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The Battalion
Vol.89 No.81 USPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
WEATHER
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
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HIGH: 68 LOW: 40s
Friday, January 26,1990
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Mass media
Photo by Jay Janner
Bo Bradbury, a senior marketing major from Sugarland, singles for a quick glance. Bradbury passes time between classes by
out USA Today from 10 other publications at the MSC Thursday reading a copy of USA Today.
Board tentatively approves merger
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
The West Texas State University union with
the Texas A&M University System was tenta
tively approved Thursday by the Higher Educa
tion Coordinating Board in Austin following
three hours of debate.
The 10-7 committee decision will be consid
ered today by the full Coordinating Board.
Proponents of the merger'eited the increased
educational opportunities, stimulation of West
Texas economic development and a reduction in'
V1TSU administrative costs as reasons for adopt
ing the measure.
Uep. John Smithee, who sponsored the bill to
merge the two systems, also pointed out the geo
graphic benefits of having a TAMUS affiliated
university in West Texas. There is no such affilia
tion in the Texas Panhandle or within 200 miles
of the Panhandle.
The TAMUS Board of Regents Chairman
William A. McKenzie said the merger is a further
extension of the mandate issued by the creators
of the land grant system of higher education.
Last year, the merger was unanimously ap
proved by the Texas Senate and approved with
only one dissenting vote by the House. Following
studies by both administrations, the merger also
was approved by the WTSU Board of Regents
and the TAMUS Board of Regents. Governor
Bill Clements then approved the merger, subject
to HECB approval.
Those opposed to the merger said they felt po
litically compelled to rule favorably.
Referring to a letter from Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby
urging support of the merger, HECB board
member Jack Trotter of Houston asked how far
the conspiracy to pass the measure went.
Furthermore, he said the political jockeying
gave him the impression that, “if we don’t vote
right we won’t get confirmed.”
Several new board members still face Senate
confirmation hearings.
“This has been a stormy period,” Board Vice
Chairman Cipriano Guerra said. “This board was
created to take politics out of the education sys
tem.”
TAMUS Chancellor Perry Adkisson said the
A&M System was only responding to a legislati
vely initiated proposal.
Last week, a HECB staff memorandum rec
ommended the merger be disapproved saying
that it was the board’s responsibility to weigh con
siderations other than those of a purely regional
interest.
In addition, the board’s report said it would
make more geographic sense to consider merg
ing WTSU and Texas Tech.
But, Texas Tech President Robert Lawless
said Texas Tech does not have the financial re
sources to support another campus.
In addition, he asked the board for more
money to make future mergers possible for
Texas Tech.
Colombian jet
crashes in NY
amid fog, rain
COVE NECK, N Y. (AP) — A Co
lombian Boeing 707 jetliner with
more than 140 people aboard
crashed in fog and rain Thursday
night while on approach to Kennedy
International Airport, authorities
said. Numerous injuries were re
ported.
Avianca Flight 52 en route from
Bogota crashed at about 9:45 p.m. in
a sparsely populated area of north
ern Long Island, a Kennedy airport
official said.
Numerous ambulances and heli
copters were at the scene, but there
was no immediate report of the
number of injuries, nor of any
deaths. CBS-TV reported that doc
tors on the scene said at least 80 sur
vivors were being cared for there.
The jet broke into four pieces
upon impact, said Coast Guard Petty
Officer Jeff Crawley. There was less
than half a mile of visibility and it
was raining at the time of the crash,
according to the National Weather
Service.
The tower at Kennedy lost contact
with Flight 52 at 9:34 p.m. when the
Boeing 707 was about 15 miles
northeast of the airport after a five-
hour flight, said Port Authority Po
lice Officer PhiPMontouri.
“It was coming in from Bogota
and was supposed to land at eight.
o’clock,” Montouri said. “There was
no radio communication at all to the
tower. It just went down.”
The airliner went down in the
town of Cove Neck, located at about
the same place where the tower lost
contact, Officer Peter Franzone of
the Nassau County police said. The
plane carried 142 passengers and a
crew of seven, authorities said.
Crawley said several cutters and
boats were en route to the area just
in case some debris or victims were
in the water.
“We have reports that the crash is
on land and that it’s in four major
pieces,” Crawley said.
Control tower officials said the
plane may have lost one of its four
engines.
