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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1990)
*5 Texas A&M Battalion AFami Family entertainment . . . J'or ili<- Yoiiiik al Art P.O.Box J1 College Station, TX 77844 Group aims productions at younger audiences See Page 7 Vol. 90 No. 24 USPS 045360 26 Pages in Two Sections College Station, Texas Thursday, October 4,1990 Graduate assistants seek equity 8y JULIE MYERS Of The Battalion Staff rj Rube -hande sixth 'imgai! d Plea his 2t: Texas A&M graduate assistants lave formed Aggies for Equity to in form the “legislative powers that be” of their rights to equal employee health benefits. A law passed by the Texas Legis lature in 1988 will extend health benefits on Sept. 1, 1991, to full-time graduate assistants in public univer- iities. “It’s all a matter of funding,” says Brad Rickelman, a logic teaching as sistant in the philosophy depart ment. “It’s one thing to pass a law, and quite another to provide fund ing to carry the law out.” Texas A&M employees working 20 hours a week are eligible for some health benefits and Rickelman esti mates 90 percent of graduate assis tants work more than 20 hours a week. Rickelman says this legislation heightened graduate assistants’ awareness about their lack of health benefits and led to the creation of Aggies for Equity. Rickelman is sec retary of the organization. the hk said h nanagc thoug!: y. He, »gOffij essth; he thin ) wfia is sattr det act douhk Fa/is "ripped off A&M loses ticket income to scalpers :e il lues- I can when >eason ed its oung fornia By 1SSELLE MCALLISTER Of The Battalion Staff Ticket scalpers, some ear ning ttp to $5,000 per game, are steal- iog income from Texas A&M’s atnletu department and blatantly Imping off’ Aggie football fans. Ip Ty Clevenger, student body s to S'! lashet! >ng co: ve victor* r Eigh ate. fo fbeaE leBai f play raska. ■thod and if vo wd ad eve the no :e, be 1® voted te SW h Colt rprised es w 1 * even n tTutvershy v*fBeiale will combat the illii: ]j<• • vt cr-ng through awareness ami education, he says. Although Texas law does not prohibit scalping. University poh icy does not allow u “The University Police Depart- aem does not want to have a adeet scalper bust,” Clevenger tip, “We just want them to know what the jjolicy is.” University Police does not want to have a ticket scalper bust. We just want them to knew what the policy is. ” — Ty Clevenger, student body president A&M ers have plagued 1 for years, and in ’ lut Clevenger says change this year. The UPD will scalping, he says, and if continue to ignore UPD will discipline Oevengei says about ID habit ual scalpers have been id They are what he calls Some are en come from out of town to •rk,” he says. The policy's objective is not to ‘art students who cannot attend ames and want to get rid of their dets, he says. The 12th Mat) foundation and ■'pita Phi Omega service Crater- service’s objective is to control profiteering at the University's se, he says. Group of A&M students wants equal employee health benefits “Graduate assistants realize they are the backbone of this University, and the number of undergraduate courses taught by graduate assistants has increased steadily,” Rickelman says. “We are entitled to these benefits like A&M faculty and staff. This (health care benefits) also helps at tract better graduate assistants.” Rickelman says Aggies for Equity also reflects the growing number of non-traditional graduate students: worhen, older students and those who are married and/or support families. This is a big change from five or 10 years ago, Rickelman says. The days of “cradle to grave” in surance for dependents are over, Rickelman says. Students as young as 21 are being dropped from their parents’ insurance policies, and they need cheap, extensive coverage that A&M’s student health care coverage does not provide, he says. “Health care can be expensive es pecially when you only get paid once a month,” Rickelman says. Elizabeth Porter, a secretary in the chemistry department who works part time, says she turned down a graduate assistantship in the educa tional psychology department be cause she would have lost her health benefits. “Losing my benefits was too high a price to pay even though the assistantship would have been very much to my benefit since it is directly related to the graduate degree I’m pursuing,” Porter says. “I’m not bitter, just puzzled and hopeful. I’ve seen real strides toward more humane treatment by this Uni versity. I would like to see a change.” Greg Moses, a lecturer in the phi losophy department, helped Rickel man and