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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1987)
Tuesday, February 10, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local fficial: Faulty design not to blame or students’ falls from dorm windows By Jennifer Friend Reporter A cadet recently became the fifth Texas A&M student to fall from a jorm room window within the past ieven years. Four cadets have fallen from lorps-style dorms while one student las fallen from a ramp-style dorm. In the falls, one student died, two tudents were hospitalized and two scaped injury. How far should the University go ned protect students from injuring I . hemselves? Should dorm windows zt#" je redesigned to prevent accidents? John T. White, housing services supervisor, doesn’t think so. ‘The people who have fallen have ingont!* he cor®. Febrnr. ouldusf Hives st- ’s infatm fantasie Soviets Howi oisrasirt Aslonga is immie-L. n hopefi Another student died from mas sive internal and head injuries after he fell from his fourth floor window in Walton Hall. No one witnessed the fall. A fifth incident occurred Feb. 2 when a cadet reportedly fell from his backward through the windows. During renovations, the air condi tioner will be moved away from the window. Because there is no air condition ing, the ramp-style dorms have screened windows, but the screens “Realistically, we can’t hand-hold everybody. It’s like, ‘Don’t run down these steps because you might fall.’ I know that may sound heartless, but in my opinion we’re dealing with adults who know what is dangerous and what is not dangerous. ” —John T. White, housing services supervisor a ’ " [Ij. done something on their own to fall >ut the window,” he said. “I don’t hink it’s a defect in the design of the vindow.” One cadet fell while climbing down a rope he had made by tying jedsheets together. He was not in ured, nor was an intoxicated cadet ivho fell when he leaned out of his indow to vomit. A third cadet fell 'oughk vhile hanging a platform outside his vindow. He underwent surgery for ruptured spleen and recovered. fourth floor window in Dorm 12. Po lice are investigating the cause of the accident. Dorms 10 and 12 will be the first of 16 Corps-style dorms to be reno vated, White said, although the ren ovation plans do not include a change in window design. But a change will be made that could prevent accidents. In Corps-style dorms, many stu dents sit on the air conditioners in front of the windows and risk falling provide little protection from falls. White said. “Really, it’s too late now to build in any additional, substantial changes,” he said. “Plus, all the dorms have had new windows put in within the last five years.” In the past, the housing depart ment has changed its policies to pre vent accidents, White said. For ex ample, until the cadet fell while hanging on one, students were able to mount platforms outside dorm windows. “It was something that we didn’t really like, but the students kept in sisting that they needed it,” he said. “The platforms used to get really elaborate. They would put plants on them and sit outside on them. “When he fell, it confirmed our fears. We decided that we didn’t want these any longer because of the danger, so we abolished them.” White doesn’t believe the Univer sity should change the window de sign to make falling impossible, nor does he believe students want a change. “Realistically, we can’t hand-hold everybody,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Don’t run down these steps because you might fall.’ I know that may sound heartless, but in my opinion we’re dealing with adults who know what is dangerous and what is not danger ous. “When you start changing the windows, you change a lot of the freedom that the students like to have. I think that everyone likes the windows that you can open up all the way and get a good breeze.” Economic conference to be held in CS The annual Brazos Valley Eco nomic Outlook Conference, sponsored by the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce, will be held Thursday in the am phitheater of the Hilton Hotel. The one-day seminar features Texas A&M specialists in a vari ety of areas including real estate, energy, university research, agri culture and tourism. The 23 speakers will focus on the effect of current economic trends on the local market, says coordinator Dr. William Mobley, deputy chancellor of the A&M University system. Featured speakers include: • Jim Adams, president of the Texas Division, Southwestern Bell Telephone and chairman of Gov. Clement’s Business Devel opment and Jobs Creation Task Force. • Dr. Duwayne M. Anderson, A&M associate provost for re search. • Larry G. Gresham, associate director for the A&M Center for Retailing Studies. • Gary Maler, senior opera tions director, Texas Real Estate Research Center. • Mark Money, vice chancellor for the A&M Research Park and Corporate Relatons. A limited number of openings are still available. Those inter ested need to contact Beverly Barron at the Chamber of Com merce by 8:30 Wednesday morn ing. The registration fee is $45. Federal witness in drug trial killed; handgun to be tested EDINBURG (AP) — Ballistics tests were pending Monday on a gun that may have been used to kill a government witness who testified in a drug trial, investigators said. ences never is t Russia unocaif.