Peter Whitelaw, who lives down a
hill from the crash site, said he could
see a small portion of the downed
plane through the trees. He said
there were few homes in the area.
“I heard a rumbling, a very loud
rumbling,” Whitelaw said. “It
sounded as if your car was gearing
back and you were stripping the
gears, and the typical rumble you get
from a jet plane going over.
“Normally in bad weather they
circle out here but this was louder
than normal,” he said. “Then we
heard the crash,”
He said the road leading to the
crash site was clogged with emer
gency vehicles.
According to Radio Colombiana,
Flight 52 left Bogota with a stopover
in Medellin, the city known for its
notorious cocaine cartel, en route to
New York.
“I happened to see a plane going
very low,” said another witness, Da-
Vid Johnson. “At the altitude it was
at, I really could not hear any en
gines. So I am assuming the engines
had conked out but there really was
no fire or anything.”
The area of the crash is near
Oyster Bay Harbor on the north
shore of Long Island, just south of
the Sagamore Hill National Historic
Site, home of President Theodore
Roosevelt. It is a isolated, wooded
area of expensive homes.
The New York City Emergency
Medical Service, asked for help by
Nassau County police, sent five am
bulances and a Mobile Emergency
Room Vehicle to the crash scene, an
EMS spokesman said.
Senate upholds Bush veto
lities,
of Chinese students 9 stay
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on
Thursday narrowly upheld President Bush’s veto
of a bill protecting Chinese students from depor
tation, leaving his China policy intact and giving
him a victory in the year’s first test of strength
with the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Senators voted 62 to 37 to override Bush’s
veto, four short of the two-thirds necessary.
The action came a day after the House had
voted overwhelming to reject Bush’s veto, and
followed an intense White House lobbying blitz
that included telephone calls from Bush and for
mer President Richard Nixon.
Before the Senate roll call, Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said that while
Bush has voiced support for democratic reform
in Eastern Europe, “this veto sends a contrary
message to the millions of students and workers
in China who are struggling for democracy in
their country.”
But Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., the Minority
Leader, said the congressional showdown was the
equivalent of “throwing out the first ball” of the
1990 election season and was being used by Dem
ocrats to force GOP senators to cast “a tough po
litical vote” to support the president.
Looking
for a few
AIDS committee suggests
condom machines on campus
Looking
for a few
good men
Sperm donor bank
opens in Bryan
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
The phones practically ring
non-stop and appointment books
are filled daily at one of Bryan’s
newest businesses.
But this isn’t a travel agency or
dentist’s office. It’s a sperm bank.
The Fairfax Cryobank, a
sperm preservation laboratory in
Bryan, has received dozens of in
quiries — mostly from Texas
A&M students — since it opened
during Christmas break.
“The need right now is far
greater than what we can provi
de,” Guy Stone, the sperm bank’s
laboratory supervisor, said.
The Fairfax Cryobank, a divi
sion of a medical company in
Fairfax, Va., opened the Bryan
office to take advantage of the
large male population in Bryan-
College Station.
“College-aged men are usually
the most interested in this kind of
program,” Dr. Edward Fugger,
Class of ’65 who works in Fairfax,
said. “Men out of college really
don’t have the time, so our com
See Sperm/Page 9
By TODD L. CONNELLEY
Of The Battalion Staff
Condom machines will be in
stalled in buildings on the Texas
A&M campus if the recommenda
tions in A&M’s Committee on AIDS
Report are approved by President
William H. Mobley.
The committee submitted to Mob
ley in December its report that con
tains policies and procedures for
coping with the complexities of Ac
quired Immune Deficiency Syn
drome at A&M.
If the recommendations in the re
port are approved, condom ma
chines would be placed in buildings
throughout campus that have high
student and employee traffic.
In residence halls, condom ma
chines would be placed in one men’s
and one women’s restroom.
The report stated that since AIDS
cannot he transmitted by casual con
tact, A&M will not discriminate
against students or faculty who have'
or may have been exposed to the dis
ease.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, associate pro
vost for academic affairs, said non
discrimination was the underlying
philosophy of the report.
“It would appear that if a student
has AIDS there would be contro
versy and concern, but their legal
rights will be protected,” Gaston
said.
Gaston said members of the com
mittee studied AIDS policies from
universities around the country.
“Texas A&M’s report on AIDS
compares exactly with the schools’
(reports) we looked at,” he said.
