Partly
cloudy
with
scattered
showers.
Temps in
the mid-
80s.
Page 9
If these allegations are true, it means
one segment of the student population
believes it can victimize other students
with impunity."
Carrie Cavalier on the alleged assault of a
female cadet
Page 8
An internationally
acclaimed black actor
from South Africa
becomes an Aggie.
Page 3
Aggies drop
out of the AP
Top 25
a]m
The Battalion
Vol. 91 No.17 USPS 045360
College Station, Texas
''Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
ill i
Group accuses state of financial neglect in higher education
By Chris Vaughn
The Battalion
The state goes to the courtroom again
next week to battle another contentious
lawsuit, this one from the Mexican Ameri
can Legal Defense Fund that seeks to end
years of financial neglect at South Texas
universities.
The MALDEF lawsuit charges the
state, specifically the Higher Education
Coordinating Board, with denying South
Texas universities the same level of fund
ing provided to the rest of the state's insti
tutions. The trial begins Monday in a state
district court in Brownsville.
One of MALDEF's primary pieces of
evidence is several studies showing the
state spends an average of $155 per per
son on higher education, but only $69 per
person in South Texas. The difference in
creases in Central Texas, where $249 per
person is spent on schools like Texas
A&M and the University of Texas.
"There is a tremendous disparity in
terms of access to higher education in
South Texas compared to the rest of the
state," says Laredo State University Presi
dent Leo Sayavedra.
The five South Texas schools are Lare
do State, Corpus Christ! State, Texas A&I,
UT at Brownsville, and UT-Pan Am.
Laredo State, CCSU and Texas A&I are
part of the Texas A&M University Sys
tem.
Chronicling the disparity between
South Texas universities and the rest of
the state is not difficult:
— The combined degree inventory of
all five South Texas schools does not
equal the degree inventory of one mid
size university such as Texas Tech or the
University of North Texas.
— Only one doctorate, a Ph.D. in bilin
gual education at Texas A&I, is offered at
any of the five institutions.
— Corpus Christ! State and Laredo
State are upper-levels, meaning there are
no freshmen or sophomore students.
— Laredo State does not have a cam
pus of its own. It shares buildings with
the Laredo Junior College.
Sayavedra, who said Laredo State re
ceives $4.5 million per year from the state,
believes the lack of funding is because of
the degree inventory in South Texas.
"It is evident that state money flows to
institutions that have a broad degree pro
gram," he says. "South Texas doesn't
have the programs that normally generate
those funds. We just have not developed
as well and as quickly as the rest of the
state."
Dr. Robert Furgason, president of Cor
pus Christi State, also says a lack of pro
grams is hurting the people of South
Texas.
"We want the opportunity to serve a
broader range of students through our
curriculum," Furgason said. "You have to
reflect on the demographics and the needs
of that sector to have stronger universi
ties."
Sayavedra r ays Laredo State's stu
dents receive good classroom instruction,
but lack everything else associated with
university life.
See Funding/Page 10
Fighting
continues
in Croatia
Leaders hope cease-fire will hold;
army tanks vie for strategic towns
Composite by HUY NGUYEN/The Battalion
Seeing things
Mike Sutherland, senior in Squadron 12 comes face-to-face chasing a rabbit photographs combined into one. The cowboy is part of a weather vane atop
near Heldenfelds Hall Monday afternoon. The image is actually two the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
ZAGREB, Yugoslavia (AP) —
Tanks, of the Serb-dominated fed
eral army and Croatian militias
tested a day-old cease-fire Mon
day, dueling for strategic towns.
Much of the secessionist republic
was calm and its leaders expressed
hope for a lasting truce.
The media in Croatia and its
neighboring rival republic, Serbia,
reported a fierce fight was under
way around the central Croatian
towns of Nova Gradiska and Oku-
cani. Battles were also reported
elsewhere.
The Yugoslav news agency
Tanjug said Monday night that the
fighting seemed to be ebbing, ex
cept for sporadic clashes in the
eastern region of Slavonia, where
Serb insurgents have fought Croa
tian militias since the republic de
clared independence June 25.
"Croatia has shown its teeth,
and a completely new relation of
forces has been established," said
Croatian President Franjo Tudj-
man's top adviser, Mario Nobilo,
explaining why he thought the
truce would hold.
"The only language that (Ser
bian President) Slobodan Milose
vic can understand is the language
of force, and we have now shown
that will no longer be effective,"
Nobilo said.
"I think we have gotten over
the worst," Tudjman was quoted
as saying Sunday night by Tanjug.
Croatian officials believe Milo
sevic is pulling the strings in the
fighting and seeks to expand Ser
See Croatia/Page 10
jail
ball
nent
in
s
>day,
olo
Middle East complexities impede diplomacy
U.N. investigators uncover
evidence of Iraqi nuclear
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -
Iraqi soldiers detained U.N. offi
cials for more than 12 hours in a
Baghdad building Monday, then
forcibly confiscated documents
that apparently show Iraq has
been developing nuclear weapons.
