PMV Texas ASM _ v A
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 92 (JSPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, February 12, 1991
A&M remembers missing pilot
Squadron
wears MIA
bracelets
By Elizabeth Tisch
The Battalion
Members of Squadron 1 display
their concern for a Texas A&M
graduate listed as missing in action
by wearing gold MIA bracelets.
Thomas Clifford Bland, Class of
'86 and former member of the
squadron, was listed missing after
the plane he was flying went down
Feb. 1 somewhere in the Middle
East.
Because Squadron 1 Executive
Officer Mark Stratton, Class of ’91,
holds the same position Bland had in
1986, he says he is compelled to
show the company’s support and
concern for the Bland family in
Maryland.
“I’ve heard his name since I was a
freshman and the word ‘motivation’
always accompanied it,” Stratton
says.
Squadron 1 juniors organized the
distribution of the gold MIA brace
lets, he says.
“They ordered 50 MIA bracelets
ith Bland’s name and the date the
ir Force listed him missing,” he
ays.
The juniors also ordered more
racelets for former members of
uadron 1, Stratton says.
“We want to distribute as many as
e can to keep Bland in our hearts,”
ie says. “The members of our unit
'resident says
ie will delay
[round war
ith Iraqis
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
lent Bush said Monday he will hold
Iff a bloody ground war against Iraq
ir now while allied forces continue
funding Saddam Hussein’s forces
ith air strikes that have been “very,
[Very effective.”
"We are going to take whatever
ime is necessary to sort out when a
ext stage might begin,” Bush said
n the 26th day of the war after
iceting with top military advisers
istback from the Persian Gulf:
The White House complained
tat Saddam was reaping dividends
f exaggerating civilian casualties
orn allied bombings.
“The propaganda and PR battle is
where Saddam is scoring his points,”
(residential press secretary Marlin
itzwater said.
Referring to Mikhail Gorbachev’s
[eekend criticism concerning civil-
in losses in Iraq, Fitzwater said, “It’s
isturbing to find this evidence that
Jtnebody’s buying it.”
Iraq has been expressing impa-
ence for a ground war, seemingly
elieving its modern tanks and artil-
ry, equipped with chemical- and bi-
ogical-tipped warheads, can inflict
eavy casualties on the U.S.-led al-
Allies cut off Basra
as air war escalates
JAY JANNER/The Battalion
Squadron 1 Executive Officer Mark Stratton watches senior John Webb sign a sympathy card for the
parents of missing-in-action Air Force officer and former Texas A&M student Clifford Bland. The U.S.
Air Force listed Bland as MIA after the plane he was flying went down Feb. 1 somewhere in the Mid
dle East. Bland, 26, was an A&M Student Government member and graduated in 1986.
vowed not to take them off until he
is found or has had a proper burial.”
Stratton says the company has
sent an ivy plant to Bland’s mother
to symbolize continuous life. In ad
dition to the plant, Stratton says he
plans to send a letter of support to
the Bland family with the signatures
of every member of the Corps.
“So far, I have most of the signa
tures,” he says. “I plan to send the
letter this Friday.”
Beginning today, Stratton will
send letters to all resident advisers
for hall residents to sign. Stratton
also will leave a letter in the Corps
See Friends/Page 10
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (AP)
— U.S. and allied jets stepped up the
air war Monday with hundreds more
bombing runs against Iraqi targets.
The city of Basra, strategic heart of
Iraq’s defense, was believed all but
cut off.
“We hated to come back, but we
ran out of bombs,” an exuberant
U.S. Air Force pilot told reporters
on his return.
As U.S. air commanders pressed
this “battlefield preparation phase,”
President Bush met with his war ad
visers to consider ordering Ameri
can troops onto that battlefield.
Emerging from a White House
meeting with Defense Secretary Dick
Cheney and joint chiefs chairman
Gen. Colin Powell, both just back
from Saudi Arabia, the president
said the air war “will continue for a
while.”
As for a ground offensive, Bush
said, “we’re not talking about dates.”
In Baghdad, the government an
nounced it was reaching still deeper
into the Iraqi population for teen
age soldiers to help “destroy the ene
mies of God and humanity.”
Also Monday, Iraq’s religious af
fairs minister, Abdullah Fadel, said
“thousands” of civilians have been
killed or wounded in allied bomb
ings. It was the first time a senior
Iraqi official had spoken of such
high civilian losses. The government
previously listed 650 civilian dead.
