Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1994)
y • July 27, 1994 ardinale MS LAST NICHT : ’OU MotfoN?? By JP k^ers ; 25, when two n Brackenridge a pitchfork, r was horrified, t and rushed it Bills, a suburb ght by Texas sns, who cited mal without a sdemeanor. led $60 earlier scause he “was i it was an of- ense, said Jus- , age 39, failed t was to be is le Warden Lt. len planned to ishermen to be n their tackle ud, for anyone 5 hunting and yrtle say they to the turtle, med to Brack- t time it won’t "—I -sday( lion I trier I I 1 1 I Opinion ]. Sterling Hayman: We have become a society that searches for humor in almost every tragedy and misfortune. Page 5 Northgate '"i Lifestyles converge, right across the street from A&M's campus. Visit two semi-legendary local bars. Page 3 Weather Same old thing— sunny and hot for the foreseeable future. Lows in the 70s, highs near 1 00. — National Weather Service THURSDAY July 28, 1994 Vol. 93, No. 181 (6 pages) “Serving Texas A&M since 1893” r'\ Mom: Send MONEY Clinton aide faces questioning today A&M chancellor, officials say state legislature should spend more on higher education By Craig Lewis The Battalion Dr. Barry Thompson, interim chancellor of the Texas A&M System, says the state legisla ture needs to make changes to its budget and focus more on higher education. Thompson said other state factions such as the prison sys tem have been mandated higher increases in funding while high er education funding has re mained virtually unchanged. Since 1985, the Texas prison system state funding has in creased 195%, almost 70 times increase in higher education spending. “Basically the state institu tions for education have been operating with the same budget for the past nine years,” Thompson said. “With the money spent on incarcerating some of these criminals, we could send them to Harvard.” Thompson is one of many Texas A&M officials who say the legislature lacks concern for higher education in _ Texas, which ranks 50th in nation in per-capita spend ing for higher education. Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice president for finance and administration, said he sees the coming legislative session as a crucial point in the stability of Texas A&M. Gaston said that the Univer sity has been sent a signal from the Texas Legislative Budget Board that tells it not to ask for more funds than it was allotted last year. “As a category of funding, higher education has been at the very bottom,” Gaston said. Gaston said a continued lack )f state funds will have a dra matic effect on Texas A&M. The three main needs of a miversity for state funds are acuity salaries, goods and ser ies, and utilities, Gaston said. “Research at the University ffon’t be losing funding direct ly,” he said, “but without ade- pate funds for all these cate- ?ories, Texas A&M can’t be ex pected to maintain excellence.” Gaston said student inter vention could help. Brooke Leslie, student body president of Texas A&M, said she plans to do what she can to increase funding. Leslie said the Legislative Study Group, a student organi zation pioneered by A&M to re view legislative activity affect ing students, will be used to swing the direction of State funds. “We’ve talked to a lot of groups such as Lions Clubs to get them to not only realize the importance of state education, but to voice this opinion to their legislators as well,” she said. Less funding directly affects students, she said, because it can cause problems such as lack of seating and declining quality of professors. Leslie said A&M is starting to Texas ranks 50th in the nation in per-capita spending for higher edu cation. reach the breaking point in try ing to get the funding it requires. “I think it is a must for our future,” Leslie said. Thompson said that Texas A&M officials plan to take an aggressive stance towards the legislature in asking for more state-allocated funds. “We have to do a better job of selling what we do to the Texas public,” Thompson said. “Depart mental operating budgets have really been dead in the water.” Thompson said that although it is illegal for A&M officials to actually lobby in the legislature, they will provide information to the state that should show the importance of state support. The chances of success or fail ure are hard to predict, he said. “Well be in competition with several other state factions try ing to do the exact same thing for their causes,” he said. “I think a lot of Texans just don’t understand the complexity of Texas A&M,” he said. Thompson said A&M affects all regions of the state, and the public should realize how im portant funding is. WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republi cans get a chance to question a wider range of Clinton officials on Whitewater Thursday, including a top aide of Hillary Rodham Clin ton’s who asked last winter if the couple’s lawyer could be briefed about a federal in vestigation. Margaret Ann Williams, Rodham Clin ton’s chief of staff, will be among the 11 cur rent and former White House officials ex pected to face questioning on the second day of Banking Committee hearings. Williams’ query about a briefing, at a Feb. 2 White House meeting, goes to the core of the political