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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1993)
The Battalion Special Back-to-School Edition The Battalion Vol. 93 No. 1 (36 pages) 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Monday, August 30,1993 w eekend rap-up KWTX attorney denies Koresh tip HOUSTON — A television cameraman has confirmed he had a chance conversation with a Branch Davidian shortly before four federal agents and six cult members were killed in a Febru ary gun battle with followers of David Koresh. But an attorney representing the television station said Satur day the discussion was not the decisive warning to Koresh that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were about to raid his compound. "I think people have got to get off this idea that there was this so-called tip or one single warning," said attorney Rick Bostwick, who represents KWTX-TV in Waco. "Everybody is looking for the holy grail, but it ain't there." S. African teens kill American student JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Police arrested two black teen-agers Thursday in the killing of an American student, whose friends spoke of her devo tion to the black majority and lauded her as a freedom fighter. A mob of young blacks dragged the pleading Amy Biehl, 26, from her car in Guguletu township Wednesday and stabbed her to death. The Fulbright scholar from Newport Beach, Calif, was taking black friends home to the town ship when they were ambushed. The two arrested youths, who are 17 and 18, were not identified, but the student wing of the mili tant Pan Africanist Congress (PAG) said they were members. Police said more arrests were ex pected. Publicity harmful to Jackson's career LOS ANGELES — The usually well-oiled publicity machine that serves Michael Jackson has devel oped a deafening squeak. The King of Pop, said Hollywood spin doctors, needs some serious dam age control. In the past week, Jackson's face and descriptions of child molesta tion allegations have appeared in newspaper and television broad casts on several continents. The publicity, said experts in star handling, is enough to sink any career, even one or Jackson's magnitude. Lee Solters, Jackson's normally talkative publicist, is strangely quiet these days. Instead of re turning to Hollywood, Solters chose to remain on tour with his client, who turns 35 on Sunday. Euless teen to face murder charges FORT WORTH — Prosecutors say they may seek to have a 16- year-old Euless youth tried as an adult in the shooting of a class mate who was among a pack of students gathered at his home. Ernest Tosh, chief of the Tar rant County juvenile prosecution unit, said he had wanted to make a decision by Friday, but not enough information was avail able about Tuesday's incident. "There's just so many witness es involved. It's a very unusual case," Tosh said. If prosecutors decide to try to certify the Grapevine High School sophomore as an adult, a hearing could take place within a few weeks. If not, a juvenile trial could be held in two to three months. -The Associated Press Regents confirm school name changes By Lisa Elliott The Battalion The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted unanimously Fri day morning to change the names of three System schools, despite the wishes of many Texas A&I University alumni. The Board scheduled a revote for Fri day's meeting after five Texas A&l alum ni and one current student filed a lawsuit alleging the Board violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to post notice at least 72 hours in advance of its March 5 meeting, at which the vote to change the names was originally made. The Board felt that, rather than chal lenge the lawsuit, they would schedule a re-vote. System Spokesperson Terri Park er said. James Bond, A&M System general counsel, said last month the lawsuit was based on an inadvertent clerical error in the secretary of state's office. The vote will officially change Texas A&I University to Texas A&M Universi- ty-Kingsville, Corpus Christi State Uni versity to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Laredo State University to Texas A&M International University. The changes will go into effect Sept. 1. Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, has been in favor of the name change since the beginning. He said the name change will enable A&I and the other System schools with new names to receive more financial as sistance from the System. Another supporter of the name change. Rep. Irma Rangel, D-Kingsville, said the members of the alumni group should be pleased that the school is get ting prestige with the new name. She said the alumni are too attached to their memories and are afraid the new name will take those away. Dick Watson, an A&I graduate of 1961 and one of the filers of the lawsuit, said the decision made by the Board was "devastating" and "surprising." He said over 80,000 former students of A&M and A&I have contacted him and the Board to express their disapproval of the name change. But the argument is far from over, Watson said. He said his plans for the next few months are to watch the Board very closely, looking for any reason to jump on them. "Every board and committee makes mistakes," he said. "I'm going to be there to catch theirs. The open records requests I will make will choke a horse." Watson said he and other A&I alumni are planning to attack the Board and A&M for illegal activities ranging from salary discrepancies to NCAA violations. He said he also plans to advertise and offer money to anyone with information about these violations. "I know we will win eventually," he said. "We will take this thing all the way to the Texas Supreme Court." Watson said many of the alumni feel bitter. "We no longer want to be a part of the university," he said. "We want to get our name back or 'get a divorce'." In other business, the Board unani mously voted to officially name Texas A&M University President William Mob ley as chancellor of the System effective Sept. 1. The Board also voted to name Dr. E. Dean Gage, currently A&M's senior vice president and provost, to act as inter im president, and A. Benton Co- canougher, dean of business at A&M, to take Gage's place on an interim basis. The Board also approved the budget for the 1994 fiscal year by allocating $1.2 billion dollars to its system schools with A&M getting