l^xasA&MQ _ l* _ __
ne Dattalion
Summer Movie
Previews
Movie sequels hit the summer
screen and the pocketbook.
See Lifestyles, Page 4
ol. 89 No.149 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, May 23,1990
artoon
rustrates
educators
Bart Simpson labeled
^ as poor role model
/e M^EW YORK (AP) — Bart Simp-
Jig a pn. the goggle-eyed cartoon kid
d e j, vith a corrugated hairdo, is catching
f lak from educators who say his
Hirt-alecky attitude on “The Simp-
Nentjons” gives children the wrong mes-
idUieK-
! with his overbite and back-
’ H (“Don’t have a cow, man!”), is
^ H becoming an icon of American
; Cntxjp culture, helped along by a mul-
^■llion-dollar merchandising blitz
lom Fox Broadcasting Co.
s~.»art’s influence has reached Stan-
K Hd University and UCLA, where
«*■ je won votes in student elections. He
vas disqualified in both races on the
■ ■inicality that he was not enrolled,
prompting student protests.
IHn a telegram from Fox to Stan-
. 'ord students, Bart told voters to be
Bient: “I must tell you I have set
ny sights on higher goals. Bart Sim-
■n for U.S. president in ’92, man!”
^ftart is fast becoming the fictional
opth American children identify
i most. Not bad for a 10-year-old
4 with only eight fingers, eh? But
lis attitude bothers some critical
)• Tkichool officials.
lay^ Last month, Principal Bill Krum-
iov of Lutz Elementary School in
’ Hlville Township, Ohio, banned
s !( Bart’s “Underachiever: And Proud
icreeuflt, Man,” T-shirt.
^MTo be proud of being an in-
icrKi competent is a contradiction of what
we stand for,” Krumnow said. “We
ve for excellence and to instill
id values in kids.” The show, he
Sd. “teaches the wrong thing to stu-
nts.”
■The shirt also was banned at Cam
bridge Elementary School in
Range, Calif., and last week in Ken-
; Rky, Principal Lonnie Watts of
Tlylor Mill Elementary School de-
Hred the Bart shirt a dress-code vi-
Htion.
■“Simpsons” creator Matt Groen-
mg and Fox officials prefer to let
Rrt defend himself with statements
gllHe: “I have no comment. My folks
Right me to respect elementary
Rool principals, even the ones who
■ve nothing better to do than tell
Rs what to wear.”
., »The show’s co-executive producer
Rn Simon said: “i don’t think it’s
■ejob of elementary school princi-
E ls to pick the role models for their
Is.”
■ The uproar caused J.C. Penney
Co Inc., which created Simpsons
blutiques in its stores, to remove the
offending “underachiever” shirt and
another that reads: “I’m Bart Simp
son. Who the hell are you?”
■ Even drug czar William J. Bennett
took a swipe at Bart. On a May 16
tour of a Pittsburgh drug-treatment
center, Bennett saw a poster of Bart
||d told recovering addicts they
shouldn’t follow Bart’s lead as an un
derachiever.
■ “You guys aren’t watching ‘The
Simpsons,’ are you? That’s not going
to help you any,” Bennett, director
of the national drug policy office,
said.
That wasn’t lost on Fox. “We have
eat respect for Mr. Bennett’s task
and responsibility,” Fox spokesman
Bmd Turell said. “But I am not
aware of any one TV program that
Mil help teenagers kick the drug
Rbit.”
Status of women survey reveals discontent
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
A significant minority of women faculty
and professional employees surveyed re
cently expressed dissatisfaction and unhappi
ness about the reward structure, decision
making processes and quality of life at Texas
A&M.
The survey, conducted by the Faculty Sen
ate’s Status of Women Committee, was sent to
2,100 A&M faculty, professionals, and staff
members of both sexes in March.
The committee received 850 question
naires completed, only a 42 percent return
rate, and based its data on the responses to
the 15-question survey.
The 1990 report is a follow-up of a 1985
Status of Women Committee survey of fac
ulty regarding attitudes about the treatment
of women on campus. The first survey, how
ever, questioned faculty about conditions for
women as a group, while the second survey
questioned employees about their own job
conditions.
A significant number of women surveyed,
especially faculty and professional women,
are not happy with all working conditions at
A&M:
• Thirty-two percent of the women sur
veyed reported that their pay was not compa
rable to men in similar positions at A&M. In
the survey sent to women only, 36 percent
said their pay was not comparable.
• Twenty-seven percent of women faculty
believe they do not have as much of an oppor
tunity to participate in decision-making as
men do.
• Twenty-two percent of women faculty
and professionals stated they had personally
experienced some form of sexual harassment
at A&M.
• Twenty-four percent of women in fac
ulty and professional positions said sexual ha
rassment has occurred in their departments.
