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The Bati alion
The Battalion
Vol. 93 No. 62 (10 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Tuesday, November 23,1993
City prepares for Bonfire festivities
Ceremony now more accessible for disabled students
By Kim McGuire
Thl Battalion
A section of Parking Lot 51 near
the Zachry Building will be reserved
Wednesday night for students with
disabilities in an attempt to get them
closer to Bonfire.
PITS officers will rope off a section
of the lot and students in wheelchairs
have the option of watching Bonfire
from the lot or from the adjacent road,
which will also be blocked off.
Zack Coapland, chairman of the
Bonfire Advisory Committee, said the
decision to reserve the lot for students
with disabilities was based on recom
mendations stemming from a meeting
earlier this month with the Program
Access Advisory Committee, a com
mittee of faculty, students and staff
who advise organizations sponsoring
campus events on how to make the
events accessible to students with dis
abilities.
The access committee presented
proposal that called for a flatbed truck
to be brought in next to the site so stu
dents in wheelchairs could see Bonfire
from the top of the truck, he said.
"It wasn't really feasible though
See Access/Page 6
Aggie Tradition
A guide to this week's
events and activities
Elephant Walk
•When: 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 23
•Site: The Class of '94 will meet at
Kyle Field to begin Elephant Walk. The
Class of y 95 will
meet at Bonfire
site where the
junior yell lead
ers will lead
the class in a
yell practice.
The juniors will then walk to Kyle Field
where Frank W. Cox III '65, author of 1
Bleed Maroon, will speak.
•Students can take pictures with an
elephant at Bonfire site.
Bonfire
•When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 24
•Site: Polo fields near the intersection
of University Drive and Texas Avenue.
•TV.: KAMU-TV/Channel 15 will
broadcast Bonfire
live from 8 p.m.
to 9 p.m. Home
Sports Entertain
ment will air the
ceremony again
at 10:30 p.m.
Wednesday and 2
p.m. Thursday.
•Many roads
will be closed to
traffic around
the Bonfire site
starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Those roads include the intersection of
University and Bizzell street. East
Main and Bizzell Circle, and the inter
section of Ross Street and Spence
Street.
•University Parking, Transit and
Traffic Services Director Tom Williams
encourages parking along the outside
curbs of New Main or in Parking Areas
50 and 51. Parking will not be allowed
on Ross or Lubbock streets.
•Also, Brazos Transit will provide
shuttles from the K-Mart and Manor
East Mall parking lots. The University
will operate shuttle buses from the west
campus to Fish Pond before and after
Bonfire.
Texas A&M — UT
Football Game
•When: 7 p.m. Thursday, November
25; The Corps of Cadets will march in
at 5:35 p.m. and the Fish Drill Team will
perform directly after march in.
•Site: Kyle Field
•T.V.: ESPN will broadcast the
game live.
By Geneen Pipher
The Battalion
Complaints from College Station
residents have prompted city officials
to make some changes in their han
dling of Texas A&M University's Bon
fire Wednesday.
This year the College Station Police
Department will take a two-tiered ap
proach to deal with the automobile and
pedestrian traffic as well as the post-
Bonfire festivities.
Major Mason Newton, of the College
Station Police Department, said the
goal of the first stage is traffic control.
"Last year we experienced great
amounts of parking problems," New
ton said. "We're trying to reduce con
gestion on the minor roads that could
block, not only public safety vehicles,
but also just the normal citizen who
lives in that area," he said. "We got so
many calls last year saying they
couldn't get out of their driveway, or
they couldn't get to their house. That's
By Jan Higginbotham
The Battalion
The Texas A&M University College
of Science has been rocked with contro
versy recently following the research
activities of Dr. John Bockris and a
$200,000 donation he received for his
efforts in attempting to turn mercury
into gold.
Dawn Wakefield, former director of
development for the College of Science,
said she advised the Development Foun
dation and the University administra
tion not to accept the gift that has led to
investigations by the Securities and Ex
change Commission, Texas A&M and
what prompted this change."
Newton said stage one will begin
about 6 p.m. with the deployment of
officers and the complete closing of all
residential streets east of Texas Avenue
to through traffic until 10 p.m.
Officers will patrol the community
during stage one to make sure the
roads stay clear and all necessary traffic
can get through.
"We're going to have traffic officers
the University's internal auditor.
