Alcohol awareness group
urges responsible drinking
— Page 3
Lady Aggies lose close one
to second-place Red Raiders
— Page 7
The Battalion
/ol. 83 No. 101 GSPS 075360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 19, 1986
Sun Break
IStudents near the Langford Architecture Building
lenjoy Tuesday’s warm weather, which broke re-
[cords across much of Texas. Temperatures were
Photo by ANTHONY S. CASPER
in the 80s across most of the state and the 90s in
South Texas. Forecasts call for temperatures in the
area to remain in the upper 80s until Friday.
NASA: No report of low
temperatures given
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — NASA exec
utives told Congress Tuesday senior
officials responsible for the decision
to launch Challenger on its ill-fated
mission were never told tempera
tures on the surface of the shuttle’s
right booster rocket had plunged to
below 10 degrees.
At an often contentious hearing
before the Senate science subcom
mittee, space agency officials also
said the manufacturers of the rocket
booster approved a decision to
launch after initially expressing con
cerns about the impact of low tem
peratures on flight safety.
NASA shuttle director Jesse
Moore said technicians had found
temperature readings in the range
of 7 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit on the
right hand rocket booster a few
hours before launch.
Asked about reports that top offi
cials responsible for the launch deci
sion were never told of the readings,
Moore replied that was a “correct as
sessment as we understand it now.”
Under questioning from Sen.
Donald Riegle, D-Mich., Moore said
if he had known of the low readings,
he would have asked for more infor
mation.
But Moore said the “ice team,”
which recorded the data, did not re
lay the ipformation to top launch of
ficials.
The reason, he said; was the tech
nicians were there to check for ice
that could damage the shuttle’s frag
ile tiles during ascent.
But Moore and Dr. William Gra
ham, the acting NASA administra
tor, stressed that the readings were
made with hand-held infrared de
vices that have large bounds for er
ror — and are thus subject to doubt.
The air temperature was 38 de
grees at launch.
See NASA, page 10
July shuttle launch
faces more delays
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The Air
Force still hopes to launch a shut
tle from the West Coast in July,
but the much-delayed event is
likely to be again postponed by
the investigation into the Chal
lenger’s Jan. 28 explosion and
doubts about the safety of new,
lighter boosters.
Vandenberg spokesman Capt.
Rick Sanford said workers at the
$2.8 billion launch complex at
Vandenberg Air Force Base ex
pect to start late this week assem
bling the lightweight boosters.
A statement issued by Vanden
berg last week said preparations
for a mid-July launch continue as
planned, dependent on findings
by the presidential panel looking
into the Challenger disaster.
Seymour Himmel, a retired
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration official and now a
consultant to its Aerospace Safety
Advisory Panel, said, “Until the
causes of the disaster are under
stood and corrective action taken,
obviously the system is not ready
to fly.”
Vandenberg’s debut as Ameri
ca’s second spaceport has been
postponed twice because of con
struction delays, manpower
shortages, problems in preparing
military payloads and launch fa
cilities and troubles with NASA’s
overall shuttle schedule.
Even before the Challenger ac
cident, it was doubtful that the
July launch target would be met.
Because Vandenberg’s fixed,
steel-and-concrete launch pad is
less flexible than the mobile
launch platform at Florida, joints
between booster segments may be
subject to more severe stresses.
&M System unveils plans to meet 13 percent budget cut
University News Service
I The 13-percent reduction in gen-
revenue spending ordered
|uesday by Governor Mark White
anslates into a proposed cutback of
lore than $68 million for the Texas
l&M University System for the cur-
Int fiscal year and next.
] Responding to the governor’s ex-
butive order, A&M System Chan-
bllor Arthur C. Hansen Tuesday
Jternoon called together the presi-
lents of the four universities and
■tads of the eight state agencies that
Imprise the statewide institution.
Jhey were told to initiate a plan that
lould achieve the governor’s pro-
ased reductions and to have the
ready for implementation by
farch 1.
“The governor has issued this ex
ecutive order, and it is up to all of us
to comply. . . ” Hansen said. “Quite
simply, there is a $1.3 billion short
fall that the governor has asked all of
us to cover.”
More than half of the proposed
cuts — more than $38 million —
would come out of the budgets for
Texas A&M if the 13-percent reduc
tion were to be applied proportion
ally throughout the system.
In addition to $38.6 million ear
marked for cuts for A&M, 13-per-
cent reductions would mean drops
of the following magnitudes for
other parts of the system over the
two-year period ending Aug. 31,
1987: Prairie View A&M University,
$3,243,382; Tarleton State Univer
sity, $2,363,125; Texas A&M at Gal
veston, $1,166,015; Texas Agricul
tural Experiment Station,
$9,421,474; Texas Agricultural Ex
tension Service, $8,117,321; Rodent
and Predatory Animal Control Serv
ice, $574,966; Texas Engineering
Experiment Station, $1,353,145;
Texas Transportation Institute,
$260,653; Texas Engineering Ex
tension Service, $682,965; Texas
Forest Service, $2,185,995; Texas
Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Labo
ratory, $483,377; and TAMUS ad
ministration, $96,280.
Hansen pointed out that the gov
ernor’s executive order does not call
for an across-the-board 13-percent
cut, but rather for an overall reduc
tion of that size.
Hansen pointed out that White’s
executive order specifically states
that salary increases mandated by
Britain's
Charles
honors
Perot
Associated Press
DALLAS — At a banquet fit
|for a king, Britain’s Prince
Charles presented Texas bil
lionaire and computer magnate
H. Ross Perot with the Winston
Churchill Award Tuesday night
in Dallas.
