World hunger
Village of Hope
Laureate talks about the future
Other schools follow A&M's lead
Page 5
Page5
MM« Texas m m V#
The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 92 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, February 8, 1985
ublic universities in Texas offer
acuity lower-than-average pay
By JERRY OSLIN
Stuff Writei
A recent report said public nni-
Iversities in Texas are falling behind
Jthe rest of the country in terms of
Jthe salary offered to faculty.
1 his report, from Texas College
land University System Coordinating
■ Board, has at least one 1 exas A&M
■official worried.
“We at Texas A&M have been
■ reasonably competitive in terms of
■ salary at hiring good people, but we
■can’t afford to fall benino,” said Dr.
JClinton Phillips. Dean of Faculties at
IjH lexas A&M. “We will lose our best
■and brightest people if we fail to
^■continue to of fer competitive pay.”
The board's report said salaries
fose 7 percent nationally this year
for teachers in the first four faculty
ranks - professor, associate profes
at p
tor. Salaries for the same ranks at
public universities in Texas rose only
4.1 percent.
“California salaries are up,” Phil
lips said. “Michigan salaries are up.
Massachusetts salaries are up. There
is a general recognition of the fact
that considerable damage was done
to the universities in these states be
cause of the recession. Now they (the
universities) are instituting massive
Salary adjustments to try and repair
the damage.”
These states are not only using
higher faculty salaries to repair their
universities but they also are using
them to repair their economies, Phil
lips said.
“The rest of the country has come
out of a recession and it has become
abundantly evident to them that you
can’t stifle your higher education
system without severly damaging
your economy,” Phillips said. “One
of the ways to attract new business to
a state is to have quality faculty at a
quality university.”
Texas A&M is already in trouble
of losing its best faculty members be
cause it is not staying up with the rest
of the country in terms of salary,
Phillips said.
“We have not been increasing sal
aries as much as we should have. We
havejust been keeping up with infla
tion,” he said. “I’m hearing from
deans that some of our best young
faculty are being looked at by other
institutions and we’re are liable to
lose some.”
One of the reasons Texas A&M
has not been able to raise salaries as
high as it would like is because of its
rapid growth, Phillips Said.
“Part of our problem is that we
have grown so much that we have
had to spend our money to attract
additional faculty members instead
of raising existing salaries,” he said.
Even though Texas A&M has not
been able to pay the salaries it would
like to, it still has its advantages, Phil
lips said.
“Texas doesn’t have a state in
come tax and people don’t have to
fight a traffic jam to get to the camp
us,” he said. “It is also cheaper to buy
a house here than it is in a place like
Stanford. Stanford simply has to
subsidize mortgages or provide fac
ulty housing at a reduced price if it is
going to get hew f aculty members.”
Local bar owners protest law
Drinking age bill hurts clubs
By MICHABX CRAWFORD .
Stuff Writei
That frosty inug of brew enjoyed
■ by many college students may soon
lira pleasure at the past tav W and
120 year old drinkers.
Local bar owners are concerned
■ about economic effects that would
I result if the Texas House follows the
■ Senate’s lead and raises the mint
I mum drinking age from 19 to 21
I It’s a move local bar owners
I dread.
Dixie Chicken owner Don Ganter
■ said the effect of the raise vvil) not
■ only reduce sales, but also increase
Ithe number of drunken drivers
I “It’s going to be terrible.” Gamer
■ said. “We do cater to a considerable
■ crowd over 21, but still 1 can t be
■blind. There’s a whole pile of stu
■ dents at A&M that are 19 and 20
■ who are going to be cut out bv this
Icompleteiv ridiculous law. It’s so in
satie that woi ds defy description.
The very taw is going to do what
they are trying to prevent. That is
drink arid drive. It’s going to push U
out into the streets and into the
country. That s all it’s going to do ”
If Texas fails to raise the legal age
to 21, the state will lose $107 million
in federal highway funds
The change is being brought
about by the Surface Transportation
Act of 1984, which was passed by
President Reagan last July 17 It es
tablishes a national minimum drink
ing age of 21 years and says states
which don’t comply by Oct. 1, 1986,
will lose 5 percent of certain federal
highway funds for that fiscal year
and 10 percent lor the next.
The fund threat to Texas will end
Sept. 30, 1988 if the U.S. Congress
fails to renew the Act.
T he Texas Senate Wednesday ap
proved the bill which will become ef
fective Sept. I, 1986. The nation
wide federal requirement is being
challenged by South Dakota. Should
the courts declare the federal law
unconstitutional, the state' drinking
age would revert to 19.
