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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1994)
ace 'ictory a,. national pa. reached i| ' s eoinmos Texas A&M *W^ mm "W * Trve Battalion |Vol. 93 No. 131 (12 pages) Serving Texas A&M since 1893 Friday, April 15, 1994 laneQonM J’s Bowen selected as University president lln g togefeiv Kim McGuire ls °n the Battalion emocraisn they'll Is id. ice pow« they mi|l! ials to in- I Dr. Ray Bowen, interim president of Iklahoma State University, accepted the pi ition of president of Texas A&M Uni- Irsity Thursday afternoon and is expect- B to begin his duties by mid-summer, Iniversity officials said. I The Board of Regents met Thursday in lustin and Chancellor William H. Mobley feered Bowen, Class of ‘58, the position wer the telephone. I Bowen, said he was taken back by the Iffer. I "I was overwhelmed by the opportuni- I to come back to my campus and pro- Ide leadership,” Bowen said. “Anyone in ligher education dreams about the liance to come back.” I Terri Parker, system communications specialist, said the de cision is contingent upon contract negoti ations. Mobley anticipated the decision to be fi nalized soon. “I talked with him a little bit earlier today and I’m confident we’re close to having a mutual decision,” Mobley said. However, Bowen said in his heart it’s a “done deal.” Bowen would succeed Mobley, who was promoted to chancellor earlier this year. E. Dean Gage has served as A&M in terim president since September. Mobley said although the other candi- Bowen dates were well-qualified, there were three general areas that differentiated Bowen from the rest: instruction, experi ence and maturity. “He clearly recognizes instruction and the undergraduate education,” Mobley said. “He has a commitment to quality undergraduate education which was ap preciated.” Mobley said Bowen’s experience as provost and chief-executive officer and his experience at the National Science Foundation make him an ideal choice. Ross Margraves, chairman of the Board of Regents, said Bowen is suited to lead Texas A&M. “Dr. Bowen’s experience in leading a major state university and his background in engineering and science make him ide ally suited to lead Texas A&M University into the new century and a new era of ac complishments built on its past and pre sent, ’ Margraves said. Bowen earned his bachelor’s and doc torate degrees in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M in 1958 and 1961 and his master’s degree from the California In stitute of Technology in 1959. Mobley said the fact Bowen was a for mer student was not a deciding factor. “It’s not a negative, but it’s not the de ciding factor,” Mobley said. “Had he not been an Aggie, he would have still gotten the job.” However, Brian Walker, former student body president and member of the presi dential search committee, said Bowen’s ties to A&M would be a positive factor. “He’ll do a very good job because of the vision he has and the ability he has to relate to Texas A&M,” Walker said. “He understands the traditions, which I think is essential to the job.” Bowen has served as Oklahoma State’s interim president since September of 1993 and joined the administration in 1991 as provost and vice president for academic affairs. Earlier in his career, Bowen served as dean of engineering at the University of Kentucky after spending 1 6 years on the engineering faculty at Rice University, in cluding five as chair of mechanical engi neering there. He also taught at Louisiana State Uni versity and the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology at Dayton, Ohio. Bill Matthews, Oklahoma State Univer- See Bowen/Page 6 Hesby, is professo: .r has bee t, the oil! ■d the det! >r reseattl and some ; lost S01K temporan uld be in- :ipated ik e bad at vhile woii the dun- American jets shoot down 2 U.S. choppers The Associated Press :o get peo- rework i sure tliert her dam- long. any nighi 3 Soul E I WASHINGTON — American ighter jets mistakenly shot down wo U.S. Army helicopters over aorthern Iraq Thursday, killing all 16 people aboard. “Something went wrong,” said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Presi dent Clinton promised to find out what. Twenty-one of the dead were military officers from the United States, Britain, France, and Turkey supporting the UN. humanitarian nief operation for the Kurdish .— minority in northern Iraq. Five ■'■furd passengers also were killed. The helicopters were shot down bytwoF-15C fighters enforcing the “no-fly zone ’ over the area. Clinton expressed “terrible sor row” and pledged a thorough in vestigation. At the Pentagon, Defense Secre tary William Perry said the fighter lilots mistook the UH-60 Black- tawk choppers for Iraqi “Hind” helicopters. Both jets apparently had the he licopters in sight during the day- ht mission and both fired mis siles, Perry said. An AWACs recon naissance plane was overseeing the helicopters’ flight. “The pilots of the F-15s feel they had positively identified the Hinds,’’ said Lt. Gen. Richard Keller, chief of staff of the U.S. Eu ropean Command in Stuttgart, Germany. Audio and camera tapes from the aircraft will be studied in the investigation, he said. Asked what threat the heli copters might have posed that jus tified shooting them down, Keller replied, “I honestly don’t know.” One F-15 fired a radar-seeking AMRAAM missile, the other a heat-seeking Sidewinder, the gen eral said in a telephone briefing with reporters at the Pentagon. Gen. John Shalikashvili, the Joint Chiefs chairman, said the fi nal order to shoot normally is giv en “on the scene” and not from military commanders at the jets’ base in Incirlik, Turkey. “Clearly, something went wrong, and an investigation will have to determine exactly what did go wrong,’’ said the four-star Army general, who spearheaded the relief effort for the Kurds in 1991. U.S. warplanes and helicopters normally use electronic identifica tion systems designed to tell friend from foe. If proper procedures were fol- See Iraq/Page 9 Fun under the hood Amy Browning/The Battalion A raised hood displays not only the engine of this 1957 Chevy play at the classic car show sponsored by the A&M Classic & Bel-Air but also Jessica and Roger Rabbit. The car was on dis- Antique Car Club in front of the MSC Thursday afternoon. 