The Battalion
o|83 No. 20 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, September 26, 1986
louse approves federal tax overhaul bill
jjtg WASHINGTON (AP) — The
rJEFOUSt easily approved a watershed
l-D'SHaul of the federal tax code to-
A iy, promising a tax cut for millions
■SP8Americans and an increased bur-
business.
P ».By|a 292-136 vote, the House
IQjjHi the sweeping measure and
' ^ mtilto the Senate, where final con-
u ^Bonal approval is expected be-
end of next week.
i r Re) Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., a
]GS SCdl^fcuthor of the bill, said, “We are
n to let the American people
ioWihat their legislative process is
working, that when they request of
their leaders in Washington a
change, that we respond.” •
The legislation, he added, re
sponds to a public demand “that the
family down the street or the cor
poration across town can’t beat the
system any longer.”
Rep. Jack F. Kemp, R-N.Y., said,
“We must not pass up this historic
opportunity to make a contribution
to those elements of the American
economy that have long been ne
glected: the working poor, the fam
ily, labor and capital.”
Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill, D-
Mass., in closing the debate, said,
“This is the most sweeping tax-re
form legislation in the history of this
nation. “If we pass this bill, the 99th
Congress will assume a special place
in the history of this country.”
Within moments of the bill’s pas
sage, Rostenkowski strode to his of
fice and hanged a “Gone Fishin”
sign on the door.
The bill would cut individual and
corporate tax rates deeply and elimi
nate or reduce several deductions
and exclusions, including those for
Individual Retirement Accounts,
consumer interest and sales taxes.
On the average, individual taxes
would be cut about 6.1 percent —
less than $4 a week — and more than
6 million working poor would be
dropped from the tax rolls. Several
million couples and individuals
would face tax increases.
Over the next five years, corpora
tions would pay a $ 120-billion
greater share of the tax burden and
business would lose a major incen
tive for job-creating investments —
changes that worry some lawmakers
and economists.
Members of both parties spoke
against the measure — expressing
fears that it would damage an al
ready sluggish economy, impose an
other burden on the middle class or
destroy jobs in their districts.
Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, said,
“There is both good and bad in this
bill. The risks associated with the
bad outweigh hoped-for benefits of
the good.”
Archer tried to have the bill sent
back to the Senate and House nego
tiators who produced the final com
promise — a move that probably
would have killed it. He was de
feated, 268-160.
Rostenkowski told the House the
poses no threat to the economy.
“About the only people I haven’t
heard from are those people this bill
does the most for — low- and mid
dle-income families,” he said. “They
are the men and women to whom we
must make our case, no matter
which way we vote.”
lumni gifts to UT, LSU
ay escape tax rules
thletic boosters to receive tax deductions
<4 I By Sondra Pickard
Senior Staff Writer
Hth a little strategic lobbying, a
_ Y Hluck, and what amounts to be-
(ylj Kiti the right place at the right
me, the University of Texas and
?nt
BE HEU
n 20' ^
n 206'
n 206 ^
231
Cuts 'driving
faculty away
from Texas'
jre mlo
h AUSTIN (AP) — Spending
the Legislature is on the
verp of approving are already
■ng a toll on Texas universi-
^Kand the damage must be re-
Hed next year, Lt. Gov. Bill
®bysaid Thursday.
Bobby said $510 million in
(Spending cuts, plus a rollback in
Aj raisi s for state employees and
J A other cost-cutting measures, have
fi?eausr(l some professors to leave
Ay^.Texa' schools and kept others
from moving to the state.
^IgA survey of 25 of our 37 state
unhersities showed that 217 fac
ulty members had resigned by
mid-July and 220 prospects had
jined jobs in Texas,” he said.
In most of those cases, Hobby
fi, the faculty members cited
ligher salaries, better benefits
j| more research opportunities
Iplable in other states.
"Our future economic diversi-
icanon depends on our commit-
git to excellence in higher edu-
Kon,” he said. “And state
Hfernment has a key role to play
higher education and job cre-
ition.”
