Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1988)
—iTexasAS— _ ■ ■ 1 • _ ^ 1 lie tsattalion Vol.87 No. 177 8 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, July 19, 1988 v Mobley to be new A&M president oor. II D; diif (k ; rd By Stephen Masters Senior Staff Writer The Texas A&M Board of Re gents Monday selected Dr. Wil liam H. Mobley, executive deputy chancellor of A&M, to succeed University President Frank Van diver effective Aug. 1. As the 20th president of A&M, Mobley, 46, will be one of the youngest to hold the office in the school’s 112-year history. In a prepared speech, Mobley told the Board that external mon etary resources must be devel oped with decreasing funds com ing from the state. “Enhanced external resources are essential if we are to take full advantage of the intellectual and creative human capital rep resented in the faculty, students and staff of this University,” he said. “Only with enhanced re source development can we fur ther push back the frontiers of knowledge and infuse this knowl edge into the economic, techno logical, cultural and social fabric of our state and nation.” In addition, Mobley offered 10 areas that he would work to pro mote and improve, including put ting research and teaching on an equal level, stessing traditions, a supportive student environment and student leadership devel opment opportunities, expand ing the University’s emphasis on minority recruitment and im proving the quality of the faculty. David Eller, chairman of the Board and the Presidential Selec tion Committee, said Mobley was selected unanimously by the seven-member and “fared ex tremely well” in evaluations by the Search Advisory Committee, which compiled the list of candi dates for the position. Mobley’s experience with A&M and his “familiarity with state govern ment and the business commu nity in Texas and nationally” played a large part in his selec tion, Eller said. Chancellor Perry Adkisson said Mobley was a “magnificient” choice. “He was the best qualified can didate for the postition,” he said. “He brings with him a great deal of academic experience along with energy, vigor and an existing knowledge of how the System works.” Vandiver said Mobley is an ex cellent choice and besides money for the school, he didn’t foresee any problems for the new presi dent. “This is an interesting time in A&M’s history because we are at a crossroads where we have all types of problems, not the least of which is money,” he said. “The Board is already interested in and moving toward raising money from the outside. This (raising outside money) will be one of his main prerogatives, I’m sure. “Aside from that, I don’t see any problems that will wake him with chills in the night.” At a post announcement news conference, Mobley reiterated his commitment to work to increase funds for the school and said he would work to continue pro grams initiated by Vandiver. “I look forward to nurturing the many seeds that he has plan ted, and to planting new seeds in the richer intellectual and cultu ral environment that he has helped create,” he said. Mobley was born Nov. 15, 1941 in Akron, Ohio and received bachelor’s degrees in psychology and economics from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1963. He later received a Ph.D. in industrial organizational psychol ogy from the University of Maryland in 1971. He worked for PPG Industries in Pittsburgh from 1964 to 1967 and 1971 to 1973 after receiving his Ph.D. From 1973 to 1980 he served in the College of Business Adminis tration as an assistant professor, associate professor and professor. In 1980, Mobley began his ca reer at A&M as professor and head of the department of man agement. He has since served as associate dean and dean of the CBA, founding director of the Center for International Business Studies, deputy chancellor and executive deputy chancellor. Frank Vandiver shakes hands with William H. Mobley, the new president of Texas A&M, Mon- Photo byjayjanner day at the press conference in the Memorial Stu dent Center. Regents reconsider making Richards: Workers garage on part of golf course have been forgotten By Ashley A. Bailey Staff Writer The Texas A&M Board of Re gents changed their minds Monday and are again considering the north west corner of the Texas A&M Golf Course as a possible site for the pro posed southside parking garage. Vice Chairman of the Board Joe H. Reynolds of Houston is against building the garage on the golf course site and regent William A. j McKenzie of Dallas is in agreement. I “It was pretty much unanimous that we wanted to build the parking garage without infringing on any green space,” McKenzie said. Regent Royce Wisenbaker of Tyler said, however, that A&M is running out of room for parking and the golf course is a good solu tion to the problem. “It’s true that we have painted ourselves into a corner, but it wasn’t intentional and we do have a few ways out,” Wisenbaker said. The Board rejected the site earlier because they preferred to keep new construction west of Bizzell Street. Regent Douglas R. DeCluitt of Waco objects to the golf course site for the same reason. “I object to it based on aesthitics,” DeCluitt said. “I don’t think we should be building beyond a line from the System Administration Building.” Board member William A. McK enzie of Dallas said the matter should not have been brought up since it was not on the agenda for this weekend’s meeting and it should not be approved based on that fact. The Board did not come to any fi nal decisions concerning the location of the southside parking garage. The golf course site is still under consideration. If the golf course site is approved the garage will be built on the site of the golf course club house, parking lot and the first tee, Wisenbaker