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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1989)
he Battalion TATE & LOCAL riday, October 6,1989 Activists protest for democracy Chinese visa holders face persecution by protesting y Selina Gonzalez f The Battalion Staff Activists for Chinese democracy, including I >me Texas A&M students, demonstrated in [ouston Sunday, the day China celebrated the anniversary of the People’s Republic of hina. Many of the demonstrators wore bags over icir heads because they didn’t want the Chinese ommunist government to identify them, Irwin lane, Texas A&M student and Medicine Tribe lember, said. The march, “We have a dream: Freedom and emocracy in China,” was sponsored by the Jauthwest branch of the Independent Feder- lionof Chinese Students and Scnolars. Approximately 500 people gathered in Her- han Park to support the democracy movement listening to speeches, singing songs and (latching. Wang and Xen Ge, a Texas A&M graduate [udent and democracy activist, spoke at the plly. Participants waved banners and posters fading, “Honk for Democracy.” Wang said most Chinese people in the United (tales are afraid to speak out against the Com- (mnist dictatorship. “There actually was someone (from the ihinese government) taking pictures of the dem- Tistrators,” Wang said. Ge said videocameras are used to tape protes tors in the United States. The tapes are then sent to the Chinese government. Ge said he has heard of a “blacklist” that the Chinese government is compiling with names of student protestors. The Chinese students studying here need pro tection from the United States because those car rying J-l visas are required to return to China af ter acquiring a degree, Ge said. The alternative to the J-l visa is called the F-l visa. F-l visas are privately funded, Noel Tope, Texas A&M international immigration adviser, said. A&M graduate student Steven Gao said that if the Chinese government recognizes a visa holder as a protester, it fails to renew the visa and the student becomes illegal. Ge said 70 percent of Chinese students are forced to acquire a J-l and therefore need U.S. protection. Gao, who carries a J-l visa, attended a march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, sponsored by the IFCSS. “It doesn’t matter if you’re scared or not,” Gao said. “It is human nature to protest when you consider the students who have given up their lives for democracy. It is my obligation to do something right now. People in China have al ready died. The least we can do here in the U.S. is ca'fry out the movement.” Gao said he goes by the philosophy, “We only have to struggle right now in order to save us in the future.” Gao said he doesn’t want to defect because his familv is still in China. “If they (Chinese government officials) recog nize me and connect me to a specific family, some member of my family may get some kind of spe cial treatment,” Gao said. Ge said he hopes that next year, it won’t be dangerous for the Chinese people to express themselves. The United States should place tough sanc tions on high technology products exported to China, Wang said. No sanctions should be placed on food products because the people have been punished enough. Ge said the Chinese government relies on the United States for technological products. But “high technology transport is not moral,” he said. Ge said the Communist dictatorship used traf fic control cameras from the United States in the Tianenmen Square massacre. More than 310,000 has been collected at Texas A&M for the families of those who died in the massacre, Ge said. He said investigation on how to transport the money to the families is being_ conducted. “We are the most active university in helping the pro-democracy movement in the Southwest,” Ge said. Prof: life isn’t all roses for black college athletes By Todd Connelley Of The Battalion Staff The notion that the black ath lete rides a wave of luxury while in college sports can be a tainted perception, Dr. Harry Edwards said. Edwards, a tenured professor of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley and consul tant to the San Fransisco 49ers, detailed the struggle of the black athlete at a program promoting racial awareness. Edwards said academics re main a controversial area for the black athlete. “Black athletes have no role model to look up to except other black athletes,” Edwards said,“so when they graduate from high school no one demands anything of them intellectually. “When they get to college they’re put into jock courses and easy majors. What they don’t real ize is that only 1.7 percent of col lege athletes ever sign a profes sional contract. They are getting ripped off,” he said. Edwards said recruitment problems and