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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1981)
'I > i byil, l l toumt Aggie, n AUlt the to®. e secomj Carqlim niversih 5-0; Ha,', and tit 5:0-2. ■ineiiaa. Friday a t- Louii ose tfe, wnenjin e loserd '-Cential shTesas 4-0 eat- seeded nbersii. ; weeli’ij niversity ersity of^ niversit, I II I ;r and > The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 75 No. 56 . Wednesday, November 18, 1981 DSPS 045 360 16 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today High 80 Low 57 Chance of rain 10% Tomorrow High 67 Low 48 Chance of rain 10% Final GSSO witnesses to be heard today By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff Attorneys for the Gay Student Ser vice Organization plan to call their final witnesses today, Patrick Wiseman, attorney for the GSSO, said Tuesday. Scheduled to testify for the GSSO are; Dr. Kenneth Nyberg, sociologist and former GSSO faculty adviser; Dr. William Paul, a psychiatrist; and Dr. Frederick VV. Plapp jr., professor of en tomology and genetics, and current fa culty adviser for the GSSO. Tuesday was the second day of the GSSO vs. Texas A&M University trial which is being held in U.S. District Court in Houston. The group is suing TcvasA&M for recognition as an official student organization. In testimony Tuesday, a sex resear cher said University recognition of the GSSO would create more understand- inibetween homosexual and heterosex ual students and dispel myths. Dr. William Simon, a sociologist at the University of Houston and former senior researcher at the Kinsey Insti tute, said recognition of th GSSO might king about an “attitude of liberaliza tion” at Texas A&M. Also testifying for the GSSO, Patricia Woodridge, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said that none of the members of the University administration tried to assist the organization’s members or protect them from danger. The only counseling group members received was from professors, Wood ridge said. The personal counseling ser vices then offered by the University only told the gay students to change their ways, she said. The group requested University rec ognition in April 1976, a request which was denied the following month. Three GSSO members fded a federal civil rights suit against the University in February 1977. Named as defendants in the case are: Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president for student services; the late Jack K. Williams, former president of Texas A&M; Clyde Freeman, Texas A&M System executive vice chancellor for administration; and the System Board of Regents. However, under federal rules of pro cedure, Texas A&M President Frank E. Vandiver automatically replaces Wil liams as a defendant in the case, Wise man said. The GSSO is seeking compensation for damages resulting from the refusal of recognition, court costs and legal fees. Reagan may veto stop gap bill United Press International WASHINGTON — Congress may be walking straight into a presidential veto, now that a Senate committee has fol lowed the House in rejecting new budget cuts. The full Senate will decide whether toeontinue the march today when it acts on a stop gap spending bill designed to keep the government running past mid night Friday. The House approved the measure Monday, after rejecting a proposal by Republican leaders to cut almost $4 bil lion from already-reduced domestic spending. The Senate Appropriations Commit tee handed President Reagan a similar hlowTuesday, despite a written appeal from Reagan saying he was prepared to meet Congress halfway by accepting smaller cuts than he originally wanted. The panel passed its version of the hill by voice vote and sent it to the Senate floor without the additional cuts. This increased the likelihood Reagan would veto the measure. Congressional Republican sources suggested the pres ident may want to do so to prove he can enforce his economic program. Reagan said he would accept a 5 per cent across-the-floard cut in domestic spending similar to the one rejected in the House. He said that would provide a substantial share of the reductions in fiscal 1982 that he had proposed. The panel did reject, 18-8, a proposal by Sen. Mack Mattingly, R-Ga., to cut 2 percent from domestic and military programs. Mattingly said his plan, which would have authorized the administration to select the exact cuts, would have re duced fiscal 1982 spending by $6 billion to $9 billion. It also would have affected entitlement programs which Reagan does not want to tamper with now. Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees argue they have already come close to meeting Reagan’s goals. They have produced numbers, disputed by the administra tion, which they say prove their conten tion. The overall measure, which staffers estimated would provide approximately $415 billion in funds, is designed to keep the government running past mid night Friday when its existing approp riations expire. Staff photo by Rose Delano Standing zone Charlie Stegemoeller, a sophomore industrial engineering major from DeSoto, doesn’s seem to realize he could get a ticket. Stegemoeller was waiting for his ride in front of the Chemistry Building. Attempted rape in dorm reported By ANNE OLIVER Battalion Reporter An attempted rape in Krueger Hall Tuesday morning has led to a complete investigation of the incident by the Uni versity Police. At 3 a.m. Tuesday, a female student was studying in a carrel on the fourth floor of the women’s dorm when she was approached and threatened by a white male wearing a pair of panty hose over his face, according to a University police report. The man turned out the lights in the carrel and threatened the girl with a knife, police reported. The woman then screamed and the man fled, police re ported. Two students said they saw a man run out of a hallway in Krueger and followed him outside. They later described the man and a vehicle he drove from the parking lot. According to their description, the man is approximately 19 years old, 5- foot, 9-inches tall and about 160 pounds with brown or dark ear-length hair. