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Texas A&M
Battalion
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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
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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.
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A&M loses
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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
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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
â– '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