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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1991)
; y 7 £ jf Y ^Thursday Scattered Storms \ / j. High 85° The condition of the underclass is an issue that particularly cannot be judged following a rigid set of standard liberal or conservative arguments." Matt McBumett page 2 Bye-bye Brooks Sources say Aggie hoops star Brooks Thompson will transfer to Oklahoma State pages We asked and you said.. Do you approve of the new anti- harrassment policy at A&M? ? paged mmmm The Battalion Vol. 90 No. 133 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas 'Serving Texas A&M since 1893' Wednesday, April 17, 1991 Family of late professor seeks reversal of civil rights ruling By Julie Myers The Battalion Lawyers for the family of a former Texas A&M electrical engineering pro fessor will seek review with the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the deci sion of a federal judge who ruled against them in their attempt to prove civil rights violations by A&M. Attorney Jim Hill said he submitted a writ of certiorari April 11 for the late Dr. Abdel K. Ayoub because he be lieves Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals made factual errors in his judgment. The writ must be approved by a ma jority of the justices. If it fails, the deci sion of the lower court stands. In an opinion dated March 29, Jolly said the professor's speech regarding salary disparity involved only his per sonal situation and was not protected as a matter of public concern. "The judge said there was no evi dence when there was clear evidence," Hill said. "Ayoub talked to Clinton Phillips (former dean of faculties) in 1984-85 about a pay system that dis criminated against foreign-bom profes sors." Jolly's opinion upheld the ruling by the U.S. District Court of the Southern Region of Texas that stated the Univer sity had not violated Ayoub's rights. Ayoub, a tenured professor who came to A&M in 1968 and died of a heart attack in 1988, claimed he was the victim of pay discrimination be cause he was born in Egypt. According to court records, Ayoub began complaining about his salary af ter he discovered the enequal pay scale in 1980. These objections disrupted the department. In 1981, Ayoub filed a salary griev ance with A&M and complained about the perceived salary disparity. In 1985, Ayoub was moved from 214 Zachry to 216A Teague. Ayoub claimed he was moved to a less conve nient location as punishment for his complaints. In 1987, Ayoub sued Texas A&M and five administrators. His widow, Odessa Ayoub, continued the suit. Be fore the trial in the lower court, all of Ayoub's claims, except his First Amendment retaliation claim, were dismissed. During the lower-court trial, a jury returned a verdict in Ayoub's favor and awarded his estate more than $600,000. The lower court judge, however, rendered a verdict for A&M, noting that "Ayoub's speech was not pro tected and that the defendants were shielded by Qualified immunity and the evidence aid not support the ver dict." This decision was upheld by the higher court. ¥ 4 es Dlders jrge Proteclois emplates dead Cleaneis rs Books e Items in Stoc* >on Exp. Midi) 707 East 29th St Country Centei 409-846 846-EASj mmmmn HIPS pair MPUS IEPA BBSS!! izza UPON I Y CHOICE . □ r the kid'’ • (ROUND OtM ,.. $8.99 .. $lO-99 . $12.99 iSE-t “Sirs' (Mosuasimi'®” Speakers urge policy change Gays attend forum in large numbers By Mike Luman The Battalion Speaking out KARL STOLLEIS/The Battalion A concerned student addresses the University panel for iqnt ir a Discrimination-Free Campus Tuesday night in Rud der Tower. This was the third and final such forum pre sented by the Committee. An overwhelming homosex ual attendance of Texas A&M students and faculty members turned an open forum on cam pus harassment and discrimina tion Tuesday into an emotional plea to recognize gay and lesbian rights. The Committee for a Discrimi nation-Free Campus heard re marks in Rudder Tower, includ ing opinions from 14 gay students and faculty. All 19 speakers requested the University Statement on Ha rassment and Discrimination be changed to include sexual orien tation. None of the speakers, regard less of their sexual orientation, approved of A&M President Wil liam Mobley's decision to re move a list of protected groups from University policy. Jim Mazzullo, an A&M asso ciate professor of geology, fac ulty senator and organizer of the Gay and Lesbian Faculty Sup port Group, told the committee that discrimination against ho mosexuals is an "extraordinary" problem at A&M. "What we need for these spe cific problems are explicit regula tions against discrimination," Mazzullo said. "Discrimination is suffered across the board at this campus in hiring, promo tion, tenure, treatment and job opportunities." Terry Walker, president of A&M's Gay and Lesbian Student Services, presented a 575-name petition to the committee re questing "unclear" language in University policy be changed. Dr. Larry Hickman, a facul senator and adviser to GLS told the committee that students at A&M believe it is acceptable behavior to harass homosexuals. "We need to do something to change that," Hickman said. "Teach them this intolerance is not civilized stuff." See Gays/Page 10 Minority leaders support University's revised discrimination policy By Mike Luman The Battalion The same anti-harassment and discrimination policy that has angered gays ana lesbians at Texas A&M has received sup port from many black, Hispanic and women leaders at the Uni versity. The original Statement on Ha rassment and Discrimination spelled out protected groups. For example, the statement specified protection from dis crimination based on gender, race, religion or sexual prefer ence. A&M President William Mob ley removed the list of protected groups and substituted "any form of harassment or illegal