Texas A&MW^ m * « •
e Battalion
Vol. 88 Mo. 14 GSPS 045360 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 15, 1988
Inside
College choices
officials prepare for Gilbert
By Richard Tijerina
Sind Writer
As Hurricane Gilbert roars across
[he Gulf of Mexico and nears the
Texas coast, Texas A&M and Brazos
pounty ollicials are making plans to
prepare for the storm.
See related stories
Brazos County Civil Defense and
ted Cross organizations are ready
ing lists of possible storm shelters for
residents of other counties who may
pre evacuating f rom coastal areas.
University of ficials also are trying
lo coordinate on-campus shelters for
Toastal evacuees and are working on
keeping food facilities open beyond
pormal working hours to serve the
jublic if necessary.
Assistant vice president for fi
nance and administration Wesley E.
Donaldson is coordinating all cam-
bus efforts for storm preparation.
He said the Universit) is doing ev
erything it can to help find shelter.
“We’re exploring whether we can
Identify some spaces (on campus) for
shelter and whether we can locate
Tome spare mattresses or roll away
eds that we can use for housing,”
Donaldson said. "Our dormitories
ire all filled up right now, but we’ve
een looking for alternate sources
Jor housing.”
The Deware Field House and the
lead Building are possibilites for al-
lernate housing, Donaldson said.
However, he said that use of G.
lollie White Coliseum as shelter was
unlikely because classes are being
field there.
Focal Red Cross authorities said
that they have been busy planning
storm shelters, and thev may have
more space than thev originally
thought because not as mam people
from Brazoria County have evac
uated as thev anticipated.
"We've had a long standing
agreement for three or four years
with Brazoria County,” Brazos
Count\ Red Cross director Emily
Stiteler said. “The agreement was
that we would open shelters for all
the people who were evacuating
from there, since they don’t have
very strong shelter facilities, but they
told us that they’re not having the
kind of large evacuation numbers
that they’d hoped for.”
Stiteler said that four shelters
have been set up for the storm lo-
cailv. and that as soon as people
come in, they are to report to the
command post at the Brazos Center,
located at 3232 Briarcrest Dr., for
further instructions on where to go.
The four shelters include:
• First Baptist Church in Bryan
(500 capacity)
• A&M Methodist Church in Col
lege Station (500 to 000 capacity)
• Alder’s Gate Methodist Church
in College Station (150 capacity)
• St. Anthony’s Catholic Church
in Bryan (100 to 150 capacity)
Stiteler said that she felt only four
shelters would be necessary, but that
more could be opened in needed.
These include the A&M Church of
Hurricane
should not
affect class
Hurricane Gilbert b not ex
pected to cause Texas A&M offi
cials to cancel Friday classes.
Officials from A&M have said
the hurricane should not cause
cancellation of classes unless it
hits the coast earlier then pre
dicted. The hurricane is not ex
pected to reach landfall until late
Friday at the earliest.
President William H. Mobley
said he wall evaluating the skua-
lion as it develops.
Athletic officials may cancel game
Christ, the Boy’s Club and the old
Humana Hospital in Bryan.
Spaces at both local airports, Fas-,
terwood in College Station and
Coulter Field in Bryan, are being
taken up quickly.
Limited parking space for light
aircraft and helicopters is available
at Easterwood, but all hangar space
had been allocated as of noon
Wednesday.
Don Griffith, chief of airport
ramp operations at Coulter Field,
said all Coulter Field spaces are
filled.
“We’re asking all owners to come
out and make sure their airplanes
are all tied down,” Griffith said.
By Hal L. Hammons
Sports Editor
Texas A&M Athletic Department officials are meet
ing today to decide if Saturday’s football game between
Texas A&M and the University of Alabama should be
cancelled because of Hurricane Gilbert.
Assistant Athletic Director Alan Cannon said the pos
sibility for postponement definitely exists.
“With the hurricane out there, right now you have to
consider the chance,” he said. “You can’t play a ball-
game with 70 mile-per-hour winds and rain.
“We’d be risking our fans, we’d be risking a lot of liv
es.”
Cannon said a decision may not come out of today’s
meeting, and a final decision might not be made until
Friday morning, when the Alabama football team is
scheduled to begin their flight to College Station.
Wally Groff, A&M’s assistant athletic director in
charge of finance, said the chance of a final decision
coming today depends on the forecast.
“If this thing turns west and is going into Mexico, it
won’t affect us at all, and we’ll play the game,” Goff
said.“If they can determine with a high degree of prob
ability that it’s headed straight at us, then yes, I would
think we could make a final decision (to cancel the
game).”
Cannon said Alabama’s travel plans are another rea
son the game could be cancelled.
“The University of Alabama is supposed to fly
through that stuff,” Cannon said.
