Upm Texas A&M - - «•
The Battalion
Park violence erupts
Houston parks director calls for
tighter alcohol controls after
Memorial Day panic in city park
See page 3
. 89 No.150 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, May 30,1990
Regents adopt system-wide drug policy
_
By KEVIN M. HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
■Texas A&M University System
iRegents adopted a drug policy Fri
day aimed at curtailing drug tise
among employees and students.
■The policy also covers alcohol
abuse.
■The measure’s objectives include
“maintaining a safe and healthy en
vironment for all students and em
ployees,” protecting the reputation
of the System in communities and
“improving the effective perfor
mance of job duties and productivity
! of all employees and the educational
■■rformance of all students.”
■ The policy outlines uniform ac
tions each part of the System should
take to deal with drug or alcohol
abuse among employees, but refers
any specifics dealing with students to
individual System parts.
Board of Regents Chairman Wil
liam McKenzie said this is the first
system-wide drug and alcohol abuse
policy in Texas. He added, “It’s long
overdue.”
System Chancellor Perry L. Ad-
kisson said it is important to enact a
drug policy that is consistent System-
wide, and that this policy is proactive
instead of reactive.
According to the policy, employ
ees may be tested if there is reasona
ble suspicion their job performance
has been affected by drug use or the
employee’s actions are a safety haz
ard.
If drug use is confirmed, employ
ees are advised of available counsel
ing programs and the terms of any
probation period. If the situation is
not resolved through these means,
the policy outlines further actions
that can be taken.
Sanctions that can be imposed
upon employees and students must
be consistent with any applicable lo
cal, state or federal laws.
Actions range from completion of
a rehabilitation program to student
expulsion and employee termination
or referral to authorities for pros
ecution.
The policy was amended, on sug
gestion by Regent Ross Margraves,
by omitting a statement limiting the
System’s ability to report illegal activ
ities.
The plan originally prohibited the
“unlawful manufacture, distribu
tion, possession or use of illicit drugs
or alcohol on System premises ... or
during System activities.”
Margraves argued limiting the
policy to System premises or activ
ities would allow a person to man
ufacture and sell drugs off campus
and then come on campus and be
exempt from the policy.
“I don’t want ‘Professor Jones’
manufacturing LSD across the street
thinking he’s safe,” he said.
Institutions of higher education
are required to enact a drug-abuse
policy by Oct. 1 or lose funding,
according to the federal Drug-Free
Workplace Act of 1988 and the
Drug-Free Schools Act Amendment
of 1989.
Gubernatorial hopeful Williams heads list
Pro-choice group targets Texas candidates
Te;
pro
AUSTIN (AP) — Ten Republicans were
ced on an election-year hit list Tuesday by the
xas Abortion Rights Action League, which
omised that anti-abortion candidates would
ieel the heat” come November.
[ t'■“Now more than ever the pro-choice majority
here in Texas is determined to use their votes,
their dollars and their time to elect pro-choice
candidates,” said Phyllis Dunham, TARAL exec
utive director.
S I GOP candidates blasted the group, saying it fa
irs Democrats.
■ “This group will be supporting liberal Demo-
;'Cfats and opposing conservative Republicans,”
lid Mark Sanders, spokesman for GOP lieuten-
JS , ant governor candidate Rob Mosbacher Jr., No. 2
lt j on the TARAL list. “I’m afraid they will find on
; or election day that they are out of step with the
^■ainstream of Texas.”
anjl TARAL last month placed GOP gubernatorial
■peful Clayton Williams atop a “TARAL 10” list
p, eft candidates it is targeting For defeat.
Added to that list Tuesday were nine more Re-
|
rf—
•M
publicans, including Mosbacher, attorney gen
eral hopeful J.E. “Buster” Brown and seven can
didates for the Legislature.
Dunham said the abortion issue offers clear
differences between candidates in many races
and will be a significant factor in Texas and na
tionally.
