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/ol. 90 No. 68 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, December 7, 1990
1 OR;
Hussein asks
Iraqi parliament
to free hostages
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Saddam
Hussein told his parliament Thurs
day to free all foreign hostages in re
sponse to “positive changes” in the
Persian Gulf crisis, and he said Iraq
should apologize to the thousands
who were held.
_ Saddam said the reason for hold-
ing foreigners had diminished. He
also said Iraqi troops had been given
the time to become battle ready.
The Iraqi leader also noted there
had been growing opposition in the
United States to President Bush’s ef
forts to form a consensus for mili
tary action to dislodge Iraq from Ku
wait.
The 250-seat National Assembly,
which routinely backs the ruling
Baath party leader, scheduled a
meeting for 11 a.m. Friday.
If it approves Saddam’s proposal
as expected, it would be the first
time Iraq has agreed to abide by a
U.N. Security Council resolution on
the crisis sparked by Iraq’s Aug. 2 in
vasion of Kuwait.
Iraq holds thousands of foreign
ers, whom it refers to as “guests.”
Some 600 of them have been moved
| to strategic sites to serve as human
shields to ward off military action.
Saddam said the foreigners were
people “who do not want to Tight”
and who got “trapped in the space
□ Bush not optimistic that
Hussein will leave Kuwait-
/Page 7
between the two trenches.”
In all, there are an estimated
950,000 foreigners in Iraq and occu
pied Kuwait, but Saddam earlier
said most Asians and Arabs were
free to leave.
There was a spontaneous cele
bration Thursday at the Al-Mansour
Melia Hotel in downtown Baghdad,
where several hostages were brought
to meet with visiting family mem
bers.
“We did it at last and now we can
go home for Christmas,” said Susan
Dring, who traveled to Baghdad last
week to try to win her husband’s
freedom.
In his letter to parliament speaker
Sadi Mehdi Saleh, Saddam said his
decision was prompted by recent
consultations with his “Arab broth
ers,” a reference to a meeting Tues
day with King Hussein of Jordan,
PLO chief Yasser Arafat and Ye
meni Vice President Ali Salem al-
Beidh.
Saddam said “the reason for
which the foreigners were prevented
from travel have diminished and has
been replaced by something more
powerful.
Bush refuses
to relax footing
in Persian Gulf
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) —
President Bush on Thursday wel
comed Iraq’s surprise promise to
free all foreign hostages but said
the United States must not relax
its war footing in the Persian
Gulf. “We’ve got to continue to
keep the pressure on,” he said.
Saddam Hussein “must leave
Kuwait without reservation, with
out condition,” Bush said.
Baker said of Saddam’s an
nouncement, “It seems to me no
coincidence that this comes just
one week, just one week, after the
international community has au
thorized the use of force.”
Saddam’s pledge to release the
hostages reached Bush on Air
Force One during a bumpy flight
over the Andes from Argentina
to Chile on his salute-to-democ-
racy tour.
At a joint news conference with
Chilean President Patricio Ayl-
win, Bush said he hoped the Iraqi
decision to release the hostages
could be believed.
“There are no secret negotia
tions, direct or indirect with Iraq
over this question,” Bush
said.“None. And there will be
none.”
The Pentagon said Thursday
that Iraq had moved an additio
nal 30,000 troops into Kuwait
and southern Iraq, and that
10,000 U.S. reinforcements had
arrived in the Persian Gulf.
Roach resigns
New WTSU president chosen
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M University Sys
tem Board of Regents on Thursday
named Barry Thompson, president
of Tarleton State University, the
new president of West Texas State
University.
Thompson, 54, replaces Ed Roach
as president of WTSU.
Roach accepted a newly created
position with the A&M System after
resigning Tuesday as president of
WTSU. He will be the associate dep
uty chancellor for academic pro
gram planning.
Roach was WTSU president for
six-and-a-half years. His term was
troubled by allegations of financial
mismanagement and a vote of no
confidence from faculty members.
Roach helped negotiate the
merger between WTSU and the
A&M System earlier this year.
Both men will start their jobs Jan.