Porter form Aggies for Equity after leaving the University of Texas at Austin to fill a lecturer posi tion in A&M’s philosophy depart ment. While at UT, Moses says he was active in an organization similar to Aggies for Equity which helped con vince the UT System Board of Re gents to reinstate graduate assistant health benefits after they had been cut off. Until Sept. 1, 1991, individual universities can decide whether they want to provide this coverage to graduate students. The University of Texas extends coverage while A&M does not. Aggies for Equity has about 20 members, and Rickelman says the organization wants to include grad uate assistants from all colleges. Porter says the group plans to vo calize its concerns by addressing the Legislature and will work with its counterpart at UT to accomplish its goals. For further information about Aggies for Equity, call Rickelman at 845-5660. Hussein visits Kuwait to meet with military NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) —- President Saddam Hussein of Iraq visited Kuwait on Wednes day, meeting with military com manders and officials appointed by Baghdad to govern the occu pied emirate, the Iraqi News Agency said. It was the Iraqi lead er’s first reported visit to what Baghdad now calls Iraq’s 19th province since the Aug. 2 inva sion. Saddam also met with Iraqi troops “and talked to the fighters who confirmed their ever-read- iness to sacrifice for Iraq and the Arab nation and defeat all evil at tempts to desecrate our sacred land,” INA reported. The news agency said Saddam toured the streets of Kuwait, which “appeared flourishing af ter its return to the mother home land.” Refugees fleeing Kuwait have said that stores and shops have been pillaged, and that Iraq is doing its best to dismantle Ku waiti institutions. They have re ported summary executions of resistance fighters, and many have, said they feared to leave their homes before fleeing. The London-based Amnesty International, meanwhile, issued a report saying that Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait have tortured and executed scores of people, some for refusing to display pic tures of Saddam. Iraqi News Agency reporte- d:“On his arrival at the center of the city of Kuwait, the president presided over two meetings of the military commanders and a num ber of officials attended by Mr. Ali Hassan Al-Majeed, minister of the local administration.” “His excellency the president then made a tour during which he met a number of units of the Iraqi brave armed forces and talked to the fighters.” Go, Speed Racer Rains began early yesterday evening. This car entered campus at the east gate and was headed toward the Systems Building. A&M faculty member named likely Nobel Prize candidate By STACY ALLEN Of The Battalion Staff The Texas A&M physics depart ment soon might have a Nobel Prize winner in its midst. Dr. Dimitri Nanapoulos, an A&M professor of physics, was named by The Scientist as a likely contender for a 1990 Nobel Prize. He is one of 12 candidates based on a review of the 1,000 scientists most frequently quoted between 1981 and 1988. Nanapoulos is being considered as a result of his study of the constitu ents of matter and how each inter acts with the others. This research, conducted in 1977, resulted in the prediction of the number of neu trino species. Neutrinos are elementary parti cles with basically no mass that play an important role in the sun’s nu clear reactions. With the cooperation of other sci entists, Nanapoulos predicted in two papers that there are three neutrino types. It was not until 1989 at the Euro pean Center for Nuclear Research in Switzerland that the type of high- tech machinery necessary to test his theory was designed. The result was positive, resulting in his consideration as a contender. “We are happy about being con sidered, and it certainly makes us work harder for the future,” he says. Royce Wisenbaker Regent actively creates scholarships for students Editor’s note: The Battalion has fo cused on members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to better acquaint students and faculty members with the Sys tem ’s leaders. By BILL HETHCOCK Of The Battalion Staff Dr. Dimitri Nanapoulos Although Nanapoulos is excited about the prospect of being a Nobel Prize winner, he says he has kept it in perspective and is honored to be considered. “It would be great to win, but I’m not losing sleep over it,” he says. “If it doesn’t come this year, maybe an other year.” Nanapoulos works at the Texas Accelerator Center in The Wood lands in addition to teaching at A&M. At the center, he