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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1988)
rt n edio 'hthe kind. boutf Tl£'‘5t?"D The tsattauon Vol. 87 Mo. 186 6 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, August 3, 1988 rk; m ag ; root sni ^ reset leirb 'd s lie; > horn Reagan wants AIDS bias law in government >or WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Reagan ordered federal offi cials Tuesday not to discriminate against employees infected with the AIDS virus, but he refused to em brace a White House commission’s call to extend that protection to all Americans. eactict aking; ealin i n of # The proposal for anti-discrimina tion legislation — the cornerstone of the report the commission submitted June 24 — was referred to the attor ney general for study. a spec o theV Detro;: le in 8c i setts p as on; ite Hois bis clip;. Beyond that, the commission’s 597 recommendations were grouped into what the White House termed a 10-point “action plan” that was long on generalities and short on specifics. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., characterized the administration’s response to its own commission’s recommendations as a ref usal to act. “Why are they stalling?” asked Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce health sub committee. 3 then uction leans t ;on win Tterio- 1990s' wrd i: collets: lesok r Ank le Gee; “This administration has done its best to avoid making even a single helpful AIDS decision in the eight years of the Reagan presidency. They handpick a commission, and then don’t even have the courage to accept its recommendations,” he said. “We don’t need another study,” Waxman said. “What we, need is leadership, and while Dr. Koop and Admiral Watkins have given that, once again the president is hiding.” He was referring to Surgeon Gen eral C. Everett Koop and James D. Watkins, the retired Navy admiral who headed the AIDS commission appointed by Reagan last summer. Dr. Donald lan Macdonald, a spe cial presidential assistant and direc tor of the White House Drug Abuse Policy Office, was charged with re viewing the commission’s report and formulating the Reagan response. Macdonald told reporters in ad vance of a White House briefing that Watkins “obviously felt more strongly” about the need for federal anti-discrimination legislation than some administration officials. Watkins was out of the country Tuesday and could not be reached for reaction. Watkins has not appeared in pub lic with Reagan since the report was completed. The president did meet privately with the admiral on June 27 before sending the admiral out to face reporters alone on the White House driveway. Macdonald acknowledged that some unspecified administration of ficials opposed anti-discrimination legislation because of their belief it would “reward the behaviors that cause (AIDS) infection.” Terrence Daily, a 10-year-old from Bryan, gets ready for a pitch Fri day at Johnson Elementary School in Bryan. Friends Roxanne and Irene Ramirez and William Dillaney, all of Bryan, cheer him on from behind. Plant-closing notification bill to become law WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Reagan said Tuesday he will re luctantly allow a plant-closing notifi cation bill to become law and accused Democrats of “political she nanigans” that had jeopardized leg islation aimed at curbing the huge U.S. trade deficit. Without relenting in his view that requiring 60 days’ notice of plant closings or mass layoffs was wrong, Reagan conceded that political reali ties rendered a veto of the bill im practical. “The Senate leadership refuses to even consider important trade legis lation until final action is taken on the plant-closing bill,” he said. Reagan and his chief spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, accused pro-labor Democrats in Congress of exploiting public sentiment for a plant-closing bill to force the administration’s hand. “But the national interest now dic tates that the majority in the Con gress must be forced to stop playing politics,” Reagan said. “Therefore, in order to end these political shenanigans and to get on with the business of the nation, I have decided to allow the plant clos ing bill to become law — but without my signature.” The bill becomes law at 12:01 a.m. EDT Thursday, but it will not be en forced for six months, until Feb. 4, 1989 Vice President George Bush’s staff chief, Craig Fuller, said Rea gan’s decision “will make it more dif ficult for the political game to be played over the plant-closing issue” in the November presidential elec tron. Bush, the certain Republican presidential nominee, has opposed mandatory plant-closing notices. Democratic nominee Michael Duka kis has repeatedly cited Bush’s posi tion as evidence of his and Reagan’s insensitivity to workers. Under the bill, notices are re quired of any employer with at least 100 full-time workers if a plant clos ing will result in loss of jobs for 50 or more of employees. In case of layoffs, notices are re quired only if one-third of a compa ny’s employees or 500 of them — whichever figure is lower — are in volved. Exemptions are provided if em ployers can show that plant closings or mass layoffs are caused by “not reasonably foreseeable circum stances” such as flood, drought or sudden cancellation of a major con tract, or that notices would prevent raising enough capital to keep the business open. The president had vetoed an ear lier version of the trade bill largely because it included a plant-closing provision, and his veto was upheld. Core curriculum will be instigated in fall semester ns : and I: I; :ntFalf I IlllOlffi: ech Sit eleraio: 'bout;: tatioi er oil' rly eif ng.Sir.: Palest: e six d de[x ; nergtKl Israel idgt thatil 'ould first i : fim : ias thrt il me® r tttng - i an By Janet Goode Senior Staff Writer After more than five years of conceptua lization by President Emeritus Frank E. Vandiver and the Faculty Senate, a Univer sity core curriculum will be instigated at Texas