5000 Williams: Experience in Corps invaluable David Birch/ITw? Battalion Clayton Williams Jr. discusses his leadership experience from the Corps and how it helped him in the real world. By James Bemsen The Battalion Millionaire businessman and former gubernatorial candidate Clay ton Williams Jr. told a group of cadets to value the experience and leadership the Corps teaches, during his visit to Texas A&M Thursday. | “Without the Corps, we would become just another university,” he said. “The training you receive when you can lead men and women into battle is some of the best mankind offers. “That leadership training became part of my character,” he said. “I was always willing to put in that extra work, which you have to do if you own your own business.” Williams said he got where he was in business by adhering to I simple principles. “We offered a better product at a better price, and I built the gas company into the biggest one in the nation,’ he said. “The basics are ! still there.” Williams, a member of the Class of ‘54, is the founder of ClayDes- ta, a petroleum engineering company in Midland. He later expanded into the communications field in the late 1980s with ClayDesta Com- | munications. Williams has also invested heavily in cattle and other enterprises, See Williams/Page 9 Election controversy sparks new regulations By Jan Higginbotham The Battalion With the end of the recent problems sur rounding student body elections, members of Texas A&M University’s Student Government are now working to prevent controversies in future elections. Chelsey Ferguson, a member of the elec tion commission, said Student Government will be working with the Student Senate to draw up new election regulations. “A lot more clarification is going to come into place,” Ferguson said. “There are a lot of things that are going to be looked into. Hopefully, everything will be more clear-cut.” Ferguson said new regulations will be drawn up before any elections are held in the fall. She said she thinks the Senate should con sider expanding the number of students on the election commission. Ferguson said the commission didn’t have enough students to handle all the duties. “Members of the election commission know exactly what should be going on at those polling places,” she said. “We may have to consider keeping an election official at the polling sites at all times. This will all hopefully be in black and white so there are no more questions.” Michael Crain, election commissioner, said making the election commission larger is not as important as making it a stronger group. This would help make the process easier, he said. “We need people who realize how impor tant their job is,” Crain said. “We should See Elections/Page 6 Stepping up to the plate Corps, frats gather for baseball game By Stephanie Dube The Battalion Fraternity and Corps of Cadet members will try to settle old ri valries at Olsen Field Saturday dur ing the fifth annual Corps-Frater nity baseball game. Corps Adjutant Marc Bertamini, general manager for the Corps baseball team and a senior political science major, said the game will provide entertainment, bring the two organizations closer together and raise money for student schol arships. “The game helps break down the barriers between the two groups,” he said. “It gets the fra ternity and Corps members out to enjoy something together. We can have the rivalry in a fun situation.” Doug Mosel, coach for the fra ternity team and a senior account ing major, said he hopes the game will change the negative stereo types about fraternities. “Fraternities come under a lot of pressure for the stereotype of being an animal house,” he said. “We hope this will strengthen the fraternities’ image on campus and strengthen the fraternities’ rela tionship with other organizations, especially the Corps.” Mike Copeland, a senior man agement major and member of Squadron One, is a coach for the Corps team and also a fraternity member. He said being a member of both groups has not caused him any problems. “I played the past two years on the Corps side, and next year I See Baseball/Page 9 ‘Urban survival’ defense under scrutiny The Associated Press FORT WORTH — Attorneys for Daimion Osby don’t deny their client gunned down a pair of menaces during a confrontation in a tough part of town. But, they say, the inner-city teen-ager suffered from “urban survival syndrome,” an untried and controversial defense that one opponent fears could legalize black-on-black murder in some ur ban areas. Others say what’s good for white, middle-class defendants should also be a valid defense in ghet to crimes. Defense attorney Bill Lane says economics forced his client to live in a high-crime area that lacks adequate police protection. Carrying a gun there, he says, is mere self-preservation. “It’s just like open warfare in areas like Miller (Avenue) and Berry (Street),” Lane said of the southeast Fort Worth parking lot where Osby fired the fatal shots almost a year ago. “And if you’re to survive as a young African-American in that neighborhood, you have to take steps neces sary to protect yourself” All three men were black. Prosecutor Steve Marshall says the level of black-on-black crimes is “atrocious,” but granting special consideration in the use of deadly force is not the answer. “It’s clearly an area that needs to be ad dressed,” Marshall said, “but the way to address it is not by legalizing black-on-black homicide, which is essentially what the defense is purport ing to do in this case.” While the “urban survival” tag is new, similar approaches have met with some success. See Urban/Page 3