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Vol. 87 Mo. 64 GSPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, December 1, 1987
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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
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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