Vol. 93 No. 123 (12 pages)
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Tuesday, April 5, 1994
udicial board dismisses election fines
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commission to drop
• memo penalties
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The Texas A&M University Student Govern
ment Judicial Board last night dismissed all fines
issued against those students whose names ap
peared on a memo circulated by the Corps of
Cadets last week during Student Body elections.
I Michael Crain, 1994 election commissioner,
recommended the fines be dismissed because
of a technicality in the election regulations.
I According to Crain’s interpretation of election
regulations, the commission cannot penalize can
didates for campaign materials found within thir
ty feet of the polls on the days of elections.
I “We knew the fine wouldn’t stand,” Crain
said. “We didn’t find that out until too late.
-This meeting needed to go on to make the
ppint that there are flaws in the regulations.
Tnere was no way I was going to fine everyone
in here. My intention has been to make a point
that the regulations do need a lot of work.”
The judicial board also recommended that
no student body elections be held until the Stu
dent Senate reviews and revises the regulations.
David Hall, chairman of the judicial board,
said the decision calls for further action.
“The regulations need to be looked at care
fully,” Hall said.
Hall also recommended that any revision
of rules focus on the definition of organiza
tional endorsements and how they relate to
campaign material.
Will Haraway, Corps commander, said he
was pleased by the decision to drop the fines
and look into revision of the regulations.
“I planned to attack the regulations as being
unsound,” Haraway said. “I hoped to approach
it from the angle that the regulations need a lot
of work.”
Haraway said he was surprised a resolution
was reached so quickly.
“I expected them to lessen the fines down to
maybe $ 1 and leave the $ 1 fine to make a state
ment,” he said.
Haraway said the regulations violate a stu
dent’s right to due process.
“That makes the entire election process
null,” he said.
Crain said some of the problems with the
regulations arise because many of the rules are
open to personal interpretation.
“I don’t want any election commissioner af
ter me to go through what I’ve gone through,”
Crain said. “These need to be reworked. That
is the bottom line.”
Brooke Leslie, newly elected student body
president for 1994-95, said she was surprised
at Crain’s decision but pleased that changes will
be pursued.
‘I felt Michael Crain and the judicial board
did the right thing,” Leslie said. “One of my
first actions of president will be to appoint a
committee to glean the regulations and make
necessary corrections.
“I believe it’s important for all involved par
ties to realize that we are Aggies first and the
reason we’re all here is to serve the University
and make it a better place. The actions taken
tonight by all the parties reflect that.”
Haraway said he thinks the controversy over
his actions last week ended with the judicial
board’s decision.
“As far as student government and the
memo are concerned, this ends it,” he said.
“There should be nothing else about the elec-
See Fines/Page 2
Tent revival this week by Rudder Fountain
Raun Novahitza/Y’/ii' Battalion
Paul York speaks at the Chi Alpha Christian fellowship Tent Revival
on Monday night. The revival takes place all week in the Rudder
Fountain court yard at 7 p.m. The revival is led by missionaries from
Ethiopia.
Presidential candidate praises A&M
Proenza heads south to interview with Board of Regents
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
Dr. Luis M. Proenza, a candidate
for the Texas A&M presidency, was
honored Monday at a reception
hosted by Chancellor William H.
Mobley.
He is the second candidate to be
interviewed for the position of Uni
versity president, which has been
vacant since former president Mob
ley was appointed chancellor last
year.
Proenza will be interviewed to
day in Houston by the members of
the A&M Board of Regents.
Proenza is the vice president for
academic affairs and research for the
University of Alaska System.
He visited A&M six years ago and
was impressed by what he saw both
then and now.
“The campus is absolutely beau
tiful,” Proenza said. “Anyone
would be enviable of the facilities.”
Proenza said his meetings with
A&M officials were positive.
“Everyone has been very candid
and willing to talk about the issues,”
Proenza said. “There is definitely a
movement to create a greater excel
lence.”
He said he was impressed by the
programs at A&M and the strong fo
cus on students.
Before becoming vice president
for academic affairs and research,
Proenza was vice chancellor for re
search and dean of the graduate
school at the University of Alaska at
Fairbanks.
He was on the faculty of the Uni
versity of Georgia for nine years and
served as assistant to the president
there for two years.
At the University of Georgia,
Proenza also served as coordinator
for the faculty of neurobiology, and
as a member of the graduate faculty,
faculty senate and university council.
Proenza earned his bachelor’s de
gree in psychology from Emory
University in 1965.
He obtained his master’s degree
in psychology from Ohio State Uni
versity in 1966 and his doctorate in
197 1 in neurobiology from the
University of Minnesota.
Mobley will host a reception
Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m
in 292 MSC for the third presiden
tial candidate, Dr. James N. Cor-
bridge, chancellor of the University
of Colorado at Boulder.
Protests continue as troops leave Gaza Strip
The Associated Press
DEIR EL BALAH, Occupied Gaza Strip —
Monday was moving day for the Israeli army
here at their Gaza Strip headquarters.
Soldiers took farewell photographs and
loaded cabinets, desks and a still-cold refrigera
tor onto a trailer in the courtyard.
After 2 7 years of occupation, changes de
manded by Palestinian leaders are finally starting
to take shape, not only here but at other sites in
the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.
