— « « — i»
The Battalion
. 82 Mo. 59 CISPS 045360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, November 20, 1986
utor might have violated System policy
By Sondra Pickard
Senior Staff Writer
n A&M engineering student has
T£R Lisrfj bien running what is described by
t ^P^wmer employees as a successful
ftESHiw ' an ( ‘ popular tutoring business in
several buildings on campus, despite
aiystem policy that prohibits selling
services on A&M property
>Hthout permission.
■For at least a year now, Bill Var-
S a petroleum engineering stu-
.. dint, apparently has been operating
alutoring program geared toward
“"■Iping freshmen with various sub-
aKis — particularly chemistry, math,
pbysics, business analysis, account
ing, computer science, biology and
mechanical engineering.
Varvel told The Battalion, in an
article published Oct. 13, that a
group of professors from the math,
physics and engineering depart
ments saw a need for such a tutoring
service. He said he started his tutor
ing program with the assistance of
professors and other students. Var
vel also was quoted as saying, “We
are not looking to take any of the
students away from the private tutor
market.”
However, Charlotte Hill, a physics
graduate student and former em
ployee of Varvel’s, said that to the
best of her knowledge, the tutoring
service is a private enterprise, inde
pendent of the University, and not
supported by any faculty members
she knew of.
In a recent telephone interview,
Varvel refused to comment or an
swer further questions concerning
his tutoring business, although he
had talked about it several weeks
ago.
“I’d like to just drop it,” he said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of heat over it for
no real reason. I don’t care to ex
pound on it and there’s nothing to
worry about.”
In an interview during the week
of Oct. 26, Hill said Varvel himself
tutors freshman chemistry and had
several tutors working for him who
taught other subjects. She said Var
vel tutors three chemistry classes,
with about 60 to 70 students in each
class.
Hill and another former em
ployee of Varvel’s, who asked not to
be identified, both said that when
they worked for Varvel, students
were charged $3 per hour per stu
dent, and that Varvel got 60 percent
of payment, with the rest going to
the tutor.
Both also said Varvel told them he
needed the percentage to “pay rent”
on the classrooms they used on cam
pus.
When first hired at the beginning
of the semester. Hill said Varvel told
her that his business was University-
sponsored and that the chemistry
department had been the first to ask
him to start the tutoring program.
Later, she was told, the math and
physics departments were included.
“There were inconsistencies in
what he was telling me,” Hill said,
“and that’s when I began to get sus
picious. But he must be a great tea
cher because he really draws in peo
ple.”
Dr. Larry Peck, associate profes
sor of chemistry in charge of the
freshman program, said Varvel has
never been endorsed by the chemis
try department and that, to his
knowledge, no chemistry professors
are working with him.
Dr. Thomas Adair, associate head
of the physics department, also said
Varvel has never had support from
his department.
Dr. Robert Chenowith, assistant
dean of the College of Engineering,
said Varvel at one time conducted
his tutoring service in Zachry Engi
neering Center, but that he was
asked to leave because he was “vio
lating University policy.”
Hill said she was was tutoring for
Varvel in Zachry at the time he was
asked to leave. She said she was
See Tutor, page 16
Reagan says
arms decision
was his alone
From left, Fred D. Ledley, Thomas H. Murray, Donnie J. Self and J. Robert Nelson.
Photo by Tom Ownbey
Panelists say caution needed in biogenetics
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
Three panelists gave different
iewpoints on the ethics of biogenet-
Wednesday night, but each
■tressed the importance of exercis
ing caution in the development and
■se of biogenetics and biotechno-
|logy.
Speaking at MSC Political Fo-
|nim’sE.L. Miller Lecture Series, Dr.
hornas Murray, professor of medi-
!al humanities at the University of
"exas Medical Branch in Galveston,
told an audience of about 200 in
Rudder Theater that the oldest
orry about biogenetics is that of
todak plans
ithdrawal
from S. Africa
■ JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
®U ) ) — Eastman Kodak, citing a
■eak economy made worse by apart-
Ifltid, said Wednesday it will with-
jftraw from South Africa and pro-
libit its subsidiaries from supplying
■roducts to the country.
The photographic equipment
jianufacturer is the seventh Ameri-
pn company to announce recently
lat it is leaving South Africa and
he first of them to halt sales of its
■roducts.
I Kodak employs 466 people at five
les and service facilities in South
frica.
“We have no doubt that the sys
tem of apartheid has played a major
ale in the economy’s under-perfor-
jiance,” Colby Chandler, chairman
Ind chief executive officer said in a
Statement.
Atex Inc., a Kodak computer-
naking subsidiary based in Massa-
Ihusetts, also announced it will pull
}ut, according to a Johannesburg
Spokesman.
T Three major South African news
paper chains use Atex computer sys-
[lems: the Argus Group, South Afri-
lan Associated Newspapers, and
flasionale Pers.
Neither the Kodak statement nor
lompany spokesman Henry Kaska
|in Rochester would explain why the
ale of Kodak products will be
|anned after April 30, 1987.