Accordingly, some changes had to
be made in the University’s Rules
and Regulations under the section
dealing with discrimination.
Now the passage warns against
discrimination based on sexual
orientation in addition to race, color,
religion, sex, age, national origin
and educationally unrelated hand
icaps.
The report also outlines a broad
proposal for an AIDS Education
Program.
The main goal of the education
program is a more realistic goal of
promoting “safer sex”, rather than
promoting abstinence from sexual
activity.
Under the proposed program,
pamphlets containing information
regarding AIDS and the legal rights
of persons infected with the fatal dis
ease would be distributed to students
in high-traffic areas. Presentations
and workshops, featuring major
University speakers, would be pro
vided for students and employees.
Finally, the Committee asked the
Health and Physical Education De
partment to develop a new one-hour
course on social diseases. The de
partment created HLTH 489, Spe
cial Topics in Social Diseases of the
20th century.
The course is an introduction to
the psychological and ethical aspects
of sexually transmitted diseases that
have proliferated in the latter half of
the 20th century.
If approved, the course will have
no prerequisites and be open to stu
dents in the Fall.
“It’s not China policy, it’s American politics,”
Dole said.
Just before the vote, Bush had publicly re
newed his promise that the 40,000 Chinese stu
dents in the United States would be fully pro
tected even without the legislation. “No student,
as long as I’m president, will be sent back,” he
said.
And in a televised appearance just after the
vote, Bush added, “We will continue to urge
China to respect the human rights of its citizens.”
He hailed the vote as “reaffirming our commit
ment to Chinese students in this country as well
as the goal of improving relations with China.”
The 390-25 House vote on Wednesday
prompted immediate criticism from the Chinese
foreign ministry in Beijing. A spokesman there
said the House was “fully revealing its anti-China
position” and was risking damage to relations be
tween the two countries.
But Sen. William Armstrong of Colorado, a
Republican who opposed Bush, said, “The
House put itself squarely on record in support of
human freedom ... and made it clear it is not will
ing to be accomplices” to repression of dissent,
Armstrong said.
Texas A&M formally dedicates
Cray Y-MP2/116 Supercomputer
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Senior Bud Famham and graduate student Mohindu Bajwa test
a program that was linked up to TAMU’s new CRAY Supercom
puter during the ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
By TODD L. CONNELLEY
Of The Battalion Staff
There’s only four in the world,
and we’ve got one.
Texas A&M formally ded
icated its new Cray Y-MP2/116
Supercomputer Thursday in the
Zachry Engineering Center.
“This is a major step forward
in technology and availability for
the 40,000 plus students of Texas
A&M,” President William H.
Mobley said in a short speech
dedicating the supercomputer.
A&M acquired the one-and-a-
half ton supercomputer last July.
It has been fully operational since
Sept. 1.
“The supercomputer doesn’t
really do a whole lot more than a
normal computer does in terms
of the types of operations, ” Bah-
ram Nassersharif, director of the
supercomputer program, said.
“The biggest advantage is speed.
“For example, say you are try
ing to design a new wing for an
airplane, and you’re using a per
sonal computer. In order to get
the right parameters you may
spend ten years working out the
calculations. On the Cray, those
very same calculations may take
on the order of one week.”
Wiliam H. McKenzie, chair
man of the Board of Regents, ex
pressed his enthusiasm over the
five-and-a-half million dollar ma
chine.
“It’s a marvelous addition to
teaching and research pro
grams,” McKenzie said.
“I was in Washington, D.C.,
last week and had the honor to
visit with President Bush,” he
said. “I told him how we (The Re
gents) had gotten the Cray Super
computer for Texas A&M. He
was amazed and truly im
pressed.”
Bob Ewald, executive vice pres
ident of the software division of
Cray Research Inc., said that the
new supercomputer would push
A&M to the cutting edge of re
search and development.
“It can be whatever you want it
to be,” Ewald said. “It can be a
tornado, hurricane, the ocean, a
space shuttle or even two cars
crashing. The possibilities are
limitless.”
Congressman Joe Barton, who
arrived a little late due to airline
delays, thanked the regents for
the hard work it took to capture
the much-desired research tool.
“The funding for this machine
came entirely from the Board of
Regents,” Barton said. “There
was no federal funding involved.
“This machine is capable of
333 million calculations per sec
ond,” he said. “ They’ve finally
found something that moves fas
ter than the federal government
can spend money.”