I The Battalion
§82 No. 207 GSPS 045360 14 pages College Station, Texas Friday, September 12, 1986
Financial aid rewrite
may affect students
By Charisse Crunk
Reporter
Legislators are beginning to re
write the Higher Education Act of
1965, which determines what finan
cial aid is available to the nation’s
students.
The outcome could have mixed
results for the federally-funded
Guaranteed Student Loan and Pell
Grant programs, according to a re
port by the United States Student
Association.
The rewriting, called the reautho
rization process, determines what
programs will exist and receive
funding for the next five years, and
could involve major changes in the
GSL, Pell Grant and other federally-
funded programs. The current law
expires Oct. 1, forcing lawmakers to
pass into law the various appropria
tion bills for fiscal 1987 and the
1987-88 academic year, the Aug. 21
student report said.
Both the House and Senate tenta
tively have agreed to raise GSL loan
limits for first- and second-year un
dergraduates to $2,625 a year, an in
crease of $125 a year. Third- and
fourth-year undergraduates would
be eligible to receive up to $4,000, an
increase of $1,500 a year. Currently,
undergraduate students can receive
$2,500 a year. Specific amounts are
not designated for underclassmen or
upperclassmen under the present
provisions, the report said.
Alvin Hermann, assistant director
of student aid at Texas A&M, said
the major change in the GSL pro
gram is the proposed increase in the
interest rate. The House bill in
cludes an increase from 8 percent to
10 percent during the fifth year of
repayment. The Senate bill calls for
a 10 percent interest rate immedi
ately upon repayment.
The higher interest rate could in
crease significantly the total amount
owed by students, Bormann said.
Kathy Ozer, USSA’s legislative di
rector, said her group is concerned
that the increases in GSL loan limits
and interest rates could make repay
ment difficult for students later.
No comment
from Vandiver
on yearbook
Hold the Line
Dak Roberts, left, Christie Cain and Don Avant
pam ipate in a Civil Engineering 201 exercise in
Photo by John Makely
plane surveying between the O&M and Langford
Architecture buildings Thursday afternoon.
e of military in drug fight
'equired by House proposal
to
)r0'
a
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
)use gave final approval Thursday
l[ht to a bill providing new weap-
sfor the war on drugs, including
Ruin'd use of the military and re-
ititution of the federal death pen-
yfor some drug dealers.
The vote of 392-16 sent the bill to
e Senate.
The legislation also would change
Hexclusionary rule,” to allow
me illegally obtained evidence to
-used in court.
Because of such measures, what
gan as a bipartisan bill uniting
ilnoa ats and Republicans, liberals
d conservatives, has now become
terly contested. However, it still
is expected to pass.
After the “exclusionary rule”
used, House Judiciary Committee
prman Peter W. Rodino Jr. an-
ily commented that a bill designed
attac k illegal drugs is now an “at-
i... on the Constitution of the
aited States.”
The bill would escalate the war on
ugs by pouring billions of dollars
'tojtnforcement, education, reha-
ptation, crop eradication and with-
tlding of aid from recalcitrant pro-
icer countries.
The significant changes were
adewhen the House:
•.Voted 296-112 to permit impo-
ion of the federal death penalty
f people involved in continuing
inunai enterprise, who intention-
ly cause the death of another per-
n. The change was sponsored by
IlGeorge W. Gekas, R-Pa.
•|t)ecided, 237-137 to force the
resident to send military forces to
•S|i| borders to stop drug smug-
ing, and give them power to make
tests in instances where traffickers
I under pursuit by authorities.
| Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and
inson, of Arkansas, proposed
drugs. The original bill would have
allocated $300 million for the grants
in fiscal years 1987 and 1988, but the
change, sponsored by Rep. Charles
Rangel, D-N.Y., would raise the fig
ure to $1.3 billion. The state-local
matching share would be reduced
from 50 percent to 10 percent.
Robert Sims, the Pentagon’s chief
spokesman, said the Defense De
partment was committed to assisting
in the fight against drugs but could
not support proposals to establish “a
significant military role in police ac
tivities such as interdiction, arrests
and search-and-seizure.”
Rep. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the
plan was constitutional, adding, “If
this is not defending the shores, than
I don’t know what is.”
By Rodney Rather
Staff Writer
Texas A&M President Frank E.
Vandiver will have no comment on
the resignation of seven of the 10
members of the video yearbook staff
until he gathers more information.