Louisiana State University have
managed to outsmart the nation’s
tax reform bill in at least one area —
athletics.
A timely pork-barrel addition to
the bill will make UT and LSU the
only two schools in the country
whose athletic boosters will be able to
make tax-deductible contributions as
charitable gifts.
Earlier this year, an Internal Rev
enue Service ruling eliminated the
deduction for donors whose gifts
earned them the right to purchase
specially reserved tickets for athletic
events. Scholarship donors who re
ceive similar ticket privileges at other
universities will be prohibited from
taking the tax write-off.
For UT, the special addition is a
result of the work of Rep. J.J. Pickle,
D-Austin, while Sen. Russell Long,
D-La., was the first to achieve the ex
clusive legislation for LSU — located
in his hometown of Baton Rouge.
John Havens, Pickle’s press secre
tary, said concerned UT lobbyists
asked Pickle if the ruling prohibiting
deductions on contributions could
be changed. Later, Pickle was told by
the IRS that the ruling could not be
overturned.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Long
was able to get the write-off for LSU,
at which time legislators decided the
House also should have the opportu
nity to write in what is commonly
called a “transition rule.”
“Mr. Pickle happened to be the
only member who raised the entire
issue on the House side,” Havens
said. “There was very little he could
do but say yes. It wouldn’t have been
a good decision on his part to refuse
it for UT because he felt like the pre
vious ruling was bad.”
Havens said Pickle’s original in
tent was to get the ruling overturned
for all universities, but he said UT
was the only school to get the offer,
so Pickle naturally took advantage of
the situation.
He said transition rules are by no
means unusual.
“The reason this one came to such
attention is that a lot of other univer
sities out there feel these two were
singled out,” Havens said. “We’re
taking a bad rap on this but there
was never any effort to exclude
A&M or any other school.
“UT was the only school in Texas
to bring it to Mr. Pickle’s attention.”
An A&M System official said this
kind of “horse trading” in committee
is quite common. The official said
Pickle obviously has a close
relationship with UT.
“Every member probably got to
put in a little pet project,” the official
said. “That’s part of the way they do
business — that’s pork barrel.”
Neither UT nor LSU is specif
ically mentioned in the tax bill’s
pages. But Craig Helwig, UT assis
tant athletic director for devel
opment, said the added wording
clearly indicates which schools are
designated.
UT is referred to as an “institu
tion .. . mandated by a state constitu
tion in 1876 . . . established by a state
legislature in March 1881, and . . .
located in a state capital.”
Also, the bill says “the campus of
such institution formally opened on
Sept. 15, 1883, and such institution
is operated under the authority of a
nine-member board of regents ap
pointed by the governor.”
Harry Green Jr., executive direc
tor of the Aggie Club, said he
doesn’t understand how a section of
the tax ruling can be confined to
only two universities in the country.
“I would think it’s either going to
have to be amended to do away with
those two,” Green said, “or amended
to include everyone.”
Down The Tubes
Jos6 F. Rodriguez conducts an experiment in
volving the electrochemistry of iodine Thurs-
Photo by John Makely
day afternoon. Rodriguez is a Texas A&M
doctoral degree candidate.
Handcuffs used in hazing at UT
AUSTIN (AP) — Handcuffs were
used to restrain fraternity pledges
during the night of activities that led
to the alcohol-induced death of a
University of Texas pledge, the Aus
tin American-Statesman reported
Thursday.
Quoting unnamed sources close
to the investigation, the newspaper
said the finding increases the likeli
hood that hazing played a part in the
death of Mark Seeberger of Dallas.
Seeberger, 18, was a pledge of the
Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. His body
was found in his dormitory last
Thursday, and authorities said he
died of alcohol poisoning.
Investigators in recent days have
said that Seeberger died after cruis
ing in a van with three members of
the fraternity, two other pledges and
a woman who attended UT.
The other pledges were put out of
the van and left to find their own
way home, but Seeberger was con
sidered too drunk, and was brought
back to his off-campus dormitory,
the American-Statesman reported.