• Eleven percent of women faculty felt
they had been denied access to promotions
because of their gender.
• Twenty-three percent of women faculty
and professional employees reported that
University leave policies, particularly parental
leave, made it more difficult for them to deal
with family issues.
• Thirty-eight percent of faculty and pro
fessional women and 34 percent of men fac
ulty said they are not satisfied with the quality
of life at A&M.
Dr. Patricia Alexander, chairwoman of the
Status of Women Committee, said the survey
results can be interpreted two ways.
Some people will look at the results in a
positive light since a majority of the respon
dents reported they were satisfied with the
working conditions at A&M, Alexander said.
“But in all cases, a small group of people
expressed dissatisfaction and discontent
ment,” she said. “And in some cases, in a par
ticularly sensitive area like sexual harassment,
it caused us concern. We felt those numbers
should not be ignored.”
The committee made several recommen
dations in the survey, including an examina
tion of University leave policies, a study on
the problem of sexual harassment, and an as
sessment of possible salary differences be
tween men and women employees.
The survey and summary report was ac
cepted by the Faculty Senate during the May
14 meeting and sent to the Executive Com
mittee for review. Alexander said the Exec
utive Committee then has the option of send
ing the report to the appropriate groups for
action.
"
m mi ******
Iflltlff!
ved
list
764-
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Helen, David and Jennifer Faulk try to sink a hole-in-one playing a game of putt-putt golf.
lements vetoes new school finance reform plan,
reiterates vehement opposition to higher taxes
■ AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clements, opposed
^ t|> a sales tax increase and confident that lawmak-
--fts lack the votes to override him, Tuesday ve-
B>ed the Legislature’s proposed school finance
■"■ reform plan.
I Senate Democrats immediately tried to over-
Bde the Republican’s veto. But they backed down
without a vote after Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby failed to
Bnd the 21 supporters needed for the required
Bvo-thirds majority.
|g Several lawmakers then predicted that a court-
ippointed special master would wind up writing
a new formula for giving state money to local
BRhools.
“I
I won’t agree to any sales tax
whatsoever. Period. I’ve only said
that about a hundred times, and one
of these days everybody’s going to
start believing it.”
LY
— Bill Clements,
governor
"'i If we f^l to override, I’m putting this button
1C 3 n I 1 sa y s: ‘Here comes the judge,’ ” Sen. Carl
Barker, D-Port Arthur, author of the Legis
lature’s reform plan, said.
Clements said he wasn’t worried about a June
1 court-ordered deadline for action. If no Fi
nance reforms are approved, Clements said, he
will call lawmakers into a fourth education spe
cial session when the current 30-day session ends
May 31.
Lawmakers have been in non-stop special ses
sions since Feb. 27. The $555 million school fi
nance bill they passed last week was the product
of those 2‘/a months of legislative wrangling.
In vetoing it, Clements complained that “the
liberals” were too eager to pass a half-cent sales
tax increase to help pay the bill’s cost.
“I won’t agree to any sales tax whatsoever. Pe
riod. I’ve only said that about a hundred times,
and one of these days everybody’s going to start
believing it,” Clements said.
The governor boasted before the Senate’s un
successful try that the Legislature, controlled by
Democrats, couldn’t override his veto. There are
23 Democrats and eight Republicans in the Sen
ate.
Sponsors of the override attempt gave up
when Hispanic senators said they would join Re
publicans to uphold Clements.
While not agreeing with Clements, the His
panic lawmakers said they would rather take
their chances with a court-written plan than with
the bill being debated.
“For a lot of us as minorities, we have had to
look at the courts to do what’s right ... I have a
great deal of faith in the judiciary,” Sen. Carlos
Truan, D-Corpus Christi, said.
Afterward, Clements said, “A governor has to
be pleased when he gets a veto to stick ... Gloating
is not in my nature.”
The Legislature is trying to overhaul the $13.5
billion-a-year school finance system to respond to
a 9-0 Texas Supreme Court ruling. The high
court declared the system unconstitutional, say
ing more money must be made available to poor
school districts.
■ or a lot of us as minorities, we
have had to look at the courts to do
what’s right... I have a great deal of
faith in the judiciary.”
— Carlos Truan,
senator
If lawmakers and the governor fail to enact a
plan, state District Judge Scott McCown already
has appointed a special master, former
Supreme Court Justice William Kilgarlin, to do
it for them.“We have a big club behind us — and
that’s the unanimous Supreme Court decision
and the appointment of a master,” Truan said.
Tenured faculty member
settles terms of dismissal
with A&M out of court
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M recently agreed to
settle out of court the grievance of a
tenured faculty member who had
contested A&M’s move to dismiss
her since 1985.
As part of the settlement between
Dr. Katharine Richards and A&M,
the terms of the settlement are confi
dential.
