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The Battalion
‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893”
Tuesday, November 17, 1992
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- Presi-
lent-elect Clinton and Democratic
ongressional leaders promised a
new era" of action on Monday,
nd said creating jobs and restor-
ng America's economic power
rould be their top priorities.
"I will be in a hurry," Clinton
aid at a joint news conference
ith Democratic lawmakers.
"Gridlock is over and coopera-
ion and teamwork have begun,"
aid House Majority Leader
tichard Gephardt.
Clinton declared an end to "the
hid War between the Congress
nd the White House" and
AS/The Batidm promised, "Pennsylvania Avenue
nil run both ways again."
"I can't say for sure which will
nd w 7 hat won't pass within 100
lays," he said. "I'll just work as
ard as I can and get as much
one as quickly as I can."
Clinton said during his first
beeting with congressional lead-
u cx cvxxuv.,, rs a11 hands agreed that "creating
ras devoted ti ^ raising incomes, getting our
is retained hi conomy moving again, and the
1989 wk )ng-term competitive strength of
roke from tli 16 American economy" was the
Jo. 1 objective.
Democratic leaders share his
ommitment, Clinton said, to
ealth care reform and bringing
1 a victory b own the deficit.
Those attending Sunday's ses-
ion included Gephardt, House
peaker Tom Foley and Senate
lajority Leader George Mitchell,
ice President-elect A1 Gore and
Hinton's wife, Hillary,
ake^presldei " 0ur dinner last night marks a
tew era of cooperation and action
first formi 1 our na hon's capital," Clinton
lists back ini J ’d-
is, but formi
n most of tl
two forme
have electa
munist Parti
A&M officials
ignore threats
SAE fraternity to remain active
By JULI PHILLIPS
||||t 1^5'
'Mim
mmm
Analysts:
bank rates
(Q
Chad Perkins, a freshman civil engineering
major from Boyd, scores a basket in a free
throw contest Monday at the Reebok Campus
BILLY MORAN/The Battalion
Tour America. The tour, sponsored by Reebok
and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, will be at
Rudder Fountain through Tuesday.
Reporter for THE BATTALION
Texas A&M University admin
istrators said the suggestion by a
state representative to disband the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for
the "jungle party"is not a true op
tion.
The original sanctions, which
included a monetary fine and a
multicultural education program,
have been producing the desired
results and will not be changed
despite the threats from Texas
State Representative Ron Wilson.
Vice President of Student Ser
vices Dr. John Koldus said that the
most misunderstood aspect of this
entire controversy is that even if
the University decided not to rec
ognize the fraternity and remove
them from campus, SAE could
still exist off campus.
"The fraternities and sororities
existed off campus for years be
fore the University recognized
them," Koldus said. "If the frater
nities and sororities moved off
campus, it would be up to some
nationalist to decide what to do
about them."
Kevin Carreathers, director of
Multicultural Services, said he ful
ly supports the sanctions handed-
down to the SAEs.
"Disbanding the fraternity
would have only sent the message
that the University does not ap
prove of the theme of the SAE
party," Carreathers said. "With
the sanctions set up the way they
are, the message that the Universi
ty does not approve of the actions
gets through, and the fraternity
will be educated to know why the
actions are not approved of."
Koldus said he agreed with
Carreathers and added that the
sanctions also maintain a good
and positive relationship between
the University and SAE which is
necessary and the fraternity to
function together.
The opinions expressed by Wil
son in a letter to Board of Regents
Chairman Ross Margraves has not
caused anyone to sway in support
of the SAE sanctions.
"With a decision like this one,
unless indicated by a superior,
you do not change your position
on the actions taken," Koldus
said. "I am comfortable with
what was done."
Student Body President Steve
Beller said Texas A&M minority
leaders he has been in contact
with said they were shocked to
read about the letter from Wilson
and have said they are comfort
able with the sanctions imposed
by the Judicial Board, the Office of
Student Services and the Presi
dent's Office,
Students are now contacting
ethnic groups around campus to
make sure mixer themes are not
offensive to anyone, Beller said.
