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The Battalion
1,93 No. 144 (10 pages)
Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Wednesday, May 4, 1994
Iwanda’s minorities slain in genocidal rampage
Ivin
A
1m
(Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — Heavy shelling bat-
1 Rwanda’s capital in a surge of fight-
between Tutsi rebels and Hutu-led
iernment troops Tuesday, and new re-
rts on ethnic butchery in the country-
lesaid militiamen killed 34 orphans and
1 Cross workers.
A British-based aid group, Oxfam,
taded with the United Nations to send
iops back into Rwanda to protect civil-
ts from the slaughter that has raged
unchecked for nearly a month.
At least 100,000 Rwandans have been
killed since Rwanda’s president, a member
of the majority Hutu ethnic group, died in
a mysterious plane crash April 6 in the
capital, Kigali. U.N. Secretary Boutros
Boutros-Ghali has said the death toll may
approach 200,000 out of a population of
8.5 million.
But Oxfam’s director, David Bryer, said
reports from his colleagues working with
Rwandan refugees who have flooded into
neighboring countries suggest that up to
500,000 people may have been slain, most
of them minority Tutsis.
“If this is confirmed, it will represent
genocide on a horrific scale, with a level
of killing the world has not seen since
Cambodia in the 1970s,” Bryer said in a
letter to British Prime Minister John Major
urging international intervention.
In a new example of the savagery, the
International Red Cross reported Tuesday
that 21 orphans were slain by militiamen
in Butare on Sunday, along with 1 3 Rwan
dan Red Cross workers who tried to pro
tect them.
The Belgian Red Cross quoted one of its
officials in Butare, Pascal Dufour, as saying
the children — ages 3 to 1 2 — were “se
lected on an ethnic basis” from a group of
500 orphans evacuated last month from
Kigali, about 50 miles to the north.
During a visit to Oslo, Norway, U.N.
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
repeated his call to African states to pro
vide troops for an all-African peacekeep
ing force that would be financed and
equipped by the West. U.N. officials said
no nation has pledged troops.
A foreign military presence is necessary
to “defuse the conflict, to contain the
genocide,” Boutros-Ghali said.
Such a mission would have to be ap
proved by the Security Council, which last
month slashed the peacekeeping force in
See Rwanda/Page 6
jeorge Bush Drive
xpansion provided
iy state for Library
Kim McGuire
It Battalion
sp
itekto approve additional funding of $4.7 million
nhe expansion of George Bush Drive, which
be completed before the presidential library
fens in 1997.
Gov. Ann Richards announced Thursday, during
stop in Bryan, that the commission had approved
ie funds.
just received word that I think you will be
ileased to hear,” Richards said. “Earlier today, the
has Transportation Commission voted for com
pletion of an expansion project for George Bush
rive here in College Station. I am very proud that
has will soon be able to boast of two presidential
ibraries.”
The expansion project calls for the road to be in-
leased from two lanes to four lanes at the point
- spring v i iere George Bush Drive crosses Wellborn Road.
The four lanes will continue past FM 2818 and
iature a raised landscaped median.
Denise Fischer, public information officer for the
late department of highways and public transporta-
ion, said College Station has started negotiations
mth a design consultant and expects the construction
a begin next summer.
She said the state allocating additional funds for
ie project means no other projects within the ten
tounhes the department oversees had to be delayed.
“Some of these projects take years to complete,”
fecher said. “If this project would have gone
feugh the normal channels it might not have been
filed by tire time the library is completed.”
Hichards said transportation officials have estimat-
fdthe road will be a major thoroughfare, transport-
i|as many as 16,000 vehicles a day.
Don Wilson, executive director of the Bush Presi-
iential Library, said the road expansionwill help ease
apected traffic congestion once the library opens.
"This will mean necessary traffic accommodations
io serve the thousands of visitors we’re expecting
upon completion,” Wilson said. “This is a very im
portant step in completing plans for the infrastruc-
Mre of this new institution. ’
Richards said the project’s importance extends be
yond completion of a needed highway.
"This use of state funds is an important invest
ment in the economic development of the Bryan-
College Station area,” she said. “Once completed, the
George Bush Library, the George Bush School of Gov
ernment and Public Service and the Center for Presi-
iential and Public Leadership Studies will provide
jobs for approximately 360 people and could attract
is many as 300,000 visitors a year to the area.”
s year,
ivisory
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be built
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Admiral promotes
placing women
onto combat ships
The Associated Press
Anna JohnsonASpeoicd to The Battalion
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Neely johnson (left), a junior rangeland ecology major, and Slaten Holmes, a
freshman wildlife and fisheries major, practice their archery skills at the polo
fields Tuesday afternoon. Johnson is the current national champion in archery
and Neely is 20th ranked. Both are preparing for the Olympic Festival trials
scheduled for next month in College Station.
WASHINGTON — The Navy
must recruit more women and
give them more chances to serve
on combat ships, the service’s
new chief said Tuesday.
The Navy’s image will improve
“once everybody is recognized to
be equal in the workplace,” Adm.
Jeremy Boorda said in an inter
view with reporters.
Women serve on 5 7 of the
Navy’s 406 ships, but Boorda said
his goal is nothing less than all
ships. “The goal is everything,”
he said.