said. As a result, the first tee will be moved and a new club house will be built in one corner of the proposed garage, he said. The garage will primarily serve about 1,200 students living in the new five-dorm complex in Parking Annex 24. Iran accepts U.N. resolution sfor truce to end war with Iraq NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Iran aid Monday it accepts a U.N. reso lution for a truce in the war with raq, which has cost an estimated 1 nillion lives, but its military com- nand said soldiers would stay at the rontjust in case. Hashemi Rafsanjani, parliament peaker and acting commander-in- hief, said the decision was made by the 88-year-old revolutionary patri- rch, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ho had set Iran’s original policy of jecting a truce. Security Council Resolution 598 |f July 20, 1987, calls for a cease- ire, withdrawal of military forces to Recognized, borders, prisoner ex change and an investigation to de termine who started the nearly 8- year-old war. ■ Javier Perez de Cuellar, the U.N. ftcretary-general, said he was begin ning consultations with both sides and a cease-fire could take effect within a week. ■ Iraq agreed to the Security Coun cil resolution long ago, on condition Iran also accepted it, but until Mon day the Iranians had said there could be no truce until Iraq was con demned as the aggressor. The Iraqis i|vaded Iran in September 1980 af ter several border skirmishes. I On Sunday, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq urged Iranian lead ers to accept an “honorable” end to the conflict. I Rafsanjani said in an interview on Iranian television Monday: “Since the people of Iran believe in Imam Btomeini’s decisions and rely on him and the people in charge, we j^ereby announce the decision to ac- cept U.N. Security Council Resolu tion 598. He said the decision was made “f< r the benefit of the Iranian nation and there is no sign of weakness in it.’' lAs Iran’s acceptance of the resolu tion was conveyed Monday in a mes sage to Perez de Cuellar, a statement by Rafsanjani’s new military General Command said: “We once again urge the Iranian people to man the war fronts to confront the enemies’ aggressive nature and foil their criminal acts.” It praised the Khomeini’s “great leadership” and, in a reference to the United States, said the “arrogant worlds” sought to portray Iraq as a “peace-loving regime” because it had accepted Resolution 598. A dispatch carried by Baghdad’s official Iraqi News Agency said the Iranian announcement was made for “tactical reasons” and not from a desire for “real and just peace.” The Reagan administration said it welcomed Iran’s willingness to ac cept the U.N. resolution. In Santa Barbara, Calif., Presi dent Reagan’s spokesman Marlin Fitzwater also said, “I think we have to be cautious” because U.S. officials are unsure what Iran’s intentions are. Fitzwater also refused to say how Iran’s move would affect the Ameri can military presence in the Persian Gulf, although he did say the United States has been prepared to end tanker escorts if peace came to the region. A government spokesman in Syria, the only major Arab backer of Iran in the war, said his nation “ex presses its satisfaction and welcomes the wise decision of the Iranian lead ership.” Iran’s military position has dete riorated. In three months, Iraq has recaptured nearly all the territory it lost to Iran in six years. ATLANTA (AP) — Texas Trea surer Ann Richards, in a highly per sonal keynote address, told the Dem ocratic National Convention on Monday night that the Reagan ad ministration had turned America’s working class into the forgotten class. “We can do better,” she said. Richards recounted a letter from a Lorena, Tx. mother of three who said her family income of $50,000 a year makes life a constant fiscal chal lenge. “We’re the people you see every day in the grocery store,” Richards said, quoting from the unidentified woman’s letter. “We obey the laws, pay our taxes and fly our flag on hol idays. “We plod along, trying to make it better for ourselves and our children and our parents. We aren’t vocal anymore. I think maybe we’re too tired. I believe people like us have been forgotten in America.” Richards said the woman was right. “Of course you believe you’re for gotten,” Richards said. “Because you have been. This Republican admin istration treats us as if we were pieces of a puzzle that can’t fit together. They’ve tried to put us in compart ments and separate us from each other. Their political theory is divide and conquer. “No wonder we feel isolated, con fused. We want answers and their response is that something is wrong with you. Well nothing’s wrong with you . . . that you can’t fix in Novem ber. “When it comes right down to it, this election is a contest between those who are satisfied with what they have — and those who know we can do better. That’s what this elec tion is all about.” Using her trademark rapier wit, she singled out Vice President George Bush, the probable GOP presidential nominee. “For eight straight years George Bush hasn’t displayed the slightest interest in anything we care about,” she said. “And now that he is after a job that he can’t get appointed to, he’s like Columbus discovering America. He’s found child care. He’s found education. “Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” She received a big laugh with her opening line, when she chided Bush’s claim that he is a Texan. He claims a Houston hotel suite as his le gal residence. “I am delighted to be here with you this evening because after listen ing to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like,” said the Waco, Tx. native who speaks with a sure-enough Texas drawl. “1 want to announce to this nation that in a little more