Ppj^xasA&MTQ 4.JI. I *
1 tie t5attalion
Vol.89 No.104 USPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas
WEATHER
\\ 1 I / ///*
Wm
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
Mostly sunny and cool
HIGH: 65 LOW: 40
/li/ l\\vx
Wednesday, February 28,1990
A&M boldly goes
forward in research
of science fiction lit
By SUZANNE CALDERON
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M is one step away
from being the major school for
science fiction and fantasy work
and reseat'd 1, a f ormer teacher of
Russian science fiction said.
Brett Cooke, an A&M assistant
professor of Russian who for
merly taught classes on Russian
science fiction at A&M and the
University of California-River-
side, is encouraged about the pos
sibility of A&M becoming a
leader in science fiction and fan
tasy research.
A&M’s Sterling C. Evans Li
brary is home to the second larg
est collection of science fiction
and fantasy works in the world,
Cooke said.
This, combined with one of the
largest student bodies in the
country and Cepheid Variable,
one of the largest student science
fiction clubs,
gives A&M the
potential to be
the leading uni
versity for science
fiction and fan
tasy work, lie
said.
To focus atten
tion on this valu
able resource, a
reception tonight
will kick off a
conference on
science fiction
and fantasy liter
ature.
The Fantastic
Imagination In New Critical The
ories— An Interdisciplinary Lit
erature Conference, will start to
day and end March 4. The
conference will feature panels on
science fiction and fantasy and
tiow they relate to various disci
plines and theories.
“The idea of the conference is
to get the word out, so that lead
ing English professors or leading
professors of literature in this
field know what our (A&M's) as-
sests are and help put us on the
beaten track," Cooke said.
It is also important that the
campus and community are
aware of what potential program
development in science fiction of
fers for a space-grant university
like A&M, Cooke said.
“Science fiction and fantasy are
useful ways to study the uses of
literature and fiction," he said.
“We have to realize that here is
literature that interconnects with
every facet of knowledge — if not
every facet of life.”
During the conference promi
nent writers and scholars will pre
sent papers examining such areas
as Marxism, feminism and psy-
The following is the schedule
of events for the Fantastic
Imagination In New Critical
Theories Conference.
February 28:
• 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. —
keception, 145 MSC.
March 1:
• 9:00 a.m. — Conference
Opening, 501 Rudder.
• 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 —>• Panel
on Fantasy and Speech Orga
nization, 501 Rudder.
• 1:45 to 5:30 p.m. — Pan
See Schedule/Page 12
chology and their relationship to
scientific fantasy.
Another panel will feature
leading collectors and biogra
phers of fantasy materials speak
ing on the challenges and future
opportunities in the scientific fan
tasy field.
The major topics to be outlined
are the use of fantasy, imagina
tion and whether it’s limited or
unlimited, and an examination of
whether fantasy is a good way to
test literary theories.
At the end of the conference,
four prominent writers of scien
tific fantasy will give their re
sponses to the material that was
presented in the panels, Cooke
said.
“Many of these scholars attend
ing are truly outstanding,” he
said.
Among those attending will be
Gregory Benford and Chad Oli
ver.
“Gregory Ben
ford is one of the
most popular and
highly respected
writers of science
fiction in the
world,” Cooke
said. “He has won
almost every ma
jor award in the
field."
Chad Oliver is
a major classic
writer from the
50s and 60s. Oli
ver recently won
the National
Cowboy Hall of
Fame Western Heritage Award
for his book “Broken Eagle.” The
award recognizes the outstanding
western novel written in 1989.
Students, faculty and commu
nity members are invited to at
tend all portions of the confer
ence. Admission to all the panels
is free.
Students who want to attend
the conference banquet and party
are being offered a special stu
dent conference fee of $22- Nor
mal registration fee to attend the
banquet and party is $35, and can
be paid upon registration. Regis
tration is not necessary to attend
the panels.
