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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1991)
“Hold on to your pews folks, because our churches, the last bastions of conservativeness, are beginning to change as well." — Trey Jacobson page 2 Three-game sweep Aggies sweep TCU on the road for the first time since 1977. page? TRADE WITH MEXICO Study says Texas dominates the export market to Mexico. pages RICARDO R.GWffl ted to be partly ddent ent urges the rap Gorbachev-adt; on preserving! constitution will ben new elecfe by the nine repi: t to remain in S the Russian fes; raine, Byelomss Kazakhstan, As hikistan, Kif ia. paratist repife ign were Estes uania, Georp Armenia. lent did nots presidency woii popular elecfe r the new const. L-mlin spokes®! dan said Thurst nt definitely in ms for the pits itativc re bill two or and whenthef! ? up, l tumeii xas Student li Revenger said :i just sell oil® •ill, but l needed the world with the ptf student lobby*; ponsorfortheb e to beat thedei Maxey, the i d not be read* 7:00 9:00 \\ y.00 The Battalion Vol. 90 No. 141 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas "Serving Texas A&Msince 1893" Monday, April 29,1991 Aggies collaborate on Black Student's Guide to By Melinda Cox The Battalion A group of Texas A&M students is trying to make choosing a college eas ier for graduating high school seniors by writing a guide about the nation's universities. Dr. Marilyn Kern-Fox worth, an asso ciate journalism professor, is oversee ing efforts to put together the Black Student's Guide to Colleges. "This guide tells students about in terests for black students," Kern-Fox- worth said. "It informs students about the options they have." Kem-Foxworth said the guide tells students about different black activities and organizations on a particular cam pus. It also provides other criteria such as how many black faculty teach at the school and how many black students are enrolled at the university. Kern-Foxworth became involved with the guide when the Beckham House Publishing Co. in Virgina con tacted her to inquire about her possible interest in the guide. Publisher Barry Beckham was looking for students to put the guide together and be responsible for compil ing the 198 profiles that would make up the guide, Kem-Foxworth said. Beckham wanted to get the National Association of Black Journalists in volved in the project and came to A&M to attend a NABJ meeting to propose the idea, Kem-Foxworth said. The idea was well-received by nine students including Pamela Lee, presi dent of NABJ, volunteering to work on the project. Lee, managing editor for the guide, is responsible for looking over the pro files and making sure work is com pleted. "The guide helps acquaint high school students with different colleges, both black and white," Lee said. Black students also have a tremen dous variety of black universities to choose from, she said. The guide helps students look for a college because the profiles are under standably written to highlight different organizations for black students on the campus, Lee said. "Each profile is about 1,000 words long and is written by an A&M student from questionnaires sent to (other) campuses and filled out by deans and students," Lee said. "The university then returns the questionnaires with any other bro chures or pamphlets they wish to send," she said. Kem-Foxworth said the guide is nec essary because many blacks students do not know where to go to school. "If a student is interested in the Voices of Praise or the Black Aware ness Committee, the guide would tell a student if these organizations are of fered at a university," Kem-Foxworth said. "The guide also gives information about services on a campus and finan cial aid available." Colleges Kem-Foxworth said students need a well-rounded education with academic and extracurricular activities. On the surface a university might seem to provide these, but the guide would let a student know everything the campus has to offer, she said. Lee said although the guide is a NABJ project, writers still are needed for the summer. Students interested can come by 230 Reed McDonald for further information. "Students don't have to be journa lism majors," Lee said. "But they do need to nave a real interest in complet ing the profile and have some writing skills." The publication is due out in August and those interested in a copy can write to Beckham House Publishing, P.O. Box 177, Hampton, Va., 23669. RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion Emergency teamwork College Station Fire Department and EMT personnel remove a pas- afternoon at the corner of New Main Drive and Texas Avenue. Two peo- senger from a Plymouth Horizon involved in a two-car accident Sunday pie were transported from the accident by ambulance. B-CS raises $30,000 for charity Volunteers participate in WalkAmerica to collect money for March of Dimes By Karen Praslicka The Battalion More than 800 people partici pated in WalkAmerica on Satur day by strolling almost seven miles to raise money for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. Carolyn Fish, director of the Bryan-College Station division, said this year's local turnout was even better than last year's. WalkAmerica is the founda tion's largest fund-raiser and the largest walking event in the country. Fish said. It began during the 1970s and is an annual March of Dimes event. Fish estimated that from 