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Vol. 92 No. 1J5 (10 pages)
The Battalion
1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M - 1993
Tuesday, March 23,1993
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Next year's commander stresses non-Corps involvement
' RICHARD DIXON/The Battalion
Mark Haraway will be the 1993-94 Corps Commander
By JEFF GOSMANO
The Battalion
At the end of every spring se
mester, during the Corps of
Cadets Final Review, the current
Corps commander turns the posi
tion over to a new commander.
Will Haraway, a junior from
Harlingen, will replace this year's
commander. Matt Michaels.
Within the past few years, the
Corps has been received negative
ly by many students and Universi
ty organizations, Haraway said.
The Corps can improve its percep
tion by becoming involved in or
ganizations independent of the
Corps, he said.
"Those who don't know us or
our systems, may have foggy per
ceptions of what we stand for," he
said. "If cadets get involved with
the University, we can better our
University relations."
He said the Corps perception
would greatly improve if "cadets
would get off the Quad and join
other student organizations."
Maj. Jake Betty said the Com
mandant's office felt Haraway
was the best candidate based on
previous performance and the di
rection he wants to take the Corps.
"Haraway will be a positive in
fluence," he said. "He's got a real
good head on his shoulders and
will do a good job handling vari
ous incidents."
Candidates for Corps comman
der are nominated by officers of
the Corps Commandant's staff
and other cadets. The Comman
dant's office interviews and rec
ommends a candidate to Universi
ty President Dr. William H. Mob
ley, and he makes the final deci
sion.
Matt Michaels, the current
Corps commander, said Haraway
was selected because he will "look
out for and provide leadership to
people in the Corps."
In the upcoming year, Har
away will face many challenges
not encountered in the past in
cluding assimilating gays into the
Corps and increasing female and
overall enrollment.
Because the Corps contains
ROTC detachments, it must abide
by President Clinton's plan to lift
the ban on gays in the military.
Haraway will be the first Corps
commander to deal with the con
troversial issue.
Michaels said regardless of per
sonal opinion, Clinton's decision
to lift the ban must be recognized.
"It's an order from higher up,"
he said. "It doesn't matter what
Will or other cadets think about
the policy. Those are our march
ing orders."
Haraway said he will educate
the Corps about the new situation.
He said cadets must be aware of
the consequences of inappropriate
actions directed towards homo
sexuals.
"However unpopular the deci
sion may be, we will do what the
commander in chief says," he
said. "Although many people are
adamantly opposed to gays in the
military, if a cadet decides to at
tack a homosexual cadet, that's as
sault."
Homosexual cadets will also be
carefully watched and scrutinized
for inappropriate actions, he said.
"We must also address those
homosexuals that will join the
Corps, they will be upheld to
strict behavioral standards," he
said.
To combat decreasing cadet en
rollment, Betty said, Haraway has
bold, new ideas for Corps recruit
ment.
"Currently, only certain cadets
recruit," he said. "Will wants to
get every cadet involved in the re
cruiting process."
However, Haraway may have
difficulty increasing cadet enroll
ment because of President Clin
ton's proposed military cuts. The
See Commander/Page 2
Former Prime Minister Thatcher
to discuss European unity at A&M
By JEFF GOSMANO
The Battalion
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
will discuss the effects of a unified Europe on the
United States, Great Britain and other countries dur
ing her first visit to Texas A&M Friday in Rudder
Auditorium.
Thatcher's appearance is spon
sored by the MSC Wiley Lecture
Series in a program entitled "An
evening with Margaret Thatcher:
A discussion of the future of Eco
nomic Communities in the emerg
ing global economy."
Because this year marks the
10th anniversary of the lecture se
ries, Wiley's traditional round
table format was discarded and
replaced with a single keynote
speaker. Similar to previous presentations, Wiley
members pursued a well-known speaker that would
attract a large audience, said Anissa Plotkin, director
of special projects for the Wiley Lecture Series.