If cancelled, the game might not be played until both
teams’ regular seasons are over.
“Our open date may not coincide with Alabama’s,”
Cannon said. “We could be looking at a ballgame in De
cember.”
He said as of now the game is still on for Saturday.
“We can’t call a ballgame because of a threat,” he
said. “We’re going at it all guns until the weather tells us
to stop.”
ESPN, which is contracted to televise the game, is still
sending its crew and announcers to College Station to
day.
Mike Soltys, ESPN’s manager of programming infor
mation, said, “Right now we’re assuming the game will
take place.”
“People have been calling from the
coast and from Houston and Galves
ton, hoping to find spaces to put
their planes in, but we’ve been tell
ing them that they’ve called a week
too late. We’re all full.”
Donaldson said that even though
the University was planning to help
people who are evacuating, the pos
sibility remains that A&M could be
hit by the storm.
“We’re going to have the police on
stand by. The Physical Plant is now-
available, and food services will be
open,” he said. “We’re going to be
helping the storm refugees. Of
course, if we lose power here at the
University though, we may become
victims of the storm ourselves.”
If that should happen, Donaldson
said that the Physical Plant would be
directed to open Duncan Hall as
soon as possible for food services.
However, Physical Plant director
Joe Estill said that decisions for the
restoration of power could be made
at the time of the emergency.
“We’ll have to make these deci
sions when they come,” he said.
“We’ll make them when we have to.
If we lose power, we’ll have to see
w hat kind of capacity w'e have and
when we can turn everything back
on.”
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Pipe works
GTE employees work to repair a ruptured gas line
Wednesday at the corner of Anderson and Wolf
Photo by Monique Threadgill
Run drives. Residents in the area and children in
the local school were evacuated.
Richards tenure hearing
resumes after week off
By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
The hearing contesting the dis
missal of tenured Texas A&M Asso
ciate Professor Dr. Katherine Rich
ards continued Wednesday with
challenges and objections mingled
with testimony.
The six-member Academic Free
dom, Tenure and Responsibility
Committee convened for the fourth
day of testimony after a week off.
Richards, from the department of
modern languages, was notified by
Luis Costa, Modern Languages De
partment head, in a letter dated Dec.
16, 1985, that in May 1986 she
would be removed from payroll.
Richards protested the action. She
still is on the University’s budgeted
payroll because of continuing ap
peals within the school.
The University is attempting to
dismiss Richards on the grounds of
“professional incompetence, contin
uing or repeated substantial neglect
to professional responsibilities, men
tal or physical disablement of a
continuing nature adversely affect
ing to a material and substantial de
gree the performance of duties or in
meeting the responsibilities to the in
stitution, students or associates, and
unprofessional conduct adversely af
fecting to a material and substantial
degree the performance of duties or
the meeting of responsibilities to the
institution, students or associates.”
Richards and her legal counsel,
Gaines West of West, Adams, Webb
& Allbritton, have said the school
has listed no actual incidents of any
of the accusations. Richards has filed
a civil suit with the Equal Employ
ment Opportunity Commission
claiming the school is discriminating
against her on the basis of her hand
icap, sex and age. Richards is 48 and
suffered crippling poliomyelitis
when she was 10.
She joined A&M’s faculty in 1970
and received tenure in 1976. She
was elected to the Faculty Senate and
its Research Committee in Spring
1988.
Wednesday’s hearing began with
a challenge by West against commit
tee member Mary Zey-Ferrell. West
claimed there was an appearance of
impropriety because Zey-Ferrell is
head of the Sociology Department in
the College of Liberal Arts, and
works closely with Dean Daniel Fal
lon of the Liberal Arts College. Fal
lon testified against Richards before
the committee on Sept. 5.
The challenge was denied and
West’s objections were noted on the
record.
Later in the hearing, Robin Ma
lone, assistant legal counsel for the
University, vigorously objected to
the committee allowing a witness
who would only testify about events
in 1981-82. Malone argued that it
was unfair to allow witnesses to dic
tate what they would testily over.
The committee allowed the partial
testimony and noted Malone’s objec
tions.
Testimony began with Dr. Jerome
Brown, a clinical psychologist hired
by the University to put together the
packet of tests for Richards’ psycho
analysis. Brown said the group of
tests was designed so that failure
would be a strong indicator of lack
of ability, but passing would not nec
essarily indicate ability. This was
planned to reduce the possibility of a
false negative, he said.
He testified that the tests given to
Richards were not as rigorous or de
manding as teaching a college
course.
Richards tested “severely defecti
ve” on one of the tests, said Brown,
and he concluded that “cognitive im
pairment is apparent and significant
enough to recommend she (Rich
ards) not return to the classroom.”
On one test, Brown said Richards’
response time was a sign of “cogni
tive impairment.”
Brown said the tests do not nec
essarily point to causes, only condi
tions.
