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^er ol.90 No. 17 USPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas
College Station, Texas
Behind
the scenes
An up-close look
at the Aggie Players
See Page 4
Tuesday, September 25,1990
ate
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orbachev gains power
ioviet legislators approve further moves toward market economy
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!/ esa ) MOSCOW (AP) — The Supreme Soviet legis-
iture voted Monday to move toward a Western-
yle market economy and gave President Mik-
ail S. Gorbachev sweeping new powers to make
|ie switch.
Despite warnings by some lawmakers that the
■pedal powers would make Gorbachev a virtual
nonarch, the legislature passed a resolution al-
nwing him to issue decrees on property, wages,
I rices, the national budget, the financial system
|nd law and order.
Gorbachev promised to exercise the powers
|ith care.
“It’s a responsibility,” he told the legislature.
It’s not a tea party.”
After rancorous debate, the lawmakers were
Imable to agree on a specific, step-by-step pro-
ham to move away from the central planning
ystem that they blame for technological back
wardness and shortages of housing, food and
onsumer goods.
Instead of choosing one of the three plans pre
sented in the past two weeks, the Supreme Soviet
set up a committee to combine them and report
back by Oct. 15.
Despite disagreement on how to make the
switch, the Supreme Soviet’s vote marked the
first time it has committed the country to a mar
ket-based system and was a departure from seven
decades of Communist economics.
Since the 1920s, ministries in Moscow have
kept a tight grip on the economy, issuing detailed
five-year plans that told thousands of factories,
farms and businesses what to produce, where to
sell it and how much to charge.
The most radical reform proposal, written by
economist Stanislav Shatalin, calls for junking the
central planning system and moving to a market
economy within 500 days by selling factories to
private owners and breaking up collective farms.
The most conservative proposal, backed by
Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, would leave the
government in control of most of the economy
while moving gradually to allow free enterprise.
Gorbachev has backed a compromise that con
tains many elements of the 500-day plan but
would not move as fast. He also wants a national
referendum to decide whether to return land to
private farmers.
Before and during the Supreme Soviet’s meet
ing, protesters gathered outside the Kremlin and
at Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow to con
demn the decision to give the president additio
nal powers. They said Gorbachev did not deserve
such authority because he was not elected by di
rect vote of the people.
“The people don’t trust Gorbachev!” shouted
a group of demonstrators outside the Kremlin’s
Spassky Gate. They held signs saying, “A Presi
dent— Not an Emperor”.
Gorbachev was elected to a five-year term as
president by the Supreme Soviet in March.
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A cadet is reflected in the window as he walks by the Sterling C. Evans Library Monday afternoon.
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
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Minority Liberal Arts Society reaches out,
)romotes unity among liberal arts students
yJULIE HEDDERMAN
(The Battalion Staff
Unifying everyone within Texas
icM’s College of Liberal Arts is a
lain goal of the Minority Liberal
rts Society, says Christopher Hen-
rson, founder of the organization.
The Minority Liberal Arts Society
rmed because only two minority-
iented clubs exist within the ed
ge of liberal arts, both in the de-
irtment of journalism, Henderson
“Instead of isolating groups, this
can be used as an avenue for all mi
norities in liberal arts,” he says. “I
want to bring everyone together as
one voice.”
Henderson, a senior speech com
munications major from DeSoto,
says he sent letters to 700 liberal arts
students with information about the
organization and the first meeting.
Seventy people already have indi
cated interest, he says.
Henderson emphasizes the orga
nization is not limited to minorities.
“We want anybody at all who has
the same goals and who wants to
help,” he says.
Henderson says one of the organi
zation’s main goals is agreeing on is
sues concerning minorities in liberal
arts.
The group also plans to contact
high school sophomores and juniors
to encourage them to go to college.
He says students need to know there
is something out there for Hispanic
and African-American students.
Henderson says the semester will
be devoted to discovering common
interests among members and keep
ing their cultures intact.
“None of us represent a dominant
group,” he says. “We all have some
thing to struggle for.”
The minority association is more
than a regular student organization,
Henderson says.
“I am doing this because it’s exter
nal for others and internal for us,”
he says.
United Way seeks
A&M donations
By BRIDGET HARROW
Of The Battalion Staff
University employees can con
tribute funds to local organiza
tions until Nov. 14 during Texas
A&M’s 1990 Campus Charity
Drive.
This is the second year for the
Campus Charity Drive, which in
cludes United Way and five other
charities.
