J
temberl,lj)
les
The Battalion
observing tt#
3 childrens
id.
Vol. 92 No. 3
(14 pages)
“Serving Texas A&M Since 1893”
Wednesday, September 2, 1992
86 percent!
ting in t|
rettes il
)ared wifhs
i-participatiii
appears inti
the Amelia
:alth.
Tuesday,
nstitute sai
istorted |
acause he's
acco industi
L
LL/The Battato
mday. Ttie
riday.
[ties
race
king
Tans
Justice Department incorrect
on crime report, director says
By TODD STONE
Reporter of THE BATTALION
A new Justice Department survey on campus
crime incorrectly reported violent crime statistics at
Texas A&M University, said University Police direc
tor Bob Wiatt.
University Police officials gave the FBI the incor
rect figures but were unable to correct the numbers
before the survey was released.
The survey mis-reported violent crime statistics
for the years 1991 and 1989. A violent crime is any
aggravated assault or robbery that involves serious
injury or the presence of a deadly weapon.
The survey reported nine violent crimes in 1991
when only seven actually occurred. The survey in
cluded an attempted rape, which is not an aggravat
ed assault, as a rape in its 1991 figures.
The other error came from an aggravated assault
charge made last September by a female member of
the Corps of Cadets. The charge was included in the
survey although the cadet later retracted the charge,
saying she was verbally harassed but not physically
assaulted.
Also, the survey reported 17 violent crimes oc
curred in 1989 although University Police records
show only nine. Wiatt said it was a simple mistake.
"We submitted some assault cases that should
have been simple, not aggravated, assaults," Wiatt
said. "It was a clerical error basically. Once it was
already published, there was nothing we could do
about it.
"The milk is spilled so there's no specific way to
correct it."
Colleges and other police organizations con
tribute crime statistics to the survey. The survey is
published annually, and the statistics are from the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime
Reports. In the past, colleges voluntarily released
crime statistics to the FBI.
This year's survey contains figures that are re
quired by law according to the Student-Right-to-
Know and Campus Security Act. The law states that
colleges must provide students and prospective stu
dents information about crime.
Wiatt said University Police have corrected the
inaccuracy's over the years, but since the incorrect
figures have been published, there's little point in
trying to correct them.
"We just make sure our records are kept up to
date for anyone who needs to know," he said.
FBI officials declined to comment about the accu
racy of this year's survey regarding A&M or other
universities.
During 1992, violent crime has been down at
Texas A&M. According to University Police
records, there has been one sexual assault, no rob
beries and three aggravated assaults from January
through July. August's crime figures were not avail
able.
Wiatt said increased crime awareness among stu
dents, faculty and staff has contributed to the de
cline in crime for 1992.
"We've had two officers since May 1989 working
full-time trying to improve crime prevention,
Wiatt said. "Other officers do the same but not on a
full-time basis."
Although violent crime is down at A&M, Wiatt
warns that everyone on campus should still be alert
to crime.
"We've been telling people over and over again
the campus is a microcosm of society at large,"
Wiatt said. "We're not in a protected bubble. Crime
happens at A&M."
Job placement available
Career center encourages students to register early
By JULI PHILLIPS
Reportero/THE BATTALION
Quit procrastinating! Job
placement assistance is available
now through the Texas A&M Ca
reer Center's Placement Services
on the second floor of the Student
Services Building.
The career center is encourag
ing all students and alumni to
use the services offered in the cen
ter to get the edge in these tough
hiring times, and according to
placement center officials, the
sooner a person registers the bet
ter.
Jay Wheeler, an associate direc
tor of the career center, said stu
dents cannot afford to wait until
later in the year to register.
"A lot of people wait until the
end of the month and even by
then they are way behind the
eight ball," Wheeler said.
Wheeler said the application
process and ensuing orientations
take up valuable time when stu
dents' resumes could be being re
viewed by prospective employers.
Daniel Orozco, another assis
tant director in the career center,
agreed with Wheeler.
"We do have a problem getting
students to register early," Orozco
said. "Ideally, we would like to
have students register in the first
week of school, so they will not
miss the first round of inter
views."
He said these interviews are
the most important because
chances for jobs are better during
this time of the year.
Even though the rush is on to
get students into the program, the
new process of pre-screening the
resumes for the visiting compa
nies has shifted some of the
process from "first come, first
served."
