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e Battalion
Vol. 92 No. 116 (10 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M - 1993
Wednesday, March 24,1993
Regents to meet, discuss added fees for
By STEPHANIE PATTILLO
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Board of Re
gents will meet at the end of this
week for the first time with its
three newest members.
John H. Lindsey, 70, of Hous
ton; M. Guadalupe Lopez Rangel,
43, of Corpus Christi; and T.
Michael O'Connor, 38, of Victoria
were confirmed by a unanimous
state senate vote Tuesday.
The Board is meeting Thurs
day and Friday to discuss a
lengthy agenda. Among many
proposed items is an enrollment
fee of $200 for all newly admitted
masters students in the College of
Business Administration (CBA)
and the Graduate School of Busi
ness.
Only applicants admitted to
the program will be required to
pay this fee. The fee will apply
toward a student's tuition and
fees in their first semester of reg
istration if they enroll in the pro
gram.
If an accepted student fails to
enroll, the $200 fee will be re
tained. The funds generated by
the retained fees will be cover
costs arising out of the failure of
admitted students to enroll in the
CBA Masters Program, according
to the University President's of
fice proposal to the board.
The regents also will consider a
$200 fee for admission to the
Teacher Education Program. The
fee covers materials and services
not normally covered by state ap
propriated expenses.
If the Board adopts the item,
the new fee will take effect this
fall for students applying for ad
mission to the Teacher Education
Program.
The dean of the College of Ed
ucation may waive this $200 fee if
a student demonstrates a financial
graduate
hardship, according to the Uni
versity president's office propos
al.
The Board also will discuss
several construction projects in
cluding the renovation of the Mil
itary Science Building, the Veteri
nary Science Building and Nagle
Hall.
In other business, the regents
will decide whether to establish
an interdisciplinary Crop Biotech
nology Center.
programs
The center will focus on the de
velopment and application of the
tools of biotechnology for crop
improvement, said Edward A.
Hiler, deputy chancellor and dean
of agriculture and life sciences di
rector, in a written proposal to the
Board.
If approved, the center will fall
within the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences and the Texas
Agricultural Experimentation
Center.
Clinton offers
Yeltsin support
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - President
Clinton lent forceful support
Tuesday to Boris Yeltsin as Rus
sia's ''first elected president in
1,000 years/' but did not exclude
backing other Moscow reformers
who would limit nuclear weapons
while developing democracy and
free markets.
"With or without President
Yeltsin in authority, from now I
suppose until the end of time, or
at least in the foreseeable future,
the United States will have those
interests," Clinton said at his first
formal news conference in the
White House.
He said he would be ready
with "an aggressive and quite
specific plan" of aid for Yeltsin's
government at next week's sum
mit in Canada. "Russia is and
must remain a democracy," Clin
ton said.
As he spoke to reporters. Secre
tary of State Warren M. Christo
pher held a lengthy meeting with
Russian Foreign Minister Andrei
V. Kozyrev on the political crisis
in Moscow and preparations for
the summit.
"Be alert, but don't worry,"
Kozyrev said in a brief exchange
with reporters, his optimism
cloaking the galloping inflation
and other woes besetting the
Russian people as Yeltsin jousts
with Communists, nationalists,
and plant managers to try to push
See Yeltsin/Page 4
Cable company expands coverage
TCA adds Court TV
for Dallas minister trial
By JEFF GOSMANO
The Battalion
Subscribers of TCA Cable will
get their first glimpse of the
Courtroom Television Network
Wednesday with live coverage of
the attempted murder trial of Dal
las minister Walker Railey.
Although Court TV is not car
ried in Bryan-College Station, the
trial of Texas v. Railey will be
broadcast on channel 17 through
special arrangements with TCA
Cable.
Randy Rogers, systems manag
er of TCA Cable, said the trial is
being broadcast because it has at
tracted state-wide attention and is
of interest to cable subscribers.
"Court TV apprehended us
and allowed us to 'cherry-pick' it
off their channel because the trial
is of local interest to our viewers,"
he said.
Rogers said TCA Cable is in
the process of expanding to over
75 channels and "they're looking
at carrying Court TV in the fu
ture. That's why we're 'cherry-
picking.'"
Railey is on trial for the April
21,1987, attack of his wife, Peggy.
She was choked and left for dead
in the couple's Dallas home. She
survived the attack and remains
in a chronic vegetative state.
Merrill Brown, senior vice
See Court TV/Page 7
CEC renews fundraising for
endowments, scholarships
By MARK EVANS
The Battalion
Texas A&M University faculty
and staff will renew efforts to
raise $2 million for the University
in a ceremony today in Rudder
Exhibit Hall.
The Campus Endowment
Campaign (CEC), aimed towards
the 10,000 current and retired
Texas A&M faculty and staff, is
sponsoring the reception to draw
attention to its fund-raising drive.