drug-use can be di rectly tied to racism. “Black athletes right out of high school are recruited as uni dimensional athletes,” he said. “They are taken out of their homes and the black community and expected to be used as 20th- century gladiators. “So, coming to a college cam pus becomes a major culture shock and unfortunately some black athletes react in a negative fashion.” Edwards issued a challenge to college students, asking them to see people for who they really “Break that social isolation,” he said. “If we don’t we will become a reflection on what we are be coming as a people.” Freshman election fills only seven of 13 seats By Michael Kelley Oil Of The Battalion Staff Yesterday’s freshman elections resulted in runoffs for all six Class of ’93 Class Council elec tions while seven freshmen were elected to represent their class in Student Government as members I of the Student Senate. Election Commissioners Perry I Liston and Margarita Moreno an- nouced the results to a crowd of about 100 freshmen at 8:30 p.m. in front of the Academic Building (at the statue of “Sully.” “There were no complications (this year with the freshman elec tions and only one minor com plaint,” said Liston. “Overall, ev erything went well.” Moreno said that some votes were illegally cast and therefore were not counted in the election. “There were 95 votes that were not counted due to a combinia- tion of student identification numbers that did not match up with the numbers of currently en rolled freshmen at A&M and some students left their identifi cation numbers off their ballot,” said Moreno. She said that turnout for this year’s fall elections was about 300 See Fish/Page 6 Questions raised in Cardenas case Suspect in similar murders may be responsible for grad’s death FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS Prosecutors say they are absolutely convinced the right man was convicted of murdering Au drey Cardenas, a 1988 Texas A&M graduate working in Illinois, but an attorney has been hired to review alleged similarities between that case and two recent killings. Wednesday’s action by St. Clair County State’s Attorney John Baricevic follows local rumors that the 1988 slaying of Cardenas and that of a Belleville-area woman and her young son in Sep tember are related. “I’m convinced we convicted the right person (Rodney Woidtke) for the murder of Audrey Cardenas,” Baricevic said. Cardenas, of Bryan, was killed in the summer of 1988, just days after arriving for an internship at the Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat. The recent arrest of Dale Anderson in the slayings of JoLaine Lanman, 34, and her 3-year- ola son, Kenneth, has sparked area speculation fhat Woidtke did not kill Cardenas. Newspaper employees said after Cardenas’ body was found in a dry creek bed on June 26, 1988, Anderson seemed to be obsessed with that case, even posing for a time as a special investiga tor looking into it. A 14-year-old girl has said Anderson per suaded her to write a clumsy letter concocting ev idence that three former supervisors at the Illi nois Department of Public Aid, where Anderson once worked, were involved in the reporter’s murder. ! Police have said another note, also aimed at framing the supervisors, was found at last week’s murder scene. Baricevic was not swayed. “I am absolutely, without a doubt in my mind, 100 percent sure that Dale Anderson did not kill Audrey Cardenas,” he said. But Baricevic said he appointed John English, a former prosecutor, to review the killings. Baricevic said English will be paid a fiat fee to review both cases for the state’s attorney’s office and render an opinion. Baricevic also said he will allow a judge to review the Lanman case in pri vate to see whether it would have affected the Woidtke trial. tr I cess BROMRS H The Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra SUNDAY OCT. 15, 1989 RUDDER AUDITORIUM 4:00 P.M. Tickets available at the MSC Box Office, 845-1234 and at Dillard’s in Post Oak Mall. Looking for your ’88 Aggieland? We’ve still got it! If you forgot to pick yours up, come by, show us your student I.D. and take it home. ’88 Aggielands are also available for purchase. English Annex ATTENTION AGGIES! Would you like to travel to Germany next Summer? as a cultural exchange student in coordination with the Georg August University in Gottingen, West Germany. Trip is from May 22 to June 19,1990. Fluency in German is not reguired Program is a cultural exchange. Room and some meals provided by host families. In Gottingen. Trips available to other locations in Germany. Applications available: in room 223G MSC Browsing Library Due-October 9, 1989 at 5:00 p.m. MSC Jordan Institute for International Awareness Call battalion Classified 845-2611