A&M attempted to dismiss Rich
ards for professional incompetence,
neglect of professional responsibili
ties, mental or physical disablement
which adversely affected her respon
sibilities and unprofessional con
duct.
Richards contested her dismissal
and filed civil charges against A&M
with the Equal Employment Oppor
tunity Commission claiming she was
discriminated against on the basis of
her handicap, sex and age.
Richards, 49, wears a leg brace
and has not been able to walk or
stand without crutches since con
tracting poliomyelitis at age 10.
In hearings before the Committee
for Academic Freedom, Responsibil
ity and Tenure in September 1988,
Dr. Luis Costa, modern languages
department head, testified that
Richards’ student evaluations were
consistently poor.
Complaints were similar in that
students said Richards gave few ex
planations, students had problems
understanding her and that she was
absent-minded and often unpre
pared, Costa said.
Dr. Daniel Fallon, dean of the
College of Liberal Arts, also testified
in a deposition to the 1988 CAFRT
that medical conditions, not her sex
or handicap, were the basis for her
dismissal.
Dr. Tom Pollock, an associate pro
fessor of aerospace engineering,
who was chairman of the Tenure
Advisory Committee for 1985-86
said negative comments about Rich
ards’ class recorded during the TAG
investigation were not as negative as
the committee had been led to be
lieve and almost equaled the number
of positive comments.
The Tenure Advisory Committee
in 1986 unanimously recommended
ending dismissal procedures against
Richards.
Richards has been a member of
A&M’s faculty since 1970 and
earned tenure in 1976.
Floods continue
Experts say dams, levees
prevented more damage
DALLAS (AP) — A year’s worth
of rain in four months washed out
crops, damaged homes and caused
some $300 million in damage in four
states, but experts say dams and le
vees built since 1950 prevented a far
worse catastrophe.
Downtown Dallas, for example,
probably would have been swamped
by the Trinity River if five dams had
not held back 390 billion gallons of
water — enough to cover Rhode Is
land under nearly 2 feet of water.
“This would have been the new
flood of record,” Ron Ruffennach of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
said. “Our economists . .. think $2
billion in damage was prevented in
the Dallas area because of these wa
ter projects.”
Instead, water was held back or
channeled away from populated
areas, and flooding in Texas, Okla
homa, Arkansas and Louisiana was
confined mostly to rural, low-lying
flood plains. In those areas, devel
opment is sparse, and agriculture
and recreation are the only indus
tries.
In all, damage from the water
draining south toward the Gulf of
Mexico is estimated at $300 million
or more — most of it related to agri
culture. Exact counts are unavailable
because many areas are still under
water and may remain flooded most
of the summer.
So far, 76 counties in Texas, Okla
homa and Arkansas have been de
clared eligible for federal disaster as
sistance.
But as water recedes in most
areas, officials say it seems clear that
g iven the record volume of water,
ooding could have been far worse.
“A lot of the area that was flooded
was agriculture area and much less
populated than other places. And
particularly downstream, it’s safe to
say a lot of people received an early
warning,” Laureen Chernow, a
spokeswoman for the Texas Office
of Emergency Management, said.
Carol Weathers of the Trinity
River Authority added, “There’s no
doubt it could have been a lot worse.
The system worked as it was sup
posed to.”
In Louisiana, the Corps of Engi
neers, which operates flood-control
dams, warned that 700,000 acres of
land could be flooded. With cleanup
operations under way, authorities
count fewer than 110,000 flooded
acres because levees held.
About 110 homes sustained dam
age in five counties, but counts from
six others affected by flooding
haven’t been made, Janet Merritt,
chief of disaster services in Loui
siana, said.
Only two counties in Louisiana
apparently will qualify for a federal
disaster declaration, she said. Agri
cultural losses are estimated at $7
million.
Elsewhere:
• In Oklahoma, President Bush
declared 13 counties eligible for di
saster aid. One child was killed dur
ing storms, about 500 homes were
damaged and highways and bridges
sustained about $8 million worth of
damage, officials said. No crop or
livestock losses were reported.
• In Arkansas, 22 counties have
been included in the disaster decla
ration, no deaths were reported,
about 500 houses were damaged and
agriculture losses were estimated at
$4.8 million.
• In Kansas City, 208 houses
were destroyed, 302 sustained major
damage and 224 sustained minor
damage after flooding, including
800,000 acres of corn. Damage is es
timated to be at least $5 million.
• In Mississippi, 345 houses have
been damaged by flooding, and
cleanup efforts are well under way.
• And in Texas, 12 people died
last month because of the floods,
which began April 15. One died last
week, authorities said. So far, 41
counties have been made eligible for
federal disaster aid, and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
has received applications for aid
from 3,473 Texas families.
Last year, 22 people died in flood
ing that made 89 Texas counties eli
gible for federal disaster assistance.