“We can only know something is
Continued on Page 8
i
ie Republicans show support
Senator inspires students at kickoff rally
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By Jeff Pollard
Staff Writer
Aggie Republicans gathered on
mpus Wednesday night for the
kickoff meeting of their “Victory
’88” campaign. Sen. John Tower was
on hand at the meeting as a show of
support for the efforts of Texas
A&M Republicans and to update
them on the progress of the George
Bush/Dan Quayle candidacy.
I Tower, who served as the chair
man of the Senate’s Defense Com
mittee until he retired in 1985, told
members that it should be an easy
choice between Bush and Dukakis.
I “Regardless of the opposition,
there are many reasons to vote for
jeorge Bush,” Tower said. “Given
the fact that the opposition is Mike
Dukakis, George Bush becomes a
jmdidate you can really support.”
Tower said a Bush Presidency will
Hjold American traditional values at
heart while the liberal ideas of Duka
kis will only serve to return the na
tion to the problems of the past.
■ “Don’t vote for Dukakis unless
ypu want to go back to high taxes,
M|gh unemployment and high infla-
Hon,” Tower said. “Dukakis prom-
/ ises to try the same old things that
have not worked in the past and will
Hot work now. Anyone who beleives
they will work should not be presi
dent of the United States.”
One of these promises, Tower
said, is to reduce the size of the mili
tary by eliminating the MX missle
system and the Strategic Defense
Initiative. Tower, who served for 14
months as an arms negotiator in Ge
neva, Switzerland, countered by say
ing if it were not for the moderniza
tion of strategic forces and the
development of SDI, the Soviets
would not have come back to the ne
gotiating table. This, he said, is why
Dukakis has been characterized as
“viscerally anti-defense.”
“This means his belief comes from
the gut,” Tower said, “but to me it
seems to be a rather gutless notion.”
Tower said America needs to as
sert itself as a leader in defense and
security. He said the U.S. needs to
create a world where all countries
can aspire to self-determination.
The Bush/Quayle ticket has this
long-term vision for the future, he
said, and they know this national ob
jective will be based on realism, dia
logue and national strength.
Speaking about the other half of
the ticket, Tower said the Dan
Quayle problem was an invention of
the media. He said that, while the
press beat Quayle over his military
record, the Democrats didn’t say
Bentsen’s wife
meets supporters
during B-CS stop
Senator John Tower
anything because they did not want
their own records made public.
“I appointed him to chair a sub
committee within the Senate’s De
fense Committee because he was
most authoritative on the subject of
national defense,” Tower said. “At
the same time, he very activly sup
ported the industrial and agricultu
ral interests of his constituents.
These are the same interests that
many Texans have also.”
Tower concluded his speech by
telling students how important it is
to get qualified voters registered and
to the polling places. While he said
Republicans had a good lead in
Texas, polls don’t always reflect the
result of an election.
“If we don’t register our people
and get them out to vote,” Tower
said, “we could still lose the election
even if public sentiment is in our fa
vor. This makes voter registration
one of the most important things
that you can do.”
By Alan Sembera
Staff Writer
The wife of Democratic Sen.
Lloyd Bentsen made a stop in
Bryan-College Station Wednesday to
meet supporters of her husband’s
vice presidential campaign and to
tour a local prenatal clinic.
At the crowded headquarters of
the local Democratic Party, Bentsen
defended against Republican attacks
on Democratic presidential candi
date Michael Dukakis.
The Republican attacks accuse
Dukakis of supporting gun control
and opposing the Pledge of Alle
giance and prayers in school.
“Those are not the issues because
Republicans and Democrats do not
disagree on those things,” she said.
“Those are things of patriotic belief
for all of us.
. . They haven’t been attacking
things that are important, they’ve
been appealing to the emotions of
the voters. It’s incredible that they
aren’t discussing the issues — the
things that are really important.”
The senator’s wife said the Duka-
kis-Bentsen campaign would focus
on what it considers the most impor
tant issues in the weeks remaining
before the election, including de
. , It’s incredible that
they (the candidates)
aren’t discussing the issues
— the things that are
really important. ”
— Mrs. Loyd Bentsen
fense, the U.S. trade imbalance and
the deficit.
“They’re just going to have to ex
plain why we have this great indebt
edness and how we’re going to get
jobs back to America,” she said.
Bentsen emphasized the impor
tance of Texas in the Democrats’
campaign strategy. She said Texas
and California would decide the out
come of the election, and encour
aged the supporters who filled the
small campaign headquarters to
bring out the vote on election day.
Bentsen also toured the Brazos
Maternal and Child Health Care
Clinic. The non-profit clinic pro
vides prenatal care to local women.
During the tour, she emphasized
the Democratic party’s support of
improved health care and child care
policies.