In presenting the award to the
55-year-old businessman, the
Prince of Wales praised Perot as a
man of “bold imagination, pi
oneering spirit and dynamic lead
ership,” attributes which, he said,
were exemplified by the man in
whose name the award was pre
sented.
Guests at the presentation in-
duded first lady Nancy Reagan.
The prince’s trip to Texas is
billed as a kickoff for the Sesqui-
I centennial.
“I seem to be becoming a pro-
j fessional Sesquicentennial cele-
brator, that is with Western Aus-
| tralia, Victoria, and others,” he
said during a luncheon speech at
City Hall. “What have I done to
deserve it? Am I that prematurely
aged?”
the appropriations bill for the cur
rent biennium will be honored. The
mandated increases for state em
ployees, including staff personnel at
public universities, total 3 percent
for the fiscal year that begins Sept. 1.
Hansen said the system’s current
budgetary guidelines for the next
fiscal year were to allow for increases
averaging 4.5 percent, but the only
provision now is for the mandated
three percent increase.
All faculty raises are considered
merit increases and not part of the
mandated increase included in the
appropriations bill, but Hansen said
that all the universities within the
A&M System should keep faculty
salary increases on the same level as
for other employees. He said faculty
salary increases will thus average 3
percent.
He also cited White’s directive
that essentially calls for a hiring
freeze.
Hansen said a governor’s office
representative indicated, however,
that the filling of a position that is
critical to the operation of an agency
would be permitted with a letter of
justification to the chancellor.
Other provisions ol the executive
jarder, all effective immediately, in
clude:
• All out-of-state travel shall be
limited to functions involving the di
rect delivery of services or that
which is absolutely required to per
form the statutory mission of the
agency and must receive the prior
written approval of the chief exec
utive officer of the agency. In addi
tion, all state agencies and universi
ties shall develop and implement
procedures to reduce in-state travel
expenditures by at least 20 percent
for the fiscal year 1986-87 biennium.
• No promotions or merit pay in
creases will be given without the
prior approval and written justifica
tion of an agency’s chief executive.
• No purchases of non-essential
supplies, motor vehicles and capital
equipment shall be made, except
those for which documented savings
can be clearly demonstrated during
this biennium.
• Review the operation of equip
ment and facilities and implement
energy and water conservation mea
sures to achieve maximum savings in
utility expenditures.
Racism in America
Speaker says attitude toward prejudice can be changed only by whites
By YVONNE DEGRAW
Reporter
Dr. Charles King, director of the
Urban Crisis Center in Atlanta, emo
tionally bruised an audience of
about 300 at Texas A&M Tuesday
night to prove that everyone is ra
cially prejudiced.
And although King later repaired
the injuries, he continued to stress
that “we are all prejudiced.”
King said the cause of racism in
America is white people and that
they are the only ones who can
change things.
When King tried to convince the
audience of this, the first of many
shouting matches began.
During the program, King distrib
uted marshmallows and asked peo
ple to throw them at anyone they felt
had made a racist statement.
Jody Weiss, one of 20 panel mem
bers representing a cross-section of
society, was the first victim when
King asked the panel, “Have you
ever gone up to a person and not
seen what color he or she is?”
When Weiss answered yes, she
was marshmallowed by the audi
ence. But Weiss wasn’t the only tar
get. By the end of the program,
marshmallows littered Rudder The
ater.
The audience’s emotions ranged
from angry to amused to ashamed,
and King never lost its attention.
Several of the blacks, who com
prised about 75 percent of the audi
ence, said it felt good to have some
one to speak for them, showing
whites how racism feels.
King, who has been conducting
similar seminars for 17 years, at
tacked, bullied and insulted panel
and audience, members until they
became angry.
He later explained that he has
tried many other techniques but
none of them has related his mes
sage as well.
Near the end of his presentation,
King asked an audience member,
who had criticized him for calling
people fools and liars if the student
finally understood his method.
“Yes sir, you were trying to shake
us loose from some of our hypoc
risy,” the student replied.
“I appologize for the method, but
not for the message,” King said.
He spent the first part of the semi
nar attempting to get both blacks
and whites on the panel to admit
that whites cause racism.
“Stop playing games!” he shouted.
King asked the blacks in the audi
ence how they felt when dealing with
white society.
One student said she felt frus
trated because she knows she will
have to deal w ith being looked at dif
ferently all her life.
Other students said they feel as if
they must accomplish more because
they are always being watched.
King quoted a survey, which said
that blacks are angry at whites and
whites are fearful of blacks.
King said whites feel threatened
when they are faced with interracial
relationships such as w'hen they meet
a black and white couple or live next
door to a black family.
King diagrammed a process,
which he said, leads to the problems
blacks have.
He said because white employers
will not hire blacks, they have an un
employment rate double that of
whites. Many blacks go on welfare
because of this, he said.
He said poverty leads to other
problems — broken homes, juvenile
crime and low' life expectancies.
In all these categories, he said,
blacks fare worse than whites.
“This problem will never be
solved as long as we act polite,” he
said. “We are all prejudiced. It’s
when you act upon your prejudice
that it is wrong.”
By the end of his program, King
convinced at least one panel member
that everyone is prejudiced.
Asked what she had learned,
Weiss said her opinions had
changed.
“I learned that I’m lying to myself
about the way that I wish it could
be,” she said, earning herself a
round of applause.
'■ T -
Photo by TOM OWNS BEY
Dr. Charles King speaks in Rudder Theater.