THeBattalion
182 Mo. 80 CISPS 045360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, January 20, 1987
it
J
8
peaker tells students to be
eepers, doers of dream’
Aj&M program celebrates
lirthday of civil rights leader
J
8
By Carolyn Garcia
Staff Writer
Addressing a packed house in
iudder lower Monday night,
Dr. Wright Lassiter charged to-
iay’s young adults to be “keepers
ind doers of the dream.”
HVright served as the keynote
Hiker at the second annual Dr.
Vlanin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Celebration sponsored by Alpha
?hi Alpha.
HVright, who said he had the
jrivilege of knowing King and his
ianiily, told the audience that he
■convinced, after seeing the
/oijng crowd of black and white
students together to celebrate this
JCcasion, that King’s dream lives.
‘ Had he lived he would still be
marching and fighting against
povn ty and human rights viola-
lious — not just for black people
H for all people,” Wright said.
■Quoting President Ronald
Reagan, Wright said King made
jHcountry take a look at itself.
■He awoke the county to its
graatest failure and awoke it to its
greatest promise,” Wright said.
Hie said today’s youth suffer
subtle discrimination, even
though the visual signs are sel
dom apparent.
■addressing die black students,
Wiight challenged them never to
give up the light for equality and
tteyer to become complacent.
J
“You are now seeing the fruits
of the struggles of your parents,”
he said.
“You have no firsthand knowl
edge of the struggle against prej
udice and racism,” he said.
Wright said his message for to
day’s yoUng people is that noth
ing comes easily or without a
struggle.
“If there is no struggle, there is
no progress,” Wright said.
“Unfortunately, many young
people today feel the world owes
them something. They need to
come to grips with reality.
“We all must play our own
roles in the strugle. We all —black
and white — have a moral obliga
tion to fight racism.”
Wright called on the audience
to rely on faith.
“Faith tells us all things are
possible,” he said. “Doubt tells us
nothing can be done.”
Real progress in fulfilling the
American dream will be realized
when men are measured by their
character rather than their color,
he said.
King, who was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his
unyielding fight against racism
and poverty, is remembered with
Photo by Doug La Rue
Dr. Wright Lassiter of El Centro Community College.
a national holiday — an honor he
shares with two U.S. presidents.
In a dramatic presentation, Ke
vin Carreathers explained fur
ther the reason for the day of ob
servation: “We walk today for Dr.
Martin Luther King because yes
terday he walked for us.
“It is neither his birthdate or
his death date that brings us here
tonight — It was what he did be
tween those dates.”
Prisons in Texas
reopen doors
after releases
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — The
Texas prison system began accept
ing new convicts Monday after week
end paroles pushed the inmate pop
ulation number below a ceiling
designed to avoid overcrowding and
the wrath of a federal judge.
“We are open for business and
will be receiving new admissions
from all counties,” Texas Depart
ment of Corrections spokesman
Charles Brown said Monday.
The prison system closed its doors
to new arrivals Friday after the in
mate count exceeded a cap man
dated by state law. The statute was
passed in 1983 after a federal judge
ordered officials to take steps to re
duce overcrowding in the state’s
penitentiaries.
Inmate population in the 26-unit
prison system Sunday totaled
38,207, or 168 prisoners short of the
95 percent ceiling of 38,375, Brown
said.
About 21 more inmates were re
leased Monday and about 60 new
prisoners were accepted, but Brown
said he would not have an official
count for the day until Tuesday.
Monday traditionally is a slow day
for admissions and officials were ex
pecting only about 80 new inmates
to arrive in Huntsville for processing
from around the state.
If the admissions remained at that
level, the system could remain below
the court-ordered capacity of
38,376, which is 95 percent of capac
ity.
Politicians against
wapping suspect
or kidnap victim
Two A&M students killed, two hurt
in car wreck near Fredricksburg
80NN, West Germany (AP) —
iminent politicians cautioned offi-
1s Monday against swapping a
banese suspect in the 1985 TWA
icking for a West German ab-
cted in Beirut. They said a trade
uld inspire more terrorist attacks.