Dr. Mel Friedman, campaign
chairman, said the campaign pro
vides a means for the staff and
faculty to show their support to
the University.
"Many of us feel that A&M
has been good for our careers.
therefore we want to do some
thing to pay back the University,"
he said. "This is an opportunity
for the campus community to
make a contribution."
So far the campaign has raised
$1 million since its inception in
September 1990. Friedman said
he will announce at the reception
that the program has received
pledges for an additional
$250,000.
Many of the donations provide
money for visiting lecturers,
scholarships or endowments.
However, Friedman said, people
can earmark their donation for
any area they wish such as the
Evans Library, student services
See Fund raising/Page 2
Taking it one step at a time
James Newport, a junior animal science major and member of the
Texas A&M Horsemans Association, paints the steps to the crowsnest
at Freedman Arena. Painting and upkeep of the arena is an on-
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
going project the club shares with several other groups. The
Horsemans Association is sponsoring a quarter horse show to be
held in the Arena April 9-11.
DARRIN HILL/The Battalion
Patrick Kelly displays the two Tony Dorset! jerseys formerly owned by
Jackie Sherrill he bought at an auction held last week,
Going, going, gone
Student gets 2 Dorsett jerseys at auction
held to pay Sherrill's overdue storage rent
By GINA HOWARD
The Battalion
A Texas A&M University grad
uate student last week stumbled
upon a piece of American football
history, and he has former A&M
head coach Jackie Sherrill to
thank.
Patrick Kelly, an MBA student,
bought two Tony Dorsett college
football jerseys for $45 at an auc
tion, and each jersey may be
worth as much as $1,000 each.
The jerseys previously belonged
to former A&M head coach Jackie
Sherrill.
The jerseys were auctioned as
part of the contents of a self-stor
age unit because Sherrill failed to
pay rent. The property owners
put the contents of the unit on
auction to recover the lost rent.
The jerseys are from Dorsett's
playing days at the University of
Pittsburgh from 1973 until 1976,
the year he won the Heisman Tro
phy. Sherrill was on the Pitts
burgh coaching staff at the time.
Sherrill, who is now the head
football coach for Mississippi
State University, was unable to re
turn phone calls to The Battalion.
Beckie Dube, operations super
visor for Apartments Plus in Col
lege Station, said this is the usual
way property managers deal with
nonpayment situations.
"We send them past due no
tices and in 30 days we can auc
tion off the contents to retrieve the
rent," Dube said.
Announcements of storage unit
auctions are placed in newspaper
classifieds, stating the delinquent
renter's name, the storage unit
number, and the address, Dube
said. The auctions are conducted
by professional auctioneers, not
the property managers.
Kelly said this was the first
auction he attended, and at first,
he did not want to go.
"A friend of mine dragged me
out of bed that Saturday to go and
we just stood around for the first
couple of units (being auc
tioned)," he said.
Kelly said he became much
See Auction/Page 3
Jason Mitchell
University recognizes NORML chapter
Organization works toward goal of
national legalization of marijuana
By KEVIN LINDSTROM and
PENA PIZDAR
The Battalion
Texas A&M students and fac
ulty should know about the bene
ficial aspects of marijuana, said
•See Editorial Page 8
the president of the Texas A&M
chapter of the National Organiza
tion for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws (NORML).
Jason Mitchell, a junior micro
biology major and president of
the Texas A&M NORML,
said" We want to educate the pub
lic about the positive medical uses
and ecological benefits of marijua
na. We also want to discourage
the criminal penalties for posses
sion and cultivation of marijua
na."
Texas A&M NORML, which
was officially recognized by the
University last month, plans to
raise these issues by writing let
ters to local and state officials and
having an information table at the
MSC, Mitchell said.
Members of NORML are also
planning a "Tax Day Protest."
Mitchell said the group will pass
out flyers explaining that taxing
marijuana consumption is more
profitable to taxpayers than en
forcing the illegality of marijuana.
"It isn't the users who are pay
ing for this," Mitchell said. "It is
the non-users who are paying for
the drug war with higher taxes. It
is the non-users who are losing all
of the tax revenue that would be
received from the regulation of
hemp. And it is the non-users
who are paying for the prisons."
If marijuana was legal, taxes on
the drug would put the burden
directly on the user, Mitchell said.
Dr. Dennis J. Reardon, coordi
nator of the Center for Drug Pre
vention and Education
on campus, said the issue of
marijuana legalization is not that
clear cut.
The problem of abuse is a com
plex aspect of this issue that in
volves economics, personal aspi
rations and relationships, Reardon
said. To view the problem only in
terms of legalization is too nar
row, he said.
"Those who promote legaliza
tion say the other problems in-
See NORML/Page 7
Sports
•Baseball; Aggies beat
SHSU 11 -7
•Football: Slocum promotes
Davie to assistant position
Page 5
Opinion
•Coping with death; a
student guide to the
inevitable
•Editorial: Marijuana should
be legalized
Page 8