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The Battalion
Vol. 87 No. 52 CISPS 045360 10 Paqes
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, November 11,1987
udge for high court
ay be named soon
■ WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge
Inthony M. Kennedy’s selection to
lie Supreme Court could come as
nrly as Wednesday, the White
■ouse said Tuesday, as officials re
newed FBI checks into Kennedy’s
Background to guard against sur-
Brises.
■ With Kennedy’s selection appar-
Bntly imminent, President Rea-
Ban’s chief advisers met at the
White House along with a team of
■BI investigators “to review the
si tus of the FBI’s work” in check-
Big Kennedy’s background, said
Bresidential spokesman Marlin
Bitzwater.
B Fitwater said there was “a possi-
Bility we’ll have an announcement
cbmorrow.”
B Originally, Reagan had no activ-
ities on his schedule because it is
Beterans Day, a federal holiday,
Bnd the White House staff was to
B av e the day off.
Fitzwater said
■ Fitzwater said the press
■Bould be open for business.
■ Fitzwater said a preliminary in-
Bestigation could be completed by
I r ednesday but that a full field
leek of Kennedy’s background,
eluding interviews with asso-
■iates and colleagues, will not be
Bnished for some time.
I White House officials went to
Bnusual lengths to guard against
Bie failures that brought down
fresident Reagan’s previous two
hoices.
Attorney General Edwin Meese,
dike House chief of staff Howard
aker, counsel A.B. Culvahouse
nd FBI Director William Sessions
Inet at the White House along with
I team of FBI investigators.
I And administration officials ar-
langed courtesy calls with leading
lenators for Kennedy amid Re-
. Jmblican bickering over the defeat
h R°bert H. Bork and the with-
iu a lea er Brawal of Douglas H. Ginsburg.
|; In a Senate speech, moderate
Republican Sen. William Cohen
Sompared conservatives’ criticism
^ , Bf White House chief of staff How-
uonsa ■ ^ ^ j r to a mugging “on
Bhe back stairs of the White
Candidate f ouse- , , f ,
Reagan met lor a halt-hour
office
ON
ion plant
II lead the E
industries,
•ssional
officers get I
ucation statt
Monday evening at the presi
dential residence with Kennedy, a
k Shoppirf,
federal appellate judge from Sac
ramento, Calif., spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said.
The nomination announcement
would be forthcoming before the
week was out, he said.
A face-to-face session with the
president is customarily the final
step before such an announce
ment.
But Fitzwater said it had been
agreed that “more consultations
would take place” first, particularly
with members of Congress.
Kennedy, 51, was accompanied
to the White House by Baker and
Attorney General Edwin Meese
“These attacks only con
firm the fact that you can
get mugged more easily
on the back stairs of the
White House than you can
on the streets of any ur
ban ghetto. ”
— Senator Cohen,
R-Maine
III, two top advisers who report
edly have disagreed over strategy
and nominees for the seat that has
remained vacant for more than
four months.
Meese and other conservatives
are widely reported to have per
suaded Reagan two weeks ago to
select Ginsburg for the court seat
after the Senate voted down Bork.
Baker is said to have favored
Kennedy, and he has been accused
by conservatives of undermining
Ginsburg when an uproar fol
lowed Ginsburg’s admission he
smoked marijuana in the 1960s
and 1970s.
On Tuesday, Cohen, R-Maine,
said, “The truth is that Howard
Baker was shoved overboard by
the ideologically pure because he
was recommending a ‘confirmable
conservative,’ ” Cohen said. “That
phrase suggested compromise or,
worse, appeasement.”
Cohen said the conservatives
took the view that in Ginsburg,
“We’ve got a man who will make
the Bork haters beg for a chance to
recant.”
But the Maine senator said that
after the marijuana disclosure, it
“was a group of conservatives who
gathered on the floor and came to
the conclusion that Judge Gins
burg had to go, not any liberals or
not any moderates.”
Cohen contended that if Baker
had urged Reagan to fight for
Ginsburg “to the very end, and
then the vote was lost sometime in
later December or early next year,
his critics would have then blamed
him for not advising the president
to cut his losses more quickly.”
“These attacks only confirm the
fact that you can get mugged more
easily on the back stairs of the
White House than you can on the
streets of any urban ghetto,” Co
hen said.
On Monday, conservative Re
publican Orrin G. Hatch of Utah
told reporters there were “gutless
wonders” in the White House who
forced Ginsburg to request with
drawal of his nomination last Sat
urday, even though the nominet
was willing to fight for confirma
tion.
Hatch would not say whether he
counted Baker as a “gutless won
der” but commented, “Howard
Baker believes almost everything
can be compromised. I don’t be
lieve you compromise on principle,
and there was a principle here.”
Reagan, asked by reporters
whether he still had confidence in
Meese, said that he did, and he
added, “He’s no embarrassment to
me” despite the failure of two
Meese-backed nominees.
“I’ve known him for 20 years
and I’ve found him of sound mind
and great loyalty and capability in
all that time,” Reagan said.