heads an as- troparticle group dealing with the Photo by Mike C. Mulvey interface of particle physics and cos mology. Nanapoulos says the prize winner will be chosen this month, but win or lose, he will continue teaching at A&M and conducting his research. “We have a good group at A&M,” he says. “We are proving that we do have fruits here which will attract good young people in the future.” As of yet, he has written 303 pa pers on his findings. Regent Royce Wisenbaker of Tyler was president of the Texas A&M Association of Former Stu dents in 1966 and president of the Aggie Club in 1970, making him the only person to head both groups. Wisenbaker played a big part in establishing the President’s Scholarship program for the As sociation of Former Students in 1968. He gave the first Presi dent’s Endowed Scholarship in honor of the late General Earl Rudder, former president of A&M. Recently, Wisenbaker en dowed a chair in engineering and established two permanently en dowed graduate fellowships for the College of Engineering. He also has been a major contributor to the Aggie Club. Wisenbaker is an independent oil and gas producer. He received a bachelor’s degree in engi neering in 1939, and a master’s degree in engineering in 1940, both from A&M. In 1973, he received Texas Royce Wisenbaker A&M University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, the school's highest honor. Gov. Dolph Briscoe appointed Wisenbaker to the Board of Re gents in 1979. He was reap pointed in 1985 by Gov. Mark White. He is chairman of the Planning and Building Commit tee and a member of the Audit Committee and several ad hoc committees. Wisenbaker serves as trustee for Austin College and is a mem ber of the Chancellor’s Council for The University of Texas Sys tem. He is a board member of the development foundations of both The University of Texas At Tyler and The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler, and is a director of the Tyler Junior Col lege Foundation. [Student Government investigates need for child care Uin By LIBBY KURTZ Of The Battalion Staff Texas A&M’s Student Government is in vestigating the need for an on-campus child care facility since a council appointed in 1989 does not plan to research the care cen ter’s feasibility. Student Body President Ty Clevenger ays the TAMUS/B-CS Child Care Provid- :rs Council has made it clear that it is not J/Btoing to look into the possibility of opening Wl iday care center on A&M’s campus despite fecent concerns of students. ‘I’ve heard a lot of sentiments from stu dents who want a day care center on camp us,” Clevenger says. “I’ve also seen the need for such a facility. Yet, that alone isn’t con clusive. We need to determine if a facility would be practical for A&M.” Clevenger says Student Government plans on measuring students’ needs for a child care facility through another survey and an open hearing. A March 1988 survey from a Child Care Facilities Study Committee determined an on-campus day care center was not needed. The committee, appointed by Deputy Chancellor Eddie J. Davis, examined child care needs of A&M employees and stu dents. The survey of 214 randomly selected A&M employees and students revealed: • 55.2 percent of respondents reported both parents work outside the home. • 45.3 percent said they only had one child enrolled in day care. • Parents primarily were interested in a day care facility dose to home. • Most respondents were reasonably sat isfied with rates of day care. • A large percentage of respondents was interested in an A&M-sponsored day care facility only if it would be of excellent qual ity and inexpensive. Of 214 respondents, 7.5 percent were graduate students and 8.9 percent were un dergraduates. The rest were faculty mem bers and staff. Those surveyed were asked to answer even if they did not have children. The committee also sent surveys to 164 licensed or registered child care providers in the Bryan-College Station area. Of the surveys mailed, 57 responded. Their responses included: • An excess capacity in most facilities ex ists. • 65 percent of providers indicated an interest in opening a facility exclusively for the University System. • 80.7 percent expressed willingness to join an A&M Child Care Council. • 59.8 percent reported no waiting lists in their day care centers. • 52.8 percent said they provided care to between one and five A&M employees or students’ children. In conclusion, the committee said it seemed Bryan-College Station offered ad equate and generally affordable child care to its citizens. The committee said an on-campus day See Child care/Page 12