12,1993
The Battalion
1)1,92 No. 79 (8 pages)
‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893”
Monday, January 25,1993
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Former Justice Thurgood Marshall dies
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Retired
;preme Court Justice Thurgood
arshall died Sunday of heart
jure. He was
: "It was
on) con-
nk it was
eve that
id I apol-
}-S.D„ a
a, said he
r ould di-
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ourt spokes
oman.
ag immi-
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: "You're
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uld vote
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arsha 11
at 2 p.m.
Bethesda
aval Hospi-
in the
ashington
iburbs, ac-
tding to
oni House,
Marshall
oman.
He had been in failing health
i the past several years and cit
ed this as the reason for his retire
ment from the court," House said,
reading a hospital statement.
He left the court in July 1991.
Funeral arrangements were
pending.
Marshall, the first black justice
of the Supreme Court, made his
mark as a champion of civil liber
ties for all.
Marshall was appointed to the
court on June 13, 1967, by Presi
dent Lyndon B. Johnson, climax
ing a career as a civil rights
lawyer, appeals court judge and
U.S. solicitor general.
He quickly found a philosophi
cal home with the court's liberal
activists under then-Chief Justice
Earl Warren. But the liberals be
came outnumbered and remained
outnumbered as the appointees of
Supreme Court's first black Justice
noted for achievements in civil rights
presidents Richard M. Nixon and
Ronald Reagan gave the court a
conservative cast.
A gregarious, quick-to-laugh
man before he was named to the
court, Marshall became consider
ably more solemn in public. His
natural optimism displayed as the
nation's most successful civil
rights lawyer appeared to fade.
Among some of the more im
portant decisions written by Mar
shall for the high court were those
saying that shopping center own
ers' rights to restrict demonstra
tions were limited; that a teacher
cannot be fired for speaking out
truthfully on public issues; that
possessing obscene material with
in the privacy of one's own home
cannot be made a crime.
By the early 1970s, he was
more often in the minority. In
1974, he dissented sharply from a
ruling invalidating a plan for bus
ing pupils across school district
lines to achieve racial integration.
He called the ruling a "giant
steo backward" from the court's
1954 decision striking down
school segregation, which he had
won as a lawyer for the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
He was again in the minority in
1986 when the court voted 6-3 to
permit Norfolk, Va., to end the
crosstown busing of elementary
school students to achieve racial
segregation.
One of his sharpest dissents
came in 1977 when the court ruled
that states were under no legal
obligation to pay for "non-thera-
peutic" abortions for women on
welfare.
"I am appalled at the ethical
bankruptcy of those who preach a
right to life that means, under pre
sent social policies, a bare exis
tence in utter misery for so many
poor women and their children,"
he said.
He again dissented in 1980
when the court ruled that Con
gress could severely restrict Med
icaid spending for most abortions
sought by poor women.
In a 5-4 decision in 1972 which
struck down capital punishment
laws then on the books, Marshall
was one of two justices who went
all the way and declared that the
death penalty was unconstitution
al under any circumstances.
The court reinstated capital
punishment in 1976 and Marshall
often spoke in opposition. In a
1984 speech at the New York Uni
versity law school, he said the
death penalty was being imposed
with "startling unfairness."
"The most glaring of the in
equities in the administration of
the death penalty concerns the
race of victims and defendants,"
See Marshall/Page 4
steward-
Lott said.
Lott said.
; . . . and
?d Thurs-
is agricul-
o Mayor
ising and
ity execu-
•y; former
as educa-
Veterans
ffairs sec-
Federico
jency, in-
?e deputy
lice Rivlin
f Manage-
-mer Clin-
ntor to be
JEN LOCKARD/Thc Battalion
Chinese Student Association President Tai-
Fang Wu (left), Yao-Hsien Tsai (right), Chung-
Yuan Lu (back left) and Eddie Chang
participate in the Lion Dance as part of the
Chinese Lunar New Year held Saturday in the
MSC. The students commemorated The Year of
the Rooster, 1993, celebration with a Chinese
food buffet and cultural events.