than 100 days, the Reagan-Meese-Deaver-Nofziger- Poindexter-North-Weinberger-Wat- t-Gorsuch-Lavelle-Stockman-Haig- Bork-Noriega-Geoge Bush-era will be over,” she said to sustained ap plause from the Democrats. Richards had high praise for Mi chael Dukakis, to whom she is com mitted, and for runner-up Jesse Jackson. She said Jackson “can open our hearts and our minds and stir our very souls. He’s taught us that we are as good as our capacity for caring.” She touted Dukakis as a man “who knows that this country is on the edge of a great new era. “Behind his calm there’s an impa tience to unify this country and get on with the future,” Richards said. And she praised Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis’ designated run ning mate, as someone who “under stands America from the barrio to the board room.” Richards also carried through on her promise to note the importance of letting a woman make the keynote address. She noted that former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, another Texan, was the keynote speaker in 1976. MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin decreed on Monday that the small Caucasus Mountain region at the center of a bilter and sometimes vio lent ethnic dispute will remain part of Azerbaijan. The action is likely to fuel more unrest among Armenians, who want the region of Nagorno-Karabakh to be made part of their republic, since most of the region’s people are Ar menians. One Armenian activist said the decision was “awful.” The decision by the 30-plus mem bers of the Presidium of the Su preme Soviet was unanimous, according to the Tass news agency. It was announced after the parlia ment’s executive body had spent about eight hours in extraordinary session. Nagorno-Karabakh has been part of the republic of Azerbaijan since 1923, although it had once been part of neighboring Armenia. The parliament of the disputed region voted July 12 for annexation by Armenia, although they have no common borders. The Azerbaijan leadership quickly rejected the deci sion, setting the stage for Monday’s resolution of the deadlock by the ex ecutive body of the national parlia ment. “The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR confirmed today that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan,” Tass announced after the special session. “Vremya,” the national nightly television news program, read the four-paragraph Tass report early in its broadcast, but added no commen tary. A later film clip from Yerevan, the Armenian capital, showed work ers saying that the area was calm, but the comments were apparently made before the annexation deci sion was announced. Provost: A&M enrollment plan working By Ashley A. Baiey Staff Writer Texas A&M University’s enrollment man agement plan is working as planned, Provost Donald McDonald told the Texas A&M Board of Regents Monday. Enrollment, however, will still pass the 40,000 mark this fall for the first time, Mc Donald said. McDonald anticipated a fall enrollment of 40,280. The plan, he said, calls for limiting the size of the incoming freshman class to 6,600. At this time 14,818 applications have been received for the fall semester, he said. Of the 14,818 applicants, 8,588 were automatically admitted based on their high school ranks and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, he said. One thousand, eight hundred and seventy- six of the nearly 15,000 aplicantions are un der special review' and the 3,320 remaining applications were either late or denied. McDonald projected that only 5,140 of the 8,588 applicants that were automatically ad mitted will actually attend A&M. He also an ticipated that 1,085 of the special review ap plicants will be accepted and 345 provisional applicants will be accepted. About 30 applications are still being proc essed, he said. Total A&M enrollment is expected to peak at 43,185 in 1991 and then drop back to the goal of 41,000 by 1993, McDonald said. A policy giving some kind of preferential treatment to children of former students was also briefly discussed and will be considered at the September board meeting. The Board also heard an overview of the Corps of Cadets past and present grades, en rollment and goals given by Corps Comman dant Maj. Gen. Thomas G. Darling. Darling reported that the average corps grade-point ratio for the last 10 years is 2.35 and the average university for the last 10 years is 2.48. Darling said the variance be- tweeen the two is insignificant. He told the Board that 23 of the 35 corps units have GPR’s above 2.5 and 5 of the 35 units have GPR’s above 2.6. Darling also told the regents that grades are taken very seriously in the corps. “We still consider grades our number one priority and all other things come after them,” Darling said. One problem that Darling mentioned was the 31 percent loss of the corps’ freshman class last year. The average is 30 percent. The 30 percent loss, he said, is comparable to that at service academies and other ipilitary schools. Darling said that the loss of freshman is at tributed to grade related problems, financial difficulties, personal problems and adaptabil ity factors. Most of the freshman that leave the corps, however, do not leave the univer sity, he said. Short-term Corps objectives for 1988-89, Darling said, are as follows: • An overall average of 2.4 in the fall and 2.6 in the spring. • 25 more Sul Ross Scholarships. • Build the recruiting endowment to $175,000. • Reduce loss of freshman to 20 percent. • Develop professional recruiting pro gram. • Provide increased staff presence and oversight. • Provide each cadet’s four basic rights of eating, sleeping, studying and going to class. Long-term Corps objectives are: • 2,500 enrollment in the Corps. • Reduce loss of freshman to 18 percent.