommittee, shortly after Sputnik I, undertook an extensive investigation into the status of the nation's satellite and missile programs and pointed to the necessity of greater action on the part of the United States.

 

In early 1958 it became clear that there was an urgent need for the nation to move foreard more rapidly in space and the Senate Special Committee on Space and Astronautics was created for this purpose.

 

Dr. Wilson was transferred to this special committee and participated in the actions that led to the passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 which created NASA. Shortly after this, the standing Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences was created and in January 1959, Dr. Wilson was appointed Cheif Clerk of this Committee. In 1961, he was transferred to the professional staff.

 

Because of the relatively small staff, the duties of all professional staff members have been of a somewhat general nature; that is, all have been expected to be reasonably familiar with all of the programs over which the Committee has jurisdiction. Nevertheless, there have been some areas of specialization for particular staff personnel.

 

In general, and because of his background in aeronautics and research, Dr. Wilson has tended to specialize in these areas, particularly as they relate to formulation of policy rather than detailed hardware design.

 

In the area of science policy, Dr. Wilson has followed these matters closely since the appointment in 1957 of Dr. James Killian as Science Adviser by President Eisenhower, and particularly since the abolishment of the Office of Science and Technology in 1973. The recent passage by the Senate of the National Policy, Organization, and Priorities for Science, Engineering, and Technology Act of 1976 was enhanced by his active liaison with the White House, National Science Foundation, National Academy of Sciences, other committee staffs, and the scientific and technical community.

 

In another area of concern, Dr. Wilson has followed the problem of Congressional reform, particularly as it relates to the Senate. On behalf of the Committee, he is maintaining close contact with the Rules Committee staff in its current consideration of proposals or reorganization of the Senate.

 

 

EATON, SPURR DISCUSS TRAVELS

 

LBJ School Professors David Eaton and Stephen Spurr discussed their international trips at a brown‑bag luncheon on November 9.

 

Professor Eaton reported on his recent visit to Liberia, where he studied rural health outposts. Citing Liberia's close ties with the United States, and the similarities of the two countries, he noted that Liberia had only recently begun to receive U.S. aid comparable to that received by other African countries. Eaton described the isolation of the rural health outposts, many of which can be reached only on foot. He said that he had proposed that equipment purchased for the outposts be usable with existing technology, and that natives of the villages be trained to work in their own outposts.

 

Professor Spurr described being under constant surveillance during his three weeks in the Soviet Union. Spurr traveled with a group of educators from the U.S. The group visited a number of institutions of higher learning in the U.S.S.R. He said that after a few days in the country he was able to decipher the truth about such questions as the number of students in an institution by making observations about such factors as the number of books in libraries. Spurr plans to write a short paper on his experience.

 

 

BLISSETT ON PANEL ON ENERGY POLICIES

 

Professor Marlan Blissett of the LBJ School was a recent panelist on "The Next 200 Years," a weekly radio program sponsored by UT‑Austin and broadcast nationally.

 

Blissett took part in a discussion of "State Government as an Energy Consumer," along with Homer A. Foerster, executive director of the Texas State Board of Control, and Jerold W. Jones, associate professor of architectural engineering at UT‑Austin.

 

Blissett commented on the conservation efforts that are being made, and the effect of legislation approved by the 64th Texas Legislature.

 

He said, "I think about as much is being done as we can expect without the visible presence of a fuel crisis. Basically, what's going forward is on a voluntary basis. We have voluntary conservation by state agencies and state‑supported colleges and universities. This program has been going for almost three years with an overall reduction of about two percent of the energy consumed by these facilities… The last session of the Texas Legislature passed an energy conservation and buildings act which took effect January 1, 1976, and the Act authorized the development of standards for the improvement in the design, lighting, and insulation of buildings, though really the practical output of this effort has been the production of a manual. The anticipated savings that could result from this may be substantial."

 

Blissett also commented on proposed federal energy policies and said, "I'm not certain that we really know what a comprehensive energy program would look like, because it's so interlaced with other kinds of policies."

 

He also referred to the planned introduction in the Texas Legislature of a refinery tax to be placed on the crude oil refined in Texas, three‑quarters of which is shipped out of state.