4 Texas A&M Battalion WEATHER f J TOMORROW’S FORECAST: ////IWvx Partly sunny and warm. HIGH: 78 LOW: 56 “d six p| t the team f t' Senior inian at the i Young n the an i king up d batters, 'll finish S a do itate at nd will hursday, March 22,1990 College Station, Texas Vol.89 No.115 USPS 045360 14 Pages tudent candidates reveal iews on campus issues By SELINA GONZALEZ Bf The Battalion Staff i a triple: a RBI sin cond on man Bt ‘ to cap example inest: sti ng. The their gs in wtu ‘ was hai t clutch nson saih : double a the set: pies have ■ Issues ranging from academics to Bonfire were addressed Wednesday at the Texas A&M Student Body presidential Forum. The candidates Bere evaluated by the student body Ba panel of eight student organiza- flon representatives asked questions. I The candidates are Beth Am- Rkh's, junior political science major Bom Fort Worth; Ty Clevenger, ju nior genetics major from Gladewa- ter; Russell Garrett, senior agricultu- tl economics major from Yoakum; an Gattis, senior agricultural eco nomics major from Friendswood; id Craig Sandlin, junior manage- irient major from Dumas. Kristin Bay, student government vice presi dent of operations, was the modera- Birof the forum. Kevin Buchman, student body president, asked the candidates what icy consider their most significant jjccomplishment at A&M that qual- ies them to serve as president. Clevenger responded by saying lat he helped in attaining #200,000 pci year in scholarships from profits GO TEX UDENT NMENT UNIVERSITY n. ins* from Texas A&M driver’s license plates. He said he successfully worked to change the Department of Food Services’ confiscation of Ag gie Bucks at the end of the semester. Clevenger said he arranged to have Macintosh computers available 24 hours a day and he plans to ex tend computer availability on cam pus. He said he submitted a report to the Board of Regents proposing funding for books for the library ex pansion and has approached the re gents about improving academic ad vising. Ammons said while serving in the senate last year, she authored a bill that provides for clearer expecta tions between professors anti stu dents through improved course syl labi. As executive vice president for programs, Ammons said she served on a committee for improving un dergraduate academic advising. As a member of President Mobley’s com mittee for a discrimination-free cam pus, Ammons said she is working on a disciplinary policy that will be en forced in incidences of discrimina tion. Garrett said he has been involved in student services from the advising standpoint. As a Corps member for four years, Garrett said he gained scholastic experience that will be helpful in stressing the importance of academics. Gattis said he served as Class of ’90 president for two years. He said his biggest accomplishment was mo tivating the student council to make its mark here at A&M and make a difference. He also said that he learned how the student govern ment and University function. “I had to meet a lot of challenges that I knew nothing about,” he said. Sandlin said he is most proud of his commitment to the student serv ices development committee. He See Candidates/Page 13 TorTkl Matter h iskmej e Final rther. A&M professor seeks damages, injunctive relief from University tstirl r ch ; a time I at they’rt ranked? 3y JULIE MYERS DfThe Battalion Staff Texas A&M University, the College of Science, the Ibiology department, A&M President Dr. William Mob ile)’ and four other A&M officials were named as de- jfendants in a civil suit filed in a Houston district court iMarch 2 by Dr. Lynn Lamoreux. Lamoreux, an assistant biology professor, is seeking {damages and injunctive relief because of what the [plaintiffs original complaint describes as the de- Itendants’ discriminatory and wrongful conduct against her during her employment at A&M since 1982. I By seeking injunctive relief, Lamoreux is asking the [court to prevent her termination in May. Lamoreux, 56, claims she was denied tenure in 1987 [due to age and sex discrimination. Besides age and sex discrimination, Lamoreux also [claims in the plaintiff’s original complaint: • Wage discrimination. • Intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lamo- | reux claims that the actions of the defendants were con ducted intentionally or recklessly in failing to provide her with proper equipment in a timely manner, in re quiring a performance evaluation before she had re ceived materials she considered essential to her re search, in terminating her and later revoking the termination, in failing to grant her tenure, in failing to follow the University’s administrative procedures, in at tempting to coerce her not to pursue Equal Employ ment Opportunity Commission claims, and retaliating against her for EEOC claims. Furthermore, the complaint states that the de fendants’ conduct was extreme and outrageous, and caused Lamoreux emotional distress. The complaint claims the emotional distress was so severe that it caused physical illness. In addition, the defendants’ conduct damaged Lamoreux’s reputation as