Beer sales are already depressed
by the slump in the oil industry, said
Jim Pillans, vice president of Brazos
Beverages Inc. Pillans expects to lose
20 percent of his business if the new
drinking age becomes law. Brazos
Beverages distributes Miller beer
products in the area.
‘ In 1981 and 1982 we w’ere still in
the tail-end of an oil boom,” Pillans
said. “In 1982 the oil boom was over
and they started laying off a lot of
their oil personnel. )For example,
when .3,000 oil field workers are laid
off. 3,000 of those people were good
beer drinkers and they have all left
town. I think that hurt us more than
any thing else
“If A&M were growing by leaps
and bounds like it used to, it would
tieip offset the oil field people leav
ing
Sales in 1983 were down 4.7 per
ceni from previous years and Pillans
expects the figure for 1984 to be still
lower In 1984, i 5 million cases of
beer were distributed in the Bryan
/College Station. In spite of that vol
ume consumed, Duddleys Draw
owner Richard Bennmg said A&M
students are not excessive drinkers.:
I in not sure Aggies drink any
more beer than any other college
crowd at any other mar i universi
ty, Bennings said.
Ganter agreed, Texas A&M stu
dents, In and large, are pretty con
scientious about their studies. For hi
st a n c e. this week we are
experiencing an extremely low vol
ume week due to the fact it’s the first
round ot tests at A&M 1 hey know
w hy they are here and they study.”
Photo bv DEAN SAITO
Revamping Rudder
Workers cleaned the windows of Rudder Tower Thursday af
ternoon using hanging scaffolding to allow them to reach all
the windows easily. The tree branches provide a framing for
the picture and aren’t as tall as the appear
O’Neill criticizes
Reagan’s address
Pentagon
gives forces
top priority
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — T he Pen
tagon’s special operations
forces—the most elite fighting
units in the U.S. military—are in
the midst of a “high priority”
buildup and revitalization, new
budget documents show.
The documents, issued this
week along with President Rea
gan’s fiscal 1986 spending plan,
show the Pentagon is planning to
activate additional Army Special
Forces and Ranger units, includ
ing a Psychological Operations
battalion, as well as another Navy
SEAL team.
SEAL refers to the ability of
the commandos to fight on sea
ait and land.
There are also plans to acquire
additional MC-130H Combat
Talon airplanes “to infiltrate, re
supply and extract forces from
hostile territory,” and add spe
cialized troop-carrying shelters to
three more submarines.
Many of the details on the ex
tent of the special forces buildup,
and its cost, are considered secret.
But the “Military Posture”
statements released by the serv
ices to justify their budget re
quests provide an outline of what
the Pentagon describes as one of
its highest priority projects.
The special forces are troops
who have undergone rigorous
physical and psychological condi
tioning and who are trained in a
variety of hand-to-hand combat
techniques and tactics for infil
trating and operating on their
own behind enemy lines.
Library services in danger
if budget cuts win support
By KIMBERLY PETTIBON
Reporter
The Texas Legislative Budget Board’s proposal for a
28 percent cut in the Sterling C. Evans Library budget
could alter plans for extending library hours, Dr. Irene
Hoadley, library director, said. ^
“The I BB s proposal would cut about $2 million
from our budget,” Hoadley said
Library officials had agreed with Student Govern
ment to extend library hours by about 14 or 15 hours a
week, she said. The extended hours would permit stu
dents to use the library until 3 a m. during the week
and earlier in the morning on weekends.
“Because of the reductions in spending for this year,
we had to inform Student Government that we would
not extend those hours,” Hoadley said.
But, Hoadley said, it is Student Government’s inten
tion to raise enough money to extend the hours for the
second half of the spring semester
Student Government spokesman Tom Urban said,
“We need to raise $1,700 in order to extend the hours.”
Student Government could look to its cash account
for funding and turn to former students for help if
needed Urban said. However, no concrete funding
plan has been decided on yet.
Hoadley said besides library study hours, other areas
of library services that could be af fected include the pe
riodical department, the map room and the learning
resources room A reduction m open hours and staff in
those areas could be a possibility, she said
Hoadley said the proposed budget cuts come at an
awkward time for the University and library
“We havejust gotten to a point where we ate able to
provide a pretty good level of service for the l diversity
community, she said. “But if we have to take some
steps backward now. it will take a very long rime to
catch up
“Irreparable damage could be done to the library
and the students if the budget cut would be maintained
for a long period of time (4 to 6 years).