Art Blair, assistant to the president,
said Thursday.
Vandiver received a letter of res
ignation from the staff members Fri
day. Blair said the president wants to
resolve the problem if possible, but
the earliest he’ll be able to discuss
possible solutions is Monday af
ternoon.
The resignation letter said the
staff members resigned because of
ongoing conflicts between the staff
and Educational Broadcasting Serv
ices, a broadcast production arm of
Texas A&M.
Vandiver authorized Student
Publications to produce a video year
book in March, but it was discovered
shortly afterwards that he already
had authorized EBS — in June 1985
— to produce a video yearbook.
Instead of terminating one of the
projects, Vandiver urged Student
Publications and EBS to work out an
arrangement whereby Student Pub
lications would administer the pro
ject but rent EBS equipment.
After negotiations, the mini-cam-
era rental rate was set at $30 per
hour. Other rates were set for equip
ment that would be needed later. In
addition, Student Publications was
required to pay for an EBS student
technician to accompany the staff on
local shoots.
Donald C. Johnson, Student Pub
lications coordinator, indicated that
under the EBS arrangement, the op
erational break-even point was prob
ably four or five years away, as op
posed to the two-year operational
break-even point given in projec
tions to the Student Publications
Board when it approved the project
last spring.
Ricky Telg, former Video Aggie-
land producer, said EBS supplied
the video yearbook with poor equip
ment, which caused the loss of foot
age from Fish Camp and All-Univer
sity Night.
However, Dr. Mel Chastain, EBS
director, said he was unsure whether
the equipment didn’t work or if the
students weren’t familiar with it.
he
as
sa
By a 259-153 tally, approved
nguage that would permit use of
iproperly obtained evidence seized
^Warrantless searches, provided of
ten acted in good faith. Sponsored
|Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., the
tenge is not limited to drug cases.
• Voted 242-171 for an amend-
«nt that would give state and local
Wenforcement agencies a bonanza
i federal grants to fight illegal
Banking legislation to affect big cities
B-CS won’t be directly hit by bill
By Mona Palmer
Senior Staff Writer
The Interstate Banking Bill
passed by the Texas Legislature
last month will not directly affect
the Bryan-College Station econ
omy, said Bookman Peters, presi
dent of the Texas Banking Asso
ciation.
Peters, who is also chief exec
utive officer of First City National
Bank in Bryan, said interstate
banking will mainly affect larger
cities that have big businesses.
Banks in Houston, Dallas, San
Antonio and Austin need more
capital to handle the loan require
ments of big business, he ex
plained. .
The bill, sponsored by Rep.
Bruce Gibson, D-Godley, and
Sen. O.H. (Ike) Harris, R-Dallas,
will allow Texas banks to buy or
be sold out of state.
Gibson said the bill, effective
Jan. 1, is designed to increase the
influx of capital into Texas banks
and turn weak lenders into strong
lenders, If the banks are stronger
and more aggressive, then they
can provide the loans to revive
Texas businesses, he said.
Peters said, “You don’t have
any (businesses) that big in
Bryan-College Station so there’s
no shortage of loan funds here. . .
However, if you have stronger
economic conditions in those ma
jor cities, the (indirect) effect on
“. . . if you have stronger economic conditions in those
major cities, the (indirect) effect on Bryan-College Sta
tion is absolutely positive. ”
— Bookman Peters, Texas Banking Assoc, president.
Bryan-College Station is absolu
tely positive.”
Peters added that it’s difficult
to know what the local bank offi
cials are thinking or what they’re
discussing behind closed doors. If
any banks are contemplating
merging with an out-of-state
bank, it’s not something they
would announce right now, he
said.
“But I don’t think there’s a
flood with a bunch of banks . . .
waiting to jump in just as soon as
the law becomes effective,” he
said.
Gibson said Texas won’t feel
the benefits of the bill until the
end of 1987 — after the bill has
been in effect and mergers are
completed.
“I think there’s no question
that the country is moving to na
tionwide banking,” he said. “For
Texas it’s not a question of
whether or not we have interstate
banking, but when.”
He said the best time is now so
Texas can position itself to be the
regional financial center for the
entire Southwest.
“By going to nationwide bank
ing ... we leapfrog all of our sis
ter states and position ourselves
to go into these markets and have
financial centers in Dallas-Fort
Worth, Houston, and San Anto
nio or Austin rather than in
Phoenix, Tulsa, or New Orleans,”
he said. “Texas will emerge not
just as a regional financial center
but as an international center be
cause of our access to Mexico.”
