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The Battalion
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Vol. 90 No. 14 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Keeping a cool head
Photo by Fredrick D.Joe
Thanks to the rain on Wednesday, the owner of this scooter parked by the Bus Stop Snack Bar got a helmet full of water.
Students, faculty adjust to smoking policy
By LIBBY KURTZ
Of The Battalion Staff
Smokers on the Texas A&M cam
pus should make sure they’re in a
designated smoking area before
lighting their next cigarette.
In an attempt to create a smoke-
free public environment, a smoking
policy was approved September
1989.
But many A&M students are not
sure where they can and cannot
smoke.
Jayda Bowden, a freshman bio
chemistry genetics major, said she
wasn’t sure where she could smoke
when she first arrived at A&M.
“I got caught smoking in the bath
room and hallway of my residence
hall,” she says. “My resident adviser
gave me a verbal warning and told
me not to smoke there again. Now I
smoke in my room with the window
open.”
Curtis Graff, a senior environ
mental design major and a resident
adviser in Walton Hall, said he has
encountered few problems with resi
dents who smoke in his ramp.
“They (the residents) pretty much
Graphic by Jayme Blaschke
abide by the smoking policy,” he
says.
The smoking policy prohibits
smoking in the following areas:
• academic areas
• conference rooms
• office reception areas
• common/public areas — ie., res
trooms and stairwells
• all University vehicles in which
one person is a non-smoker
Dr. John Koldus, vice president of
student services, chaired the smok
ing policy committee.
“I think the committee took a very
realistic approach in attempting to
take in consideration individuals’
needs and yet relate to a more
smoke-free campus,” Koldus said.
Koldus, who stopped smoking in
1983, said he was able to look at the
issue from the perspective of a
smoker and a non-smoker.
Tom Murray, associate director of
student affairs and a member of the
committee, said they tried to be un
derstanding when dealing with
smokers, especially those living in
residence halls.
“We leave it up to each residence
hall’s council to determine if and
where the smoking and non-smok
ing areas are going to be,” he says.
The residence hall policy on
smoking states: “Smoking is con
fined to individual students’ rooms
and those areas designated by the
residence hall council as smoking
area(s).”
Smoking is not permitted in laun
dry rooms or study carrels unless
specifically designated.
The Housing Office tries to place
smokers as roommates to eliminate
conflicts. '
“I tend to think there should be a
smoking area in every residence
hall,” Murray says.
Murray, who is a smoker, noted
there is not a smoking area in the
YMCA Building where he works.
“Before the sanctions, I was able
to smoke in my office,” he says.
“Now, I think twice before I smoke
because it means I have to go outside
and brave the heat or rain.”
Building proctors in conjunction
with appropriate unit heads may es
tablish appropriate smoking areas.
Javier Cuellar, a junior business
major, says he disagrees with the
smoking policy.
“I think I should be able to smoke
in class as long as I’m not blowing
smoke directly into someone’s face,”
he says.
Graff says he has accepted the
smoking policy.
“I wouldn’t want someone to spit
in my face, so I respect the smoking
policy,” he says.
The smoking policy relies on the
consideration and cooperation of
smokers and non-smokers for its
success.
Thursday, September 20,1990
Faculty loses
interest money
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M faculty members
contributing to the Optional Re
tirement Program could be losing
thousands of dollars in interest
during their careers because of
the budget and payroll office’s
procedures.
Faculty members participating
in the ORP contribute part of
their paycheck to a retirement
fund with their insurance com
pany. The University’s budget
and payroll office, however, mails
the checks to the insurance car
riers for faculty.
The problem for many faculty
members is that they get paid on
the first day of the month, but
their retirement contributions are
not being received by insurance
carriers until the middle of the
month.
This means faculty members
are losing as much as two to three
weeks of interest every month in
their retirement accounts, which
could add up to thousands of dol
lars during a 20- to 30-year ca
reer.
Dr. Charles Zucker, director of
the Texas Faculty Association,
has studied the problem at A&M
and blames the payroll office -for
making late payments and losing
interest earnings for faculty.
“There is no excuse for late
payments,” Zucker says. “The
A&M administration has offered
a number of excuses. They say
the institution is too complex to
do it any quicker, or they say they
have too many retirement car
riers to deal with, or that it would
cost too much to fix the problem.
“But the problem must be fix
ed,” he says. “The administration
has just not made it a high
enough priority.”
Thomas Taylor, A&M’s con
troller, says the administration is
looking into changing the present
procedures, but he is convinced
they are working fine now.
“I am convinced that under
existing procedures we’re getting
the checks in the mail in a timely
fashion,” he says.
Taylor, who says retirement
contributions from A&M faculty
are put in the mail within days af
ter payday, blames some delay on
insurance carriers.
The potential losses for faculty
members are significant, Zucker
says. A faculty member earning
$40,000 over a 30-year period
would lose about $9,000 in poten
tial interest earnings, according
to some of Zucker’s calculations.
Dr. Benton Storey, a former
chairman and present member of
the Faculty Senate Personnel and
Welfare Committee, says the
committee passed a resolution
See Retirement/Page 8
A&M Democrats
focus on strategy
By LIBBV KURTZ
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M Democrats need to
develop a strategy to overcome
Texas A&M’s anticipated straight
Republican vote if they wish to get
anything accomplished in the next
few years, Judge Sarah Ryan said.
Ryan, who is running for judge
for 2nd County Court-at-Law and
Mary Ann Ward, Democratic candi
date for Brazos County Clerk, spoke
to the Aggie Democrats Wednesday
night.