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt which was stuffed to make him look like a girl, and a pair of blue jeans, the students re ported. Detective Will Scott, who has been assigned to the case, said he plans to hypnotize the victim and possibly one of the witnesses to get a better description of the man. Jane Zarwell, head resident of Krue ger, said University police were called immediately and responded to the call within five minutes. Zarwell said no extra security mea sures will be taken in the dorm other than her emphasizing to residents the importance of being cautious at night and locking the doors to their rooms. Resident advisers already patrol the halls of all residence halls each night as a security check. Police have not been able to deter mine how the man entered the build ing. However, Zarwell said a couple of possibilities have been discussed. The dorm’s four outside doors are locked each evening by resident advis ers; however, the doors are not actually locked unless each person opening the door pulls it shut behind himself. First woman mayor elected in Houston United Press International HOUSTON — Kathy Whitmire, the first woman mayor of the nation’s fifth largest city, stampeded over her oppo nent to take a commanding lead and attributed her success to a campaign that unified the city. Whitmire, an accountant and a two- term city controller, received more than 62 percent of the vote Tuesday, as compared to her opponent Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard, 63, who re ceived just over 100,000 votes. “We are making an effort to unify this city,’’ Whitmire said. “We offered the kind of campaign that brings people together instead of dividing them. We have offered them all the opportunity to see a city better managed. People are interested in their tax dollars and I think that’s why they were willing to elect a controller to he the city’s next mayor. ’ In phone calls on election night, Whitmire was promised the support of both Mayor Jim McConn and Heard. McConn came in a poor third two weeks ago, in a 15-way race for the city’s chief executive’s job, which pays better “I than any other mayor’s position in the country. ■■ Whitmire said she was flattered by | McConn’s phone call when he told her f he had voted for her. McConn told Whitmire he would work with her. Heard called Whitmire to concede the election and congratulated her for her win. In a phone conversation less than two hours after polls closed. Heard promised to help the new mayor and told her he was not bitter. “We re be here and we re still gonna serve. I may have lost the race, but I also lost the flu,’’ Heard said. He had been ill in the waning days of his cam paign. U.S. tells Japan to increase imports United Press International TOKYO — Washington issued an un precedented written warning to Japan to import more U.S. products or face the threat of “virulent protectionism in reprisal for Japan’s record trade surplus, the U.S. Embassy said today. The letter told Japan its plans for an emergency import program were insuf ficient and instead proposed removing tariffs from 29 items and dropping non tariff barriers that have prevented U.S. sales in Japan. Japan consistently has exported more to America than it has bought, but this year’s surplus is estimated at a record $15 billion, with next year’s surplus a possible $18 billion to $20 billion. “The United States believes that li mited, short-term emergency measures which do not address some of the fun damental problems ... will not meet the potential serious and damaging political damage abroad which could result from a growing trade imbalance,” U.S. Embassy spokesman William Maurer said. The Japanese foreign ministry said the unprecedented letter told Tokyo their proposed “emergency” imports of aircraft, rare metals and other items to reduce surpluses with the United States and Europe could only he a “quick fix that would not solve the problem. The U.S. letter proposed Japan re move tariffs on 29 items, including beef, oranges, plywood, computers and com puter parts. It also called for removal of non-tariff barriers, by simplifying stan dards and testing and by speeding up customs clearances. Two interest groups debate born-again politics John Duncan American Civil Liberties Union By NANCY WEATHERLEY Battalion StafT A debate on born-again politics and the Moral Majority’s right to a voice in government set representatives of two special interest groups at odds Tuesday in Rudder Theater. Fred Mason, executive director of the Moral Majority in Texas, and John B. Duncan, executive director of the Texas Civil Liberties Union, voiced their opinions in the debate entitled “Born-Again Politics; the Moral Major ity vs. the American Civil Liberties Union.” Sponsored by MSC Great Issues, the debate focused on the statement that the Moral Majority is “imposing its own brand of morality on the American citizen against his will. ” Duncan said that while his organiza tion respects the right of the Moral Ma jority to express its beliefs as a political organization, the ACLU opposes a sub stantial proportion of the Moral Major ity’s platform. “We do believe that if it (the Moral Majority’s platform) is enacted into law, it would amount to setting up a religious state in this country that is not unlike that which has been set up in Iran,” he said. Duncan, defending his claim, cited programs supported by the Moral Ma jority, including one asking that volun tary prayers and Bible readings in pub lic schools be reinstated. “We have had a long tradition in this country of separating our religious be liefs from our public affairs,” he said. “And to come in and say we are going use our public schools as a means of religious indoctrination ultimately means that you are going to wind up with a state advocating a particular brand of religion.” Mason countered by saying school prayer has been a tradition just recently disbanded and that no one has been hurt by it. “It has been a tradition for over a period of almost 150 years ... that peo ple have been allowed to have voluntary prayer in school, he said. As for state influence that religion in public schools could bring. Mason said Christian believers have had influence over the schools until recent years “when our Supreme Court has taken some rather liberal rulings regarding this activity in school.” But, he said, in spite of some recent unfavorable court rulings, “I believe re ligious people ... should certainly parti cipate in their government. “There is a separation illusion cre ated by a liberal element ... that reli gious organizations have no right to par ticipate in their government. It is the duty and responsibility of every Amer ican citizen, if they have a grievance or problem to make ... to assemble and to present these grievances to their gov ernment. Mason said Jerry Falwell established the Moral Majority because he and others decided to take a stand against the moral decay of America. “We too have a right to say what direction we’d like to see our nation follow. We gave a forum to the people in order that they might speak out,” he said. Fred Mason The Moral Majority