—iTexasASMQ _ - - _ 1 « _ __
1 tie iSattalion
Vol. 82 No. 74 CJSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, December 15, 1986
peakers urge A&M grads to be reliable
arleton president tells
tC I students to pay dues
By Frank Smith
Senior Staff Writer
I To a detached observer, the scene
It Friday night’s commencement
llervice at G. Rollie White Coliseum
Has the stuff of countless other grad-
tiation ceremonies.
I Organ music. Cameras. Congrat
ulatory words streaming from the
mouths of academic dignitaries,
lameras. Robes. Cameras. Mortar-
irds. Cameras. Proud parents,
mieras. A brief commencement
eech. Cameras. A lengthy span
uring which degrees were con-
fcrred. And an even lengthier pe-
iod of time following the ceremony
fhen graduates — along with their
friends and relatives — mugged for
the cameras.
But for the graduates and their
mera-wielding parents, it probably
Jeant a bit more.
Though the service did meet stan-
Banl quotas of academic dignity,
esident Frank Vandiver’s opening
owdy” set the tone for the eve-
ng.
In Friday night’s service, degrees
Sere conferred on graduates of the
colleges of agriculture, architecture
and environmental design, business
Bministration and geosciences.
I Degrees also were conferred on
Whose who completed graduate work
\ j Here and on graduates of Texas
| AIM University at Galveston.
I About half of the 2,828 degrees to
H distributed over the weekend
:re handed out Friday.
Dr. Barry Thompson, president
of Tarleton State University, deliv-
Jed a brief but fiery commence-
I > pent address in which he repeatedly
A >Hlled on graduates to “pay your
r ^■dLes.”
0 JH Thompson also took time to assail
f flHjponents of classical education.
w feH'The word ‘education’ began to
e some of its magic when it. be-
me roughly translated into ‘earn-
|g power’ and ‘the way to get a
jol) ’ ” he told the graduates. “Is it a
lincidence that this decline took
lace as we began to de-emphasize
tht classical education in favor of the
Practical? The simple answer is:
wobably not.’
■Nor did he have kind words for
those who resist change.
“I believe these people to be not
Inlike the Mayans of 700 to 800
Mars ago,” Thompson said. “The
Mayans who were — and aren’t.”
He also emphasized society’s need
for idealistic leaders.
“Like the corrupt Vidor pries
thood of 800 or 900 years ago, too
many of our leaders in the past two
decades have sold out their initial
high idealism for personal gain,”
Thompson said. “Where is the
truth? Where is the duty? Where is
the obligation? Where are the ideal
ists?
“Where are the intellectuals who
will continue to practice unfettered
thoughts? Seated before me, I cer
tainly hope.”
Besides Vandiver, three other
speakers preceded Thompson.
Royce Wisenbaker extended con
gratulations to the graduates on be
half of the A&M Board of Regents
and reminded them of the valuable
resource they have in each other.
“All you have to do is take your
book along — the directory the for
mer students will give you — and if
you get in trouble all you have to do
is call those Aggies, wherever you
are,” he said.
Wisenbaker also told graduates
that though they had earned their
degrees, they still have a responsibil
ity to uphold the school’s integrity.
“Whatever honor is afforded your
diploma was earned by the thou
sands of Aggies who have preceded
you throughout our 110 years,” he
said. “This honor is now in your
hands.”
W. Mike Baggett, Class of ’68 and
president-elect of the Association of
Former Students, welcomed the new
graduates into that organization.
He also praised A&M’s pride,
spirit and tradition.
“A&M is really not just another
university,” he said. “A&M is family.
“I’m very proud to be an Aggie
and I always will be. I’m sure you will
be, too.”
And just prior to the commence
ment address, Michel T. Halbouty,
Class of ’30, presented Dr. Robert O.
Reid with the Distinguished
Achievement Medal of the Geosci
ences and Earth Resources Advisory
Council. Reid is head of A&M’s De
partment of Oceanography.
Perhaps that presentation marked
the night’s only bit of suspense.
But plenty of suspense should be
in store early this week — as parents
wait to see how the pictures turned Pierre told
out. only audience
Joy To The World
A cloud of confetti bursts over architecture students Friday
night as they stand ready to walk across the stage and grad-
Photo by Doug La Rue
uate. The graduation ceremonies were held Friday night and
Saturday morning in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Saturday speaker: Texas" future is multiracial
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
Texas A&M seniors Saturday
morning at their graduation cere
mony were told that the status of mi
nority education in Texas is weak,
and that it is their responsibility to
work toward strengthening it.
Dr. Percy A. Pierre, president of
Prairie View A&M University, deliv
ered the commencement address to
graduates in the colleges of educa
tion, engineering, liberal arts, sci
ence and veterinary medicine.
the standing-room-
that the future of
Texas universities must be multira
cial.