discrimination against any indi vidual is inconsistent with the values and ideals of the Univer sity community." Representatives of A&M's Gay and Lesbian Student Serv ices repeatedly have said the new statement offers no protec tion to homosexuals. Other campus groups have been relatively quiet about the policy, however, such as the Black Awareness Committee, International Student Associa tion and Committee for Aware ness of Mexican-American Cul ture (CAMAC). Georgette Lopez-Aguado, president of CAMAC, said she believes the new statement is more "inclusive" than the origi nal policy. "People are taking it too hard," Lopez-Aguado said. "I think you shouldn't have to have a list of protected groups. People should know you can't discriminate." Lopez-Aguado, also a mem ber of A&M's Committee for a Discrimination-Free Campus, said all individuals are protected from harassment and discrimi nation by the new policy. "If you are harassed, you need to prosecute to the full ex tent of the law," she said. The new, written policy is not a solution to prejudice, Aguado added. Words on a page will not defeat bigotry, hatred and rac ism, she said. See Beaction/Page 10 I I I ,l I _;ii RTHGA 11 ,8-021 Contract talks break up fea rTHGA- ,8-022} XJOPON , IZZA’ se oflty ,0 '‘"‘[,.0 o° ca ' I ^S* IM’ ^ Rail workers plan strike nationwide WASHINGTON (AP) — Last- ditch contract talks between freight railroads and their unions broke up Monday evening, clearing the way for a coast-to- coast strike after midnight that could strand rail passengers and stop the flow of one-third of the nation's goods. "I assume there was just no reason to go on," Jim Reiter, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, said about three hours before a feder ally imposed "cooling off" pe riod was set to expire at mid night, Washington time. The nation's 235,000 freight Workers had vowed to go on strike early Wednesday if a set tlement was not reached by the midnight deadline. Union offi cials declined to immediately comment on the early break down of talks, but earlier they said a strike was set for 7 a.m. Wednesday, local time. As the hours wound toward the deadline, Larry McFather, E resident of the Brotherhood of ocomotive Engineers, said "we feel we have no choice" but to strike. "Our people have been cut to the bone." "We'll probably shut the whole system down," said Wil liam Fairchild of the Transporta tion Communication Workers' carmen's division. Presidential spokesman Mar lin Fitzwater said the Bush ad ministration was prepared to work with Congress on speedy legislation "to impose a set tlement and end the strike." House Speaker Thomas Foley said there would be no action be fore a strike began. But congres sional leaders, meeting behind closed doors, said that if a walk out occurred, they would hurry legislation to resolve the dispute. "My feeling is that, given the nature of the economy, it is im portant to act in a timely fash ion," said Sen. Edward M. Ken nedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Education and Labor Committee. A House panel had already scheduled a hearing for early Wednesday, with both labor, management and Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner set to testify on the impasse. At issue is a three-year-old dis pute over wages, work rules and health care costs. Unions contend the railroads have not offered high enough pay increases to make up for wage freezes of the past. Man agement argues that railroad workers' salaries are already higher than most other indus trial employees. Work rules determining crew sizes and miles traveled in an 8- hour shift are other stumbling blocks. Bush unveils plan for camps Kurdish relief effort grows SILOPI, Turkey (AP) — Bad weather grounded some relief helicopters Tuesday in a remote corner of southeast Turkey, but U.S. troops stepped up relief efforts, setting up a supply base to speed the flow of aid to desperate Kurds. In a shift in policy that ad dressed the difficulty in getting aid to the refugees. President Bush announced that the United States, France and Britain were moving troops into northern Iraq to set up camps for the refugees. The "greatly expanded and more ambitious relief effort" will President Bush plans an “ambi tious relief effort’ to aid Kurds. direct food and shelter to areas with more favorable geography. Bush said. The mountainous Iraq-Turkey border region is in hospitable both for the refugees and the efforts to help them. Turkey says there are 600,000 Iraqi refugees —most of them Kurds — on its border, 400,000 of them inside Turkey. Iran says close to 1 million of Iraq's 4 mil lion Kurds crossed its border. Relief workers and the State Department say up to 1,000 refu gees may be dying of exposure, dehydration and dysentery each day along the Turkish border. In Silopi, the clank of hammers echoed across the flat, grassy plain as the Air Force's 36th Civil Engineering Squadron from Bit- burg, Germany, began setting up the supply base. But bad weather —one of the problems bringing misery to the uprooted Kurds and frustrating those who would help them — kept the helicopters on the ground Tuesday. Six heavy-lift Sea Knight helicopters that took off with food and water had to turn back. "We could barely see the cliffs 40 feet away," said Staff Sgt. Lee Tibbetts, the public affairs officer with the 24th Marine Expeditio nary Unit. The Ankara government re versed itself Monday and al lowed refugees to move beyond the border region and deeper into Turkey. Turkey plans to move about 40,000 refugees to the lower-elevation camps. Pres ident Turgut Ozal said Tuesday. Ozal, who reportedly spoke twice with Bush about the refu gees Tuesday, made clear he doesn't want the Kurds to stay. In the mountains of northern Iraq, the Kurdish rebels say they still hold considerable amounts of territory in their traditional homeland.