N.C., and
■ recorded
lion. Sen.
o vote no
Conference delivers advice
By KEVIN LIND STROM
The Battalion
aq
Faculty recalls Stark’s deeds
Former MSC director remembered for accomplishments
By CHERYL HELLER
President
ie Senate
on's Cabi-
other top
Those who worked closely
with J. Wayne Stark said he did
more for students than perhaps
my other fac-
positions
confusion
i searched
directions
operation,
about re-
ress offices
i in previ-
quickly to
osexuals in
dd. An ex-
d within a
act Friday
ixpanding
his signa-
ictions on
ederally fi-
the ban on
fetal tissue
LL
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M. 2/22
:XA5
PM
The Battalion
ulty or staff
member in
the history of
Texas A&M
University.
Stark, who
served 33
fears as MSC
director, died
|an. 18 in
Bryan at the
of 77. He
came to Texas
A&M in 1947 to oversee the con
struction of the MSC. •
Stark
"I considered him a valued
counsel, adviser and friend,"
President William Mobley said.
"He is not replaceable, and A&M
was fortunate to have him for so
long. His legacy will be long-last
ing."
Stark retired as MSC director
in 1980, but he continued to serve
the University as special assistant
to President Mobley for develop
ment of cultural programs.
Jim Reynolds, current MSC di
rector, said Stark had great fore
sight for what students could gain
from the University.
"Over the years, he had some
unique visions about what Texas
A&M students needed, and
would take advantage of, if op
portunities were offered to them,"
Reynolds said. "His vision of the
Memorial Student Center worked
out absolutely on target."
Stark had a tremendous inter
est in international travel, said
MSC Administrative Assistant
Jane Bailey.
"He always devoted a lot of
time to students, encouraging
them to travel and learn about
other cultures," Bailey said. "He
arranged jobs and internships
overseas so that they could learn
about the world firsthand."
In 1959 Stark became the Texas
A&M sponsor for Experiment in
International Living, which along
with related programs, has en
abled approximately 400 Aggies
to travel overseas to live and
work.
Stark, a retired lieutenant
See Stark/Page 4
Young African-American lead
ers need to remember that they
owe the advantages they now en
joy in education to the African-
American leaders who went be
fore them, said artist and poet
Nikki Giovanni at the Fifth Annu
al Southwest Black Leadership
Conference at Texas A&M Uni
versity Friday night.
"I would be remiss not to re
mind you that we have fought
hard to get you here," said Gio
vanni, an English professor at Vir
ginia State University. "You must
fight hard to get out."
Joseph Gourrier, president of
the student chapter of the
NAACP, agreed.
"We need to use all of the re
sources available to us," Gourrier
said. "That is how everyone func
tions, no matter their back
ground."
Dr. Marilyn Kern-Foxworth,
A&M professor of journalism, re
members her difficulties when she
attended college.
"I had so many different emo
tions," Kern-Foxworth said. "To
day's students don't have to see
the 'colored only' signs."
Giovanni said, "Some of us,
who are too old to do anything
else but hope for you, are working
very hard to open doors for you.
If someone can help you, accept it
graciously." Independent film
maker Spike Lee has abused these
advantages by misrepresenting
African-American women and
civil rights leader Malcolm X in
his movies, Giovanni said.
"Spike has held black women
in the lowest possible evidence,"
she said. "It couldn't have been
an accident that the only scene in
the whole damn movie [Malcolm
X] that showed a black woman
doing anything, she was picked
up by a white man and went
down the corner.
"I thought what Spike did to
Malcolm was despicable and dis
graceful," Giovanni said. "If you
want to show what affected Mal
colm X, show something real.
"Spike Lee does not have an
historical sense, he has a pop
sense," she said.
Kern-Foxworth, who will be
moderating a forum with Lee dur
ing Texas A&M's Texas Film Fes-
Nikki Giovanni speaks at the
Fifth Annual Southwest Black
Leadership Conference.
tival on Feb. 24, said there are go
ing to be artistic differences.
"I don't think you can please
everyone," Kern-Foxworth said.
"She is an artist, and she offers a
different perspective. She didn't
mention any of the positive por
trayals of women in Spike's films
such as Dr. Betty Shabazz, Mal
colm's widow. I think it is a case
of looking at a glass as half empty
or half full."