Registration will be from 7:30
a.m. to 5 p.m. February 28 to
March 2 on the second floor ro
tunda in Rudder Tower.
The conference is sponsored
by the College of Liberal Arts, the
Department of Modern and Clas
sical Languages, the Women’s
Studies Program and MSC-Ce-
pheid Variable.
An exhibit of A&M’s science
fiction and fantasy collection is
currently on view on the second
floor of Sterling C. Evans Li
brary.
Gorbachev demands reforms
Soviet leader proposes more powerful presidency
MOSCOW (AP) — A determined and at times
angry Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Tuesday rammed
through the Soviet legislature his proposal for a
more powerful presidency that progressive law
makers warned could become a dictatorship.
Gorbachev, his voice rising as his temper
frayed, accused his critics of engaging in “cheap
demagoguery.” The Soviet leader recognized
lawmakers and revoked their right to speak ap
parently at whim during the often-stormy de
bate.
He hailed the Supreme Soviet’s final and over
whelming approval of his proposal as a “a great
political event.” But lawmaker Leonid Sukhoy-, a
Ukrainian taxi driver, warned, “The way the vot
ing went today is the same way presidential
power will be.”
After only two days of discussion, spread over
two weeks, the Supreme Soviet voted 347-24 with
43 abstentions to approve creation in principle of
a national presidency with a five-year term, to re
place the government post now held by Gorba
chev, whose formal title is Supreme Soviet chair-,
man.
The bill was remanded to committees to con
sider the dozens of amendments offered by dep
uties during debate.
Subject to final approval by the legislature’s
parent body, the Congress of People’s Deputies,
the president will be granted powers to veto laws,
unilaterally declare states of emergency, and
name the prime minister, according to a copy of
the bill shown to Western reporters.
Gorbachev, who chaired the legislature’s pro
ceedings, emphasized he has not yet been elected
president and said he has even considered refus
ing the office, but few expect the 58-year-old
Communist Party chief not to be chosen.
The presidency would, give Gorbachev a new
and stable power base at a time when his 20 mil
lion-member party’s popularity and prestige are
waning and it pursues the declared aim of follow
ing East Europe’s Communist parties in renounc
ing its legally guaranteed right to govern and
compete in a multiparty system.
Progressive lawmakers strongly objected to
concentrating so much power in one leader’s
hands and what they called Gorbachev’s undue
haste in pressing the issue on the Supreme So
viet. But other legislators said mounting eco
nomic, social and ethnic woes prove the need for
a strong leader.
Knee deep
Dwight Wardian, a mechanical engineering major who grad
uated in December 1989, cleans the fountain in front of the
Photo by Scott D. Weaver
Clayton Williams Alumni Center. Wardian works for the Associa
tion of Former Students to clean the fountain.
Speech ends Black History Month celebrations
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
The dreams of little-known African-Ameri
cans of yesterday slowly have come to be the op
portunities of African-Americans today, the
speakers of “We are the Dream: Opportunities
Today” said.
The presentation was sponsored by the MSC
Black Awareness Committee and celebrated the
culmination of Black History Month.
Dr. Albert Broussard, an associate professor in
the Texas A&M history department, and David
Smith, the manager of Minority Dealer Opera
tions and Training Department for the Fora Mo
tor Company, focused on the African-American
role in American society.
Broussard said Black History Month owes its
beginning to a relatively unknown scholar, Car
ter G. Woodson. The event began as Negro His
tory Week in 1926.
Broussard said Woodson’s extreme determin
ation made Negro History Week a success for Af
rican-Americans in the United States and around
the world.
“He (Woodson) believed, like many other
young black scholars, that he had a mission to
fulfill," Broussard said.
The mission for the scholars, Broussard said,
was to educate African-Americans and to serve as
role models for future leaders. They also had to
fight discrimination in almost every form, he
said.
Through years of perserverance, Broussard
said, African-Americans have come a long way in
American society.