Thatcher
Plotkin said since discussion subjects are chosen
nearly one year in advance "the Wiley committee
looks for topics or current events that are on the hori
zon but not really in the news."
Past discussion panelists have included former
Presidents Ford and Carter, former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger and Sam Donaldson of ABC News.
"We wanted a big name like a past president,"
Plotkin said. "We came up with Thatcher because
she is a dynamic speaker and would be comfortable
here because its a conservative school."
Katherine Mitchell, chair of the Wiley Lecture Se
ries, said Thatcher was selected because "there are
very few who are more qualified and who have such
distinct opinions" on the European communities.
Mitchell said most people will attend to see
Thatcher because she is a high profile leader in the
international community.
"This is a chance to see the history books coming
to life," she said. "That's part of the star-struck
draw. Others are particularly interested in foreign
See Thatcher/Page 4
Officer remains in critical condition
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — A police officer
shot while substituting for a sick
co-worker remained in very criti
cal condition Monday with a bul
let pressed against his brain.
The condition of Dan Vaughan,
36, has remained unchanged since
he was shot twice in the head Sat
urday, Ben Taub Hospital spokes
woman Beth Branley said Mon
day.
Meanwhile, Vaughan's sus
pected attacker, 22-year-old
Gilbert Earl Smith, appeared in
court Monday on an unrelated
murder charge — the Friday slay
ing of a college student shot while
working for his brother's bail
bond agency.
Smith, a Texas Southern Uni
versity freshman is accused in the
murder of Steve Lee Meyer, 26, a
junior at Indiana State University.
Meyer was home in Houston to
earn money during spring break.
Smith's appeared in court, but
his hearing was rescheduled for
Tuesday morning after he refused
to accept a court appointed attor
ney. The math major insisted on
his own private attorney.
Police have no motive in either
shooting.
"He (the suspect) has never re
ally made it clear to us why he did
it. He did say that he didn't know
the officer," said homicide detec
tive Larry Hoffmaster.
In the Saturday shooting. Smith
was charged with three counts of
attempted capital murder of a po
lice officer.
One count was for Vaughan's
shooting. The remaining two
counts were for pointing a gun at
two other officers. Bond on all
counts carried a $750,000 bond.
Police said a man walked into
the substation, calmly asked to see
a supervisor and then shot
Vaughan with a gun he pulled
from a backpack. He fled the sta
tion, but was arrested a few min
utes later.
Heavy rain floods Bryan
DARRIN HILL/I'he Battalion
Santos Martinez, of Bryan, watches as the rain firewood company he works for. "1 don’t know
floods the driveway of a warehouse in Bryan on what to think about all this mess. There sure is a
Monday. The rain later flooded the offices of the lot of water in here," Martinez said.
Computer halts NASA shuttle launch
Law officers stand guard
at hearing on sex classes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.-
Two main engines ignited and
space shuttle Columbia was en
gulfed by the familiar white cloud
signaling a launch. Then, with just
three seconds to go, the engines
shut down.
Officials in the launch control
room gasped. Television viewers
felt a ripple of alarm.
NASA says the seven astro
nauts aboard the German-spon
sored laboratory research mission
were never in any danger when
computers aborted the launch
Monday.
Inside the shuttle, commander
Steven Nagel knew what had hap
pened because of the red lights
that came on in the cockpit.
Nagel told his crew: "Every
thing's OK, just sit tight."
He later told reporters: "There
weren't many moments of worry.
It's mostly just disappointment."
The launch was delayed for at
least three more weeks.
It was only the third time in
shuttle history that engines shut
down on the launch pad.
After two of Columbia's three
main engines ignited in the final
61/2 seconds of the countdown
for the scheduled 9:51 a.m.
launch, a valve in the^ third one
apparently failed to close, said
shuttle projects manager Alex Mc-
Cool.
That built pressure in a line
that is supposed to purge mois
ture and other waste from the en
gine, so the engine didn't ignite
properly, McCool said. It did bum
for 11/2 seconds but never came
close to full thrust.