The inspectors found the pa
pers in a surprise search several
hours before the U.N. Security
Council met to discuss Iraqi ob
structions to U.N. searches for
hidden weapons and production
facilities.
The inspectors hauled seven
carloads of papers from an Iraqi
government building, but authori
ties stopped the team, held its
members for 12 hours and
"forcibly" seized the data, officials
said.
Rolf Ekeus, head of the U.N.
special commission in charge of
finding and demolishing Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction, said
that before their detention the in
spectors had copied some of the
key documents with their own
portable copying machines.
The confrontation appeared
likely to lead the Security Council
to accept President Bush's offer to
provide troops to guard the in
spectors and warplanes to escort
See U.N./Page 10
A&M expert predicts swift use of force
By Greg Mt. Joy
The Battalion
An Iraqi refusal to comply with U.N. in
spections for nuclear, chemical and biological
weaponry will result in swift and vicious mili
tary action by the United States, a Texas A&M
international affairs expert said.
Dr. Ronald L. Hatchett, director of A&M's
Mosher Institute for Defense Studies, said
President Bush could not afford to react oth
erwise.
"We have to hope that our potential to do
damage to the remains of the Iraqi armed
forces will be enough to make Saddam Hus
sein comply," Hatchett said.
He said Bush's threats are not idle ones.
"This is not a case of muscle flexing by
Bush," he said. "This is a matter of real con
cern. When Iraq agreed to end hostilities, a
cease-fire was negotiated. This cease-fire con
tained formal binding conditions."
Flatchett said the Iraqi military has been
playing a 'shell game' with the United Na
tions inspection teams.
"The cease-fire agreement says clearly that
the U.N. has the right to make inspections
anywhere, anytime with no notice," he said.
"Iraq has never showed good faith, and has
given grossly incomplete lists of weaponry’."
Hatchett said several weapon-making ma
terials sold to Iraq by Western powers in the
1980's have not been listed. The materials in
clude 6,000 containers of chemicals, and a
shipment of heavy water, an essential compo
nent in making weapons-grade plutonium.
"We know these items exist," Hatchett
said. "We also have reports from Iraqi defec
tors indicating storage of weaponry under
ground in Northern Iraq."
The U.N. Security Council met Monday to
plan a course of action, Hatchett said.
"What it boils down to is that the Iraqis
signed a binding agreement to end hostili
ties," he said. "That agreement gave the U.N.
the right to seek out, find, and destroy
weapons of mass destruction. That includes
the right to surprise inspections."
Hatchett said the Iraqis are now attempt
ing to renegotiate those terms.
"The time for negotiation is finished," he
See Mosher/Page 10
President speaks to General Assembly
Bush urges acceptance of Zionism
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - President Bush told
the United Nations on Monday "we cannot compro
mise" on demands that Iraq de
stroy its nuclear weapons capabili
ty. He also urged the world body
to disavow its stand that Zionism
is a form of racism.
Bush set no deadline for Sad
dam Hussein to unconditionally
submit to inspection and destruc
tion of his most dangerous
weapons or face renewed military
force. The president did say the
U.N. should keep economic sanc
tions clamped on Iraq as long as
Saddam remains in control.
Bush
He took a strong stance on the 1975 Zionism res
olution, a major source of mistrust between Israel
and the U.N.
"To equate Zionism with racism is to reject Israel
itself," Bush said in his speech to the General As
sembly of representatives from 166 nations. "This
body cannot claim to seek peace and at the same
time challenge Israel's right to exist.
"By repealing this resolution unconditionally,"
he said, "the United Nations will enhance its credi
bility and serve the cause of peace."
"It's very encouraging to hear the president did
it," said Yossi Ahimeir, a top aid to Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir.
See Bush/Page 10
PLO rejects Israeli peace terms
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -
Yasser Arafat rejected Israeli con
ditions for peace talks Monday,
but said the
PLO is
nonetheless
ready to help
the United
States bring to
gether the
Middle East's
antagonistic
neighbors.
He spoke
at the opening
of a pivotal Arafat
congress of the
Palestine National Council, the
Palestinians' parliament-in-exile.
Its members are divided on how
to respond to Israel's tough con
ditions for Palestinian participa
tion in the peace talks.
Arafat's keynote speech dealt
in generalities about the planned
peace conference. He laid down
no specific program.
The PLO already has rejected
Israeli conditions designed to ex
clude the PLO and its sympathiz
ers from the talks. Most move
ment leaders have described as
insufficient promises to the Pales
tinians provided last week by
U.S. Secretary of State James A.
Baker III.
"Let everybody know, we re
ject the Israeli blackmail and the
Israeli conditions," said Arafat,
who gave a victory salute as he
took the podium.
He appealed to Presidents
George Bush and Mikhail S. Gor
bachev to "do all within your
power to resolve the Middle East
problem and, particularly, the
Palestinian problem, in conformi
ty with international law."
He said time is running out to
convene the peace conference,
which he described as "a rich op
portunity that looms on the hori-