The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 07, 1992, Image 1

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    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
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The Battalion
College Station, Texas
‘Serving Texas A&M since 1893’
10 Pages
Tuesday, April 7, 1992
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■ 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
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By Tanya Sasser
The Battalion
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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
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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.
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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