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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
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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