Democratic hopeful Briscoe
optimistic about campaign
— Page 3
A&M hopes to keep respect
in final season series with TCU
— Page 9
p——Texas ASM —^
The Battalion
College Station, Texas
Friday, May 2, 1986
Soviet Union
says radiation
is decreasing
:d saying,
Acc/denf hasn't canceled students' trip
its until there is
quality of the®|
I until the
idgeting has I
inancial disastf
ing certain diet-!
Aggies still plan to visit Soviet Union
in 'beViddil Nancy Feigenbaum
fell C 31 ° Reporter
■The Soviet nuclear accident at
Hernobyl comes at the dawn of the
198() summer tourist season, an im-
Btant consideration for nine
Texas A&M students and the owner
if a College Station travel agency,
have to be repwffl^ CCOV( ii n g to Hugh Hughes, a
candidate in (lie department
nee, directoro 3 f :lc j u lt education who heads the
anford °P era J, l SM section of the trip, the state de-
hat the warpil-trneru has issued a travel advisory
in no way affet f or a rac li us 0 f 100 miles around
actor.” Ki ev ,
■They said we should not be con-
1 that because lined about Moscow or Lenin-
s operate at W’MicI," Hughes says. “Moscow' is 500
and temperaifles north. They said we should be
er plants, a coni piore concernec l about Poland or
utilizing fMIstria.”
ive materials f r | $ 0 f arj none of the “Aggies in
otild be as elfeRussia” who plan to stay in the Soviet
approach. [Jfiion from May 19 to July 7 have
se the weapp®||hdrawn from the trip, Hughes
.ighly the sizef> ! lays.
id reactor that' 1‘You know Aggies aren’t easily
in 1979 —lav scared,” sa y S _
environmenU' g{ a yl a McMahan says the crisis in
day they coo • thfe Ukraine makes two months of
it safety stand'Wdy in the Soviet Union all the
lian nuclear F more interesting to her.
■TcMahan says she is most inter
ested in the dissemination of news in
H Soviet Union, such as news about
B American raid on Libya and the
nuclear accident in the Ukraine.
—*''■VVe really don’t know exactly
)m the Chertfflat they know,” she says,
ontaminated wIcMahan says she does not be-
■ e the Soviet government would
r, in an NBC let her into the country if the situa-
, said her Sovit 1
hat “someth^
had occurred 1
Kiev, she said'
rormal.”
Prof criticizes U.S. rhetoric on Chernobyl
By Nancy Feigenbaum
Reporter
A Texas A&M professor says the Soviet nuclear ac
cident at Chernobyl has caused a pattern of hysteria in
the United States similar to that caused by the crisis at
Three Mile Island in 1979.
Dr. Chester Dunning, associate professor of history,
points to a spate of rhetoric coming from American
government officials, many of whom he says are not
qualified to discuss complicated problems in nuclear
physics.
“We don’t have enough information to be making
the kinds of gross generalizations that we are,” Dun
ning says.
The official Soviet count of two dead and almost
200 hospitalized contrasts sharply with rumors of
more than 2,000 dead, as reported by the media.
But some of the most alarming figures about casual
ties in the Soviet Ukraine stem from unconfirmed ru
mors, Dunning says, often from the same source.
Dunning points out that the Soviets may have had
an opportunity before the meltdown to evacuate most
of the people w ho w'ould have been endangered.
An evacuation during an early stage of the crisis
would explain the government’s low casualty figures,
he says.
Dunning, who teaches Russian and Soviet history,
says that in the past when the Soviet government has
been willing to give precise figures, they usually turn
.out to be close to the truth.
Dunning says he expects the government to quaran
tine any contaminated food that passes through offi
cial channels.
The biggest likelihood of contamination will be
from family gardens, which are not regulated by the
agricultural ministry, he says, especially if people are
not fully informed of the dangers.
“I hope it makes them more forthright among their
allies and their own people,” Dunning says. “I’m not
holding my breath.”
Dunning says reports from analysts in Europe dif
fer significantly from statements by U.S. officials, but
coincide with reports from individual American ana
lysts. Individual American analysts, he says, can’t con
firm a second meltdown.
