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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1994)
J nderit M iar away C! , 0r Ps nieffii| •in? I hold evcrj, rl ^cnceleJ leadership J al(il ig the it! ted die yrjTW'W Texas A&M mm • i ne Battalion N ’heve thaiploi 93 N°- 125 (14 pages) that is J Serving Texas A&M since 1893 Thursday, April 7, 1994 two of th e y - vcr met, II, le )' believeiji u ' Corps Cd ier wlioli, 1 hope who aren't. Scott A. Hih enate chooses new speaker, honors Gage ly jCim McGuire 'attalion 'he Texas A&M Student Senate elected Tobin Boenig 1 : ipeah r of the Senate and Ray Hernandez speaker pro tempore of the Senate at their meeting Wednesday. - rese ardi,H®oenig ran unopposed, and Hernandez captured lat 'I’p Z2 [votes to defeat Sen. Ryan Shopp, who had 17 ' 11! rotfs, and Sen. Amy Aten, who had one vote. Boenig said he is looking forward to serving his Newly appointed students discuss goals, plans for upcoming school year lot the lets. We tern i | llr I Jl’m really excited about the upcoming year,” j S a<lw! Boenig said. “I will do my job to truly represent every ' ll " itujlent and every senator and make sure every sena tor ps accountable.” lusTt°r ® oen ig sa ^ t ^ le s P ea ^ er t ^ :ie senat;e rnust both id have both experience and vision. a PP rf ■ said his experience as speaker pro tempore and thelknowledge he gained will aid him during his up- ion IV coming term. “There are some issues still hanging around that I’d like to see cemented,” Boenig. “I want to see bills that the Senate passed this year implemented.” Boenig said he wanted a bill calling for extra read ing days and wanted to implement the multicultural- ism requirement. He also said the Senate should be a proactive orga nization and cited some of the issue he wishes to work on. Boenig said transportation needs to be improved on A&M’s West Campus and the Senate should have a student liaison on the Board of Regents. Boenig has served as Senate internal affairs chair, academic affairs chair and as an off-campus senators. Ray Hernandez said one of his goals is to improve relations with underrepresented groups on campus, such as international students, disabled students and graduate students. “We have a tendency to forget about them because of differences,” Hernandez said. “But if we forget about them, we’re hurting ourselves." Hernandez also said he wants to aid in the process of restructuring the Senate Finance Committee and bolster communication among the senators. Hernandez said being named speaker pro tempore was a good way to end his senior year. “Considering the series of events that has occurred in the past, I think this is a great way to end my se nior year in the Corps,” he said. In other business, Brooke Leslie was sworn in as student body president. She said she plans to carry through with her platform. “During my campaign I talked a lot about making a difference, ’ Leslie said. “1 pledge to each of you to do just that. Thank you for supporting me. It will be an in credible honor to serve you as student body president.” Also Leslie, former Student Body President Brian Walker, former Senate Speaker Russell Langley and former Senate Academic Affairs Chair Ben Dale pre sented Interim President E. Dean Gage with a plaque thanking him for his service to Texas A&M. Gage said he was overwhelmed by the sentiment. “I can’t tell you what this means,” Gage said. “My heart is truly with the students and academic programs.’ ns passed classifict icd parapi the Elea i was disi a candf aphemalii s. ; that all must be r to its (Mi lough n the Eli however, )y the Eli These ■ to a procedure is a direct earing up for Derby Days 1 Supreme Court member retires Justice Blackmun leaves at 85, Clinton looks for replacement The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Clinton promised Wednesday to choose a nominee ‘of genuine stature” to fill his second vacan cy on a Supreme Court delicately split on ma jor issues. He saluted retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun as a relentless defender of the rights of everyday Americans. ‘‘The shoes are large,” Clinton said as he wished Blackmun well in retirement and intensi fied his search for a replacement. “The role that he filled on this court is terribly important.” Blackmun informed Clinton in January that this would be his last year on the court, so the president had a head start in his search for a successor. ‘‘Yes, I’ve been thinking about it,” Clinton said. Clinton said he would fill the vacancy in ‘‘an appropriate and timely fashion,” but aides said it probably would be several weeks before an announcement. There was a flurry of speculation, and ad ministration officials did not dispute that Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was high on the president’s list. