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How to beat the high
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The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 163 CISPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas "Serving Texas A&M since 1893" Tuesday, July 2, 1991
Soviet reformers meet, discuss system to rival communism
MOSCOW (AP) — Former Foreign
Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and
a half-dozen prominent Soviet reform
ers have agreed to create a political or
ganization that would rival the Com
munists, reported an independent
Soviet newspaper Monday.
The formation of the party, which
organizers hoped would take place in
September, would be a watershed in
Soviet politics. An alliance of the most
powerful and prestigious reformers
nas been a long-sought dream among
those demanding more change in the
Soviet Union.
The radical Nezavisimaya Gazeta
(Independent Newspaper), in an ad
vance copy sent by rax Monday night
to The Associated Press, reported that
the reformers had signed a "Declara
tion on Formation of a United Demo
cratic Party" Saturday in the office of
the reformist Moscow Mayor Gavriil
Popov.
"'United Democrats' Want to Unite
Everybody," said the headline in the
newspaper that was to appear Tues
day. In addition to Popov and She
vardnadze, the group included Alex
ander Yakovlev, an adviser to
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
"The Nomenklatura Elite, Captains
of Industry, Idols of Democratic Ral
lies. Will Everybody Find a Place in the
New 'Noah's Ark?'" the headline said.
There had been speculation for
weeks that the reformers would form a
new party. The deputy head of the
Communist Party on Monday had
urged those dissatisfied with the party
to leave rather than creating splinter
factions.
The official, Vladimir Ivashko, re
fused to comment directly on the plans
of Shevardnadze and other prominent
Soviets, but said:
"We are not interested in the split of
our party. It is quite clear. We see no
tragedy if some people withdraw from
us."
Shevardnadze first floated the idea
of a strong opposition party in remarks
to a Vienna newspaper last month. De
bate within the Communist Party
gained urgency after Boris N. Yeltsin,
who quit the party last year, trounced
Communist candidates in the June 12
presidential election in the Russian re
public.
Shevardnadze left the government
in December, claiming that Gorba
chev's reforms were threatened by
hard-line Communists and military
men.
The Communist Party leadership is
struggling to formulate a new pro
gram. A draft program was supposed
to have been completed three weeks
ago, but more work was needed, said
Ivan Frolov, editor of the Communist
Party daily Pravda.
The newspaper on Monday ran a
commentary called "Era of the Split" in
which it lamented: "The party that
started perestroika, renewal, simply
didn't manage, didn't succeed in re
newing itself."
High Court
nomination
creates stir
Thomas will strengthen Supreme Court's
conservative slant, political scientist says
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
President Bush's newest
U.S. Supreme Court nominee
will steer the Court away from
affirmative action ana civil
rights, a Texas A&M
faculty member said.
Dr. Judith Baer, an
associate professor of
political science, said
nominee Clarence
Thomas, a federal ap
peals court judge, will
entrench the Supreme
Court's conservative slant.
"(Thomas) is opposed to af
firmative action and has en
forced the views of the Reagan
Administration," Baer said.
"His appointment will solidify
the conservative vote."
Bush nominated Thomas on
Monday to replace Justice
Thurgood Marshall, who an
nounced his retirement Thurs
day.
Marshall is the first and only
black to sit on the Supreme
Court. He is generally
considered to be the
Court's leading lib
eral.
Thomas was head of
the Equal Employ
ment Opportunity
Commission under
the Reagan adminis
tration. He is the second black
to be nominated to the Court.
The Senate, however, will
scrutinize Thomas' words and
deeds, not his race, when the
See Thomas/Page 7
SUPREME COURT
Analyete of Judge Thomas
Bush picks black judge
to succeed Marshall
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine
(AP) — President Bush on
Monday picked federal ap
peals court judge Clarence
Thomas as the second
black in history for the
Supreme Court, nam
ing an unabashed con
servative to replace
Thurgood Marshall,
one of the major lib
eral voices of the past
quarter century.
Thomas' nomination must
be confirmed by the Senate,
where he is certain to 'ace
sharp questioning on such di
visive issues as abortion, pri
vacy, school prayer and deseg
regation.
Bush praised the 43-year-old
Thomas as "a fiercely indepen
dent thinker with an excellent
legal mind, who believes pas
sionately in equal opportunity
for all Americans."
Yet, civil rights
groups have opposed
Thomas on grounds
he was insensitive to
the concerns of mi
norities and the el
derly as chairman of
the federal Equal Em
ployment Opportunities Com
mission for nearly eight years
under President Reagan.
Bush said race was not a fac
tor in Thomas' selection to re
place the court's first and only
black justice.
SUPREME COURT
Bush announces nominee
SCOTT D. WEAVER/The Battalion
MTV, please, for me
Scott Skelton, a 1989 Texas A&M graduate working on his MBA, stages cated on East 29th Street in Bryan. Skelton is opposing TCA Cable’s deci-
a one-man protest Monday afternoon in front of the TCA Cable Co. lo- sion to remove MTV from its cable package.
