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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1993)
Vol. 92 No. 141 (12 pages) Battalion 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Thursday, April 29,1993 i': lit osersr NCAA to change I-A certification Texas A&M to face program review; plan to be installed by fall semester By JULI PHILLIPS The Battalion The National Collegiate Athlet ic Association (NCAA) said Wednesday that a new certifica tion program for class I-A athletic departments, such as Texas A&M University, will be in place by the beginning of next fall. The program emphasizes two general areas for certification: governance and commitment to rules compliance. Under these broad topics are many specific ar eas, which include: •institutional controls for NCAA compliance, •academic support provided for student-athletes, •graduation rates among stu dent-athletes, •budget integrity, •booster controls and •commitment to race, gender, religious and ethnic equality. David Knopp, NCAA compli ance staff official, said the pro gram would work in the same way universities are accredited. The universities will perform a year-long institutional analysis. Some universities will begin an in ternal analysis this fall. At the end of the year, an out side team, composed of other uni versity athletic staff and members of the academia, will review and verify the internal analysis and make appropriate recommenda tions to the NCAA. Knopp said some universities are already conducting these re ports voluntarily, but concern has surfaced that the universities' ath letic departments need a more im partial review component. "The certification program is a way to enhance the rules that are already in place," he said. "The basic process is not new to the academia. It is basically the same accreditation process that the rest of the university goes through." According to the office of the NCAA president, Richard Schultz, the implementation of this plan came through efforts started by Schultz in 1989. "The program is not to point out the institutions as being guilty of something," Knopp said. "This program will make the institu tions identify itself what it is do ing and lay out a plan to fix it." The first group of class I-A col leges and universities will begin their year-long self study this fall with the compliance staff begin ning its evaluation in the fall of 1994. Knopp warned that the pro gram still may not catch every thing that needs to be changed. ."Although the basic framework is in place, a lot is still in the plan ning stages," he said. The Texas A&M athletic de partment will find out before the fall semester when the evaluation process for it will begin. Female pilots to fly in combat missions THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Female pilots could be flying Navy and Air Force warplanes within months and Army combat helicopters within a year under a new directive set to be signed Thursday by Defense Secre tary Les Aspin, Pentagon officials say. The directive also will tell the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to provide justification if they want to put any battlefield role, in cluding ground combat units, off limits to women. "It's big, it's a very big move for Aspin to be making/' said one se nior official, who like the others spoke Tuesday night only on condition of anonymity. White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers did not confirm the re port today, but said Clinton supports allowing women in combat. "I would point out that it something the president did support during the campaign," she said. The action means Air Force and Navy women could be in fighter cockpits within months, but female pilots in the Army will have to un dergo special training before flying front-line Apache attack heli copters, officials said. k Texas Senate approves bill for faculty liaison By GINA HOWARD The Battalion A bill placing a non-voting faculty liaison position on state universi ty boards of regents faces approval in the Texas House of Representa tives after passing in the Senate last week. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, said in a prepared release the purpose of Senate Bill 491 is to increase communication between re gents and faculty. "Faculty members play a critical role in carrying out the mission of our universities," said Lucio, who sponsored the bill. "Giving them a voice on governing boards will help provide valuable information to board members when they are making important decisions affecting faculty and students." Dr. John Quarles, Texas A&M University Faculty Senate speaker and professor of medicine, said even though it is a non-voting position, it is a big step forward for University faculty. "If we can help provide better information to make their (Board of Regents) decisions, then that would be important," Quarles said. Multi-school university systems, like the Texas A&M system, would create a council of faculty senators, with one from each school. The council would then nominate three candidates to the governor, who would pick the liaison. The bill would allow the faculty senates of single-school university systems to submit three names to the governor. A single faculty liai son would be selected and meet with the Faculty Senate at least twice a year to discuss concerns. Faculty liaisons would serve two-year terms, but they would not be allowed to vote or attend executive meetings unless invited by the board. The bill must first go through House committee before it will reach the House of Representatives for approval. Battalion to offer voter's guide The Battalion will publish a special voter's guide in Friday's edition. The guide will feature information on local and U.S. senatorial candidates running in the May 1 elections. Siftin' in the shade ALICIA POUNDS/Spccml to The Battalion Catherine Yuill, a senior accounting major, enjoys the sun on Wednesday while studying for her Corporate Tax Test. Health care reform concerns rural areas Communities must combine resources, expert says £ / By ELIZABETH LOWE The Battalion