The Battalion
Vol. 93 No. 59 (12 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Thursday, November 18,1993
We choose to compete, not retreat'
Clinton wins first battle as NAFTA passes House
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - In a hard-
earned and decisive triumph for
President Clinton, the House ap
proved the North American Free
Trade Agreement late Wednes
day to fuse the United States,
Mexico and Canada into the
world's largest trading bloc. Re
publicans provided a majority of
ihe support.
The 234-200 vote sent the mea
sure to the Senate, where leaders
predicted swift approval. "NAF
TA is a lock," predicted GOP
Leader Bob Dole.
Clinton, beaming, lauded the
bipartisan House vote. "Tonight I
am proud to say we have not
flinched," he said. "...We had to
come from a long way back to win
this fight." NAFTA will "expand
our exports, create new jobs and
help us assert America's leader
ship in the global economy," said
the president.
The House rendered its verdict
after a daylong debate that reflect
ed high-minded disagreements
over America's role in the world
economy and bare-knuckled poli
tics. Scores of labor-backed De
mocrats abandoned their presi
dent, but 132 Republicans signed
on to assure passage.
The 34-vote margin was far
wider than anticipated, the result
of a furious last-minute lobbying
blitz that blended presidential
phone calls with concessions to
key lawmakers concerned about
the pact's impact on a variety of
domestic industries.
A cheer went up in the crowd
ed chamber when the vote count
passed the 218 needed to approve
the pact. Opponents stood in
clumps, shaking their heads and
grimacing at the result.
"A vote for NAFTA is in the
great tradition of our party," House
GOP Leader Bob Michel of Illinois
said in a ringing speech of support.
"So let it be said on this crucial vote
tonight, that we Republicans did
not sacrifice the jobs of tomorrow
to the fears of today."
Democratic Leader Richard
Gephardt summed up for the op
ponents who fear the pact will
throw thousands of Americans
out of work. "Deficient and
flawed," he said of NAFTA. "We
cannot and must not expose our
workers and our corporations to
unfair competition."
Local experts disagree on potential effectiveness
By Lisa Elliott
The Battalion
Congress approved the hotly
debated North American Free
Trade Agreement last night and
local experts disagree on whether
it will accomplish its goals.
Jared Hazleton, head of Texas
A&M's Center for Business and
Economic Analysis, said he is
confident that the agreement
will bring positive economic
benefits to the people of Texas
as well as the nation.
Hazleton conducted research
into the benefits of NAFTA on
the energy industry and found
Texas could gain 29,000 energy-
related jobs and see a $2 billion
increase in the output of goods.
Hazleton said NAFTA may
hurt some Americans, but it
would be for the best in the
long run!
"It doesn't benefit everyone.
but it does benefit the nation,"
he said.
It was difficult for Congress to
make a decision about NAFTA,
he said, because people find it
hard to vote for things that affect
people's jobs.
NAFTA has had an unusual
effect on the political system be
cause it doesn't pit any one polit
ical party against another, Hazle
ton said. It follows the American
idea of the open market that the
United States have stood for
throughout history, he said.
"A lot of the support NAFTA
got was because it is what Amer
ica has. stood for throughout
time," he said.
Hazleton gave credit to the
proponents of NAFTA for putting
up a strong argument to win
votes in Congress. Another rea
son NAFTA passed is because its
opponents failed to do a good job
in presenting their side, he said.
Louis Zaeske, chairman of the
American Ethnic Coalition in
Bryan-College Station, said NAF
TA in its present form is an un
fair agreement for the people of
Mexico and the United States.
"We're not against the con
cept of free trade," he said. "But
we are against the concept of un
fair free trade."
NAFTA will send jobs to
Mexico, and the people of the
United States will get nothing in
return, he said. Mexico's work
ers will be exploited because of
their willingness to work for less,
he said.
Zaeske said he hopes the
closeness of the vote will send a
message to the Mexican govern
ment to abide by the agreement.
Zaeske said Clinton will con
tinue to adjust the agreement so
the opponents of NAFTA won't
start a movement to have it
overturned.
Roughing it
Vamell Hopkins 111/The Battalion
Cris Stephenson, Lee Wall, Trey Wimberly, j.W. Allison and Wednesday. The five students were some of hundreds of Aggies
Patrick Dodson (from left) play John Madden Football on their Nin- who were camping out for tickets to the Texas game. See related
tendo in their tent in front of the G. Rollie White ticket office on story on Page 2.
Faculty stress benefits of multiculturalism at open forum
By Jennifer Smith
The Battalion
Texas A&M faculty members
discussed the benefits of a multi
cultural education Wednesday at
an open forum, avoiding the usu
al debate over which classes or
how many hours will be required
at A&M.
A proposal that will force stu
dents to take three hours in a
United States culture course and
three hours in an international
course is waiting for approval by
Interim President E. Dean Gage.
Dr. Karan Watson, assistant
dean of the College of Engineer
ing, said the value of this proposal
lies in the positive results it will
bring to students.
