i
Thursday's
Forecast: Mid 90s
Isolated
Thunderstorms
A&M Soccer Club
“European Football” is alive and
kicking at Texas A&M University.
page 3
(Let's) create a Community
Service League
that directs students into
concrete community service
experiences."
- Tim Truesdale page 5
Professor creates computer
graphic programs to teach
children.
page 2
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The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 160 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
"Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Wednesday, June 26, 1991
TCA Cable might cancel 'objectionable' rock video channel
By Tammy Bryson
The Battalion
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Present negotiations between TCA
Cable and MTV Networks could result
in the cancellation of the popular rock
video channel throughout tne Brazos
[Valley, said Randy Rogers, general
I manager of TCA Cable.
"There have been numerous com-
1 plaints from customers for the past few
1 years about the objectionable content
lof the videos on MTV," Rogers said.
1 "Due to their content we are not will-
ling to continue carrying the video
I channel on a broad basis."
Rogers said TCA Cable officials have
been in negotiations for several
months with tne MTV Network, which
also controls Nickelodeon and VH1.
He said TCA is willing to provide MTV
on request and not as part of the basic
cable package, but the MTV Network
has not responded favorably.
"It is not our desire to cancel MTV,
but this is not the type of programming
that should be part of basic cable,"
Rogers said.
The deadline on negotiations be
tween the two companies is midnight
Sunday. Rogers, however, said MTV
probably will reject the cable compa
ny's offer.
"We know that many of the people
who would like MTV to continue are
Texas A&M students, but we just can't
do it (continue service)," Rogers said.
"I think that the students will agree
that this programming is not appropri
ate for young children who now have
access to MTV on basic cable."
Rogers said TCA Cable presently is
negotiating for access to VH1, which is
also a rock video channel.
"Hopefully, we will be able to offer
VH1 as a substitute for MTV, but noth
ing is definite at this time," Rogers
added.
He confirmed that the change in for
mat will not affect present cable prices.
"If we drop MTV, they (MTV offi
cials) will raise our present rates for
Nickelodeon, which is also owned by
MTV Networks," he said. "But this will
not be reflected in TCA Cable's prices."
Rogers said he believes the most im
portant factor in the company's deci
sion to limit access to the video channel
was a concern for what MTV was
broadcasting.
TCA Cable, however, is aware that
many people will be against the MTV's
cancellation, he said.
"We know there will be many com
plaints about this change in format, but
we will stand firm on our decision," he
said.
Budget
proposal
iity Lutheran House subcommittee approves funding
sophyata 9 f° r University at near-current levels
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By Chris Vaughn
The Battalion
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University President William
| Mobley said Tuesday he is en-
I couraged about Texas A&M's fi-
| nancial future after a House sub-
1 committee narrowly passed a
I new budget proposal late last
I week.
A House Appropriations sub-
; committee on higher education
□ Columnist looks at task force
recommendations /Page 5
passed a proposal Friday, 11
votes to 10, to fund A&M at cur
rent services plus growth.
Mobley said during an open
forum for the Multiple Missions
Task Force report that he was
pleased about the committee's
proposal.
"We're in a lot better shape to
day than we were last week," he
! said. "I assure you of that."
Mobley and A&M's other ad
ministrators have been sweating
| out the budget crisis since March
when the state ordered the Uni
versity to return about $3.5 mil
lion from this year's budget.
Shortly after that bombshell.
House Bill 10 was drawn up by
legislators, calling for a $26 mil
lion cut in A&M's budget for
next year. The bill died when the
Legislature adjourned its regular
session in May.
Then, last week, rumors sur
faced that the House subcommit
tee was discussing funding
higher education at double 1991
levels, which would be far below
the current services level.
Mobley, however, said the
new budget proposal is better
than any previous plan.
The president said A&M
would need about $10 million
more than this year's budget just
to stay even, not including raises
for faculty and staff. But given
the state's fiscal problems, the
Legislature might not meet that
need.
The budget proposal from the
subcommittee will go before the
full House Appropriations Com
mittee when the Legislature's
See President/Page 6
CAREY BOETHEL/The Battalion
Fire drills
Firefighters at Brayton Firefighting School practiced extinguishing oil well fires on Tuesday. The class continues for the rest of the week.
