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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 1986)
Tlir^'D Tne oattalion >1. 82 No. 72 USPS 045360 14 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, December 11,1986 iesel gets Nobel oce prize I; mo, Norway (AP) — Holocaust TOor Elie Wiesel, an American iter and human rights advocate, jeiled the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize .■dlesday and said the honor be- jgeci to all survivors of the Nazi illcamps and their children. Ifliwegian Nobel Committee * w 113 ” Egil Aarvik gave Wiesel Hid medal and diploma at cere- | Hs in Oslo University’s Aula 1 Hii Hall attended by 800 peo- I Hcluding King Olaf V and gov- I Hnt leaders. The prize also in- idtj $290,000. ft| m award was “in recognition of ip|rticular human spirit’s victory :riie powers of death and degra- ■ I, and as a support to the rebel- |a. inst evil in the world,” Aar- HBd. H Nobel prizes for physics, Hfttry, medicine, economics and B Hire were presented Wednes- I i HStockholm, Sweden. n a departure from tradition, H’s teen-age son, Shlomo Eli- Has invited to join his father on ■ Hdiurn for the awarding of the izr Hiously moved, the 58-year-old h Hi asked the king’s permission sa\ a brief blessing. “Thank you ■ Hrd, for giving us this day,” he I. In in emotional speech, Wiesel ■ H‘Do I have the right to rep- I H the multitudes who have per- |d? Do I have the right to accept Heat honor on their behalf? I rao No one may speak for the Id,!no one may interpret their pated dreams and visions. ■is honor belongs to all the sur- |iors and their children, and lough us, to the Jewish people ■diose destiny I have always |ntified.” ^sel said it “would be unnatural I not to make Jewish priorities n: Israel, Soviet Jewery, Jews Jb lands . . . but there are oth- Jmportant to me.” ■aid Palestinians were a people whose plight I am sensitive but e methods I deplore when they See Nobel, page 14 Rain Stance Students wait for a shuttle bus Wednesday af ternoon at the Gen. Ormond R. Simpson Drill Photo by Doug Driskill Field! The cold weather should contimie today, with snow or sleet predicted for Wednesday night. students sue UT over newspaper distribution AliSTIN (AP) — A conservative student |0U|) asked a federal court Wednesday to strike 1 Ha University of Texas rule controlling dis- ibutlon of its publication on campus. ■ officials said there is no effort to control |tejit of the monthly paper, the Texas Review, |th< only intent of the rule is to limit commer- Hicitations on campus. |U.S District Judge James Nowlin said he ulcl make a decison after legal briefs are sub- ItediiyDec. 17. Iisan Dasher, Texas Civil Liberties Union at- ley. said the Texas Review Society had Bped its earlier claim the university rule vio- Bguarantees of freedom of the press. The student group has an advisory board ailed by Ernest Angelo Jr., Midland, a national Bblican committeemen. Other board mem- te include Bill Clayton, former Texas House speaker; Kent Hance, an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination; and Karl Rove, political consultant who was a top campaign aide for Gov.-elect Bill Clements. The society, which publishes the paper about six times each school year, has been distributing the paper at a table on the West Mall where so ciety members also try to recruit new members. The UT administration ruled that because the Review carries commercial advertisements, mostly political ads, it must be distributed from unmanned receptacles at a site about 75 feet from the West Mall. The new distribution site is in the same area with an unmanned box for distribution of the Daily Texan, the student newspaper which also carries commercial advertisements. “We believe our distribution will be drastically reduced if we have to go to the new area,” said Mike Smith, managing editor of the paper. “Also it will hurt our membership. We get many re cruits from talking to students at the table after they see a copy of the paper.” Publisher Drew Coats said the Review, which publishes about 5,500 copies an issue, could not compete at the new location with the Daily Texan, with its circulation of 43,000. “We have to control commercial solicitation on the campus, not the free flow of ideas,” said Ron ald Brown, UT vice president for student affairs. Glenn Maloney, assistant dean of students, said, “If we allow the , with ads on the West Mall, we would have to allow other student organiza tions to distribute commercial information.” The Daily Texan distributes about 1,000 cop ies at the location UT has assigned to the Review, Maloney said. CIA director gives House new testimony Casey denies knowing profits of arms sales were transferred WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Di rector William Casey, in five hours of secret, sworn congressional testi mony, denied Wednesday that he knew the profits from U.S. arms sales to Iran were being transferred