For young militants, dismantling bases is too
little to be convincing. Soldiers still patrol the
streets, and Palestinians remain wary of Israel’s
intentions, especially since the army is building
new outposts to guard Jewish settlements that
will not be uprooted.
So even though the moving was a visible
sign of Israel’s intent to leave, Palestinian youths
with slingshots lobbed stones that bounced off
the walls and olive drab jeeps. Troops gave
chase, firing plastic bullets and tear gas,
woundirig two Arabs.
“We don’t want peace. There will be stones
every day,” shouted the youths.
Some soldiers appeared bewildered about
why the Palestinians were throwing stones
while they were pulling up stakes. “They don’t
want us to leave?” asked one.
Soldiers kept loading the trailer during the
melee. Women walked through Israeli lines car
rying bundles of wash, and a Muslim fundamen
talist dressed in white with a black beard bicycled
unnoticed between the soldiers as they knelt to
shoot at rioters 50 yards away. Arab cars tried to
edge their way around army vehicles.
Maj. Udi, a military commander in Deir el
Balah, said his unit was being moved to guard
Gush Katif in Gaza, where more than 4,000
Jewish settlers live.
Udi said that even while the army was still in
full control, his soldiers had orders not to pa
trol in the nearby Palestinian refugee camps of
Bureij, Nuseirat and Mughazi unless absolutely
necessary.
“We are not going in because we know the
sensitivity of conducting patrols inside the
camps,” said Udi, identified only by his first
name according to army regulations. “We are
g
Stew Milne/Tije Battalion
Corps Commander Will Haraway takes part in a judicial board meet
ing, Monday night, that reviewed fines against candidates in last
week's election.
Black lawyer appointed
Texas secretary of state
Promises to continue King legacy
The Associated Press
AUSTIN -— The first black man to serve as Texas secretary of state,
Ronald Kirk, was sworn in by Gov. Ann Richards on Monday’s anniver
sary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Kirk, 39, a Dallas lawyer who grew up in East Austin, spoke to hun
dreds of supporters at his swearing-in ceremony about the “rich sym
bolism” of the date.
King’s effort was about “self determination and the fundamental
right of people of all colors to participate without limitation in the rich
economic and political heritage of this country,” Kirk said.
“As the quest for self-determination is ultimately defined by the right
to vote, it is humbling for me to stand before you as the state’s chief
election officer, considering the price that Dr. King and others were
willing to pay in order for me to have the privilege of standing before
you,” he said.
It was the 26lh anniversary of the day King was gunned down, and
20 years since Kirk got his first exposure to Texas politics after taking a
leave of absence from college and getting a legislative job.
Richards recalled seeing Kirk around the Capitol in those early days,
when he was “a kid” and she was doing some legislative and political
work but had yet to hold an elected office. “I thought, that is a young
man that is worth watching,” she said, citing his energy and enthusiasm.
Kirk, who has served as chairman of the General Services Commis-
See Secretary/Page 6
Tuesday, April 5
• Food extravaganza at the MSC Lobby, 11 a.m.-l p.m.
• Video: ‘Book of Signs’ at 102 Blocker, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, April 6
• Lecture: ‘Women in Islam’ at 102 Blocker, 7p.m.
Thursday, April 7
• Lecture: ‘The Truth about Kashmir’ by Ghulam
Nabi Hagro, the chairman of the Kashmir Human
Rights Commission, at 224 MSC, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 8
• Lecture: ‘American-Muslims and Their Experiences’
at 158 Blocker, 7 p.m.
For more information, there will be an Islamic information table at the
MSC lobby throughout the week from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. — or contact Noaman
Asar (846-5199). All events are free and refreshments will be served.
in a period of transition, and we are trying to
avoid confrontation.”
Israel and the PLO resumed accelerated talks
in’Cairo on Monday. Chief PLO negotiator Nabil
Shaath said he expected agreement soon on the
size and timetable of the Palestinian police force
to patrol the autonomous areas.
A trip expected Monday by senior officers to
inspect Gaza facilities was postponed. About
300 police are due to be sent in the autonomy
areas by Thursday for administrative purposes.
Up to 50 deportees, including some top
Arafat aides, are due to cross into the occupied
areas from Jordan and Egypt starting Tuesday.
At a seaside army base in Gaza City, soldiers
emptied mobile homes and moved them onto
trucks. Equipment is either being trucked to Is
rael or to Gush Katif, where troops are to be
posted once autonomy begins.
Palestinians staged a large protest in the
streets nearby, hurling stones at troops who de
tained three Arabs.
Saeb Erekat, a PLO negotiator in Jericho, ex
plained the continued protests as an expression
of Palestinian doubt.
Silver Taps tonight
Silver Taps will be held tonight at
10:30 p.m. in front of the Academic
Building in memory of three Texas
A&M students.
The campus will be hushed and
darkened at 10:20 p.m. for Shirley
Jane Hall, 3 6, a freshman business
administration major from Bryan;
Ming Te-Han, 20, a sophomore elec
trical engineering major from Hous
ton; and John Thomas Robertson,
19, a freshman general studies major
from Mission.
The Ross Volunteers honor guard
will fire a volley salute and buglers will
play a special arrangement of’ Taps.”
Mmm SRBHpmI
Aggielife
Pg. 3
Opinion
Pg. 11
Campus
Pg. 2
Sports
Pg- 9
Extra Mail Call
Pg. 12
What's Up
Pg. 7
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