The new chief of naval opera
tions announced his plans just 1 0
days after taking command of a
service afflicted by recent reports
of sexual harassment, lackluster
leadership and cheating at the
U.S. Naval Academy.
Boorda said he will give the
men and women of the Navy the
chance to prove the Navy is com
mitted to equal opportunity in
the workplace.
“I want to do it as quickly as
we can do it correctly,” the admi
ral said.
He added that the goal may
take some time to achieve be
cause women must be integrated
into crews at a proper pace in or
der to maintain a balance of
trained sailors, new recruits and
fighting capabilities.
“We re a profession that needs
a lot of readiness, and it doesn’t
make sense to exclude half the
population, does it?” he said.
The four-star admiral said cur
rent plans call for putting women
on three aircraft carriers and 27
to 3 0 ships over the next three
years, but that he has asked his
staff to look into ways to inte
grate women into the service
more quickly.
“I would like to go faster,” Bo
orda said.
There are 55,600 women
among the Navy’s 482,800 total
force.
About 8,000 women are on
ships at present, and women are
scheduled to be assigned to 10
combat vessels this year.
“We’re a profession
that needs a lot of
readiness, and it does
n’t make sense to ex
clude half the popula
tion, does it?”
- Adm. Jeremy Boorda
Although the issue of putting
women on submarines has been
under study, Boorda said he has
asked his personnel chief to
“look at it hard, again.”
Compilex issues of privacy and
cost must be studied, since ships
must be recdnfigured to accom
modate private quarters for
women.
Another reason for taking
more women into the service,
the admiral said, is because his
“bank” of recruits has dropped.
“It is not just the humanitari
an or the sociological reasons for
doing that, it is because our Navy
is getting smaller, recruiting is
getting more difficult,” he said.
“It’s a business and a profes
sional thing, as well as the equal
opportunity kind of aspects to it.
It’s nice, because they come to
gether and you can do two good
things at once this way.”
eecham.
Final Exam Schedule
Friday
T uesday
7:30-9:30 a.m.
Classes meeting
MW 5:45-7 or later
8-10 a.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 10:20-11:10
10 a.m. - noon
Classes meeting
MWF 8 a.m
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 3-3:50"
12:30-2:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
• 9:35-10:50
1-3 p.m.
Classes meeting
TR 3:55-5:10
3-5 p.m.
Classes meeting
TR 11:10-12:25
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 1:50-2:40
Monday
Wednesday
8-10 a.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 9:10-10
8-10 a.m.
Classes meeting
TR 12:45-2
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 12:40-1:30
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
MWF 11:30-12:20
1-3 p.m.
Classes meeting
TR 8-9:15
1-3 p.m.
Classes meeting
TR 2:20-3:35
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
MW 4:10-5:25
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Classes meeting
TR 5:30-6:45 or later
Local groups question Ross glorification
By Rob Clark
The Battalion
Campus Briefs
Opinion
Pg.2
Pg.9
Sports
Whafs Up
Pg. 7
Pg. 10
Today marks the 75th anniver
sary of the unveiling of the
Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue on
the Texas A&M campus.
When many students think of
Ross, the images that come to
mind are that of a war hero, gover
nor of Texas and A&M president.
But some black students say they
are uncomfortable paying tribute
to Ross because of his role in the
Confederacy and what the Confed
eracy stood for.
Ross served as a brigadier gen
eral for the Confederacy in the
Civil War and eventually became
governor of Texas. Ross later be
came president of Texas A8dvl from
1891-1898 and is widely credited
for keeping the school afloat dur
ing its fledgling years.
Ross’ importance to the Univer
sity and his role in the Confedera
cy leave many questioning some of
his characteristics.
Chris Jackson, an A&M history
professor, said slavery apparently
raised no moral problems for Ross.
“He seemed to believe that
blacks accommodated themselves
rather well,” he said. “There’s no
indication that he thought it was
unjust or sinful. He was a man
with a very easy conscience about
slavery.”
In her book “Sul Ross — Soldier,
Statesman, Educator,” Judith Ann
Benner described an incident after
a Civil War battle March 4, 1864.
A victorious Ross demanded the
“immediate and unconditional
surrender of the last re-doubt,
then occupied by the 1 1 th Illinois
Infantry and some black troops.
Surrender negotiations broke
down when Ross would not ‘rec
ognize Negroes as soldiers,’ since
two of his men had been brutally
murdered by black troops some
weeks before.”
Brian Feller, a member of Tradi
tions Council, said the time in
which Ross lived cannot be com
pared to today.
“In that time period, he mis
treated minorities, ’ he said. “That
was what was called for and what
was the situation in that time peri
od in the South.”
Feller said Ross’ contributions
to the University far oti(weigh his
questionable characteristics.
“I can appreciate the concern,”
he said. “Their ancestors — the way
they’ve suffered — they may have a
little bit of animosity toward the
way Sul Ross acted. But I don’t feel
they should consider that when they
look at what he did for the Univer
sity. It’s unfair he be looked at in a
negative light regardless of the way
he treated minorities.”
Stew Milne/The Battalion
Shawn Williams, political actions
chair of the A&M branch of the
NAACP, said the University needs to
rethink the emphasis placed on the
statue.
“This is the 1990s and times
have changed,” he said. “The way
they pay homage to this man — they
can’t even see him in a bad light.
Most people just put him up on a
pedestal to where he can do no
wrong.”
See Ross/Page 6