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|Vol. 93 No. 131 (12 pages)
Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Friday, April 15, 1994
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J’s Bowen selected as University president
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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
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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