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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1992)
Exercise your right — VOTE! <eoff. idal Judge Vi sa id Mondj; 'n formation j, vember 1990^ ave preventfj ras h< if indetj was the cau^ the Commj ito the crash (| 'okker 281 on March 1( northwesten Partly cloudy Highs in the 60s thi! ni Recent stunts pulled by members of the A&M Student Government serve as blatant examples of what is wrong in politics today —Battalion editorial Page 11 CAMAC Conference Hispanic politics, business, education comprise agenda of fifth annual convention Page 2 Aggies go wild against the UTA Mavericks Page 3 The Battalion ij ) Littl m us! ;day and have y for ■ ■■■! its PM L Vol. 91 No. 121 College Station, Texas ‘Serving Texas A&M since 1893” Lindy Hardin delivers her campaign speech for the office of General Studies senator Tuesday night at the Senate Forum. -2'92 owers 5 ff »ses 40“ ount! ts Candidates target By Tanya Sasser The Battalion Many people think there is not enough communication be tween Texas A&M Student Sen ate representatives and their constituents, and many of this year's candidates voiced their desire to change that in a Stu dent Senate forum Tuesday night. Despite the low audience turnout, candidates for the Stu dent Senate were given the op portunity to address concerns and to state their campaign plans to solve these concerns. Stephanie Graham, organizer of the forum, said that it was ironic because although the fo rum was intended to discourage voter apathy, very few people turned out to hear what the can didates had to say. Graham urged the candi dates not to be discouraged by the small audience and to help each other by educating voters by word of mouth. “A very few people came out to see y'all so it's important that y'all help each other out," she said. "If you help somebody, chances are they're going to help you and you can spread the word about anyone that has made an impression on you tonight." One issue that turned up fre quently was that of poor com munication between students and their representatives. Troy Miller, an off-campus Student Senate candidate. communication thinks lack of communication has become a big problem with in the Senate. "I think that there is such a thing as being 'too political/ " Miller said. "By that I mean that representatives lose touch with their constituency." David Stone, a liberal arts candidate, agreed that the com munication gap is often the fault of the representatives and not the students. "We don't communicate well with our constituents as sena tors," he said. Brian Walker, business Stu dent Senate candidate, geared his speech toward this same is sue. "In the past, the Senate sometimes hasn't gone out and gotten enough information from their constituents," Walk er said. Although the lack of commu nication between students and Senators was on almost every candidate's agenda. Brook Leslie, a current off-campus student senator running for re- election, said she hopes to im prove organization within the Senate. Leslie said she regretted not having the opportunity to expe rience formal training as a new Senator this year. "A lot of the Senators have fantastic ideas about developing programs for students that are not on the Senate but I would like to concentrate within the Senate," she said. "I would like to see a program developed for the new senators." 12 Pages Wednesday, April 1,1992 Commission releases list of violators 67 campaign infractions total $600; three presidential candidates cited By Michael Sullivan The Battalion Early Wednesday morning the Student Government Election Commission released a list of all vi olations and fines issued to candi dates in all races. As of Tuesday the election com mission issued 67 fines totalling over $600. Of those 67 fines, 8 fines worth a total of $75 have already been cancelled. The commission warns that even though a candidate has a vio lation listed, that the candidate still has the right to appeal the viola tion. All appeals will be handled by the Student Government judical board. A candidate is responsible both for violations he/she commits and violations committed by those working for the campaign. Article II, section 3 of the Elec tion Regulation states, "Any candi date who willingly violates the election regulations or permits any violation on his behalf shall be sub ject to disqualification for that elec tion. Any election commission ac tion may be appealed to the judical board." Article I, section 2, letter H pro vides, "The election commissioner has the power to render punish ment up to and including disquali fication for any violation of these election regulations." The following candidates who have outstanding fines are listed by campaign in alphabetical order. The number after the name refers to the total number of outstanding violations. The letter(s) refer to the violation and the amount is the to tal fine levied against the candi date. See Election/Page 6 Board hears appeal; lifts Brooks' fine By Michael Sullivan The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Government Judicial Board announced at 1:20 a.m. Tues day that it lifted a $25 fine is sued to student body presi dential candidate and Speak er of the Senate David Brooks. The Student Government Election Commission levied the fine Sunday against Brooks for tampering with the mail of fellow senator and student body presidential candidate John Ansbach. Brooks appealed the fine Monday. The judicial board reviews all appeals concern ing