1.
Dr. Dennis McCabe was named
interim president of Tarleton State,
also effective Jan. 1. McCabe has
been Tarleton’s vice president for
university operations since 1988.
In other business, the Board ap
proved:
• A measure giving A&M’s presi
dent authority to commit $375,000 a
year from the Texas A&M
Bookstore contract to establish a
See Regents/Page 8
Hiler named to position
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents named
Dr. Ed Hiler as interim chan
cellor of the A&M system during
its last meeting of the year Thurs
day.
Hiler, deputy chancellor for
academic program planning and
research, replaces Dr. Perry L.
Adkisson, who earlier this year
announced he would return to
full-time teaching and research at
A&M.
Hiler presently is responsible
for strategic planning, expanding
support for research programs
and for overall development, and
coordinating and implementing
the system’s academic and re
search activities. He is the former
head of A&M’s Department of
Agricultural Engineering.
Regents Chair William A. Mc
Kenzie said Hiler will keep the
system on track as the system pro
ceeds with the search for a new
chancellor.
The regents honored Adkisson
with two new titles — Regents’
Professor of Agriculture Biology
and Chancellor Emeritus, both
Dr. Ed Hiler
effective Jan. 1.
In a resolution praising the de
parting chancellor, the regents
said Adkisson has served the
A&M system with distinction
since 1958 and served superbly as
chancellor since July 22, 1986.
The resolution also stated that
under Adkisson’s leadership, the
A&M system has grown in stature
and recognition, as well as in size
and scope, to become one of the
nation’s foremost higher educa
tion systems.
IEDII
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Christmas tree sale
Club sells Christmas trees on campus
By BRIDGET HARROW
Of The Battalion Staff
O Christmas Tree! O
Christmas Tree!
You are the tree most loved.
How oft you’ve given me delight.
When Christmas fires burning
bright.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas
Tree!
You are the tree most loved.
— Traditional German
Christmas Carol
Texas A&M’s Forestry Club
has brought a branch of
Christmas cheer to Bryan-College
Station by helping residents and
A&M students select and deco
rate their Christmas trees, says
Mike Morrison, president of the
dub.
Morrison says the Forestry
Club has sold about 200 to 250
Christmas trees every year for
about 10 years-
They get trees from a
Christmas tree farm with some of
the best prices per bundle in the
nation, he says.
“We get them bundled and cut
for us,’’ Morrison says. “They are
real good, quality trees.”
The Forestry Club began sell
ing trees after Thanksgiving and
will sell them until the end of the
week.
Trees can be purchased at the
side of the Texas Agricultural Ex
tension Service annex building,
across the street from the Com
mons’ dormitory entrance.
Recent cold weather at night
has not harmed the treeSs but ac
tually helped preserve them,
Morrison says.
“Because it’s not hot, the trees
are not transpiring as much,” he
says. “So, the trees are not drying
out as fast as usual,”
Morrison says the club has sold
about 150 trees. The dub already
has sold all medium-sized trees,
which are 5 to 6 feel, he says.
They still have trees under 5
feet, however, which sell lor $5,
and trees 6 feet or taller, which
sell for $20.
Profits from the tree sales will
go to pay for attending an annual
event sponsored by American
Southern Forestry dubs, Morri
son says.
“It is a forestry competition be
tween the different clubs,” he
says. “We compete in different
events such as pole climbing, log
rolling, speed chop, cross-cut
with saws and other technical
events.”
Any trees that are not sold —
usually 20 to 40 trees — will go to
charity organizations, Morrison
says.
“Twin City Mission has called
us, asking for any trees we have
left,” he says. “We usually give
them away to churches or char
ities.”
SONORA N. ROBBINSAhe Battalion
Doug DeCoursin, a senior business analysis ma
jor, and Cindy DeCoursin, a senior biomedical
science major, both from Plano, look for a
Christmas tree.
Birth control
implant device
to be approved
WASHINGTON (AP)
government is expected
— The
to give
American women their first new
birth control option in three decades
when it approves a hormonal im
plant that prevents pregnancy for
up to five years, officials said Thurs
day.
