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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1984)
American chemist achieves Nobel prize See page 4 Farm official claims ag's future difficult See page 6 Midterm grades are available until Friday See page 9 ^national re thn ritef, an ii said Tm checked« :risis inti 1970s i comp president J al Services |i 1^—Texas A&M m m -m • The Battalion Serving the University community leak is a p 1. “The 1 ig leakst nmentalii res, Ray alt the la salready In situation i cs are prt 1 the retail J ich owns undei ink test nsibiyl invest ia [Vol. 80 No. 36 GSPS 045360 16 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, October 18,1984 hernenko calls for steps in arms control SpO! ill ii ■gulations. ol resp i to set t hnology i tical can I ' he said. United Press International WASHINGTON — The White ouse welcomed on Wednesday a fresh overture from Soviet leader onstantin Chernenko, but rejected call for arms control steps by the Jnited States as a condition of im- iroved superpower relations. “The United States stands ready negotiate,” White House spokes- an Larry Speakes said. “But we nnot concur in the apparent Soviet ew that it is incumbent upon the Jnited States to pay a price so that fhe Soviet Union will come back to e nuclear negotiating table.” In a Washington Post interview published Wednesday, Chernenko said U.S.-Soviet relations could im prove if Washington moved to re solve “at least one of the essential questions” on the stalled arms con trol agenda. The interview, the first granted to a foreign journalist by Chernenko since he became Soviet general sec retary in February, came just four days before Sunday’s televised de bate on foreign policy between Presi dent Reagan and Democratic rival Walter Mondale. Speakes said the administration found the timing of the interview “interesting.” A senior administra tion official, noting the election was just three weeks away, said Cher nenko appeared bent on fueling the campaign debate. Challenging Chernenko’s “ver sion of recent history,” Speakes den ied the Kremlin leader’s contention Reagan has failed to back up with “real deeds” an oft-stated commit ment to arms control. Speakes said the administration was pleased by Chernenko’s em phasis “on positive possibilities for U.S.-Soviet relations.” A senior offi cial noted the interview was “absent a lot of the usual rhetoric” leveled against the administration by Soviet officials. “We consider the tone positive,” Speakes said. Nonetheless, Speakes blamed the Soviets for the breakoff of nuclear arms talks and aborted plans for dis cussions of weapons in space and as serted Moscow bears the burden for ^opening i “Presidei -'resident Chernenko has stated that improvements in the U.S.-So viet relationship depend on deeds, not words,” Speakes said. “We agree. When the Soviet Union is prepared to move from public exchanges to private negotiations and concrete agreements, they will find us ready.” Chernenko, said by the Post to have appeared fit and in good spir its, contended Reagan, despite a softening of his anti-Soviet rhetoric and a recent meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, has provided “no ground” for a “se rious shift in relations.” Of the four areas cited by Cher nenko, administration officials hinted only two — negotiations on space weapons and ratification of the nuclear testing pacts — are possi ble areas for progress. The adminis tration opposes both the freeze and a pledge, already made by the Sovi ets, to not be the first to use nuclear weapons. A Soviet call for talks in Vienna this fall on weapons in space col lapsed when Moscow charged Rea gan had imposed “impossible” con ditions — namely his determination to raise other arms control issues. Reagan has agreed to consider a moratorium on testing, Reagan has resisted pressure from some members of Congress to submit the Threshold Test Ban and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions treaties to the Senate on grounds they are flawed by inadequate verification provisions. GSS resolution passed Photo bv MIKE SANCHEZ Sumy t LOW j J VERA! URANC Is? i yourt isoline a products 5 j ]0UN1 UREii’i 1646 College ,.TX Halfway there Midterm grades were ready to be picked up theirs with an I D * card * Grades will be dis- beginning Wednesday. Students can obtain tributed at the Pavilion until Friday. By SARAH OATES Staff Writer The Student Senate passed by one vote a resolution recommending that the Texas A&M administration officially recognize Gay Student Services, after nearly two and a half hours of debate Wednesday night. T he initial vote resulted in a tie Speaker Diane Baurnbach cast the deciding vote passing the resolution which now will be forwarded to Dr. John Koldus, vice president for stu dent Services. “I believe