p*8e IVI3TA7C F)l p’pst KidatedPress Netwraskan
2 X^^l t: Mr W U X w Edited by Eric Pfanner Thursday, October 10,1991
Bush keeps ‘total confidence’ in Thomas
Women following Hill’s lead
Anita Hill is not alone. Working
women around the country have
joined her, crossing beyond confu
sion and fear about sexual harass
ment to share experiences of their
own.
“We’ve had a real outpouring
of calls,” said Barbara Otto of 9 to
5, the National Association of
Working Women. “It’s likethey’re
coming out of the closet to tell their
dirty secret. They’re saying:
‘Enough!’”
* In the minds of many, sexual
harassment remains vaguely de
fined. The bounds of acceptable
workplace behavior often seem
murky and victims are unsure when
they’ve been crossed.
This confusion was underscored
when Hill’s allegations against
Supreme Court nominee Clarence
Thomas were made public on the
eve of his confirmation vote, and
because the Judiciary Committee
was accused of giving them short
shrift.
The Equal Employment Oppor
tunity Commission defines sexual
harassment as any sexual advance,
request for sexual favor, sexual
remark or conduct that affects job
or promotion decisions, interferes
with work performance or creates
a hostile, offensive or intimidating
atmosphere.
The vast majority of victims
decline to report clear-cut cases of
being touched or threatened with a
demotion. Even fewer are likely to
stand up against subtler but no less
inappropriate workplace behavior.
. High court nominee called to White House
WASHINGTON—President Bush
on Wednesday declared he still had
“total confidence” in Clarence Tho
mas and called his embattled Supreme
Court nominee to the White House
for a picture-taking session in a pub
lic display of support.
The day after the Senate decided
to delay his confirmation vote until
after public hearings on the allega
tions of sexual harassment against
him, Thomas smiled for photogra
phers and said he was feeling fine.
Asked whether he would be able to
refute the accusations, he responded,
“Just testify. Thanks.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee
is expected to hold hearings Friday
and possibly Saturday to hear testi
mony from Thomas and from Anita
Hill, the Oklahoma law professor who
made the allegations.
Sen. John Dan forth, Thomas’ chief
Senate sponsor, said the nominee would
“look the American people in the
eye” and deny that he said or did
anything improper to the former aide.
“I’ve got strong feelings but they
all end up in strong support for Clar
ence Thomas,” Bush said. “I support
Clarence Thomas and there’s no
wavering, there’s no condition. And
that’s where it is. And that’s the way
it’s going to stay.”
Senate Democratic Leader George
Mitchell defended the Senate’s han
dling of Hill’s allegations that Tho
mas repeatedly made sexually ex
plicit remarks to her when they worked
together nearly a decade ago in the
Reagan administration.
Mitchell rejected criticism by
women’s groups and others that the
Senate had dragged its feel investi
gating the charges. He said the Sen
ate’s hands were tied because Hill
had initially insisted on keeping her
allegations confidential.
Before the allegations became
public, Hill had insisted that only
members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee be told about her allega
tions “and it not be made available to
anyone beyond that,” the Maine
Democrat said.
All the Democrats on the panel,
but not every Republican member,
were briefed about the allegations
before the committee voted 7-7 and
sent the nomination to the Senate
floor without a recommendation.
“The reality is we did confront a
very serious situation, there were
conflicting interests and ultimately I
believe the manner in which we agreed
to proceed was appropriate and fair,”
Mitchell said.
Hill, who has said she will come to
Washington to testify, told police in
Norman, Okla., on Monday that she
had received at least three harassing
telephone calls after her allegations
about Thomas were made public.
TOCUS TrOm
designing * A
new bombs to W "T
redisigning SANDfA LOS
existing ones NATIONAL ALAMOS
to make them LAB NATIONAL
safer. Albuquerque, LAB
2N.M. Los Alamos,
• Builds N.M.
NEVADA TEST electronic • May
SITE bring change
Near Las Vegas systems, focus from
• May switch * WW likely designing
from testing work to new bombs
new bombs make to redeelgn
to those existing ing existing
redesigned systems ones to
for safety safer make them
reasons. safer.
SourcA' AP nuairh
ROGKV PANTEX OAK RIDGE SAVANNAH
FLATS PLANT RESERVATION RIVER
PLANT Amaritto. Oak Ridge. PLANT
Gotten, Cok> Texas Term. Atom, S.C.
• Has been • Originally • May shift • Need lor its
shutdown assembly focus from plutonium
for two plant for uranium production
years due nuclear production to has
to safety weapons, uranium disappeared
problems. • Will reprocessing. • Hopes to
• Safety dismantle • Hopes to become
problems nuclear become dismantling
and old bombs dismantling center,
equipment returning center.
may prevent from
future use. Europe.
Cuts cause nuclear sites to readjust
Caught off balance by President
Bush, defense installations that have
battled since World War II for bil
lions of dollars to build nuclear weap
ons are hurriedly being transformed
into centers for taking them apart.
Bush stunned the defense industry
and nuclear weapons critics last month
by announcing a plan for unilateral
nuclear cuts and new negotiations
with Moscow to reduce nuclear arse
nals.
With many nuclear weapons being
reined in, the need for producing more
of them has been thrown into doubt.