"It gives our students the edge
in a competitive field," Watson
said. "If our students come out,
and don't know how to partici
pate with people of different cul
tures, they won't succeed."
Watson said students don't
have to embrace people with prin
ciples that don't match their own.
"But, they do have to be able to
work with them," Watson said.
"Nobody works in a cubicle by
themselves. All of the real prob
lems are solved in teams."
Dr. James Mazzullo, associate
professor of geology, said a global
emphasis was not as important in
the past, but is essential to stu
dents now.
"This is a different world we
live in," Mazzullo said. "We have
to get used to it in order to be suc
cessful."
Mazzullo said countries like
Japan and Germany may snag
some of this country's business if
the United States doesn't under
stand people of different cultures.
"If you're not accommodating
to them, then someone else will
be," Mazzullo said.
Many companies are realizing
this and are including multicul
tural education in their leader
ship training programs when
they visit A&M.
See Faculty/Page 10
SEC investigation
prompts A&M to
open own inquiry
By Jan Higginbotham
The Battalion
A&M Interim President E. Dean Gage has launched an in
quiry into research activities by a chemistry professor in re
sponse to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Com
mission.
The University is looking into activities related to a research
project seeking to make gold out of mercury and lead and
funded by California businessman William Telander.
The SEC is investigating Telander's $200,000 contribution to
the school to find out if the gift was part of a $7.8 million fraud
case brought against Telander.
Gage said the inquiry attempts to find out if all appropriate
University procedures were properly followed and to decide if
any scientific misconduct took place in the research effort.
The inquiry is a University investigation separate from the
SEC probe.
"This institution is ab
solutely committed to the
highest standard of prop
er ethical research."
-E. Dean Gage,
A&M interim president
"The committee will collect information to find out what hap
pened and to see if the standards for research were maintained,"
Sawtelle said.
Gage said he wants to make sure officials in the chemistry de
partment were not deceived in any way.
In a statement released earlier this week. Gage said University
policies and procedures ensure both academic freedom for re
searchers and scientific and fiscal accountability for Texas A&M.
"This institution is absolutely committed to the highest stan
dard of proper ethical research," Gage said.
Sawtelle said the inquiry could be compared to a grand jury in
vestigation. The committee will compile information now to decide
if further action is necessary in the case.
"We want to make sure everything is kept at the highest level of
research professionalism," she said.
75 percent of the $200,000 donation has already been spent,
but the remaining funds have been frozen by the chemistry de
partment.
The money will remain frozen until the SEC decides if it actu
ally came from Telander or from investors, and the Southwest In
ternational Exchange, a financial institution, Sawtelle said.
"The money was frozen in the event that the money actually
was from the investors," Sawtelle said.
The SEC has charged Telander, Roger Briggs and the South
west International Exchange with selling phony and unregis
tered securities.
Gage ordered Robert
Kennedy, vice president for
research and graduate stud
ies, to assemble a committee
to collect information re
garding the case.
Nancy Sawtelle, commu
nications director for
Kennedy's office, said
Kennedy is currently work
ing to put together the com
mittee in order to report
back to Gage within 60 days.
Chick-Fil-A goes Underground
Food Services announces food court commitments at Student Senate meeting
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
The Student Senate passed a
resolution Wednesday night sup
porting the decision to place the
Food Services department in
charge of contracting brand name
food chains in the Sbisa Under
ground Food Court.
The resolution follows the Uni
versity's decision to allow Food
Services to manage the food court
when brand name food compa
nies begin operating following the
food court's reconstruction.
Tobin Boenig, Senate speaker
pro tempore, said the resolution
was created in response to a re
quest by Robert Smith, vice presi
dent of finance and administration.
"He brought it to our atten
tion," Boenig said. "The Senate
passed a bill last year supporting
Food Services managing the food
court and our opposition to
bringing in a private firm to run
it. This is just a direct message
that the Student Senate still sup
ports that decision."
Dr. Richard Floyd, interim
Food Services director, announced
at the Senate meeting that five
brand name food companies have
made commitments to operate in
the food court.
"We've gotten commitments
from Chick-Fil-A, Whataburger,
Taco Bueno, Pizza Hut and we've
already got Columbo yogurt,"
Floyd said. "In the next few
weeks, we should be signing con
tracts with them."
Floyd said some of the compa
nies have said they wanted to be
gin operating as early as Janu. 17
of next year, but the date will de
pend on the progress of the food
court's construction.
"We expect the construction to
begin early next year but we're
waiting on a report from the Phys
ical Plant," he said.
He said the Underground
Market will be relocated to the
north dining hall, which is cur
rently not in use, and the brand
name food companies will be set
up in the semicircular area where
the Underground Food Court is
now located.
"We will also have to widen
the foyer when you first enter the
food court to better accommo
date the traffic and more seat
ing," Floyd said.
Floyd said all of the food com
panies will accept Aggie Bucks.