that when you vote, you vote to represent your constituents’ best interests,” Baurnbach said. “That’s why I’m voting for it.” The Senate was divided during the debate as senators argued opin ions about recognizing the organiza tion. Several senators reminded the Senate of the importance of rep resenting the opinions of their con stituents. “In a poll of 100 students in my district, only two out of 100 said vote yes on this issue,” Eric Thode, speaker pro-tempore said. Several senators pointed out that because the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals already has ruled Texas A&M must officially recognize the GSS, the issue is not whether to rec ognize the organization, but whether senators should vote against their constituencies and against the ad ministration. But Vice-President of Academic Affairs Tom Urban argued that the fact so many students are against University recognition of the GSS show's that A&M needs to recognize the organization. “The only way to destroy preju dice is through education/’ he said. “The CiSS exists to inform people.” Representative Brian Hay, who introduced the resolution, said A&M’s refusal to recognize the GSS is a violation of the group’s civil rights. “For too long we’ve looked in ward,” he said, “It’s time to look out ward. By recognizing a minority group, they are not enforcing their rule on you.” Much of the debate centered around Texas A&M’s arguments against recognizing the GSS. The University argues the CSS is a social organization and that the University does not recognize social groups. “Many clubs on campus provide very few services besides social con tacts,” Hay said. Hay also reminded the Senate that homosexual conduct is no longer illegal in Texas. The fact that homosexual conduct was illegal at the time was one of the primary rea sons the University initially refused to recognize the GSS in 1976. Hay also said the University does not have a right to say what is and is not immoral. He cited as an example the fact that alcoholic beverages are allowed in dormitories even though some people might feel drinking is immoral. urged the senate to pass tion. £ e resolu- “The GSS exists because there is a problem,” he said, “The problem is that society does not accept gays. T here is no proof that being gay hurts society. A&M does not have a compelling reason to not recognize the CSS.” letnam official testifies in Westmoreland-CBS libel trial United Press International NEW YORK — The head of the ioulh Vietnam pacification program the height of the Vietnam War jfied Wednesday at Gen. William Vestmoreland’s libel trial against JIBS that there was no conspiracy to pistort enemy troop count. Rollert Komer was sent to .Saigon i May 1967 to run the program as ■m ambassador operating under Vestmoreland. The general is suing pLS for $120 million over a 1982 pocumentary that accused him of ly ing about the strength of the enemy in South Vietnam. Walt Rostow, President Johnson’s national security adviser, Tuesday denied Westmoreland had been po litically pressured into lowering enemy troop strength to bring “good news” to Johnson and gain 200,000 more U.S. troops in order to finish the war three years earlier tlian had been forecast. The troop count, or order of bat tle, is a crucial issue in the landmark libel trial because of the accusations made in the CBS documentary “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam De ception.” “Did you ever suppress informa tion on the strength of enemy forces?” Westmoreland attorney Dan Burt asked Komer in federal court. “No, sir,” Komer replied. “Did you ever conspire with any one to suppress information?” “No, sir. I did not sir.” “Were you ever under any orders not to report estimates of enemy strength?” “At no time during my entire as sociation with Vietnam did anyone give me orders with respect to any ceilings or preconceived conclusions with respect to enemy strength in South Vietnam,” said Komer. His testimony focused on why the Self Defense and Secret Self Defense forces, or the “home guard,” usually described as women, children and old men,-were trimmed from the or der of battle. Komer explained the home guard was generally regarded as villagers who had the capability of planting mines and other booby traps in addi tion to assisting hard-core Viet Cong guerrillas. “The SD-SSD was a vague and shadowy front,” Komer said. “They were part of a standard control tech nique of the people by the commu nists. They were not soldiers. They were part time. They were not able bodied. They were a reservoir of sympathies from which one would recruit.” “We felt to take this vague and shadowy force and add it to the enemy order of battle ... would give a singularly misleading impression Tuesday he testified he asked for new enemy estimates after arriving in Saigon May 4, 