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Vol. 93 No. 122 (8 pages)
rjTYW Texas A&M m m ^ _ _ V •
Trie Battalion
Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Monday, April 4, 1994
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irst woman elected student body president
Leslie wins with 61 percent of vote,
credits success to staffs hard work
By Jan Higginbotham
27i< j Battalion
I When the announcement of the newly
elected 1994-95 student body president
was made Thursday night, the crowd
gathered in front of tne statue of Lawrence
Sullivan Ross broke into wild excitement.
I One young woman was lifted above the
crowd as she tried to hide her tears and
excitement. Brooke Leslie wrote a new
page in the history books of Texas A&M
University when she became the first
woman to ever hold the position of stu
dent body president.
I “I do not want to be remembered as
tht first woman president,” Leslie said. “I
want to be remembered as the best stu
dent body president ever.”
■ Leslie waded her way through congrat
ulatory hugs from the crowd members
and found herself facing Brian Walker,
1993-94 student body president.
I Walker offered his congratulations to
Leslie.
I “You’re going to have a hell of a year,”
^alker said. “You don’t know what is in
store. It all starts right now.”
Leslie’s pride and excitement shined
through as she thanked her mother for be
ing with her during the campaign.
“I want to thank all the people who
have helped me,” Leslie said. “I get the
credit and spotlight, but it’s my staff and
the people who oelieved in me who de
serve the credit.”
Leslie, who won the election with 61
percent of the votes, said she is glad the
campaigning and election are over.
“The whole year ahead of me is run
ning through my mind,” she said.
Leslie said she and her campaign man
ager, Tobin Boenig, had been planning
since October.
“We knew it was going to be tough,”
Leslie said. “We knew we had some para
digms to break through.”
Boenig said Leslie’s volunteers made the
difference in the campaign and election.
“We’ve had about 20 people put their
lives in this campaign,” he said.
Leslie said she is eager to get started
with the duties and responsibilities of
her job.
“I plan to work however many hours a
day it takes to accomplish all of my plat
forms,” Leslie said.
✓
Kvle Bumett/'/Vio Battalion
Brooke Leslie rides high on the shoulders of her supporters last Thursday evening after the election commission announced
Leslie won the race for student body president.
exas felons serving more time as releases slow
Tht Associated Press
0.
■ HUNTSVILLE — Ever so slowly, it ap
pears prison time served by Texas felons is
going up.
■ In 1993, Texas inmates served an average
2.4 years of their total sentence, which aver
aged 11.3 years.
m The time served was 26 percent more
than the previous year’s average, 1.9 years
for sentences averaging 11.1 years.
■ “The combination of more beds and pa
role policies slowed down the flow of re
leases,” Texas Department of Criminal Jus
tice spokesman David Nunnelee says.
JH The statistics, compiled in the agency’s
1 1993 annual report for the year ending Aug.
31, show a life term in Texas generally
means 13.2 years behind bars. For 1992,
life equaled 12.7 years before parole or
some form of probation.
Carol Vance, chairman of the Texas Board
of Criminal Justice, noted in the report that
more than 500,000 Texans are in prison, on
parole or on probation for serious crimes.
“This is one out of every 34 Texans and
roughly one out of every 18 males,” he said.
“This is a shocking and disturbing fact of life.
“The home has been severely weakened
and too often is found to be dysfunctional
or non-existent. The lack of sound family
values and morals leads to dropouts, alco
hol and drug use, unemployment, and
theft and violence.
“Until some massive societal changes can
reverse this pattern and restore our collective
sense of right and wrong, especially with
our youth, mo.re prisons will be a way of
life,” Vance warned.
Some 32,364 inmates were received in
1993, swelling the state’s prison population
to 64,313. Of those, 14,104 were returned
as parole violators.
Ninety-five percent of all inmates were
male; 47 percent were black, 28 percent
white and 24 percent Hispanic.
The average inmate was almost 33 years
old, had an IQ of 92 and quit school in the
10th grade. Fifty-five percent had served
time before in a Texas prison and 7 0 percent
previously had been on probation.
