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