“As a candidate, I can tell you that
(the straight Republican vote) is my
single greatest fear,” Ryan said.
“This year, more than any other
year, the Democrats are going to
have to work real hard, not only in
town, but also on campus to prevent
this from happening, particularly
with Claytie staring us in the face.”
Ryan said one way to crack the Re
publican straight ticket vote is to cre
ate some basis of identity between
the individual candidate, regardless
of party affiliation, and the voter.
She said that in this case, the vot
ers are Republican students on the
A&M campus.
Ryan, who is a Bryan Municipal
Judge, said the 2nd County Court at
Law is the second highest level of
trial courts in the state system.
“About 68 percent of the cases
that the court hears are criminal and
juvenile law, and 27 percent of the
cases relate to family issues,” she
said.
Ryan said her experience as both
a prosecutor and criminal defense
lawyer has prepared her for the po
sition.
Ward said she also is well pre
pared for the position she is seeking.
Ward has worked in the Brazos
County Clerk’s Office for 17 years.
“We are the official record keep
ers of Brazos County,” she said. “We
have records that date back to 1842
in our office.”
Ward pledged to continue the
successful policies established by re
tiring County Clerk Frank Boriskie
if she’s elected to office.
“This (Brazos County Clerk’s Of
fice) is my life,” Ward said.
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Student group proposes recycling plan
-S didn’t it- By ELIZABETH TISCH
e Cowboys an Batta | ion Staf f
If Texas A&M students had recycled the 3,045,120
’ aluminum cans of soft drinks bought from vending ma
chines around campus last year, they would have profit-
M1 ted over $44,000.
Concerned about this enormous amount of wasted
( money, A&M student Mark Cervenka, with the support
of the Texas Environmental Action Coalition, drafted a
3 campus-wide recycling proposal to stop students from
, throwing away products that, if recycled, could bring in
$1,600 a week to A&M.
Cervenka announced his official proposal that was
: originally initiated by the Office of the Vice President
I for Finance and Administration to student leaders and
members of TEAC Wednesday night.
“I want to show the Texas A&M administration that
if they follow this program, the University can cut down
the cost of supplies when recycling and buying recycled
items,” he said.
Each of the four phases of the recycling proposal
must be accomplished before reaching a smooth proc
ess of recycling on campus.
Cervenka said phase one consists of placing distin
guishable bins around campus strictly for aluminum
cans. Various student groups will be asked to maintain
these bins.
During phase two and phase three, different recy
cling methods will be tested. If the transitions between
the previous phases run successfully, TEAC then will
add different products to be recycled.
Success of coed hall visitation policy
attributed to roommate contracts
By ELIZABETH TISCH
Of The Battalion Staff
The new 24-hour visitation policy
for Southside coed halls is going
smoothly, with much success attrib
uted to roommate contracts. Wells
Hall President Andrea Maisonneuve
says.
Each resident must sign a contract
after roommates agree on preferred
private times for studying and sleep
ing, Maisonneuve says.
“The hall councils designed a
roommate contract, and what it does
is open a line of communication
where roommates must specify times
when they don’t want visitors,” she
says. “Without the contract, room
mates wouldn’t talk about it.”
Maisonneuve adds that conflicts
occurring from failure to reach a
compromise will be handled
through resident advisers, like any
other roommate problem.
Wells Hall resident Joel Ehrlich, a
sophomore biochemistry major, says
he and his roommate are happy with
the 24-hour visitation right.
“I think the idea of a contract is
good but it is too open-ended,” he
says. “Although my roommate and I
don’t have problems respecting each
others’ privacy, there will be room
mate conflicts, no doubt about that.”
Maisonneuve says that so far she
has not received any complaints. She
also says this is true of other resident
advisers in Wells Hall.
Jeromy Hollenshead, vice presi
dent of Wells Hall, says the only
complaints he hears are from a few
hall councils that say the 24-hour vis
itation policy should not be limited
to coed halls.
“Any hall can draft a proposal,”
he says. “It was just easier to pass for
Eppright and Wells because it
See Coed/Page 12
Independent candidate encourages
area voters to focus on environment
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
Congressional hopeful Michael
Worsham took his environmentally
based platform Wednesday to a
group of A&M Consolidated High
School students, many of whom are
too young to vote for him.
Worsham, a Texas A&M graduate
student in civil engineering, is hop
ing enough people in the 6th Con
gressional District write in his name
as an independent candidate in No
vember to earn a seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
The 29-year-old New York native
spent Wednesday at A&M Consol
idated speaking to and fielding ques
tions from seniors in government
classes about his stand on the envi
ronment, nuclear energy, recycling
and taxes.
Worsham said the primary reason
he is running for the House is be
cause he said incumbent Republican
Joe Barton has ignored environmen
tal issues during his term and Demo
cratic opponent John Welch has not
run a serious campaign.
Worsham, in contrast to Barton,
strongly opposes use of nuclear en
ergy.
“I’m against nuclear plants be
cause there is nothing to do with the
radioactive waste,” he said. “You can
recycle or compost some waste, but
radioactive waste is forever.”
The Comanche Peak nuclear
power plant in Glen Rose and the
Superconducting Super Collider
project in Waxahachie, which will
generate low-level waste, are in the
same congressional district as Brazos
County.
Worsham said he wants better
conservation of oil and other fossil
fuels until another energy source,
like solar power, is refined.
He said solar power should be
cheaper by the end of the decade
See Worsham/Page 8