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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1993)
,er 12,1993 finale The Battalion .*Huy qtOOl Vol. 93 No. 56 (8 pages) 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Monday, November 15,1993 Critch a- Brown lives ething that pretty easi- )file among aster or sell ve been ar il ding four impus after American- ?ter for one inks about m v •<S' /? 4V/r w, eekend rap-up AIDS virus taints plasma supply BONN, Germany — The AIDS scare sweeping Germany wors ened Friday with the announce ment by health officials that at least 50 premature newborns may have received AIDS-tainted plas ma during treatment in Bavarian clinics. The report is likely to increase anxiety about contaminated blood supplies, despite evidence that only a small fraction of the coun try's 60,000 people infected by the AIDS virus got it from tainted blood. More than 1,500 people in Ger many have been infected with the AIDS virus after receiving blood products since 1984. The infec tions of six people have been traced to two companies that were shut down after officials said they had distributed tainted blood. Sales surging for Christmas season WASHINGTON - Sales surged at auto dealers, department stores and building supply centers in Oc tober, heralding a busy Christmas shopping season and a strong year- end nnisn for the economy. Retail receipts overall jumped 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted $177.3 billion, the Commerce De partment said Friday. It was the biggest increase in six months and the seventh in a row. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown hailed the report as "a clear signal that our economy is improv ing." Many private economists concurred. They are predictms; the October-December quarter will be the year's strongest. "This whole report was evi dence the consumer has not died and gone away and is out there and willing to spend money/' said economist Paul Lallv of R.H. Wrightson & Associates in New York. Surrogate for sale on highway ad HOUSTON — It's eye catching all right. Above the highway buzz of Houston's traffic reads this bill board: "Womb for Rent! Educated, Healthy, Loving, Surrogate Mother Available. Call 820-4878." A Houston woman, driven away by what she says is the bu reaucracy of clinics and national newspapers that refused to take her ad, is advertising her womb on the billboard. She says she hopes some prospective parents wul eive her lawyer a call so she can help an in fertile couple and also meet some of her own personal goals, such as using part of her fee to complete a doctorate. "It's the sheer bureaucracy they have to go through," the prospec tive surrogate said Saturday. Angel edited into Davidian footage WACO — A city council woman from suburban Bellmead thought she saw an angel hovering in tele vision footage of the Branch Da- vidians' burning compound, but later discovered the image was en hanced by producers of "The Mau ry Povich Show." Last week in Waco, Povich taped a review of the Davidians' 51-day standoff with federal offi cials from Feb. 28 through April 19. A spokesperson for the show confirmed the images reported by Ruth Haines were edited into the fire footage showed during Povich's special, "Answers from the Ashes." In a split-second frame during Tuesday's show, a bright, three- story image appears in the fire near th,e second-story window of the Branch Davidian complex, then disappears. -The Associated Press SEC looks at $200,000 gift The Associated Press COLLEGE STATION — The Securities and Ex change Commission is investigating a California man's $200,000 gift to Texas A&M University to fund a research project aimed at turning mercury into gold, the Bryan College-Station Eagle reported Sunday. SEC spokeswoman Sandra Harris said it is trying to find out if the April 1992 donation from William L. Telander is part of a $7.8 million fraud case the agency is investigating. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported 11 months ago that Telander's investors were told about the research project. Some investors also said they were told gold could be made from lead, the Union-Tribune reported. The SEC has charged Telander, fellow business man Roger C. Briggs and a financial institution called Southwest International Exchange with sever al violations of securities laws in California. The two men and the international exchange are accused of selling millions of dollars in fraudulent and unregistered securities from mid-1990 to mid- 1992 to 380 investors. The SEC is trying to determine whether part of See SEC/Page 4 A&M tells its side to NCAA during meeting r-£ V' Officials from Texas A&M University met with the NCAA committee on infractions to explain the University's role in the Warren Gilbert pay-off controversy. "They gave us'a fair hearing and lis tened to what we had to say," Dr. Tom Adair, faculty representative, said about the 41/2 hour meeting. The pre-hearing 1,227-page A&M response to the NCAA stated the University's case. Officials from A&M said the University should not be held accountable for the nine players involved. See NCAA/Page 3 Howdy Miss Reveille ma'am! Reveille VI madtTher debut as Texas A&M's mascot Saturday during the Aggie football game against Lousiville. The 10- week-old puppy will officially replace Reveille V after the Tim Moog/Tw: Battalion A&M-University of Texas football game on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25. The pup lives with Company E-2 of the Corps of Cadets. See story on Page 2 Students take on stress of school, work By Jacqueline Mason The Battalion For a handful of Aggies, the stress of preparing for exams, group projects and papers is intensified by the pressure of jobs that require up to 70 hours of work per week. Many of these full-time student/full-time workers have adapted to their demanding schedules, but they still complain of not having enough time to do it all. San Torres, a senior animal science major who works 36 hours a week at Texas A&M's Emergency Medical Service, said he tries to sleep during the day but it is sometimes