Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1992)
-mberlj Welci The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 66 (10 pages) Serving Texas A&M Since 1893” Wednesday, December 2, 1992 Wilson forum angers gay community Quanell X By GARY P. CARROLL City Editor of THE BATTALION Rep. Ron Wilson's forum at Texas A&M University Monday night struck a sensitive chord with A&M's gay and lesbian com munity, according to a letter delivered to The Battalion on Tuesday. Gay and lesbian leaders at A&M were upset by a statement of Mr. Quanell X, na tional spokesman for Rap a Lot Records, in which he insinuated that homosexuality was wrong. "We have a society today that teaches us that homosexuality is okay," X said, "and not to make a mockery of anyone who's a homosexual — but you're sick." Dr. Larry Hickman, professor of philoso phy and faculty advise'r of the Gay and Lesbian Student Services (GLSS) at A&M, said he had one word for X's remarks — "homophobic." "His remarks were blatantly homopho bic," Hickman said. Both Wilson and X had ample opportu nities to explain themselves, said Dr. Jim Mazzullo, GLSS faculty adviser and associ ate professor of geology. "He had the opportunity to repudiate the statement twice," Mazzullo said. "But he side-stepped the issue both times." Hickman, along with other A&M profes sors, wrote Wilson a letter that stated, ". . . we were deeply pained by Mr. X's re marks, which were a gratuitous insult to our community, and doubly hurt by your failure as a leader and role model for African-Americans to refute his remarks." Mazzullo said Wilson's refusal to re spond to two questions regarding X's com ments was a "sin of omission." "1 hope this is a simple mistake and that it will be quickly rectified so we can build toward a unified campus where everyone is welcome," Mazzullo said. The letter, signed by Mazzullo, Henriet ta Andreadis (associate professor of English and GLSS faculty adviser), and Hickman, called for Wilson to apologize for failing to clarify his position on homosexuality, and creating a rift between African-American students and members of the GLSS. The letter stated, "You came to our cam pus to fight the vicious disease of racism, and you had the strong support of the gay and lesbian community in this fight. How ever, you left behind the germs of the equally-vicious disease of homophobia . . ." Brian Walker, speaker of the Student Senate, said X's comments about homosex- See Wilson/Page 10 "You came to our campus to fight the vicious disease of racism, and you had the strong support of the gay and lesbian community in this fight. However, you left behind the germs of the equally-vicious disease of homophobia..." -from a letter sent in response to statements made by Quanell X Monday night 3 Northside dorms could become co-ed ietyair venOtit lusM DWat 1/pMCIS ;o. cftl no. srs off SCOl By TANYA SASSER Staff Writer of THE BA TTAUON Fowler, Keathley and Hughes Halls may be converted to co-ed dorms by Fall 1993 if members of the Residence Hall Association approve a proposal Wednesday aight, said the assistant director of Student Affairs/Residence Life. Tom Murray said the Universi ty has been looking all year for a dorm that is willing to convert to :o-ed. Surveys were conducted in the three halls and the results were favorable, he said. "Eighty percent of the residents were interested in going co-ed," he said. "That really says a lot. The key ingredient in any propos al is if the residents want it." Krueger, Aston and Dunn Halls were considered for the conver sion earlier this semester, but the residents of those halls preferred that the halls not be converted to :o-ed, Murray said. Greg Mead, resident director of Fowler Hall, wrote the proposal that will be voted on during Wednesday night's RHA meeting. "Our hall council was interest- ad in turning co-ed because Fowler just turned from a female hall to a male hall last year," he said. "We thought this might be the best time to try to go co-ed." Mead said that since all three of the halls are connected, it is diffi- :ult to enforce the visitation poli- :y. He said this is another reason that it might be beneficial for these halls to convert to co-ed. Mead said there are three differ- nt housing options outlined in :heproposal. The dorms might be o-ed by floor, suite or section, he said. If any of the three halls were converted to co-ed by floor, there ClJt' l §vould be two all-male floors and wo all-female floors. If it was co- d by suite, males and females night live next door to each other, )ut would not share bathrooms. If it was co-ed by section, one side of the dorm would be all-male and the other side would be all-fe male, he said. "The different needs of the stu dents need to be taken into con sideration," Mead said. "This proposal provides the unique op portunity to try out different liv ing situations." Murray said that if the proposal is approved by the RHA Wednes day night, the final decision will be left up to the Department of Student Activities. "Depending on the RHA's rec ommendation, Student Activities will consider the proposal," he said. "Final approval is up to Dr. Koldus." Murray said he hopes the final decision will be made this Decem ber. "We hope to move fairly quick ly on this," he said. "Contract re newal is coming up in March and we need to let the residents know what's going on by then." Mead said it is important that the decision is made this semester so the residents know what to ex pect. "Some people will be upset be cause they will be losing their rooms, he said. "I hope the option will be given to the students that already live here to stay in the rooms that they are in now." Mead said the housing office might be reluctant to have bal cony style dorms converted to co ed. "We have met some resistance," he said. "I think the housing of fice thinks it may be hard to get people to live in balcony dorms, but a lot of the students I've talked to disagree." Mead said that, as of a few weeks ago, there were eight re quests for every one space of co ed housing available on campus. "There is a definite need for co ed housing space on