1967. Three weeks later, Komer said he was handed the updated figures, which pegged Viet Cong strength at about 185,000 troops which were forwarded to Johnson. The CBS documentary used the CIA figures in its attempt to show Westmoreland distorted the troop Figures. Westmoreland denies the accusation. &M loses millions if Prop 2 fails ;iali edroom BATH By ROBIN BLACK Senior Staff Writer Editor’s Note: This is the second In a three part series on Proposition Proposition 2 has University ad ministrators biting their nails over 'vhat could happen if the proposed Amendment to the state constitution does not pass in the Nov. 6 general Hedion. If the amendment does not pass, lie University will stop receiving ap proximately $50 million in annual revenue. The campus would become im mediately overcrowded,” says Uni versity President Frank E. Vandiver, ecause we would not have the bud get necessary to handle the number bf students currently attending Texas A&M. “The campus would not look as nice because we wotdd not be capa ble of maintaining it the way we do how, and it wouldn’t have the ambi ance it does now.” The proposed amendment pro- mdes for a restructuring of the Per- nanent University Fund, the pri mary source of building income for L&M and the University of Texas at lustin. The PUF is an endowment of oil- rich land that the state set up in 1876 to provide a steady source of reve nue for the two universities. Interest from bonds sold on the PUF makes up the Available University Fund, which provides the two schools with more than $150 million each year in construction revenue. The money from the AUF is divided so that UT receives two-thirds of the annual revenue and A&M receives one- third. The restructuring would allow other schools in the A&M and UT systems to receive money from the AUF. Other provisions of the amend ment would allow A&M and UT more flexible use of the money they receive from the AUF. The universi ties now can use the money only for building and renovation and match ing funds for faculty endowments, but under the new amendment A&M and UT would be able to use the money for building maintenance and other academic programs. “The PUF bond money (would) now be used for people programs rather than just building,” Vandiver said. A&M system Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen said the new flexibility widens the whole scope of things the AUF money can be used for. “It is in our long-range interest to have the PUF restructured this way,” Hansen said. The proposition originated al most two years ago in the State Leg islature from concern about the funding of non-PUF schools. The funding the schools received from a special tax revenue was cut off when the tax was declared unconstitu tional. Under Proposition 2, $100 million in the state’s general revenue would be set aside each year for that partic ular purpose, and it’s being called the Higher Education Fund. If the amendment does not pass in next month’s election, the non- PUF schools will probably file a law suit against the state stemming from the funding problem. Fhe legal ac tion would freeze all use of the PUF and the AUF, and A&M and UT would immediately stop receiving the funds. In his state of the University ad dress, Vandiver told the Faculty Sen ate earlier this month that he already has notified the University’s budget office to be prepared to immediately cut at least $15 million from the A&M budget. Vandiver said it’s not something that’s going to be fun or that’s going to be easy to do, but it’s a possibility the University cannot afford to ig nore. If the cuts must be made, he said, the matching funds for faculty en dowments and the money spent on new equipment and programs would end. “The difference between our be ing mediocre and surviving, or being excellent has been the AUF for us,” Vandiver said. This concern among A&M ad ministrators has led to an extensive lobbying effort. A special political action commit tee, the Education Assistance Com mittee, has been set up by the A&M Board of Regents and the governing boards of other universities to lobby for the proposition in Austin. The A&M Student Government’s Legislative Study Group also has been lobbying actively in Austin and working on a campaign promoting the amendment. See PROP 2, page 8 Local • An Aggie football player encourages students to support the team. See story page 6. • Two A&M professors say the best way to solve an eco nomic crisis is to keep the government from intervening. See story page 6. • A student mediating service will be available to resolve conflicts by February 1985. See story page 3. • Professor’s class notes evolve into a comparative anat omy text. See story page 7. State • A Dallas zoo is resorting to surgery for one of their el ephants with a rare blood disease. See story page 6.