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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1985)
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Fraternity members pay $50 for killing neighbors' pig — Page 4 Discovery's astronauts make launch despite bad weather — Page 7 Aggie quarterback leaving nothing to chance in '85 — Page 9 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ The Battalion Vo . 80 No. 194 GSPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday August 28, 1985 UT group to monitor lectures Associated Press ■AUSTIN — Members of a conser- ■tive group at the University of Ipcas are taking part in a national B)vement to monitor what they say mav be “politically biased” teaching on college campuses. ■Greg Davidson, exec utive director of Young Conservatives of Texas, i.saifi members of that organization ■I monitor various UT classes in an effort to determine whether Riterial being presented is “unbal anced.” ■ If the monitors decide a profes sor’s lecture is biased, they will con- taci the instructor and question his choice of material, Davidson said Monday. E He said such questioning should ■courage more interaction among students and teachers. ■ If the student-professor session isn i effective, group members plan to contact Accuracy in Academia, a Washing ton-based organization formed to monitor lectures nation- fwide, Davidson said. ■ The Washington group is affil iated with Accuracy in Media, which ihas sought for several years to air -complaints against what it sees as in accurate news coverage. v ■ Neal Megaw, former professor of flnglish and a former member of the ■cademic Freedom Committee, told Bhe Daily Texan that lecture mon itoring is unnecessary as students are entitled tea both liberal and conserva tive views. I Forest Hill, a UT economics pro fessor, agreed, saying one biased ■xafessor probably would make little difference to students who are taught by at least 40 instructors dur ing their college careers. k Hill also said he wonders about who will be monitoring lectures. I “I’m concerned about that and that they may not understand the subject matter,” he said.” EMonitoring is a form of censorship. Hill added. “Universities are places for freedom of express ion.” And The Beat Goes On For the first time in Texas A&M’s history, women are marching with the Texas Aggie Band. From left, Jennifer Peeler, Carol Rockwell and Andrea Abat are lined up during their First practice this week. These three freshmen are the first women to join the band after a recent court decision, which requires Texas A&M to encourage women to participate in all-male orga nizations in the Corps of Cadets. Tuition increase hurts Corps Freshmen enrollment in Corps falls By BRIAN PEARSON Staff Writer E Fewer freshmen are expected to Ihter the Corps of Cadets this fall |th;in in Fall 1984 because of the in pease in out-of-state tuition, a Corps representative said Tuesday. . ■ “We’ve received letters and calls from some out-of-state students who aid they are not coming now be- Icause they can’t afford the increased tuition,” said Lt. Col. Donald John- json. assistant commandant of the Military Science Department. John son said about 19 percent of the Corps are out-of-state students. Johnson said the tuition increase to $120 per semester hour is ex pected to cause a drop from 725 Corps freshmen in 1984 to about 675 in 1985. He added that the freshman Corps enrollment num bers could range from 600 to 700. Johnson said the August 1984 death of Bruce Goodrich, a sopho more cadet at the time, has not been a factor in the predicted decrease. Goodrich collapsed and later died of heatstroke after a series of “motiva tional exercises” conducted by fellow Corps members. Because of Goodrich’s death, all new cadets must undergo a physical examination. About 573 new cadets have been examined so far, Johnson said. The examinations are being con ducted by Med-Call, a company from San Antonio. Lane Stephenson, director of public information at A&M, said Med-Call testing includes blood pressure, pulse and urine checks. “It’s a basic screening process and if anything unusual is found in any of the cases, then they (Med-Call) make note of it and the matter is re ferred to University physicians for further evaluation,” Stephenson said. Stephenson said no one will be re jected from the Corps because of the tests. “A physical impairment does not keep you from being in the Corps,” he said. “It would make the people in the Corps aware of it so they can adjust the situation accordingly.” If the idea is approved by Corps Commandant Col. Donald Burton, new cadets who are declared fit will soon partiepate in “air out,” Johnson said. “Air out” involves waking new cadets at night for a run around the Quadrangle and a yell practice, a ca det said. Associated Press I DALLAS — A federal appeals court ruling Shat reinstates Texas’ sodomy law won’t force ho mosexuals back into the closet, gay leaders said Tuesday while vowing to take their fight to the nation’s highest court. I “We’re not shook, we’re angry,” said Bill Nel- lon, head of the Dallas Gay Alliance and a direc- Iprof the Texas Human Rights Foundation. “We [plan to protest the ridiculous decision that came Out of New Orleans.” I The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 9-7 lecision Monday, upheld the 1974 Texas so- lomy law “in view of the strong objection to ho- thosexual conduct, which has prevailed in West- Irn culture for the past seven centuries.” I The decision reversed the 1979 ruling of a three-judge 5th Circuit panel and of a Dallas fed- Itraljudge, who said the law was unconstitutional. The statute forbids sexual intercourse between ’homosexuals. I “There’s a lot of expectations that gay people vill hide or go back into the closet and that’s ab- blutely not the case,” Nelson said. “We plan to |eaffirm our gay dignity in a very public and visi- ;hle way. “For example, Anita Bryant did the gay com munity a big favor by articulating the ignorance that oppressed us,” he said. “The 5th Circuit has done exactly the same thing in Texas. We now have a rallying point and people should expect an increased amount of gay activity.” Nelson said rallies are scheduled for Monday at the Dallas City Hall and in other cities around Texas. “We plan to protest the ri diculous decision . . . . ” — Bill Nelson, head of the Dallas Gay Alliance. The legal fight over the constitutionality of the controversial Texas law started in 1979 when Donald F. Baker of Dallas, a homosexual, began waging a battle to have the statute overturned. In 