“We as slaves helped build the nation,” Brous
sard said. “We cleared land ... We harvested
crops and we picked so much cotton, tobacco and
rice that we nelped make America one of the
strongest nations on the face of the globe.”
Through the actions of African-Americans of
the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African-
Americans began to win some rights, Broussard
said. Along with their hard-earned rights, they
also struggled for their political and economic
freedom; he said.
Broussard said the struggle for equal rights re
quired great determination. Such determination
helped uplift African-Americans to their present
state, he said.
David Smith said he thought the civil rights
movement of the 1960s was a key to the success
of many African-Americans today.
However, instead of dealing with the past,
Smith said, he wanted to offer advice that would
help the college students in the future.
“I want to stress ‘Where do we go from here?’ ”
Smith said.
Smith said good oral and written communica
tion skills are necessary to be successful in the
business world of the 1990s. But these talents are
not the only qualifications a person needs.
See Month/Page 12
\1DS film helps raise awareness
SyJULIETTE RIZZO
OfThe Battalion Staff
In 1986, a student at a university
on the East Coast engaged in a
blationship she presumed’ would
bt a lifetime.
To “keep her boyf riend forever,”
llyignored her inhibitions and...
Four years later, the relationship
sever, but Sally still has something
flat will last a lifetime — AIDS (Ac-
jured Immune Deficiency Syn-
Irome).
Sally is not a fictional character,
lie is a real student at a university
osiheEast Coast, on the West Coast,
Mexas, at T exas A&M.
As a heterosexual woman, she
sever put herself in the high-risk
Gtegory for contracting the human
•Sniunodeftciency virus (HIV) that
toy lead to AIDS, nor was she aware
flat her boyfriend was bisexual.
Nowall she has to say is, “I could
Saiply have said no, like the drug
wan, or yes to condoms.”
To raise awareness about AIDS
Hthe college campus, student lead-
bs from universities around the
forld watched the sentimental and
bforniative video “AIDS — A Dec i-
•on for Life” Tuesday in Rudder
Wer as part of the I()th Annual
inference on Student Government
associations. T he video is by the
pierican College Health Associa-
m.
Dr. Erika Gonzalez-Uima, health
Vacation coordinator at A&M, said
allege students frequently wonder
lien they,-as a group, were placed
Ulie higli-risk category for AIDS, a
ase that weakens the body’s im-
bime system.
“It’sbeen said that AIDS does not
Visiting university delegates
debate different AIDS policies
By JULIETTE RIZZO
Of The Battalion Staff
Sexuality. The Pill. Condom
availability. AIDS.
These may not be topics of
conversation at your table but
topics such as these whet the ar
gumentative appetites of student
government delegates represent-
tng universities worldwide at a
round table discussion on AIDS
Tuesday at A&M.
When asked if AIDS education
was stressed at other schools or if
their schools support the distribu
tion of condoms on campus, the
majority of delegates replied that
their schools try to maintain a
healthy attitude about such is
sues. Most of the schools rep
resented said their university has
an environment conducive to
learning about sexually trans
mitted diseases, alternative life
styles and birth control.
With Texas rating fourth out
of the leading AIDS states with
8,421 reported cases (3,524 in
Houston alone), Texas A&M
health officials have made birth
control pills available at the Ren
tal Health Center for a fraction pf
the store prescription cost. How
ever, Dr. Kenneth Dirks, director
of the Health Center, said con
doms are not available there be
cause they do not require a pre
scription and are readily available
off campus.
By far, it appears A&M is
doing all it can to educate stu
dents. Two human sexuality
courses are available to students.
Dirks also said several video tapes
See Delegates/Page 12
discriminate," she said. “We are all at
a high risk. It doesn’t matter if a per
son is male, female, black, white,
straight or homosexual.”
Although the male homosexual
population was the first in the
United States to be infected by the
disease, the number of heterosexual
cases is growing.
The high-risk individual enters
into intercourse unprotected or
shares intravenous drug needles.