On-board computers automat
ically shut down all three engines,
one by one.
The five Americans and two
Germans emerged from the shut
tle cockpit 45 minutes later with
expressions of disgust on their
faces.
As German physicist Ulrich
Walter crawled out of the hatch,
Rudolf Teuwsen, a spokesman for
Germany's space agency, said,
"I've never seen him that de
pressed."
In firing room one at the
launch control center, engineers
immediately began emergency
procedures to secure the 18-story,
4.5 million-pound shuttle.
The spaceship remained bolt
ed down the entire time. NASA
quickly began draining the more
than a half-million gallons of fuel
from the external tank.
"What did work, and worked
very well, was the safety system,"
said launch director Bob Sieck.
"As pad aborts go, this is proba
bly the best one that we've execut
ed."
Sieck said it would take three
weeks to do all the necessary
work on Columbia: removing
valves, analyzing them and retest
ing the entire engine system.
Shuttle manager Leonard
Nicholson said it was too soon to
say how the delay would affect
this year's shuttle flight schedule
or whether Discovery's atmos
pheric research mission planned
for early April would be next.
Columbia's flight was the second
of eight shuttle missions planned
for 1993.
The nine-day mission had been
delayed repeatedly over the past
six weeks to replace engine
pumps and hydraulic hoses.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — A House commit
tee met under the watch of law of
ficers Monday as about 250 peo
ple signed up to testify on abol
ishing a panel that has recom
mended state-required sex educa
tion in public schools.
Human Services Committee
Chairman Harvey Hilderbran
said the Department of Public
Safety officers, who are assigned
to the Capitol, were requested by
a lawmaker concerned about "the
opportunity for some kind of con
frontation" between opposing
sides of the volatile issue.
There were four law officers at
the hearing, with two posted out
side the doors of the locked hear
ing room. An overflow crowd
was directed to nearby rooms.
The bills being considered by
the committee would do away
with the Adolescent Pregnancy
and Parenthood Advisory Coun
cil, which includes representa
tives of various state agencies and
other groups.
Rep. Hilderbran, R-Kerrville,
said he didn't expect a vote for at
least a week on the legislation. He
said he didn't think there was
enough committee support to
pass it, although he said it is close.
The council last month re
leased a leport recommending to
the Legislature that sex education
be required.
Council co-chairman Larry
Shaw emphasized that the pro
grams should be developed at the
local level, within the guidelines
that they be appropriate to the
age being taught, and scientifical
ly valid.
The report also recommends
that the state provide programs
fpr pregnant and parenting teens.
Sports
•Baseball: Aggies host
Sam Houston State at 7
p.m. tonight at Olsen
Page 7
Opinion
•U.S. should support Yeltsin
and the changes he's trying
to make
•Facts on Aids: Where you
can get tested and testing
procedures
Page 9
Columbia holds medallion
from College of Agriculture
By SHELIA VELA
The Baitaikm
The latest mission of the space shuttle Columbia, rescheduled for
three weeks, will carry a Texas A&M University medallion with it
into orbit after junior Scott Ross suggested sending a symbol of the
University with his father. Col. jerry Ross.
Jerry, a NASA mission specialist, said "Each astronaut is allowed
to carry on a limited amount of items on board and I always try to
fly things for universities to recognize them, so I asked my kids if
they wanted to send something. Scott thought it would be nice for
his school to send something."
Scott, an agricultural economics major, said he suggested to Dr.
Joe Townsend, associate dean and director of student development
in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, that the College of
Agriculture send something on the shuttle mission.
The 4-inch square medallion, already securely aboard the shuttle,
is in the shape of Texas and imprinted with the College of Agricul
ture logo.
Townsend said in a release the College of Agriculture plans to in
vite Jerry to a ceremony placing the medallion on display sometime
next fall.
Although Jerry is a graduate of Purdue University, he is still
See Shuttle/Page 4