University of Houston - Houstonian Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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Richard Murray On Politics And Gambling The term politician is often given to those officials tolerated by the public, while the title of statesman is reserved for admired public servants. Nevertheless, politicians and statesmen sometimes seek advice from political analysts such as Richard Wayne Murray, UH professor of political science. The Who's Who of American Men and Women of Social and Behavioral Sciences barely gives readers a clue about the expertise of Murray. It simply reads Research: Party Politics in the U.S.”. But for a political science teacher, Murray wears a variety of hats: analyst, prognosticator, lecturer, writer, adviser, speaker and poker player. Poker player? Yes, and a serious one, Murray said. Serious enough to lose |600 in one evening.” Murray is the same relaxed, unassuming fellow whether he's lecturing a freshman government class, speaking to a women's political club or chatting in his office. But Murray is also recognized as a leading authority of city and state politics in Texas. A regular guest of KPRC's Channel 2 during election returns, Murray predicts election results like a professional billard player setting up his shots in a tournament — one at a time and with deliberate skill. He cites facts on political candidates like some television broadcasters zip through sports statistics. Murray predicted last year that the Select Committee on Higher Educations' recommendation to establish a multitiered system for state universities wouldn't survive in the Texas Legislature. Several months before university officials drew their swords for battle, he predicted, Universities see this as a holy war and will die in the trenches before they allow it to become law. Murray also labeled Committee Chairman Templeton's short-lived idea to move Texas Southern University to the UH-Downtown campus as a plan from Mars. Thirty days later, the Houston community loudly echoed Murray's response. Political reporters are familiar with Murray's colorful descriptions of politicians' rhetorical skills. He shows no apparent allegiance to one party and any candidate is fair game for potshots. Regarding last year's governor's race, White's slick media image didn't compensate for his fatal mistake of passing major educational reform and leaving Texas teachers in the dark. Clements, however, isn't very effective with the media. It's like having your drunken brother-in-law over at the house for dinner when the preacher stops in for a visit. You hope he doesn't embarrass you.” Murray is also quite fond of commenting on the local media's attempt to interpret political events. Very few television stations have reporters that arc politically knowlegcablc, he said. Houston stations arc afraid to analyze political events. In their zealous attempt to give a balanced view, they usually say nothing! As project director for the annual Houston Metropolitan Area Survey, Murray provides public policy makers with snapshots of the city's lifestyle, including job opportunities, government services, public transportation and crime problems, based on local residents' attitudes. A survey, in some sense, is a snapshot, he said. Attitudes are always changing. If you have a series of snapshots, you can see the change of residents' attitudes over time. Survey respondents are also quizzed on solving the state's current financial crisis. They rate the acceptability of cutting state programs, raising taxes, establishing a state lottery or legalizing pari-mutual betting. Murray said the percentage of supporters from previous surveys indicate that Texans will legalize race betting on horses and dogs this November. Houston will be important because the mayoral election will be on the same day and there will be heavy voting, he said. Proponents ought to carry the day. Time will tell if Murray hits the bull's eye again, but he knows that any poker player would rather be lucky than good, any day.” — James Millsap Texan complained of fuel price approaching $1.90 per gallon, but a the value of a barrel of oil declined from 1985 to '86 they were unemployed. 23

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Stormy Seas Ahead For UH UH officials say the university will have to dig deeper into savings to come up with an extra $2.2 million to meet a tentative 10.5 percent cut proposed by the state legislature. The legislature agreed to cut $510 million from higher education, a figure that translates to a loss of about $8.2 million for UH, said Peter Fitzgerald, vice president for administration. A plan has already been drawn up to take care of about $6 million in cuts, but more reductions will have to be made to reach the $8.2 million level. Fitzgerald said. The presidents at each component of the UH System will be holding meetings to determine methods for making budgets meet the legislatures figures. They will report to the Board of Regents, Chairwoman Debbie Hanna said. President Richard Van Horn said the figure is somewhat more than expected, more than we hoped for.” Hanna, however, said she considers the 10.5 percent cut a victory. “I never thought the day Budget troubles forced Gov. Mark White to call for a series of Cuts in the spring of ‘86. As if to blame White for the crisis. Texas voters elected Bill Clements Governor in November. Clements said he will raise the education budget to $671 million, its 198S level. would come when I would consider cuts in the 10 percent range a victory, but now I do, Hanna said. The university system and its components were facing deep and devastating cuts.” Van Horn said the real damage will come in 1988. In 88 we ll have to cut the programs back the full 10 percent, if it appears that no new funds will come to the university- The House-Senate conference committee voted 9-1 to accept the bill to cut the $2.8 billion state budget, but some cleanup work still has to be done. We already have a plan, but it would be premature to determine how the exact figures will impact us, Fitzgerald, said. UH met Gov. Mark White s call for cuts in Spring 1986 with freezes on hiring and capital expenditures like construction, savings in utilties, travel restrictions and the doubling of parking fees. In addition, campus depart-ments were asked to cut 3 percent from their operating bud-gets. Van Horn said he expected UH's appropriation to be cut by 9 percent, which is $7.2 million of the original appropriation of $80 million. The Senate originally proposed an overall 7 percent cut of $117.6 million to higher education in Texas. The contrasting House cut was for 18.5 percent, or $320.) million. UH's $80 million share of the appropriation would have been cut by $6 million under the Senate proposal and by $16 million under the House proposal. 22 — Kristin Jacobsen

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AIDS continues to be a Critical topic, such as on Channel 2'$ Evening News with Anchorman Ron Stone, along with other local and national news programs. But a large saturation of problems in the world today seems to have dulled the viewing public's senses. To many. AIDS is just another foreign crisis. AIDS Else 5 Aids is rapidly becoming the biggest threat to our planet, taking the lead in a neck and neck race with topics such as nuclear war and the ozone layer. While world leaders with a killing power 100 times over are able to discuss controlling nuclear weapons. AIDS is a much more abstract killer. Nuclear weapons have quantities and capabilities and are manufactured making them negotiable (even in theory). AIDS has become the great equalizer. No country desires it, nor can stop Someone Problem? its spread. Even countries like the Soviet Union, where controls are tight, arc stepping forward and admitting to a wide spread AIDS problem. Scientists believe that one out of every thirty males in the U.S. carries the disease, or its virus, making containment out of the question and a desperately needed vaccine the only answer. While ignorance of the situation can be found nearly everywhere, one has to wonder how politics may play a part in the race to find a cure. The AIDS virus was formally discovered in 1983- But it can be traced to deaths occuring before 1981. The number of cases has escalated yearly since then. By the end of the 1986-87 school year, the AIDS virus has accounted for nearly 21,000 deaths in the U.S. in seven years. The first International AIDS Conference didn't occur until 1985 in Atlanta. Georgia. In June of 1987. there was still ignorance of the disease at the Third International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. — an ignorance that will only continue to inflate controversy. Vice President George Bush was heckled as he read a list of the President s proposed safety measures to prevent the spread of AIDS in the U.S., a list that included mandatory testing for all immigrants into the country. He turned, believing that the microphone was off, and said, Who was that, some gay group out there? . A very elitist attitude tends to surface in serious discussions about AIDS, but the 6,000 scientists present at the convention didn't find the plan to contain the disease, while overlooking the real need for a cure, to be very funny. Many social economic groups have the misconception that AIDS is something for other types of people to be concerned about. College students are guilty of this belief. While AIDS has been report-