RE,
■PW
The Battalion
/ol.82 rio.98 GSPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, February 13, 1987
Dorm policy
in ’87 requires
2-term signup
by Bill Hughes
petty Unterberger, discussion moderator, and Elliot Richardson listen to Roger Brooks at a Thursday SCONA program.
hairman: Gap exists between
romises, performance of U.N.
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
il 31 ®® There is a serious shortfall be-
I (keen the actual performance of the
Bnited Nations and what should
JBasonahly l>e expected of it, a U.N,
II P reif Hiairman said Thursday.
ationsjM Elliot Richardson, chairman of
the United Nations Association of
•'‘"'Tthe United States, discussed the role
" 1 ol the United States in the U.N. be-
fSpre an audience of about 150 at
■;ona.
■ Besides this shortfall, Richardson
Htid another major area the U.N.
Lhtis to tackle within the organization
■ itself is what exactly ought to be
(»tne to reduce the shortfall between
tl : promise of the U.N. and its ac-
performance.
I “Here you get the largest area of
(Isagreenient about what can and
might to be done,” Richardson said.
i comp
he
k #
■saW
ik it is*
equipH
ions.
Roger Brooks, director of policy,
planning and staff in the U.S. De
partment of State, agrees the public
image of the U.N. has weakened
considerably over the years.
See related story, page 3
“It would be an understatement to
say Americans have become increas
ingly skeptical of the importance of
the U.N.,” Brooks said.
He blamed many of the U.N.’s
problems on abuse of the organiza
tion by some of its member states, in
cluding the Soviet Union, which he
claimed uses the U.N. for espionage
purposes.
“Many Americans see the United
Nations as a bastion dominated by
enemies of the United States — a
place where America’s views are ig
nored or unfairly silenced, her
friends and allies are unfairly at
tacked and her democratic values
are corrupted or destroyed,” he said.
Richardson said Congress has
tried to combat both the image prob
lems and the legitimate problems the
United States has in the U.N.
To send a message of its dissatis
faction with the U.N.’s performance,
he said, Congress has withheld
funds from the U.N. in the past, and
the State Department has attempted
to convey a similar message. But
Richardson said he feels withholding
funds is not the right way to commu
nicate with the U.N.
“Withholding our share is in di
rect violation of the U.N. charter,”
he said. “When the Soviet Union in
the early 1960s withheld its share to
protest the U.N. peacekeeping mis
sion in the Congo, the United States
led a vehement attack on the Soviets
and hauled them into World Court.”
Brooks said the U.N. has under
gone many changes in the last 40
years, and the United States’ role has
weakened considerably during that
time. The number of nations m the
U.N. has grown from the original 51
to 159.
“The average number of coun
tries voting with us on issues is 24
percent,” he said, “ranging from Is
rael at 90 percent to Libya at 5 per
cent.”
But even though the United
States may have to vote alone,it won’t
change its policies to accommodate
other member nations, he said.
“We have no delusions about the
future of the U-S. in the U.N.,” he
said. “It is a basically unfriendly, in
hospitable environment where we
are frequently on the defensive.”
By Curtis L. Culberson
Staff Writer
Dorm residents will have to sign
two-semester housing contracts
starting next fall and will lose their
$200 deposit if they fancy a spring
time move to an apartment.
Housing Services Supervisor John
White says on-campus housing con
tracts were changed from one to two
semesters to stabilize housing occu
pancy for the spring. Many students
move off-campus in the spring — a
time when it is dif ficult to fill vacan
cies, White says.
White says there are 62 male and
258 female dormitory vacancies this
spring, while last fall about 300 men
and 600 women were turned away
and put on housing waiting lists be
cause dorms were full.
“11 the students who moved off-,,
campus this spring would have done
so before the fall semester, we could
have filled spring vacancies with the
students on waiting lists,” he says.
More than 4,000 incoming fresh
man and transfer students have al
ready applied for on-campus hous
ing for next fall — more than ever
before, White says.
The record number of housing
applications come at the same time
as residence hall renovations. Reno
vations will start in May on Dorms 10
and 12, closing the dorms through
out the f all semester.
David McDowell, president of the
Residence Hall Association, says ca
dets will be moved into Gainer,
Spence, and Briggs halls next fall
while the two corps dorms are being
renovated.
He adds that the new policy will
probably cause some students to
move off-campus before the fall and
help cushion the housing shortage
for incoming students.
