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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1990)
A&M Battalion Under the big top Reid Bros. Circus comes to B/CS See Page 4 1 Vol. 90 No. 22 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, October 2,1990 SOllf ■e Los I zone, iuddf S e It iusei; M Ion r yiss. Woult : mot- 'Ut I'n ouldii: !cisior ; I S School of Business to request raise in graduate school tuition By JULIE MYERS Of The Battalion Staff The Texas A&M Graduate School of Busi ness will ask the Board of Regents to double its graduate tuition at the Board’s regular meeting Thursday and Friday. If approved, business graduate students will pay $40 per semester hour in Fall 1991. This means, for example, that a business graduate student taking 10 hours in Fall 1991 will pay $400 instead of $200. Other fees are not affected. During the last three years, incoming stu dents in the Graduate School of Business have ranked tuition costs third, fourth or fifth in order of importance to their decision to at tend A&M, says the associate dean for aca demic programs in the Graduate School of Business and MBA program director. “We know that tuition is not unimportant,” Dr. Dan Robertson says. “But, students are more concerned about whether they can find a good job with their degree.” Robertson says graduate students consider factors like costs of living in the area or length of the program in making up their minds. Part of the proposal to increase tuition stip ulates that any increase stay within the college. Robertson says an increase in tuition would stimulate financial support for students with special financial needs. Dr. Larry Guseman, A&M’s director of the Office of Graduate Studies, says the Higher Education Coordinating Board has been lean ing on A&M officials to increase graduate tu ition and get in line with other state universi ties. The University of Houston increased grad uate tuition from $18 to $36 last year and tu ition at the University of Texas is twice that of A&M. According to a HECB report, Texas ranked 50th in the amount of tuition and fees paid by resident graduate students attending four- year institutions in 1987 and 1988. Tuition and fees paid by non-resident grad uate students in Texas ranked 47th. “One way or another someone, whether it’s the students, parents or taxpayers, pays for better education,” Guseman says. “The quality of education will go down if you don’t start funding at a higher level.” Except for professional programs such as law, medicine and dentistry, the current statewide minimum for Texas residents — both undergraduate and graduate — is $18 a semester hour. However, state resident graduate students in business, engineering and architecture are paying the maximum $36 per hour. Pharmacy students soon will be included. A law enacted by the Legislature in 1985 will increase minimum statewide tuition from $18 per semester hour to $20 in Fall 1991, $22 in 1993 and $24 in 1995. Then in 1987, the Legislature gave boards of regents from the state’s public universities authority to double the statewide minimum graduate tuition. University regents have no authority in set ting undergraduate tuition rates. Dr. Lee Blank, associate dean of engi neering and graduate operations committee chair, distributed a questionnaire to all col leges Aug. 24 asking opinions of a proposed 100 percent increase in tuition for all grad uate students. The report from that committee is being examined by Dr. Duwayne Anderson, asso ciate provost for research and graduate study. Anderson says the report is not finished and would not comment about whether the report recommended an increase in graduate tuition in all colleges. Graduate students make up about 17 per cent of the A&M student population. Mauro says economy linked to environment By BRIDGET HARROW Of The Battalion Staff Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro said cleaning up the environ ment also can help the Texas econ omy. “We all know how bad our air pol lution problem is in this state and na tion,” Mauro said during a press conference at the Wisenbaker Engi neering Research Center. “When we see, taste and smell the air, we know something is wrong. Texas is going to be on the cutting edge of new technology because we want to cre ate jobs in our state, clean up our air; and we want to save money.” Mauro said one of the solutions to air pollution is substituting natural gas — specifically Texas natural gas — with gasoline and diesel used in most vehicles. Mauro said he formed a coalition, the Texans for the Envi ronment and the Economy (TE-2) with the idea that protecting the en vironment will drive economic growth. Mauro, who arrived in an electric car produced through the South Central Electric Vehicle Consor tium, said electric cars give efficient .12 Silver Taps service tonight will honor one The solemn sound of buglers playing “Taps” and the sharp ring of gunfire will be heard on campus to night as one Texas A&M student who died during the past month will be honored in a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 in front of the Academic Building. The deceased stu dent being honored is: • Gregory Allan Lewis, 21, a senior physics major from Dallas, who died Sept. 19. Dating back almost a cen tury, the stately tradition of Silver Taps is practiced on the first Tuesday of each month from September through April, when necessary. The names of the deceased students are posted at the base of the flag pole in front of the Academic Building, and the flag is flown at half-staff the day of the ceremony. Lights will be extinguished and the campus hushed as Aggies pay fi nal tribute to fellow Aggies. The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad begins the ceremony, marching in slow cadence toward the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Shortly af ter, three volleys are fired in a 21- gun salute and six buglers play a spe- dal arrangement of “Taps” three times • Supreme Court lets ruling stand WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su preme Court refused to reinstate the murder conviction and death sen tence of an Odessa man who has spent more than seven years on death row. Thejustices, without comment, let stand a ruling Monday that threw out John Skelton’s conviction “be cause the evidence does not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis.” The Texas Court of Criminal Ap peals, the state’s highest, overturned Skelton’s conviction in 1989 and or dered him acquitted. Skelton re mained behind bars pending review of the case by the Supreme Court. Skelton was convicted by a jury and in July 1983 sentenced to death in the murder of Joe Neal, who died when a bomb blew up his pickup truck on April 24, 1982, in Odessa. Prosecutors