I t. Gov. Bill Hobby recently proposed a 6 percent
budget cut instead >f the previous 20 percent t his
would be a substantial difference from the LBB’s pro
posal.
Hoadley said a composite budget would probably not
be announced until this summer, after the state Legis
lature committees meet
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — After weeks
of holding lus punches, House
Speaker 1 hooias P. O’Neill Jr. went
on the attack again Thursday, dis
missing President Reagan’s State of
the Union address as generalities of
“a kindly old man ”
T he Massachusetts Democrat, in
his harshest criticism since the presi
dent's landslide re-election victory
last November, said Reagan “hasn’t
been honest with the American peo
ple. They haven’t asked him for
honesty.”
Reagan delivered his State of the
Union address Wednesday night on
his 74th birthday
But Thursday, O’Neill said Demo
crats had been intentionally easy on
the president in then initial reac
tions to his speech.
“We did not want to hurt this
kindly old man that America loves
on his 74rh birthday,” O'Neill, 72,
said
“T his kindly gentleman, this old
man The American people are mes
merized by him. But I think he
should come out and sa\ what he s
asking toi
O’Neill took issue with Reagan’s
assertion that current high deficits
were caused bv nearly 50 years of
government’s living beyond its
means
“He made somewhat of a simple
statement,” O’Neill said. “It was very
clever rhetoric. But it covered up the
facts. Mr. President ... do not point
the finger at the distant past, when
you yourself have so much responsi
bility for these deficits resting on
your own shoulders.”
When Reagan took office, O’Neill
said, the national debt was just over
$900 million. “By his own budget
projections ... the national debt will
be $3 trillion when he leaves office,
triple what tt was w r hen the Reagan
revolution began.”
O’Neill also accused the president
of having “a touch in his heart” that
makes him “unfair to the poor of
America, to the blacks erf America,
and to other segments of Arherica.”
O’Neill, a sharp critic of Reagan
during the president’s first term
subdued his criticism of the presi
dent following Reagans 49-state
sweep. Last month, O'Neill openly
praised Reagan as the “most popu
lar” president he d ever known and
vowed to do nothing to block his
programs from coining to the House
floor.
Reagan’s speech to the joint
House-Senate session, in which he
called for a “Second American Revo
lution,” was “one of his better per
formances,” O’Neill said
Animal research advances medical science
By PATTI FLINT
Staff Writer
“There isn’t an existence that I’m
aware of that isn’t at the expense of
something else,” said Dr. Duane
Kraemer, professor of veterinary
physiology and pharmacology.
Food, clothing and cosmetics com
prise only a few animal products
used by people. And animal experi
mentation has provided drugs and
surgical techniques that have ad
vanced medical science, and bene
fited both humans and animals. “It’s
very difficult to be a purist in this
without being hypocrytical or at least
being naive,” Kraemer said.
The use of live animals in medical
research is a very emotional issue in
today’s society. The transplantation
of a baboon heart into a human baby
and the poisoning of candy bars in
England by animal rights activists
were recent animal rights' issues.
Dr. David McMurray, professor
of medical microbiology, said it is
not only appropriate to use animals
in research, but necessary He said ir
is the only way to learn about dis
eases and, thus, find remedies for
them.
If the use of biomedical research
on experimental animals is halted,
them humanity will pay the price,”
McMurray said
“If you accept that we have an ob
ligation to alleviate this suffering
and must generate this knowledge,
then you must accept the use of ani
mals. I’m also for the appropriate
control of the w'ay animals are used.
I think that reasonable guidelines
for the care and , use of all animals
are necessary
“Unlike other animals, we have
the intelligence and the abilities to
manipulate other species for our
good. But also unlike other animal
species, humans have been blessed
with altruism and compassion which
also should be applied.
“Just because we re smart enough
to use animals, doesn t mean we can
do anything w£ want with them.
Those limits are defined by our sen
sitivity to the suffering of others, ’ he
said
The Laboratory Animal Re
sources and Research Facility at
I exas A&M acts as a centralized aui
mal care facility providing the bulk
of small animal care.
Jeff Sanford, assistant to the head
of the facility, said LARR makes sure
that anyone using their animals for
research complies with the regula
tions concerning the use of lab ani
mals in the United States.
“First and foremost, we re a
watchdog facility,’ Sanford said.
“Our first thought is for the ani
mals.”
The LARR accomplishes its task
in several ways. One is a grant review
processes in which a committee
screens out all that would cause ani
mals undue discomfort or pain, or
See Animal, page 11