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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1993)
The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 117 (10 pages) 1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M - 1993 Thursday, March 25,1993 President, parliament battle for Russian power THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW — Russia veered be tween confrontation and compro mise Wednesday, and President Boris Yeltsin ' and his legisla tive opponents ended up no doser to resolv ing their power struggle. The fierce ar guments in Moscow rever berated across Russia. Cos sacks offered to form a presiden tial guard to defend Yeltsin and declared self-rule in their southern Don region. Siberian coal miners threatened a strike in support of the president. H Yeltsin Hopes for a settlement dwin dled after Yeltsin's chief rival, par liament speaker Ruslan Khasbula- tov, presented "rude ultimatums" for concessions during talks with the president, said Yeltsin spokesman Vyacheslav Kostikov. "The president responded with a resolute and firm rejection," Kostikov said, according to the In terfax independent news agency. Khasbulatov later indicated he still hoped for a compromise. Also Wednesday, President Clinton also expressed hope for a negotiated solution, saying "It is very much in our interest to keep Russia a democracy." He met with Russian Foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev to discuss U.S. aid and the planned Clinton-Yeltsin sum mit in Vancouver on April 3-4. The struggle between Yeltsin and the Communist-dominated Congress of People's Deputies had been stewing for months over the question of whether the executive or legislative branch should have more power. The situation boiled over after Yeltsin declared emergency rule on Saturday and called for an April 25 referendum on whether a new form of parliament should be established. Russia's Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled both those ac tions violated the constitution, al though it approved Yeltsin's re quest for a national vote of confi dence on him. Wednesday began with the Supreme Soviet voting to convene an emergency session of the Con gress on Friday to consider remov ing Yeltsin for violating the consti tution. During the session, Yeltsin's See Russia/Page 5 A&M officials analyze Russian politics Yeltsin pushes for democracy, capitalism By JENNIFER SMITH The Battahm The power struggle between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the Russian parliament could leave the nation's fate in the hands of a moderate majority some where between communism and democracy, said two Texas A&M University authorities on Russia. Dr, Ronald Hatchett, director of the Mosher Institute for Inter national Policy Studies, said the parliament gives power to the resident, and this has caused a attie for authority since it recent ly attempted to limit Yeltsin's power. "Yeltsin has only the power that the Congress of People's Deputies gives to him," he said. The Congress of People's Deputies, made up of 1,041 mem bers, isjpart of Russia's parlia ment. The second branch of par liament is the Supreme Soviet, which is made up of 243 mem bers. Hatchett said the parliament ave Yeltsin the right to rule by ecree in 1991, effectively giving him the power to dictate what re forms went into effect. Throughout the next year, the parliament questioned Yeltsin's authority, but they extended his power until the end of 1992. "But by December of 1992, it was clear that the parliament wanted to control government policies and appoint government officials," Hatchett said. In reaction to this, Yeltsin asked for a referendum to be held in April that would let the people decide if they wanted a govern ment with a strong president or one with a strong parliament. This kept the power with Yeltsin and not the parliament. "As the time for this referen dum drew near, it was clear that the parliament wasn't going to let it happen," Hatchett said By March 10, the parliament had taken away most of Yeltsin's powers and canceled the April vote. See YeHsin/Page 4 Summer, fall class schedules are available BILLY MORAN/The Battalion Seth Terry (right), a junior agriculture major from Waxahachie, picks Wednesday from Mary Saladino (left). Saladino lives in Bryan and up the summer ana fall schedule books in front of Heaton Hall has worked with A&M registration for about 13 years. University asks Regents for fee hike Student senator says A&M needs to consult those most affected by increase By JULI PHILLIPS The Battalion Texas A&M students will face raises in cur rent fees for the fall semester if the Board of Regents approves the administration's request later this week, but student representatives say the administration needs to make sure the stu dents can handle the raise. Earlier this week, the Battalion confirmed that the kinesiology fee will be raised from $12 to $16; the new student conference fee from $15 to $25; binding and collating fees for a masters thesis from $85 to $90 and doctoral dissertation from $110 to $158. The Board may also raise the computer ac cess fee from $4 per credit hour to $5 per credit hour for the fall and spring terms and from $2 to $2.50 per credit hour in the summer. According to the Provost's Office, all money brought in by the computer use fee will go to the library. Texas A&M University Provost E. Dean Gage said. "We felt that this was an appropri ate method to take care of student concerns for library needs without imposing a big burden on students." Gage said the other fees were only an effort to keep revenue in line with cost. Assistant Provost Dan Parker said the Uni versity is not out to make a profit. "All we can do is recoup the cost and a lot of time we don't even do that," Parker said. "Costs