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Serving the University community
Vol. 80 No. 62 USPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, November 27, 1984
omb explodes near Colombian embassy
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United Press International
BOGOTA, Colombia — A car
omb exploded Monday outside the
L.S. Embassy, killing a Colombian
Voman and wounding live other
people days after a group of U.S.
diplomats left Colombia under
threats tied to drug traders, wit-
pesses and radio reports said.
No embassy personnel were hurt
|tnd there were no immediate claims
ipf responsibility.
Initial radio reports said a book
*on the conditions of Colombian pris-
Ijjtmers in the United States was found
in the car.
The explosion came about a week
after more than 10 U.S. diplomats
and their families moved out of the
country following threats linked to
the government’s decision to extra
dite drug smugglers to face charges
in the United States.
The explosion went off about
3:50 p.m. and was heard at least four
blocks away at the Jesuit University.
Smoke blackened the sky around the
embassy, witnesses said.
The car containing the bomb had
been parked in front of the embassy
for several hours before the explo
sion, witnesses said.
Radio reports identified the dead
woman as Martha Betancur, 45, who
apparently was sitting in an outside
waiting area to discuss visa require
ments with embassy personnel.
It was not immediately clear exac
tly how the woman, the mother of
three children, died.
Radio reports said at least five
people were wounded. Colombian
authorities could not immediately
confirm the casualty reports.
“As far as we know no one em
ployed by the embassy was hurt,”
said a spokesman contacted by tele
phone inside the building after the
explosion. “We heard a loud explo
sion. To me it sounded like thun
der.”
He said the blast prompted em
bassy workers to take refuge in pro
tected areas of the building known
as “safe havens.” They were later al
lowed to return to their homes.
The spokesman said a joint inves
tigation into the attack would proba
bly be conducted by embassy secu
rity officials and Colombian police.
Initial news reports said three se
curity cameras were scanning the
outside of the embassy at the time
the bomb exploded.
Police cordoned off the area to
onlookers to begin searching for evi
dence.
On Nov. 14, President Belisario
Betancur began signing extradition
papers for five Colombians being
sought by the United States on
charges relating to drug trafficking.
After Bentancur’s decision to ex
tradite the suspected smugglers, au
thorities said threats were made, al
though it was not clear if they were
made against the embassy or the dip
lomats themselves.
Coffee is officially Colombia’s
chief export but illegal drugs are be
lieved to be an even bigger industry
and have become a major economic
and political factor in the South
American country.
In Washington, the State Depart
ment had no immediate comment
on the blast, although earlier in the
day, spokesman Alan Romberg con
firmed that a “small number” of em
bassy staffers and dependents had
left the country because of terrorism
linked to the crackdown on drugs.
“Terrorist activities in Colombia
have been a concern for some time
and security arrangements at our
embassy have reflected that,” Rom
berg said. “It’s our view that recent
developments in our continuing co
operation and cooperative efforts
with the Colombian government to
address problems of drug traffick
ing warrant particular vigilance at
this time.”
Prof explains history of kissing
By AMY BOWMAN
Reporter
Vaughn Bryant can sit and talk
about prehistoric feces, pollen
spores and the history of kissing
just like a proud grandfather
talking about his grandchildren.
Bryant is the head of the De
partment of Anthropology at
Texas A&M University. “I find
my job very stimulating because I
have the opportunity to be on the
forefront of some very exciting
things,” Bryant said. “I relish on a
lot of activity. I never have five
minutes without something to do,
whether it’s talking on the phone
or preparing lecture notes for my
next class or answering letters.
No two days are ever the same.”
Bryant sits in his office talking
to a reporter from National Geo
graphic magazine about an article
on pollen in the October edition
of the magazine which featured
him.
His walls are covered with per
sonal memorabilia — three diplo
mas from the University of
Texas, pictures of his family, a
Distinguished Achievement in
Teaching Award that Bryant re
ceived in 1974, pictures of the
Aggie bonfire and UT’s illumi
nated tower.
He slumps down in his chair
while talking about pollen to the
person on the phone. He explains
himself to the reporter like an el
ementary school teacher explains
the next day’s homework assign
ment to a class.
A bottle of Old Spice sits on the
window sill. His desk top is no
where to be seen. Instead, there
are file folders, a glass paper
weight with a honeybee pre
served inside it, two pipes in an
empty ashtray, pencils, paper
clips, a huge ceramic coffee mug
and towering piles of paper.
“My desk may not look like it,
but I know where everything is,”
Bryant said.