A&M plans recreational facilities
By Beau Black
The Battalion
Texas A&M plans to replace
the outdated Deware Field
House and Downs Natatorium
with a $41 million student recre
ation center that one A&M offi
cial calls "a flagship for recre
ation facilities."
"This is so far beyond what
we've seen here before," said
Rick Hall, associate director of
recreational sports. "It will be
one of the biggest and best recre
ation facilities in the country."
The center, up for final appro
val by the Board of Regents dur
ing its July meeting, is estimated
to be completed m the fall of
1994.
It will be funded by a special
$50-per-semester fee paid by all
students. A&M faculty and staff
will be charged a fee based on
usage.
The 200,000-square-foot fa
cility will comprise a student rec
reation area, a competition-level
natatorium and an outdoor
swimming pool.
"The primary design of this fa
cility is to provide an aesthetic
atmosphere that will entice stu
dents to want to exercise for rec
reation and health," said Moffat
Adams, chief architect for the Fa
cilities and Planning Division.
"Students will now have another
environment to meet and social
ize."
The student recreation area
will include a 15,000-square-foot
weight room and fitness area
eqipped with machine and free
weights, rowing machines,
treadmills, exercycles and a jog
ging track suspended over the
work-out area.
The center also will include
two rooms with a total of eight
courts for basketball, volleyball
and indoor soccer that will nave
special shock-absorbing floors to
guard against injuries; activity
and meeting rooms, a snack bar,
TV lounge and games area; and a
rental service for camping, ca
noeing and rock climbing equip
ment.
The indoor natatorium will
feature an Olympic-size pool
that can be divided into three
separate swimming areas, and a
diving tank with platform and
spring boards.
Hall said the University plans
to attract NCAA swim meets to
A&M with the new facility.
The outdoor activities area will
include an outdoor pool, basket
ball courts and volleyball courts.
Two sites are being proposed
for the center: Duncan Field or
the Penberthy Intramural Fields
north of Olsen Field on the West
Campus.
Hall said Duncan Field would
be considered only after the bon
fire site is settled.
"We never want to be part of
the bonfire controversy,' Hall
said.
He added that the Duncan
Field site might be too small for
the facility.
Expert questions republics' flight from empire
By Greg Mt.Joy
The Battalion
Exactly where the indepen
dence-minded Yugoslavian re
publics of Croatia and Slovenia
are headed is anyone's guess, a
Texas A&M international affairs
expert said.
Dr. Ronald L. Hatchett, dep
uty director of A&M's Mosher
Institute for Defense Studies,
said the breakaway republics
have never had a cultural bond
with the Serbian Republic,
which dominates the Yugosla
vian government and military.
"We've got to keep in mind
nobody asked if Croatia and Slo
venia wanted to be a part of Yu
goslavia," Hatchett said. "Only
the Serbians were present when
the treaty creating a Yugoslavian
nation, one that had never be
fore existed, was signed at the
end of World War I."
Hatchett, who did part of his
doctoral work at the University
of Zagreb in Croatia, said the
1919 treaty is the root of the pre
sent ethnic unrest.
"Slovenia and Croatia had
been a part of the defeated Aus-
tria-Hungarian Empire for over
600 years," he said. "There are
many differences between the
languages of the breakaways
and that of Serbia, and there has
always been an animosity as
well."
Hatchett said the Slovenians
and Croatians, who make up
only 36 percent of Yugoslavia's
population, earn about 60 per
cent of the nation's international
trade earnings.
"Now that the strong central
rule of the Communists has been
eased, the republics want inde
pendence," Hatchett said. "The
Croatians and Slovenians have a
lot of money, and have bought a
lot of arms."
Hatchett said he was opti
mistic about the republics'
chances in an armed conflict
with Serbia or a combined effort
by the four other Yugoslavian re
publics.
"There is no doubt the others
want to supress the breakaway,"
he said. "TTrey can't, however, if
they don't have enough soldiers,
and the chances of that are
doubtful. If Slovenia and Croatia
continue their drive for indepen-
dece, it will be a success. But
thousands will die."
Hatchett said there is about a
60 percent chance the republics
will continue toward indepen
dence now that the threat of a
military reprisal seems possible.
The Yugoslavian army units
presently in the breakaway re
publics are virtually surrounded
by partisans, Hatchett said. Most
Yugoslavian soldiers are cons
cripts, and many do not believe
it is worth fighting a war to keep
the republics, he said.
"Most of them probably just
want to go back to their village,"
Hatchett said. "The Slovenians
and Croatians have a great ad
vantage in that it is much easier
to defend one's home territory
than to occupy it. Almost every
one in Slovenia and Croatia is a
potential soldier."
The Bush administration's po
sition, Hatchett said, might ap
pear somewhat hypocritical.
"Some of the primary prin
ciples the United States is
founded on are individual rights
and self-determination of peo
ples," he said. "It goes against
these principles for the U.S. to
say 'this idea applies to us, to the
Baltic republics, out not to you
See Europe/Page 7