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prematurely this year from tobacco-
induced diseases. ”
Michael Worsham
pages
Rugby rules
The Texas A&M Rugby
team offers action
and excitement in
extramural sports
page 3
page 2
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go through their long distance
company to get a call-blocking
option.
The Battalion
90 No. 152 (JSPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
'Serving Texas A&M since 1893'
Wednesday, June 12,1991
/V&JVTs expert applauds choice of new Soviet ambassador
By Greg Mt.Joy
The Battalion
President Bush's appointment of Rob-
rt Strauss as ambassador to the Soviet
Inion was not a political move but a
fiestion of finding the right man for the
jb, said an international affairs expert.
Dr. Ronald L. Hatchett, deputy direc-
[ar of Texas A&M's Mosher Institute for
dense Studies, said if the appointment
ad been purely political. Bush might
lave chosen any Democrat,
j 'Strauss was appointed not simply be-
(luse he is a Democrat, but because he is
unique Democrat," Hatchett said. "Just
he advantage he brings to this position
[his personal friendship with the presi-
ent."
Hatchett said this relationship should
significantly streamline communication
between the White House and the Krem
lin.
"Strauss can pick up the phone at any
time and say 'George, I've got a prob
lem...' " Hatchett said. "This is some
thing that the current ambassador just
can't do."
The present line of communications for
the ambassador to the Soviet Union goes
through the Assistant Secretary of State
for European Affairs and the Secretary of
State, who decides if the ambassador
speaks to the president, Hatchett said.
"The likelihood of getting through this
line is about zero," he said. "Strauss' ap
pointment is a good indicator of the Bush
administration's seriousness in dealing
with Soviet relations. We are entering a
critical period with the Soviets, and we
need the best possible avenues for com
munication."
Hatchett also said Strauss' high profile
would be a great aid to the
ambassadorship.
"With a Democrat of Strauss' reputa
tion as ambassador, it is more likely any
policy directed toward the Soviet Union
will be perceived as bipartisan," he said.
"This makes any sniping by the Demo
crat-controlled Congress less likely."
Hatchett said any attacks on such pol
icy would then be a result of genuine
concern for the policy, not partisan politi
cal reasons.
"The president would know the con
cern over policy is genuine because it
could not be an attempt to gain political
capital by criticizing Republican policy,"
he said.
Also instrumental in Strauss' appoint
ment is his reputation as a deahnaker,
Hatchett said.
"A good dealmaker is really what we
need at this point in our relations with
the Soviets," he said. "We need someone
who can tell the Soviets that if they want
aid they will have to take steps toward
democracy and a market economy.
Strauss is capable of making such deals."
Hatchett also applauded the Strauss
appointment as a rare choice of a political
appointment rather than a career diplo
mat.
"Career diplomats are not always a
good idea," Hatchett said. "Many of
these diplomats actually become advo
cates of their host government, and no
longer represent the wishes of the Amer
ican administration."
Hatchett said this problem in some
ways helped lead to war in the Persian
Gulf.
iq v
; li\
diplomat," he said. "She lived most of
her career in the Middle East and was out
of touch with sentiments in the United
States. One reason Saddam Hussein
didn't know how the Bush Administra
tion felt was because his information
from our ambassador was filtered. She
was not in tune with U.S. policy."
Hatchett said career diplomats are
needed as experts but should not be in
charge of representing American policy.
RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion
Doggie Paddling
Hark Gothelf, of College Station, plays fetch with his dog Alexa in Research Park Tuesday afternoon. Mark said he and Alexa play in the park everyday.
U.S. trade
promising
War payments aids $10.2 billion surplus
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States posted its first quarterly
trade surplus in nearly nine years during the first three months of the
year, but only because of $22.7 billion in foreign payments for the Per
sian Gulf War, the government said Tuesday.
The Commerce Department said the rare $10.2 billion surplus in
the current account, the broadest measure of the country's trading
performance, would not have occurred without the contributions from
Saudi Arabia, Japan and other countries.
The government noted that the country's trade performance also
was aided by an all-time high in U.S. export sales and a drop in im
ports stemming from the recession.
The Bush administration said the trade report supported its belief
that strength in exports will help the country pull out of the recession.
President Bush said Tuesday that while the recession has lasted
longer than he expected "a turnaround in the economy appears in the
making" even though some sectors remain sluggish.
Referring to recent economic statistics. Bush said he was "bullish
on the economy." He said the May unemployment report showed that
more than half of all industries added to their payrolls last month,
while other reports showed industrial output on the rise.
"There's reason to be optimistic," Bush said in an address televised
to the American Advertising Federation. "I think things are looking
much more promising."
liberal Arts proposes making minors optional A&M aids ill NASA project
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
I Future students in Texas A&M's College of Liberal
jits might not have to choose a minor because of a
Inv resolution approved recently by the Liberal
Irts Council.
] The council recommended that the college no
jnger require minor fields of study for liberal arts
Udents, leaving the decision to the individual de-
lents.
jStudents in departments that do not require mi
lls will still have the option of choosing one.
J|Anna Crockett, coordinator for undergraduate ad
vising, said the college's criteria for accepting mi-
ors, however, will be different. .
Revised minors will require 15 to 18 credit hours,
fh no more than nine hours of lower-level (100
d 200) courses. No more than six hours may be
ed to meet other requirements, such as humani-
sor social sciences.