to Nicaraguan Contra rebels, law makers reported. But Rep. Dante Fascell, D-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Af fairs Committee, said Casey did of fer specifics “with regard to a lot of information which we did not have on the record before” concerning the unraveling scandal that has en gulfed the Reagan administration Fascell added, “When all of the dots are eventually linked on this, it will be, I won’t use the word incredi ble, but it certainly will be extraordi nary.” He added that he hopes the whole story will be uncovered soon. Rep. William S. Broomfield of Michigan, the senior Republican on the committee, said, “The good news is that Mr. Casey was pretty candid with us and none of what he had to say in any way indicates that the president knew or should have known of any wrongdoing. “The bad news is that what Mr. Casey told us indicates serious errors of judgment by senior CIA person nel. That needs to be corrected.” Casey testified as Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether congressional committees investigat ing the Iran-Contra connection should grant immunity from pros ecution to key witnesses who have refused to discuss what they know. One of those witnesses, Vice Adm. John Poindexter, President Reagan’s former national security adviser, met for only about 10 minutes be hind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee. Previously, Poindexter has cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-in crimination in refusing to testify be fore the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Intelli gence Committee. Rep. Robert Roe, D-N.J., said Poindexter again invoked the Fifth Amendment in his appearance be fore the House Intelligence Com mittee. That panel also heard secret testi mony from Robert M. Gates, the deputy CIA director, whom Roe de scribed as “very open.” Robert McFarlane, Poindexter’s predecessor as Reagan’s national se curity adviser, also testified. Roe agreed with other legislators on various committees that as the amount of testimony being collected grows, new questions arise. “I think a lot of the issues . . . are beginning to be cleared up,” he said. “But other issues are being exacer bated and beginning to unfold.” On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate Intelligence Committee met briefly as yet another witness de clined to testify. Sen. David Durenberger, R- Minn., the committee chairman, said Robert Dutton, an associate of re tired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord, invoked his Fifth Amend ment rights. Secord, now a private businessman, has been identified as a key contact in the arms deal and with the Nicaraguan rebels. Durenberger said his panel still cannot determine what happened to all the profits from the Iranian arms sales. Asked if he was sure any of the money actually went to the Contras, he said, “I couldn’t prove it.” Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, said the Intelligence Committee has “a pretty clear picture of the Iranian side — what went there, how much money, who knew. But we’re much less clear on the Contra end.” While the congressional probes continued, a government official who insisted on anonymity said a federal grand jury in Miami is exam ining evidence of gunrunning and Neutrality Act violations allegedly committed by Contras and some American backers. The official said the grand jury in vestigation started last month, but was not connected to other probes into the transfer of money from the Iranian arms sales to the Contras. GSU wants full PUC to hear case AUSTIN (AP) — Gulf States Uti lities Co. has asked the full Public Utility Commission, rather than a hearing examiner, to hear its request for an emergency rate increase. Without the emergency relief to taling $82 millkVi in Texas and $100 million in Louisiana, Gulf States can’t pay its debts in early March, the company said Wednesday. Hearing examiners had set Dec. 30 as the starting date for hearings on the emergency request. Nor mally, examiners take testimony in rate cases and present a report and recommendations to the three PUC members for a final decision. oans become harder to get more expensive Student loans, scholarships hit by tax reform pitar’s note: This is the second rnm c part series on the possible Kfs of federal tax reform and the mkidget crisis on financial aid at ■k&M. This section deals with »ge.s in the rules for scholarships, wand charitable donations. Bat- Hstaff writer Amy Couvillon nbuted to this article. By Sue Krenek News Editor federal tax reform is expected to kfloans the most common form ent financial aid, but reform ard on the heels of changes ike many students ineligible the: nation’s largest loan pro- J Guaranteed Student Loan Htn became need-based in Sep- bet and Newsweek magazine re- Hhat up to 400,000 students be turned away from the pro- nlationwide. 