A&M business students trying
to help peers improve grades
-— Page 4
Lady Ags' freshman guard
giving rest of SWC a lesson
— Page 9
S T
TKeBattalion
Vol. 83 ho. 84 GSPS 075360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, January 28, 1986
Special events center possible
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By KIRSTEN DIETZ
Assistant City Editor
A Texas A&M alumnus and his
Wife announced Monday that
Ihev have given 265 acres of land
[worth S13 million to the A&M
University Development Founda-
gbn, the largest gif t ever made to
■e University and one of the
in ^est to any state institution.
■ The land, donated by Dr. and
Mis. Chester J. Reed of Houston,
is one mile south of Katy in Fort
Bend County. The proceeds
Rom its sale will be applied to
instruction of a multi-purpose
Becial events center on A&M’s 1
west campus.
B"My wife and 1 are very happy
give this gift,” Reed said. “VVe
love this school very much.”
■ A&M President Frank E. Van-
jjlvef said that, without Reed’s
■ft, the status of the special
jtients center would have been in
[jeopardy.
B “We were moving ahead with it
because I think it’s a facility the
lliniversity needs, but it would
have been very, very difficult to
pm: financing together in any rea
sonable time,” he said. “That’s
what makes the gift so marvelous,
Bcause it comes at an opportu-
nity when the University needs to
tjthe a step which budgetary limi
tations would have made difficult
lltake.”
A&M Board of Regents mem
ber William A. McKenzie of Dal-
also expressed his apprecia
tion of Reed’s gift.
"This gift by Dr. and Mrs.
Reed will start the accomplish
ment of something that I’ve long
fieamed for — an events center
that will surpass the events center
in Austin, the Frank Erwin Cen
ter," McKenzie said. “In my opin
ion it will be a state-of-the-art in-
Houston investor Chester Reed, who donated 265
acres worth over Si3 million to Texas A&M, holds
the top of the model for the special events center.
Reed is talking to (from left) Robert Walker, vice-
Photo by DEAN SAITO
president for development, A&M President Frank
Vandiver and David Eller, chairman of the A&M
Board of Regents. The land will be sold to provide
money to construct the center.
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stallation that will be cherished by
the student body, the faculty and
by all the inhabitants of this re
gion.”
The board currently is consid
ering several designs for the cen
ter, which could cost between $36
and $45 million and seat between
13,000 and 17,000 people, de
pending on which design is cho
sen.
The center, to be built on Ol
sen Road at the present site of the
Beef Cattle Center, will be used
for graduation ceremonies, ath
letic and entertainment events,
conventions and other sizable
meetings and events.
The special events center will
replace the 32-year-old G. Rollie
White Coliseum, which holds
7,000 people for basketball games
and 8,000 for commencement
exercises and concerts.
Reed graduated from A&M in
1947 with a degree in veterinary
medicine. In 1984 he received a
Distinguished Alumnus Award.
He also has donated $1 million
for the construction of the new
chancellor’s home, two tracts of
land used to generate money for
40 Corps of Cadets scholarships
and $500,000 for an endowed
chair in the College of Veterinary
Medicine.
High court says
Exxon must issue
$2 billion refund
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Exxon Corp.
must repay consumers nationwide
more than $2 billion in refunds and
interest for overcharging on the sale
of oil from a Texas field, the Su
preme Court decided Monday.
The- court, without comment, let
stand a ruling that the money be dis
tributed to the states and spent on
programs to help the needy and en
ergy consumers.
The penalty against Exxon is the
largest monetary judgment in Amer
ican history to be upheld on appeal.
Last November, a state district
court jury in Texas ordered Texaco
to pay $10.53 billion to Pennzoil for
improperly interfering with that
company’s acquisition of Getty Oil
Co. Appeals in the case are pending.
The judgment against Exxon was
upheld last July by a special federal
appeals court in Washington.
Exxon, the nation’s largest cor
poration, was found to have over
priced oil from the Hawkins field
near Tyler between 1975 and 1981.
The corporation said it was the
victim of confusing federal regula
tions. Exxon lawyers said the cor
poration was penalized for expand
ing production at a time of
heightened national concern over
energy shortages.
The Supreme Court also was
urged by the airline industry, other
oil companies, a utility company, a
trucking firm, a taxicab company
and a motorist to review the case and
order redistribution of the money.