Statistics show that the number of
reported AIDS cases among the col
lege age group is increasing. Accord
ing to statistics released monthly by
the Center for Disease Control in At
lanta, 121,645 AIDS cases were re
ported as of January 1990. Of this
total, 479 cases were reported
among the 13- to I9-year-old age
bracket and 24,801 were reported in
the 20 to 29 age group.
Gonzalez-Lima said students need
to be aware that it is possible to have
the HIV virus without the disease
AIDS itself.
The onset of the disease is the vi
rus, which can be transmitted to oth
ers, but symptoms of the disease may
not develop for years, she said.
Because AIDS may not show up in
a person for as many as eight years,
it is unknown exactly how many stu
dents actually become infected in
college.
Because alcohol consumption and
sexual promiscuity are somewhat re
lated and some college students fre
quently partake in these activities,
students are placed in a high-risk
category. She said peer pressure and
experimental drug use, as well as
continuous drug use, add to the stu
dents’ risk of HIV infection.
Gonzalez-Lima said college stu
dents, especially student" leaders,
play a key role in dispersing infor
mation and dispelling rumors about
AIDS. Their input to student gov
ernments also helps in the enforce
ment and origination of university
policies to prevent discrimination
against students infected with the
HIV virus, she said.
The university’s role in prevent
ing AIDS is to provide free informa
tion to the college population, she
said.
“Student leaders are the gate
keepers of this information,” she
said. “What the university does will
help inhibit the spread of the dis
ease.”
Gonzalez-Lima said students need
to realize that those infected by the
HIV infection are permitted by law
to attend classes regularly. Under
the protection of the law, students
with symptomatic AIDS are consid-
See AIDS/Page 12
UPD maintains level
of vet school security
amid rumored threats
By KEVIN M. HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
The University Police Depart
ment is maintaining — not in
creasing— security in response to
a rumor that veterinary school
deans are being threatened by
militant animal-rights activists,
said UPD Director Bob Wiatt.
Wiatt stressed that University
and veterinary school security is
already adequate, and the rumor
that a veterinary school dean will
be killed each month for the rest
of 1990 is “gossip.”
“We are not reacting to this ru
mor,” Wiatt said.
The rumor began after Dr.
Hyram Kitchen, dean of the Uni
versity of Tennessee veterinary
school, was shot to death Feb. 8.
Homicide Lt. Larry Johnson,
who is from Knox County, Tenn.,
said an alert was sent nationwide
Wednesday via the National
Crime Information Center com
puter to all law enforcement
agencies with veterinary schools
in their districts. Johnson is lead
ing the investigation into Kitch
en’s death.
“Everything in it (the alert) was
unconfirmed,” Johnson said. “It
was a ‘for-what-it’s-worth’ tele
type based on second-, third- and
fourth-hand information. We put
it out for only one reason: we
didn’t want to sit on anything.”
Wiatt said a story in Monday’s
Houston Post about Texas A&M’s
response to the rumor was mis
leading and erroneous.
He said the headline and story
made it sound like UPD had
tightened security at the veteri
nary school and was protecting
certain individuals, which is false.
Wiatt said he has been in con
tact with Dr. John A. Shadduck,
dean of Texas A&M’s College of
Veterinary Medicine. Wiatt said
he told Shadduck about the ru
mor and instructed him about se
curity precautions he could take
on his own.
Shadduck said he is not too
concerned about the rumored
threats, but will follow Wiatt’s rec
ommendations anyway.
“I don’t think it’s terribly real,”
Shadduck said. “But I don’t plan
on taking any chances.”
Although UPD is not reacting
to this rumor, safeguards were
taken and are still in effect at
Texas A&M after laboratories
were broken into and equipment
destroyed at an animal research
facility at Texas Tech University
last year, he said.
Officials at the local Federal
Bureau of Investigation office
and the College Station Police De
partment said they are not plan
ning any special security mea
sures.