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt also was mentioned. Mitchell said he had not received an offer but would certainly consider one. Babbitt said he was not interested and had relayed that to the presi dent. “I very much want to stay put,” he said. A handful of federal judges also were said to be on Clinton’s list of prospective nominees, including Appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer of Boston, a runner up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Clinton’s first search. Others were U.S. District Judge Jose A. Cabranes of Connecticut and Ap peals Judge Richard Arnold of Little Rock, Ark. Several female judges considered early in Clinton’s initial search also are on the White House list of prospects. And one administration official floated a fresh name as a long shot can didate: U.S. District Judge Ann Claire Williams of Illinois, a 45-year-old woman named to the bench by Ronald Reagan in 1985. Solicitor General Drew Days also was men tioned as a prospect, and some in the adminis tration and Congress suggested Clinton might tap Attorney General Janet Reno. After 24 years on the high court, highlight ed by his writing of the landmark abortion- .rights decision, Blackmun said it was time to move on and give someone else a chance to en joy the “fantastic, intimate experience.” “My goodness, 85 is old,” Blackmun said. The search is being led by new White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler, who is reviewing the process used to build the prospects file and could make fresh recommendations of his own, a senior administration official said. Cutler said both Mitchell and Babbitt were prospects but also said Clinton’s working list would “probably reach double digits ... I think it really has to be a true search.” From his comments, it was clear the White House had done research on any possible road blocks to naming a sitting senator to the court. Cuder even left open the possibility that Mitchell could remain a member of Congress after being confirmed by the Senate. He added, “How politi cally possible it is, I wouldn’t know.” “My guess is you’re not going to hear any thing in the next week or two,’ said Clinton adviser Bruce Lindsey. Clinton himself had little comment on his search, saying it was “Justice Blackmun’s day.” “1 will attempt to appoint someone of genuine stature and largeness of ability and spirit to the court,” he said. Defense buyers charged in kickback scheme Amy Munno and Andy Stoner paint their mascot Sigma to gain spirit points for Sigma Chi Derby Days. Derby Days will end this ^eek and all proceeds benefit the Children's Miracle Network. The Associated Press DALLAS — Buyers for two ma jor defense contractors routinely funneled inside information to several Texas and Oklahoma mili tary suppliers in return for thou sands of dollars in kickbacks, the government alleged’Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins an nounced indictments naming 1 0 individuals and three companies in the kickback schemes. Coggins said buyers at Bell He licopter Textron, Inc., and Vought Aircraft Co. took money from mil itary parts suppliers and in return supplied inside information, in cluding competitors’ bids. Bell and Vought have cooperat ed in the investigation and are not targets of the investigation, Coggins said. Officials for Bell Helicopter said they discovered the alleged scheme and reported it to authorities. Buyers implicated in the scandal are Electro Enterprises, Inc. of Ok lahoma City, C&A Electronics of Dallas and Fli-Tech Manufacturing, Inc., of Grand Prairie. According to the indictments, the defense procurement programs involved in the prosecutions in clude, among others, the Kiowah Warrior Program for the U.S. Army, the Air Force’s C-l 7 aircraft and the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey. “These cases are the result of one of the most intensive investi gations ever undertaken into de fense industry kickbacks within the Northern District of Texas,” Coggins said at a news conference. He called kickbacks on defense contracts a “widespread practice that corrupts the defense bid process, inflates prices and de stroys fair competition within the defense industry.” The two-year investigation in volved cooperating witnesses and undercover agents, as well as ex tensive court-ordered wiretaps, Coggins said. residential nominee honored olorado chancellor impressed by Aggie pride y Kim McGuire k Battalion BThe third candidate interviewing or the position of president of Texas l&M University was honored at a re ception Wednesday. ftjames N. Corbridge Jr., chancellor if]the University of Colorado, was he guest of honor at a reception lasted by Chancellor William H. Mobley. He was interviewed last week in Houston by members of j&M’s Board of Regents and by the ’residential Search Committee the :ek before. The three presidential finalists in dude Corbridge, Dr. Ray Bowen, in- trim president of Oklahoma State iversity, and Dr. Luis Proenza, act- vice president for academic affairs the University of Alaska System. & 5 :s 3! The position has been vacant since former president Mobley was ap pointed chancellor. Corbridge has been chancellor at the University of Colorado since 1986. He has also served as vice chancellor for academic affairs, dean of faculties and interim vice chancel lor for academic