1982, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer struck down the law, ruling in favor of Baker, who had sued.on behalf of 700,000 Texas homo sexuals who claimed the law deprived them of privacy and equal protection. Last year, a three- judge panel of the 5th Circuit agreed. “T here is no question we will make an appeal as expeditiously as possible,” Baker said while calling the ruling a temporary setback. “The decision, especially when considering the reasoning that it is based on so many centuries of morality, clearly demonstrates the enormous amount of ignorance that pervades our society about homosexuality; that there is this belief that one has a choice of being of a certain orienta tion,” he said. The “majority” of scientific and medical re search has shown otherwise, he said. Gay leaders said as many as 1 million homo sexuals in Texas would be affected by the deci sion. “A million Texans are now criminals again,” said Tom Coleman, an attorney and president of the Texas Human Rights Foundation, which or ganized and financed the legal challenge to the sodomy law. But an official of the group that kept the long- running lawsuit alive said Monday’s ruling was “the right decision based on Judeo-Christian law.” See Gay Law, page 8 Iowa college looks at Eaton for presidency By TAMMY KIRK Staff Writer Dr. Gordon Eaton, Texas A&M provost and vice president of aca demic affairs, has been nominated for the presidency at Iowa State Uni versity but said Tuesday he is not ac tively seeking the job. Eaton said if lie were to be se lected as a replacement for outgoing Iowa State President Dr. W. Roberts Parks, he would have to know what the university’s policies were before taking the job. Parks announced he would retire in June, 1986. “The striker in Iowa is the eco nomic problems in agriculture, ” Eaton said, “And whoever takes over will have some real challenges.” Eaton said he has been nominated between six and eight times in the last two years for the presidency of other universities. This is the second time he has turned in a requested re sume after nomination and then had no more communication with the university as to how the search was progressing, he said. According to the Iowa State Daily, as of Aug. 15 at least 39 applicants or nominees were being considered and at least 40 more will be added to the list by the middle of September. The search by mail is being con ducted by the firm Heidrick and Struggles. Earlier this year, Eaton was nomi nated for the presidency of the Uni versity of Texas to replace Dr. Peter Flawn. But Eaton said he had no in terest in the job. “I was too familiar with the poli tics and the way things were run for the job to be appealing to me,” he said. At the time of the UT nomi nation, Eaton was quoted as saying he’d only been at A&M for just un der four years and that he planned to stay here. He said if he were to be come a finalist, even though he’s not actively seeking the presidency, he would at least follow up on the situa tion. “The nomination at Iowa State is a different situation than at UT,” he said. The search is being conducted in a different way, and Eaton says he’s not as familiar with the system. “And,” Eaton said,“I can now say I’ve been here a week more than four years.” Army officers in Nigeria take Buhari regime Associated Press ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Army officers overthrew the Nigerian gov ernment Tuesday, accusing Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his military regime of abusing power and failing to revive the economy. All communications with Nigeria were cut and no information on Bu- hari’s fate was available. Reports reaching Abidjan and London from Nigeria indicated there was no initial violence. The new military leaders said Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the army chief of staff, would assume the pre sidency and leadership of the armed forces. Babangida was a leader of the coup that unseated the elected civilian government Dec. 31, 1984, and installed Buhari. The ouster of Buhari was Nige ria’s sixth coup since independence from Britain in 1960. Nigerian experts in London said Buhari was at his home village, away from Lagos, and his second-in-com mand, Maj. Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, was on a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Announcement of the coup was broadcast on regional stations throughout Nigeria, and a dusk-to- dawn curfew was announced in La gos and all state capitals. Maj. Gen. Sanni Abacha, a mem ber of the new Supreme Military Council, went on the state radio to tell the West African nation’s 83 mil lion people that Babangida would address them soon. In explaining the coup, Abacha said, “The state of the country’s economy is getting more and more deplorable,” and “the life of the or dinary citizen is becoming increas ingly unbearable.” Babangida became a Nigerian hero in 1975 for helping put down an abortive coup in which the coun try’s popular military leader. Brig. Murtala Muhammed, was assassi nated. In Washington, the State Depart ment said there was no indication that any of the 7,000 Americans in Nigeria were in danger. The radio statement broadcast throughout Nigeria was read by Brig. Gen. Joshua Dogonyaro, who worked under Babangida as chief of army personnel in Lagos, the capital. The statement said Buhari’s Su preme Military Council was being removed because it had abused power and failed to revive an econ omy severely damaged by the glut of oil on world markets. Dogonyaro said Buhari’s over throw of President Shehu Shagari had been welcomed “by the nation with unprecedented enthusiasm. Ni gerians were unified in accepting the intervention . . . .” He said there had been little pro gress after almost two years, how ever, and Buhari couldn’t continue blaming the civilian government his coup deposed. Oil brought Nigeria an economic boom in the 1970s, but the slump in prices brought a recession in the 1980s that was made worse by the corruption and mismanagement of the elected government. State prison board head resigns office Associated Press AUSTIN — Robert Gunn, chairman of the state prison board, has submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Mark White, the governor’s office said Tues day. Janis Monger, a spokeswoman for White, said Gunn’s letter, dated Aug. 23, was received Tuesday. It stated his intention to resign from the Texas Depart ment of Corrections Board, she said. Monger said contents of the letter couldn’t be made public be cause White, who is vacationing See Resign, page 8