Government spokesmen in Bonn
lyed down reports that the kid-
pping in Beirut of businessman
idoll Cordes was aimed at forcing
e release of Mohammed Ali Ham-
i, accused of being one of the ter-
rists who seized the jetliner in
II19X5.
A U.S. Navy diver on the plane
is shot to death at the Beirut air-
rt^fter the jet was commandeered
ring a Bight from Rome to
he|is.
Hans Stercken, chairman of Par-
ment’s foreign affairs committee,
■in a radio interview, “Those
^fcre aware of the tendency lo
rd terrorist acts in the Middle East
ow that the acceptance of black-
Hincreases the chances of new
;s."
Me Justice Ministry said Hama-
s extradition to the United States
lultl be accomplished quickly. It
ft Been delayed pending a pledge
>m the Americans not to apply the
ath penalty if Hamadi is con-
H. West Germany does not have
leath penalty.
Foreign Ministry officials re
wed a warning against traveling to
raiion and urged the approxi-
itelv 200 West Germans living
•re to leave.
Hamadi, 22, was arrested last
esday at the Frankfurt airport af-
aniving from Beirut. U.S. offi-
Hiave asked that he be extra-
E| to stand trial in an American
irt.
Authorities said he was identified
■gerprints as one of those who
■ the TWA aircraft June 14,
■ shot and killed Navy diver
pit Stethem and held 39 Ameri-
t passengers hostage for 17 days.
jimmen seized Cordes, the 53-
r-old Beirut manager of West
Many’s Hoechst chemical com-
iy| after he arrived in the Leb-
H capital Saturday from Frank-
^■friedhelm Ost, chief government
Hkesman. said the kidnappers had
H identified themselves oi made
. Hnands. 1 le urged t lie media not to
dd about a possible link be-
Hen the kidnapping ami 1 lamadi's
kd-^Fest
ustice Ministry spokesman Juer-
gen Schmid said the West German
government awaited U.S. docu
ments pledging that the defendant
would not lace a death sentence.
Such a promise is necessary in ex
tradition cases under terms of a
1978 U.S.-West German treaty.
U.S. officials said Sunday they
would provide the promise and
speed up the paper work.
Schmid said the U.S. documents
would be sent to a Frankfurt court
for a ruling on whether the terms of
the 1978 extradition treaty had been
fulfilled.
By Sue Krenek
Stnfi Writer
Two Texas A&M students were
killed and two injured when the car
they were riding in left the road and
struck a tree near Fredericksburg
early Saturday morning, Depart
ment of Public Safety officials said
Monday.
The car’s driver, a former A&M
student, also was killed and two
other passengers were injured.
Kevin Frank Boeck, a senior agri
cultural economics major, and Mark
Werner Eberle, a sophomore busi
ness administration major, were
killed in the accident.
The driver of the car, Gregory
Scott Sultemeier, who last attended
A&M in Fall 1984, also was killed.
A&M students Gregory Freibs, a
senior biomedical science major, and
Erwin James Montgomery, a sopho
more business administration major
were injured.
Treibs is listed in critical but stable
condition with serious internal inju
ries at St. Luke’s Hospital in San An
tonio, a hospital spokesman said.
Montgomery is in stable condition
in Hill Country Memorial Hospital
in Kerrville with multiple fractures
and cuts.
The car’s other two passengers,
Gail Jung and Tina Hartman, re
main at Hill Country Memorial Hos
pital.
Jung and Hartman are not A&M
students. Jung is in guarded condi
tion with multiple fractures and cuts,
a Hill Country Memorial spokesman
said, and Hartman is in stable condi
tion, with multiple fractures and
cuts.
All seven involved in the accident
are from Fredericksburg.
