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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1992)
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The hearing addressed the recent charges of theft against the fraternity. By CHERYL HELLER Reporter of THE BATTALION The Interfratemity Council Ju dicial Board handed down a $1000 fine to the Texas A&M chapter of Kappa Alpha fraternity for the theft of party decorations during a hearing Wednesday night. Kappa Alpha pledges admit ted to stealing a palm tree, a yuc ca tree and a gazebo top for their Oct. 16 "Cruise the Caribbean" theme party. The pledges also took barrels and decorative rope from the Pelican's Wharf Restau rant and two pieces of play ground equipment from the First Baptist Church in Bryan. Dr. Mike Leese, coordinator of Greek affairs at Texas A&M, and a Bryan Police Department detec tive discovered the stolen items in a field near the Kappa Alpha house on Nov. 2. The board also ordered the overhaul of the Kappa Alpha's pledge education program, ser vice hours to the victims, and a formal apology by the fraternity to the theft victims. The board also placed the fraternity on social and disciplinary probation. These sanctions are subject to the approval of Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president for student services. Kappa Alpha President Kurt Knauth said he feels that the board's decision was fair. "Obviously the decision hand ed down by the judicial board was severe, but we fully accept the decision," Knauth said. "We as a chapter are very aware of the detriment we have caused to the community and the University, and we hope that with this be hind us we can rebuild our rela- tionship." Kappa Alpha violated its duty to maintain good neighbor rela tions within the fraternity, a rule established by the board in a pre vious case, said Judicial Board Chief Justice Preston Knight. The board also sanctioned the fraternity for violating sections 50.(6) and 73.(e) of the University Regulations. These regulations state that off-campus conduct is the responsibility of the student organization and that an ap proved student organization must $1000 conduct any activities of the orga nization in a manner that reflects the highest ideals of the Universi ty. In handing down the sanc tions, the board also cited section' 50.(2) of the University Regula tions. This section states that when dealing with violation of any municipal ordinance law in the state of Texas or law of the United States, any disciplinary ac tion imposed by the University may proceed and shall be in ac cordance with any penalty that might be imposed by any off- campus authority. IFC President Jamey Webster said he is glad the University had a chance to handle the situation. "We have to do something to show that the University doesn't approve of what happened," Webster said. In addition to judicial board penalties, the Kappa Alphas must make restitution in the amount of $3350 to the theft victims and per form community service as or dered by Bryan and College Sta tion police, including 240 hours of community service to First Baptist Church. PTTS responds to allegations of mischarging parking tickets By MACK HARRISON Reporter for THE BATTALION Any instances of the department charg ing students for their roommates' parking fines were errors — not a departmental policy, said the head of Parking, Traffic and Transit Services for Texas A&M. Due to the huge number of cases the department processes, some mistakes are bound to slip through, said Thomas G. Williams, PTTS director. "We do not bill tickets to a student's roommate unless it's an error," Williams said. "Why would we do that? We have no reason." Although some students have claimed PTTS employees told them it was "per fectly legal" to charge them for their roommates' fines, Williams said this is not the case. "I don't think our people say that," he said. The overall error rate is very low for the amount of traces the department runs, Williams said. "We have two or three cases of errors out of the thousands that go through our office," Williams said. "It's not any differ ent than any other departmental error on campus." If a car without a parking permit re ceives a ticket, PTTS traces or "connects" the car by license plate and registration, Williams said. If anyone at the address to which the car is registered is affiliated with A&M, the department charges the fine to that student's fees. In order to de termine if the fine was actually incurred by the student, PTTS compares the stu dent's schedule with where the ticket was issued, Williams said. "Usually, we find that the student had classes in the nearby buildings," he said. "It's not a matter of legality, its just a matter of paying bills." From left to right, Mark Bertanmini, a senior business major from Houston; David Stone, a senior economics/political science major from Houston and Corps Commander Matthew Michaels, a wildlife/fisheries science major from Houston, pay their respects to American MIAs in front of the WWII memorial near the bell tower on Wednesday. The ceremony took place to honor Veterans Day. Debate for ethnic class continues By TANYA WILLIAMS Reporter of THE BATTALION Discussions about the possibility of a required multicultural curricu lum has spawned many different opinions from many students. Some students believe that the class requirement is a waste and only adds to the already packed curriculum. Others believe that with all the racial difficulties in the country, the curriculum would only be a bonus. Student body president Steve Beller said he believes multicultural class es are a necessity. "It's not just something we should have, it's something we must have," Beller