Texas A&M ^
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Vol. 88 No. 106 USPS 045360 10 pages Colieg^StatioryTrexas
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A&M hopes to attract Bush library
HOUSTON (AP) — President
Bush has been in office a little more
than a month and already three
universities are making plans to lie-
come the site of his presidential li
brary.
Texas A&M University, Rice
University and Bush’s alma mater,
Yale University, all are expressing
interest in acquiring the library,
which would store Bush’s presi
dential papers, the Houston Chron
icle reported Tuesday.
Newsweek magazine quoted
Bush as saying he has already de
cided his presidential papers
should go to a Texas university but
that it was too early for him to make
a definite selection.
That is not deterring Yale from
seeking the library.
“I’m sure Yale will be making an
effort to persuade the president to
locate his library here or at least
some place near here,” Jack Sig-
gins, an administrator of Yale’s li
brary, said.
“I believe that possibility has
been mentioned to President Bush
— in fact, before he was President
Bush — by Yale’s president, Benno
Schmidt.”
Siggins said locating the presi
dential library at the Ivy League
school would be appropriate be
cause Bush received his undergrad
uate degree there and because he is
a native of Connecticut.
In a typical case, funds for con
struction of a presidential library
are raised from private sources,
and an institution, such as a univer
sity, will provide a construction site.
Texas A&M is reported to have
approached Bush in reference to
the library, the magazine said.
Bryan Jones, head of A&M’s po
litical science department, and a
colleague, presidential scholar
George Edwards, drafted a mem
orandum urging the University to
explore the possibilities of attract
ing the presidential library to the
school.
Having the library on campus
would provide an important re
source for research on the national
government and enhance A&M’s
“movement on national promi
nence as a comprehensive research
University,” Jones said.
Rice is also a potential site for the
library.
“Rice is certainly interested in the
presidential papers, and we have
initiated conversations with the
Bush administration on the mat
ter,” Rice President George Rupp
said in a prepared statement.
“We are continuing to work on
the opportunity but no one has
made a commitment.”
Rice partisans note that Secretary
of State James Baker, a native
Houstonian and a close friend of
Bush’s, already has begun deposit
ing papers from his public service
in the Woodson Research Center at
Rice’s Fondren Library.
Thev also note that in 1978 Bush
served at Rice as an adjunct profes
sor of administrative science, teach
ing a graduate-level course in “or
ganization theory.”
Aviation task force
tries to ensure safety
of aging airline fleet
WASHINGTON (AP) — A task
force of aviation industrv and gov
ernment safety experts proposed
Tuesday that the world’s airlines be
ordered to do $800 million in work
on older Boeing 747s, 737s and
727s.
But the task force, movirjg to en
sure the safety of an aging interna
tional airline fleet, said none of the
proposed repairs was urgent and all
could be done over several years’
time.
The group, set up the Air Trans
port Association, which represents
major U.S. airlines, asked the Fed
eral Aviation Administration to issue
a massive “airworthiness directive”
making mandatory modifications
and replacements recommended in
150Boeing Co. service bulletins.
Transportation Secretary Samuel
Skinner applauded the proposal and
said the FAA already had begun
procedures required to issue the
massive airworthiness directive
called for by the task force.
The FAA has jurisdiction over
planes flown by U.S. carriers. Regu
latory bodies in other countries issue
the rules under which those nations’
pbnes operate.
The transport association esti
mated that 30 percent to 40 percent
of the affected planes fall under
FAAjurisdiction.
The proposed work would apply
to more than 1,300 Boeing aircraft
worldwide at an average cost of
$600,000 per plane. A Boeing rep
resentative on the task force joined
in the unanimous vote to make his
company’s recommendations man
datory.
Clyde Kizer, transport association
vice president, said the proposed re
pairs and replacements would be
tied to the number of times an air
liner had taken off and landed and
its time in the sky.
Emphasizing that none of the
work was considered pressing, Kizer
told a news conference, “T here are
no dangerous aircraft out there fly
ing right now.”
Parts affected would include
joints, fittings, outside skin and some
structural materials, Kizer said.
“What we are suggesting," he said,
“is that at some point in an aircraft’s
history it is no longer acceptable just
to inspect.”
The FAA now requires airlines to
conduct regular inspections Of older
aircraft and, in most cases, to make
repairs and changes w hen problems
are found.
The task force proposal would
mandate the replacement of specific
aircraft parts according to how
much a plane had been used rather
than its chronological age.
Kizer said the release of the re
port, which followed nine months of
work, had nothing to do with Fri
day’s incident in which nine people
died after a hole opened in the fuse
lage of a United Airlines 747 over
the Pacific Ocean.