There are hundreds of books
lining the shelves of Bryant’s of
fice. Their titles range from “Pa-
laethnobotany” to “Trees of East
Texas” to “Memoirs of Pancho
Villa.” There are plastic dinosaur
figurines, arrowheads and a col
lection of miniature owls that also
line the shelves.
Vaughn Bryant is fascinating.
His knowledge of so many sub
jects coupled with his dry sense of
humor make him a master story
teller who can capture the atten
tion of an audience for hours.
However, Bryant is more than
just a storyteller. He is a well-re
spected member of the scientific
community. He is one of the few
people in the world who is an ex
pert in the study of fossilized
feces, known as coprolited.
Bryant got his start in this field
when he was on an archaelogy dig
in West Texas. He was elected to
find out what was in a specimen
of fossilized feces, but it wasn’t
until ten years later that Bryant
compiled enough information on
the subject.
Bryant said he really devel
oped “an interest in crap” when
he studied with Canadian scien
tist Eric Callen, a pioneer in the
study of coprolites. After Callen
died of a heart attack, Bryant was
the only person known with an
extensive knowledge of copro
lites. He asked the Canadian gov
ernment for Callen’s collection of
coprolites and turned them over
to A&M for study.
Bryant, by studying fossilized
feces, has developed a vast wealth
of information on the caveman
diet. After analyzing the diet of
the caveman, Bryant put himself
on a diet similar to that of the cav
eman and lost thirty pounds.
He gained endless publicity
from his diet and was written
about in papers from El Reno,
Oklahoma to Idaho.
“Everybody’s interested in di
ets...they’re all looking for a quick
and easy way to lose weight,” Bry
ant said.
“Most Americans consume
about forty-four percent of their
diets in fats.”
Before going on his “caveman
diet,” Bryant ate a typical diet
high in sugar, fats and salt.
“The biggest problem I found
was withdrawl from salt,” Bryant
said. Bryant is now a fit, healthy-
looking man, graying slightly
around the his temples.
“No matter what Teat,” Bryant
said, “I never use a salt shaker.”
For dinner, Bryant prepares
his own food.
“My exciting portion of the day
is making a big, beautiful, elab
orate salad,” Bryant said. “I have
all the accouterments, like lettuce,
sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, cu
cumbers, mushrooms and all that
good stuff.”
Bryant takes about forty-five
minutes to eat his salad while
reading the paper or watching
the news.
Bryant also is an expert on the
history of kissing. The subject of
kissing sparked his interest seve
ral years ago when he was teach
ing dn anthropology class and a
question concerning the history
of kissing came up. Bryant knew
nothing about the history of kiss-
ing.
“I began trying to find out if
See BRYANT, page 7
Looking for ‘world university’
0.01.0
0.33.5
3.36.4
5.39.3
ditor’s Note: This is the second in a
hree-part series on the future of Texas
m.
B Now that University President
Frank E. Vandiver has named Texas
A&M as a candidate for status as a
world university, the actual future of
the University has come under
added scrutiny.
Many agree with Vandiver’s con-
:eptof a world university as an insti
tution working on problems of fun
damental importance to the world,
but others have misunderstood his
plans and still others view them only
as a set of grandiose pipedreams.
The major complaint with A&M’s in-
dusion in the world university net
work seems to be that many claim
A&M already has too many prob
lems that need to be corrected.
These problems, some say, must be
addressed before A&M can hope to
attain a higher set of goals, such as
world importance.
Many of the problems facing
A&M came into focus with the publi-
ation of the Target 2000 report.
The Target 2000 Project was com
missioned by the Texas A&M Board
af Regents in July 1981 and was
charged with generating recommen
dations that would lead to “recog-
aized excellence for the Texas A&M
University System and acknowl
edged preeminence for the Univer-
iity by the year 2000.” The 250-
member committee, made up of citi
zens autonomous from the Univer
sity, studied the 11 parts of the Sys
tem, defined major problems and,
after 15 months of evaluation, pro
posed solutions.
The committee presented four re
ports. Three of the reports ad
dressed the findings of the three
task forces and the System Report
contained overriding ideas applica
ble to the whole System.
One controversial piece of advice
from the System Report dealt with
the role of University administra
tors, specifically regents.
“There have been instances in the
past when some Board members of
the Texas A&M University System
have become operationally involved
in decisions being made by the ad
ministration,” the committee wrote.
“The net impact of each of these role
departures has been unfortunate.”
Target 2000 Director Robert
Shutes says one outcome of regential
interference is a lack of continuity in
administration.
“One of the things they (the com
mittee) felt very strongly about was
that there has been far too much
turnover in the top leadership of the
University and the System,” he says.