"It was my prerogative to offer ad
vice as Director of Development for the
College of Science and as a four-de-
greed Ph.D. chemist who was best suit
ed to make a recommendation as to the
scientific credibility of the gift," Wake
field said.
"They went above my head at both
the college and the Development Foun
dation to accept this gift, which has re
sulted in yet additional damage to our
scientific reputation."
Wakefield said that after spending
three years working to protect the Uni
versity from further embarrassment
caused by Bockris she was rewarded
down in the area of the main roads to
help people who have accidents and
make sure people can get to their
homes," he said. "The other function
will be to keep the roadway clear. Peo
ple often times have a tendency to try
to park on the medians and in other
places where they are not supposed to,
and the roads need to be clear in case
an emergency vehicle needs to get
through."
by being fired.
Several Texas A&M professors have
also responded to Bockris' research. A
letter signed by 11 professors was sent
to Bockris early last week calling for
the professor's resignation.
Dr. John Fackler, A&M chemistry
professor and former dean of the Col
lege of Science, was one of the profes
sors who signed the letter.
Fackler said the letter simply stated
that it was rather embarrassing that
Bockris had accepted money to explore
a project that does not make any sense.
"The letter was very polite," Fack
ler said. "It simply asked him to
step down."
In addition to officers patrolling the
areas around the site, officials with the
College Station Police Department sug
gest people use the Interurban Trolley
System's Park and Ride, which will be
running every 20 minutes.
"We estimate the Park and Ride will
cut down on almost two to three miles
of traffic," he said. "The buses will
Fackler said that in 1982, when he
was teaching at another school, Bockris
started the research on turning mercury
into gold, and the project caused Texas
A&M to lose respect from other schools.
"It turned into a typical Aggie joke,"
Fackler said.
Wakefield said even after all of the
difficulties the University has experi
enced following Bockris' mercury pro
ject, the school has supported the rea
soning of academic freedom of research
to accept additional gifts on behalf of
Bockris, any of which should have been
questioned.
See Research/Page 6
See Changes/Page 6
Brazos Valley Orchestra performs in Rudder
Kyle Bumett/THE Battalion
Franz Anton Krager conducts the Brazos Valley Orchestra during the Presi
dent's Concert held Monday night in Rudder auditorium. The orchestra per
formed a symphony by Antonin Dvorak and a violin concerto by Johannes
Brahms. Mere than 300 people attended the performance.
Director says she advised against accepting gift for mercury research
V.P. candidate emphasizes unity, core curriculum
H 'Tt's clear to me that there is a
strong sense of unity and a very
proud student body at A&M."
VR for student services candidate
By Lisa Elliott
The Battalion
The latest candidate for vice pres
ident of student services said he is
impressed with the unity of the stu
dents and faculty at Texas A&M
University, and he wants to contin
ue that tradition if he is selected.
"It's clear to me that there is a
strong sense of unity and a very
proud student body at A&M,"
said Dr. William Bryan, vice chan
cellor for student affairs and pro
fessor of design and management
at the University of North Caroli
na at Wilmington.
Bryan has been interviewing
with committees, officials and stu
dents at A&M since he arrived in
College Station Saturday.
Bryan said he is pleased stu
dents at A&M get involved in
campus activities, and this is one
of the things that separates A&M
from many other campuses
around the nation.
If he is selected for the position,
Bryan said he plans to stress the
importance of the core curriculum
because it enables students to be
well-rounded in a variety of areas.
He said it is difficult to identify
exactly what his objectives will be
if he is selected because he needs
to get a feel of the student popula
tion first.
"Student populations change
from time to time," he said. "Dif
ferent needs will be there from
one year to the next."
Bryan said although he hopes to
take Dr. John Koldus's vacated po
sition, he can never take his place.
"Koldus has done a super job
serving the campus," he said.
"No one can replace him."
Bryan has developed a series of
programs that established a lead
ership center and a substance
abuse center and plans to put the
leadership skills he has developed
to use at A&M.
"I would be a servant of the
campus, a servant of the students
and a servant of the staff," he said.
Bryan will be on campus until
Tuesday afternoon. He said he
looks forward to meeting more
students and faculty members in
the future.
Inside
Aggielife
• An old Ag's trek from
San Antonio to Bonfire
Page 3
Sports
•Coming on Wednesday:
The A&M-Texas football
preview. Don't miss it!
Opinion
•Editorial: Beware Aggies!
The T-sips are coming!
Page 9