Giovanni, making a special
plea to African-American males,
said that college is better than the
other options available to them.
"It beats prison," Giovanni said.
"It beats jail. It beats you running
around saying to yourself, 'I'm
bad,' and knowing inside that you
are not maximizing your potential
or your possibilities."
France B. Brown, Jr., a work
shop instructor for the conference
and former A&M student, said
Giovanni's comments were insult
ing to him as an African-Ameri
can male. He said Giovanni im
plied that every African-Ameri
can male not in college would
commit crimes.
"The sweeping indictments she
made were uncalled for," Brown
said. "And they were unbecom
ing of Nikki Giovanni."
Speaker urges blacks
to promote equality
By JEFF GOSMANO
The Battalion
If African-Americaii stu
dents take an active leadership
role, they can promote equali
ty in the future. Dr. Patricia
Russell-McCloud said Satur
day at the Southwestern Black
Student Leadership Confer
ence banquet in Duncan Din
ing Hall.
Russell-McCloud, an attor
ney and professional motiva
tional speaker, said African-
Americans need people who
will encourage change and not
simply wait for others to react
to racial injustices.
"We don't need too many
more thermometers," she said.
Dr. Patricia Russell-McCloud
speaks on leadership at the
conference last Friday.
We don't need people to just
register the situation. We need leaders who are going to be ther
mostats who will affect the change."
The African-American leaders must be confident in them
selves and the changes they strive to make, she said.
"We will need a leadership that will not be restrained or har
nessed by self-doubt," she said.
See Speaker/Page 4
Rally for Life draws crowd of 60
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). 2/1 0
:ice
PM
t side of
By CYNTHIA TREVIZO
The Battalion
DARRIN HILL/The Battalion
Dr. Haywood J. Robinson discusses pro-life issues before a
crowd of about 20 people at Rudder Fountain on Friday.
Aggies for Life protested the
20th anniversary of Roe v. Wade,
the Supreme Court decision that
legalized abortion, by informing
students of abortion alternatives
Friday at the Rally for Life.
"After 20 years of legalized
abortion, I think, and I want you
to remember, that a whole part
of a generation has been de
stroyed," said Diane Sarver from
Brazos Valley Life and Family
Advocates. "Never to love, never
to laugh and never to experience
life."
Sarver said society "offers
failure, suicide and self-destruc
tion" and stressed that the crowd
of 60 people by Rudder Fountain
were "survivors" of abortions
which never occurred.
The rally began with the
singing of Whitney Houston's
"Miracle" by Shawn Sharp and
highlighted speakers who gave
personal testimonies.
"For the next five years I car
ried that guilt with me," said
Martha Curtis who had an abor
tion.
She said her pain was eased
when she gave her life to Christ
and was "called" to establish
Heritage House, a women's
Christian maternity home in the
Bryan-College Station area.
Dr. Haywood Robinson,
board chairman for the Brazos
Valley Crisis Pregnancy Service
(BVCPS), was also directly in
volved in the abortion issue until
See Rally/Page 4
Aspin plans for 'revolt'
Secretary readies to fight military ban
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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Les Aspin said Sunday he
wants to head off a potential "revolt” in Congress and among the Joint
Chiefs of Staff over President Clinton's plan to lift the ban on homosex
uals in the military.
As Clinton prepared for a meeting Monday with
the joint chiefs of the armed services, Aspin said
"they and the military . . . have to understand that
the president is deeply committed to . . . end dis
crimination against homosexuals in the military."
"My argument to the military is sooner or later,
the courts are going to come at you on this issue,"
Aspin said on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation."
"You can object and stonewall . . . but one of
these days we're going to have, like it happened in
Canada, where the court suddenly comes in and
says, 'You have to — that this is unconstitutional, ,,,
Aspin added.
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Clinton should give the defense secretary six months to draft an ex
ecutive order lifting the ban, according to a Jan. 18 draft of a memo
from Aspin to the president.
That time lag would "avoid an immediate debate in the Congress —
a debate that is likely to be against this position," states the memo.