The Battalion
Vol
. 93 No. 49 (12 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Thursday, November 4,1993
Student Senate calls for approval of academic calender
Senate says 'yes' to Aggie Bucks for parking
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
The Student Senate passed a bill
Wednesday requesting the Department of
Parking, Traffic and Transit Services allow
students to charge their parking garage fees
to their Aggie Bucks accounts.
Sen. Jennifer Simmons introduced the
bill, saying being able to use Aggie Bucks at
the three garages would increase students'
convenience when paying their garage fees.
"I know from living off campus and us
ing the garage frequently, it's a hassle to
carry a wad of cash to pay for parking,"
Simmons said. "We already have Aggie
Bucks. Why not use them?"
During the the presentation of the bill.
Tom Williams, PITS director, discussed the
feasibility of implementing Aggie Bucks as a
means of payment. Williams said using Ag
gie Bucks at the garage is not a new idea.
"When Aggie Bucks began, it was de
signed to be set up in food services," Williams
said. "We looked at it as an option when we
first opened the garages. However, at that
time, the main computer that processes Aggie
Bucks didn't have the capacity to do it."
Williams also expressed concern about
the cost of implementing the system.
"Each Aggie Buck machine costs
$1,200," Williams said. "Then, you have a
$12 service cha "ge a month to access the
telephone line used in processing Aggie
Bucks and another service surcharge."
Williams said said PTTS is working with
the Fiscal Office to study the feasibility of
using Aggie Bucks at the automatic pay sta
tion located in each garage. He said stu
dents must consider the time of the transac
tion using Aggie Bucks would take.
"We've timed it and sometimes there is
a two to 30 second delay during the trans
action," Williams said. "If there's going to
be that big of a hold up, we'd rather have
it at the automatic pay station than the
teller window."
However, Sen. Chad King said the delay
using Aggie Bucks isn't comparable to us
ing cash as means of payment.
"You can't tell me it takes more time to
process Aggie Bucks than it does to pull out
your wallet, dig out your cash and then
have change given back to you," King said.
Sen. Dave Lilley said he supported his
decision to pass the bill, but said Williams's
concerns made sense.
"I think this bill was drafted with the in
tention of helping students, but everything
Williams said tonight made sense," Lilley
said. "PTTS has obviously researched this
issue, and I think we should heed their ad
vice and work with them to ensure what's
best for the students."
In other business, the Senate passed a
resolution calling for the immediate ap
proval by the Faculty Senate of the 1995-
1996 proposed academic calendar.
Sen. Ben Dale, academic affairs chairman
and faculty senate liaison, introduced the
resolution and said the Faculty Senate
should be reminded the proposed calender
is what students want.
See Senate/Page 9
T swear, I was at the library'
Kyle Burnett/THt Battalion
Patrons at Denim & Diamonds respond to the introduction of the male oil wrestlers from California. The women performed in front
Hollywood Knock-Outs Wednesday night. The Knock-Outs are fe- of a rowdy crowd of 400+ people.
iulticulturalism among topics discussed at forum
Representative urges support for high*
“f ^ •
Meeting aims
to prevent
problems at
A&M-UT
football game
By Cheryl Heller
The Battaijon
Administrators and students
from Texas A&M University
! and the University of Texas dis-
j cussed past problems and made
plans for this year's Texas
A&M-UT football game at a
\ meeting Wednesday.
Dr. Malon Southerland, in
terim vice president for student
services, said the meeting al
lowed representatives to talk
about things that have gone
wrong in the past in order to
avoid problems this year.
"It's high on our agenda to
: be sure that there is a spirit of
cooperativeness between us,"
he said.
Arrival times and position
ing of the Longhorn Band and
Bevo were outlined during the
meeting.
The Spirit Line will be al
lowed at the game for both pre
game and halftime as long as it
stays off the field, A&M officials
said. However, UT cannot bring
its cannon to the game because
of a shortage of room.
The space on the southwest
, side of the scoreboard, which
i was suggested as a location
i for the cannon, will instead be
j occupied by a large diamond
; vision screen that will be used
fora pre-game show,
i Southerland said Texas
I A&M is not trying to spite UT
I by not allowing the cannon.