“If there’s any possibility to help them (the Soviets),
we blew it by our own rhetoric,” he says.
MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet
Union told a nervous world Thurs
day that radiation from the nuclear
plant disaster was abating, but one of
its diplomats said other countries
should not relax because the “acci
dent is not over.”
The Kremlin presented a calm
face, rejecting offers of help from
the United States and other coun
tries, but an international bone-mar
row transplant organization said its
offer to aid victims had been ac
cepted.
Traditional May Day parades
were held as usual, including one in
Kiev, the Ukrainian city of 2.4 mil
lion only 80 miles from the Cherno
byl power plant where a reactor
caught fire Friday. State television
showed colorfully dressed folk danc
ers performing there.
The cause of the accident has not
been revealed, but Soviet radiation
expert Pavel Ramzaev said when
asked Thursday if it was a meltdown
of the reactor core: “I suppose that is
so.”
There were conflicting reports
about w'hether the reactor fire had
been extinguished. U.S. intelligence
sources had said Wednesday in
Washington that it still raged and
could burn for weeks.
The U.S. Agriculture Department
said shifting winds were carrying a
radioactive plume from the stricken
plant over the rich farmland of the
western Ukraine and into Romania,
Hungary, eastern Czechoslovakia
and Austria. Poland reported less
fallout than in previous days, but
See related stories, page 8
said radioactivity levels in water and
soil remained high.
The Soviet government said only:
“Efforts to implement a complex of
technical measures continued at the
Chernobyl nuclear power station
(NPS) in the duration of April 30.
The radioactivity on the territory of
the NPS and the NPS’ settlement
dropped 1.5-2 times.
“Work is under way to deactivate
the contaminated areas adjacent to
the NPS territory.
“Medical assistance is adminis
tered to those affected, of whom 18
people are in serious condition.
There are no foreign citizens among
those affected.”
A Foreign Ministry official in Red
Square for the parade said a news
conference would be held when
more information became available,
but added that he could not predict
when that would be.
Officially, the casualty toll is two
dead and 197 injured, but Secretary
of State George P. Shultz said it was
higher “by good measure.”
An Israeli amateur radio operator
in Tel Aviv said a Soviet ham told
him there were 300 casualties, but
how many were dead was not clear.
David Ben-Bassat said the Soviet
ham operator told him Wednesday
that he lived 30 miles north of the
See Disaster, page 12
Regents’ reason not
to divest ‘ridiculous’
don were dangerous, for fear of
later reprisals.
Dr. Michal Barszap, owner of a lo
cal tour company that organizes stu
dent tours to the Soviet Union, says
he has not been able to get through
to his relatives in Kiev but that a
family friend in Philadelphia suc
ceeded in making a call earlier this
week.
Barszap says his relative in Kiev
said he had heard about the crisis
through official news reports but
paid little attention because the re
ports were short and much like
other news.
Barszap’s company, ITS Tours &
Travel, is split into two businesses,
one of which sells tours of the Soviet
Union.
Barszap says that about 40 of the
250 people traveling to the Soviet
Union with his company in May and
June have called to cancel.
“Relatively speaking, I am really
surprised that there is such a small
number of cancellations,” Barszap
says.
Of that number, more than half
represent an Oregon high school
group which canceled Wednesday
See Travel, page 12
By Mona Palmer
Staff Writer
The Texas A&M Board of Re
gents could divest its holdings in
South African-related companies for
moral reasons, says state Rep. Wil-
helmina Delco, chairwoman of the
House Committee on Higher Educa
tion.
Board Chairman David Eller den
ied Students Against Apartheid’s re
quest for a meeting to discuss divest
ment, saying it was not within the
board’s purview to make moral
statements.
Delco disagrees with the premise.
“That’s a ridiculous argument,”
Delco says. “I would certainly hope
they’d have some moral sense of in
tegrity in their investments.”
Students Against Apartheid had
asked the regents to make a moral
statement by divesting the $2.9 mil
lion A&M has invested in South Af
rican companies.