The Texas bill is parallel to but
not on the same track as the Reg
ulator’s Bill currently in Con
gress.
Kim Wallace, education coor
dinator at the Texas Office on
State Federal Relations, said the
U.S. bill seeks to empower the
Federal Reserve Board and the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
to take over failed as well as fail
ing banks.
Peters said the federal bill deals
with emergency situations. But
under the Texas bill, banks can
merge whether they’re in trouble
or not, he said.
Gibson added that the Texas
Legislature acted on its own bill
because it wasn’t sure what Con
gress was going to do, and be
cause “the (bill) in Congress just
doesn’t provide all the relief
Texas needs,” he said.
Gibson worked on the Texas
bill for a year and a half, with the
support of the Texas Association
of Bank Holding Cos., the TBA,
and Independent Bankers of
Texas.
He explained the three major
checks and balances in the bill.
The first important safeguard,
he said, is required local control
for the banks.
In each county that a bank
does business in, bankers must re
tain a locally managed bank with
a local president, separate ac
counting reserves and a local
board of directors to set lending
E olicies. Also, the majority of the
oard must be Texans who are
not officers in the company.
As another safeguard, the Leg
islature gave the state banking
commissioner authority to ad
minister the Community Re
investment Act, a federal law.
The law says the banks must
serve the community they are in
and can’t take deposits out of a
county or refuse to lend money in
that county.
Under this constraint a person
can take his complaints about a
bank to a state regulator rather
than going to the federal govern
ment.
“We’re concerned about what it
does to people’s level of being in
debt,” she said.
Ozer said the student organiza
tion also is concerned that grant pro
grams will suffer with the increased
allocations to the loan programs.
“Our organization is concerned with
what (changes in) GSL does to other
federally-funded programs,” she
said.
Also proposed is that the defer
ment that can be obtained during re
payment of the GSL be changed
from one to three years.
According to the USSA report,
this proposal would save the govern
ment an estimated $150 million
since the provision would keep un
employed GSL recipients from de
faulting on the loan. Currently, in
the case of default on a GSL, the fed
eral government picks up the tab
and reimburses the lender institu
tion the owed amount, the report
said.
See Changes, page 14
Mubarak,
Peres meet
at summit
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) —
President Hosni Mubarak and Is
raeli Prime Minister Shimon
Peres talked privately for three
hours Thursday, and Mubarak
said Israel’s stand on the Palestin
ian issue is “improving a lot.”
“We have concentrated heavily
on the Palestinian issue, which is
vital and important for the peace
process,” Mubarak said at a news
conference after meeting with
Peres in the first Israeli-Egyptian
summit in five years.
At a 90-minute working lunch
also attended by other officials
from both countries, Peres said
Palestinians “have a right to par
ticipate in the determination of
their own future” but he men
tioned no changes in Israel’s posi
tion on the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
Peres has insisted that Israel
will not negotiate with the PLO,
which it considers a terrorist or
ganization. Before his departure
from Israel, Peres promised his
Cabinet he would make no con
cessions regarding the Palestin
ians.
Alexandria was the site of the
last Israeli-Egyptian summit, in
August 1981 between Egypt’s An
war Sadat and Israel’s Menachem
Begin.
Mexico may
hold armed
U.S. officers
LAREDO (AP) —Just weeks after
Mexican authorities pledged to co
operate in a U.S. effort to curtail
drug smuggling, American law en
forcement officers have been told
that armed U.S. officers will be de
tained in Mexico, according to pub
lished reports.
Although federal officials are
questioning the bulletin, some South
Texas law enforcement agencies
have ordered their officers to stay
out of Mexico.
The order was distributed to
American law enforcement agencies
along the U.S.-Mexico border, the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported
Wednesday.
Customs sources in Dallas and El
Paso verified the existence of the
bulletin, but said they are not yet
sure whether the information is ac
curate, the Star-Telegram said.
The Star-Telegram said the bul
letin was issued Tuesday by customs
officials in Arizona and was based on
information from informants in
Mexico.
“We have heard the rumor over
the past couple of days,” Jim Mahan,
a public affairs officer with the U.S.
Customs in Washington, said
Wednesday. “We have noticed no
change in the Mexican policy and
there’s certainly no change in ours.”
But Webb County Sheriff Mario
L. Santos said he advised his dep
uties not to go into Mexico.