They said they should be re
imbursed for buying overpriced oil
from Exxon.
Exxon was found to have made il
legal profits of $895.5 million by
classifying so-called “old” oil as
“new” oil and thus selling it at nearly
twice the price. The dispute over
what is old oil and what is new' in
volves exactly when that accounting
changeover took place.
Exxon said federal energy offi
cials created “an uncertain, con
stantly shifting and incoherent
crazy-quilt of regulatory prescrip
tions” that the corporation found
impossible to obey.
But U.S. District Judge Thomas
Flannery, in his 1983 ruling against
the corporation, said, “Exxon w'as
hardly an innocent abroad, inter
preting in the midst of confusing
babble a direction sign labeled in a
foreign language.”
The balance of the judgment
against Exxon is in interest charges
ofabout $500,000 a day.
Exxon said in a statement it was
“extremely disappointed” in the de
cision not to review the case.
“We had hoped that after a review
of the case, the Supreme Court
would agree that the district court
summary judgement included major
inequities and that Exxon and other
producers should be allowed to pre
sent their complete case in court,”
Exxon said.
Exxon was ordered to pay the $2
billion to the federal government for
redistribution to the states based on
their energy consumption during
the period of overpricing.
The states must spend the money
on energy conservation, such as
weatherizing buildings and reducing
consumption by schools and hospi
tals, and to aid the poor with home
utility bills.
State Attorney General Jim Mat
tox said Texas’ share will be about
$178 million, which “is being held in
escrow, and it’s as good as in the
bank.”
Regents appropriate funds for design
Parking garage gets go-ahead
By MONA L. PALMER
and
MARY ANN HARVEY
Staff Writers
I The Texas A&M Board of Regents appropri
ated $260,000 Monday for the preliminary de
sign of a multi-level parking garage for A&M.
f Moffatt Adams, architect, said the garage will
be south of University Drive between Asbury
and Ireland Streets and the estimated project
[post is $12,620,000. This is the best location be
cause a student can walk to the library in eight or
line minutes, he said.
■ Adams said the loss of 600 parking places to
^construction and the tremendous growth of
A&Mjustify building the parking garage.
[“The parking system has just not caught up
ph the needs of the students,” he said.
■A&M President Frank E. Vandiver said, "I’m
Jibtsure we ought to spend all of the money, but
itjs something we’re going to have to have
loner or later so we might as well do it now.”
■ Charles Cargill, vice president for operations,
sai l the five- or six-level garage will have park-
Jg for students, faculty and staff and will in-
Kease parking fees by 5 percent. An ample
Ijnount of parking also will be devoted to visi
tors, he said.
Adams anticipates traffic congestion around
the new garage when it first opens but believes
congestion is normal and the traffic will adjust.
Regent Henry Cisneros, San Antonio mayor,
said the architects should concentrate on en
trances and exits to lessen traffic congestion.
Cargill said the traffic to and from the park
ing garage would “trickle in and trickle out”
since students and faculty come and go at differ
ent times.
The board also allocated $1 million to A&M
libraries and says it is committed to continuing
investments to upgrade the University libraries.
In other action the board appropriated
$80,000 for a preliminary renovation design for
the Physics Building. Adams said the renova
tions include cleaning out the building and re
working the insides to fit the needs of the psy
chology department.
The regents also authorized complete renova
tion of Corps-style dormitories at the rate of two
or four dorms every year.
The board also approved the initiation and
preparation of requirements for a computer sci
ence building. Dr. Herbert Richardson, vice
chancellor for engineering, said the building is a
crucial facility in terms of size and estimated
growth of the computer science field at A&M
because the present facilities are very limited.
The board also approved a request for Texas
A&M to offer a bachelor of science degree in ge
netics. The University has offered the master of
science and doctorate in genetics since the
1940s. The rapid growth of genetic engineering
and biotechnology, however, has made a bache
lor of science degree in genetics necessary,
according to a report issued by Vandiver’s of
fice.
Also approved by the board was the College
of Agriculture’s proposal to establish an Insti
tute for International Agribusiness Studies. The
Institute will help facilitate Prairie View A&M
University’s international role in teaching and
research.
The proposed Institute will focus on specific
projects aimed at research, development, train
ing, and the application of agribusiness on a
worldwide scale, according to the proposal sub
mitted by Prairie View.
