artan Dcdly Volume 91, No. 54 Serving San Jose State University Since 1934 Thursday. November 17, 1988 Raindrops keep falling Fullerton asks Gray skies A.S. to release indicate end of dry spell frozen money By Dan Turner Daily staff writer By Lisa Hannon lawsuit were deducted from them. A few tentative drops of rain fi- Daily staff writer Leigh Kimisse, director of Califor- nally fell on the parched San Jose President Gail Fullerton requested nia state affairs, said the legal fees landscape this week, but a na- that the Associated Students release are about $3.000 so far. tional weather service official $117.0(X) frozen as a result of the "We feel justified in having the said it was still too early to tell four minor sports eliminated in May. university deduct and pay the debts whether Northern California In her letter to A.S. President which we were forced to incur when would emerge from the drought. Terry McCarthy. she wrote that the these programs were cut without re- According to the service, San money is needed for intercollegiate gard to due process," she wrote Jose has normally received more sports other than football and men's along with Kevin Reese. director of than an inch of rain by this time basketball. business affairs. of year. So far, rainfall levels "Surely it is not the intention of McCarthy and Fullerton could not have reached about 0.4 inches, the Associated Students to deny be reached for comment. but this week's storms might raise funding to these sports as a means of Fullerton stated if the money was that number closer to the norm. showing the support for a diversity not released soon, sports such as Meteorologists estimate that of intercollegiate athletic pro- baseball and women's basketball California needs at least 85 per- grams," she wrote. would be affected. cent of its normal rainfall levels Fullerton wants the A.S. to sup- "If such funds are not forthcom- this winter in order to avoid a port budgeted sports despite its pen- ing soon, spring sports will have to major drought year. Normal win- ding lawsuit against the university be curtailed." she wrote. ter rainfall for San Jose comes to concerning the sports already cut. The money frozen is in the form about 14 inches. In August, the A.S. filed an in- of Instructional Related Activities. Last year, the region received junction to block the removal of The IRA budget provides for SJSU less than 10 inches. wrestling, track, cross country and clubs and athletics in addition to The forecast for the next few field hockey. The A.S. froze the what the university budgets. days calls for scattered showers funds in August when a Superior The A.S. opposed the way SJSU today clearing this evening, fol- Court judge denied the petition. cut the minor sports. Student offi- lowed by mostly fair skies Friday In a letter to McCarthy. two A.S. cials said the university violated and Saturday. *directors said the funds should be re- open-meeting laws by excluding the Another storm is expected to leased only if the costs of filing the See MONEY, back page move into the Bay area Saturday night. John Hayes, an SJSU alumnus who worked as a weather fore- caster for radio station KSJS last year, said the outlook for good 'fronweed' author snow in the Sierras is very prom- ising this year. Skiing conditions last year were extremely poor because most California storms originated reads latest book in the wanner Southern regions. So far, the storms that have By Dan Turner ' Ironweed" was subsequently reached the Sierras originated in Daily staff writer made into a film starring Jack Nich- the North and thus have resulted Pulitzer Prize-winning author olson and Meryl Streep. in snowfall rather than precipita- William Kennedy read from his lat- tion. Kennedy is known for writing est work, "Quinn's Book," before about people who are largely ignored "The ski season is having its about 200 people at SJSU Tuesday. best start in the last three or four by our society. His lower class, Kennedy said the idea for the Irish-American characters reflect his years," Hayes said. novel came from a phone conversa- Dave Williamson of the Na- own experiences growing up in Al- tion he had with his father in 1965. bany. tional Weather Service agreed, "His memories and stories were saying that most of the major randomly told with no reciprocal Critics have frequently compared slopes in the state should be open Brian Baer Daily staff photographer logic as to sequence, yet they co- Kennedy to William Faulkner, who for Thanksgiving. alesced with such significance that I is considered one of the greatest Williamson emphasized that Scott Leavitt (right) holds an umbrella