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SOUTHWEST CONFEHENCE SHOWDOWN
A&M and Tech hook up in
Lubbock for four games.
SPORTS, PAGE 7
The
102, No. 119 (10 pages)
Pro / Con: Was thfe recent
affirmative action
decision a step forward?
OPINION, PAGE 9
Setting Standards
James Jolivette becomes
the first winner of the Mr
Black Positive pageant.
AGGIELIFE, PAGE 3
Battalion
Serving Texas AdrM University Since 1893
Friday • March 29, 1996
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313.
Baggett, Shopp to face
off in run-off
Tim Moog, Thu Battalion
Ryan Shopp, student body president candidate, is surrounded by supporters after student election
results were announced Thursday night.
By Eleanor Colvin
The Battalion
Student body election officials are hoping the
fervor that compelled 10,100 Texas A&M Uni
versity students to vote in the Spring 1996
campus elections will not diminish as candi
dates gear up for the April 4 run-off elections.
See Results, Page 6
Chris Cochran, election commissioner and a
junior industrial engineering major, said voter
Sterline Harman. The Battalion
Carl Baggett, student body president candidate, is
congratulated by a supporter after the student
elections results were announced Thursday night.
turnout on March 27 and 28 was up from about
6,000 in last year’s election and represents the
largest turnout ever at A&M.
Increased student interest and involvement
in elections should be good news for Ryan
Shopp, a senior electrical engineering major,
and Carl Baggett, a senior accounting major,
both of whom will compete in the student body
president run-off election.
Shopp said hearing his name announced as a
run-off candidate was an indescribable feeling.
“I was in a dream world,” he said. “I was in
total shock. If they hadn’t been holding me up,
I don’t know what would have happened.”
Shopp said he is optimistic about the upcom
ing election and that he hopes the same num
ber of students will vote in the run off.
“Go out and vote,” he said. “It’s not over yet.
If people don’t vote, the student body won’t ac
curately be represented.”
Will Hurd, Carl Baggett’s campaign manag
er and a freshman computer science major, said
Baggett was pleased and excited about the an
nouncement.
“He is glad that he is one step closer to taking
the University to the next level,” he said. “He is
definitely happy that he got such broad support
and that so many people came out to vote.”
Overall, students said they were excited that
the voter turnout was so high and that A&M
students seem less apathetic about elections
than in past years.
Christopher Leschner, a junior agricultural
systems major, said the large number of voters
resulted from the controversial yell leader races.
“I ran for junior yell leader last year, so I
know that it’s a race that involves a lot of
heart,” he said. “The enthusiasm from all the
groups involved created more aware and in
formed voters.”
Anand Sendhrl, a junior chemical engineer
ing major, said he is impressed that the num
ber of voters climbs steadily each year.
“It’s exciting to see the great increase in
comparison to last year,” he said. “I’m glad
more students are committed to electing the
See Turnout, Page 6
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
The Texas A&M student body yesterday elect
ed Gary Kipe and Jimbo Cross and re-elected
Chris Tom as the 1996 senior Yell Leaders.
Receiving the junior Yell Leader positions
were Brandon Meche and Tim Duffy.
Meche, a sophomore business major, said his
election to Yell Leader is the best thing that has
ever happened to him.
“It is just unbelievable,” Meche said. “It is
something you see other people do and you never
believe you can do.”
Cross is one of only a handful of non-regs in
A&M history to be elected to the position of Yell
Leader, and Kipe’s election is unusual because he
went against the Corps of Cadets Bloc.
Jaime Reyes, a senior communication health
major, said he does not support the campaign
Kipe used to get elected.
Reyes said that Kipe, as a member of the
Corps, should not have gone against the Corps
Bloc, which is a system the Corps uses to select
candidates. Kipe was not one of the supported
candidates.
See Results, Page 6
Big Event kicks off Saturday
Settlement reached
bushy Creek residents and A&M officials
agree to continue development on ASTREC
By Lily Aguilar
The Battalion
Moments before a hearing
was to convene Thursday in a
Houston courtroom, Texas
A&M officials and residents of
the Brushy Creek community
reached an agreement to con
tinue construction of A&M’s
Animal Science, Teaching and
Research Extension Complex.
The decision ended Brushy
Creek residents’ attempts to
get a court injunction to stop
the development of ASTREC.
Jim Ashlock, director of Uni
versity Relations, said A&M of
ficials are pleased with the set
tlement and are waiting for Dr.
Barry Thompson, Texas A&M
University System chancellor,
to approve it.
A&M is not yet releasing the
agreement’s details.
“Basically, we have reached a
settlement on a range of the is
sues,” Ashlock said. “There will be
no interruption in the develop
ment of the site, and we will keep
on going with the project.”
Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M
president, said he is relieved
that the parties reached an
agreement and that he is look
ing forward to ASTREC’s con
tinued development.
