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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1987)
The Battalion Vol.82 No.89 GSPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 2, 1987 ate of campus businesses to be decided Congress views competition between merchants, colleges By Daniel A. La Bry Staff Writer M The fate of Texas A&M’s Micro ■enter, Copy Center and Photo- B-aphic Services, along with other ^■rvices sold on campus that can also purchased in the local commu nity, lies in the hands of a congres sional committee scheduled to meet later this spring. H The Ways and Means Subcommit tee on Oversight will hold hearings ■ March or April to re-evaluate a provision in the Internal Revenue ^^^»de that taxes unrelated business Bcome of tax-exempt organizations, a< ommittee spokesperson said. ■ Unrelated business income in dudes services offered on a univer sity campus that are not directly re lated to educational purposes. ■ Businesses in the private sector art complaining about unfair com- peution from universities and other ^fcn-profit organizations involved in ^^■erything from selling computers to running in-house travel agencies, the spokesperson said. An example of this occurred in College Station in January 1986 when KLS Computers, a local com puter store now out of business, filed a $4.05 million lawsuit against Bill Wasson, the vice chancellor and sys tem comptroller of Texas A&M. KLS accused Wasson of promoting unfair competition by allowing the Texas A&M Micro Center to use state funds to sell computers at low prices. John Hawtrey, the attorney for KLS, said the case is still in court. The committee spokesperson said the committee is not necessarily looking to change the law, but it ini tially is looking to see how the unre lated business income tax provision is working. After holding and evaluating the hearings, the Subcommittee on Oversight will determine whether or not a report should be given to the full Ways and Means Committee on its findings and conclusions. The spokesperson said the subcommittee will make a report to the full com mittee if it feels there is a problem with the present law. Any member of the Ways and Means Committee has the option of drafting legislation after the sub committee reports a problem. The final decision could range from no action at all to a tightening of the law which would apply it to a broader range of activities to the writing of a totally new provision, the committee spokesperson said. Although the Small Business Ad ministration discussed the unfair competition issue last summer at the White House Conference on Small Businesses, the impetus for the hear ings came from concerns of the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), the committee spokesperson said. Wes Donaldson, director of pur chasing at Texas A&M, said, “Gene rally speaking, we — by we, I mean the National Association of College and University Business Officers — think at this point it is certain some type of legislation will come out of Congress.” The National Association of Col lege and University Business Offi cers formed a task force to formu late the policy of NACUBO on the unfair business issue. William L. Erickson, vice presi dent of fiscal affairs at San Diego State University and chairman of the NACUBO task force, said the out come may affect a large number of non-profit organizations, including universities, churches, hospitals and YMCAs. The task force is made up of a broad spectrum of higher education business officers and representatives from auxiliary services and bookstores around the nation. Erick son said a decision on the task force’s position won’t be made until after it determines what direction the hear ings are taking. Donaldson said, “Basically, it’s the small-business people who are be hind this, and they’re claiming — with some justification — unfair competition.” Some universities have gone into businesses in which the main pur pose is not to serve the university but to make money, Donaldson said. Concern about unfair competition has already led the State of Arizona to pass a law which took the univer sity bookstores out of the business of selling items that were not either di rectly related to the university or the university mission, he said. The law Donaldson referred to was House Bill 2148, passed about five years ago. This law prevented universities and colleges from pro viding goods and services readily available in the local community. Val Ross, manager of the bookstore at Arizona State Univer sity, said, “We can’t carry sundries for our students, like aspirin and miscellaneous things they need. If they get a headache on campus, it’s too bad for them. They’ve got to walk off campus to get aspirin.” Ross said students and faculty were the losers in House Bill 2148, not the bookstore. “We’re not here to service the public,” he said. “We’re here to serv- See Competition, page 12 iut Is It Art? Davis Gary residents (left to right) Stephen Zobal, Bryan Dulock and thris Rudesill inspect their addition to the campus art scene in front of the Academic Building Friday. Along with another friend, they Photo by Tom Own bey built what they call the “Baby Jack” with lumber they found in a dumpster. Their artwork was on display with the original jack on Fri day, but had disappeared by Sunday. Filipino voters ‘test’ Aquino’s strength with ballots cast on new constitution ■MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipinos cast ballots Monday to approve or disapprove a new constitution. The voting was seen as a crucial test of strength for President Corazon Aquino’s 11- mpnth-old administration. BrSmall explosions within 20 minutes occurred at three locations in Manila the night before the plebiscite, but no one was injured, private radio station DZRH said. ■The explosions, apparently from homemade bombs, were at the San Roque Roman Catholic Church, a bookstore and in a vacant lot about 200 yards from the DZRH studios, according to the broadcast. Police said they had no suspects. . Also Sunday night, Manila police arrested two men and seized 120 sticks of dynamite after learning of a plot to disrupt the voting. ■The military put 79 battalions on alert to pre vent trouble during the nationwide voting, which came days after the government put down a mili tary coup attempt by supporters of former Presi dent Ferdinand E. Marcos. T Polls were open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. (6 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. today EST). Nationwide results were not expected for days, but the private Na tional Movement for Free Elections said it ex- pecied definitive results from the Manila area by midnight (11 a.m. today EST). Ramon Felipe Jr., chairman of the Commis sion on Elections, predicted an 80 percent turn out of the 25 million registered voters. The plebiscite marked the