-| st confrc:! Vandiver: Distribution of PAC form letter a ‘clerical error’ By Amy Couvillon Staff Writer I A form letter soliciting contributions for the Higher Education PAC and bearing Pres ident Frank E. Vandiver’s signature — which n pdotBas sent out to Texas A&M faculty members over the weekend — was due to a “clerical er ror,” the president said Monday. | In a Monday letter read at the Faculty Sen ate meeting by Speaker Sam Black, Vandiver apologized for the error, saying he had in tended to leave the matter of soliciting A&M faculty support up to the Faculty Senate. I “This letter was not intended to be sent to the faculty,” Vandiver wrote. “That it did in fact go to the faculty is an administrative er ror, and one that I greatly deplore. This letter as intended to be sent to administrators.” 'UK PJfW The letter, paid for by the Higher Educa tion Legislative Political Action Committee and sent to about 2,500 A&M faculty mem bers, called for “wholly voluntary” contribu tions to the PAC, suggesting amounts of $100 to $1,000. The Faculty Senate at its Jan. 19 meeting had received an almost identical sample letter from Vandiver. The Senate then decided to put off sending that letter to A&M faculty be cause it lacked information about the newly formed PAC. The Senate executive committee was au thorized to research the PAC and send out a letter to faculty members before the February meeting. But because unanswered questions remained, no letter was sent, Senate Secretary Richard Shumway said last week. Dr. William Mobley, deputy chancellor for academic and resource development, came Monday to the Faculty Senate meeting to an swer questions about the political action com mittee and its purposes. Mobley listed many of the members of the PAC, which include corporate spokesmen for higher education as well as regents from A&M, the University of Texas, the University of Houston and other Texas universities. Several senators raised questions about the PAC’s intention to support certain political candidates. Others asked how the faculty’s wishes would be brought to the PAC. In response to questions, Mobley acknowl edged that since the PAC is so new, support of it is a matter of “faith in the quality of the people on the PAC board.” Next year, he said, there will be a clear re cord of the committee’s actions, and its bud get will be subject to audit. All letters sent to former students, faculty, staff and corporate individuals, Mobley said, have been paid for by the PAC, not with state funds. After Mobley spoke, the Senate voted to endorse Vandiver’s letter, although several senators suggested that the executive commit tee of the Senate meet with Board of Regents Chairman David Eller to discuss the Faculty Senate’s relationship with the PAC. Vandiver said he was greatly concerned about the reaction of the Faculty Senate, and said he hoped that a trust had not been vio lated. He reiterated support of the PAC. “I would hope that a clerical error does not tarnish the intent of this group,” Vandiver said. Antonio Espinosa, 39, of Edin burg, died Sunday afternoon after he was shot once in the head with a .38-caliber handgun while driving with his wife and 6-month-old daughter, said Hidalgo County sher iffs investigator Capt. Albert Garcia. John Bott, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston, said Espinosa was a de fendant who turned government witness in the so-called “Cash Crop” trials in San Antonio last summer. The case involved a drug ring that authorities believe smuggled metha- qualone and marijuana from Mexico into the United States. Espinosa was killed by a shot that was fired from a late-model pickup truck that pulled up next to the vic tim’s car, Garcia said. “The passenger in the pickup truck rolled down the window, aimed a handgun at the victim, shot him one time,” Garcia said. Investigators have only Espinosa’s wife, Rosa, as a witness, Garcia said. A weapon was recovered from a pickup truck fitting the description later Sunday, Garcia said. 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