"There has always been an
attempt to let both teams do
what they normally do, but
problems arise in the different
stadiums," he said. "The goal
! should be that the best reason
able accommodation is allowed
j for each team, even though
things may have to be given up
on one or both sides."
Chris Plonsky, associate
i athletic director for external
services at UT, agreed that it is
important to set standards for
both teams.
"1 think both school's tradi
tions are important to the
essence of the game," she said.
"I understand that sometimes
exceptions have to be made, but
I don't think we should chip
away at the things that make
the game special."
Dr. James W. Vick, vice
president for student services
at UT, said one of the most im
portant ways to avoid conflict
petween the two schools dur
ing the game is to demonstrate
friendship and cooperation be
tween the A&M yell leaders
and the UT cheerleaders and
the two bands.
"1 think seeing the two op
posite sides working together
and cooperating, instead of
visibly fighting, will make a
big impression on most peo
ple," he said.
The halftime fireworks
show, a new addition to A&M
for this year's game, was also
discussed at the meeting. The
A&M and the UT bands will
shorten their halftime perfor
mances to allow the four-
minute fireworks show.
By Lisa Elliott
The Battalion
Texas A&M University students
were urged to solicit support for
higher education as a means to
solve society's problems during
the MSC Political Forum on higher
education Wednesday night.
State Rep. Robert Earley, D-
Portland, said more people need
to get involved in higher educa
tion after they graduate, in addi
tion to when they are actually uti
lizing it.
"There will be a significant im
pact if more money is put into
higher education," he said.
A lot of people move on after
graduation and never put any of
their money back into the educa
tion of the next generation, he said.
Karla Staha, a sophomore agri
cultural economics major and
chair of the Legislative Study
Group, said her group, which is
an executive committee of the stu
dent government that represents
the student body before the Texas
Legislature, has been studying the
issue of funding closely in the
past few months.
She said the study group sug
gests an amendment to the tax
code in the form of some sort of
state income tax is a possible solu
tion to inadequate funding.
The job of the Legislative Study
Group is to research topics con
cerning the student body and
make recommendations to the
student senate. The student sen
ate then votes on the issue before
taking it to the legislature.
Another issue debated during
the forum was the legislative posi
tion on the proposal for the addi
tion of multiculturalism courses to
the core curriculum.
Earley said the issue of multi
culturalism does not have a place
in the state legislature, but is some
thing that should be decided by
the school and the student body.
He said the school should try
to define multiculturalism before
it decides to implement it, and
that Texas A&M has made a big
ger issue out of it than they
should have.
"It's been more of an issue on
this campus than any other I've
seen," he said. "But if they're go
ing to do it, they need to define it."
Staha said the legislative study
group will support any decision
the Faculty Senate makes.
"It's hard to take a stand on
this issue," she said. "But there
can be long-term benefits of insti
tuting such a program."
Bill Presnal, the director of
the Office of Public Policy for
the Texas A&M University Sys
tem, said the Board of Regents
has expressed no interest in the
issue and hopes they won't be
forced to make a decision on
multiculturalism.
Students at the forum ex
pressed concern about getting a
student representative on the
Board of Regents, which Staha
said has been the main issue the
group has been working on lately.
"We've been looking into the
feasibility of having it happen," she
said. "But the position of a regent
is a demanding job and on a stu
dent it would be very demanding."
Staha said the main stum
bling block is deciding the selec
tion process, the term and the
job outlines.
Staha said the group will con
tinue to work on it in the future.
Earley said students should
start getting involved right now in
the future of higher education and
politics in general.
"Politics and politicians will al
ways be there whether you like
them of hate them," he said. "So
get to know them."
Texas Rangers
continuing
Margraves
investigation
By Jennifer Smith
The Battalion
An investigation into an
anonymous letter sent to Ross
Margraves, chairman of the Texas
A&M University System Board of
Regents, is still being conducted
by the Texas Rangers as well as
the System.
