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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1990)
o. 19s n lO) ary Saddan. all West. 1 drawn; - families I workett uwait. vary tha: •oy. Oth re takin; •out it. l|; do it for tpermoii: ose son q- erned ht t the re >00 West-1 i Kuwait intaimri; Sundai place be larch 25 day dis. a cynical e. taybe it is ot,” Can i in then low what g, whose g held in :ry tosec e said.‘l|I ould ge: very bod’. I by Hus-1 he Battalion The SWC chase for Cotton A&M hosts TCU, hopes for SWC crown See Page 5 Vol. 90 No. 58 USPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 21,1990 Thatcher loses by 2 votes; fight enters second round leanng is husbanc •e Mam isitive re of the 1 Lynda husband eing held lation. it this. Iff . there, it s. Parket 1 the an- e to dis l q dunnfj i period, i ttack be : in Marcf. turns in keep the 1 blowing Mrs. Par- ' Odessa. :nry Cole referred isons be- IgS nual iber e ncreitrfc' igs in & ■ a second of 21 rip i3, Baker LONDON (AP) — The Conserva tive Party on Tuesday staggered Prime Mininster Margaret Thatcher with faint support, forcing her into a second round of balloting in a Fight for leadership of party and country. Thatcher fell two votes short of defeating the sternest challenge of her 11V2 years as party leader, but she rejected calls by some to step down and vowed to battle on in a second round of voting next Tues day. Former Defense Secretary Mi chael Heseltine, smiling and looking very much like the winner after the Conservative vote, also declared himself ready for round two. “It is my intention to let my name go forward for the second ballot,” a calm and determined Thatcher told reporters outside the British Em bassy in Paris, where she was attend ing a summit on European security. If Thatcher loses the leadership of the party, she would step down as prime minister. The Conservatives nave a majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. The opposition Labor Party moved to capitalize on the turmoil in Conservative ranks by tabling a mo tion of no confidence in the govern ment. That motion, likely to come to a vote before Tuesday, would bring down the government if it carries. Thatcher, the longest-serving prime minister in Europe, has grown increasingly unpopular be cause of a local services tax that is widely viewed as unfairly favoring the rich. Her government also has been blamed for high inflation and high interest rates, and the Conser vatives have trailed Labor in opinion polls for 16 months. Heseltine also focused his cam paign on Thatcher’s attitude toward Europe, which has caused strains within her party. Heseltine, standing hand-in-hand with his wife, Anne, outside their home, told reporters: “I am over whelmed with gratitude to my par liamentary colleagues who in such “The party is obviously in trouble.” — Teddy Taylor, Thatcher supporter large measure have given me their support.” Heseltine forced the issue by win ning barely enough votes to deny Thatcher a first-ballot victory in an unprecedented ballot among the 372 Conservative members of the House of Commons. Because 16 lawmakers abstained, Thatcher needed 206 votes, or 15 percent, but received 204. Heseltine received 152. In the second round, a simple ma jority can win, but other candidates are now free to join the race. If nec essary, a third and final ballot would be held Nov. 29. “The party is obviously in trouble, and there is no point in hiding it,” Teddy Taylor, one of Thatcher’s most outspoken supporters in the House, said. He urged her to con tinue. “I suspect she may have polled her maximum number of votes to day,” Conservative legislator Ivor Stanbrook, who supported Hesel tine, said. ‘I am absolutely astonished that he got so many and that so many of my colleagues should have been so dis loyal,” Conservative lawmaker Ivan Lawrence said on Sky Television. Thatcher, 65, put the best face on the result, saying “I’m naturally pleased that I got more than half the parliamentary party and disap pointed that it’s not quite enough to win.” The pound fell nearly half a cent, from $1.9695 to $1.9650, following the vote. Thatcher was to return Wednes day to address the House of Com mons on the summit and to have her weekly meeting with Queen Eliza beth II. Heseltine, 57, pledged during the six-day campaign to overcome Tory factionalism to win the next general election in 1992. He pointed to a flurry of opinion polls that indicated voters were more enthusiastic about the Conservative Party with him as the leader. Intra-campus shuttle bus service prepares faster, simpler routes By JULIE HEDDERMAN Of The Battalion Staff Simplifying the intra-campus I shuttle bus system is one of the goals of the Campus Transportation Task I Force's Bus Routing Proposal. The Student Senate committee i suggests two problems exist with the present bus route system. First, students do not know where ; each bus goes because the system is ! too complicated. Second, buses are infrequent — li making waiting time too long for