The student affairs office worked
with McDowell and RHA in the de
velopment of the policy and is cur
rently working on other ways to han
dle the housing situation caused by
dorm renovations.
Tom Murray, assistant director of
Student Affairs, estimates the new
contract policy will generate an addi
tional $170,000 by filling 1988
spring vacancies.
The additional money will be used
to prevent future housing rent in
creases and to fund dorm renova
tion projects, Murray says.
White says the new policy also will
cut administrative costs associated
with spring sign-up.
“It costs $1,000 in paperwork for
dorm sign-ups for the spring semes
ter and a total of 600 administrative
hours, including resident advisors,
head residents, area of fices and the
Housing Office,” White says.
Jennifer Hynes, third floor resi
dent advisor for Mosher Hall, says
she understands the reasoning be
hind the policy change but doesn’t
agree with it. In the fall, her dorm is
See Contracts, page 13
Dorm rates
may go up
in fall term
By Jade Boyd
Reporter
This fall, students likely will find
themselves paying more to live on
campus. For the first time since
1984, dormitory rates probably are
going up.
Dr. Donald B. Powell, director of
business services at Texas A&M,
said, “It looks like the increase is
going to be about 5 percent.”
A final decision on dorm and
board plan rates will be made in late
March by the A&M System Board of
Regents. At that time, any proposed
rate increases will be presented to
the Board, along with estimates of
dorm occupancy and operating
costs.
Aside from modular dorms, rates
for University housing haven’t in
creased in three years. Powell attrib
utes this to good fiscal management
and prudent maintenance by Physi
cal Plant personnel.
Modular dorm rates were in
creased last fall to $825 per semester
because they previously had been
priced too low, Powell said.
Rates for each type of dorm —
non air-conditioned, corps, air-con
ditioned suite, modular and Com-
See Rates, page 13
ulf State Utilities
eeks another rise
in electricity rates
has
ions
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
Gulf States Utilities, still strug-
to keep its head above water,
[las gone once more to the Public
Btility Commission seeking a lifeline
from its Texas customers.
■ Doug McCormack, a spokesman
for GSU, said the company asked for
$81? million as an emergency rate in
crease, but last week was given less
[an half of what it wanted.
The PUC granted a $39.9 million
increase for retail customers, which
[McCormack said would hold the
Bn party until summer, when they
will plead their case for a larger and
jitore permanent increase.
■This rate change will not affect
College Station utility customers,
ffllnce the city buys its electricity
Biolesale and sells it back to its resi
dents. These wholesale rates are reg-
iillrled by the f ederal government.
■ Meanwhile, GSU is appealing a
decision by the Louisiana Public
Bh vu e Committee to reject their re-
fipiest for a rate increase.
■College Station’s utility rates in-
Beased 7 percent in September, and
th< city is still negotiating a contract
^nich would determine its rates
jphimigh 1991.
■ King Cole, College Station city
manager, said the city has been ne
gotiating with GSU since September,
atiempting to finalize a contract
which would include small rate in-
< teases totaling about 3 percent over
the next four years.
like this, there are rarely any prob
lems getting approval.”
North Bardell is executive direc
tor of the Lone Star Municipal
Power Agency, which is the organi
zation of all the municipalities in
Texas that buy their electricity
wholesale from GSU. LSMPA in
cludes College Station, Caldwell,
Kirbyville and Newton.
Bardell said the contract has taken
See Utilities, page 13
Rental properties ‘bright spot’ in real estate
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Senior Staff Writer
The occupancy rate for rental properties
has been on the rise for the past few years — a
condition one local real estate expert called a
“bright spot” in the otherwise bleak real estate
market here.
In 1986, 92 percent of the apartments in
the Bryan and College Station areas were oc
cupied, James Conner Smith, president of
Brazosland Appraisals, said Thursday at the
Brazos Valley Economic Outlook Conference.
As recently as 1982, only 82 percent of local
apartments were occupied, he said.
Smith attributes the rise to the growth of
Texas A&M University in the past year.
Although the rising occupancy rate may
eventually translate into higher rents, for now
rents average about 25 percent lower than in
the early 1980s, he said. For example, the av
erage two-bedroom apartment today rents for
$306, whereas five or six years ago it would
have rented for $395, he said.
Over the next couple of years, however,
Smith predicts the local real estate market will
remain much as it has since 1983 — overbuilt
and undervalued.