a scientist and tea cher, according to the complaint. • Conspiracy. Lamoreux alleges the defendants will fully conspired to deny her tenure. • Tortious interference with contractual relations. The complaint states that the defendants’ actions delib erately and intentionally interfered with Lamoreux’s ability to perform the duties for which she was hired. • Libel. The complaint states that Lamoreux was li beled as a result of an April 14, 1989, memorandum See Lamoreux/Page 13 Around and around Photo by Mike C. Mulvey A clown spins his wheel during the Royal Lichtenstein Quarter Ring Sidewalk Circus, “The World’s Smallest Circus.” Write-ins pull votes in elections Candidates can snag victories at polls By KATHERINE COFFEY Of The Battalion Staff Even after spending time cam paigning and hanging up posters, a Student Government candidate can be defeated by a written-in name of someone not originally running for an office, a Student Government ex ecutive said. Student Government Election Commissioner Perry Liston said that every year during elections, voters write in their names and names of others. Liston said write-in candidates have won offices in the past, usually because no one else filed for the of fice. If requirements are met, these students become the newly elected officers. Voting forms contain space for students to write in any name and the office for which they are being considered, he said. While write-ins are possible for all Student Government offices, no one can be elected until the election com mission goes through a record proc ess to see if the student is a legitimate candidate and meets requirements, such as grades and classification. About 20 to 50 percent of write- ins are jokes with names such as Mickey Mouse and Ollie North. Overall, the voting method is valid in the election process, he said. “I feel write-in voting is an effec tive way to fill open seats of the Stu dent Government offices,” Liston said. “But if someone is written in as another candidate, they follow the same rules and regulations as the other candidates.” ■orrectioi5ii Craig Sandlin was identified incorrectly in Wednesday’s Bat talion. Sandlin is the student body executive vice president of ad ministration. The other executive vice presidents are Beth Am mons, who is in charge of pro gramming, and Kristin Hay, who is in charge of operations. Conference faces issues A&M hires company to dispose of waste of Mexican-Americans By STACY E. ALLEN Of The Battalion Staff The Committee for the Aware ness of Mexican American Cul ture (CAMAC) will sponsor a conference Friday and Saturday in Rudder Tower to discuss issues facing Mexican-Americans. Mike Avila, | junior economics major at Texas A&M and exec utive director of communications for CAMAC, said this year’s title for the annual con ference is “La Familia, La Vida — Looking back into the past and into the future.” The theme, he said, is the Mexi can-A m e r i ca n family. “Mexican-Ame ricans will lie the majority in Texas soon, and we feel it is important now more than ever that we learn about other cultu res," Avila said. Michelle Alva rado, a senior psy chology major and president of CAMAC, said nine different topics will be dis cussed through out the two days. The conference will end on Satur day night with a CAMAC schedule The schedule for the CAMAC conference is as follows: Friday: • 8:30-9:30 a.m. Check in — Second floor of Rudder T ower • 10-11:45 a.m. Traditions — 302 Rudder • 1:30-2:30 p.m. History — 701 Rudder • 3:00-4:00 p.m. Health — 302 Rudder • 4:00-5:00 p.m. Reception — Forsyth Gallery, Memorial Stu dent Center • 5:00-6:00 p.m. Bilingualism vs. English as official language — 701 Rudder. Alvarado said there also will be an employment and career fair and a debate on English as the of ficial language as opposed to bil ingualism. The career fair will include 15 Mexican-American professionals from the Bryan-College Station community who serve as role models to students and can give professional ad vice about how to succeed in the workplace, Alva rado said. This year’s con ference is only one of many ways CAMAC tries to promote Mexi can-American cul ture throughout the community. Saturday: • 10-11:00 a.m. Reception — second floor Rudder • 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Education — 601 Rudder • 1:30-2:30 p.m. Folklore sto ries and poetry — 601 Rudder • 3:30-4:30 p.m. Employment and Workplace Career Fair — first floor MSC • 5:00-6:00 p.m. Women’s role in society — 701 Rudder • 7:00-8:00 p.m. Evolution of the fiimiiy — 201 MSC By TODD L. CONNELLEY Of The Battalion Staff Departments on the Texas A&M campus that experiment with haz ardous chemicals will have an effi cient, safe way to dispose of toxic substances beginning this summer. Jon Demere, safety coordinator for A&M’s Safety and Health Office, developed a systematic method of toxic waste disposal to meet the Uni versity’s needs. This summer a company will be contracted to take care of the waste. The company will go to each depart ment, collect the chemicals and ana lyze them. Demere said