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Vol.89 No.80 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
easure moves to Senate
ouse overrides President’s veto
f bill shielding Chinese students
; House
fHIE Students follow debate in Congress
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ianC °nitH WASHINGTON (AP) — The House
loted overwhelmingly Wednesday to over-
biev V>de President Bush’s veto of legislation
rbai J )rotect i n g Chinese students from cleporta
■ '-i 3111 P^ion, while Bush appealed to Republican
ienators to resist ana help him keep open
ies to the world’s most populous nation.
The House vote of 390 to 25 sent the
natter to the Senate, where both sides said
he outcome of Thursday’s scheduled vote
vas in doubt.
House Speaker Thomas S. Foley de
lated, “I aon’t think what’s most on the
ninds of the members of Congress is the
sensitivities of the present Chinese lead
ership. ... This is a leadership that has in
mr judgment failed to respect the rights of
ts own citizens.”
Rep. Stephen Solarz, D-N.Y., chairman
jf the House Foreign Affairs Asia subcom
mittee, said, “On the issue of China, the
president has lost his credibility.”
Bush pinned his hopes on the Senate,
where both Democratic and Republican
senators predicted a cliffhanger. Tne presi
dent, National Security Adviser Brent
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By KEVIN HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
Chinese students at Texas A&M are
paying close attention to a bill being de
bated in Congress that would allow them
to stay in the United States after their
visas have expired.
Junting Lei, an A&M graduate stu
dent from Naning in south China, said
the legislation is necessary because the
situation in China is still uncertain.
through the day.
Bush was publicly appealing to GOP sen
ators to support him in the face of what he
termed “crass politics” played by some sup
porters of the override.
The legislation would affect as many as
,000 Chinese students now in the United
States on “exchange visitor” visas. The bill
would waive a legal requirement that those
students return nome for two years after
their visas expire before returning to the
United States or going elsewhere.
In addition, the bill would permit any
Chinese student whose visa has expired —
“Right now, the Chinese government
tries to convince students that there isn’t
any danger in returning home,” he said.
“But, most (of the students) believe what
they see or have experienced, not what
they hear.”
Lei said Chinese students probably
wouldn’t face any problems in China if
they kept silent while in the United
States.
However, Lei estimated 70 percent of
Chinese students at A&M participated in
demonstrations at A&M and in Houston
after the Tiananmen Square massacre in
June.
“I believe if I go back (there may be
no) punishment,” Lei said. “But, since I
used to speak frankly, they (the Chinese
government) may ask me, ‘What do you
think about June fourth?’ You have to
say what you don’t want to say. You have
to say something to protect yourself.”
“I think most students appreciate this
protection,” he said. Approximately 300
Chinese students attend A&M.
Although the bill was passed by Con
gress in its last session, President Bush
pocket-vetoed the legislation.
Bush planned to issue an executive or
der in place of the legislation. On Tues
day the House overrode Bush’s veto.
The Senate also will attempt to override
the president’s decision Thursday.
T he bill would waive until a future
date the requirement that foreign stu
dents holding a J-l visa return home for
two years before applying for non-immi
grant status in the United States. Most
Chinese students hold J-l visas.
as many as 8,000 others — to remain in the
United States as long as danger exists at
home, and would allow Chinese students to
work while in this country.
Bush vetoed the measure on Nov. 30 af
ter it had passed unanimously in the House
and by a voice vote in the Senate.
Chinese student groups have lobbied
hard for an override of the veto, saying
many of them would face political persecu
tion at home because they supported the
pro-democracy demonstrations that
brought a violent government crackdown
last June.
At the time Bush vetoed the bill, he or
dered government agencies to adopt what
he contends are essentially the same safe
guards.
Metcalf removal shocks ex-players
By RICHARD TIJERINA
01 The Battalion Staff
Letters about Metcalf/Page 3
Snoop\ Former Texas A&M basketball players around the country said
attled iht I they Here shocked and saddened wben they heard that Aggie
explained Coach Shelby Metcalf had been relieved of his duties Monday.
French, T just find it hard to believe that for a guy to have been there
for 27 years, regardless of the circumstances, to remove him in the
middle of the year, in the middle of conference play ... it just
doesn’t make sense to me,” Dave Goff, who played from 1976-80
under Metcalf, said Wednesday.
Metcalf, the winningest coach in Southwest Conference history
with a 438-306 record, was removed Monday afternoon by Athletic
Director John David Crow after a three-day power struggle that
split the school.
The former coach held an emotional, 45-minute press confer
ence after Saturday’s 100-84 loss to Arkansas and said that Crow
wanted to oust him from his job.
The Dallas Times Herald published a story that day, saying
Crow had told Aggie boosters in recent weeks that Metcalf soon
would be gone.
Crow issued a statement Saturday, saying that Metcalf was still
the Aggies’ coach, and that he’d be evaluated at the end of the year
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However, that evaluation came a few months early. Crow re
lieved the veteran coach, citing the negative publicitv that had been
cast on the A&M Athletic Department since Metcalfs press confer-
Crow named John Thornton, who played at A&M from 1973-
75 and was Metcalfs assistant coach since 1981, interim coach for
the remainder of the season.