“Who will come after you?” Pierre
asked. “The college class of the year
2000 is already born and in third
and fourth grade.”
It’s been predicted the college
population in America will decline
from about 30 million to 24 million
within 15 years, he said.
But, he said, the number of mi
nority students could increase from
six million to eight million.
“Someday, when you are the em
ployers, you will rely on minorities to
work with you, so it’s important that
minorities get a good education
now,” he said. “This is not happe
ning.”
Whites now receive more than 80
percent of the bachelor’s degrees in
Texas colleges, he said.
Closing or merging predomi
nantly black colleges would do noth
ing to help the situation, he said.
In fact, rather than attempting to
close these universities, he said, law
makers should increase their fund-
ing.
“These institutions are not part of
the problem, they are part of the so
lution,” Pierre said.
He said a plan already exists to ad
dress the low quality of minority ed
ucation, but it’s not working as it was
expected to.
The plan was to increase the mi
nority population of predominantly
white schools by 90 percent within
nine years, he said.
“After three years there is a only a
3 percent increase in most minori
ties, with an actual decline in the
number of hispanics,” he said.
While many graduates appeared
uninterested in the speech — many
talking and reading newspapers,
others making paper airplanes out
of their commencement programs
— some later admitted they felt the
topic was inappropriate.
^University officials downplay impact
of proposed mandatory curriculum
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Senior Staff Writer
rt HP 16 T exas A&M College of Agri-
'yjBuluire could lose a big share of its
student credit hours if the proposed
core curriculum is implemented, an
act study notes. But A&M offi-
s are downplaying the overall im
pact the changes would have on the
University.
report prepared by a core cur-
riculum impact study committee for
Jvost Donald McDonald estimates
that 26 new teaching positions will
have to be added to the University to
iiCcommodate the plan.
KThe report is in agreement with
the Faculty Senate’s recommenda
tion that the core curriculum be im
plemented in Fall 1988. But it sug
gests that the computer science and
two-year foreign language require
ments for entering freshmen be im
plemented in Fall 1989, to give high
school students time to take the re
quited courses.
KjaThe plan will require that all stu
dents take a core of 51 credit hours
in light separate disciplines: speech
and writing, mathematical/logical
reasoning, science, cultural heritage,
social science, technology/renewable
resources/society, physical education
[and citizenship.
PThe report recommends drop
ping the four-hour physical educa-
tioh and citizenship requirements all
students now must take. Citizenship
includes six hours of political science
and six hours of American history.
^Assistant Provost Lawrence Cress,
chairman of the impact committee,
said the final conclusion reached
through the study is that the core
curriculum would be neither costly
nor difficult for the University to
implement.
H^Tie bottom line of the report. . .
Js that the implementation of the
core will not have a major impact on
the University,” Cress said. “When
Dean: Article misrepresents
stance on core curriculum
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Senior Staff Writer
Texas A&M Dean of Agriculture
H.O. Kunkel said a Dec. 10 article in
the Bryan-College Station Eagle,
which reported that he said the pro
posed core curriculum was prepared
too quickly and with too little dis
cussion and debate, badly misrepre
sented him.
“I have no argument with the core
curriculum, in spite of what the
headlines say,” Kunkel said in a tele
phone interview with The Battalion
Thursday.
Kunkel said his only objection was
to an estimate cited in a report by the
core curriculum impact study com
mittee.
The estimate said the College of
Agriculture would lose 30 full-time-
equivalent teaching positions if the
proposed curriculum changes were
put into effect.
“What I was worried about was . . .
if the article hit the paper saying we
were losing 30 teaching positions, a
lot of non-tenured faculty might get
awfully nervous,” Kunkel said.
“I didn’t want them to read that
and think their jobs would be lost,”
he said.
The core curriculum impact study
committee issued a report Nov. 17
estimating the College of Agricul
ture would lose 12,000 student
credit hours, largely to the College
of Liberal Arts, if the proposed cur
riculum changes were put into ef
fect.
The report also estimated that the
loss of credit hours would translate
into a loss of 30 full-time-equivalent
teaching positions in the College of
Agriculture.
Kunkel acknowledges that the
12,000 student credit hour figure
originated from his office, but also
said the figure probably is an overes
timate.
“It was the worst possible scenario
I could think of,” Kunkel said.
But Kunkel denies he intention
ally doubled the figure to call atten
tion to the underestimates of others,
as the Eagle reported him to have
said.
The Eagle quoted Kunkel as say
ing: “I think another look has to be
taken as to what the impact has to be.
I think other people have not looked
at the impact and just said it would
go away.”