The report filed by investigating
officer Gary Rudd of the Texas
Highway Patrol said the accident oc
curred at 2:50 a.m. Saturday.
The report said the GMC Jimmy
driven by Sultemeier ran off a curve
on State Highway 16 north of Fred
ericksburg and struck a tree on the
driver’s side of the car.
The report said weather condi
tions of heavy fog mixed with light
rain contributed to the accident.
No information was available on
funeral arrangements for Sulte
meier, Boeck and Eberle.
“But we could be wrong,” Brown
said.
Some sheriffs around Texas,
faced with their own limits on county
jail population, accelerated prison
transfers last week once they discov
ered the state prison system was
about to close its doors, he said.
Prison administrators were trying
to devise a more organized system
for transfer from about 20 of the
state’s most populous counties.
On Tuesday, for example, the sys
tem gets its regular delivery of pris
oners from Harris County — Texas’
most populous. The county that in
cludes Houston averages about 150
inmates a week.
A similar system involving fewer
counties was put into place during
1982 when the prisons faced a
crowding crisis and were forced to
close for a week, Brown said.
To get below the ceiling, 80 pris
oners were released on parole Satur
day and another 135 on Sunday.
“Normally we don’t release pris
oners on weekends but it has been
done in the past,” Brown said.
The system stopped accepting
new inmates Friday when it regis
tered 38,414 prisoners, or 95.09 per
cent, as of midnight Thursday, 38
over the limit.
As part of a prison reform order,
U.S. District Judge William Wayne
Justice ordered that steps be taken to
reduce crowding. The Legislature
passed a law setting the 95 percent
capacity limit in 1983.
No immediate end to the daily
population crunch is in sight, Brown
said.
“This probably will be ongoing
until we open up some trusty
camps,” he said.
The first of 10 such camps, being
constructed adjacent to existing
prison units, could open some time
in March, with the rest operating by
June or July, Brown said.
A new maximum security prison,
under construction near Palestine, is
expected to begin taking inmates in
August, and together with the camps
will add 4,250 beds to the system,
according to Brown.
Justice has issued a contempt or
der against the corrections depart
ment, saying the agency failed to live
up to agreements made in 1980 to
improve inmates’ living conditions
and staffing in the prisons.
The judge gave the prison system
until March 31 to meet the standards
or risk fines of up to $800,500 a day.
The prison board plans to appeal
Justice’s contempt order.
Blacks make up 2 percent of student body
A&M below minority recruitment goal
Editor’s note: This is the second
of a four-part series on blacks at
Texas A&M. This part deals with the
success of University efforts to re
cruit minority students.
By Cathie Anderson
Special to The Battalion
While other Texas universities
have substantially increased the
number of blacks in their student
populations, Texas A&M has lagged
behind. Blacks made up only 2 per
cent of A&M’s 36,570 students in
Fall 1986.
Since 1982, the University has
been pursuing a system of affirma
tive action under the Texas Equal
Educational Opportunity Plan for
Higher Education — a statewide
strategy to increase the number of
minority students in the state’s pub
lic colleges and universities.
Although the University has
fallen short of the goals set for it in
the past three years, minority enroll
ment has increased steadily since
1982. A&M enrolled 355 blacks in
1982, 406 in 1983, 494 in 1984, 544
in 1985 and 780 in Fall 1986.
For Bobby Bisor, a senior socio
logy major and president of the Me
morial Student Center Council,
these small increases reflect quite vis
ible changes.
“When I first came here,” he says,
“there were much fewer blacks at
A&M. I walked by the Main Lounge
in the MSC while the Voices of
Praise were practicing, and I stood
there in amazement to see so many
black students gathered together. I
had to walk over and ask what was
going on.”
But, Bisor says, “now there are
quite a few black students here. You
can just walk around and you’ll see
them. I think we’re a long way from
where we need to be, but I think
we’ll get there.”