are much higher than what is being re flected and they are just escalating out of sight." Gage and Parker confirmed the University will raise other fees, and the Office of Finance and Administration has the complete list, how ever Robert Smith, the vice president over that office, did not return Battalion phone calls. Just before spring break, the Student Senate passed a resolution requesting the University consult the Senate about fee hikes. Northside Senator Russell Langley, who drafted the resolution, said the administration See Student Fees/Page 4 Graduation guest limit draws few complaints By ROBIN ROACH The Battalion There has not been an overwhelmingly negative response from stu dents or parents regarding the change in the May 1993 graduation cere monies, said Mary Jo Powell, associate director of University Relations. University President William Mobley announced Feb. 25 to deans and department heads that each graduate will be limited to six guests for this May's commencement exercise. The University sent letters to the May degree candidates on March 5 to inform them of the change. Each graduate will receive six tickets to distribute to their guests but may exchange tickets with those students who do not use all six of their allotted tickets. "I think it's a reflection of our need to have a larger facility for student events." -Patty Warhol, student senator Powell said she has talked to "a few mad parents," but most of them have been understanding once the safety concerns of accommodating such a large audience were explained to them. "WeTl do what we can in University Relations to inform people of the change," Powell said. "Almost everyone I have talked to has been most understanding." Patty Warhol, a student senator and a May degree candidate, said al though the change is not a problem for her family, she realizes students with larger families will not have enough tickets for all their guests. "I think it's a reflection of our need to have a larger facility for stu dent events," Warhol said. See Graduation/Page 6 Freshman cadets await trial for assault with ax-handle By GINA HOWARD The Battalion Two members of the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets, arrested two weeks ago for aggra vated assault, are awaiting a pos sible grand jury indictment, said an investigating officer with the College Station Police Depart ment. Police arrested Andrew Scott Wlazlinski, 18, and Jonathan Michael Thornberry, 19, March 9 in connection with the aggravated assault of an Austin man. According to police reports, Michael Scott Fagan, 22, was fol lowed from a College Station club to the CSPD parking lot where two men attacked him with an ax handle. Donny Andreski, CSPD investi gating officer, said charges have been filed and the next step is for District Attorney Jim Turner's of fice to bring the charges before a grand jury. A secretary with Turner's office confirmed the charges will go be fore a grand jury, but said she could not speculate when that might happen. A grand jury does not judge in nocence or guilt, but decides if enough evidence exists to go to trial. Thornberry recently bowed out of the race for president of the class of 1996. If convicted, the cadets face 2- 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000. According to the 1992-93 Texas A&M University Regulations, the University can suspend the cadets only if the Commandant's office determines them to be a disrup tion of the educational process or a threat to others. In such a case, a prompt ad ministrative hearing must be held and the ruling of the University investigating officer is made inde pendent of any off-campus au thority. Insii) Sports •Football: Spring football drills under way at Kyle •Heptathlete's parents kept her on the right track Page 7 Opinion •Back Talk: Reader response to cult standoff in Waco •Editorial: Next year's Corps Commander to confront tough issues Page 9 Bryan, College Station attempt to remedy traffic congestion By JASON LOUGHMAN The Battalion At five o'clock each weekday afternoon, thousands of drivers wrestle their vehicles through un ending lines of cars crammed onto the streets surrounding the Texas A&M campus. Each day they rediscover the meaning of traffic congestion — that condition in which the vol ume of traffic on a road exceeds the road's designed capacity. Dr. Tim Lomax of the Texas Transportation Institute said, "We clearly have a problem for some time during the day, but not for a very long time." The question, Lomax said, is how much of a problem is it and how far is the community willing to go to fix it? He explained the city could, for example, build an overpass at the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive to solve the traf fic problem there, but such a solu tion would not be cost-effective. "Lo-trak," a proposal to lower beneath ground level a stretch of railroad track parallel to Wellborn Road, demonstrated several years ago the lengths to which the city was not willing to go. A bond is sue to finance the project was vot ed down. Ed Hard, transportation plan ner for College Station, said lo- trak "would have helped out a whole lot" in easing traffic prob lems. Lomax said such remedies as adjusting traffic signal timing or lengthening left turn lanes to help eliminate traffic bottlenecks are cost-effective. "There's a lot of this kind of stuff that could be done in Bryan-College Station that wouldn't cost a lot of money," he said. In fact. College Station received state funding to install a closed- loop traffic signal computer last year. In a closed-loop system, a cen tral computer controls a series of traffic lights based on information it receives from sensors at the See Traffic/Page 5 DARRIN HILL/The Battalion Traffic at the Corner of University and Texas at 5 p.m. Wednesday