Twenty-three percent Ccirne from the
Houston area and 21 percent from the Dal
las metropolitan area. Fort Worth accounted
for 7 percent of the prison population.
Almost half of the people locked rip —
47 percent — were there for violent offens
es. Property offenses accounted for 28 per
cent of the inmates and 1 8 percent were in
carcerated for drug offenses.
The number of paroles dropped 37 per
cent, from 29,860 in 1992 to 18,887 in
1993. At the same time, the backup of state
inmates in county jails increased 41 percent,
from 17,286 in 1992 to 24,320 in 1993.
The jail backup has continued to grow,
swelling to 28,000 by the end of the calen
dar year, State officials have announced plans
to ease the county problems by opening
temporary lockups and work camps to hold
thousands of inmates until new prisons are
completed this summer.
Gay Mexican
accepts asylum
in U.S., opens
door for others
By Jan Higginbotham
The Battalion
omb scare threatens campus
building; police evacuate area
Bv Rob Clark
the Battalion
| A bomb scare rocked the Engineering-Physics
•Building Friday when a plastic milk container,
Ivhich held potentially dangerous chemicals, was
found by an employee in a first floor bathroom.
J It. Terry Thigpin of the College Station Fire De
partment said the container appeared to be an ex-
Blosive device.
: “They had some type of plastic jug with a bal-
oon connected to the inside of it, and some sub-
itance at the bottom of it,” he said. “It smelled like
anegar, and it had some baking soda in it.”
Bob Wiatt, director of the University Police De
partment, said the vinegar and baking soda were
he only components of the container, but they
:ould have combined to make a gas, causing an ex
plosion.
Wiatt said any explosion would have been mini
mal, but the building was evacuated for safety pre-
:autions.
Bland Ellen, assistant chief of the College Station
Fire Department, said the intent behind the device
hasn’t been determined.
“It was made by somebody intentionally,” he
said. “I would suspect that it was made to alert or
alarm someone.”
An Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team was
called to the scene to handle the device.
“We took it out, disassembled it, and we’ll send
it in to be analyzed,” Ellen said.
Thigpin said that even if it wasn’t a bomb, pre
cautions were taken because the container’s con
tents could have been dangerous.
“It could have been an explosive, or it could have
been corrosive, or it could have exploded as fixe,” he
said. “We had to handle it as a bomb threat.”
Justin Hood, a freshman mechanical engineering
major, was working on a research project in the
building when the bomb scare occurred.
“I saw some guy walk in dressed like Darth Vad-
er, and he pulled out a little milk carton-type thing,
and they started poking it,” he said. “Stuff came
out, and they took little pieces of it and put them
into containers.”
Hood said he didn’t realize the urgency of the
situation
“I didn’t know they had actually found some
thing,” he said. “I thought someone just called in a
prank, so I was kind of relaxed about it. If I’d
known they had actually found something, I
would’ve been hauling ass out of there.”
Ellen said the situation was handled well.
“We didn’t have a detonation, and everything
went smoothly,” he said.
Kyle Burnett/TVie Battalion
Members of the College Station Fire Department handle an explosive device
found in the Engineering-Physics Building on Friday afternoon.
The U.S. Immigration and Nat
uralization Service recently took
steps that could set a precedent
for future asylum requests by for
eign citizens, says a Texas A&M
University official.
Kathy Sands, manager of im
migration services in A&M’s hu
man resources department, said
the recent case involving a gay
Mexican man who requested asy
lum on the grounds that his sexu
al orientation had subjected him
to abuse and discrimination in his
homeland will definitely be a fac
tor in future cases.
“This case may open up a lot
more cases like it from other
countries,” Sands said. “This is
an unusual case, but it certainly
will set a precedent in other
countries.”
Ray Everett, an information
specialist with the American Im
migration Lawyers Association
(AILA), said this type of asylum
request is not uncommon.
“There is a long pattern of dis
crimination against gays and les
bians in Mexico,” Everett said.
“There are similar cases from all
over.
“This is the first time an asy
lum officer has found sufficient
evidence to grant asylum. There
have been a couple of cases where
people claiming membership in a
part of a social group were grant
ed asylum on appeal.”
