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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1992)
ber 19, ]()(,' The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 60 (10 pages) ‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’ Friday, November 20, 1992 Student leaders hold forum PITS allegations center of attention in discussion By JULIE CHELKOWSKI Reporter for THE BATTALION Student Body President Steve Beller and other student leaders met Thursday night to discuss problems around campus at a presi dential forum. Much of the discussion focused on allega tions made against A&M's Parking Transit and Traffic Services for allegedly charging the Beller miscommunication of the facts.' wrong people for tickets. The parking situation is not as bad as some students might think, one student senator said. The facts (as reported in The Battalion) were miscon strued and incomplete. Stu dent Senator Jeff Erler said. "That's why there's been such a big publicity push lately," Erler said. "Basical ly that whole story was a Erler said parking at A&M is actually better than at most schools around the country with 23,000 parking spaces — more than any uni versity in the United States. With all of the negative publicity some peo ple don't recognize the positive efforts PITS is making to safeguard students and faculty, he said. PITS tries to cross-check information before sending tickets to an individual and parking officials are making more of an effort to find the owner of an illegally parked vehicle before See Forum/Page 6 lllLl/Ththttii nities Schod ts work n pro vernal ied to and if, the? vans said, students, pate ini lid student > another It growth, year of tk n Bryai District am tract w /aluationaj fhe Outdoi so offers businesses. ; entitled /: A Grou; ,ng Global ,ay, Lesbia idents o ussion shops mo e people meet to ?s said, diversity nportant, ie definitioi pie buy ill relate is why on into. thesi elevant nt to >se themei -'ting the Rud® e speecte >n, deano! s at Norik ity and Tr ' the Afro-j studie' i versify RANDYNICHOLS/The Battalion Chris Wright, a phlebotomist working for the Wadley Blood Center, starts to draw blood from Brian Smith, a sophomore microbiology major from Houston, Thursday afternoon. The blood drive will continue through Friday at 4 p.m. with donation centers at Sbisa, the Commons and the MSC. Donations for the blood drive are currently lower than usual. Stroke kills president's mother THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GREENWICH, Conn. Dorothy Bush, a senator's wife who taught her son George with "generous measures of both love and discipline" and lived to see him elected to the White House, died Thursday, the White House said. She was 91. Mrs. Bush, who had suffered a stroke, died shortly after 5 p.m. at the family home here, said spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. President Bush had flown here from Washington on Thursday morning but was back in the Capitol when his mother died. After her son was elected in 1988, Mrs. Bush said: "I've been ready to have him be president, since he chose to work for it, but I pray to God for him because it's the toughest job in the world." President Bush said his mother and father, the late Sen. Prescott Bush, were the most important people in his life. His 1987 autobi ography, "Looking Forward," is dedicated to both parents. "They believed in an old-fash ioned way of bring up the family — generous measures of both love and discipline," he wrote. "Dad taught about us about duty and service," Bush wrote. "Mother taught tis about dealing with life on a personal basis, relat ing to other people." Fitzwater said private funeral services for Mrs. Bush will be held Monday morning in Greenwich. The president will attend. A&M changes Elephant Walk University tries to clean up tradition By CHERYL HELLER Reporter of THE BATTALION The Texas A&M University Classes of '93 and '94 are com bining their efforts to keep this year's Elephant Walk under control. In recent years. Elephant Walk has caused damage to stu dent proper ty, led to fighting be tween stu dents, and left garbage and debris in its wake. Class members from the Classes of'93 and '94 are working to preserve the tradi tion of Elephant Walk, which has deteriorated in recent years from a special tradition for se niors to a food fight and brawl for juniors and underclassmen. In an effort to restore solem nity to the tradition, the junior class has been planning activi ties to keep juniors occupied during Elephant Walk on Mon day. "We're going to have a yell practice at bonfire site, with the two junior yell leaders, Mark Rollins and Steve Scanlon, lead ing from stack," said Chad King, president of the Class of '94. "We'll also give the juniors a chance to have their picture taken with the elephants." From the bonfire site, the juniors will head to Kyle Field and form a human '94 on the field. "Our main pur pose is to keep Ele phant Walk clean while at the same time preserving class unity," King said. The juniors have been work ing closely with the seniors to get Elephant Walk back to the solemn tradition it used to be, said Elizabeth Burns, service chair for the Class of '94. See Walk/Page 6 "Our main purpose is to keep Elephant Walk clean while at the same time preserving class unity." - Chad King, president. Class of '94 U.N. to halt shipments to Liberian insurgents THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS - The Se curity Council on Thursday au thorized the use of force to cut off shipments of military supplies to rebel fighters in the war-ravaged West African nation of Liberia. In a unanimous vote, the 15- member council approved an em bargo under the same U.N. provi sions used to punish Yugoslavia and Iraq. The purpose of the mea sure is to bolster efforts by a sev en-nation West African force to defeat guerrilla leader Charles Taylor. Tens of thousands of people have been killed or have starved to death in Liberia since Taylor in vaded from Ivory Coast in De cember 1989. The resolution calls for all bel ligerents in Liberia to observe a cease-fire and honor a peace process leading to disarmament and free elections for a new gov ernment. The resolution is the first major U.N. effort to promote peacekeep ing by a regional organization. The U.N. system has been over taxed by huge commitments to peacekeeping in Cambodia and former Yugoslavia, and is seeking ways to shift some of the burden. Western governments fear being drawn into the Liberian conflict. UH researchers praise Malcolm X film 'X' may have powerful effect THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HOUSTON — The movie "Malcolm X" may have a powerful effect on black Americans' attitudes to ward government and political activism, two Uni versity of Houston researchers say. Political science professor Christian Davenport and doctoral candidate Darren Davis are conducting a survey on the film's impact. They hypothesize that blacks who are exposed to Malcolm X's philosophies through the movie will become more politically aware, Davis said Wednesday. "I think the movie has a great potential to increase the self-esteem among African-Americans, increase racial solidarity and racial consciousness. And I think on a broader level, the movie will also start very significant discussions about democratic princi ples, basic underlying principles upon which the United States was founded," Davis said. "I think people will trust government less, they will become more cynical about government and what government can do for them," he said. "I also Denzel Washington as Malcolm X feel that African- Americans will feel they have a greater stake in the political sys tem and it is within their power to impact change." Director Spike Lee's film, which opened Wednes day at 1,200 the aters nation wide, is based on "The Autobi ography of Mal colm X" by Alex Haley. It follows Malcolm X's evolution from a drug abuser, petty thief and convict into a disciple of the See Malcolm/Page 6 EDA Cartoon, letter upset lawmaker THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN — A lawmaker said Thursday he got a threatening let ter and was the object of a racist cartoon in the Texas A&M Univer sity student newspaper after urg ing strong action against a frater nity whose pledges wore black face at a party. Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, who is black, gave reporters copies of a cartoon that ran in The Battalion portraying him as a small, black, yapping dog. Atlantis Tillman, editor-in-chief of The Battalion, said the cartoon wasn't intended to be racist. After what she described as a "friendly" meeting with Texas A&M Presi dent William Mobley, she said the newspaper would invite Wilson to express his views on the editorial page. Mobley called the cartoon "in appropriate and subject to misin terpretation" in a memo to Till man. "To imply that a state represen tative does not have the right and responsibility to comment on any activity on a public university campus is totally misguided," he said. At a Capitol news conference, Wilson also distributed copies of a letter addressed to him that was signed only, "Your friends at Texas A&M." The letter, which he said he re ceived in the mail with a copy of the cartoon, said in part, "As this cartoon . . . demonstrates, you are nothing but a little black dog yelp ing at our heels. If you want a war, we'll give you one that you won't believe." Wilson said he considered the letter a threat. He said he would give a copy to the Texas A&M po lice in Bryan-College Station, and likely to the FBI and Texas Depart ment of Public Safety. He said he also has asked Speaker Gib Lewis for permission to address the House on the issue Monday. Such personal privilege speeches are rare, and Wilson said he's never requested one before in his 15 years in the House. "This is very disturbing to me," Wilson said. Wilson said he wouldn't have wanted the cartoon censored, but that he considered it a racial slur condoning what happened at the fraternity party. Pledges at the Oct. 3 "jungle" theme party conducted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon wore blackface paint and grass skirts. They were chased by fraternity members in hunting garb. The fraternity presi dent has apologized and said members "did not intend to have a racially motivated party." Tillman said the cartoon accom panied a newspaper editorial sup porting the way the university handled the incident. She said the newspaper did not support the 'jungle' theme party. University officials approved sanctions including $1,000 in fines and disciplinary probation for the fraternity, along with a ban on so cial events by the fraternity with sororities in 1993. The fine money will be used to create an educa tional seminar on cultural sensi See Wilson/Page 6 You Won’t Want To Miss It Pick one up Saturday, November 21