A&M beginning this fall. Although all of A&M’s colleges have gone through re-organization in prepara tion for the new curriculum and are now advising incoming freshmen according to the new program, an associate dean of edu cation said Monday that final approval of the curriculum has not yet been met. Dr. Bryan Cole, said until final approval, University officials don’t want to list any in formation on what the core curriculum will consist of because it might serve to further confuse students. Details of the curriculum will be reported early this fall. “We are having enough problems right now on a one-to-one basis in trying to com municate these changes to the students,” Cole said. He said students who have just finished their freshman year and are coming back as sophomores will face the decision of whether to continue in their current pro gram or to change to the new curriculum. If they want to stay in their present pro gram — they must make sure they finish by Sept. 1 of 1991. If they don’t, they will have to change, at that point, into the new program and could lose as much as two years. Cole said. University officials agree the hardest hit colleges will be engineering and business administration — or colleges in which the focus is on training in a specific area. For example, the College of Engineering will be required to add six hours of cultural heritage and six hours of social sciences to their already demanding degree plan. Dr. Robert Chenoweth, assistant dean of engineering, said the new curriculum will definitely add more hours to the engi neering degrees which, as they exist, can’t be completed by students in four years. Chenoweth said engineering students must take a certain number of technical courses so the college can retain its accredi- dation, plus courses to fulfill University re quirements. In addition, Chenoweth said all engineering students are required to take about 15 hours in mathematics. Cole said some curriculums, especially liberal arts, will not change greatly since a broad base of education has always been one of their major components. “For a degree to be a true undergraduate degree, it needs to be focused on education as opposed to training,” he said. “A degree that trains you, limits you, in that it focuses you into a very narrow area. And if that area becomes obselete, then you have a lot fewer options and less ability to transition to another field.” Cole said engineering problems usually deal with how they relate to form or func tion in a mathematical way. “Making sure that this pipe opens cor rectly is fine — you need that — but four or five years out of school, you start dealing with: What are the environmental impacts of that kind of thing? What are the human problems with it? What are the economic problems? The issues become much broader than just opening and closing that valve. “That’s why we’re seeing such a resur gence of the liberal arts today.” Cole said training in engineering and business lack the communicative parts. “They can’t communicate their ideas effec tively,” he said. Many liberal arts programs also will change, he said, because they are lacking in the area of mathematics and technology. Chenoweth said these people need not to ignore the technical world in which they live. Chenoweth said although the University core curriculum will be addressing these problems, whether it will cure them or not — remains to be seen. “The question remains — how much can you shove into a four-year curriculum?” he said. “We’re not going to be able to create Renaissance-type people in four years.” Besides trying to create a program that will facilitate well-rounded and well-conver sant individuals, Chenoweth said the engi neering program is taking a step beyond. When engineering students sign up for cul tural heritage and social science courses, they will not be able to just take “survey” type classes. “If a student takes one underdivision course in an area, the second course must be at a higher level in the same area.” But Chenoweth said it’s important to realize that a student can’t learn everything in an undergraduate degree. “Hopefully, what we are doing here is preparing them (students) for a life-long learning,” he said. “In a bachelor’s degree, a student should get some of everything. He should become a jack-of-a-lot-of-trades’ and not be a ‘master’ of anything —except the ability to learn.” Dallas officer slain in ambush Mother’s fear became reality DALLAS (AP) — The fear of danger that Eliza James Williams always kept hidden from the nephew she had raised as an orphan finally became reality on Tuesday. Walter Leon Williams, 47, was shot in the forehead at a West Oak Cliff apartment complex Monday night, and at 8:06 a.m. Tuesday became the fourth Dallas po lice officer to die of gunshot wounds this year. A determined man who loved his work, he had be come distinguished as the oldest rookie ever on the Dal las police force, department officials said. “I was always worried, but I didn’t tell him,” said Mrs. Williams, 85, of Midwest City, Okla., who kept Walter Williams for 10 years after his mother died in childbirth and father died in a house fire. “I was afraid asking him would upset him and then he would question whether he wanted to be a police of ficer or not. And I knew he was old enough to make that decision for himself,” she said. But it is unlikely that anyone could have talked the strong-valued, family-oriented Williams out of a law en forcement career, said a cousin, Joe Ray Williams of Hennipen, Okla. Relatives said they accepted the fact that Walter Williams saw his work as his duty- “We can’t choose a man’s lifestyle,” Joe Ray Williams said. “A man has a destiny, and when he’s run his des tiny, it’s finished.” Williams was born on June 6, 1941, in Elmore City, Okla., an oil and ranching community of about 1,090 people some 65 miles south of Oklahoma City. He was a model child, according to his aunt, who read, fished or played sports in grade school and junior high in Tatum, Okla. He