The president’s move came as a
surprise, and defense contractors are
rushing to become the focus for dis
mantling weapons, said Tom Zam
ora, a research analyst for the envi
ronmental group Friends of the Earth.
Other plants that can’t reprocess
bombs are competing for the esti
mated $100 billion needed for clean
ing up the environmental mess from
more than four decades of weapons
production.
“Everybody wants to be the dis
mantling center,” Zamora said. “Pan&ex
wants the job, Savannah River wants
the job, and Rocky Flats wants the
job. Everybody knows this is where
the big bucks will be for the next few
years.”
Modernization of the arsenal will
continue, even if production of new
weapons stops, said Deborah Smith, a
spokeswoman for the Department of
Energy, which builds nuclear bombs
Tor the Pentagon.
"It is far too early to speculate on
the effect of the president’s initia
tives on specific DOE facilities,” she
said. "However, we see no immediate
change. The proposals may well lead
to a smaller complex consistent with
a greatly reduced nuclear stockpile.”
Bush said the United States will
scrap much of its short-range nuclear
arsenal. On Sept. 28, strategic bomber
crews across the country ended a four
decade alert
NelSraSkan
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ment Editor John Payne Chairman BIHVobe}da
Diversions Editor Bryan Paterson 476-2855
Photo Chief Shaun Sartln Professional Adviser Don Walton
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIQHT1M1 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Iraqis skirmish
with Kurds during
5th day of attacks
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Iraqi troops
and Kurdish rebels skirmished in the
area of a key northern city Wednes
day, the latest in five days of fighting
in which hundreds of people have
been killed or wounded.
Tens of thousands of Kurds have
fled the northern city of Suleima
niyah and surrounding towns since
Iraqi bombardments began Saturday.
The Red Cross has evacuated
hundreds of the refugees, a spokes
man for the humanitarian organiza
tion said Wednesday.
Iraq’s state-run newspaper, Al
Jumhouriya, claimed that the army
had regained control of the area around
Suleimaniyah early Wednesday. The
two sides reached a cease-fire Tues
day afternoon, but fighting continued
well past then.
The United Stales and its Persian
Gulf war allies have expressed con
cern but refrained from intervening.
A Kurdish rebel spokesman, Ser
chil Qazzaz, on Wednesday decried
the lack of Western military aid dur
ing the latest fighting. Qazzaz, a
spokesman in the Turkish capital of
Ankara for the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, said coalition forces re
neged on a promise to intercede if the
Iraqi army attacked.
Responding to reports that Kur
dt?h guerrillas were massing on the
Turkish border for an attack, Qazzaz
said only that it was not unlikely.
“We learned that we should de
pend only on ourselves,” he said.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party
said in a statement issued in London
that sporadic gunfire continued around
Suleimaniyah on Wednesday.
Statements from the Kurdish groups
said an estimated 76 civilians had
been killed and 750 Kurdish civilians
injured since the bombardments be- |
gan. They said medical supplies were }
running low in the city and that tens
of thousands had fled Suleimaniyah
and the surrounding towns.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party
claimed that up to 4,000 Iraqi troops
had been taken prisoner.
Saddam moved against the rebels
as Kurdish leaders were planning to
establish a rival provisional govern
ment in their mountain stronghold, in
their latest attempt to overthrow the
Iraqi president. Saddam’s government
and the guerrillas had been negotiat
ing on a degree of autonomy for the
Kurds in northern Iraq, but the talks
foundered.
The Kurds rebelled in March alter
the gulf war cease-fire, seeking to
win a decades-old battle for auton
omy from the central government.
Tuesday’s cease-fire agreement was
signed by an Iraqi Defense Minishy
official and the Iraq Kurdistan Front,
a coalition of eight rebel factions
fighting for autonomy from the
Baghdad government.
There was no immediate independ
ent confirmation about the situation,
but both the British government and
the Red Cross expressed strong con
cern.
In Geneva, the Red Cross spokes
man, speaking on condition of ano
nymity, said the organization had
evacuated hundreds of wounded in
the past few days and the humanitar
ian group issued a statement express
ing alarm about the fighting.
Pioneering fetal transplant shows
signs of curing genetic ailment
wAoniiNU lUN — A pioneering
transplant of fetal tissue into a devel
oping fetus to cure a genetic ailment
shows initial signs of success, doctors
said Wednesday.
Esmail Zanjani of the University
of Nevada in Reno said the trans
planted tissue has taken hold in the
recipient, who was born in Novem
ber. Five to 10 percent of the child’s
blood-making cells are descendants
of the transplanted cells, he said.
“Has it succeeded to the point of
curing? We don’t know yet,”Zanjani
said at the Eighth International Con
gress of Human Genetics.
Further tests will be required to
determine whether the child, afflicted
with a severe genetic abnormality
called Hurler syndrome, is develop
ing symptoms of the disorder, he said.
Such transplants could theoreti
cally be used to treat a wide variety of
genetic disorders, said Dr. Mitchell
Golbus of the University of Califor
nia, San Francisco.
The case highlights the thorny issue
of whether research using fetal tissue
should be allowed. The government
has opposed fetal tissue research over
the strong protests of medical research
ers.
Transplants of fetal tissue into mice,
cals and sheep have been successful,
but transplants of adult tissue into
animal fetuses have not succeeded,
said Zanjani.