With less than a month until President Clin ton's task force announces its recommenda tions on health reform, speculation is increas ing about whether the medical needs of rural areas will be met. Donald Sweeney, associate professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Urban and Regional Planning, said he fears the plan may make the situation worse rather than bet ter. "My fear is that the reform package is going to try to patch up a system that is systematical ly flawed," he said. "We've patched it up and patched it up and patched it up. It's the biggest patched up mess you've ever seen. I don't sense that we're going to see a real sys temic overhaul." Molly Hurst, administrator of Navasota Re gional Hospital, said her concern lies in the lack of representation of rural hospitals on the task force. She said if any hospitals' interests are considered, it will be those of metropolitan hospitals, not rural hospitals. Clinton has supported, the managed com petition model, in which health plans compete for enrollment in each community under a set of rules requiring fair competition. Hurst said this plan is not feasible for rural areas because it forces rural hospitals and physicians to com pete with those in urban areas. Yvonne McKay, director of nursing at Madison County Hospital, said she is nervous because she isn't sure if the special problems of rural areas will be adequately addressed. Rural communities comprise 38 percent of the country's poor, according to the Associa tion of American Medical Colleges. Rural economies are often too unstable to support a hospital. Patients with inadequate insurance and a h^avy dependence on Medicaid often force rural hospitals into debt. Texas leads the nation with 59 rural hospi tal closings since 1982, according to the Texas Center for Rural Health Initiatives. Twelve hospitals, half of them rural, closed in 1991, the highest number of closings for the state since 1986. Of the 205 rural counties in Texas, 57 have no hospitals, and 25 have no physi cians. "Many of the hospitals that remain open should close," Sweeney said. "They were built to solve the problems of 30 to 40 years ago, but today they are unable to meet the needs of their community." Severe ! factors contribute to the problem, he said. The people are older, sicker and poor er, and rural areas have more severe accidents. Farmers get pinned under their tractors or harmed by bulls, and tourists have motoring accidents, he said. Further, chemicals used on farms pose See Rural/Page 2 MSC operations committee to reword 'hats off' signs By CHERYL HELLER The Battalion The MSC entrance signs requesting that visitors remove their hats will be changed to try to accommodate the changing attitudes at Texas A&M University, MSC Council President Heather Hartman said Wednesday. "They'll probably be replaced during the summer, and they should definitely be changed by the beginning of the fall semester," she said. The building operations committee has already met to work on changing the signs, Hartman said. At its dedication in 1951, the MSC was dedicated to Aggies who gave their lives in World Wars I and II. The building underwent ex pansion and renovation in 1975 and was rededicated to "all Aggies who have given their lives in the defense of the country in any war, past or future." The MSC entrance signs, however, were not changed to reflect the 1975 rededication. A recent Battalion story reported that some minority students do not participate in the Aggie tradition. See MSC hats/Page 2 Liberal arts dean to resign from A&M, move to Dean Fallon By JULI PHILLIPS The Battalion Dean Daniel Fallon will leave Texas A&M's College of Liberal Arts to take a new position with the University of Maryland (UM). Fallon, whose academic back ground is colored by many posi tions in liberal arts colleges around the country, will become the vice president for academic af fairs and provost for UM when he assumes the position in July. "There are stages of develop ment in a person's life when you are going to consider new prospects," Fallon said. "The op portunity offered to me by the University of Maryland is quite appealing, and ... I look forward to assisting them in the kinds of programs they are organizing." Fallon joined A&M in 1984 as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and a professor of psycholo gy- Texas A&M Senior Vice Presi dent and Provost E. Dean Gage commented on Fallon's departure in a press release from Univer sity Relations. "Dan Fallon will be greatly missed at Texas A&M Universi ty," he said. "We recognize his enormous contributions to the College of Liberal Arts and the University. "He has provided a vision and leadership for our College of Lib eral Arts that has been exem plary." Fallon said he is confident that Texas A&M will put the ap propriate en ergy into finding a re- placement for him, which will be aided by the solid reputation of the college. "The College of Liberal Arts is in very good shape," he said. "Over the past decade, we have "He has provided a vision and leadership for our College of Liberal Arts that has been exemplary." - E. Dean Gage, senior vice president Maryland seen considerable growth in shape, size and diversity. "The college is in a position to attract excellent people whether they are from inside the universi ty or outside," he said. Fallon is past president of the Council of College Liberal Arts and Sciences, and is a founding member of the Council of Arts and Sciences in Urban Universi ties. He also is a former member of the board of directors of the American Conference of Academ ic Deans. With the assistance of a Carnegie Corporation grant, he is currently leading a national effort to redesign the way prospective teachers are educated at the na tion's colleges and universities. Insid Lifestyles •Aggiepalooza concert on Sunday features 1 2 bands Page 3 Sports •Track: Aggie speedster McCray making strides •Column: Oilers lack genuine draft, Harrison says Page 8 Opinion •Editorial: Clinton's first 100 days a rough start •Column: Henderson turns 20 - no big deal Page 11