“When you look at the turnover
from Earl Rudder to Jack Williams
to Jarvis Miller, then a year of in
terim with Charles Samson, and
then Frank Vandiver, and that’s all
since 1970, you see what I mean.
“The committee said to the board,
‘If you want Texas A&M to become
a great institution, one of the things
you’ve got to do is quit this. The
board has got to quit trying to ma
neuver things. Let an administrator
do what he is supposed to do and get
out of his way.’”
Another controversial recommen
dation of the committee concerned
proposed improvements in the Sys
tem’s research thrust.
“The committee took a look at the
kind of research that was going on
and they said, ‘Look, folks. What
you’re doing in the way of research
is mostly not research at all. It’s not
basic research. What research going
on is applied research that you’re
paid for to solve a specific problem,
not to pursue truth to wherever it
leads.’,” Shutes says. “They said, ‘If
you want to become a great univer
sity, you better re-think the way you
approach basic research.’”
This is a point Vandiver stresses
strongly in his world university con
cept, and Associate Provost for Re
search Duwayne Anderson says the
impact of this section of the report
can already be seen.
The System Report also looks at
the role of Texas A&M on the na
tional and international levels and
shows the difference between
A&M’s role now and the role Van
diver hopes it will play as a world
university.
“They (the committee) said that if
Texas A&M is to become a great uni
versity it has to be more visible na
tionally and internationally,” Shutes
says. “They looked at the way in
which Texas A&M is rated or
ranked for its academic programs
and pointed out that we hit the top
20 or 50 very rarely.
“The image of Texas A&M has to
be more than just a place where
Jackie Sherrill coaches or as the foot
ball team or as the Corps of Cadets.
That is, something bigger than a ste
reotype. The committee felt that was
very important.”
The committee also stressed in its
report the importance of Texas
A&M’s gaining additional resources.
“We need to develop major en
dowments for Texas A&M and some
kind of endowment for the other
parts of the System,” Shutes says.
“That should be done in a very care
ful and organized way.
“That’s still not as far a long as it
should be, although a study has been
done by some outside consultants on
fundraising for Texas A&M and
we’re talking about five to six hun
dred million dollar endowments to
do the things we want to do.”
Money was also a factor in the re
port’s policy on personnel recruit
ment and retention.
“Every time the board meets,
there’s some new talk about en
dowed chairs because of this,”
Shutes says. “George Mitchell (Tar
get 2000 chairman) was pounding
on the table month after month after
month saying, ‘Look at this report
from the University of Texas saying
they have 60 endowed chairs. What
do we have? Three. They’re using
Available Fund dollars as matching
See WORLD, page 8
China says ships
from U.S. allowed
to dock in harbors
United Press International
PEKING — China has decided to
allow U.S. warships to dock at
Chinese ports for the first time in
more than three decades, an official
newspaper said Monday.
U.S. diplomatic sources con
firmed that the two sides were dis
cussing a possible port call as early as
next year but said no specific date
had been set.
“American warships will be al
lowed to visit China’s ports if they
are on ceremonial call and the re
quest is made through diplomatic
procedures,” Communist Party Gen
eral Secretary Hu Yaobang was
quoted as saying in the official China
Daily, an English language newspa
per.
Western diplomats said a U.S.
port call would be symbolic of the
improvement in relations between
the two countries.
In a meeting with Japanese and
Chinese businessmen on Sunday,
the newspaper said Hu ruled out
any military alliance with the United
States but indicated a U.S. Navy port
call could soon take place.
“This is the first time that I know
of that they (China) have publicly
stated their willingness for a port
call,” a U.S. diplomat said. “It’s been
under discussion for some time, but
I’m not aware of any specific date or
place.”
He said an agreement in principle
for a U.S. port call was reached dur
ing Navy Secretary John Lehman’s
nine-day visit to China in August.
Asked if Hu’s comment could be
taken as an invitation, the diplomat
said, “I guess you could read it that
way.”
Asked about reports that a U.S.
port call could take place early in
1985, the diplomat said, “Nothing is
planned for the first 30 days of the
year.”
i “This will be handled during dip
lomatic consultations both in Wash
ington and here,” he said. “There
has been some discussion about tim
ing, but I don’t think they have
reached agreement yet.”
There have been no port calls by
U.S. warships to China in more than
30 years.
More than 20 vessels from France,
Britain, Canada, Australia and other
Western nations, however, have
docked at Shanghai in recent years.
A 13-member Chinese Navy dele
gation headed by Adm. Chen Youm-
ing is on a 30-day visit to the United
States. Officials said the Chen group
wanted to discuss surface ship mod
ernization and the upgrading of the
Chinese fleet, but could also touch
on the issue of a U.S. port call.