first time Aquino went to the electorate for a show of support since the “people power revolution” swept her to power in February 1986 following contested presidential elections. That uprising forced Mar cos to abandon the presidency after 20 years and flee into exile in Hawaii. Marcos said Sunday in Honolulu that “I have been informed that massive cheating and fraud has already happened.” He claimed lower level government workers had been offered 100 pesos (about $5) each to vote for the document. The proposed 20,000-word charter was com pleted in October by a 48-member commission Aquino appointed despite opposition from both leftist and rightist critics. The plebiscite asks voters to respond to the question: “Do you vote for the approval of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines as proposed by the Constitutional Commission?” The constitution would sharply reduce the power of the president, re-establish a two-cham ber legislature, guarantee civil rights and ban the military from political activity other than voting. It would confirm Aquino in the presidency for a six-year term. Presidential spokesman Teodoro Benigno has said the plebiscite was a “vote of confidence in Corazon Aquino” and an approval margin below 60 percent would spell trouble. Former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile campaigned against the charter. His Coalition of Democratic Action predicted a 60 percent “no” vote unless the government “rigs the election.” It was unclear what would happen if the pro posal is rejected. Aquino’s opponents say she should then resign and call new elections, but there is no legal requirement to do sq. Right-wing criticism has centered on a provi sion which extends Aquino’s term to June 30, 1992, and affirms her as the winner in the Feb. 7, 1986, fraud-tainted election in which both she and Marcos claimed victory. Election officials admit no accurate count was ever made. Leftists, including the May 1st Movement la bor federation and the Communist-dominated National Democratic Front coalition, charge the proposed constitution does not go far enough in changing the country’s social, political and eco nomic institutions. Clements’ plan for state budget may change PUF By Olivier Uyttebrouck Senior Staff Writer Although short on details, offi cials in Gov. Bill Clements’ office have suggested that the Permanent University Fund and other public trust funds may be used in uncon ventional ways to help bridge the state’s projected $5.8 billion budget S a P- Clements will announce a com- - plete budget proposal at the State of the State address Wednesday and may elaborate on his plans for the PUF, the Permanant School Fund and merit teachers’ pay, Jay Rosser, the governor’s deputy press secre tary, said Friday. “A lot of details will become a lot clearer,” Rosser said regarding the fate of the PUF. But when asked if he knew any particulars of the gov ernor’s proposal, Rosser replied, “I know, but I’m not going to tell you.” A story in the Dallas Morning News Wednesday attributed “the governor’s associates” as saying that under one proposal, capital gains from the sale of PUF stocks and se curities may be appropriated for other uses such as funding univer sity research. House Speaker Gib Lewis sub mitted a similar plan in August as a special session of the Legislature wrestled with the problem of mas sive future deficits. But the bill was assailed by public criticism and suffered a quiet death in the House Appropriations Com mittee. The PUF has profited handsom ely from the rising value of stocks and securities in recent years. Since 1980, the fund has grown over $1.5 billion and now that hard times have fallen on the state, this capital growth has become especially attrac tive to the deficit-ridden state gov ernment. The Texas A&M Office of Gen eral Counsel responded to Lewis’ bill by sending a brief to Attorney Gen eral Jim Mattox, arguing that the Gov. Bill Clements Texas Constitution — which created the PUF — prohibits the Legislature from using the funds directly. The brief also argued that any capital growth in the fund is similarly off- limits to the Legislature. For the Legislature to appropriate funds directly from the PUF, the brief argued, a consitutional amend ment would have to be approved by popular vote. Rosser said any questions concern ing the constitutionality of Clements’ plan would be resolved before it is proposed. “It will be a plan that will be con sidered by the Legislature and not dismissed,” Rosser said. “This gover nor does not really care about crit icism.” Jerry Cain, Texas A&M associate general counsel, said Friday his of fice hasn’t formulated an official re sponse because no proposal has been announced by the governor’s office. The Dallas Morning News story also reported that one of the gover nor’s proposals would have the Per manent School Fund purchase sur- lus state lands, possibly as much as 400 million worth, which the state has been unable to dispose of in the depressed real estate market. The proceeds would be used in other areas, such as to build new prisons. American journalist detained by Iranians TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An American reporter has been de tained in Iran, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said Sunday, and, hours after his detention, the Iranian news agency said a person posing as a journalist had been accused of spying. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said Satur day night a “spy of the Zionist re gime” had been arrested after en tering the country with a false passport and disguised as a jour nalist.” It did not identify the per son by name or nationality. In New York, a spokesman for the Wall Street Journal said a re porter for the newspaper was be ing held in Iran. “We have learned through dip lomatic channels that Gerald F. Seib, staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been detained in Iran,” Managing Editor Nor man Pearlstine said. “We have not been informed of any reason for this detention. “Jerry Seib is a highly re spected foreign correspondent and there can be no basis for his detention. We are seeking expla nations through Iranian and other diplomatic channels. We hope any confusion will be cleared up and we are requesting his immediate release from de tention and from Iran.” Seib, 30, has been a Journal re porter since 1978, and has cov ered the Middle East from Cairo since 1985. State Department spokesman Bruce Ammerman said in Wash ington: “The Swiss government has confirmed the detention of Gerald F. Seib, a U.S. citizen. . . . From official diplomatic sources, we do not know why he has been detained.” Ammerman said Seib “should be released immediately and al lowed to depart Iran forthwith.” Ammerman said the United States was “in close communica tion with the Swiss, who are our protecting power in Iran.”