for his girlfriend Deanna Calleros wrote down what I called 'Idea for American novelists. A New York snow is important for more than an Albany fantasy,' "he said. Times book reviewer said Kenne- just skiiing. Most of the state's "Quinn's Book" is the fifth in a dy's Albany had become as firmly water supply comes from melted The state experienced little ing California high and dry. rainfall in the Bay area should be series of novels set in Albany, New established in the literary world as snow. rainfall in 1987 because the storm William said the NWS can pre- fairly close to normal levels this York, where Kennedy was born and Joyce's Dublin or Faulkner's Yokna- Last year. the snowfall in the track ran farther north than it nor- dict weather conditions for the year. However, he emphasized raised. patawpha County. Sierras was only about 50 to 60 mally does, covering states like next 90 days using computers. that such predictions are far from The most famous of the Albany John Crane, dean of SJSU's percent of normal amounts. Washington and Idaho, but leav- According to current data. 1(X)-percent iiCC orate. novels is "Ironweed." which won school of Humanities and the Arts him both a Pulitzer and a National and an acclaimed novelist himself. Book Critics Circle Award See KENNEDY. hack page Student remembers Vietnam Author speaks about civil rights movement By Leah Peis Martin Luther King, Jr., and the cation that he is emerging as one of Daily staff writer Southern Christian Leadership Con- this generation's accepted authorities Immigrant adjusts to American life; The American civil rights ference." will speak to students in on the civil rights movement," said movement began more than 30 years Morris Dailey Auditorium Friday. Steve Millner, chairman of SJSU's ago, but David Garrow still has vol- The talk is one of a series offered Afro-American studies department. says his culture changed San Jose umes to write about it. by the California Faculty Associa- "Bearing The Cross" describes Gamow. the Pulitzer-Prize win- tion. the people and events that shaped the By Martin Cheek ning author of "Bearing The Cross: "Garrow's work gives us an indi- See AUTHOR, page 3 Daily staff writer When Tri Nguyen was 8 years old, he and his family frantically scrambled into a crowded American 'The transport plane to leave a war-torn last thing I Dog eat dog Vietnam. saw The SJSU student remembers the of my country fearful mob at the Saigon Airport, was desperately trying to board the last the flag the flights. In 1975, the Vietnamese knew the country was going to fall to Vietnamese and the Communists by April. American Nguyen's father, an employee of flags at the American government, arrived the home in a jeep and told the family to airport.' pack as much as it could into suit- cases. Tri Nguyen "We got anything we could bring student with us: clothes, jewelry, food, watches, passports anything. I thought we were going on a vaca- tion." Nguyen said, laughing. If the family hadn't left, their lives People were just scrambling to get After six months there, Nguyen would have been in jeopardy be- in. They'd do anything to get in the said he and his family were moved to cause the father worked for the U.S. airplane." Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, a place Army. Nguyen said his father lied to get where many Vietnamese saw Amer- "It was a matter of life and two women on the cargo plane, but ica for the first time. death," Nguyen said. "My mother didn't take any money for it. "It was somewhat a taste of was reluctant to leave." The student still remembers his American life," he said. At the fort, Driving in the jeep to the airport last glimpse of Vietnam, while he he began to gain "little hits of Amer- was an adventure for the younger and the other passergers were ican culture. For us young kids, it Nguyen. He said he didn't under- packed in the planes "like sardines. was great." stand the political turmoil in his "The last thing I saw of my coun- The older Vietnamese weren't homeland. try was the flag the Vietnamese used to the new culture, he said. Arriving at the Saigon Airport, he and American flags at the airport," They missed their homeland and got knew the place was out of control. he said. "Then the hatched closed." sick from the American food. Kathleen Howe Daily staff photographer "It was hectic," he said. "People In the darkness of the crowded The Nguyen family lived a few would pay you ounces of gold to lie plane. Nguyen flew five hours to the months in Arkansas and then moved Ceorge Skoutos, a senior in aviation, feeds Prince a hotdog he bought at a stand that you were their brother or sister.