■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
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