“We are relieved and grati
fied that the parties were able
to resolve this issue without
the time, expense and inconve
nience of further litigation,”
Bowen said. “Now Texas A&M
may continue with its mandat
ed responsibility to educate the
young people of Texas.”
Dr. Ruth Schaffer, a Brushy
Creek resident and A&M pro
fessor of sociology, said Brushy
Creek residents opposed to AS
TREC think they are better off
now than when they began
their battle two years ago.
“Well, we didn’t feel that we
had won, but we didn’t feel that
See Settlement, Page 5
By Danielle Pontiff
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Student
Government Big Event Com
mittee has a mission: Show the
people of Bryan-College Station
how much A&M students ap
preciate their support.
See related EDITORIAL, Page 9
Saturday, March 30, this
mission will be accomplished by
4,800 students tackling 450
community service projects in
the 14th annual Big Event.
Amy Wilkinson, Big Event
assistant director and a junior
accounting major, said the Big
Event is a traditional A&M
way of thanking Bryan-College
Station residents.
“They support us in so many
ways,” Wilkinson said. “They
share their town with us. They
let us build a big fire every
year. They put up with a lot.”
The Big Event will start with a
9 a.m. party at Olsen Field.
Chris Dugosh, Class of ’86,
will speak at the party. Dugosh
participated in the first Big
Event in 1982, when the event
consisted of a group of six stu
dents taking on a single com
munity service project.
Today, the Big Event is the
largest student-run community
service project in the nation.
Brad Russell, Big Event di
rector and a junior journalism
major, said this year’s Big
Event will have the largest
number of participants in the
project’s history.
“The growth of the Big Event
over the years demonstrates
the incredible spirit of Texas
A&M,” Russell said. “Other
universities interested in doing
similar projects have been in
touch with us to ask for advice.
We are an example to them.”
Each student participating in
the Big Event will be assigned to
a group and given a task to com
plete by the end of the day. Some
of the jobs will include painting
houses and constructing handicap
access ramps.
Wilkinson said anyone in the
community can make a project
request to the Big Event Com
mittee.
“We’ve been fortunate to
have enough students available
to do all the jobs,” Wilkinson
said. “No one’s ever been
turned down. We hope we never
come to the point where we’d
have to select people.”
Businesses donate money
and tools for Big Event. When
the work is done, tools are
stored in a storage shed at
Hensel Park to be used in fu
ture Big Events.
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>34.
Regents plan to uproot greenhouse
Changes to be made to West Campus include an increase in parking
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
Driving on Texas A&M’s
West Campus should become
easier once construction on
Agronomy Circle ends.
The Texas A&M Board of Re
gents approved a $572,000 plan
last week to complete the road
way on the north side of Agron
omy Circle east of Agronomy
Road.
The plan calls for the demoli
tion of the Horticulture Green
houses, which stand between
the existing stretch of the circle
and parking area 68.
The two-lane divided road
that currently ends at the
greenhouses will be extended.
Tom Williams, director of
Parking, Transit and Trans
portation Services, said once
the greenhouses are relocated,
the construction should not last
’tore than a year.
The construction is part of
the design to improve traffic in
the area, Williams said, and
has only been on hold because
of the greenhouse relocation.
“The only delay has been that
we didn’t have anywhere to put
those greenhouses,” he said.
Dan Kennedy, a civil engi
neer for the Texas A&M Uni
versity System, said the Uni
versity is working to design a
new site for the greenhouses.
“The new site hasn’t been
firmly established yet,”
Kennedy said. “I think the
A&M Physical Plant is develop
ing a design.”
Construction plans also call
for an additional 50 parking
spaces in parking area 68, to
meet parking demands for West
Campus buildings.
“There was a need for park
ing access to the West Campus
Library, the (Biochemistry/Bio
physics Building) and the
Wehner Business Administra
tion Building areas,” Williams
said, “especially for the late-
night library users.”
Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion
The greenhouses on West Campus will be relocated to accommodate
construction to Agronomy Circle. The new location for the greenhous
es has not been established.
Williams said the construe- traffic problems for students
tion should not cause any major driving around West Campus.
New deadline for
withdrawal from
University: April 1
Because of changes in the Texas A&M withdrawal
policy, Monday, April 1, is the last day students can
withdraw from the University for academic reasons.
Prior to this semester, students were able to withdraw
until the final day of classes.
The policy changes, developed by the Academic
Operation Committee, have removed the differentia
tion between students who withdraw passing and
who withdraw failing.
Before this semester, students were determined to
have "withdrawn passing" or "withdrawn failing" by
the professor of each course enrolled in at the time of
withdrawal. "Withdrawn failings" were averaged into
students' grade-point ratios. Professor involvement in
the system has been eliminated, and now the registrar
simply declares a student "withdrawn."
Students will still be allowed, upon approval of the
dean of their colleges, to withdraw for nonacademic
reasons until the final day of classes.