most students. The task force proposes eliminat- ■ ing the problems by decreasing the •: number of routes to three. The proposed system, however, still will service all areas the present system does. This will make it easier for the stu dents to learn where the buses go. Also, more buses can travel on each route because there will be fewer routes which will cut down on waiting time. The committee also recommends changing the names of the three routes to Clockwise, Counter-Clock wise and Vet Center, according to where they travel. Another problem the committee found is that many students do not know the intra-campus buses are free. To resolve this problem, they sug gest posting fliers on bus stop signs for the first two weeks of the fall se mester and advertising in the Class Schedule Book and other campus publications. Bart McCleskey, chairman of the task force, says the committee has taken the proposal to various stu dent groups. He says the group plans to pre sent it next week to the administra tion and bus drivers. The following are several advan tages of the proposed new system: • Maximum waiting time will be reduced to five minutes for two of the routes and 7.5 minutes for the other. Waiting times for the present system is from eight minutes to 15 minutes. • The new system is simple to learn and there will be little overlap ping of routes on the proposed sys tem, reducing students’ chances of getting on the wrong bus. 1|§ H ■I Iil» 1 PHELAN M. EBENHACK/The Battalion Oksana Babich and Aleksei Khemenko of the and hot dogs plus mushrooms, jalepenos and Bolshoi Ballet-Grigorovich Company peek at pico de gallo. The company’s rehearsals are for their orders at Fuddruckers Tuesday afternoon, its Friday night premiere in Rudder Auditorium. Many of the dancers, who had just finished a For ticket information, call the MSC Box Office at four-hour rehearsal, loaded up on hamburgers 845-1234. Devils or angels? Colonial historian dispels stereotypical images of Pilgrims remaineii ago whe# rating na- umber of 1 — a hijjfc !8,1987. ing as o: e,26wert I were on ed. t track oi y watcl^ — sincf ie numbtf or oil, no 1 1 boom if reached rig coun'; i after oil jmmer o ; ia led tfr r states[f week, wiff* ;s, resp ce ted in C' 1 four; $ rnd Okl J tree, ar oil ^ s for tfr; ase of fi' ( ; increase vas up y two; M each 0 rig for ^ -ed forth' A generation after the Pilgrims landed near Plymouth in 1620, many of these stereotypically strait laced pioneers were acting more like devils than angels, a Texas A&M his torian says. Americans’ Thanksgiving patri otic fervor, partly created when President Abraham Lincoln de clared an official holiday for a nation torn by war, “tries to place our Pil grims on a pedestal — to turn them into something they were not,” says Dr. John Canup, an authority on New England colonial history. “We forget the Pilgrims were hu man,” he says. “Rigorous self-disci- piine was an ideal for them, but they were far from prudish Victorians. “They lived much closer to the Earth. Some pilfered, murdered, drank too much and, contrary to popular image, even fornicated. Still, the Pilgrims hoped to create a model society and they could be ruthless in pursuing their goal,” Canup explains. The Pilgrims considered a strong sense of community essential — a view that often led them to pry into one another’s affairs. When Pilgrims sinned or dis obeyed the law, they could be pub licly humiliated, severely punished or executed if the offense was suffi ciently grave, Canup says. Mass killings were reserved for Native Americans who, Canup wryly observes, suffered in the “cultural exchange” between the colonists and America’s original inhabitants. In the eyes of the English, the Na tive Americans simply roamed the land at will and had no rights of ownership that the colonists were bound to respect, he explains. This rejection of native rights helped justify the colonists’ often vi olent supplanting of the native peo ples, he says. What firearms failed to accompl ish, pestilence carried out. A century later, the Pilgrims spread enough disease to deplete the native popula tion, perhaps by 90 percent. “Of course, the Pilgrims’ descen dants concluded that God had actu ally destroyed the ‘heathen’ In dians,” Canup says. In 1849, Puritan descendant Na thaniel Hawthorne wrote: “Let us thank God for having given us such ancestors; and let each successive generation thank Him, not less fer vently, for being one step further from them.” In 1863, Lincoln proclaimed a na tional day of Thanksgiving for a na tion that had witnessed the bloody experiences of Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Canup says the sense of patriotism expressed in Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation helped cast in stone a “statuesque Pilgrim image” as well as other misconceptions. The historian cites Plymouth Rock as an example. “Actually, the boat probably missed Plymouth Rock,” he says. “I find it hard to believe the Pilgrims were aiming at a rock when there was a brook