Committee favors re-emphasis on teaching
By Chris Vaughn
The Battalion
Balancing teaching and research in fac
ulty reward structures was the primary
topic Tuesday during an open forum to
discuss the release of Texas A&M's Task
Force on Multiple Missions report.
The 90-page report by the committee
makes 28 recommendations to Univer
sity President William Mobley, who ap
pointed the members 17 months ago.
The task force, chaired by Dr. John
Calhoun, studied six areas: undergrad
uate education, graduate and profes
sional education, scholarship and re
search, public service, international
programs, and diversity and pluralism.
The open forum was designed to give
faculty and staff members a chance to
comment on the report. Much of the dis
cussion centered around the task force's
recommendations that greater attention
be given to teaching.
"Some evidence indicates that the bal
ance among missions at A&M is skewed
toward an emphasis upon research," the
report states. "This is a relative shift that
in perspective can be said to represent
the success of past decisions of the insti
tution to achieve research pre-eminence.
An emphasis upon teaching and its qual
ity should be approached with a similar
University commitment."
The task force also recommended that
the University should consider teaching
and public service, not just research, in
the evaluation of faculty for promotion
and tenure.
Mobley raised the question of how it
would be best to measure a teacher's ef
fectiveness since research is easier to as
sess.
Dr. John August, a committee mem
ber, suggested the possibility of teaching
portfolios to judge a teacher's compe
tence. Another suggestion was made to
ask former students about the teaching
abilities of their ex-professors.
But the task force members and many
of those present were clear that teaching
needs to play a greater role, both at the
undergraduate and graduate levels.
See Report/Page 6
AAP sends
professor to
South Africa
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
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Soldiers wake to news of Scud attack, raid on Iraq
Editor's note: Michael A. Kel
ley, a Class of '89 political sci
ence graduate, worked for The
Battalion as a reporter in the fall
of 1989. What follows is a chroni
cle of some of his experiences as
an M1A1 tank platoon leader
during the Persian Gulf War.
This is part two of a four-part se
ries.
The 16th of January was an
other day of training my platoon
on NBC (nuclear, biological,
chemical) operations, first aid,
taking of enemy prisoners,
friendly and enemy vehicle iden
tification and various other basic
skills used to prepare us for the
unknown road down which the
war would travel.
I went to bed that night at
midnight after finishing another
letter to my parents. Two hours
later we were all awakened to
the fact that U.S. warplanes
were on their way to Iraq. We
were then a nation at war.
Analysis of the
Persian Gulf War
I pulled myself out of the same
dream I'd had off and on for two
months, in which artillery was
falling all around my tank. We
put on our chemical protective
overgarments to prepare for a
possible retaliatory Scud strike.
We gathered up our gear and
sat around, listening to radios all
morning as we waited for buses
to take us back to our tanks. Ex
citement filled the air as every
body cheered during the reports
the Baghdad and the Republican
Guards were being bombed
hourly.
But fear quickly filled our
hearts when we were ordered to
put on our gas masks and get up
against the wall because a Scud
was reportedly on its way. It
flew over us and onto Dhahran,
where it was shot down by a Pa
triot missile. This wasn't Gre
nada or Panama — this was war.
We moved our tanks to our
tactical assembly area (TAA),
near the Kuwait border, by
large, heavy equipment trucks.
See Soldier/Page 6
2nd Lt. Michael A. Kelley , Class of ’89, gives the “Gig Em” sign while
stationed just outside the Iraqi border during Operation Desert Storm.
fessor will travel to South Africa
on Monday, becoming the first
person sent by the African Arts
Fund (AAF) to visit the troubled
country since apartheid began.
Dr. Roger Schultz, director of
Aggie Players and head of
A&M's theater program, said he
is looking forward to practicing
voice and acting styles with
South African producer/director
Mbongeni Ngema and South Af
rican student artists in Johannes
burg.
Plans for the trip began in De
cember when the members of
the AAF contacted Schultz to see
if he knew of anyone interested
in traveling to South Africa.
Schultz immediately volun
teered. _
"It was a long struggle getting
the trip put together," he said.
A cultural boycott was im
posed along with economic sanc
tions in South Africa in opposi
tion of apartheid, Schultz said.
It took almost six months for
Schultz's trip to be approved by
the African National Council,
Pan African Council and the Per
forming Artists Workers Equity.
Schultz said the organizations
See Schultz/Page 6