Meese himself said he hadn’t
given any thought to resigning and
“I don’t think there’s any disarray”
in the administration.
Meanwhile, Meese said Tuesday
he couldn’t understand how Gins
burg’s past marijuana use hadn’t
shown up in extensive FBI inter
views with friends and associates.
Milling about
Photo by Sam B. Myers
Marine ROTC cadets, officers and enlisted men congratulate each other Tuesday morning after com
peting in a 3-mile run celebrating the 212th birthday of the Marine Corps.
American AIDS victim fears
for life, hides out in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — An
American AIDS victim says he is hid
ing in Mexico because U.S. prosecu
tors won’t protect him after three at
tempts on his life and have
threatened to jail him if he does not
testify at a fraud trial in Houston.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Wal
ter Herman of Houston denies
threatening to arrest James Shuman,
34, who says he was involved in the
sale of time-shares at a Galveston re
sort.
Herman also said he has not is
sued any subpoena for Shuman to
testify later this month, saying Shu
man has “got his story confused.”
Shuman said he is scheduled to
testify in a federal court trial Nov. 30
against James Freese and four other
ggieland takes honor of being
largest school yearbook in U.S.
Evolution of annuals provides diversity throughout time
9
es
et
By Susan C. Akin
Reporter
The Texas A&M yearbook,
Aggieland, is now the the largest
yearbook in the country, and has
evolved from books that have dif
fered greatly in scope, content,
and design.
The first A&M yearbook, the
Olio, was published by the Corps
of Cadets in 1895. Its eight edi
tors and four designers — includ
ing one woman (E. Hutson, Class
of ’98). Olio, is an Italian term
meaning “a dish compounded of
many ingredients.”
The Olio’s 133 pages had a for
mal style of writing and photog
raphy, depicting a more rigid stu
dent life and several serious
faced faculty. There were more
pages of writing than of photog
raphy, probably due to the limita
tions of photography in the
1890s.
There were illustrations like
“The Results of the Chicken Fry,”
caricatures of professors, poems
like “Old George Mayn’t be
Sleeping,” and short stories like
“Shank’s Mares Are the Safest
Steeds” — all telling about mem
orable experiences of the 1894-95
school year.
The first page of the Olio had
this quote: “Gentle reader, on the
page opposite, the picture see of
three senior-class-men sage.
These their names upon this tree
carved, in token they shall live in
chronicle and history. This is the
board executive. These, reader,
be the heros three who this book
have publish-ed. Heros whom
posterity shall honor, when that
they be dead.”
The first yearbook staff immo
destly foreshadowed the accom
plishments of the 85 A&M year
books to come. However, the
unusual characters in the year
book didn’t end with the staff.
Page 81 of the Olio had a chart
containing four columns. The
first column had names of va
rious seniors. The second column
had their religious preference,
which contained everything from
Baptist to Campbellite. The third
column had their political prefer
ence — most were Democrat, but
a few were Free Silverites.
Believe it or not, the Long
Horn and the Longhorn were
once names of the A&M year
book.
The second one, the Long
Horn, was published in 1903 by
the senior class after some debate.
It was a dark blue, horizontal
book with 176 pages including
advertisements. There were more
photographs, illustrations, poems
and stories, but the contrast to to
day’s society was still evident.
There were sections on society
and statistics listing, for example,
what type of chew most students
used — “My Lady Nicotine” or
“vile weed.”
Another section called “gags
on everybody” was a gossip and
prank page.
The fun continued in the first
yearbook known as the Aggie
land, published in 1949. This Ag
gieland was more personal than
those previous , with bright,
hand-colored photographs and
odd-shaped layouts.
A&M’s third yearbook was also
more humorous than its prede
cessors. The increased enroll
ment was evident in photographs
of people in funny situations, po
sitions and expressions.
It contained sections such as
dedication, senior’s review, who’s
who, classes, administration, van
ity fair — a beauty photo contest
for the women, and senior favor
ites — pictures of the student’s
mothers, grandmothers, sisters
and girlfriends.
But the yearbook not only re
flected the times — it was affected
by them. No yearbook was pub
lished in 1945 because of a paper
shortage caused by World War II.
Photo Illustration by Jay Janner
So in 1946, A&M had two year
books — one for 1945 and one
for 1946.
Although A&M was primarily
thought of as a male institution
before women were admitted in
1964, women have attended
A&M since the 1890s and their
presence is predominantly seen
in yearbooks of the 1940s, 1950s
and 1960s.
Women were shown in a social
light in past yearbooks because
they could only attend classes, not
receive degrees. Women were
pictured in about six beauty con
tests, innumerable sweetheart
contests, photograph contests
and many formal social functions.
The 1964 Aggieland recorded
the first school year women were
admitted to A&M. Almost every
thing remained the same except
that there were pictures of
women in scholastic activities and
in classrooms.
All individual class portraits of
enrolled women were put on one
page separate from men
the freshmen.
after
Blacks first appeared in the
1966 Aggieland. There were few
general pictures of blacks on cam
pus, and their individual pictures
were dispersed throughout class
portraits. Women, however —
with the exception of seniors and
graduates — were still put on
their own separate page.
