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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1992)
Biased ballots produced by Student Government have no place in A&M elections -Battalion Editorial Board Page 9 Kings for Another Day Duke Blue Devils win second straight NCAA title Page 7 veen us. country. ;ird did not sat ud. rently concf utmaneuvertil d the comprofE' th Shamir as Vol. 91 No. 125 :srael radio* The Battalion College Station, Texas ‘Serving Texas A&M since 1893’ 10 Pages Tuesday, April 7, 1992 also worried I, : get to the he, has dominati orts for the tourt takes 'sting 7 from undercover government operations gave promiie ription ofthei and Levy’s^ s being treaW <e "a monki ees. ndi al mow pment, Vele aft letters, he Educatkl a I for Druj-fj nts by $6Zii! for IRS moq rans' drug; ■ WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday limited some under cover "sting” operations when it ruled that a Nebraska farmer was entrapped by postal agents who coaxed him for two years to buy mail-order child pornogra phy. |; By a 5-4 vote, the justices said the farmer lacked predisposition to commit a ime and only purchased the contraband iaterial after the prolonged solicitation of the government. While the ruling is a defeat for law en- ircement officials and a surprise from an icreasingly conservative court, its impact could prove limited. The court's four dissenters said the de cision is a major departure that could hob ble investigators. The majority said the ruling represents no change from stan dards that have let the government con duct sweeping undercover investigations into political corruption, drug dealing and fencing of stolen goods. Justice Byron R. White wrote for the court, "In their zeal to enforce the law, government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person's mind the disposition to commit a criminal act and then induce commission of the crime so that the government may prosecute." He was joined by Justices Harry A. Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Clarence Thomas. Thomas' vote surprised many because the newest justice generally has taken a tough approach to crime and punishment. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the dissenters, said the ruling "rede fines predisposition and introduces a new requirement that government sting opera tions have a reasonable suspicion of ille gal activity before contacting a suspect." She was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, and Justices An tonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy. "There are good guidelines here that will protect some people who need pro tection," said Paul Marcus, a law profes sor at the College of William 'Sc Mary. "You can't pursue someone so relentless- 1 y" Assistant Attorney General Robert S. Mueller III said the court's decision was "generally limited" to the particulars of the Nebraska case, and "will not affect the government's sting operations in the ar eas of narcotics trafficking and similar crimes." The case stems from the investigation of Keith Jacobson, 61, of Newman Grove, Neb. Police found Jacobson's name on a San Diego, Calif., pornography bookstore's mailing list in 1984. He had ordered two nudist magazines from the store that were legal to purchase. Postal inspectors continuously solicit ed Jacobson through the mail to buy ille gal pornography. Investigators said he voluntarily re sponded to mailed questionnaires asking him about his interests in sexually explicit material. ape count for year creases T m fto nine public 1 AdminisfrJ [Assault in dormitory the Cenle5 reported by student es denied® drugs. W I get constaii By Tanya Sasser The Battalion the norma!] ONDAY) ig g M TEAfl 1st lifter 1st ,ifter The number of sexual assaults at or near Texas A&M continues to grow at an alarming rate, with a .sexual assault this weekend bring- { ing this year's official rape count to nine. A student reported to the Uni versity Police Department that she was sexually assaulted on Sun day by an acquaintance while she was visiting his residence in Dor mitory 12 on campus. UPD Director of Security Bob Wiatt said details about the case are not available because the vic tim has not decided if she wants the police to launch an official in- estigation. "The status of this case is still pending," Wiatt said. "The young ady is not yet sure whether she wishes to pursue the matter." Wiatt said the woman wants some time to think about her deci sion. | "The main thing is that she wants to talk to her parents," he said. "We have been investigating the case, but there is a hangup on whether we will be going forward with it or not. This will be entirely up to the young lady." Kelley Hamlin, a volunteer board member at the Rape Crisis Center, said women should be cautious about acquaintance rape. "Be aware and cautious," she said. "If it does happen to you, be sure to report it or call the Rape Crisis Center." Hamlin said, for some reason, the number of sexual assaults seems to increase during this time See Sexual/Page 6 BILLY MORAN/The Battalion Water works Kenneth Beddard of Texas A&M Landscape sprinkler system in front of the Memorial Maintenance cements pipe together for a Student Center on Monday. Peruvian leader sets martial law Fujimori shuts down media, seals off Congress with tanks LIMA, Peru (AP) — The mili tary and President Alberto Fuji mori shut down magazines and radio stations and detained oppo sition politicians Monday after suspending the constitution and sending tanks to surround Congress. The United States called Fuji mori's state of emergency declara tion "regrettable" and cut aid to Peru. Latin American leaders, fearing a return to dictatorship af ter a decade of democratization in the region, condemned the move as a "classic coup." Soldiers halted cars and searched civilians on Lima's out skirts and