the chemicals must be properly analyzed and identified before they can be disposed of safely. “In the past, people would some times leave non-labeled bottles out,” Demere said. “We are hoping this system will eliminate that.” Demere said that in the past, indi vidual departments were responsible for disposing of their own waste material. “About five or six years ago, de partments would come to us with these unknown chemicals,” he said. “It was up to us to analyze them. This was a very expensive process.” Demere said he repeatedly re ceived requests for a better, less ex pensive system so he talked to A&M officials, who gave him the green light. “The University is in the process of coming up with a ball-park figure of how much we can spend for the contract,” he said. Demere sent notices to 40 differ ent departments in January inform ing them of the new waste-disposal system. He said they received seven re sponses prior to the March 15 dead line. Once the company identifies and analyzes the waste, it will dispose of it safely. “There are any number of meth ods for waste elimination,” Demere said. “It’s really up to the company how they want to do it. Sometimes waste is recycled or even used for fuel recovery.” Block-voting tales declared false Corps leaders say cadets vote for personal choices in elections keynote address on the evolution of the Mexican-American family by Texas A&M Board of Regent member Raul Fernandez. Other topics to be discussed at the conference, she said, include Mexican-American traditions, history, health, education, folklore and poetry and female roles in society. On Thursday at 7 p.m. in Rud- der Theatre, CAMAC will sponsor two short plays about the exploitation of some Mexican- Americans in the past. Alvarado said they also will sponsor the first Mexican-Ameri can dance ever to be held on the A&M campus. “Hispanics are a major part of our history and we feel all of us should know as much about the Hispanic culture as we can,” Alva- - Irado said. “Our organiza tion provides an education that students are often deprived of in the classroom.” Admission to the conference is free and one or all seminars can be attended. For more informa tion, please call the student pro grams office at 845-1515. By CHRIS VAUGHN Of The Battalion Staff Rumors seem to surface during student elec tion time at Texas A&M that the Corps of Cadets votes as a block to ensure cadets are in positions of leadership, but Corps leaders say the rumors aren’t true. Jonathan Whittles, the recently named 1990- 91 Corps commander, said the Corps only votes as a block during Corps primaries to determine yell leader candidates. Whittles said the Corps does not vote as a block in any other election, citing last year’s student body presidential elections when Kevin Buch man, a non-Corps member, defeated Michael Kelley, who was in the Corps. Clay Whitaker, public relations officer for the Corps, said each cadet is given a list of cadets running for student positions, but no one is forced to vote for the Corps member. “We don’t make it mandatory that they vote,” Whitaker, a senior marketing major, said. “We just give them the list to make them aware which people are in the Corps. We don’t check on them.” Whittles, a junior wildlife and fisheries science major, said Corps members like other cadets to win, but they vote for candidates who are respon sive to Corps needs. “To a certain extent, the Corps likes Corps m kvilvVv-: r,: 1 A 5; members in leadership positions, but that doesn’t always work,” he said. “The Corps votes accord ing to how the candidate approaches it.” Whittles said the Corps has a major impact on elections, not because it votes in a block, out be cause it makes up a large part of those voting. “The Corps candidates have the advantage be cause almost 100 percent of the Corps votes,” Whittles said. “At least half or even more of the total number of people who vote are in the Corps. That’s just tne way it works.” Whitaker said the Corps’ ability to inform ev eryone about the candidates also plays a part in the Corps’ voting impact. “We nave a better means of getting the word out,” Whitaker said. “Most other organizations on campus don’t have the system that facilitates it like the Corps. We can inform everyone fairly ea sily.” Whittles said the practice of having internal primaries to determine yell leader candidates is a Corps tradition. He said junior and sophomore cadets who want to run for yell leader do things as a group for two weeks leading up to the elections. That group of cadets, usually about 40 or 50 men, has primaries to name the final candidates for the yell leader positions. “It’s a pretty fair competition,” Whittles said. “We narrow the number down so we won’t split the Corps vote on the yell leaders.” Whittles said only an unwritten Corps rule keeps other cadets from running for a yell leader position. “Theoretically, any guy in the Corps who wanted to run for yell leader and didn’t make it past the primaries could run,” Whittles said. “But there’s an unwritten rule that you don’t do that.”