said Skelton had vowed to kill Neal because the victim had stolen tanks from Skelton’s steam cleaning business. The Texas Court of Criminal Ap peals said the evidence against Skel ton did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. “Although this court does not rel ish the thought of reversing the con viction in this heinous case and or dering an acquittal, because the evidence does not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis, we are compelled to do so,” the state court said. Senior Yell Leader Brant Ince leads more than 50 A&M Japa nese students from the Koriyama campus around the College Station campus after a yell practice on the steps of the YMCA Photo by Mike C. Mulvey Building. The Japanese students arrived here Sunday for a week-long orientation to what it’s like to be an Aggie. The Ko riyama campus opened in temporary quarters on May 28. use of energy which will clean up the air much faster. He said the Consor tium has a five-year plan for the commercialization of electric fleet vehicles which could serve as an ex ample to everyone. David Swan, director for South Central Electric Vehicle Consor tium, said they are working with Houston Lighting and Power and some of the other larger utility com panies in the state to try to bring electric vehicles to Texas. John Appleby, director for the Center for Applied Electrochemistry said the idea is to try to get the utility idustries interested in electric vehi cles. “If they (utility companies) do not seem to be interested, then no one else will be interested in electric vehi cles,” Appleby said. Appleby said if the electricity used by an electric vehicle is traced back to the source of the fuel — burning natural gas — then compared with making electricity and using the electricity in the vehicle, the gas mileage is three times greater. “The electric vehicle is using three times less energy, and that means it is putting three times less carbon di- See Mauro/Page 10 World leaders commit to end child tragedies UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An unprecedented meeting of world leaders ended Sunday with commit ments of billions to end the scourges of childhood poverty, and harsh words for those who commit atroci ties in the name of the young. More than 70 kings, presidents and prime ministers concluded the two-day World Summit for Children by adopting a declaration pledging to fight the hunger, disease and illit eracy affecting cliildren. The summit, the largest gathering of international leaders, seeks to mo bilize governments to save up to 100 million children from death by dis ease and malnutrition in the 1990s. Louis Sullivan, secretary of health and human services, initialed the declaration. Earlier, there had been concern the United States might not endorse the plan because it urges ra tification of a pact that opposes the death penalty for those under 18 —a practice in some U.S. states. Many of the world’s leaders gave at least brief speeches during the meeting, which also provided a fo rum for bilateral discussions on a va riety of themes, not the least of which was the Persian Gulf crisis. President Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia said leaders from Adolf Hitler to Iraqi President Sad dam Hussein had committed evil for the supposed benefit of children. “Thousands of times I have heard people defending their servitude to a hated regime by the argument that they were doing it only for their chil dren,” Havel said. “Immorality was thus committed in the name of chil dren and evil was served for their al leged good. President Bush said children can be saved when adults “live up to our responsibilities.” But, he said, “sav ing one child is a miracle.” John Mobley Regent assists state Legislature, serves family-owned companies Editor’s note: The Battalion will focus on members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents during the upcoming week to better acquaint students and fac ulty members with the System’s lead ers. By BILL HETHCOCK Of The Battalion Staff Since 1951, Regent John Mobley has been active in the management and development of a group of fam ily-owned companies with headquar ters in Kilgore and Austin. The companies provide special ized environmental services to in dustry and government. Mobley was born in Houston and attended public schools in Kilgore. He lived in Kilgore until 1967 when he moved to Austin. The regent, Class of ’51, grad uated with a bachelor of business ad ministration. He now serves as a director of Johnston Pump/General Valve Com pany in Brookshire and is a member of Austin Area Research Organiza tion Inc. Mobley represented Gregg and Smith counties in the Texas Legis lature in 1965 and 1966. He was an executive assistant to Gov. John Connally from 1967 to 1969. In 1970, Mobley served as chair man for Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s first Senate campaign. He was adminis trative assistant to Bentsen in 1971. Gov. Mark White appointed Mob ley to the Board in 1985. He is chair man of the Audit Committee, and a member of the Executive Commit tee, the Committee for Service Units and several ad hoc committees. John Mobley Wildlife refuge survives proposed bill for reservoir WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Appropriations Commit tee on Monday rebuffed an at tempt by Texas congressmen to flood nearly 3,800 acres of pro tected woodland near Tyler for a new reservoir. The committee in a 26-17 vote refused to amend the interior ap propriations bill to take the Little Sandy Wildlife Refuge from con trol of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “I think this vote sounds the death knell for efforts to remove Little Sandy from refuge status,” said Robert Dewey of Defenders of Wildlife. Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Rockwall, is pushing to take away the pro tection. The land is part of 40,000 acres the Sabine River Authority wants, to flood to create the Wa ters Bluff Reservoir. A Hall-sponsored bill stripping the protection was approved by the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee in August. Without the protection, the river authority would take control of the land by eminent domain. A Hall aide said the matter was sent to the Appropriations Com mittee because it stood a better chance of passage attached to the spending bill. The aide said Hall hopes to get the bill on the House calendar for non-controversial legislation in the next two weeks. But environmentalists say the bill is very controversial. They say the land is prime animal habitat and contains some of the best hardwood forest in Texas. A hunting club in 1986 gave the land the Fish and Wildlife Service. cer Look for the Careers and Graduate School section in Thursday’s Battalion 21