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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1991)
Once things settle down in Europe and the Middle East, we will have to face the problems of Latin America once again." - Tim Truesdale pages Opportunities for students to_work with dolphins in Costa Rica page 2 Cowboys vs Oilers Texas pro football preview page 3 • S - Air Fo: : cnardsofSf d the naj: e Texas Seer, office Fridi :a n name :■ after the The Battalion bl. 90 No. 178 USPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas "Serving Texas A&M since 1893" Wednesday, July 31, 1991 Official recommends standardized policies for transfer of college credits By Chris Vaughn The Battalion l 8 garbage; ' power. what you "he said, vehicle is on; ructure u ed to adju ^nsumers. vehicles cai her electric money. ; your gas bill/' he less than* ery month Kelly Rogers took an introductory chemistry course at Tarleton State Uni versity a few semesters ago, worked vith basic scientific methods, exam ined chemistry's role in energy and jollution and fully expected the class to be worthwhile. Texas A&M didn't think so when Rogers transferred here. A&M did not accept Rogers' chemis- course because it was designed for ion-science majors, one of several lies that could change during this ses sion of the Legislature. Comptroller John Sharp recom mended in the Texas Performance Re view that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board develop policies to better standardize core curriculum classes among the state's public uni versities and colleges. Standardization of core courses will ensure students do not lose credits when they transfer, according to Sharp's report. "Students are often shocked to learn they cannot always apply their junior college credit hours toward their de grees at senior colleges," stated a press release from Sharp. "Repetition of aca demic courses is a waste of students' time and taxpayers' money. The state, students and parents are shortchanged when course work must be duplica ted." A&M officials, however, say they do not make students duplicate courses. Dr. Jerry Gaston, associate provost, said the University accepts most courses from other schools and stu dents rarely forfeit transfer hours. But while A&M accepts most trans fer hours, many times those hours count for nothing, which is Rogers' sit uation. He had to take a geology class to fulfill his science requirement after his chemistry class was rejected — a perfect example of duplication, Rogers says. "It is unnecessary, especially for core courses," Rogers said. "Courses in a person's major, I can understand them being picky. But core requirements? I think they should all transfer in." Gaston disagrees. "A system whereby no student would lose a credit hour would be vir tually impossible to achieve," he said. "People change their majors. People 'lose' course credit all the time. But then because of misunderstanding, they go tell their mom they have to take a class again, and you get a lot of myths circulating. It's a much ated problem." exagger- arp' like cases like Rogers' are duplication. "There is no use in taking a course unless it counts," said Paul Curry, a spokesman in Sharp's office. "If stu dents have to take courses over, it is a waste of time and money for students and parents." It is costly for the state too. The state could save $14.4 million per year by en suring transferability among public universities, according to Sharp. To save this money, the TPR recom mends the Higher Education Coordi nating Board develop a manual with a list of core curriculum courses, like ENGL 104, POLS 206, CHEM 101, and descriptions of them. Four-year state schools would then choose 45 hours from that manual, de velop their courses according to the guidelines, and therefore, standardize basic college classes. “ “ "1 ;hind jletrec! SONORA ROBBINS/The Battalion Does this thing bite? A. Claire Fernandez, a Zoology major from Harlingen, feeds a male Kemp’s floor of the Biological Sciences Building. Fernandez is a student worker who Ridley Sea Turtle a snack of squid. The turtles are in large tubs on the first feeds the turtles and cleans and maintains the tanks. Students prevail State Senate approves amendment giving students non-voting seat on Board of Regents By Greg Mt.Joy The Battalion Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock said the young people of Texas prevailed Tuesday after an amendment establishing a non-voting student re gent passed in the state Senate. However, the 20-year battle for student representation on state university boards has not ended. The amendment, as part of an education bill, will now go to a conference committe where differences between House and Senate versions will be ironed out, said the House bill's co-author Rep. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. "It's not over yet, but at least we don't disagree with the Senate on the amendment portion of the bill," Ogden said. House Bill 2 is a comprehensive one, and the bill has a number of provisions differing from the Senate version, he said. Rob Giesekie, spokesperson for Ogden, said the bill, if signed into law, would take effect Sept. 1 or 90 days after the end of the special session. Kevin McHargue, spokesperson for Senator Jim Turner, D- Crockett, said the student regent amendment has Gov. Ann Rich ard's support and should move through the conference comittee quickly. McHargue said the committee will be appointed within a day or two and results could be seen in about two weeks. Opposition to the bill, especially by long-time student regent foe Sen. Carl Parker, D-Port Aurthur, was severe. "Sen. Parker was in rare form," McHargue said. "But the argu ment for the provision was very effective." Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Ausin, listed states with and with- See Students/Page 6 j Bush proclaims 'new age of promise' to help suffering Soviet economy icr* •! XM) .99 .99 MOSCOW (AP) — President Bush >ledged coveted trading benefits to the loviet Union on Tuesday and pro- Pclaimed "a new age of promise" as he I?opened his summit with Mikhail S. pfGorbachev. The Soviet leader said the }. two nations "are beginning to realize ■we need each other." Bush's announcement that he would If send Congress a long-delayed trade | agreement, lowering tariffs on Soviet goods and putting that nation on an equal footing with the most-favored U.S. allies, capped a day of summit meetings that focused on the battered Soviet economy. There was controversy, too, pro vided by Gorbachev's swaggering ri val, Boris Yeltsin, and disappointment that the leaders were unable to an nounce that Israel would join the Mid east peace conference they hope to sponsor. Gorbachev welcomed the trade-sta tus move but also proposed that the United States follow it up by easing Western rules that restrict commerce in high-technology goods. The first day of the summit wound up with Gorbachev and Bush saluting each other in laudatory toasts at a can dle-lit banquet in a richly appointed ceremonial hall in the Kremlin. "Our nations' friendship, built on mutual respect and personal trust, is changing tne world," Bush told his counterpart. Earlier in the day at the Moscow State Institute for International Rela tions, a college for diplomats. Bush warned that "obstacles do remain" in the warming U.S.-Soviet relationship. "The United States poses no threat to Cuba, therefore there is no need for the Soviet Union to funnel millions of dollars in military aid to Cuba," Bush said in the speech, which was shown later on Soviet television. The president said Cuban leader Fi del Castro was "isolated by his own obsolete terrorism. ... Castro does not share your faith in glasnost, Castro does not share your faith in peres troika." .99 ■ Mil ; [GATE SdStasney, >2201 tProposal difficult to understand Amendment unclear to voters By Melinda Cox The Battalion SATE Stasney 220 'AS $5.99 | $7.99 $9.99 ^ A proposed state constitu tional amendment will keep the tax assessor from your door — that is if you can understand it. As with most amendments and propositions handed down ; ‘ by the legislature. Proposed ^Constitutional Amendment No. . U is difficult for the average per- • ‘ son to comprehend. / Mary Ann Ward, Brazos County clerk, said the wording ■could lead to voter misunder standing. "The facts of the amendment are confusing," she said. The amendment reads, "The constitutional amendment to al low the voters of a county educa tion district to adopt certain exemptions from the district's ad valorem taxation for residence homesteads and to provide for the taxation of certain tangible personal property." Buddy Winn, tax collector for Brazos County, said the amend ment — set for an Aug. 10 ballot — will allow voters in county ed ucation districts (CoEds) to exempt themselves from a tax on tangible personal property. If the amendment is not adopted, then every taxpayer within a CoEd will be subjected to a personal property tax. Winn said the personal property tax would include belongings such as hair-dryers, cars or boats — any property that doesn't gener ate revenue. Merrily More, editor of the property tax legislative summa ries, said county education dis tricts are set up through the schools and each school district is located in a CoEd. The CoEd is governed by a board of trustees made up of representives of the school districts. Winn said county education districts were set up under Sen ate Bill 351, the Robin Hood bill, which creates new taxing dis- See Districts/Page 6 Approval of spending package by regents restores full accreditation to vet school By K. Lee Davis The Battalion Texas A&M's College of Vet erinary Medicine could regain full accreditation because of the Texas A&M Board of Re gents' approval of a $32 million spending package to upgrade facilities. The Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medi cal Association (AVMA) re voked A&M's full accreditation and reduced the vet school to limited accreditation status in November 1988, citing poor fa cilities as one of the causes. "That was one of the reasons that this vote was so impor tant," said Dr. John Shadduck, dean of the College of Veteri nary Medicine. "This means theproject can continue." The project has three compo nents, Shadduck said. The first step is construction of a new large animal teaching hospital, the second is a new research building and the third is re modeling to acquire more space for the existing building. Shadduck said, however, the new project was not enough to insure that A&M would again receive full ac creditation. "We need two things (to re ceive full accreditation)," he said. "One is the completion of the project that was just ap proved. The other is that our state budget can't be cut." Shadduck said a Texas Legis lature vote last Friday to re duce funding by 10 percent could put the vet medicine pro gram in additional danger. "We need our improved state budget to be sustained at its current level," he added. "A cut could jeopardize accredita tion." Dr. Edward Ames of the Council on Education of the AVMA could not be reached for comment. An official with the AVMA confirmed that an on-site See Reports/Page 6