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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1990)
ember 16,199 ART DEL BARRIO iccident shut down g center and in the ' law 00 businesses and tn:| ■d a decade-long debc The legislation was::- of intensive wranglii nd congressional net| ical provisions. . tougher emission cm es service stations tost mndales new equipir.t: ;es and factories too: Hants and toxic cher. urning power plamc ; emissions, which as irements will begin to) 'ears, but most won':: nd of the decade. Sod g problems have as lot eel federal air requin amp the laws had be ition from economical i he Reagan adminisi: s a perception that a: mmune from crime,; iministrators, facultvr all take a part in impt ; security,” he said, d alcohol abuse alsopt i campus crime, aintance rape, usuallyi 1 ties are heavy users of: said. r said alchohol abuse: vide problem — notjtf rvices problem. Hes ersities are contradict licies when studentst cohol on campus, butli taff members have fa ampus where alcohtt Jim Caswell, vice pr; udent affairs at South University, said manyt universities already Is l security programs •uses. Caswell added' ifety also should be af< msibility. conference included ft ■rpts of Ernest Boyer he Carnegie Foundati )m a report by the Car lation for the Advar ’caching called “Cain; arch of Community.” iort was used as a fraf te teleconference, ig the teleconference,J answered questions S tnpus security at A&) > also mentioned o4 i security measure: h as various escort: vices at night, sever gency phones — wilt J : installed — and addij g being included in| and landscape design: Carter, facility opera: >r the Residence Hall dso served as a panelis' mpus Crime Awam js Security Act of 1M ,eges and universilie: ascriptions of campui' ties and crime statistic s and employees. All 5 r enrollment or emw t be provided with mation. it Bush signed the ad Effective Approache: Security” teleconferf ored by the Office of f * dent for Finance and •n and the A&M Sect” i Committee. The Battalion New beginning for the Bolshoi Grigorovich company debuts Friday in Rudder. See Pages 3-5 Vol. 90 No. 56 USPS 045560 1 2 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, November 19, 1990 The spirit shines on HUY THANH NGUYEN/The Battalion Freshman Norman Culp, a physics major, and the E. King Gill statue, the Twelfth Man, Sunday other members of Squadron 3 clean and shine next to Kyle Field. Three men arrested in campus theft case By ISSELLE MCALLISTER Of The Battalion Staff Three Laredo men were charged Friday in connection with the theft of three motorcycles and a moped from the Texas A&M campus. The men arrested were identified as Luis Moreno, 20, Marco Antonio Cadena, 20, and Christian Ivan Ala- nis, 19. They were being held Sunday in lieu of $25,000 bond at the Brazos County Jail. A surveillance police officer on Card shows ‘Texas A&M loves you By ELIZABETH TISCH Of The Battalion Staff Starship Hallmark workers invite Bryan and College Station residents to sign a jumbo-size card to send to men and women on duty as part of Operation Desert Shield in the Mid dle East. Linda Walicek, manager of Starship Hallmark in Culpepper Plaza, says the card will be on display in her store throughout next week. The oversized card is decorated with red, white and blue to make a patriotic statement of support for troops in the Middle East. “We have had a wonderful re sponse,” she says. “Everybody wants to sign it.” Hallmark management decided to send cards because soldiers said re ceiving mail from home was “one of the greatest morale boosters.” Many signatures on the card were from children wishing the soldiers luck or sending them season’s greet ings. “Take care and God bless you all; Texas A&M loves you!” and “May God continue to give y’all strength to endure” were among messages writ ten in red and green ink. People entering the store were at- top of a university building spotted some men tinkering with the igni tion of a 1990 Kawasaki motorcycle in Parking Area 51 across from Zachry Engineering Center, said Bob Wiatt, University Police Depart ment director of security. When the alarm in the Kawasaki sounded, the men fled the scene in a 1986 Lincoln Mercury. Police stopped the men in front of Luby’s Cafeteria on Texas Avenue where they found a lease agreement for a U-Haul rental truck, Wiatt said. traded to the jumbo card, while food and drinks were served. Walicek says because most cus tomers are signing the card, she will have to put out a new card soon. She invites everyone to visit The College Station, Bryan and University police departments found the rental truck in Bryan con taining stolen motorcycles, Wiatt said. A 1988 Honda, a 1989 Honda, a 1989 Yamaha and a 1988 Honda moped were found in the rental truck, Wiatt said. All had been re ported stolen from A&M students, he said. Because at least three people were involved in the crimes, Wiatt said the College Station Police Department is processing an organized crime viola tion. Starship Hallmark stores to support troops in the Middle East. A community card also should have special significance to those whose names are not called when mail comes, she says. support