The group, which also includes
international aviation experts and
U.S. government representatives,
began its work partly in response to
an April 1988 incident in which part
of the roof of an Aloha Airlines 737
peeled away over Hawaii, sucking a
stewardess to her death.
The average age of the world’s
8,800 airliners is just over 13 years,
according to Avmark, an aviation
appraisal firm. Its. latest survey,
done in July, showed the average
U.S. airliner in service was 12.67
years old.
Airlines participating in the task
force said they did not expect imme
diate major expenses in part because
they have already done or planned
much of the work voluntarily.
“We don’t anticipate anything
over and above what we’ve already
planned to do,” said Bob Doll, a
United Air Lines vice president who
helped draw up the recommenda
tions.
Pan American President Thomas
G. Plaskett, who did not participate
in the task force, said his airline fully
supports the proposal. “Unless we
do this, the U.S. fleet is not going to
be big enough to meet the demand,”
he said.
He noted that half the world’s air
liners are over 20 years old while in
creased air travel and the growing
world demand for airliners is forc
ing carriers to wait several years for
the delivery of new jets.
Just a little off the top
Ramon Gastello, head gardener for grounds
maintenance, trims the pampas grass near
the post office parking lot Tuesday. It is
trimmed yearly to promote growth.
Bush attempts
to sway votes
for Tower
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Bush launched a full-court
press Tuesday to salvage John Tow
er’s nomination, but his private
meetings with a dozen swing Demo
crats and wavering Republicans pro
duced no immediate pledges of sup
port for his chosen defense
secretary.
“I’m working hard at it,” Bush
told reporters at a picture-taking ses
sion during an afternoon Cabinet
meeting. “I’m committed.”
Republican Sen. Larry Pressler of
South Dakota, key to the drive to
hold all 45 Senate Republicans in
line, announced he was “very much
leaning against” confirmation and
urged Tower to withdraw before a
vote.
“I think that he may very well be
doing him (Bush) a favor in this
case,” said Pressler, who said he was
fearful that Tower would not be ca
pable of cleaning up the Pentagon
procurement system if confirmed.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater told reporters that there
was “no chance whatsoever” of the
president withdrawing the nomi
nation.
“We’re going to fight it out as far
as we can,” Fitzwater said. “We’ve
convinced a lot of senators and we
hope to convince a lot more.”
Formal debate on the nomination
is scheduled to open Wednesday,
and senators are reading a confiden
tial FBI report on the former Texas
senator’s drinking habits, charges of
womanizing and lucrative consulting
contracts with military companies.
Sen. John Breaux, D-La., a swing
Democrat who met privately with
Bush in the Oval Office, said he was
leaning against the nomination
based on Tower’s drinking habits.
The former senator has acknowl
edged drinking heavily during the
1970s but says he now has only an
occassional glass of wine with din
ner.
Bush said he did not know
whether he could win over senators
who have indicated opposition to
Tower, saying only, “I hope so.”
But Vice President Dan Quayle
said he believed all 45 senators, in
cluding Pressler, would vote to con
firm Tower. If five Democrats can
be persuaded to vote for Tower, that
would allow Quayle to cast the deci
sive, tie-breaking vote for the nomi
nee.
Soviet magazine blasts
Communists for ‘lies’
t MOSCOW (AP) — A promi-
| nent state-run magazine has sca-
I thingly criticized the Communist
E Party, accusing it of spreading
| “political lies” that have deceived
I the Soviet people for generations,
c The unprecedented attack in
[ the literary monthly Novy Mir
[ also questioned the rationale of
the 20 million-member party’s le
gal monopoly on power, en-
| shrined by the 1977 Constitution,
and says genuine democracy is
impossible until the party permits
open dissent in its ranks.
Even in the franker atmo-
, sphere fostered by President Mik
hail S. Gorbachev’s campaign for
“glasnost,” or greater openness,
such harsh criticism of Commu
nist Party practices in an official
Soviet publication would have re
cently seemed impossible.
The article, by widely known
i sociologist Igor M. Klyamkin, also
hints at the central paradox of
Gorbachev’s blueprint for politi
cal change, by noting that Soviet
“democratization” is taking place
in a system where one party has
declared itself society’s sole legiti
mate ruler.
The criticism comes at a time
when Soviets are preparing for
their first national multicandiate
elections.
Klyamkin does not openly call
for the creation of a multiparty
system, but that is the inescapable
conclusion many will draw from
his criticism of anti-democratic
practices he says the Communist
Party has engaged in starting
from the days of Soviet founder
Vladimir I. Lenin.