Peace activist and former U.S. at
torney general Ramsey Clark, newly
returned to New York from a week
in Iraq, said the chief of the coun
try’s Red Cross affiliate estimated ci
vilian deaths at 6,000 to 7,000.
A Soviet envoy, Yevgeny Prima
kov, ventured into bomb-battered
Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Presi
dent Saddam Hussein on Tuesday
about a Kremlin initiative to end the
war. In Yugoslavia, representatives
of 15 non-aligned nations began
considering an Iranian bid to me
diate an end to the conflict.
Before heading to Baghdad, Pri
makov stopped in Tehran to coordi
nate his activities with the Iranians.
Iraq fired two Scuds at Israel and
launched a missile at Saudi Arabia,
causing injuries and damage in both
countries.
U.S.-supplied Patriot missiles de
stroyed the incoming Scud near Ri
yadh, but falling debris injured two
people, officials said.
Early Tuesday, a missile with a
conventional warhead hit a resi
dential area in Israel, officials said.
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Nach
man Shai did not say how many peo
ple were hurt but that “most of them
are only slightly wounded. Perhaps
one of two of them suffered moder
ate wounds.”
Patriots were fired to intercept the
Scud but it was not clear if they hit
the Iraqi missile.
//^C inquiry
Council finds rush
breaches alcohol rule
By Elizabeth Tisch
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Interfraternity
Council Judicial Board found one
A&M fraternity guilty of violating
the dry rush policy this semester and
is investigating another for alcohol-
related infractions.
Dr. Mike Leese, IFC’s staff ad
viser, said complaints filed against
the two fraternities for alcohol pos
session during dry rush led to the in
vestigation by the IFC.
Russell White, chairman for 1991
IFC rush, said dry rush means fra
ternities cannot possess or consume
alcohol during formal rush proce
dures, whether they take place in a
fraternity house or at a private
nightclub.
The fraternity found guilty of vio
lating dry rush could face penalties
ranging from a maximum fine of
$ 1,000 to chapter probation.
White said the IFC Judicial Board
has not released the names of the
two fraternities currently under in
vestigation.
Wesley Ward, chief justice of the
IFC Judicial Board, also refused to
release the names of the fraternities
and the penalties.
“That is confidential,” he said.
“The fraternities are guaranteed a
confidential hearing.”
Leese also declined to name the
fraternities, stating that violations of
dry rush legally do not have to be
published, unlike hazing violations.
“If it was hazing, then I could re
lease the names, but it would be in
appropriate to give the names for vi
olation of rush,” Leese said.
He explained violation of dry
rush is not illegal, but it is a breech of
A&M’s IFC policy. White said dry
rush was implemented because of
the many alcohol-related charges
against University of Texas fraterni
ties.
Several years ago, A&M’s IFC cre
ated Greeks Advocating the Mature
Management of Alcohol (GAMMA),
which is composed of volunteers
from various fraternities who “go
undercover” and report on rules vio
lations during formal rush func
tions. The A&M fraternity found
guilty was reported by a member of
GAMMA.
Jason Manney, GAMMA chair
man, did not return phone calls to
The Battalion.
Regents narrow list
of chancellor picks
Bylulie Myers
Tne Battalion
The list of prospective chan
cellors has been narrowed to five
people, said William A. McKenzie,
chairman of the Texas A&M Uni
versity System Board of Regents.
McKenzie addressed the A&M
Faculty Senate Monday during its
monthly meeting.
“I am afraid I cannot share
much more about our current
search except to say it is procee
ding,” McKenzie said. “There is
input from a variety of sources,
and I am grateful to Interim
Chancellor Ed Hiler for the fine
job he is doing now.”
Because he was asked to address
the issue of faculty and student in
put concerning the chancellor
search, McKenzie assured the Sen
ate the Board frequently seeks
opinions from students, former
students, administrators, staff and
faculty members.
“It can be argued that the selec
tion of a chancellor is the single
most important task a board such
as ours performs,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie, the first regent to ad
dress the A&M Faculty Senate,
said one of the rntyor challenges
and responsibilities of the new
chancellor will be to foster an envi-
□ Faculty Senate business
meeting/Page 3
ronment that encourages cooper
ation between faculty members.
The four , new institutions that
have joined the A&M System in
the past year and a half present
new opportunities and new chal
lenges, McKenzie said.
“The trick is to build on the
strengths of those institutions and
take advantage of the geographic
differences and the new constitu
encies that these universities ser
ve,” he said.