Everett said the man, Jose Gar
cia, approached one of the lawyers
from AILA for assistance in apply
ing for asylum in the United States.
ATT A is a professional bar associa
tion consisting of immigration
lawyers and professors.
See Citizens/Page 8
Student group to assess campaign fines
Student judicial board to discuss lifting $25 fine on candidates
The distribution of the Thursday, March 31 edition of
The Battalion was limited to 14,000 issues because of
the Good Friday holiday This is half the normal
distribution. The Battalion regrets any inconvenience
this may have caused.
ipyJan Higginbotham
The Battalion
Questions raised regarding a memo signed
|by Corps Commander Will Haraway listing all
-orps and non-Corps candidates running in last
week’s student elections will hopefully be re
solved tonight by the Student Judicial Board.
The Board, which oversees student govern-
tent activities, is scheduled to discuss appeals
filed by those candidates who were fined $25
Decause their names were listed on the memo.
Michael Crain, election commissioner, said
jthe issue of possible fines is now in the hands
Df the judicial board.
“(The election commission) made our call,”
2rain said. “It’s up to the J-board to interpret
|the regulations. Their opinion is what matters.
“My job is to make sure this race is fair for
Everyone; that everyone has an equal chance of
representing Texas A&M University. If they
haven’t played by the rules, they’ve been fined.”
In a separate incident, a few cadets were ac
cused of tampering with voter packets by
scratching senior yell leader candidate Trent
Ashby’s name off the voter packet.
Despite the tampering, Haraway said he
thinks the fines will be the major issue at the
judicial board meeting.
“I don’t believe the ballot tampering will be
an issue at the meeting,” Haraway said. “If we
find out who did the tampering, they will be
punished within the Corps. ’
Haraway also said he does not think the cir
culated memo will be an issue.
“In publishing the memo, I haven’t done
anything wrong,” he said. “I did the same
thing last year, and it wasn’t wrong then.”
Another issue surrounding the memo that
caused Haraway to come under fire was includ
ing the name Benedict Arnold under Corps
member Steve Kendrick’s name which was list
ed on the non-Corps list.
Haraway said the placement of Benedict
Arnold under Kendrick’s name was an acci
dent. He said he did not even know Kendrick
is in the Corps.
“The comment was not directed at Steve
Kendrick,” Haraway said. “I will not comment
on who the comment was directed at.
“It was an ill-conceived attempt at making a
statement. I apologize to Kendrick. I didn’t
know he was in the Corps.”
Crain said four people were caught Wednes
day scratching names off ballots. Three stu
dents scratched off Ashby’s name and one stu
dent scratched off the names of all Corps mem
bers running for yell leader, Crain said.
Election officials collected the social security
numbers of those four students and reported
the incidents.
“Their ballots were kicked out,” Crain said.
“They didn’t have a chance to voice their
opinion.”
Crain said election officials spent all day
Wednesday checking voter packets. No cases
of tampering were reported or discovered on
Thursday.
The student body elections came to a close
Thursday with the announcement of the -winners.
While Scott Torn and Scott Whitaker were
re-elected to yell leader positions, Ashby, a non-
See Election/Page 8
Discussions, exhibits mark
weeklong diversity week
Several programs and activities will highlight Texas A&M’s fourth
annual Celebrate Diversity Week, which begins today.
Some of this week’s events include:
An information meeting for anyone interested in participating in
the 1994-95 University Awareness for Cultural Togetherness retreat
will be Monday at 9 p.m. in MSC 231.
A brown bag discussion of a current cultural topic will be Tuesday
at noon in MSC 229.
A panel presentation on institutional racism and discrimination
will be at 7 p.m. in MSC 201.
A ceremony honoring students, faculty members and staff who
encourage and promote diversity at the University will be Thursday
at 10 a.m. in MSC 206.
An exhibit honoring those killed in die Holocaust will be at 12
p.m. in the MSC Flagroom.
The second annual Whoopstock, a unity festival, will be Saturday
from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Simpson Drill Field. This event will include
bands and representatives from the University.
Election '94 Pg. 2 Sports Pg. 5
Opinion Pg. 7 What's Up Pg. 4