Metcalf had one year remaining on his contract. He met with
University President William H. Mobley Tuesday night to discuss
his possible reassignment.
Goff, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., said Crow handled the en
tire situation poorly.
“The Athletic Director is a very powerful position, and when
you’re thinking of doing something like this you have to have tact
and political regards for what you’re doing,” Goff said. “I don’t
know all the circumstances, but maybe John David needs to learn
See Metcalf/Page 12
V0R'
Next stage of MSC tree removal begins
The second stage of tree removal be
gan Tuesday at tne Memorial Student
Center. The first cuttings began with
four large live oak trees on Dec. 21 by a
Brenham contractor and the remaining
15 trees are now being moved to other
areas on campus.
To do this, Texas A&M grounds
maintenance has hired out the Houston-
based company Instant Shade Trees to
remove and replant the trees. It will be a
$110,000job.
“Really, these 15 trees are just too
large for our department to remove,”
Mike Goldwater, associate director of
grounds maintenance, said. “That’s why
we had to go out and find somebody
who had the proper equipment.”
The proper equipment that was
needed to remove the trees included a
nine-inch tree spade.
Controversy about the trees’ removal
began last fall when administrators an
nounced that the trees would be cleared
in order to expand the University Cen
ter. This sparked oppositon from stu
dents, the Faculty Senate and the Texas
Environmental Action Coalition. The
University Center expansion project is
now set to begin in March.
Some of the trees currently being
moved will be replanted along the east
gate, while others will be put in storage.
The construction process of digging
and trenching around the trees at the
MSC is expected to continue for the next
several weeks. The entire tree relocation
project will be finished sometime this
winter.
Photo by Jay Janner
An employee of Instant Shade Trees, Inc. secures a tree Wednesday to be moved for the MSC expansion.
Thursday, January 25,1990
Fowl weather
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
Umbrellas of all sorts were seen on the A&M campus Wednesday afternoon
as students protected themselves from the rain that fell throughout the day.
Board debates future
of A&M-WTSU merger
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
The future of the West Texas State Uni
versity merger with Texas A&M was the
first item on the agenda when the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board
convened in Austin this morning.
The meetings today and tomorrow are
the last scheduled opportunities to decide
upon the union before the issue dies March
31.
Merging WTSU with the Texas A&M
University System would bring research
dollars to the campus in Canyon, 16 miles
south of Amarillo.
The merger was approved last summer
by the Texas Legislature, the WTSU Board
of Regents and tne A&M Board of Regents.
Last week the merger met opposition when
an HECB staff memorandum recom
mended the disapproval of the union.
“If the HECB were to consider only the
advantages and disadvantages to West
Texas State University, the advantages
must weigh in favor of the proposal,” the
memo said. “However, it is the Board’s re
sponsibility to weigh considerations other
than those of a purely local or regional in
terest.”
Concerns raised in the recommendation
include:
• The concentration of universities into
two massive systems which might lead to a
concentration of political power.
The study asks if the interests of higher
education throughout the state can be
served if one or two groups of institutions
can have their way over all others.
• The ability of the A&M and UT sys
tems to completely fulfill their obligations
to the citizens of South Texas and to any fu
ture satellite universities.
• The dilution of the Permanent Uni
versity Fund. The memo says the PUF
could be seriously diluted if additional uni
versities share in the wealth it generates.
Eleven of the 16 institutions in the UT and
A&M systems already share in the fund.
• The perceived extension of A&M de
grees, labels, rings and traditions to WTSU
by Canyon area residents.
Without the Texas A&M University label
at Canyon or Amarillo, the report says
there is serious question about how much
prestige WXSU will gain by being absorbed
by A&M.
• Duplication of programs already of
fered by Texas Tech. The report says con
cerns have been raised about an apparent
interest by Texas A&M University in en
croaching upon programs and services of
fered by Tech.
The staff report further recommended
that should the A&M-WTSU merger be
denied, the Legislature give serious consid
eration to a merger with Texas Tech Uni
versity.
In a prepared statement, WTSU Presi
dent Ed Roach said that judging from the
comments of the other parts of the system,
he sees no reason to believe WTSU will re
ceive any less attention because of the Sys
tem’s administrative staff.
Furthermore, Roach said there did not
appear to be a problem with Texas Tech
except geographically.
“Texas Tech is not a system and has not
expressed a desire to join with WTSU,”
Roach said. “In addition, the Texas Legis
lature mandated a study concerning the
feasibility of a merger with the TAMUS or
University of Texas System and did not re
quire a study of merger with Texas Tech.”
Members of the Texas Panhandle legis
lative delegation, who had won the support
of the Legislature and the regents of West
Texas State and the A&M System, told the
See Merger/Page 12
Correction
A headline on the front page of
Wednesday’s Battalion incorrectly stated
that Texas A&M’s annual research ex
penditures had topped the $250 billion
mark in 1989. The headline should have
read $250 million, as was stated in the
text of the story. The Battalion regrets
any confusion this error might have
caused our readers.