The pre-screening process in
volves students filling out invita
tion cards, offered by recruiting
companies, which- are then sent to
the companies with a copy of each
student's resume.
The companies then contact the
students they want to interview
and those students return to the
center to sign up for an interview.
Companies may request up to
50 percent of their interviews
come from pre-screened resumes,
with the rest coming from the
"bid method" used by the career
center over the years.
The bid process involves stu
dents bidding points allotted to
them at the beginning of the se
mester. It is much like an auction
in that the highest bidders get
spots on the interviewer's sched
ule.
The center has stayed away
from letting companies pre-screen
all applicants.
Some in the center believe the
pre-screening process would not
be fair to students who do not
have the highest grade point aver
age.
Still, the career center main
tains that job experience is crucial
in today's job market.
For more information regard
ing placement procedures call the
Texas A&M Career Center's
Placement Services at 845-5139.
rants in
nearly thrff
urned do" 11
tes.
i minorit,'
-e twice 3
egardlesj
nuston
President pledges federal
reimbursement for cleanup
business^
i-ownedi
asked ''
ributed 1°
•'re black
't going tc
:hey thin 11
ste. ThfiJ
ng to g e!
are try in?
i the Fiw 1
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ft----— — —-— —
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — President Bush took an
emotional tour Tuesday of Hurricane Andrew's
worst ravages and cheered Florida officials by
pledging 100 percent federal re-mbursement for eli
gible costs of the massive cleanup and rebuilding
effort.
' He also announced that Homestead Air Force
Base, which was ripped apart by the furious storm,
will be rebuilt "to show our commitment to south
Florida."
"We're in this for the long haul. We won't leave
until the job is done," said Bush in the courtyard of
Homestead Middle School, now serving as an emer
gency medical center.
There were complaints last week from some
bade County, Fla., officials that Washington had
been slow to respond. Bush canceled a weekend va
cation and West Coast campaign trip to show Flori
da he cared — and to avoid the political fallout that
could cost him the state's 25 electoral votes.
But he heard no recriminations, only thanks,
from Andrew's victims, as he, his wife Barbara, and
befense Secretary Dick Cheney viewed the devasta
tion, comforting those who suffered and applaud
ing the efforts of the military and other rescue
workers.
"If it wasn't for the federal government getting
involved here, we'd be in big trouble," said Rick
Brave, 33, an electrician from Leisure City, Fla.
The Bush party later flew from Florida to
Louisiana for a look at the lesser disaster there from
Andrew's second U.S. landfall and wound up in
Jeanerette, La.
There, Bush visited a battered sugar cane farm
- announcing he would not raise the sugar cane
import quota despite crop damage — and a food
distribution center where he shook hands with vol
unteers and people lined up for free groceries.
"Tm not impressed," said one volunteer, Bryan
Thompson, 31, of Lafayette, La. "The people in line
out front probably appreciate the food more than
seeing the president."
The federal government normally .pays 75 per
cent of the cost of rebuilding the infrastructure in
disaster areas. Bush last week said Washington
would cover 90 percent in the path of destruction
that Andrew cut through Florida.
But now he promised 100 percent funding in the
wake of the costliest disaster in U.S. history. Fk)rida
officials estimate the total damages as high as $20
billion.
Asked if the government could pay for such an
effort. Bush said, "It's going to have to afford it."
It was Bush's second trip to both states since An
drew tore ashore eight days ago and left 250,000
Floridians without homes. His previous stop was in
Miami, which missed the brunt of the storm.
Homestead, 30 miles south of Miami, looks like it
was carpet-bombed, from the twisted, skeletal
hangars at the air base that entombed two F-16s and
a C-130 cargo plane to the trailer park nearby re
duced to splinters and debris. Mrs. Bush called the
scene "indescribable.... It's like a war zone."
Bush said he was invoking authority under the
Stafford Emergency Relief and Assistance Act to
provide "full federal reimbursement for 100 percent
of all eligible public assistance, including projects
such as debris removal, to eliminate immediate
threats to public health and safety, and repair and
reconstruction of (uninsured) non-profit facilities."
Transportation Secretary Andrew Card, who is
overseeing the relief effort, said that will cover dis
aster costs that are "not covered by private insur
ance ... mostly governmental infrastructure."
Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles praised Bush's ac
tions, saying, "Everybody's been terrorized that the
base would be closed."
DARRIN HILUThe Battalion
Marcel LeJeune, a sophomore general studies while practicing in the rain outside Walton Hall
major from San Antonio, leaps for the basket on Tuesday.
Defense receives boost
Bush visits state; plans to reverse
freeze on sale of F-16 fighter jets
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - President
Bush's swing through Texas on
Wednesday is expected to provide
a boost to a bat
tered Fort
Worth defense
industry that
has been hurt
by military cut
backs in recent
years.
Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen said
Tuesday he was
"reliably in
formed" that
Bush would re
verse the administration's freeze
on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to
Taiwan.
The decision could save 3,000
of the 5,800 jobs General Dynam
ics Corp. is planning to pare from
its Fort Worth division by 1995.
The layoffs, announced in July,
are attributed in part to dwindling
F-16 sales.
A White House spokesman
confirmed Bush would visit Fort
Worth and Lubbock but wouldn't
release details of the president's
agepda. General Dynamics offi
cials didn't return several tele
phone calls from The Associated
Press.
But, said Bentsen: "Tve been
reliably informed that President
Bush is going to announce ap
proval of the sale of the F-16s to
Taiwan."
"I am gratified obviously that
he has finally done so, but it sure
took a lot of pressure in an elec
tion year by me and the Texas del
egation to persuade him," said
Bentsen, D-Texas.
Taiwan has sought unsuccess
fully for the last decade to pur
chase up to 180 F-16s, which cost
$20 million per copy.
But the Reagan and Bush ad
ministrations nixed the deal, cit
ing a 1982 agreement with China
limiting weapons sales to Taiwan.
Opponents of the Taiwanese
deal contend it might trigger an
arms race between mainland Chi
na and Taiwan.
But proponents say it would al
low Taiwan to maintain a balance
of power with communist China,
which recently has bulked up its
own air force.
Bentsen predicted China ini
tially would protest the sales to
Taiwan, but said the deal might
be more palatable because the F-
16s in question are less attack-ori
ented than later generations of the
fighter.
"I think that will give enough
cover for the Chinese to feel like
they can go along with it and save
face," he said.
The apparent shift on F-16 sales
comes as polls show Bush trailing
in his adopted home state behind
Democratic presidential nominee
Bill Clinton. Texas, with 32 elec
toral votes, is crucial to the for
tunes of both candidates.
In recent weeks, the adminis
tration also has dropped its long
standing opposition to the V-22
Osprey, another military program
with significant Texas ties.
Bush indicated, in July, when
General Dynamics announced its
planned layoffs, that he would re
consider his opposition to the sale
of F-16s to Taiwan.
The transaction, valued at over
$3 billion up front, could be worth
more than $10 billion over six
years.
Taiwan, put off by the U.S. de
lays, now is negotiating with
France to purchase up to 120 Mi
rage 2000-5 jets in a deal valued at
up to $7.2 billion.
The Mirage sale could spur fur
ther Franco-Taiwanese deals —
totaling $18 billion — in nuclear
reactors and high-speed railroad
equipment, Bentsen has said.
A congressional source familiar
with the proposed Taiwanese deal
said Tuesday, speaking on condi
tion of anonymity, that Taiwan
has indicated its preference for the
F-16 over the Mirage.
Rep. Pete Geren, D-Fort Worth,
said the deal would be "tremen
dous news in many different
ways."
"Most importantly it's 3,000
North Texas families that are not
going to lose their livelihoods," he
said.
Geren said the Taiwanese or
ders would account for about
10,000 jobs nationwide over six
years, including thousands in
Connecticut where Pratt & Whit
ney manufactures engines for the
F-16.
Pratt spokesman Robert Carroll
said he was unaware of Bush's
planned announcement but said it
had been anticipated since Bush
first hinted he was considering a
policy change.
A reversal would mean good
news for General Dynamics,
which has lost about 10,000 jobs
since 1990. The Fort Worth divi
sion currently employs about
20,000 workers.
Defense workers aren't the
only Texans in line for good news
Wednesday.
While visiting a cotton gin near
Lubbock, Bush is expected to an
nounce federal disaster relief for
cotton producers whose crops
have been decimated by adverse
weather conditions.
Bush