“We went all the way,” he said.
|We decided we wouldn’t take any
lalfway measures. . . . The reason
Bor the grace period is to allow our
Tustomers to find other supply
burces. You can’t just tell a hospital
aat it can’t buy anymore X-ray
film.”
creating a “super race.”
But he said many of the worries
about the creation of a super race
would diminish if there was not so
much secrecy surrounding the rela
tively new industry and science of bi
ogenetics.
“We need to think seriously about
tampering with human traits on
such a grand scale,” Murray said.
“The ability to find, clone, and pro
duce human genes is a great power
and a power that many of us worry
whether we can use wisely.”
Dr. Robert Nelson, director of the
Institute of Religion at the Texas
Medical Center, agreed with Mur
ray’s concern over the use and devel
opment of biogenetics.
“It is a concern to us non-religious
types that the only babies that live or
die will be the perfect babies,” Nel
son said.
Dr. Fred Ledley, assistant profes
sor of cell biology at the Baylor Col
lege of NJedicine, spoke enthusiasti
cally of the future of biogenetics.
“Biogenetics can’t be viewed
clearly if clouded by the science fic
tion ‘Frankenstein monster’ perspec
tive,” Ledley said. “In biogenetical
ethics, there needs to be a set of prio
rities, and I believe a lot of good can
come from it.”
The panelists fielded several ques
tions from the audience, and one of
the questions concerned the man
ufacturing and sale of illegal growth
hormone by “street biochemists.”
Growth hormone can be syntheti
cally manufactured using biogenet
ics. Growth hormone is similar to
anabolic steroids in that it allows
larger-than-normal growth, but its
side effects are largely unknown.
Ledley said that while the pros
pect of someone illegally manufac
turing synthetic growth hormone in
his garage was indeed feasible, he
thought it was not plausible.
Another question from the audi
ence dealt with the possibility of a
See Genes, page 16
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan said Wednesday night
the controversial decision to sell
arms to Iran was his alone, and said
two other American hostages in Leb
anon would have been freed if there
had not been so much publicity
about the shipments.
At a news conference thoroughly
dominated by questions surrounding
the long-secret Iranian arms ship
ments, the president said he had
made the right decision despite the
furor that it provoked. “I don’t think
a mistake has been made,” he said.
At his first news conference in
nearly three months, Reagan said
Secretary of State George Shultz will
stay in his Cabinet post, despite his
scarcely disguised opposition to the
arms sale. “He has made it plain he
would stay as long as I want him, and
I want him,” the president said.
Defending his arms deal, Reagan
said he was not breaking any law in
authorizing the arms sale or or
dering top aides not to provide Con
gress with immediate information.
Reagan thus moved to quell a con
troversy that has not only spawned
criticism in Congress but also threat
ened his own credibility as president.
When a questioner asked whether
the president had been forced on
the defensive, Reagan bristled. “I
don’t feel I have anything to defend
about,” he said.
“The decision for the operation is
mine and mine alone,” he said.
Reagan, in an opening statement.
A&M student charged with telephone fraud
A Texas A&M student on Wednesday was ar
rested by University Police and charged with
theft of a service.
Archie Roy Roberts, a 20-year-old sophomore
from Houston, was charged in connection with
the illegal use of $1,500 in long-distance services
during the months of September and October,
said Bob Wiatt, director of security and traffic at
A&M.
Roberts was booked at the Brazos County Jail
at 2:27 p.m. and discharged later on a personal
recognizance bond.
Wiatt said Star-Tel, a long-distance service, is
pressing charges against the Cain Hall resident.
He added that this is the first arrest of an A&M
student for this offense.
In the past, he said, the phone companies nor
mally didn’t press charges for this offense but
simply settled the debt with the offender instead.
But now, Wiatt said, the companies are realiz
ing the magnitude of the problem.
Wiatt said the company called University Po
lice and asked them to conduct an investigation
to find who was stealing the service.
Wiatt added that the University police would
conduct investigations again if the need for oth
ers comes up.
promised to provide key members of
Congress with all information about
what he said were two sales he au
thorized.
In response to a question, he said
there may still be information he
cannot divulge in public, and at one
point denied any Israeli partici
pation in the arms shipments.
But in an unusual written
statement of clarification issued
shortly after the news conference
ended, Reagan acknowledged some
thing he had denied earlier.“There
was a third country involved in our
secret project with Iran,” he said.
Senior administration officials
earlier had identified that country as
Israel and said the United States
condoned an Israeli shipment of
arms to Iran about the time Ameri
can hostage Benjamin Weir was re
leased and before the U.S. arms sales
began. Reagan conceded that the
shipments amounted to a waiver of
his policy of retaining an arms em
bargo against Iran, but said the ex
ception was justified by the potential
rewards.
Three American hostages were
released in Beirut at times that coin
cided with the arms shipments, Rea
gan acknowledged, as he had in a
televised speech last week. But the
president again said he had not been
trading arms for hostages.
“I don’t see where the kidnappers
or hostage holders gained any
thing,” he said. “They let the hos
tages go ... As a matter of fact, if
there had not been so much public
ity, we would have had two more
that we were expecting.”