1
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Crockett said the college would leave other re
quirements for minors up to the individual depart
ments.
"If the College of Liberal Arts makes minors optio
nal, each department has its own mechanism for de
termining criteria," she said.
The college presently requires liberal arts students
to take at least 12 credit hours in their minor, with at
least six hours of upper-level (300 and 400) courses.
If appproved, the changes will not be incorpo
rated into the curriculum until Fall 1992 at the ear
liest, for students enrolled under course catalog 115.
The catalog will not be revised until January.
However, the changes have not been officially ap
proved by the College of Liberal Arts.
"I'm not sure where it goes from here," Crockett
said. "There is quite a bit of time to make a deci
sion."
The changes in college requirements were recom
mended by the Academic Standards Committee and
the Curriculum Committtee in a memorandum
dated April 17.
Peggy O'Hare
battalion
Texas A&M mechanical engi
neering students are working on a
project in conjunction with NASA
to improve the space shuttle's abil
ity to grasp objects in space.
Three students are conducting
the project under the supervision
of Dr. Louis Everett, E)r. Robin
Redfield and Dr. Michael Rabins.
The project focuses on transfer
ring control of the shuttle's robotic
arm from manually controlled
joysticks to computers that will be
located on the space shuttle.
"We're trying to develop an au
tomated sensor that will fly on the
shuttle and enable astronauts to
do some very dexterous manipula
tions, like grappling a satellite
that's flying past the shuttle at a
very low speed," said Everett, an
associate professor in mechanical
engineering.
Astronauts now must go out
side the shuttle and be strapped to
its arm to retrieve a satellite, he
said.
However, if this project is suc
cessful, most manipulations could
be handled from inside the shuttle
with the mechanical arm, Everett
said.
Rabins, a professor of mechani
cal engineering, said the idea for
the shuttle arm avoids many of
NASA's concerns that the me
chanical grapplers presently being
used might puncture a space suit
or the walls of the shuttle.
Redfield, an assistant professor
of mechanical engineering, said
communication with NASA is con
stant and the project likely will be
completed in two or three years.
Redfield said great care is being
taken on the project to make the
operation safe for astronauts to
"NASA is very careful about
making sure systems that could
endanger the life of a crew are ex
tremely fault-tolerant," he said.
"One of the problems with the
arm is controlling it to move it to a
position where it can do the job it
needs to do.
"Right now the accuracy of its
control is not as good as it could
be, and it's very slow," Redfield
continued. "It can take astronauts
a half-hour to 45 minutes to get the
arm in position."
Redfield said the project in
volves mounting a camera on the
end of the arm that sends informa
See A&M/Page 2
uture engineers in DOE program give conservation tips to businesses
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
University engineering students have
ichance to gain report-writing skills and
earn how manufacturing business
forks through the Energy Analysis and
^agnostic Center (EADC), said the cen-
tfs director Dr. Warren Heffington.
Heffington, an associate professor of
Mechanical engineering at Texas A&M,
ias been director since 1986, when the
Hogram began at A&M.
The EADC is funded by the Depart
ment of Energy, with only 18 universi-
ies involved nationwide. The closest
EADC school to A&M is Oklahoma State
lUniversity.
The University City Science Center in
Philadelphia administers the EADC pro
gram for the DOE.
Heffington said A&M's mechanical
engineering department decided to ap
ply to become an EADC school because
the EADC would supplement the de
partment's graduate program in energy
conservation.
"It's a competitive process, and not all
schools that apply can become an
EADC," Heffington said.
The EADC has two main purposes,
Heffington said. One is to provide free
energy audit services for small- and me
dium-sized companies that could or
would not pay for an audit otherwise.
The other purpose is to give college stu-
dents energy conservation experience.
Heffington said usually the EADC
contacts a company and offers an audit,
but occasionally a company will request
one. Most of the audits are for Houston
companies, but A&M's branch of the
EADC has traveled as far as Dallas and
San Antonio.
During an audit, Heffington and the
five EADC student employees visit the
company and review its utility usage,
looking for ways to save energy and
money.
"Typical savings are 10 or 12 percent
of their utility bill," he said.
It takes about a year for the company
to actually realize the savings, a rela-
tively short payback time, Heffington
said.
A formal report, called an Energy
Conservation Survey Report, is written
for each company summarizing the
EADC recommendations. The report
also lists the amount the company will
save by implementing the recommenda
tions and how much the implementation
will cost.
Each part of the report is written by
student employees.
Heffington said the program is a bene
fit for the student employees. He said
the students are able to make money and
see the manufacturing business.
"We've been in plants that were facing
imminent shutdown," Heffington said.
"We've been injolants that were brand-
new and those that look like something
you would see in Charles Dickens'
time."
Heffington said seeing how the com
panies work is good experience, but stu
dents also work on their writing skills
doing ECS reports.
"Writing is often a problem for engi
neers," he said. "Engineers and engi
neering students are largely reputed to
be deficient in writing skills, and there's
a lot of truth in that."
Heffington said he looks for students
with a high grade-point ratio, flexible
schedules and the ability to work well
with others.
Any company interested in a free en
ergy audit is encouraged to call Heffing
ton at 845-5019.
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