Bob Wiatt, director of A&M se
curity and the University Police
Department, coordinates the
University’s participation in
United Way. He says A&M’s goal
for the United Way drive is
$95,180.
All pledges must be in by Nov.
14.
Besides United Way, which en
compasses 25 local organizations,
the Campus Charity drive seeks
contributions for the following
charities:
• the American Cancer So
ciety
• the American Diabetes Asso
ciation
• the American Heart Associa
tion
• the Brazos Valley Children’s
Loundation
• the March of Dimes Birth
Defects Loundation
“If some people do not feel
comfortable with a general dona
tion to United Way, they can
make a specific request that their
contribution be given to one of
the other charities or even one of
the specific organizations under
United Way,” Wiatt says.
He says it is recommended
A&M employees donate a day’s
pay to the drive. University em
ployees can choose to make one
single payment or regular
monthly or quarterly payments.
Twenty-four area coordinators
are on campus for the charity
drive.
Last year’s United Way goal of
$82,008 was exceeded by 16 per
cent, for a total of $92,510.
Wiatt says he arrived at this
year’s goal figure by looking at
contributions given in the past,
and by recognizing the United
Way overall fund increases by
about 3 percent every year.
This year’s overall goal for the
Brazos County United Way is
$654,321, and A&M is the second
largest potential contributor of
funds, Wiatt says.
The kick-off breakfast for the
Campus Charity Drive was Sept.
5, but the United Way signs were
put up around campus last week.
“Any money that is contributed
is well used,” Wiatt says. “The or
ganizations under United Way do
so much good for the community.
If we cannot see in our hearts to
take $1 or $2 and give, then we
might have to suffer the conse
quences of the community not
having all the services that it
needs.”
Former commander
now serves as regent
Editor’s note: The Battalion will fo
cus on members of the Texas A&M
University System Board of Regents
during the upcoming weeks to better
acquaint students and faculty mem
bers with the System’s leaders.
By BILL HETHCOCK
Of The Battalion Staff
As a Texas A&M student, Douglas
DeCluitt was senior class president
and Corps battalion commander.
Thirty-three years after his grad
uation, DeCluitt still is serving A&M
and the University’s system as a re-
gent.
DeCluitt’s positions as a member
of the Board of Regents include
chairman of the Committee for Aca
demic Campuses, the Committee on
Art and the Corps Enhancement
Committee.
He is a member of the Executive
Committee, the Planning and Build
ing Committee and the Budget and
Liscal Affairs Committee.
Gov. Bill Clements appointed
DeCluitt to the Board in 1987.
DeCluitt received a bachelor of
science degree in electrical engi
neering from A&M in 1957.
He was a commissioned officer in
an Army-guided missile unit from
1958 to 1960, then earned his
M.B.A. from Harvard University in
1962.
In addition to his service on the
Board, DeCluitt is chairman of the
Douglas DeCluitt
board and president of the Sover
eign Corporation, a company that
develops and manages apartment
complexes in Texas and New Mex
ico.
He also is chairman of the board
and president of the Heritage En
ergy Corporation, an oil and gas op
erating company.
DeCluitt, from Waco, was on the
State Republican Executive Commit
tee for 10 years and has been active
in many political campaigns.
He has served on A&M’s Target
2000 Commission Executive Com
mittee and now is vice chairman of
the Visual Arts Commission.
DeCluitt also is a member of the
College of Engineering Devel
opment Council and the MSC En
richment Board.
Democrats responsive
to capital gains tax cut
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WASHINCTON (AP) — Sen
ate Majority Leader George
Mitchell said Sunday that Demo
crats are willing to consider a Re
publican idea for unsnarling
stalled budget talks by placing a
capital gains tax cut into a sepa
rate package.
Mitchell’s comment was the
first indication that Democrats
might be willing to explore the
suggestion, which Senate Mi
nority Leader Boh Dole, R-Kan..
made Thursday. The fight over
whether to slash the capital gains
tax rate is perhaps the major hur
dle remaining for the two sides to
complete a five-year, $500 billion
deficit-reduction package.
“We’d be prepared to consider
it, to work, to see precisely what
he has in mind, and to come up
with some way to get this thing
done,” said Mitchell, D-Maine, on
CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
His remarks came before eight
budget bargainers from the Bush
administration and Congress
held a four-hour, closed-door
evening session in the Capitol.
There was no indication what, if
any, progress was made by the
group, which has met four other
times since Sept. 18 in an effort to
end a yearlong budget stalemate.
