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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1987)
The Battalion Vol. 87 Mo. 64 GSPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, December 1, 1987 but tht :ci's s recot n gra nebad le c withi in. Hit lUt i he’s ck irst ;pted son of iroke [ht.Tlit ■ Oilen ck Tni- wn pass Warren 11 all at- tunatek •d quar hatii ’S ntest re is >f ten len’s irnity, Intra 3 bins ILES Vorn' sions -ill be m. in yten's sity ii gibil- Gorbachev: Soviets won’t build SDI system MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet Union “is doing all that the United States is doing” to defend against nuclear attack, but will not build a space-based system, Mikhail S. Gor bachev said in an interview broadcast Mon day. Acknowledging what the Reagan admin istration has long contended, the Soviet leader said: “I guess we are engaged in re search, basic research, which related to these aspects which are covered by the SDI in the United States.” SDI means Strategic Defense Initiative, the formal name President Reagan has given the space-based defense project com monly called “star wars.” In response to a suggestion that the Sovi ets are trying to militarize space in the same way envisioned by star wars, however, Gor bachev said: “We will not build an SDI. We will not deploy SDI, and we call upon the United States to act likewise.” Gorbachev spoke in a one-hour question- and-answer session with Tom Brokaw broadcast by NBC News to American view ers a week before the Communist Party chiefs trip to Washington for his third sum mit with Reagan. He said he is ready to compromise to reach a deal for scrapping half the super powers’ long-range nuclear weapons. During the summit, they are expected to sign a treaty getting rid of all intermediate- range missiles. “We have some steps that we could take to meet the American position halfway,” Gorbachev said. He added, however, that he was not going to Washington to negotiate the fu ture of star wars, which the Kremlin con tends is limited to research by the 1972 anti- ballistic missile treaty. Although the Senate never ratified that treaty, both sides have observed its terms. “Let America indulge in research,” Gor bachev said. “Insofar as SDI does not run counter to ABM. That is not a subject for negotiations.” During the interview, taped Saturday in the Kremlin, Gorbachev parried Brokaw’s pointed questions about human rights; the firing of his former protege, Boris Yeltsin; and whether he discusses matters with his wife, Raisa. In his first interview with a U.S. network, Gorbachev offered little insight into the conduct of Soviet affairs or his governing methods. Asked whether he talks to his wife about national policies and politics, the 56-year- old leader replied: “We discuss everything.” Brokaw asked, “Including Soviet affairs at the highest level?” Gorbachev said, “I think that I have an swered your question in total. We discuss everything.” Two candidates reject elections under junta PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two leading presidential candi dates on Monday rejected any elec tions organized by the ruling junta, adding to the unlikelihood Haiti can salvage plans for the first free ballot ing in 30 years. A third candidate virtually ruled out his participation in such a vote. Haitians stayed home Monday, fearful of deadly streets where men with machine guns and machetes killed at least 34 people and wounded 75 in a weekend of terror that destroyed elections. The violence forced the cancela tion of elections that would have given this impoverished Caribbean nation its first elected president and legislature since 1957, when Fran cois “Papa Doc” Duvalier began the family dictatorship that ended Feb. 7, 1986. In other developments, the Do minican Republic closed its border with Haiti Monday because of the unrest. A Dominican air force plane evac uated a dozen Dominican reporters and anyone else who wanted to leave, the country’s foreign minister, Donald Reid Cabral said. Sylvio Claude, a presidential can didate and founder of the Christian Democratic Party, said “No elections are possible under the junta. They’re the ones shooting people.” Another candidate, Marc Bazin, leader of the Movement for the In stallation of Democracy in Haiti, de manded that elections be run by the Provisional Electoral Council, according to his press secretary, Les lie Paen. Caperton honored at reception for support to higher education By Kimberly House Reporter Sen. Kent Caperton said it was a dismaying day in his public service when he saw a “black mark” by Texas’ name indicating the legis lature had cut funding for higher education in their most recently completed budget cycle. “That’s not what we want to be in Texas,” Caperton, D-Bryan, said Monday. “That’s not what our histo ry’s about; that’s not what our fu ture’s about and that’s not what we believe in.” The Texas A&M Chapter of the Texas Association of College Teach ers honored Caperton at a reception for his support and contributions to ward higher education and pre sented him with a plaque. “We do, I