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51 The Bafealign V.
Vol. 93 No. 19 (12 pages)
The Battalion
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Thursday, September 23,1993
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Student Senate says 'yes' to cultural diversity
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
The Texas A&M University Student
Senate passed a bill Wednesday support
ing the addition of required classes em
phasizing cultural diversity to the Univer
sity's core curriculum.
The bill will now be presented to the
Faculty Senate for consideration as an
amendment to a similar proposal they
will be voting on in November.
The bill requires students to take a three
hour course focusing on either a United
States minority or an international culture.
The 261 classes offered under the bill must
also be uniform throughout each college.
It stipulates a minimum of 100 classes
be available at all times with at least 35 of
the courses having multiple sections.
Also, 35 of the classes must not require a
prerequisite.
Under the bill, a course satisfying anoth
er core category, a departmental require
ment or a free elective can also be used to
to satisfy the new requirement if it is a class
drawn from the approved 261 class list.
Russell Langely, student senate speak
er, said the bill is a strong message for the
administration to consider.
"The Student Senate represents their
constituents well and this is what they
want," Langely said. "We want to now
work with the administration to imple
ment the best policy possible."
Ben Dale, student senate academic af
fairs committee chairman, said the bill is
a step in the right direction for students
at A&M.
"We made history tonight," Dale said.
"When the Liberal Arts Council imple
mented multiculturalism classes in their
college's curriculum, they made a signifi
cant step for that college," he said.
"Tonight we made the first step for the
whole university."
Dale said the Faculty Senate has the
option of disregarding the bill or chang
ing their bill to conform to the Student
Senate's bill. Student Body President Bri
an Walker and Dale will present the bill
to Interim University President Dr. E.
Dean Gage.
"We've already talked to him once
about the bill before tonight and he
seemed very upbeat about it," Dale said.
"He likes what we have and we're very
happy about that."
Despite the majority vote, many sena
tors expressed concerns about
the issue before the final vote.
Student Sen. Thomas Reed said the re
quirement will cause a budget crunch.
"To add sections of the classes offered
on the list is going to cost money," Reed
said. "It costs money to add sections, that's
why we can't get into the classes we want
now. In essence the bill has merit but not
enough to justify the cost."
Student Sen. Angela Amshoff said the
bill won't add to students' understanding
of other cultures.
"This bill won't enrich our cultural
knowledge," Amshoff said. "It seems it's
intended to enrich A&M's name. I think
we're rushing into this and we should re
search more.
Student Sen. Forrest Green said a multi
culturalism class requirement is inevitable.
"One way or another we're going to
have required multiculturalism classes at
A&M," Green said. "I'm against having a
requirement but at least this way we have
some input and the students will have the
opportunity to pick their own classes."
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Richard Weisen of the College Station Fire Department tries
to assess the injuries sustained by two passengers of Blue Sky
Airlines flight 1234 that wrecked at Easterwood Airport
Kyle Bumett/THE Battalion
Wednesday morning. The victims are students from Bryan
High School and were part of a mock crash exercise that is
required by FAA regulations.
Emergency services stage mock crash
Training exercise tests community response; students volunteer as 'victims'
By Mark Smith
The Battalion
Brazos County emergency services re
ceived a message Wednesday that a plane
had crashed at Easterwood Airport soon after
takeoff, beginning a training exercise de
signed to test the community's response to a
major accident.
The Texas A&M University-Easterwood
Airport Crash/Fire/Rescue team was the
first unit to arrive at the site. The truck
sprayed fire retardant foam on several fires in
the grass near the A&M shuttle bus, which
served as the plane's fuselage.
Bryan High School students posing as vic
tims greeted arriving emergency medical per
sonnel with shouts of "I want my mommy,"
and "Call Dr. Seuss!"
The medical unit did not rush to the vic
tims, but moved methodically through the
bodies using a system called triage. Triage is
a medical process in which a medical team
assesses a group of wounded and assigns pri
ority to more critical patients.
Some observers asked why the emergency
personnel were not moving faster.
"We train our people to respond in a
very level type of movement because what
we want to do is calm the situation and
show the patients we have everything un
der control," said J. S. Bland, chief of the
Bryan Fire Department.
Emergency personnel miss important in
formation in emergency situations when they
rush to the victims. Bland said. An atmos
phere of urgency occurs when victims be
come aware of their injuries.
"We train our people to stay calm and be
very deliberate in their movements to make
sure they don't make any mistakes," Bland
said.
The exercise began at 10 a.m., when the
emergency services received the fictitious call
about the downed aircraft.
Several organizations participated in the
exercise, including the fire departments of
Bryan, College Station and Brazos Valley, po
lice departments from across the county, area
hospitals, Bryan and College Station Emer
gency Management teams, students and staff
from A&M and students from Bryan High
School's Health Occupations class.
Organizers of the event said the focus
was to evaluate emergency plans and the
performance of personnel in case of a major
accident.
"Our primary concern here is just make
sure we can get everybody working together
to take care of any situation occurring either
here or in Brazos County," Bland said.
Bland said the exercise, which is required
by the Federal Aviation Administration
once every three years, improves the emer
gency team's response and the treatment of
the patients.
Although he could not evaluate the exer
cise until after he discussed it with the other
erganizations involved. Bland said the event
went well.
"After the exercise we will bring all of the
entities together and do a post-incident
analysis of the situation," Bland said. "Dis
patching from 911 and College Station Fire
Department, dispatchers have worked real
well together on this today."