"Everyone is in consensus,"
Beller said. "What has happened
because of (the Sigma Alpha Ep
silon incident) is multicultural
awareness has been increased and
that's all anyone ever wanted."
The letter by Wilson demanded
action from the Board of Regents
and the immediate expulsion of
SAE from the A&M campus. Wil
son further stated that if the ac
tions taken against SAE did not
meet the expectations of himself
and the other minority members
of the state legislature, they would
use their power to punish A&M.
Margraves and Wilson were
unavailable for comment by dead
line, but the Board of Regents of
fice indicated that Margraves had
been in contact with other Regents
although no formal actions have
been taken.
Policemen face
could rise U.S. relies on Vietnamese testimony murder charges
J /Vl h.i ^ PRESS *-v /-r <'•» (- , o -Li !-V* -*« 1 o /-»■»«■** t 7 ^ *-» sA
4
ogrard,
WASHINGTON - No quick
hanges in interest rates are ex
acted from the Federal Reserve,
>ut analysts said Monday the cen
tal bank may start pushing inter-
II est rates higher during President
elect Clinton's first year in office.
The Fed's top policy-making
jroup, the Federal Open Market
I Zommittee, meets behind closed
< 10 p3 sl ioors Tuesday. Until recently,
nts 31^ Mn y economists had been fore-
:asting that the central bank
ivould decide to push interest
rates down again in the face of
continued economic weakness.
The prevailing view now is that
barring any surprisingly weak
economic reports, the Fed has
made its last interest rate cut and
could very well start raising rates
by late spring.
Many analysts believed that
consumer and business rates will
show little movement over the
next six months.
Many analysts also suggested
that banks' prime lending rate
will remain at 6 percent probably
until mid-1993.
A Fed sitting on the sidelines
I • would be quite a change from the
activist stance the central bank has
taken over the past 3 years. It cut
interest rates 24 times as it strug
gled against a recession and lin
gering slowdown.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HANOI, Vietnam — War sto
ries of Vietnamese veterans who
fought the Americans could pro
vide important clues to help re
solve the fate of the 2,265 U.S. ser
vicemen missing and still unac
counted for in Indochina, Sen.
John Kerry said Monday.
Kerry, leading a team of three
senators from the Select Commit
tee on POW-MIA Affairs, asked
Vietnamese officials if Pentagon
researchers could attend the first
meeting of a veteran's association
to gather oral histories that might
shed light on the missing.
"That would be a very historic
beginning of a soldier-to-soldier
process of answering questions,"
said Kerry, who served a tour of
duty in 1968-69 as a navy officer
on a gunboat in the Mekong
Delta. "We are not looking for re
crimination. We are looking for
answers."
Vietnamese officials with the
group applauded the idea of col
lecting such oral histories, but
said they would have to consult
with other officials. Kerry and
Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., arid
Hank Brown, R-Colo., on Monday
began a three-day visit to Hanoi
with a promise from Deputy For
eign Minister Le Mai to get the
"clearest possible answers" to any
questions they raised.
Kerry said he carried a letter
from President Bush to the Hanoi
leadership.
Although he would not dis
close its contents, he said it was a
"sign of the importance of direct
contact to get this matter re
solved."
Catholics alter doctrine
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — The Roman Catholic Church took a
step Monday to bring doctrine into line with mod
ern life, unveiling a new catechism that maintains
bans on divorce and abortion but urges compassion
for homosexuals and condemns low wages as theft.
The first catechism of the Catholic Church in 426
years contains no new sins and absolves none of the
old ones. In a retrenchment of orthodox positions
bound to disappoint many of the world's 900 mil
lion Catholics, divorce and abortion remain forbid
den sins. The only contraception accepted by the
church is natural.
"We have simply tried to take up the command
ments again on how a Christian can conduct his life
today," said Jean Honore, bishop of Tours and the
catechism's French editor.
Woman priests are unacceptable. The catechism
describes homosexual acts as "intrinsically dis
solute, contrary to natural law," and instructs homo
sexuals to practice chastity. Since most homosexuals
do not willingly choose their lifestyle they "must be
welcomed with respect, compassion and delicacy,"
it says.
"One must avoid all unjust discrimination
against them."