for gulf troops Three year old Robert Eller stands next to his mother Trish Eller as she signs a Christmas card in support of troops in the gulf Spence St. blocked off Parts of Spence Street will be closed beginning today to allow for work in front of the Joe C. Richardson Petroleum Engineering Build ing. Sections of the street between the entrance to Parking Area 29 and the Ross Street intersection will be closed indefinitely so the work can be completed. Internal investigation clears A&M scientists By CHRIS VAUGHN Of The Battalion Staff An internal investigation vindi cated Texas A&M scientists of possi ble fraud in “cold fusion” experi ments last year, but said they did lose scientific objectivity in the race to confirm findings. The report, released Sunday by A&M, was written by three A&M professors asked by Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. E. Dean Gage to investigate “cold fusion” research conducted here last year. Achieving cold fusion would be a dramatic scientific breakthrough and would allow energy to be cre ated almost effortlessly. The internal report, written by chemist Dr. Joseph Natowitz, physi cist Dr. Edward Fry and nuclear en gineer Dr. John Poston, concluded that experiments were not tampered with or “spiked” with tritium, a form of hydrogen that is evidence of fu sion. “We have found no evidence which would lead to a conclusion that some of the cells were spiked with tritium,” the report stated. The report said it is more proba ble tritium was present because of accidental contamination or other factors. It also recommended the Univer sity drop its investigation into the spiking allegations. The report did say A&M re searchers probably rushed experi ments to be the first to confirm the findings of B. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and colleague Martin Fleischmann, who claimed in March 1989 they had achieved nu clear fusion in room-temperature water. “The earliest attempts to repro duce those experiments were done hastily, using available material and improvised setups where necessary,” the report said. “This, coupled with the perceived pressures of racing against other groups, certainly led to some less-than-perfect experimental design.” Despite their haste, researchers still used normal and acceptable standards of gathering data, but “too much credence” was placed in the experiments’ results, the report stated. The report also stated there was “some breakdown of scientific objec tivity” because of the scientists’ at tempts to be first and reactions to public and private criticism. The Pons-Fleischmann announce ment caused a scramble by scientists worldwide to attempt to confirm the results, including Dr. John Bockris, Dr. A. John Appleby, Dr. Kevin Wolf and Dr. Charles Martin at A&M. A&M researchers reported within weeks of the first announcement they also had achieved cold fusion, but few other laboratories in the world could duplicate the results re ported by Pons, Fleischmann and A&M scientists. Accusations of spiking the experi ments were made this summer in the national journal Science because of the high level of tritium and the ap parent lack of security in the labo ratories. The A&M report recommended that making dramatic announce ments to the public before review and confirmation should be discour aged. In spite of 18 months of research, cold fusion still is worth trying to achieve, the report said. “Continued research in this area would appear to remain a valid activ ity for those scientists whose inter ests and expertise can contribute to clarifying this issue,” it said. Gage said in a press release Sun day he agrees with the report’s con clusion. “While not all the answers to the ‘cold fusion’ phenomenon are known, it is clear that only continued and well-designed research will pro vide such answers,” Gage said. “Such research will ultimately result in re producible evidence or else clearly refute claims and theories that have been called into question.” Gage also said he is proud that A&M researchers have “the freedom to undertake unfettered exploration of this controversial phenomenon and to question each other.” University multiculturalism Speaker urges racial awareness in all aspects of university life By KATHERINE COFFEY Of The Battalion Staff While attending universities, minority students of ten have more problems with racism than they do with school work, the dean of students at Bowdoin College said Friday. Dr. Kenneth Lewallen, Class of ’69, traveled to A&M from Maine to speak at a conference about how students, staff and faculty can be challenged to put more multicultural awareness in all aspects of a university environment. Lewallen, a keynote speaker, discussed what mi nority students go through at primarily white uni versities and why changes need to be made to incor porate multiculturalism into the university systems. “I am singly unconvinced that it is possible for re sponsible institutions to seriously admit greater number of students of color into their communities without altering their academics, basic structure, curriculum, teaching techniques and other impor tant policies,” he said. The conference, titled “Creating a