The two investigations began
when Margraves forwarded a let
ter he received five weeks ago to
Gov. Ann Richards, and she
turned it over to the Department
of Public Safety.
A representative with the
Texas Rangers in Austin said
Wednesday .the investigation is
"still ongoing" but would not
comment on its progress.
James Bond, interim general
counsel for the A&M System, told
the Associated Press a week ago
that an internal investigation is
also being conducted as a result
of this anonymous letter.
"The letter elevated the need
to make some checks," he said.
"But no pattern has turned up,
other than an awarding of con
tracts in a very objective process."
Bond did not return phone calls
from The Battalion Wednesday.
Scott Kelly, assistant general
counsel for the A&M System, re
fused to comment on the Univer
sity's internal investigation.
Margraves, who also did not
return phone calls from The Bat
talion, meets periodically with
representatives from the DPS to
be informed of the investiga
tion's progress.
The AP has reported the letter
contains allegations that Mar
graves has benefited from several
of the System's business deals.
Margraves admitted last week
that Barnes and Noble, the own
ers of the A&M bookstore, paid
for him and Vice President for Fi
nance and Administration Robert
Smith to travel to New York in
July 1990 to finalize the deal for
the operation of the bookstore.
Margraves said he made four
trips that included stays in expen
sive hotels, meals, limousine service
and tickets to Broadway shows.
John Steiner, of the Texas
Ethics Commission, said "plea
sure trips" were legal in 1990.
"But since Jan. 1, 1992, pleasure
trips that are paid for by lobbyists
have been prohibited," he said.
The Texas Government Code
says this includes travel with the
intent of influencing administra
tive action.
Some GRE problems prove to be no test at all
Researchers find shortcuts to analytical section
By Geneen Pipher
The Battalion
Some Texas A&M University students have
learned a shortcut to answering questions in
the analytical section of the Graduate Record
Exam (GRE).
Jose Ferreira, director of GRE programs for
Kaplan Educational Centers Inc., said officials
in the Research and Development Department
have discovered a quick way for students to
answer "pattern identification" questions
Without any mathematical skills,
"On these questions, we tell people not to
'vorry about math at all because it takes too
long," Ferreira said. "I can explain the direc
tions to you in about five minutes, and it will
take you about seven seconds to answer the
question conectly. But on the exam, it is taking
students who don't know this stuff 30 minutes
to complete a section or a minute per question."
The October exam was the first time the
pattern identification questions were used and
Ferreira said students who took the exam, us
ing Kaplan's strategy, reported that they fin
ished the section in 15 minutes or less.
"The difference between seven seconds and
50-60 is phenomenal when you think about it,"
he said. "Most students who had this strategy
for the October test said they did it in about 15
minutes with 15 minutes left over, which is
crazy when you consider that most people don't
even finish this section."
Patty Spiller, manager of College Station Ka
plan Center, said the Kaplan formula demon
strates a flaw in tine question type that would al
most certainly force the Educational Testing Ser
vice (ETS) to remove it from future exams.
"I am sure that ETS will now change the tests,
they'd have to," Spiller said. "If there is any
thing on the test that can be figured out without
having to actually do any calculations, it's not
fair. It really wouldn't validate the tests."
Ferreira said Kaplan has told ETS that the
questions are flawed and urged them to con
sider removing them from future exams.
"We sent ETS our strategy for solving these
problems and told them we thought they had a
bad question on their hands," he said. "We
honestly felt a sort of social responsibility, and
since we have done that, my feeling is that th^y
are going to have to take it off the test."
Spiller said the questions may not be taken
off exams scheduled for December, February
and April because the tests are already written.
Inside
Aggie life
•Campus records - a new
way to find, purchase albums
Page 3
Sports
•Lady Aggie volleyball loses
to 2nd-ranked Longhorns
Page 7
Opinion
•A boy and his calf featured
in expanded Mail Call
Page 10
Weather
• Thursday: Mostly cloudy
with scattered showers
•Forecast for Friday: Some
clouds, turning cooler
Texas Lotto
•Wednesday's winning
Texas Lotto numbers:
2, 3, 5, 8, 33, 39