“We’re being watched by the nation. This is
George Bush’s home state,” she said. “What hap
pens in Texas on the issue of choice is very signif
icant for what happens in the rest of the nation.
“Those candidates targeted for defeat on the
TARAL 10 list will feel the heat,” Dunham said.
“The elections on every level are critical in pro
tecting the right to choose.”
Mosbacher spokesman Sanders said the TA
RAL list isn’t representative of the attitudes of
most Texas voters and charged that the group is
an ally of Democratic gubernatorial nominee
Ann Richards.
“It’s certainly not a surprise,” Sanders said.
“TARAL should probably be renamed the Ann
Richards Fan Club.”
“Rob endorses the plan that the Republicans
outlined earlier this spring, which essentially calls
for banning sex-selection abortions and requiring
parental consent for minors,” Sanders said. “He
is opposed to abortion on demand, but realizes
that that position may not be reflected by every
one in the state, and therefore has endorsed
these limited restrictions.”
Attorney general candidate Brown also crit
icized TARAL’s failure to endorse Republicans.
“In my opinion, this issue is way too sensitive of
an issue to be used like that for partisan political
gains,” he said.
Mona Palmer, spokesman for GOP gubernato-
iUu ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
rial candidate Williams, said the campaign
no immediate response.
had
In releasing the hit list, Dunham said her
group looked for pro-choice Republicans to en
dorse but couldn’t find any in “critical” races.
“That does not mean that we will not be en
dorsing Republicans in other races,” she said.
Keep off the grass
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Photo by Eric H. Roalson
While most of the MSC grounds have been torn up due to con
struction, the sign urging visitors to respect an A&M tradition by
staying off the grass surrounding the MSC remains.
embers initiate plans
for recreational building
K Board allows $25,000 for development;
nappropriated plant funds used for study
3y CHRIS VAUGHN
flhe Battalion Staff
.Idr,; 1
The Texas A&M System Board
f Regents initiated plans for a
30 million recreational sports
ijbuilding and natatorium at A&M
by appropriating $25,000 to de
velop building requirements.
Regents approved the measure
(during Friday’s meeting.
I Money for the study will come
from the University’s unappro
priated plant funds.
| The study, which could be fin
ished in four to six months, is be-
'ng conducted by the A&M Facili-
ies Planning and Construction
^Department to outline details of
:ach room in the building.
Architects then use the study to
reate the concept for the build-
ing.
The recreational sports build
ing and natatorium could be built
-
“I
■think we will get a
quality building, yet one
that is within the
budget,”
—Maj. Gen. Peel,
vice chancellor
on west campus near the intra
mural fields or in Hensel Park on
South College Avenue, the vice
chancellor for facilities planning
and construction said.
Maj. Gen. Wesley Peel said the
A&M administration has not
made a decision about the loca
tion. He said Hensel Park is an
advantage for the 30,000 off-
campus students and west cam-
E us is an advantage since the ath-
;tic complex and intramural
fields are already there.
The project will be financed
through a student fee, not to ex
ceed $35 a semester, according to
a law signed by Gov. Bill Clem
ents in May 1989.
The A&M student body also
endorsed a student fee for the
construction when a referendum
on the issue passed by more than
62 percent.
Peel said the sports and swim
ming complex could be finished
in about three years.
Also during planning and
building business, the Board re
jected all construction bids for the
A&M System headquarters be
cause the lowest bid offered was
more than $2.4 million over
A&M estimates.
The frame of the headquarters
building, which is more than
82,000 square feet, is already in
place on Tarrow Street in College
Station near the Hilton Hotel.
Peel said several proposed
“frills,” such as elaborate granite
and mill work, will be offered as
alternates to cut down on unanti
cipated costs.
The estimates prepared for
A&M had the cost of the head
quarters at $7.6 million, but the
lowest bid offered was $10.1 mil
lion.
“We’re disappointed the bids
were so far off the estimates,”
Perry Adkisson, system chan
cellor, said during the meeting.