The two universities plan to work together to
strengthen their individual and joint capabili
ties.
The establishment of a new undergraduate
degree program in computer science for marine
See A&M regents, page 12
Bisor first block chosen
to heod MSC Council
By JEANNE ISENBERG
Staff Writer
Robert Bisor, a junior socio
logy major from Bryan, became
the first black chosen to be Me
morial Student Center president
Monday night.
Bisor, who is currently serving
as the MSC executive vice presi
dent for marketing and person
nel, was elected by the council at
its first meeting of the semester.
Bisor was MSC vice president
for cultural programs in the fall,
but when his current position
opened up, he interviewed and
was chosen to fill it, Davis said.
“Bobby Bisor has always been
instrumental to many phases of
the MSC,” she said.
“He started out his freshman
year as a committee worker on
the Black Awareness Committee
and then moved up to "executive
vice chairman of that MSC com
mittee.”
Bisor is the first of the new of
ficers to be announced for next
year. The nominating process for
the officers takes place in several
dif ferent stages, starting with the
highest position of president and
working down through the exec
utive vice presidents and chair
men, followed by the selection of
the vice presidents and directors.
The nominating committee
will be interviewing for the un
filled positions through the mid
dle of March, and the new offi
cers will take over their jobs in
April.
The council also approved for
mer presidents Gerald Ford and
Jimmy Carter, as well as Dr. Ste
phen Ambrose, an authority on
U.S. foreign relations and mili
tary history and the author of
“Rise to Globalism”, as the speak
ers for the April 1 Wiley Lecture
Series, “Interventionism: The
Role of the U.S. in Resolving In
ternational Conflicts.”
Reuben Brochner, the director
of research for the Wiley Lecture
Series, said the program will ex
plore the current state of interna
tional relations, attitudes of
Americans toward interventio
nism and the history of interven
tionism in America among other
related topics.
hatcher pulls her party through derisive situation
Associated Press
LONDON — Prime Minister
laigaret Thatcher battled shouts of
Vision and calls for her resignation
[onday in what the news media
Slled a life-or-death Parliament
leech to rally her Conservative
Irty from the embarrassment of
tio major Cabinet resignations.
■ Thatcher won solid backing from
■rConservatives, including former
fieiense Secretary Michael Hesel-
pe, whom she had blamed for spar
ing the political crisis. Heseltine
had said he was leaving because the
prime minister had used unconstitu
tional means to steer the Cabinet to
ward favoring an American bid over
a European attempt to rescue Brit
ain’s failing Westland PLC heli
copter company.
Thatcher won a technical vote to
close the raucous, three-hour debate
in the House of Commons by 379-
219. Her Conservatives have a 143-
seat majority in the 650-seat house,
but the significance of the action was
that nearly all her party members
were present and voted together.
During the debate, opposition leg
islators accused her of a cover-up in
volving a leaked letter, critical of He
seltine, that subsequently led to the
resignation of the second Cabinet
member, Trade and Industry Secre
tary Leon Brittan. He took responsi
bility for the news leak.
David Owen, leader of the centrist
Social Democratic Party, said
Thatcher “is not worthy to hold the
high office that she does.”
Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock
had called Monday’s emergency de
bate, saying it was to determine if
Thatcher was involved in the leaking
of the letter and if she had lied in
earlier statements to Parliament.
Thatcher maintained that for 16
days after Brittan leaked the letter
Jan. 6, she did not know of his in
volvement.
She said an inquiry determined
that the letter was leaked to the news
media as a result of a misunder
standing between officials of the-
Trade and Industry Department
and bureaucrats at her office.
“I did not give my consent to dis
closure,” the prime minister told
Parliament. “It was not sought. And
I have indicated I deeply regret the
manner in which it was made.”
Brittan, who resigned Friday after
Thatcher first disclosed his responsi
bility for the leak, backed her ac
count saying: “I accept full responsi-
bilitv for the fact and form of
disclosure ... I profoundly regret
the way it happened.”
Heseltine, who left the Cabinet
Jan. 9 following a'Confrontation with
Thatcher, said her speech had
ended the political row over the
Westland affair.
The crisis had developed as He
seltine backed a West European con
sortium’s bid to rescue Westland
Owen said,“The prime minister
must have hoped this debate would
end this whole affair. I fear it will
not. I don’t think the prime minister
has come out of this with her integ
rity intact.”