continued to play football and basketball when he left to live with his grandparents near Davis, Okla., where he attended the now-defunct Woodland High School. “I was very proud of him,” Mrs. Williams said. “He was obedient, and when he came back to Elmore City last September, we were all in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church and he made a nice talk about himself and his family, then he put $20 in the offering.” After graduating from high school, Williams join the Army in 1960. There he learned law enforcement, fi nally retiring in 1980. Williams also took time to study criminal justice at at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo., and Park College in Parkville, Mo., receiving a bache lor’s degree from Park in criminal justice in 1976 as a senior staff sergeant from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., said Bill Tipton, Park’s director of annual funds. After leaving the military, Williams came to Dallas, where he hoped to become a police officer. His applica- :ion was rejected, but he was offered a job as a security Dfficer for the city, where he worked in 1980 and 1981. Fair-housing bill passed by Senate DALLAS (AP) — Dallas police ut strips of black tape over their adge numbers Tuesday as word spread that a fellow officer was dead from the ambush that ended when his suspected assail ant was killed by other officers. Walter Leon Williams, 47, who died about 10 hours after being shot once in the head, was the the fourth Dallas police officer to be killed this year. “It’s a senseless, tragic happen ing,” said Dr. Richard Dicker- man, who was on the trauma team that attended Williams from the time he was admitted to Methodist Medical Center at about 10:30 Monday night. Williams died at 8:06 a.m. Tuesday while his wife sat at his side. Officials with the Dallas Police Department said they know how the shooting happened but have not discovered a motive. Williams was allegedly am bushed by Joseph Charles How ard Jr., 31, shortly after 10 p.m. in the parking lot of an apart ment complex as he investigated the wounding of a 17-year-old woman, Capt. John Holt said. Williams and his partner, offi cer Terry Caldwell, had gone to apartment 206 where a man pre viously had complained of people “messing with” his cars, Holt said. While there, the officers heard gunshots and started back down stairs to investigate. On the way, they encountered a wounded woman. Williams “continued down stairs to investigate the gunshots” while Caldwell “took the wounded woman and placed her in apartment 206 . . . and he fol lowed his partner downstairs,” Holt said. As Caldwell went downstairs, he heard more gunshots. Holt said. “As he got downstairs and rounded the corner, he saw his partner on the ground,” the cap tain said. Caldwell didn’t see a suspect and radioed for more assistance and an ambulance rather than looking for him. Waldrip said numerous offi cers responded to the report of the downed officer, and as one walked toward his car to make sure an ambulance was on the way, someone fired at him. “That man then charged the officers, trying to get into the car where the officer was going to get on the radio. The officers re turned fire — a total of five offi cers returned fire. He was shot numerous times,” Holt said. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted 94-3 Tuesday to ex pand the protection of the nation’s fair-housing law to the disabled and families with children and empower the government to seek stiff fines for property owners found guilty of bias. Senate passage virtually assured that the measure will become law be cause the House approved a similar bill, 376-23, last June. The House can accept Senate changes or try to seek a compromise between the two versions. President Reagan has en dorsed the Senate approach. Three of the Senate’s most con servative Republicans voted against the bill: Jesse Helms of North Caro lina, Steve Symms of Idaho and Gor don Humphrey of New Hampshire. Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., did not vote. The Senate language was the product of behind-the-scenes nego tiations that eventually yielded agreement among civil rights groups, realtors, homebuilders, or ganized labor and the Reagan ad ministration. Staff members of Vice President George Bush, the certain GOP presi dential nominee, were instrumental in working out the Senate language. Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis has endorsed the bill. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel Pierce, who helped put the measure together, called it “a meaningful expansion of our nation’s fair housing laws.” Ralph Neas, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, called the bipartisan bill “the most dramatic and significant im provement in civil rights law since 1965.” The original bill outlawed dis crimination based on race. Bias based on gender was prohibited in 1974. The new legislation would ex pand the coverage in two ways. It would prohibit discrimination against families with children under age 18, although children could be barred from housing intended for the elderly. The bill has several pro visions spelling out which types of el derly housing would be exempted. The measure would not only bar discrimination against the disabled or handicapped, but require that new multi-unit residences be con structed so they would be accessible to such persons. This provision would take effect 30 months after enactment. Before the final Senate vote, chief sponsors Edward M. Kennedy, D- Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., en gineered the defeat of two amend ments designed to change the acces sibility requirements. The changes were proposed by Humphrey, who argued the provi sions would make housing less affor dable. The amendments were ta bled, and thus killed, by votes of 88- 7 and 84-12. The bill would permit the Depart ment of Housing and Urban Devel opment to go to court if voluntary efforts fail to resolve discrimination complaints.