rules infractions, includ ing election proceedings. Brooks said he was pleased with the board's decision. "I feel completely vindicat ed by the fact they overturned the fine," Brooks commented. "I maintain — and I feel the Judicial Board says — I did nothing wrong. At the same time I would like to state that this incident makes it quite clear to what lengths candi dates will go to to avoid the issues." However, Charles Phipps, Student Government judical board chairman, said Brooks' appeal only concerned the See Judicial/Page 6 INT W :E s n tree ot I Dilla^ DODf lio s Printed One Not ne of 1 dio. ia 0ieane f: A&M military official supports Perot's choice By Alysia Woods The Battalion A Texas A&M military expert says Texas billionaire H. Ross Per ot could not have picked a better running mate in his maverick bid for the presidency. Dr. Art Blair, deputy director for administration at the Mosher Institute for Defense Studies at A&M, said Admiral James Stock- dale, a retired Navy combat pilot, is a wise choice. Perot announced Stockdale as his interim running mate Monday. "He (Stockdale) is a really fine individual," Blair said. "He's a deeply philosophical and moral man with a lot of integrity." Perot said he will run for presi dent if he can get on the ballot in all 50 states as an independent candidate. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia require inde pendent candidates to select run ning mates. Perot's decision will allow the petition process to begin in these states. Stockdale is presently a senior research fellow at Stanford Uni versity's Hoover Institution. Before joining the A&M faculty, Blair worked for Stockdale at The Citadel in Charleston, South Car olina. The Citadel is a military in stitution with 2,000 male students. Stockdale was appointed presi dent of The Citadel in 1979 while Blair was head of the English de partment. Stockdale was hired to reform the freshman cadet system and chose Blair as his assistant. Blair said Stockdale resigned because his recommendations on how to improve the school were ignored by alumni. "He had basically been denied the ability to do what he'd been hired to do," Blair said. "He's an extremely honest and thorough person." Stockdale, 68, was a combat pi lot in Vietnam. Captured in 1965, he remained a prisoner of war for 7 1/2 years. Blair said Stockdale's experi ence as a prisoner made him the hard-nosed man he is today. "Seven years of being a POW brings out the best of someone," Blair said. "It tempered Stock- See Military/Page 5 Homosexuality and Religion Gays, lesbians examine relationship with God, church ELECTION BEGINS TODAY Student body elections will be held Wednesday and Thursday, April 1 and 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the following polling places: Blocker Building Kleberg Center Sterling C. Evans Library MSC foyer (between the Sweet Shop and Rudder Tower). Runoff elections will be held Tuesday, April 7 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the same locations. By Julie Polston The Battalion Four clergymen from various denominations discussed includ ing gays and lesbians in their churches through a variety of sup port services at a panel discussion Tuesday evening in Rudder Tow er. The Gay and Lesbian Student Services sponsored the lecture as part of Gay and Lesbian Aware ness Week at Texas A&M Univer sity. "There's a trend within Chris tianity over the centuries to guard and protect the truth," said Michael Dack, pastor of Friends United Church of Christ in Col lege Station. The truth is, gays and lesbians are involved in churches both as members of the congregation and in the clergy itself. A common topic addressed was the acceptance of the marital union of homosexuals, which varies among denominations. "There is wide controversy within the Church of Christ (con cerning homosexual marriages)," he said. However, the Rev. Ron Grant with the Lambda Christian Fel lowship said homosexual union is accepted in his denomination. An important concern for the churches represented at the dis cussion is to provide acceptance and support for gays and lesbians. "So much has happened in the last 20 years in mainline church es," Grant said. "There is enough support in these churches, so you don't have to live in San Francisco or Berkeley." Doug Ensminger, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Houston, said stereotypes will persist until the heterosexual pop ulation accepts homosexuals as friends, co-workers and acquain tances. "Stereotypes don't give up easi ly, they fight tooth and nail to stay alive," he said. One's upbringing, fear of the unknown and society's "uptight" view of sexuality are all barriers preventing homosexuals from be ing accepted into society, Ens minger said. The panel tried to stay clear of biblical interpretations. However, Will Main of the Unitarian Fellow ship in College Station, comment ed on homosexuality and religion. "Christian churches say they follow Jesus, and Jesus never said anything about homosexuality," he said. Dack said it will be a slow pro- "There is wide controversy within the Church of Christ (concerning homosexual marriages)/' Michael Dack, pastor of Friends United Church of Christ in College Station. cess for the church to deal with and accept biblical texts regarding homosexuality. "You can't avoid dealing with biblical texts," he said. Continuing with Gay and Les bian Awareness Week, the student organization will sponsor two more lectures Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in 302 Rudder.