Another meeting was scheduled
for Monday.
Meanwhile, President Bush
was reported to have expressed
optimism about a budget
agreement during a conversation
with Maryland Gov. William Don
ald Schaefer.
Schaefer, who talked with the
president at a Maryland golf
course where he stopped for an
18-hole round en route back to
the White House from Camp Da
vid, had told reporters before
hand how worried he was about
the prospects of massive fur
loughs starting Oct. I if the White
House and Congress fail to reach
a budget agreement.
Thousands of federal workers
live in the Maryland suburbs of
Washington and Baltimore,
where Social Security’s headquar
ters is located.
After speaking with Bush,
Schaefer said he told the presi
dent, “I’m very worried.”
Activists, artists protest art gallery director’s trial
CINCINNATI (AP) —About 150
people demonstrated for freedom of
expression Monday outside a court
house where an art gallery and its di
rector went on trial for showing
Robert Mapplethorpe’s sexually
graphic photographs.
About 50 police officers patrolled
on foot, on horseback and on motor
cycles outside the Hamilton County
Municipal Court, where jury selec
tion began for the misdemeanor
obscenity trial of the Contemporary
Arts Center and its director, Dennis
Barrie.
In addition to rallying at the
courthouse, the protesters, orga
nized by a gay-rights group, walked
10 blocks through downtown. Some
people lay in the street, briefly halt
ing traffic. But no one was arrested.
Some of the officers on patrol
wore rubber gloves. Catherine Ad
ams, a lawyer for Gay-Lesbian
March Activists, said she told city
and county authorities last week that
some members of the group had
AIDS.
Inside the courthouse, attorneys
questioned a pool of 50 people as
they worked to seat a six-member
jury.
At the beginning of the trial, Mu
nicipal Judge David Albanese den
ied three defense requests.
He denied a motion to limit po
tential jurors to Cincinnati residents.
Because of structure of the Hamil
ton County Municipal Court, the
jury pool is drawn from residents of
Cincinnati and its suburbs.
The judge also denied a motion to
increase the number of peremptory
challenges allowed. The defense ar
gued that because of publicity, it
would need to eliminate more jurors
than in a case with less notoriety.
The case has become a rallying
point for artists. First Amendment
activists and people who believe the
indictments are part of a wider ef
fort to intimidate homosexuals.
The exhibit, called “Robert Map
plethorpe: The Perfect Moment,”
was canceled at the Corcoran Art
Gallery in Washington, D.C., last
year because of a furor over govern
ment funding of art deemed
obscene.
The National Endowment for the
Arts has since adopted a policy re
quiring grant applicants to certify
their awards will not be used for
work that might be deemed obscene.
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., had
pressed for the policy.
The exhibit has appeared in seve
ral U.S. cities without incident.
Texas legislators lobby for crime bill amendment
WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas congressmen
lobbied again Monday to change the part of the
1990 crime bill that would wipe out 49 drug
fighting task forces in the state.
The House Rules Committee late Monday was
considering whether to allow debate on an
amendment to the bill that would save the task
forces.
Rep. Albert Bustamante, D-San Antonio, of
fered such an amendment. A similar amendment
was offered by Reps. Lamar Smith, R-San Anto
nio, Charles Wilson, D-Lufkin, and Ike Skelton,
D-Mo.
When the bill was created in the House Judi
ciary Committee, Rep. Romano Mazzoli, D-Ky.,
wrote a provision that redistributes federal drug
fighting money to large cities rather than states.
Louisville, the city Mazzoli represents, will get
more money under the provision, officials said.
The provision would wrest $27 million in pro
posed 1990 funds from the Texas task forces,
which involve law enforcement agencies in more
than 200 counties.
The U.S. Conference on Mayors reported last
week that this year’s money had become bogged
down in state and local bureaucracies.
But lawmakers countered in a news confer
ence Monday that the Texas task forces had re
ceived $23 million in 1989.
Smith said that strictly giving money to cities to
fight drugs would do little to counter the drug
supply problem. “The front lines so often are ru
ral and border areas,” Smith said.
“Drug trafficking has tentacles all over,” Skel
ton said.
In a separate statement, Bustamante said com
munities like Del Rio and Laredo help fight the
drug supply before it reaches metropolitan areas.
“Eliminating rural drug task forces will hurt ur
ban as well as rural areas,” Bustamante said.
Wilson said the task forces have been success
ful in East Texas. “The people on the front line,
the police and local officials, like it. They tell us it
works,” he said.