The project is expected to un
dergo some design changes and
the bids will be reopened in early
July in preparation for the
Board’s meeting in late July.
Some regents expressed dis
pleasure about the elimination of
certain features in the building to
save money, but Peel disagreed.
“I think we will get a quality
building, yet one that is within the
budget,” he said.
In other planning and building
business, the Board of Regents:
• Appropriated $1.1 million
for detailed designs of the Veteri
nary Medical Center addition to
be built on west campus near the
present veterinary school.
The addition is scheduled to
cost $35 million when completed
and add almost 251,000 square
feet to the School of Veterinary
Medicine.
I
• Appropriated $465,000 for
detailed designs for the renova
tion of part of the old Chemistry
building.
Renovations are to include the
replacement of the roof, win
dows, masonry, and the restora
tion of the laboratories and lec
ture halls in the 1932 wing of the
building. Renovations are ex
pected to cost $7.25 million.
• Appropriated $30,000 for
preliminary design of a Texas
Beef Industry Center.
The center, which is expected
to cost $1.5 million, will be built
by private donations. The beef
center is the first component of
the System’s planned Animal Sci
ence Teaching and Research
Center.
Board allots $1 billion for ’91
Regents approve budget
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M University System will spend more
than $1 billion during the next fiscal year, making it the
largest system budget ever approved by an A&M Board
of Regents.
The record-setting budget was passed during Fri
day’s regents’ meeting.
The fiscal year 1991 budget for the 16 institutions of
the A&M system totals $984.4 million, but following the
addition of West Texas State University on Sept. 1, the
budget will increase to $ 1.02 billion.
The total system budget has increased 3.6 percent
from last year’s total.
Texas A&M alone will spend $550.6 million in 1991,
a modest 3.4 percent increase in the present $532.5 mil
lion budget.
The regents also approved the budgets for the fol
lowing institutions in the system: administration and
general offices, $17.5 million; Prairie View A&M, $61.6
million; Tarleton State, $30.6 million; Texas A&M at
Galveston, $14 million; Corpus Christi State, $16.7 mil
lion; Texas A&I, $31.2 million; and Laredo State, $5.5
million.
The system budget also includes the Texas Agricul
tural Experiment Station, Texas Forest Service, Texas
Engineering Experiment Station, Texas Transporta
tion Institute, and other state agencies operating on
campus.
In other business, the Board of Regents:
• Approved the Texas A&M athletic department
budget, which totaled $11.1 million.
• Approved an increase in student services fees and
health center fees beginning in the fall semester.
The student services fee will increase to $6.75 per
credit hour, not to exceed $81 per semester, and the
health center fee will increase to $25 per semester.
• Granted the title of emeritus to Dr. Richard H.
Costa and Dr. Harry P. Kroitor, both professors of En
glish, and Dr. Roger G. Feldman, an associate professor
of veterinary pathology.
Koriyama campus
classes commence
Texas A&M’s Japanese campus in
Koriyama, north of Tokyo, began
classes Monday.
A&M officials said the Koriyama
campus is the most extensive inter
national effort in the 114-year his
tory of the University.
Japanese students enrolled at the
campus will spend two years study
ing courses such as business adminis
tration, liberal arts or science and
engineering.
After the two-year period, stu
dents will relocate to A&M’s main
campus to complete studies.
Students from the United States
will attend A&M at Koriyama in the
future.
Permanent facilities are scheduled
to be completed by 1992. These fa
cilities are being financed by Ko
riyama city and business leaders at a
cost of 2.5 billion yen, or about $18
million.
The campus officially opened
May 19. A&M President William
Mobley led a University delegation
that participated in the formal open
ing.
Soviet populist reformer wins post,
promises Russian economic ‘rebirth’
MOSCOW (AP) — Populist re
former Boris N. Yeltsin won the pre
sidency of the largest Soviet republic
Tuesday, overcoming opposition by
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and declaring
the start of “Russia’s social, economic
and spiritual rebirth.”