Multicultural Environment in Residence Life,” was sponsored by Texas A&M’s Division of Student Service’s Depart ment of Student Affairs. It was held for resident hall student leaders and staff from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Loui siana. “Multiculturalism appears as universal knowl edge, and universities have given wonderful lip serv ice to the thought of educating and developing to make a diverse campus,” he said. “But they fall short in understanding the implica tions and have not taken multiculturalism as se riously as they should.” He said university structures must change and they should integrate minority perspectives into course material and for faculty to serve as mentors to these students. He also said there should be a balanced view of science, history and other subjects and when this pluralistic approach is finally adopted, students of color will be more challenged and stimulated in their school work. “For many schools the development of multicultu ral education is life or death, because by the year 2010, one-third of Americans will be Afro-Ameri can, Hispanic, Asian American and Native Ameri can,” he said. Lewallen said the issue of multiculturalism should be looked at as self-preservation and institutions must prepare themselves for students of different backgrounds. Lewallen said the issue of multicultural education, diversity and pluralism has never became a promi nent part of the education agenda, and should be taken more seriously. “We cannot forget the impact it has on our stu dents of multiculturalism,” he said. Along with Dr. Lewallen’s speech, the conference included various seminars throughout the day focus ing on multicultural issues such as lifestyle and cultu ral development, staff selection and training, reten tion, roommate counseling and leadership development in efforts to combat racial discrimina tion and also to promote appreciation for cultural di versity throughout universities. “It is our challenge as professionals to sensitize our institutions to the advantages and issues facing a full commitment to multiculturalism,” Lewallen said. Expert exalts multicultural vitality By KATHERINE COFFEY Of The Battalion Staff If the multicultural aspect is absent from a university program or activity, it has no meaning and doesn’t count, a multicqltural-ed- ucation expert said. Kevin Carreathers, director of Texas A&M’s Department of Multicultural Services, spoke dur ing a seminar titled “Program ming for Diversity: Including the Cultural Perspective,” and gave suggestions on how university faculty and staff can include mul ticulturalism in programs and ac tivities. “When programming, we have to understand changes as to who the students are and the changing demographics,” Carreathers said. In explaining his theory, Car reathers used the example of the old proverb — “If you are absent, then you are always wrong.” — to relate the premise to how impor tant it is for student leaders, staff and faculty to implement multi culturalism into every aspect of a university. Carreathers spoke Friday at an all-day conference sponsored by Texas A&M’s Department of Stu dent Affairs Division of Student Services titled, “Creating a Multi cultural Environment in Resi dence Life.” The conference had represen tatives of student leaders and staff, from Texas, Arkansas, Ok lahoma and Louisiana, who at tended seminars on the issue of confronting racial discrimination and also for promoting more ap preciation for cultural diversity within universities. “There is a need for multicul turalism because the student pop ulation is changing and we want people to value and respect oth ers’ culture,” Carreathers said. “The more we learn about others the better we feel about ourselves and the better we feel educated.” “In the first and second grades students are primarily black and Hispanic and we are preparing to deal with that change 10 to 11 years from now,” Carreathers said. People responsible for activ ities and programs, whether it is a chairman of a programming board or a resident adviser, often see things differently and plan a program from their perspective, he said. People need to keep in mind that what is important to them might not always be right for a program. Carreathers said a multicultu ral organization is one which gen uinely is committed to diverse representation of its membership and is sensitive to maintaining an open, supportive and responsive environment. “We need to meet the needs of students who have been raised different than their white col leagues,” he said. Carreathers said in order to get minorities more involved, pro grammers need to do more than just advertise — they need to go directly to them and talk to them. He said the needed leadership characteristics in a multicultural society include: learning to value differences, generating sensitivity to cultural and gender issues, providing an understanding of the human dynamics that cause problems among people who are different, and individuals taking responsibility for development on this issue. “Any program you have can be done from a multicultural per spective, but you have to educate your people and show them how,” Carreathers said.