700,000 to 1 million people par ticipated in the fund-raiser na tionwide. The money raised from the event puts the local chapter close to its $30,000 goal, she said. The local organization had raised $21,000 before the na tional fund-raiser on Saturday. Local businesses, Texas A&M organizations and individuals collected pledges to raise money. Prizes also were given away for the groups that raised the most donations. Fish said WalkAmerica funds are automatically transferred into the March of Dimes' na tional budget. The national organization's funds are primarily used for re search and education about birth defects. The Bryan-College Station di vision is the largest recipient of foundation grants in Texas, Fish said. "We get back between $40,000 and $50,000 a year," she said. Fish said most of the people working for the March of Dimes are volunteers, including the or ganization's chief director in New York. The March of Dimes was cre ated in 1938 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to fight polio. See Local/Page 5 Discovery launched Shuttle blasts off on difficult Star Wars mission after 7-week delay CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The space shuttle Dis covery thundered into orbit with seven astronauts Sunday on a "Star Wars" research mission that promises to be one of the most complicated flights in shut tle history. The spaceship roared from its seaside launch pad at 7:33 a.m. EDT, climbing through a fairly clear sky flushed by the rising sun. Once Discovery was settled in its 161-mile-high orbit, shuttle commander and veteran space man Michael Coats told Mission Control that "everything seems to be going pretty well." "We've got a bunch of kids in the candy store up here having a ball," Coats said. It is the first trip into space for five of the as tronauts. Project managers were just as thrilled. "How sweet it is," gushed Mi chael Harrison, a research offi cial for the Strategic Defense Ini tiative, better known as "Star Wars." The launch, stalled seven weeks because of faulty shuttle parts, was delayed a half-hour at the last minute by yet another problem. Launch director Bob Sieck held the countdown clock at the nine-minute mark after one of two data recorders aboard Dis covery turned on prematurely. There was no safety hazard, but officials wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with the shuttle's computers. The countdown resumed after engineers concluded the com puters were fine. Sieck put that problem and others behind once Discovery was safely in space. "You don't keep score and you don't look back ... you go to school on lessons learned," Sieck said. "As soon as it's up there and everything is working fine, that's just history." Most of the eight-day flight will be devoted to Star Wars tests aimed at helping scientists de velop sensors for tracking and destroying enemy missiles. The astronauts will split 12-hour shifts to obtain as much data as possible. The toughest experiments will be Tuesday and Wednesday. That's when a satellite released from Discovery will measure and analyze the shuttle's exhaust plumes. It also will examine chemicals and gases sprayed into space — potential missile camouflage — before being cap tured for return to Earth. NASA considers this one of the most complex shuttle flights because of all the tricky, split- second turns required. Discov ery's engine nozzles must be pointed right at the spacecraft during the plume observations. A collection of five scientific instruments will remain in the cargo bay to study natural phe nomena, such as tne atmospnere and aurora, that could mask a missile's path. West campus expansion Engineer predicts relocation will cause transportation difficulties for students By Monica Pollock Special to The Battalion Texas A&M's plans to ex pand to west campus will cre ate transportation problems for students traveling be tween the two campuses, a University transportation re searcher said. Joe Blaschke, an assistant research engineer with the Texas Transportation Insti tute, said he presently is re viewing plans to move the College of Business to west campus. He also said he is evaluat ing the move's potential ef fects on students and faculty. Blaschke said the present 10-minute break does not al low enough time for people to travel from main campus to classes located on west cam pus. A minor shifting of class times probably will be nec essary to accommodate the growing number of students attending classes on both sides of the University, he said. "Five minutes would make a big difference," Blaschke said. He said the extra few min utes should take care of stu dents leaving class early or ar riving late. Lowering Wellborn Road also is another possibility that might aid students get to class on time, he said. The Bryan city government, the Texas Highway Depart ment and the University all support this alternative al though the proposal has been delayed due to the lack of support from College Station residents, Blaschke said. The initiative was voted down in December because College Station voters proba bly believed the change would benefit only Texas A&M, Blaschke said. However, two present op tions for the Wellborn Road proposal still exist, Blaschke said. One alternative is to wait to see if College Station agrees to contribute financially to the project. The other possibility would be to lower Wellborn only next to the University and in Bryan.