The 1984 Aggieland was the
first yearbook not to have the se
nior ring on the cover. And al
though there wasn’t a ring on the
cover of the 1985 Aggieland ei
ther, it still won an award for
cover design.
The 1988 Aggieland will be
more modern in design and for
mat, said Joanie Pate, senior
accounting major and editor of
the 1988 Aggieland. The theme
of the new Aggieland will be
“Worth Talking About” and will
be a book of student quotes, she
said.
defendants charged with mail and
wire fraud in connection with time-
share sales in Galveston.
It wouldn’t be the first time for
Shuman to testify against Freese.
Earlier this year, he testified against
Freese in Cobb County, Ga., where
prosecutors called him an important
witness. Freese was sentenced re
cently to 50 years in Georgia and or
dered to pay $132,000 for his part in
a solar energy scam.
But Herman, who characterizd
Shuman as a “top lieutenant” in the
time-share operation, disputes his
version, saying, “He is just one wit
ness who tells a good story. I am not
hurting for witnesses.”
Herman declined to say whether
Shuman appeared before a federal
grand jury in Houston and would
not say whether he thought a jury
would view Shuman as credible wit
ness. Shuman said he appeared be
fore the panel on May 15.
Asked if he threatened Shuman
with arrest if he did not appear,
Herman said in a telephone inter
view, “No way, nO. I told him if he
absented himself from the country
after being served with a subpoena,
he could face criminal contempt
charges. But he has not been sub
poenaed. He’s got his story con
fused.”
Shuman says he was shot at twice
last year while living in Acapulco,
where he worked with Freese in a
time-share operation, and that a car
tried to run over him near his hotel a
few months ago.
At that point, Shuman said, he
called the U.S. Embassy in Mexico
City and was told to leave Acapulco
for his own safety.
Shuman said because of what he
says were attempts on his life, he
asked to be placed in the U.S. gov
ernment’s witness protection pro
gram and was refused. But Herman
said he has not refused to give Shu
man protection.
Default figures show
A&M shouldn't be hurt
by financial aid cuts
By Richard Williams
Reporter
Schools in the Texas A&M Uni
versity System should not be hurt by
a plan to cut all student financial aid
at schools with Guaranteed Student
Loan default rates of more than 20
percent, according to default figures
obtained from the U.S. Department
of Education.
At 4.7 percent, A&M’s student
loan default rate is not in danger.
Announced by U.S. Secretary of
Education William Bennett last
week, the plan will discontinue all
aid — GSL’s, Pell Grants, Perkins
loans and work-study funds — from
the appropriate schools. The an
nouncement caused officials at
schools across Texas to search for
their default figures.
John Bertak, a spokesman for the
U.S. Education Department, said the
plan was meant to lower the cost of
the GSL program.
Bennett has called the cost of de
faults “intolerable.”
Currently, $1.6 billion, or 47 per
cent, of the GSL budget goes to pay
off bad loans, Bertak said.
Figures obtained from the U.S.
Education Department show that
four schools in the System are not in
danger of losing funding because of
a high default rate. The figures
show the following default rates for
schools in the System: A&M, 4.7 per
cent; Tarleton State University, 9.95
percent; Prairie View A&M Univer
sity, 11.7 percent; and A&M-Galves-
ton, 13.2 percent.
George Torres, a policy analyst
for the Texas Guaranteed Student
Loan Corporation in Austin, said
smaller schools will be affected most
by the plan.
“This is not going to hit the SMU’s
or A&M’s that are large, four-year
schools,” he said. “This is going to
hit the junior colleges, trade schools
and the schools that have lots of mi
norities or lots of lower income stu
dents.”
Torres said he did not agree with
making the schools responsible for
the default rate.
“The schools don’t have any con
trol over who gets the loans,” he
said. “They just verify a person is a
student. Schools can’t make a stu
dent pay back a loan. They can only
inform students of their responsibil
ity.
“He (Bennett) could just as easily
have gone after the lenders, because
they have more authority as to who
gets a loan. You notice he didn’t go
after the lenders. Why? Because he’s
a politician, that’s why.”
Bertak disagrees with that assess
ment.
“Schools can do things to lower
the default rate,” he said. “They can
raise the admissions standards to ad
mit only those students who are
likely to finish school. They also can
provide lenders with forwarding ad
dresses, or withhold diplomas or
transcripts from those in default.”
A.D. James, director of admis
sions and financial aid at Prairie
View, disagrees with Bertak on rais
ing admissions standards to allow
only those who are more likely to
graduate.
“We provide equal opportunity to
all students who want to obtain an
education,” James said. “Raising the
standards to admit only those who
aren’t high risk would take away
from our purpose.”
Bertak said the department is try
ing to make the lenders bear more
responsibility for high default rates,
but that Congress is not helping.
The department has tried to
change the rate of guarantee on the
loans to the lenders, he said. The
loans are 100 percent guaranteed by
See Default, page 7