The implant, called Norplant, was
expected to win government appro
val within days, according to govern
ment and industry sources who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The method involves implanting
in a woman’s upper arm six silicone
rubber capsules, each about the size
of an inch-and-a-half-long wooden
matchstick. The procedure is done
with local anesthesia, and the im
plant isn’t noticeable.
The capsules contain a hormone
called levonorgestrel, a synthetic
progestin, that is released slowly
over time.
The contraceptive effects are re
versed immediately upon removal.
“Norplant is one of the most sig
nificant advances in contraception
we’ve had in the last 30 years,” since
the birth control pill and intraute
rine device became available, Dr.
Samuel A. Pasquale of the Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School in
New Brunswick, N.J., said.
“It’s the most effective, reversible
method of contraception” available
in the United States, with a failure
rate of less than 1 percent, Pasquale,
a principal investigator in the Nor
plant studies, said.
Norplant has been approved in 16
countries, the New York-based Pop
ulation Council said.
In the United States, it would be
marketed by Wyeth-Ayerst Labo
ratories of Philadelphia.
“It’s a new choice women have
and there haven’t been any new
choices in the United States in a long
time,” said C. Wayne Bardin, vice
president and director of medical re
search for the New York-based Pop
ulation Council, which began re
searching the method in 1966.
Final examination
schedule
Final examinations for the 1990 fall semester last through Wednesday.
The following is the final examination schedule:
MONDAY
• For classes on MWF 9 a.m. — Exam from 8 to 10 a.m.
• For classes on MWF noon — Exam from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• For classes on TR 8 a.m. — Exam from 1 to 3 p.m.
• For classes on MW 3 p.m. — Exam from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
TUESDAY
• For classes on MWF 10 a.m. — Exam from 8 to 10 a.m.
• For classes on MWF 2 p.m. — Exam from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• For classes on TR 3:30 p.m. — Exam from 1 to 3 p.m.
• For classes on MWF 1 p.m. — Exam from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
• For classes on TR 9:30 a.m. — Exam from 8 to 10 a.m.
• For classes on MWF 11 a.m. — Exam from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• For classes on TR 2 p.m. — Exam from 1 to 3 p.m.
• For classes on TR 5 p.m. or later — Exam from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Cadets hope for scholarship funds
By ISSELLE MCALLISTER
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets
Class of’91 is trying to do what no
senior class has done in 23 years
— raise enough money to fund a
Sul Ross Scholarship.
Every senior cadet has been
asked to pledge $45 to reach the
goal of $15,000 needed for en
dowment, says Deputy Corps
Commander Mark Hoskyn.
Once the scholarship is en
dowed, interest earnings will sup
port that scholarship.
About 200 Sul Ross Schol
arships are awarded each year to
freshman and sophomore cadets
based on academic performance,
extracurricular involvement and
need.
Several scholarships also are
donated each year.
Recipients get $500 a semester
— $2,000 over two years — for
tuition and expenses. Hoskyn
also says the scholarship qualifies
out-of-state residents for in-state
tuition.
He says Sul Ross Scholarships
are an incentive for many people
to join the Corps. Eventually, the
goal is to award every freshman
and sophomore cadet a schol
arship, Hoskyn says.
“The reason we’re doing this is,
it’s our way of giving back to the
Corps what the Corps has given
us,” he says. “It’s our small contri
bution toward perpetuating the
Corps.”
If the senior class reaches its
goal, it will be the first class to
fully. have funded a Sul Ross
Scholarship since 1967.
Previous classes have tried, but
were unable to raise enough
money, he says. The Class of ’89
raised almost $7,000 and the
Class of’90 raised about $2,000.
Hoskyn says he is hopeful the
class will reach its goal. About
$3,000 has been deposited and
$12,000 pledged so far.
Hoskyn says cadets are supple
menting pledges with fund
raisers, including the Corps vs.
Interfraternity Council baseball
game in the spring.
Hoskyn says last year’s game at
Olsen Field was a big success, but
he is hoping for a bigger return
this year.