Yeltsin’s election, after three
hard-fought ballots in the Congress
of People’s Deputies of the Russian
Federation, poses a substantial chal
lenge to Gorbachev and may spur
more radical reforms across the
country.
Gorbachev, who arrives Wednes
day in Washington for a summit, re
tains the two most powerful jobs in
the country: president of the Soviet
Union and General Secretary of the
Soviet Communist Party.
But as president of Russia, the
largest of 15 Soviet republics, Yeltsin
will have a highly visible platform
from which to wage his campaign
for more radical reforms. Yeltsin
and other Soviet officials said his
election could help Gorbachev, de
spite their differences.
“It may be a blessing in disguise,”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gen
nady Gerasimov told reporters at the
United Nations in New York. “Gor
bachev has his critics from both the
left and the right, and possibly it is
better to have the election of a critic
from the left.”
Yeltsin said, “At first. President
Gorbachev will react very unhappily,
but then he’ll gradually get used to
this inevitability.”
The strapping, white-haired Yelt
sin told reporters that he would seek
reconciliation with Gorbachev and
avoid confrontations as long as it did
not hurt Russia’s interests.
Gorbachev had brought Yeltsin to
Moscow to head the city’s Commu
nist Party, but the two men had a
falling out in 1987 after Yeltsin pub
licly criticized the pace of Kremlin
reforms. They have been at odds
since then.
After the outcome was announced
in the Grand Kremlin Palace, Yeltsin
strode to the podium to warm ap
plause and pledged to “spare noth
ing — health or time — to get out of
this crisis and lead Russia to better
times.”
His bass voice echoing through
the hall, he called the day “the begin
ning of the road to Russia’s social,
economic and spiritual rebirth, the
way out of the crisis and toward the
blossoming of Russia as a sovereign,
independent government in the
framework of our union.”
He left through the Kremlin gates
later to cheers from well-wishers
chanting “Victory! Victory!” One
man yelled, “Thank you, thank you
for the future!”
Gorbachev strongly opposed Yelt
sin’s election. He told the Russian
Congress last week that Yeltsin’s
platform of decentralizing political
and economic power would lead to a
“breakup of the union.”
The Russian Federation stretches
from the Baltic Sea in the west to the
Pacific Ocean in the east. It is home
to half the country’s 285 million peo
ple and includes Moscow.
Yeltsin took office immediately.
As president of the Russian Con-
a coalition government with mem
bers of the conservative Communist
Party bloc and other groups.
Yeltsin said he gained several
votes because of efforts by Gorba
chev Monday night to block his elec
tion.
Russian Deputy Alexander Liubi
mov, a well-known TV commenta
te
At first, President Gorbachev will react very
unhappily, but then he’ll gradually get used to this
inevitability,”
—Boris Yeltsin,
Russian Republic president
gress, a newly created body that
holds the Russian Federation’s high
est government authority, Yeltsin
acts as chief executive of the repub
lic.
In the deciding vote of the 1,060-
member Russian Congress, Yeltsin
won 535 votes, four more than the
majority needed.
Russian Premier Alexander Vla
sov received 467 votes. Valentin
Tsoy, a little-known businessman
from the Soviet Far East, received 11
votes.
Lawmakers said Tuesday they be
lieved Yeltsin gained the last few
votes he needed by offering to form
tor, said Yeltsin’s election would
force Gorbachev to start dealing
with another strong leader instead
of “shadows” willing to defer to him.
Vitaly Churkin, a spokesman for
Foreign Minister Eduard A. She
vardnadze, said on NBC that Yelt
sin’s election “might actually help
Gorbachev because Gorbachev is for
radical reform, and he needs more
popular support For that.”
Some also said Yeltsin may have
benefited from the adverse reaction
to the Kremlin’s proposed program
for making the crippled Soviet econ
omy a partial market economy.