The catechism spurred intense debate among the
3,000 bishops who submitted some 24,000 amend
ments to the six-year project. It is rooted in the Ten
Commandments.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — Two police offi
cers were charged Monday with
murder and one with manslaugh
ter in the beating death of a black
motorist, a case that drew paral
lels with the Rodney King con
frontation in Los Angeles.
A fourth officer was charged
with assault with intent to do
great bodily harm. Three other of
ficers who also had been suspend
ed after the Nov. 5 beating of Mal
ice Green were not charged.
Green, 35, died of head injuries
after being beaten on an inner-city
street near a suspected drug
house.
"I feel justice is done ... I think
they handled it very well," said
the victim's father, Jessie Green Jr.
"He's dead, and any charges
aren't going to bring him back. I
got to live on."
Three of the officers charged,
including the two charged with
murder, are white. The one
charged with manslaughter is
black. While the beating of an un
armed motorist drew parallels to
the videotaped beating of King
and the rioting that followed the
acquittal of officers in that case,
NAACP officials have said the De
troit case was different.
They credited quick action by
Police Chief Stanley Knox in sus
pending the officers allegedly in
volved. And Mayor Coleman
Young publicly denounced the
beating. Knox and Young are
black. Knox has said he did not
believe the beating was racially
motivated and Wayne County
Prosecutor John D. O'Hair said
Monday no racial epithets were
used during shouting that wit
nesses said was going on during
the beating.
"What was in their minds is
hard to tell," he said.
Fifty-eight percent of the 3,850-
member force is black in a city
that is 75 percent black.
Knox had suspended seven of
ficers Nov. 6, a day after Green's
death. O'Hair said there was not
enough evidence to charge the
three other officers. Those officers
remain on indefinite suspension,
police Sgt. Christopher Buck said
Monday.
"What is different in Detroit is
the leadership/'said Jack Gravely,
NAACP national director of spe
cial projects. "When we compare
what happened in Detroit with
what happened on the other coast,
it does make a difference. Without
it, this city probably would still be
burning at its walls today."
While the four officers were be
ing arraigned, about a dozen peo
ple demonstrated at the site of the
beating.
013
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ring
UPD seeks clues in computer theft investigation
By ROBIN GOODPASTER
Reporter of THE BATTALION
The University Police Depart
ment said it still has no leads in an
investigation into the theft of
$3,000 of computer equipment
stolen from Texas A&M's Agricul
tural Communications Office in
the Reed McDonald Building.
According to police reports, the
break-in occurred between 5 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.
The burglary was discovered
after Barry Jones, head of the agri
cultural communications depart
ment, came back to work on Sun
day.
The door was shut and locked
when Jones arrived.
"The best evidence that we
have so far is that the lock to room
229 was opened by a key or a
pick-artist," said Sgt. Jim Lind-
holm of the University Police De
partment.
Room 229 is the Agriculture
Communications Office in the
Reed McDonald Building.
Collectively, the stolen comput
ers were valued at $3,000, and the
stolen merchandise included three
Apple 80 megabyte SCSI hard dri
ves, four Hewlett-Packard post
script font cartridges and one
Hewlett-Packard 2 megabyte
memory upgrade for a Hewlett-
Packard Series III printer.
Lindholm said he doesn't know
why the computers were stolen.
"It may have been for several
reasons/' Lindholm said. "It
could be for personal reasons, or
for a computer chop shop in
which the computers are taken
apart and sold."
The burglars had to take the
computers apart to remove the
hard drives, said Lisa Guerrero, a
secretary in the Agricultural Com
munications Office. After the hard
drives were removed, the comput
ers were reassembled and
plugged back in after the hard dri
ves were taken out, she said.
Cindy Engelmann, staff assis
tant in the Agricultural Communi
cations Office, said the hard drives
in the Hewlett-Packard computers
were not touched.
"They just took the hard drives
out of the Macintoshes," Engel
mann said.
Sgt. Lindholm said that prints
were taken at the scene, but noth
ing viable has come from that.
"There are no suspects right
now," Lindholm said.
Anyone with any information
pertaining to the crime may con
tact Crime Stoppers at 775-TIPS.