Eller’s objection to the meeting
came in a Jan. 14 letter to Chancellor
Arthur G. Hansen.
But Delco says the decision to di
vest South African holdings is no
different than any other investment
decision the board might make.
“Every investment has a moral as
well as financial implication,” Delco
says.
The governing bodies of institu
tions such as A&M should set a
moral tone for the institution, she
says.
The attitude that anything goes as
long as it maximizes investments is
not an acceptable premise, she says.
Bill Presnal, executive secretary
for the board, declined to discuss
Delco’s comments.
Section 11, Article VII of the
Texas Constitution sets the
guidelines for state university invest
ments.
Section 11(a) states that the re
gents shall operate under the
prudent man rule — exercising the
judgment and care under the pre
vailing circumstances, which men of
ordinary prudence, discretion and
intelligence exercise in the manage
ment of their own affairs.
htening — bi
eport came
lent official ^
ueur radio irw 111
stened in on
AP. Beutel may change its after-hour services
By Brian Pearson
Senior Staff Writer
he A.P. Beutel Health Center
broadcast by ai W,babl V- wi11 altet its after-hour
Russian in the due !° potential liability
iroblems involved with physicians
>n call, said Dr. John Koldus, vice
:avy explosion 1 Jres id ent bor student services,
le what’s happf Koldus said Wednesday that part
e death and fir* )f i he problem involves the unavai-
entified broadtability of physicians in the commu-
lity who are supposed to be on call
dt< r the center’s regular hours,
oke emotional' Idealth center regular hours are 8
:ds of dead i.ni to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8
if thousands fl® 1 - to noon on Saturdays. Health
ren and cattle.-enter staff on weekdays will attend
se tell the wpiWvaiting patients until 5 p.m.
ed him assayiif |Vou can’t get a physician to come
3ui to stay (after hours), so you have
tojget one on call and pay a retainer
for that individual,” Koldus said.
“They’ve (center staff members) got
some real problems in terms of get
ting physicians to be able to be on
call and come out here and handle
emergencies. . . .”
The emergencies involved include
illnesses or injuries needing immedi
ate attention by a physician but not
requiring special facilities and atten
tion provided by community hospi
tals such as St. Joseph, Koldus said.
He said campus patients with severe
illnesses or injuries now are referred
automatically to a community hospi
tal.
The physician retainer costs about
$75 a night, according to a health
center official.
Koldus said community physi
cians hired on retainer never have
refused to come to the center for an
emergency, but “they have been hes
itant.”
“The physician is the one that de
cides whether he comes out or not,
or whether to give the nurse instruc
tions in regard to how to handle the
situation,” Koldus said.
“That’s one of our problems in
the sense that the nurses feel like the
responsibility should sometimes be
assumed by a physician rather than
the nurses that are on duty. . . .
You’re never sure about the severity
of the thing. The difficulty is that
you can’t ask a nurse.”
Texas A&M, Koldus said, could
be responsible if a case is mis
handled.
Koldus said a recent situation, in
which a question arose over whether
a physician should handle the case,
prompted health center officials to
consider after-hour service alterna
tives.
“I don't remember the partic
ulars,” Koldus said, “but I know the
nurse was concerned and worried.”
Koldus said health center changes
may be made by next fall.
Changes in the center probably
will not include closing it down com
pletely after regular hours.
“There are a lot of things to work
See Health center, page 12
Registration will open Monday at A&M
Students can register and drop-add for Fall 1986,
first summer session and 10-week summer session
Monday through May 16, says Willis S. Ritchey, assis
tant registrar.
Registration headquarters in the Pavilion will be
open from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
While the Fall Schedule says no academic advising
will be available, Ritchey says students should check
with their departments.
The first summer session and 10-week session will
begin June 9. Students also can register for these ses
sions June 2 and 3. Ritchey says students should check
with their department to see if advising will be avail
able these days. Academic advising will be available:
• June 4, students with last names beginning with
H-O,
• June 5, students with last names beginning with
P-Z,
• June 6, students with last names beginning with
A-G,
• June 7, open registration.