The newspaper said details of
what occurred while the handcuffs
were applied to the pledges were not
available. It also said it was unknown
whether all pledges had been re
strained or whether the handcuffs
had been used all evening.
The fraternity told university offi
cials last Friday that the cruise in the
van wasn’t a fraternity-sponsored
event and that no one had been
forced to take part.
Randy Leavitt, lawyer for two fra
ternity members and the woman stu
dent, said that his investigation indi
cated everyone in the van acted
voluntarily and had intended the
outing only to be fun.
itudent Body President aims for tangible goals
By Rodney Rather
Staff Writer
illxas A&M Student Body Presi-
■ Mike Sims says he hasn’t set
■goals for his administration —
f’s set attainable goals.
Htead of promoting abstract
Incepts that can’t be measured,
iident Government will implement
ngible services that benefit the stu
nts, says Sims, a senior agricultu-
1 education major.
feel like I have to be realistic,
pause I’ve only got nine months to
)the things I want to do,” he says.
^One year isn’t enough time to re
objectives such as adding
40,000 books to the University li
brary or solving A&M’s parking
problems, he says.
More feasible projects, like re
vamping a campuswide quiz file, cre
ating a tutorial program and form
ing a committee to oversee the
University Police Department are
being launched by Student Govern
ment this year, he says.
A campuswide quiz file, spon
sored by Student Government, al
ready exists at the University library,
but few people know of it and it’s
hardly been used since its creation
three years ago, Sims says. He says
• See Goals, page 14
Brett Shine
Mike Hachtman
Marty Roos
Jim Cleary
Former candidates active on campus
Student Body President Mike Sims
By Rodney Rather
Staff Writer
Those who campaigned unsuc
cessfully last spring for the student
body presidency remain active in
Student Government and other
campus organizations this year.
Former presidential candidates
Mike Hachtman, Jim Cleary, Brett
Shine and Marty Roos were defeated
in the election by Mike Sims, but that
hasn’t kept them from pursuing
other interests.
Hachtman, a senior industrial dis
tribution major, is the Student Gov
ernment liaison to the College Sta
tion City Council — a position he’s
held for more than two years.
“I’m not directly connected with
the mainstream of Student Govern
ment,” he says.
“Tm still in Student Government,
but I’m off on my own tangent,
doing the same stuff I’ve done every
year,” he said.
Since he isn’t involved directly
with Sims’ administration, Hacht
man says he doesn’t know much
about his policies, but believes the
Student Government’s “Get Invol
ved” campaign, which is a drive to
get students active in Student Gov
ernment, is a good idea.
Cleary, a senior history major, is
the Student Government represen
tative to the Faculty Senate — a post
he was appointed to by Sims.
“I accepted the position because I
felt that I could be competent and
help Student Government in an area
that few people know much about,”
he says.
Cleary says Sims should be a good
leader simply because he’s different
from past student body presidents.
“I think Student Government
really needs a shot of somebody who
has a different approach,” he says.
“No matter what happens, I think it
will be good in the long run.
“I think Mike’s smart enough,
also, to bring in people who help
him in areas where he really doesn’t
have a lot of knowledge.”
Shine, a senior political science
major, also accepted an appointed
position from Sims.
He’s co-chairman of the student
body president’s advisory board, he
says.
Shine says his job is to coordinate
the views of both student leaders
and less active students as they per
tain to Student Government.
Sims’ down-to-earth attitude is the
reason he’ll appeal to students,
Shine says.
“In the past, Student Govern
ment’s been more administrative,”
he says.
“It hasn’t been very active to serve
student needs, and Sims is really
committed to getting out and help
ing the students, which is what it’s all
about,” he says.
Roos, a senior accounting major,
is the only one of last spring’s candi
dates not currently involved in Stu
dent Government.
Because of his involvement with
Memorial Student Center commit
tees, like Town Hall, Roos says he
doesn’t have much time for Student
Government.
Although Roos says it’s too early
to discuss Sims’ policies, he does say
Student Government needs to focus
on realistic objectives.