The president did not identify the
two, but presumably he was refer
ring to Terry Anderson and
Thomas Sutherland, being held by a
group that is under the influence of
the Iranian government.
“We would have had all five of
them (hostages) by this last weekend
had it not been for the attendant
confusion that arose here in report
ing it,” Reagan said at another point.
A&M bonfire crew ‘pushing’to the finish
By Craig Renfro
Staff Writer
It takes 9,000 logs, several tons
of bailing wire and 500 gallons of
diesel fuel to construct this flam
ing tower. And at 55 feet, it
stands as one of the tallest bon
fires in the world.
When finished, it’s topped by
an outhouse with an Austin city
limits sign nailed snugly to its
side.
The bonfire stands for Texas
A&M’s “burning desire to beat
the hell outta t.u.” This year’s
bonfire is scheduled to burn at
“dark thirty” Tuesday, which
translates into 30 minutes after
dark.
Tradition has it that if the bon
fire still stands after midnight,
A&M will win the football game
against the University of Texas.
If it falls before midnight, tradi
tion states, A&M will lose.
Regardless of the legend, the
all-time series record is 63-24, in
favor of UT.
Before the bonfire is lighted,
many hours of hard, grueling
work are put into the construc
tion process. But the true grind is
going on right now during Push
Week.
The bonfire’s centerpole was
raised Oct. 30. Since then, log
upon log has been added to form
the bonfire’s structure. When
completed it will have a 45-foot
diameter base.
Push began Sunday, and by
Tuesday, four of the six levels
were near completion. The 24-
hour-a-day construction is per
formed in six-hour shifts, with
about 200 people working at
each. Work won’t stop until the
bonfire is completed.
As a 50-foot crane slowly lifts
the logs to the top, workers from
the four levels tie them with wire
to the already formed base.
Blain Reeves, 21, of Houston
and Cliff Murray, 22, of Orange,
are “centerpole pots” for this
year’s production. The two are
members of Company B-l, the
unit responsible for raising the
centerpole.
Reeves said the “redpots” are
in charge of the actual construc
tion.
“They are the ones who over
see the entire process,” Reeves
said. “Without them, not a lot
would get done.”
And without some labor-saving
equipment, the job also would
take much longer.
Murray said most of the bon
fire equipment was donated by
A&M alumni and area businesses.
In addition to two tractors, there
are two cranes, several chainsaws
Elephant Walk ’86 slated
to begin at noon Monday
One of Texas A&M’s more
rambunctious traditions will re
sume at noon Monday when this
year’s Elephant Walk starts at the
Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue.
Traditionally, Elephant Walk
involves seniors walking aimlessly
around campus in a long chain
like dying elephants who are no
longer of use to A&M.
The Class of ’88 will hold a yell
practice at the Fish Pond before
hand, and many will stalk the se
niors with water “elephant” guns
and shaving cream to the bonfire
site, where the march will end.
and axes, and a repair and stor
age shed.
At the top of the centerpole
rests Company B-l’s flag, with its
motto, “Like hell we can’t,” and
its shield emblazoned across it.
The shield shows a soldier in fa
tigues, beer in hand.
Workers are in a constant
chain of motion. Groups of 10 to
20 people help carry logs closer to
the stack. Meanwhile, two tractors
skirt the perimeter of Duncan
Field, dragging in any stray logs.
Civilian redpot Eric Witten-
myer, 20, of Sugarland, has
worked on bonfire each of the
past four years. He said he
worked his way up the ladder to
become a “redpot.”
“I just came out here each year
and worked as hard as I could,
and they felt I deserved it,” Wit-
tenmyer said.
And through his efforts, he has
earned a residency in the “Red
pot Hotel,” which is erected
southeast of the bonfire, and
houses this year’s leaders. Five of
the eight “redpots” are in the
Corps of Cadets.
The “hotel” is furnished with
bunkbeds and a wood-burning
stove to provide all the creature
comforts of home. The bonfire
cookie crew provides refresh
ments, and a mobile delicatessen
rests just north of the bonfire site.
Because the stack crews work
in six-hour shifts, the possibility
for missed study time is great.
But Wittenmyer said bonfire
hasn’t interfered with his studies.
“I have my classes in the af
ternoon, so I sleep in the morn
ing and then go to class and work
on the bonfire,” he said.
Despite the beliefs of some that
the bonfire is strictly a Corps
event, Wittenmyer estimated that
the work force is split 50-50 be
tween the Corps and civilians.
“A lot of people think that bon
fire is strictly the Corps, but with
out the non-regs it would never
get done,” Wittenmyer said.
In case of injuries. Emergency
Medical Service members, armed
with a first-aid kit and oxygen
masks, are camped out near the
bonfire site,
EMS workers David Pogue and
Shelly Boling say there haven’t
been any major injuries so far,
just minor cuts and bruises.
Wittenmyer says bonfire is ex
pected to be finished on time.
“We’re just about on time,” he
says. “But we need to do as much
as possible this week, because we
don’t get a lot done on the week
end.”
As the work continues, the
strains of a song are heard
through the public address
speakers. Some students sing
while they work, but as always,
the work continues.