nearby where they could land safely.” On the average, Pilgrims probably consumed more alcohol in their da ily diet than Americans today. The prime motivation for this was survi val, Canup says. It was better — even for children — to drink beer or ale instead of contaminated water. Pilgrims also depended on the good graces of the Native American Squanto, who had been to England and spoke English. Squanto, apparently the sole sur vivor of the Patuxet tribe that origi nally occupied the Pilgrims’ set tlement, acted as a translator and advised them on how to get the most from farmland. Canup says the Pilgrims probably celebrated their first feast, forerun ner of modern-day Thanksgiving, in October 1621. The menu probably did not con sist of turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie, but of duck, geese, venison, clams and oysters. Thanksgiving celebrations were held from then on — sometimes more than once a year — whenever Pilgrims felt God had blessed them. But Canup says the Pilgrims also observed “days of humiliation” to express remorse for their worldly behavior. “Contrary to the humble, black- and-white stereotype we have of Pil grims, the well-to-do wore colorful dress and held an appreciation for material wealth,” he explains. “They only objected to those who tried to dress or live beyond their means or who valued worldly prosperity above godliness.” Canup suggests that in many ways, the “Pilgrims’ pride” reflected the same Anglican hierarchy they knew in England. Aggie Parents of the Year applications available as selection process begins ..A thev want to make of it.” she savs. in various camous locations. By TWILA WADDY Of The Battalion Staff Aggie spirit is something many parents as well as students nave. Aggie Parents of the Year are chosen to honor parents who have shown their spirit for Texas A&M. Parents chosen for this honor contributed to A&M, their family and the community, senior Tricia Heithecker, chairwoman of the Parents’ Weekend Committee, says. “It’s really not a responsibility, but an honor, and it’s mostly what they want to make of it,” she says. Richard and Pat Brunner of Houston were chosen in April during Parents’ Weekend. The Brunners have shown out standing spirit by bringing chil dren from their hometown to A&M who are prospective A&M students. The Aggie Parents of the Year also opened their home to stu dent organizations needing a place to stay, Heithecker says. Parents must be nominated by a son or daughter enrolled at A&M. Applications for Aggie of tht Parents for the Year are availaf le in various campus locations. Students must have three to five letters of recommendation for their parents. They also must write three 500-word essays de scribing their parents’ contribu tions to their family, community and A&M. A committee made up of stu dents will pick the parents. This is the only University-recognized ti tle students choose, Heithecker says. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Feb. I. Aggie Parents of the Year will be announced during Par ents’ Weekend, April 5 to 7. Sigma Nu charter revoked at UT AUSTIN (AP) — The University of Texas said Tues day that it is abolishing Sigma Nu as a campus group, at least through 1996, and punishing seven students after a hazing probe indicated fraternity pledges were at tacked physically and psychologically. Sigma Nu’s national president, James Cherry, also said the fraternity was revoking the charter of its UT- Austin chapter after a separate investigation into an al leged hazing incident. “Basically, we’re out of business on this campus,” Cherry said. The charter revocation ends Sigma Nu’s 104 years at the university. “It’s sad to lose a chapter that has historically been very outstanding,” Cherry said. “But our fraternity was founded in opposition of hazing in 1869, and we will not tolerate any form of hazing today.” The university’s investigation “indicates a continuing pattern of abuse and brutality including psychological and physical attacks on pledges,” said Sharon Justice, UT assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students. Penalties were announced a week after university of ficials were told by a parent that her son, a Sigma Nu pledge, had been beaten and subjected to other abuse at the fraternity’s off-campus house on Nov. 10, the uni versity said. The students judged responsible will receive penal ties ranging from disciplinary probation to suspension and even permanent expulsion, Justice said. The students, who were not named, can accept the penalty or can appeal at a university hearing, she said. “It is unfortunate when a student’s career at the Uni versity is brought to an end, but we refuse to tolerate hazing. These barbaric practices must stop,” Justice said. The investigation also indicated the house has an area known as the “hole,” a crawl space entered through a closet that is less than two feet high, the uni versity said. Some pledges were required to enter the area for varying lengths of time, the university said.