half of the overall budget. Laredo State University,.West Texas A&M University and Texas A&M at Galveston all had considerable increases in their budget from last year. Changes in compliance with FCC By Geneen Pipher The Battalion TCA Cable-TV will adjust their rates Sept. 1 to comply with the Cable Consumer Protection Act of 1992. Randy Rogers, general manager of TCA Cable, said some Texas A&M University students' bills will increase, while oth ers will decrease. The law governs three major areas of cable television, includ ing channel offerings, basic rates and customer service. Cable operators must comply with the new rulings mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by Sept. 1. Compliance with these regulations will require changes in the amount customers pay, which will vary depending on each customer's level of service. "The act was passed because there had been pressure for at least two to three years for many different reasons," Rogers said. "The main reason for this bill is that there was a perceived and often real problem that some cable operators were gouging prices. The same service you would get in one town would cost $4 or $5 more in the next town. The intention of the act is to The price for the main outlet of standard cable service before the new rates was $19.70 plus $3.25 for the first additional outlet with no charge for outlets thereafter. The new price for the main outlet of standard cable service is $20.70 with no charge for additional outlets. "The basic simplified form of it is those customers that have only one outlet of standard service will see an increase in their rates," he said. "Those that have more than one cable outlet of standard service will see a decrease. That comes to about 65 percent of our customers seeing a decrease in rates on Sept. 1 and the other 35 percent will have an increase." The rates for Texas A&M students living in residence halls will probably go up, but the rates for students living in apart ments and duplexes will most likely go down, Rogers said. "For dormitory students it will most likely amount to an in crease in rates because they only have one outlet," Rogers said. See TCA/Page 5 TCA Cable k_ jL J Fall sorority rush concludes Kyle Bumelt/THE Battalion Alison Bosch, a senior English major from San Antonio, Jennifer Chapman, an elementary education major from discusses a rush party hosted by Alpha Chi Omega with Ennis. See related story on Page 3. Corps of Cadets enrollment up by 30 percent over last year By Jennifer Smith The Battalion The Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets began the fall semester with 742 new cadets, the biggest freshmen class since 1990. Lt. Col. Mike Duke, tactical train ing officer for the Corps, said the size of the freshman class had been de creasing until this year. "When the Class of '93 got here, we had an increase," Duke said "But then we had decreases for a few years." Duke said 540 students joined the Corps last year. "Our freshman class is 30 percent larger this year than last year," Duke said. "Our goal for this year was around 650. We're well above where we thought we would be." Satterwhite said he is encouraged not only by the numbers, but also by the quality of this freshman class. "They have the highest average of SAT scores that we have ever recorded among cadets," Duke said. "We have one cadet with 1,520 on his SAT." Duke said the Corps has a repre sentative sample this year. "We also have 50 percent more fe males at this time than last year," Duke said. He said the membership goal is 2,800 cadets. "We want to fill the Quadrangle and Duncan Dining Hall," he said. "We would like the Corps to grow to a size that is proportionate to the University." Lt. Col. Mark Satterwhite, recruit ing coordinator for the comman dant's office, said the Corps probably will not meet its membership goal until the the late '90s. "We needed to have a large number of freshmen this year, and we want to keep building up," Satterwhite said. "It's very encouraging to start off the year with this many cadets." He said the success of recruiting programs and an increase in the num ber of scholarships were both responsi ble for the large freshman class. The Corps Leadership Outreach (CLO) Program has been very suc cessful in attracting new cadets, Sat terwhite said. The CLO program consists of al most 160 former Corps members and Corps supporters recruiting new See Corps/Page 5 Cultural diversity classes face scrutiny By Jason Cox The Battalion After two years of debate, the Texas A&M University Liberal Arts Council passed a resolu tion in June requiring incoming liberal arts stu dents to complete coursework in classes empha sizing cultural diversity. The decision, which will affect all incoming freshmen liberal arts majors, sparked heated de bate for and against the new policy which man dates six hours of study in international and do mestic areas, three of which must be concerned with race, ethnicity or gender issues in the Unit ed States. Not long after the change, the Republican Par ty of Texas came out against the requirement, passing a resolution condemning it as "a series of courses in victimology and a clear liberal po litical agenda." In addition, the resolution called upon state legislators to restrict funding that would be used to "promote required politically correct indoctri nation at state schools." The Texas A&M chapter of College Republi cans followed suit by adopting a similar resolu tion, but one which also asks former students to withhold financial contributions until the re quirement is rescinded. Not all reaction to the decision was negative, however. Houston Post Columnist Robert C. Newberry wrote, "A&M is on the verge of taking a bold and necessary step to help its students get to know each other. "To me, it is A&M's societal contribution to help end some of the hate, the fear and the sepa rateness of the races in America," he said. One of those opposing the policy w T as Dr. See Multicultural/Page 6 Inside pii * Campus •Interview with A&M interim president E. Dean Gage Section B Aggielife •Helpful hints for students braving the textbook market Section C A&M Football ’93 • Previewing the 1993 foot ball season Section D Weather •Monday: partly cloudy with scattered rain • Forecast for Tuesday: some rain, highs in 90s Texas Lotto •Saturday's Texas Lotto winning numbers: 15, 16, 35, 39, 47, ^0