See Crash/Page 9
North warns against reductions in military
Speaker urges students to get involved
in politics, 'take the government back'
By James Bernsen
The Battalion
Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North
Warned students Wednesday
against the reduction of U.S. mili
tary preparedness and called for
young people to get involved in
politics to take the government
back from the "career politicians."
Although the threat from the
former Soviet Union is dimin
ished, it is not gone, and the U.S.
Will still need the military to be
ready, North said in a speech
sponsored by the Texas A&M
University College Republicans.
The Clinton administration's
new military budget will reduce
America to its lowest level of
preparedness since Pearl Harbor,
he said. ‘
"It's not a new world order, it's
a new world disorder," North
said. "Our military needs to be
restructured, but we can not as a
nation unilaterally disarm."
North also said the opportunity
for peace in the Middle East is
something unique in world history,
and should not be squandered by
world leaders or allowed to be de
stroyed by the actions of radicals.
He said the person most re
sponsible for the progress of
peace was George Bush.
North encouraged students to
get involved in the Republican
party and politics.
"We're not going to pull this
nation together without a strong
Republican party," he said.
"The generation of which I am a
part, and the generation that pre
ceded me has failed you most of
all," he said. "We haven't provid
ed well enough for you to assume
those positions of leadership. We
have capitulated to professional
politicians who have become the
norm, rather than the exception.
"The average term length of a
member of congress is approach
ing 15 years, and the average term
length of a convicted criminal is
less than three. We've got that
backward."
North said his generation has
taken the future of young people
away by raising the national debt
through "the cowardice of govern
ment," which amounts to taxation
without representation. He said
the solution to the nation's prob
lems is not more bureaucracy.
At a press conference before the
speech. North said he supports
health care reform, but hopes it will
not "break the existing system" for
those who are insured.
See North/Page 2
Clinton outlines
plan of action for
health care reform
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Proposing
a top-to-bottom makeover of the
nation's health care system. Presi
dent Clinton
called Wednes
day night for
ambitious re
forms guaran
teeing every
American com-
prehensive
medical bene
fits "that can
never be taken
away.''
Clinton, in a
speech to a na
tionally broadcast session of
Congress, said his plan would
reform "the costliest and most
wasteful health care system on
Earth without any new broad-
based taxes."
Laying out his rationale for the
biggest social initiative since the
New Deal, Clinton said the cur
rent system is "too uncertain and
too expensive, too bureaucratic
and too wasteful. It has too much
fraud and too much greed."
Pointing to his own proposal,
which would require all employ
ers to provide health insurance to
their workers, the president said,
"Let us guarantee every American
comprehensive health benefits
that can never be taken away."
Clinton spoke for 53 minutes
to a House chamber packed with
lawmakers and dignitaries who
interrupted him 32 times with
applause.
The president signaled a will
ingness to compromise over the
course of what is sure to be
months of debate. "On this jour
ney, as on all others of conse
quence, there will be rough
stretches in the road and honest
disagreements" about how to pro
ceed. "After all, this is a compli
cated journey."
Senate GOP leader Bob Dole
said Republicans would work
with Clinton to fashion a new
health care system, but warned
of disagreements ahead. "In the
complex debate that will come in
the months ahead, let's keep in
mind four key issues: choice,
quality, jobs and cost," Dole
said.
Clinton said that under his
plan, some Americans would be
asked to pay more but that the
vast majority would pay the same
or less for health care coverage
that would be the same or better
Youth bear too
much of costs,
A&M medical
professor says
By Stephanie Pattillo
The Battalion
President Clinton is looking
to the youth of the country to
fund much of the costs of health
care, said Dr. James Rohack,
A&M assistant professor of in
ternal medicine, Wednesday
night after Clinton unveiled of
his health care plan before a
joint session of Congress.
The president said single
people in their 20's with insur
ance will foot much of the
country's health care bill. His
plan calls for the pooling of
costs to help pay for the care of
the elderly. He said ail people
will benefit in the long run
when they are older, even
though some will have to bear
the brunt of the costs now.
Rohack, an officer of the
Texas Medical Association and
an American Medical Associa
tion delegate, said Clinton used
the wrong analogy of social se
curity when explaining that the
insurance rates of those in their
20's will go up. "College grad
uates will fund the big bill for
the elderly and high school
dropouts," he said.
See Youth/Page 9
than they currently have.
To help pay for it, Clinton
said he would impose new taxes
on tobacco but he dropped the
idea of increases for beer, wine
or hard liquor. Clinton also said
he would seek a "modest" tax on
corporations that opt out of the
health alliances and set up their
own programs, and seek billions
in cuts in Medicare and Medic
aid. The White House deliberate
ly left vague the financing de
tails, one of the thorniest issues
to come.
In a direct challenge to law
makers, Clinton said, "Let us
pledge tonight: before this Con
gress adjourns next year, you will
pass and I will sign a new law to
create health security for every
American."
Clinton
Inside
Aggielife
• Reviews: judgment Night,
Prince, Nirvana
Page 3
Sports
•Lady Aggie spikers sweep
away Red Raiders
Page 7
Opinion
•Multiple Mail Call: more
and more multiculturalism
Page 10
Weather
•Thursday: partly cloudy
with scattered showers
•Forecast for Friday: partly
cloudy in the evening,
highs in the 90s
Texas Lotto
•Wednesday's winning
Texas Lotto numbers:
1, 2, 25, 38, 39, 49