If this integration is accom
plished, all parts of the System will
be in a far stronger position to
serve the taxpayers of the state,
McKenzie said.
“We anticipate that bright un
dergraduates in some disciplines
at these institutions will have a
greater interest in continuing
graduate school at the main camp
us,” McKenzie said.
“The real genius of a larger Sys
tem will come from you and your
colleagues at the other institu
tions,” he said. “Individual schol
ars working on collaborative pro
jects ... are the people who will
truly justify a large, complex Sys
tem such as ours.”
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jramm, Barton address
By Mike Luman
The Battalion
Up to 1.8 million college students
>uld be turned down nationally
;xt year for student loans because
“staggering financial losses” in the
uaranteed Student Loan Corpora-
m, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm said
onday at Texas A&M.
Gramm, speaking to A&M offi-
ilsand students in the Pavilion, in-
oduced two reforms he will pro-
ise in the Senate to reduce the
tional loan default rate.
He said if all outstanding defaults
:re paid off, the GSLC could ap-
ove almost 2 million new student
ins.
One of Gramm’s initiatives is to
minate student loans at “non-ac-
:dited” institutions, meaning trade
lools that have a high default rate.
“We’re trying to get rid of schools
at are abusing the program,”
amm said. “Schools sometimes re
lit people not capable of doing the
tk, and more often than not they
fault.”
Gramm’s other initiative concerns
ople who drop out of an institu-
n. Under the plan, a portion of
' refunded tuition automatically
fculd pay the student’s loan.
These initiatives will work with
ler default reduction measures,
RICHARD S. JAMESmie Battalion
A&M President William Mobley and Sen. Phil
Gramm talk after a press conference Monday.
Gramm said.
An Internal
Revenue Service
offset program
presently allows
GSLC to collect
outstanding loans
from a person’s
tax return.
“Instead of
getting an income
tax refund, peo
ple get a notice
saying ‘you’ll be
happy to know
your debt has
been reduced by
such amount,’ ”
he said.
A wage gar
nishment plan
also allows GSLC
to collect from
the salaries of
federal employ
ees.
“I have no
sympathy for
someone who benefits from taxpay
er’s expenses, makes money of their
own and doesn’t feel an obligation to
repay their loan,” he said.
Joe McCormick, president of the
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan
Corp., said he believes the Senate is
doing a “respectable” job controlling
the default rate.
TGSLC also is closing “problem”
universities to guaranteed loans and
has a toll-free number to advise stu-
See Gramm/Page 10
issues with constituents
Barton says ground battle necessary
By Greg Mt. Joy
The Battalion
A land war against Iraq probably
is necessary but will not include a
frontal assault, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton
said Monday in his College Station
offices.
“There will not be a massive direct
frontal attack that would result in
mass casualties,” Barton, R-Ennis,
said. “I believe we can win without
losing a large number of our
troops.”
Barton said he was one of the 250
members of Congress who voted to
authorize the use of force against
Iraq.
■ “I support our actions, and I’ve
got every confidence we are going to
win,” he said. “I voted to allow the
use of force because Iraq refused all
peace efforts, and in society there
are times when the use of force is ap
propriate.”
Barton said, however, any major
ground assault will be postponed un
til all other options have been ex
hausted.
If a land attack does occur. Barton
said casualties will be kept low be
cause of the allies’ superior equip
ment and air cover.
He said the Patriot missile is a
good example of the near-flawless
weaponry at the allies’ disposal.
Barton said about 150 to 200
Texas A&M alumni, along with
many troops from Brazos County,
have been exemplary in their cour
age and loyalty.
The Texas National Guard’s 7-
112th Armory-49th Armored Divi
sion and the Army’s 420th Engi
neering Brigade are headquartered
in Bryan.
Barton said neither unit has been
called up but are only a phone call
away from deployment.
Barton said public support for the
troops in the gulf is almost universal,
in contrast to the lack of U.S. sup
port during the Vietnam War.
Barton said he does not believe
public support will erode even in the
event of larger numbers of casualties
that could result from a ground war.
“If public leaders will support our
forces and give them the means and
authority to win, I don’t think this
support will change,” he said. “In
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton
Iraq we have a clear-cut aim. In Viet
nam it was always nebulous.”
Barton also said that unlike Viet
nam, attacks against military targets
in Iraq and Kuwait are not re
stricted.
“Our military forces in Iraq have
shown they are No. 1 in the world,”
Barton said. “We have the best
equipment and people, and morale
See Barton/Page 4