not enough. When he is on-call, he may work up to 70 hours a week. "Right now, we have about 34 people listed as employees," Torres said. "Thirty-three are students." Dr. Brian Williams, a psychologist for Texas A&M's Student Counseling Services, said many students take jobs for financial reasons. "They have Other responsibilities than just finishing school," he said. "They need to work to pay for rent." Amy Rodgers, a community health major who works 36 to 40 hours a week as a respiratory therapist at St. Joseph Hospital and Health Center, said respiratory therapy is her career, school comes second. Rodgers said she is finishing her A&M degree just in case she decides to change careers later. Torres said money is not his motivation for working for A&M's ambulance service. "I'm an employee of the state and get paid $1 a month," he See Work/Page 3 Student suing for computer speech rights The Associated Press DALLAS — Free speech is a new, coveted right for Gregory N. Stesh- enko. And he is testing its limits in the computer age. Twice in the past five months au thorities have pulled the plug on com ments Steshenko has made about Russ ian and Ukrainian politics on Internet, a worldwide computer network. Now, Steshenko has decided to strike back. The University of Texas at Dallas student has filed s S2 million lawsuit against the school for disconnecting him from Internet for his critical com ments. The lawsuit charges Stesh- enko's rights of free speech were vio lated. Legal experts say the case could test whether free speech laws extend to electronic exchanges of ideas. "I am trying to live in a normal, de mocratic society," the Ukraine native told The Dallas Morning News in its Sunday editions. "I didn't leave Russia to live in another totalitarian state." In June, the Eastern European emi gre was fired from Microsoft Corp, af ter the software company received dozens of complaints that Steshenko's messages were offensive and some times obscene. Last month he was disconnected from Internet by the University of See Computer/Page 8 Court sexual harrassment decision causes controversy By Jan Higginbotham The Battalion The Supreme Court's recent decision, making sexual harassment easier to prove, was a major decision for women in the workplace, said one Texas A&M faculty member. Nikki Van Hightower, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science, said she was especially pleased with the ruling because it was a unani mous decision. "It is a strong statement that women are in the work force to stay," Van Hightower said. The decision, handed down last Tuesday, ruled that a worker will no longer have to prove an employer's in appropriate conduct caused any psycho logical damage in order to prove such actions actually occurred. The court's decision stemmed from sexual harassment charges made in the mid-1980s by Teresa Harris, a Tennessee woman who quit her job after two-and- a-half years of misconduct by her boss at a trucking company. Before the ruling, a worker had to prove that an employer's harassment was so severe that it caused severe psy chological breakdowns. Now, a worker only needs to prove that the environment, to any reasonable person, is hostile or abusive. "The major benefit to come out of this decision will be prevention," Van Hightower said. "Companies will now clean up their act. They will let employees know that it will not be tolerated in the work place." Van Hightower said the decision will now make things more difficult for de fendants in sexual harassment cases. "It will be much harder to defend yourself," she said. "They will have to defend themselves in a broader way." Courts will not consider if incidents of sexual harassment are a one-time thing but will now look at whether such cases are ongoing. Van Hightower said. Judith Baer, associate professor of po litical science, said the situation will cause greater problems for defendants. "Hopefully, it will make defendants realize that what they are doing is wrong and will prevent further cases," Baer said. Baer said she was appalled by a low er court's decision that psychological damage need be evident to prove sexual harassment charges and that such evi dence was not provided in the case of Teresa Harris. "The (Supreme Court's) decision will make it much easier for people to recov er," Baer said. "Now, the whole ele ment of having to prove psychological damage is gone." Van Hightower said the decision will be especially beneficial because it will encourage more women to bring cases forward, but she also said the ruling will not cause an influx of cases. No statehood for Puerto Rico; citizens vote for commonwealth The Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Supporters of con tinued commonwealth status for Puerto Rico prevailed at the polls Sunday over those who wanted statehood, turning back the strongest movement this century for full union with Washington. "The people spoke and I will obey them," Gov. Pedro Rossello, who spearheaded the state hood campaign, said before thousands of sup porters acknowledging defeat. But he added: "This is a struggle that will go on." With votes counted from 89 percent of the precincts — 1,582 of 1,784 — official results showed continuing commonwealth status receiv ing 740,892 votes, or 48.5 percent; statehood 707,314, or 46.3 percent; and independence 66,915, or 4.4 percent. The remaining ballots either were left blank or were disqualified. Thousands of commonwealth supporters filled the streets started a blocks-long caravan. One of the celebrants, Nereida Rodriguez of the central city of Caguas said commonwealth changed the poor, sugar-farming island into an industrial success, and she was forever grateful. Screaming.over salsa music and honking horns, Rodriguez, 56, said: "We've affirmed that we're Americans — but we're Puerto Ricans, too. We have our own separate Olympic teams, our own Puertoricaness. Inside - wigp Campus ►High school students 'test drive' the Corps Page 8 Sports •A&M pounds Louisville, 42-7 Page 5 Opinion •Jones: Interracial dating means looking past skin color Page 7