think, share a funda mental belief in the future that edu cation both at the public level and higher education level are to a very large extent a reflection of how much we believe in ourselves and how much we believe in our future,” Caperton said. “It was an honor to be able to be part of the effort that will be crit- Sen. Kent Caperton, D-Bryan icized by some but I think which was the wise decision and which will pay off in long-term dividends, certainly in future generations,” he said. David Anderson, English profes sor and A&M chapter president of TACT, said the association is a lob bying organization that tries to influ ence elected officials to support higher education. “We’re lobbying for the best inter est of Texas,” Anderson said. “We want a strong university system with good students, highly qualified fac ulty and excellent facilities. Good ed ucation is in the best interest of ev eryone.” Anderson said Caperton is on some important committees in the legislature and that the key one, per haps, for TACT is the Legislative Budget Board. “This meeting today is an oppor tunity for us to express to Sen. Ca perton our appreciation of his ef forts in support of higher education in Texas,” Anderson said. “We are very lucky to have an elected official like Sen. Caperton.” Caperton said he was flattered and deeply appreciated the honor. According to the TACT bro chure, the organization, founded in 1948, is a voluntary association of faculty, librarians, administrative staff and research personnel in pub lic senior colleges and universities in Texas that speaks out before policy making bodies on salaries, benefits, teaching conditions and other con cerns of the organization’s members. Caperton, Class of ’71, has been serving as state senator since May 1980- A break in the action A referee for Monday night’s Lady Aggie game against Pan American University wipes his brow early on considering the task ahead in keeping up Photo by Robert W. Rizzo with the Aggies’ scoring. Pan American took the lead for a short while before the Aggies stomped hack to a 110-50 victory. See related story, page 9. 3 A&M researchers develop test for detecting chlamydia >1 Nash lly Coal A/hitley I Sp8 er noui' ,et pickell Dupey inehaa ricksoh Silver Taps will honor three Aggies The solemn sound of buglers and the sharp ring of gunfire will be heard on campus when Silver Taps is held tonight at 10:30 in front of the Academic Building to honor three Texas A&M students who died in October and Novem ber. deceased students Geoffrey Matongo Kapatsa, 35, Angela Michelle Mc Kee, 18, and Gena Lynn Thorton, 20. Kapatsa, a grad uate student in entomo logy from Lusaka, Zam bia, died on Oct. 9 after lengthy illness. McKee, a freshman el ementary education major from Kaufman, died of heart failure on Oct. 31. Thorton, a junior from Houston majoring in ani mal science, died in an auto mobile accident Nov. 20 in Col lege Station. Shortly before the ceremony, lights will be extinguished and the campus hushed. Then the Ross Volunteers honor guard will march into the area near the Law rence Sullivan Ross statue and fire a volley salute. Buglers will play a special ar rangement of “Taps” in a final tribute to the students. All A&M students are encour aged to attend this event. Survey: Average pay of top-ranking faculty rises by 8.5 percent AUSTIN (AP) — Salaries for those in the top four faculty ranks at Texas’ public universities averaged an 8.5 percent increase for the 1987- 88 school year, officials reported Monday. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said a new sur vey shows that the top four faculty ranks — professor, associate profes sor, assistant professor and instruc tor — now earn an average of $36,991, up from $34,080 in the 1986-87 academic year. Full professors earn an average of $47,437, up 8 percent from the $43,934 average paid last year. In the 1986-87 academic year, Texas faculty salary increases aver aged 2.1 percent, and some educa tion officials had complained that universities in other states were raid ing Texas institutions. “Last year, our faculty salaries lagged the national average by 8.9 percent and trailed salaries offered in the 10 largest states by 15.7 per cent,” Hal Daugherty Jr., coordinat ing board chairman, said. “We’re seeing a major im provement in this year’s averages due to the faculty salary increases approved (by the Legislature) to help retain and attract outstanding faculty,” he said. Officials said information won’t be available until March to see how Texas salaries compare with the 10 largest states. According to the survey, 1987-88 average salaries and percentage in creases over 1986-87 for the other ranks are: associate professors, $35,111, up 8 percent; assistant pro fessors, $29,777, up 8.8 percent; in structors, $21,741, up 4.2 percent; lecturers, $20,508, up 9.9 percent, and teaching assistants, $12,929, up 6.9 percent. The survey also found that the highest average salaries in Texas, based on the top four faculty ranks, are paid by the University of Texas- Austin, $45,004; UT-Dallas, $42,223; Texas A&M, $41,584; University