The surplus of office space constitutes the
bleakest part of the real estate market. The
Bryan-College Station area has added about 1
See related stories, page 6
million square f eet of of fice space since 1980,
mostly in the early years of the decade, he
said. But today, only 66 percent of area of fice
space is occupied — down from 94 percent in
1981, he said.
What’s more, office rental rates were lower
in 1986 than they were in 1985, he said.
Shopping centers have fared little better
than office buildings, although the larger and
better-placed shopping centers have actually
pense of smaller and less strategically located
centers, he said.
For example, shopping centers in the Uni
versity Drive and Harvey Road areas, includ
ing Post Oak Mall, have an 80 percent occu
pancy rate and have shown “healthy growth
overall,” Smith said.
The occupancy rate for shopping centers in
the Briarcrest area, on the other hand, de
clined to 67 percent last year, and the rate on
the Southwest Parkway declined to 62 per
cent, he said.
In the new home market, Smith said certain
conditions lead him to believe that the market
is getting back to normal following the huge
surplus of homes Bryan and College Station
have had in recent years.
Only 205 new homes were constructed in
the Bryan-College Station area in 1986 — the
lowest number ever since 1974, Smith said.
Texans debate raising speed limit to 65
■The contract has been submitted
to the regulatory commission for re-
vilw,” Cole said. “I don’t anticipate
am trouble. When both sides agree
By Amy Couvillon
Staff Writer
Does 55 really save lives?
As Congress prepares to consider
raising the speed limit to 65 on cer
tain roads, Texas researchers and
lawmakers continue to debate the
pros and cons of higher speeds.
“If you raise the speed limit and
people begin traveling at higher
rates of speed, you are going to ex
perience more fatalities,” says Dr.
Quinn Brackett, an A&M research
specialist at the Texas Transporta
tion Institute. “I don’t think there’s
any disagreement among research
ers that the 55 mph speed limit has
resulted in life-saving.”
Tacked on to a highway and mass
transit bill passed in the Senate Feb.
4 is an amendment that would raise
the speed limit on rural interstates to
65 mph.
The highway bill will give states
federal funds to pay for mainte
nance and construction for their
highway systems for this fiscal year,
Brackett says.
“There is a lot of pressure from
the states to get that spending bill
out of Congress,” he says. “The
states need that money.”
Brackett says the Senate, where
the bill passed overwhelmingly, is
trying to press the speed limit issue
by attaching it to the spending bill.
But the bill still faces opposition in
the conference committee, where
the House and Senate versions of
the bill must be reconciled.
“Something’s going to have to give
here, and it’s going to have to give
pretty soon,” Brackett says. “Either
they’re going to pass the spending
bill without amendments ... or
someone’s going to have to compro
mise on the 65 business.”
Both Texas senators voted to al
low states to raise the sp>eed limit.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who
wrote the Senate bill, has said the ac
cident argument is overstated.
“Only 4 percent of fatalities occur
on rural interstates,” Gramm told
the Houston Poston Feb. 5.
Gramm also argues that many
motorists are already going 65 mph,
and the only effect of the proposed
bill would be that many drivers
would no longer be breaking the
law.
Brent Boultinghouse, Washing
ton press secretary to Rep. Joe Bar
ton, R-Ennis, agrees. He says the
states should have the right to set
their own sp>eed limits.
“In states like Texas where you do
have large stretches of rural intersta
te,” Boultinghouse says, “normal
law-abiding citizens in every other
aspect are being made criminals,
simply because the interstates do
provide them with the ability to
drive 65 mph. And the federal gov
ernment is saying, ‘No, this is not
something that you should be
doing.’ IL
Boultinghouse compares the situ
ation to the federal government’s
raising of the drinking age to 21 last
year.
“The basic argument is individual
choice of the states,” he says. “The
federal government does not have a
right to come in here and (threaten
to cut off highway funds.) What
they’re doing right now is blackmail
ing the states.”
On the other side of the fence,
highway researchers opposed to the
sp>eed limit hike argue that if you
give drivers an inch, they’ll take a
mile. In other words, Brackett says,
if they’re given 65 mph, they’ll take
75 mph.
“People in general tend to drive
faster than the sp>eed limit — at least
a certain proportion,” Brackett says.
“We’ve got almost 30 percent ex
ceeding 65 now, when the sp>eed
limit is 55,” he says. “It doesn’t take a
whole lot to extrapolate that this
proportion will be exceeding 75 (if
the limit is raised).”
Another argument is that drivers
will become so accustomed to driv
ing faster on the controlled access
highways that they may also drive
faster on roads not designed for
See Limit, page 10