3ft Benson, director of student ncjal aid at Texas A&M, esti- Hthat about 2,000 of A&M’s Hurrent GSL recipients will no ef qualify for a loan. I'd although his office still hasn’t ived details of the tax reform Benson estimates that changes ting scholarships and charitable Hlbns will place even more H>n the already-stretched loan fram. diblarships and grants tradition- Program cuts may decrease minority grants By Amy Couvillon Staff Writer A state minority grant program was cut 6 percent in the summer spe cial sessions, and changes in alloca tion procedures may make fewer grants available to minority students. Texas A&M was able to absorb most of the fiscal 1987 state fund drop through use of funds from other sources. Only three minority students were eliminated from the grant program this year, but Texas still has a budget deficit, and the fu ture remains uncertain. Grants are becoming more diffi cult to get, said Barry Davis, asso ciate director for A&M School Rela tions, and many students who would have qualified for grants are now having to turn to loans and other programs. The State Scholarship for Ethnic Recruitment, like many Texas pro grams this year, lost statewide fund ing in the budget cuts. “When you talk about getting black and Hispanic students, you’re talking dollars —just like with any other student,” Davis said. He said this program, a need-based achieve ment grant for first-time minority students, is not a big factor in mi nority recruiting, since it is awarded after most students are already en rolled at A&M. Grants of this type are used to give students a financial boost in their first year. “You’re going to get students who are already coming here anyway,” Davis said, “and you’re going to help them.” But this grant was one of the pro grams caught in the Texas shortfall gap. The program usually gets $250,000 each year, said Mack Ad ams of the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University Sys tem. However, Adams said in a phone interview, the Texas Legis lature cut the statewide budget for this program to $234,990 — a drop of 6 percent. A&M’s share of the al located money dropped from $20,000 to $18,800. Adams explained that after the application deadline, there is usually money left over from schools that did not use all of their allocated money, and schools can re-apply for grants to help more students. But, See Grants, page 14 ally have been tax-deductible in come. Under the new law, however, only tuition, mandatory fees and books may be deducted for schol arships and grants given after Aug. 16. Such living expenses as room and board now are considered taxa ble income. Benson says this is a problem be cause students could end up losing many of the benefits of the schol arship through higher tax bills. And, he says, he’s not sure how the gov ernment will set the amount that can be deducted for tuition, fees and books. “Probably they’ll set a standard deduction,” he says. “It would be very difficult to do on the actual amount spent because of the paper work, the receipts that would be re quired and the possibility of fraud. Either student financial aid or the fiscal office probably will have to document what’s taxable based on the University’s estimated student budget.” In addition, far fewer schol arships and grants may be available as private donations fall in the face of the new tax law and the sagging economy. Reform eliminates much of the deduction for charitable do nations, making them less attractive as tax shelters, and Newsweek On Campus reports that universities are bracing for a drop in donations when the law takes effect in 1987. The A&M Development Founda tion says that so far this year it has raised $62.1 million in private gifts, with $4.2 million earmarked for scholarships. Dennis Prescott, ad ministrative coordinator for the foundation, says that while devel opment officers are concerned about the possible effects of tax re form, they don’t foresee a large drop in contributions. “We have confidence in our alumni base,” he says. “We’ve weath ered tough economic times before and still had growth in our dona tions.” But, he says, the development foundation is encouraging alumni to donate this year, because donations will be less beneficial to alumni next year. Dr. Robert Walker, A&M vice president for development, says do nations are especially vital because of the state’s troubled economy. “With the state cutting back on funding, private gifts become even more crucial to the University’s mis sion,” he says. “This is evidence that every dollar is important; every con tribution adds up.” Those scholarship dollars are es pecially important at A&M, where scholarships account for more finan cial aid awards (2,742 in 1984-85) than any other form of aid except the GSL program. Benson says this aid is particularly vulnerable because most scholarships are funded by pri vate industry, which has been hit hard by economic troubles. Benson says the changes in taxa- See Financial Aid, page 14