“The major reason for lies
starting to dominate society was
that the majority, whatever it was
composed of, was fated to limit
interparty democracy and violate
the rights of the minority,”
Klyamkin wrote. “This was dis
covered even when Lenin was still
alive.
“The political lie leads to catas
trophe when some organization
or group of people has a full mo
nopoly on power and informa
tion, where nobody can catch
them deceiving others . . . —when
there is no democracy.”
The article, in the February
edition of Novy Mir, seems cer
tain to fuel debate about the par
ty’s role in political institutions
being created this year as part of
Gorbachev’s plan to define more
clearly the responsibilities of
party and government.
GSS: Ignorance, fear cause homophobia
By Stephen Masters
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Homophobia means just what it says — fear
and negativity toward homosexuals. Often traced
to the fear of AIDS, homophobia is a problem
nationwide, and it’s a problem at Texas A&M,
the president of A&M’s Gay Student Services
said.
Eduardo Casas, president of GSS, said homo
phobia is rampant at A&M, especially in students
from rural areas.
“A&M is a conservative area and a lot of times
it (homophobia) comes from people who are
from small towns,” Casas said. “People from
Houston, Austin and Dallas are more likely not
to be homophobic than people from smaller
towns.”
Casas said he believes homophobia likely stems
from the mistaken belief that AIDS is strictly a
homosexual disease. He said many heterosex
uals’ misunderstanding of the disease makes
them fear contracting the disease in everyday sit
uations.
Research Mbs shown that the AIDS virus can
only be contracted through exchange of bodily
fluids such as blood or semen.
Dr. Don Woods, an associate professor in the
A&M psychology department, said homophobia
existed long before the AIDS virus was discov
ered. Woods said discrimination against gays
goes back as far as Biblical times when people
were burned at the stake or termed mentally ill
for homosexual tendencies.
Casas said he thinks ignorance is the primary
cause of homophobia.
“I think the reasoning behind that is because
they are basically naive about the situation or
they listen to the stereotype they see on TV,
which adds to a lot of the homophobia.” he said.
“If they’re educated or experienced from living
in a metropolitan area such as Dallas or Houston,
then they’ve already had a taste of it.”
Casas said homophobia at A&M was at its peak
between 1976, the time GSS was formed, and
April 1985, when the organization was officially
recognized by the University. He said homopho-
“I
■think the reasoning behind it is
(hpmophobiacs) are basically naive
about the situation or they listen to
the stereotype that they see on TV,
which adds to a lot of the
homophobia.”
— Eduardo Casas,
president of GSS
bia at A&M has declined since AIDS has become
a nationwide problem. This trend is opposite of
that experienced elsewhere in the United States,
Casas said..
“For the gay poplation in general across the •
nation, yes, it has (increased),” he said. “Places
such as San Francisco, LA and New York have
officers using plastic gloves to break up demon
strations. That’s totally ludicrous and uncalled
for.”
Woods said AIDS probably increases the in
tensity of the negative feelings.
“It (AIDS) gives people another reason to fear
and dislike a group they do not understand,” he
said.
The GSS president said although the problem
occurs in both males and females, it is more com
mon in groups of males.
“I think males have homophobia, but I think it
comes in degrees,” Casas said. “You can have
people talking one-on-one homosexual to het
erosexuals. (In that case) I don’t think the homo
phobia is as high as if you have five heterosexuals
talking to one homosexual.
“Then it increases tenfold because they’ve got
to keep the ‘macho’ image of being in a male
group. That’s just the way it is. That’s the way so
ciety has ingrained the male to be.”
Casas also said feelings of hate directed toward
gays is more intense in males.
He linked homophobia with sexual confusion
in heterosexuals.
“A lot of people will tell you that it’s their own
insecurities that is the reason they don’t like ho
mosexuals,” he said. “It’s something that they
know they kind of are and then they end up hat
ing this person. They see themselves in other
people and they say they hate it when in actuality
it’s what they really are.
“I see that a lot more in homosexuals who have
not come out of the closet than I do in heterosex
uals. I’ve had my own experiences with people
who ended up coming out of the closet who were
vicious to gay people prior to coming out of the
closet. They were the ones who were causing a lot
of the friction.
“If you have a heterosexual who is pretty con
fident in his sexuality, you don’t see as much ‘fag
bashing.’ ”
Casas believes people need to be more tolerant
of others to survive.
“I think people need to exist without hating
one another in order to keep civilization civili
zed,” he said. “Whatever somebody does in their
private life, people shouldn’t care about. They
should be more concerned with things that are
going to destroy this Earth rather than destroy
ing each other.”