patrolled in force down town. Parliamentary leaders were under house arrest and former President Alan Garcia went into hiding. As Fujimori swore in three new Cabinet members at the presiden tial palace Monday night, across town lawmakers gathered but were kept from entering a hall by troops. A congresswoman slapped a soldier and a tear gas grenade was fired into the crowd. Sen. Raul Ferrero rushed for ward and was beaten down with nightsticks. Other lawmakers moved to help him up and anoth er politician was hit. Police fired into the air, sending reporters and bystanders ducking for cover be hind cars. "We will meet again, in public, tomorrow!" shouted Aurelio Loret /^COLOMBIA ECUADOR BRAZIL PERU X© LIMA f BOLIVIA ^ chile' de Mola, the vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, with gas-in duced tears streaming down his face. "If they stop us, we will meet again the next day." Strict censorship was imposed on Peruvian media, and even for eign journalists were under close watch: at The Associated Press of fice, three soldiers in olive uni forms watched cartoons on televi sion through the day, resting their Belgian-made rifles against a desk. Fujimori justified the move say ing legislative and judicial corrup tion were shackling his efforts to roust Peru from a deep recession and combat a 12-year-old guerrilla insurgency that has shifted from mountain strongholds to Lima shantytowns. Nearly 25,000 people have died in political violence since the Shin ing Path took up arms in 1980. The Shining Path has been seeking to provoke a military coup as part of its strategy. Its hope is that a repressive military regime will push Peruvians to support its insurgency. 1st 1st pN? 1st fter 1st 1st $ 1st Prolific science fiction writer Isaac Asimov dies at age 72 NEW YORK (AP) - Isaac Asi mov, whose nearly 500 books ranged from science fiction fore telling an era in which mankind and benign robots spread across the galaxy to science fact, histories and humor, died Monday at age 72. He died of heart and kidney failure at New York University Hospital, said his brother, Stanley Asimov, a vice president of News- day. The most popular of Asimov's novels and stories were excursions into a future in which Earth is for gotten by a humanity that spreads through the stars, ruled by a galac tic "Foundation" and served by robots. He set a standard that has been followed by other authors when, in'T, Robot" in 1950, he laid down a set of three laws for robots, the essence of which was that robots may not harm people or stand by and let people get hurt. Asimov also was one of the most widely read popularizers of science fact, as well as a prolific writer on subjects that amused or interested him, including litera ture, humor and opera, light and grand. And he was an associate professor of biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. A hallmark of his fiction was that the science, sometimes mind- boggling, was nonetheless con vincing. One exception, he conceded, was "Fantastic Voyage," about a medical team being miniaturized and injected into a dying man's bloodstream. It was made into a 1966 movie starring Raquel Welch. The miniaturized characters were so small that a molecule of oxygen would have been too big to breathe, he later said. In his last entry in Who's Who, Asimov credited himself with 467 books, and listed titles of 249. RUN-OFF ELECTIONS TODAY Polling for Student Government run-off elections will take place today. Students are able to vote in the run-offs even if they did not vote in the first election. Polling will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the following locations: Blocker Building Kleberg Center Sterling C. Evans Library Zachry Engineering Center Polling will also take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the MSC.foyer. College suspends evaluations Budget cuts force departments to pay for rating system By Karen Praslicka The Battalion Some departments at Texas A&M are unable to give student evaluations in all of their classes this semester due to budget cuts. The departments in the College of Liberal Arts must pay for student evaluations of professors out of their own budgets. Most of the departments will have evaluations in all classes, which is the College's usual policy, but some do not have the money to pay for them. Dr. Janis Stout, associate dean, said, however, there has been no change in the college's policy to do an evaluation in every class each semester. This temporary situation does not mean the Col lege will not return to its normal evaluation policy. "We've told the departments it's up to them this semester," she said. "But that doesn't mean we won't get back to it. I think it will come back in the fall." The Department of Journalism is the only depart ment within the College that will not have evalua tions in any classes. The department has been hit hard by budget cuts, said Dr. Charles Self, the depart ment head. Self said there was not enough money for teaching programs, and evaluations were just one of the things that had to be cut. "We've been hit very hard," he said. "We felt that missing one semester would not do long-term dam age." The department has other means of reviewing faculty and getting student input, such as a student panel consisting of presidents of different journalism organizations, he said. Department administrators meet with the panel during the semester to get student feedback about professors and classes. "We do believe an evaluation program is extreme ly important, and we're confident it will be replaced in the fall." Other departments will still have evaluations, but cannot afford them in all classes. Dr. Larry Mitchell, head of the Department of En glish, said student evaluations might be done for some classes, but not all. "This semester we just don't have any money," he said. See Departments/Page 6