campus," he said. Tamara Malloy, an agricultural economics major, camps outside G. Rollie White Coliseum for Cotton Bowl tickets. She has been outside the coliseum sale today. ROBERT /. REED/The Battalion since 2 p.m. Tuesday. The tickets go on Sources show N. Korea hiding building THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has sought to camouflage a building under con struction near a mountainside nuclear com plex, intelligence sources said Tuesday. One source said the concealed site could be a weapons-grade plutonium plant. The Western and South Korean sources told The Associated Press that new U.S. satellite photographs show recent construction outside* the Yongbyon nuclear plant. South Korean and Western officials believe the hard-line Communist regime is trying to conceal an atomic bomb program at Yongbyon, despite denials by North Korean leaders and a partial opening this year to international in spectors. Satellite photos show a side road into the new site off a main road into Yongbyon has been blocked. Trees have been planted at the turnoff to obscure it, the sources said. One South Korean source said a dome shaped structure at the site was suspected of housing a reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The new construction had been detected by the time the International Atomic Energy Agency made an inspection of the Yongbyon plant in November, but the agency's inspectors were not yet aware of it and were not shown the site, the sources said. In Vienna, Atomic Energy Agency spokesman David Kyd said the agency had heard "nothing at all" about new construction at Yongbyon. The remote Yongbyon complex, with more than 100 buildings, lies 60 miles north of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. The intelligence sources said the significance of the new construction lies in its proximity to suspicious nuclear facilities and in "irrefutable evidence" that North Korea kept the construc tion secret even after pledging openness about a nuclear program it claims is peaceful. \ttack on plane suspends humanitarian aid U.S. halts relief flights to Bosnia THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The hu- anitarian airlift to Bosnia was suspended uesday after small-arms fire struck part of the leering system of a U.S. Air Force transport TLayf 'lane on its landing approach to Sarajevo. Ul|i3 Bosnia's president urged "decisive stands" y Islamic states to aid his country. I The C-130 Hercules that was shot in the rud er while approaching the Bosnian capital was to land safely, unload its relief supplies nd return to Zagreb, Croatia, said Peter pC(I lessler, a spokesman for the U.N. High Com missioner for Refugees. Kessler said the airlift to the Bosnian capital ^as likely to remain suspended at least hrough Wednesday while U.N. liaison officers nvestigate the source of the shooting. Twenty flights carrying food, medicine and ther relief supplies were scheduled to land [uesday in Sarajevo, but only 10 arrived before ie airlift was suspended. Earlier, Bosnia's army command had ac- sed the Serbs of shelling the airport runway vemight "with the intention of destroying the u radar system and thus stopping the humani tarian flights." More than 17,000 people have been killed in the fighting, the Bosnian Health Ministry re ported Monday. Bosnia's Muslim President, Alija Izetbegov- ic, appealed for Islamic solidarity and action at "International resolutions have remained empty words and the time has come for decisive stands." - Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia's Muslim President a conference of the 47-member Organization of Islamic Conference in Saudi Arabia. "International resolutions have remained empty words and the time has come for deci sive stands," Izetbegovic told foreign ministers injiddah. Saudi Arabia's King Fahd called for an end to a U.N. arms embargo on Bosnia that has crippled Sarajevo's defenders. The Bosnian army commander said in a newspaper interview that his forces were "preparing intensively" for an offensive to break the Serbian siege on Sarajevo, site of the 1984 Winter Games. In an interview in Monday's edition of the Oslobodjenje newspaper, Bosnian army chief Gen. Mustafa Hajrulahovic said his forces lacked materiel but were "now capable of some offensive movement." He refused to say when the offensive would be launched, but that it would be "a battle of many days in which nothing can be left to chance." Oslobodjenje has had to drastically reduce production. It is often difficult to obtain copies on the day of issue due to popular demand and distribution problems. Parts of Sarajevo came under heavy Shelling, Bosnian radio reported. It said Serb artillery was continuing "a bloody orgy of destruction." Rescuers search West Texas for plane crew THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VALENTINE - Military and civilian rescue workers searched a West Texas mountainside Tuesday looking for survivors of a crash of an unarmed B-1B bomber on a low-level night time training flight. Although early reports sug gested at least one of the four- person crew may have survived, officials at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene would say only that they had received no such word. The crash is the fourth of the star-crossed B-1B, which has been criticized for its $2S0 mil lion pricetag. The fleet has been grounded several times, the last coming this summer, since going into service in 1986. There have been problems with radar sys tems, engine malfunctions and deicing. Some defense experts said Monday's crash may raise again the question of whether the Beet should be grounded permanent ly- The plane crashed into a small ridge between 6,185-foot Capote and Needle peaks in a rugged area of the Sierra Vieja Moun- tains. □ See related stories/Page 4 Helicopters and other military aircraft circled the site Tuesday while soldiers and law enforce ment officials searched on the ground. Rescue and disaster teams were sent from Dyess and Fort Bliss in El Paso. The search was suspended for the night at sundown because of darkness and high winds in the area, officials said.