of Houston-University Park, $41,236; Texas Tech, $37,053; UT-Arlington, $36,788, and North Texas State, $36,118. Kenneth Ashworth, state higher education commissioner, said that for Texas to take the lead in re search and development work, the state must “make a sustained finan cial commitment” to both research programs and faculty salaries. “We can put millions of dollars into research, but if we cannot at tract and hold on to the outstanding faculty to conduct that research, our investment will not earn the kind of economic return Texas needs,” he said. At the state’s public junior col leges, faculty salaries increased 4.1 percent, the survey said. ByJenny Hynes Reporter Three researchers in Texas A&M College of Medicine’s pathology and laboratory medicine department have worked out a more efficient testing process to detect chlamydia, one of the newest and least-under stood sexually transmitted diseases. The technology used in the re searchers’ new process is also used in the diagnosis of several kinds of can cer and in other diagnostic procee- dures. Consequences of chlamydia — which is caused by the organism Ch lamydia Trachomatis — range from fallopian-tube inflammation to steri lity and death. The disease also leads to tra choma, the most common cause of blindness worldwide, and is to blame for more deaths than gonorrhea. “It is by far the most common sex ually transmitted disease in the Uni versity community here by far,” said Dr. Luther Lindner, one of the re searchers studying the disease. Working with Dr. Sonja Geerling, a senior lecturer, and John Nettum, an assistant professor, Lindner has spent more than five year's studying the bacterium that causes chlamydia and finding ways to diagnose the dis ease. “One of the big problems with ch lamydia that people need to be aware of is that the majority of peo ple infected with chlamydia don’t nave symptoms,” said Lindner, who is an associate professor in the pa thology department. “Or, if they have any, they are often so minor and non-specific they don’t associate them with anything.” When the team began its research, the incidence of chlamydia in those studied at A&M was 12.3 percent. This figure was determined by ana lyzing samples obtained from 496 women visiting Planned Parenthood in College Station. Lindner said in the 2 , /2 years since the group developed and put into practice a method for diagnosing ch lamydia, the rate has been cut in half. “How much of that is due to our testing and how much is due to the fact that people are scared of sex ually transmitted diseases now, I don’t know,” he said. “I like to think that our testing accounted for at least part of that.” Before the A&M researchers be gan studying the disease, no reliable method existed for diagnosing the chlamydia. The researchers developed a sys tem for testing chlamydia using anti bodies also used in the diagnosis of kidney cancer. “The system that we worked out is a nice system,” Lindner said. “It works fairly reliably and is probably as good a system as there is right now.” Immunofluorescence diagnoses disease using monoclonal antibodies, or special proteins, he said. “It is used to identify a number of other infectious diseases,” Lindner said. “The thing that made it possi ble to use for chlamydia was the de velopment of a good monoclonal an tibody.” Before the new method was devel oped, cell culture and cytological testing were used to find the disease, but both methods have drawbacks. “The organism can be grown in cell culture but that is a very tedious and expensive business,” Lindner said. “It really wasn’t practical for testing the general population. Be cause of that we were really missing most infections.” Lindner said the culture proce dure takes at least 48 hours to give results and even then is not reliable. “The whole thing was a big mess,” he said. The researchers also looked at cy tological testing, or evaluating Pap smears for characteristics common in women with chlamydia, as a diag nosis procedure. “We, as well as a lot of other peo ple, had our doubts as to whether that was any good or not,” Lindner said. Sure enough, the group found this method of testing also inferior. “It turned out that the cytology was really very poor in detecting cri- lamydia,” he said. The test was not sensitive and gave a high percentage of false positive results. Finally, the group settled on a sys tem of immunofluorescence to diag nose chlamydia, and developed a preliminary screening procedure to weed out those who need the test. Lindner said several drugs are ef fective in treating chlamydia, espe cially the long-acting tetracyclines, a type of antibiotic. “It’s important to make the right diagnosis, though, because the drugs that are good for treating chlamydia are not necessarily good for treating other sexually transmitted diseases,” he said. Now the group is waiting to re ceive some tissue samples from a population in Zimbabwe to further study chlamydia. Lindner said the researchers hope to further refine the test and determine chlamydia rates in populations that have not yet been studied. See Test, page 11