Still, the University has found it
difficult to meet its annual goals for
new undergraduate black enroll
ment. From 1982-86, the goals were
105, 210, 315, 420 and 525 respec
tively.
In 1982 the University not only
met but surpassed its goal by recruit
ing 119 students. But in 1983, a gulf
between goals and actual recruit
ment developed, and the University
has not since met its goals. In 1983,
A&M picked up 136 students, 65
percent of its goal; in 1984, 174 stu
dents or 55 percent of its goal and in
1985, 161 or 38 percent of its goals.
Figures for 1986 have not as yet
been released.
Barry Davis, an associate director
of School Relations, says the Univer
sity has not met the goals in the
Texas Plan because they are unrea
listic. School Relations was estab
lished in 1979, and, as one of its du
ties, the office coordinates
recruitment of black and Hispanic
students.
The number of black high school
graduates in Texas is low, Davis says,
and competition among state univer
sities of A&M’s caliber for those stu
dents who can meet admission re
quirements is stiff.
He says a big part of the recruit
ment problem is the inadequate pre
paration given minority students by
high schools.
“ When we get to a point in Texas
where we have more of our black
kids in Texas going to college peri
od,” Davis says, “we’re going to be in
pretty good shape.”
Davis, in his research on minority
high school graduates, found that in
1984, 23,895 blacks were graduated,
but of that number only 11,421, or
47 percent, entered college. In the
same year, 57 percent of all other
graduates entered college. In 1985,
22,470 blacks were graduated, and,
of that number, only 9,345, or 41
percent, of the students entered col
lege while the percentage remained
the same for all other graduates.
Thus while a number of blacks are
graduating, fewer and fewer are be
ing prepared for further education,
Davis says, and the number of those
capable of meeting the admission re
quirements of such universities as
A&M is even lower.
Davis’ research shows that in some
school districts, the percentage of
black high school graduates entering
college is traditionally lower than the
percentage of other groups com
bined. For instance, in Bryan, 20
percent of the black graduates went
on to college in 1984 and in 1985, 39
percent. But 54 percent of all other
graduates went on to college in
1984, and 49 percent of all other
1985 graduates continued their edu
cation.
Davis believes these low figures
and poor academic advising in high
schools will continue to hurt the Uni
versity in its attempts to recruit black
students.
Still, other Texas colleges, con
tending with the same problem, do a
better job of reflecting the percent
age of blacks in the state in their stu
dent population. Blacks make up 12
percent of Texas’ population.
In Fall 1986, blacks made up 8
percent of the student population at
the University of Houston and 7
percent of the population at the Uni
versity of Texas at Arlington.
But, Davis says, these universities
have other factors going for them.
“When you look at the universities
in the state of Texas with the highest
black enrollment,” he says, “they all
have something in common —
they’re located in the city.”
Davis says students are able to
commute rather than moving from
their homes, which cuts down on ex
penses.
“Everybody can’t afford the room
and board,” he says, “but most peo
ple can afford the tuition, the fees
and the books.
“If we can increase the stipend
amount to where we’re paying for
room and board and the only thing
the student has to pay for is tuition
and fees. . . . We’re in a more com
petitive situation with all those
schools in the city. That may be the
biggest factor — economics — for
the majority.”
In its Third Annual Report of
Progress, the Office of the President
(A&M) reported minority recruit
ment also may have been affected
by-
• An increase in tuition rates for
Texas public colleges and universi
ties effective Fall 1985.
• Decreased availability of finan
cial aid from the federal govern
ment.
• Declining numbers of black and
Hispanic transfer students.
Two of these three reasons also
have to do with economics.
“If you could just get past eco
nomics and admission require
ments,” Davis says, “then the reason
(for such lower numbers) is probably
cultural.
“It’s a heck of a thing when you
live all your life within one particular
ethnic background,” Davis says,
“and then when you go to college,
you’re placed among different
groups. Even if that happened in
high school, you were able to go
home and be in a different environ-
See Blacks, page 12