said. "We went through a lot of stuff back of in the 60's and we were supposed to have gotten all of it worked out, but obvious ly we haven't." Beller believes the classes should not focus on just a small group, but instead apply to everyone. "It's not just a black and white thing," Beller said. "It's a culture thing. Situations that occur, occur because of ignorance. "People need to just follow the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you have them do unto you." Joseph Gourrier, president of the A&M chapter of the NAACP, said he and a group of students have developed their own plan to eventual ly get multicultural classes in the curriculum. "The idea that we have right now is to handle the problem in stages," Gourrier says. "We realize that it will be hard both financially and time-wise — what we're looking to do is start off slowly." Phil Meuret, president of the A&M College Republicans, said he be lieves multiculturalism classes would benefit students but fears how the courses would be taught. "Basically, multicultural classes can be a good thing, maybe even necessary," Meuret said. "The thing is, the way a lot of them are being taught, (like) in the Eastern schools, political correctness comes out." Beller said he believes before the curriculum is inserted at Texas A&M, two big steps need to be taken. "The first step is for people to realize that we do need it," Beller said. "The second step is how do we go about providing it, who's going to teach it, and what's going to be taught?" Beller said each department should decide its own requirements for multicultural classes. "The multicultural curriculum should be done in each department," Beller said. "If each department does it, then it will work." Gourrier's plan calls for a series of speakers to discuss issues twice a See Class/Page 12 Student Senate backs culture bill By BRANDI JORDAN Reporter of THE BATTALION The Student Senate publicly and explicitly denounced any and all forms of cultural discrimina tion by any part of the TAMU Sys tem following a three-hour debate during their meeting Wednesday night. The Cultural Sensitivity Promo tion Bill calls for action from A&M administrators and leaders to add a statement to the University Rules and Regulations stating, "The Texas A&M University ex plicitly denounces any and all forms of racial insensitivity, intol erance, and discrimination by any part of the TAMU System." "This isn't over the Sigma Al pha Epsilon incident," said Aaron Ford, one of the co-authors of bill. "I introduced this bill after I at tended a seminar where John Wi ley Price spoke about 10-day memory. He said that if some thing's important to you, you should stand up for it, before it slips your memory," Patty Warhol, the other co-au thor, introduced the bill for debate by saying that all they were doing was ^asking for action on some thing that's been given lip service for a long time." Ford said the purpose of the bill was to avoid the problems that arose during the SAE incident. "The SAE's claimed ignorance, but that's no excuse in the law," Ford said. "The best way to deal with that situation is to put down in writing that racial insensitivity is intolerable. "Otherwise, people will say, 'It didn't say racial insensitivity. It didn't say cultural insensitivity. I didn't know I couldn't do that.'" Senator David Stone began the debate by voicing the concerns of his constituency concerning the scope of the bill. "Every one of us in this room, because of some association we have with another group of hu man beings, is open to discrimina tion," Stone said. "It simply does not stay along racial lines. If we keep this bill and other legislation following racial lines only, then we neglect all these other forms of discrimination." Kenneth Robinson, president of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, urged the senate to use care in their wording of the bill. "Don't tear this bill up, or we'll just be wasting time passing a bill that can already be found in other University literature," Robinson said. The bill also called for further attention and responses to the rec ommendations presented by the Committee for a Discrimination Free Campus and for beginning research on the creation of a multi cultural requirement. Ford and Warhol stressed the fact that the bill only calls for re search about a multicultural re quirement, not the implementa tion of one. Still, many senators objected on behalf of their constituency over the wording of that paragraph in the bill, especially over the word 'requirement.' "I'm sad to see the tentacles of multiculturalism reaching into Texas A&M," Senator Shawn Roberts said. Roberts said that many of his constituents feared that professors of multicultural classes would use the classroom to further their own political, social and economic views. In Advance Scavenger hunt to help needy Alpha Kappa Psi and the Twin City Mission are asking Texas A&M students to "join the search" Saturday in a scavenger hunt for hard-to- find donations for the organization. Five-person teams will search as signed areas of Bryan-College Station for items the mission needs, but people don't think of donating. Medicines, diapers, reading materials, games, school supplies and personal hygiene supplies are just some of: the items the Mission is looking for. Andy Valedez, one of the scav enger hunt organizers, said the idea originated as a class project and grew from there. "It's to increase awareness of Twin City Mission and get the things they need at the mission," Valedez said. The hunt will start in the Kyle Field west parking lot and last from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The first 100 people to enter will receive free T-shirts.