Kunkel told The Battalion he
made these comments in regard to
other colleges and not out of con
cern for his own college.
you think about the number of fac
ulty on this campus, 26 positions is
hardly anything.”
The report notes, however, that
the College of Agriculture could lose
as many as 12,000 student credit
hours, or 10 percent of the total
hours taught in the college, if the
plan is implemented.
College of Agriculture Dean H.O.
Kunkel said his college will not lose
anything approaching the 30 full
time-equivalent teaching positions
noted in the report, in part because
of the expanding graduate program
in the college.
Kunkel said a full-time-equivalent
teaching position can be filled by one
full-time faculty member or two
graduate students.
“In large measure we’re becoming
a graduate program,” Kunkel said of
the College of Agriculture.
Kunkel acknowledges that the
12,000 student credit hour figure
originated in his office — an esti
mate Kunkel called “the worst possi
ble scenario I could think of.” But
the actual loss of credit hours proba
bly will be considerably less than
12,000 hours, he said.
“Students will just be taking fewer
electives in agriculture and more in
other areas,” Kunkel said.
The biggest recipient of credit
hours would be the College of Lib
eral Arts, which could pick up over
19,000 credit hours under the plan,
the report notes. According to the
impact committee’s arithmetic, this
figure translates into 24 new full
time teaching positions in liberal
arts.
College of Liberal Arts Dean Dan
iel Fallon said the core curriculum
would only accelerate the growth his
college has been experiencing for
the last two years.
“We are the fastest growing of all
the colleges and we have been for a
couple of years, in rather stunning
ways,” Fallon said. “In two years,
there’s been a 60 percent increase in ■
freshmen choosing liberal arts ma
jors. We’re in a posture where we’re
going to have to add a lot of faculty
anyway.”
Six other colleges also would be
affected by implementation of the
core curriculum:
• Science — estimated to gain
about 10,000 credit hours, requiring
an additional 16 teaching positions.
• Architecture — estimated to
gain 5,800 credit hours, requiring 12
See Curriculum, page 10
Paper: Businessman
got $250,000 return
on Iranian arms loan
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) —
Saudi Arabian businessman Ad-
nan Khashoggi made $250,000
on a seven-day loan to finance the
first shipment of U.S. arms to
Iran, the Israeli newspaper Haa-
retz reported Sunday.
Khashoggi admitted in a tele
vision interview last week that in
1985 he advanced $1 million to
Iranian arms merchant Man-
ucher Ghorbanifar “to get things
going.”
If the Haaretz report is correct,
Khashoggi received 25 percent
per week interest on his loan, or
an annual rate, not compounded,
of 1,300 percent.
Haaretz reporter Zeev Schiff
said Iran paid Israel $5 million
for the shipment of 500 TOW
anti-tank missiles in return for
the release of an American hos
tage held in Lebanon, the Rev.
Beniamin Weir, in September
1985.
Schiff said the money was
transferred via Switzerland to an
Israeli Defense Ministry account
at Bank Otzar Hachayal.
Some of the money went to
cover the expenses of Israeli arms
dealer Yaakov Nimrodi, a busi
ness associate and friend of Kha-
shoggi’s who was instrumental in
organizing the first deal, Schiff
wrote. He did not say how much
Nimrodi took.
Previous news reports have
said the weapons alone were va
lued at $3.5 million.
Schiff said it was still not clear
if the rest of the money went to
the United States to pay for the
weapons or if it went “to other
channels overseas.”
He did not elaborate, but U.S.
officials have said some profits
from the sale of arms to Iran
went to Nicaraguan Contra re
bels.
The daily Davar reported that
the money paid by the Iranian
government did not cover Israel’s
costs.
Davar quoted an unidentified
source as saying it was for that
reason that “we went on to an
other system in January 1986.”
Under the new system, Israel
eliminated middlemen such as
Nimrodi and only acted as a
transfer point for Iran-bound
weapons shipped from the
United States. Until then, it had
supplied the weapons from its
own stocks, which were replen
ished by the United States.
Another report published Sun
day said Khashoggi maintained
direct links with Israel for years
and once arranged a meeting be
tween Israeli leader Shimon
Peres and Saudi Arabia’s foreign
minister.
The Jerusalem Post, citing un
identified U.S. and Israeli
sources, said Khashoggi set up
the meeting with Prince Sultan
Bin Abdul Al-Aziz in France
when Peres, head of the Labor
Party, was still opposition leader
in Parliament.
The Post report did not say
when the meeting took place.
Peres was opposition leader from
1977 until October 1984, when
he became prime minister. He be
came foreign minister two
months ago.
Peres’ conversations with Kha
shoggi contributed to his concept
of a “Marshall Plan” for the Mid
dle East, the Post reported.