services. Corbridge said he first visited A&M during negotiations with the Big Eight Conference. He is chair man of the Association of Big Eight Universities and Faculty Athletic Rep resentative. Texas A&M’s sense of pride im pressed him most about this University. “There is a great sense of pride here,” Corbridge said. “And you can’t say that about a lot of universi ties. A&M benefits from the loyalty and commitment of its association of former students, faculty and stu dent body.” Corbridge said he was amazed by the number of student organizations and the level of involvement from students. “It's interesting students are fore most in talking about Aggie lore,” he said. “There’s nothing Tike having a committed student body.” Corbridge said he also admired the emphasis A&M places on undergrad uate education. “Many times the undergraduate education gets dropped by the way- side,” Corbridge said. “The fact A&M emphasizes that education puts it way ahead of the game. Corbridge got his bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from Brown University and graduated from Yale Law School in 1963. Mandela insists South African lections to go on as scheduled he Associated Press i! DURBAN, South Africa — Nelson Mandela rejected y delay in elections in volatile Natal Province, saying ’ednesday that the army can end mounting bloodshed in e three weeks before South Africa’s first all-race vote. The ANC leader spoke to a national conference of African itional Congress youth in the capital of Natal. In the past ve weeks, more than 400 people have been killed in the |bvince, which includes the KwaZulu black homeland. The South African army sent in 700 soldiers Wednes day in an attempt to quell the violence, bringing the en tire deployment to 1,900. The 700 new troops gathered J t Ladysmith in northern Natal; most were to be sent Thursday to the area near Ulundi, the capital of KwaZulu. “We found we had a need to get additional troops into the area,” said army spokesman Capt. Kim van Niekerk. “We were a bit thin on the ground.” The scale of the bloodshed in Natal has convinced some observers that it is futile to try to hold the elections while a war is raging between supporters of the ANC and the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party of Chief Mango- suthu Buthelezi. President F.W. de Klerk ordered a state of emergency last Thursday to end the political violence. Bloodshed has increased in the weeks leading up to the election — the first to include the black majority — as Zulu na tionalists demanding sovereignty try to block voting in their strongholds. But Mandela was insistent that there be no delay in the See Mandela/Page 14 Nation’s largest yearbook gets an editor New Aggieland chief predicts job will be demanding By Melissa Jacobs The Battalion The nation’s largest yearbook has chosen an editor for next year. Diana Hodges, a sopho more journalism major, has been named the editor of the 1995 Aggieland, Texas A&M Uni versity’s yearbook. Hodges said she knows her new job will be demanding. “Even when you’re a regular staffer it’s de manding,” she said. “You have to worry about getting pages in on time, on top of all your class work. I’m juggling two sections right now, and that is helping to prepare me for next year when I’ll be juggling seven sections.” Hodges applied for the position because she eventually wants to work in magazine publication, and she said this is a step in the right direction. “It’s such an important job, and I really wanted the opportunity to play a big part in the yearbook,’ she said. Flodges has worked for the Aggieland for two years. She has held the positions of resi dence hall section editor, academic section edi tor and organizations section editor. Hodges said she was relieved when she found out she got the editor’s position. “The interview really made me nervous,” she said. “I was the only one who applied for the position, but if they don’t like you they don’t have to hire you just because you’re the only applicant.” Hodges said she has wanted this position for a very long time. “It always feels good to get something that you want,” she said. “I visited A&M when I was in high school, and I wanted to apply for the Aggieland then. The editor told me I William Horrison/YAf Battalion could apply but that they usually don’t hire freshmen. 1 applied and got the position of sectiop editor.” Hodges said this year’s editor has done a great job, and she doesn’t have any specific changes in mind. “But every year is different and I want to capture the year,” she said. Hodges said many people don’t realize how important their yearbook is until it is too late. “Often people don’t buy a yearbook and ten years after they graduate they call the Ag gieland and say they want one,” she said. “By then it is too late and there is nothing we can do to help them.” After graduation Hodges wants to work for a magazine. “I’m a journalism major, but I hate to write,” she said. “I love lay out designs. My next goal is to work for Rolling Stone Maga zine. The whole magazine industry is my next stepping-stone.”