battle over the administration’s handling of Whitewater. Republicans contend it was improper for Treasury Department officials to brief White House aides on the federal investigation touching on the Clintons’ land deal. Williams sought to go further, asking about a briefing for the Clintons’ private lawyer, according to a publicly released chronology given to the House by the White House counsel and to notes of congressional interviews obtained by The Associated Press. Thursday’s witnesses will be 10 senior White House officials and former White House counsel, Bernard Nussbaum. They all were involved in trying to control the public damage for Clinton in Whitewater news stories. The current counsel, Lloyd N. Cutler, tes tified Tuesday that briefings for White House officials about the investigation were proper. Cutler also says in the chronology it would have been proper to give private lawyers the same briefing given the White House aides on Feb. 2 by Roger C. Altman, acting chief of the Resolution Trust Corp. Altman was giving the White House offi cials a “heads up” about the RTC’s pursuit of civil claims against failed thrifts, including Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. Madison was owned by the Clintons’ Whitewater business partner, and a key question for investigators was whether the land venture caused losses at the S&L. rith the University during the 1994 Fail season. wiita Hanson has been appointed coor dinator of the Panhellenie Creek system, which is a new position created this year by University Or. TASEA WMtgat. Coltog. t. a communi ty member was hired to handle each organ! - “This doesn’t mean the University has any more control over the organization,” yt._ .... ---• j ..-mi .. •. , more advise- in The sororities have always had rush counselors to assist candidates through Rush, but this year the counselors were re moved from their respective sororities all summer to promote objectivity. “This helps the individual see the global Serbs ambush convoy of UN peacekeepers dinator, said fraternities promote leader ship through their Greek retreat, held the weekend before Rush; The IFC executive board and delegates attend educational ri i ■ the University to coordinate Rush for all I sororities. I I i-5876 3t the door I lency 101 J She said the Greek system wants to place emphasis on what rushees can con tribute to their sorority or fraternity rather not just the value of belonging to one cer tain society,” she said. “This helps them foe better helpers for new members of sorori ties/ Jennifer Chavez, Rush chairwoman for “We want to bring the Rush procedure more in line with what is being done na tionally,” she said. “1 think the University definitely reached out to us this year, and we certain- nity contributions, and public ^ relations is sues. "In the past, Rush was something where everybody went and got drunk,” he said.. “Now, we’re trying to focus on management and leadership. The purpose of our organi zation is not just to party, but to make an impact on the community.” Chris Nelson, Rush chairman for IFC, said the group wants to make people on campus more aware of the Greek system. “We want people to know that it’s OK to be Greek,” he said. “1 firmly believe in our motto, “We’re Aggies, then Greeks.”’ i’s for JFFET ssert [) p.m. I Student Affairs serves Aggies as surrogate parents’ By Amanda Fowle [The Battalion Students see Texas A&M as a pome away from home, and ad- inistrators in the Department ►ATT Aggie life 3 Comics 6 Opinion 5 State & Local 2 of Student Affairs see them selves as responsible for the stu dents’ safety. A&M employees take on the role of parents for students who are suicidal or depressed, abuse alcohol or drugs or have other emotional or psychological prob lems. Ron Sasse, director of student affairs, said although most stu dents are adults, Texas A&M is like a family that looks out for them. “At Texas A&M, we say we are a family,” he said. “These parents expect us to take care of their sons and daughters.” Tom Murray, assistant direc tor of student affairs, said when students are having serious problems, the department is usually contacted by roommates or friends of the students. Student Affairs then contacts the students to offer help or sup port and refers them to the Stu dent Counseling Center or the Center for Drug Prevention and Education. Students living on campus have close contact with resident directors and advisors in their residence halls, Murray said, and can be helped more easily by these staff members if they are having problems. Student Affairs is aware of off-campus students who have problems only if the Health Cen ter or the students’ friends con tact the department. Brent Paterson, interim se nior associate director of student affairs, said in cases such as sui cide, contact is usually made by the health center after a student has already made an attempt. “If students make a suicide attempt that they are hospital ized for, we would get the stu dent involved in a psychiatric Please see Surrogate, Page 6 SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herze- govina (AP) — Bosnian Serbs ambushed a U.N. convoy Wednesday as it approached a road into Sarajevo that Serbs had just closed. Two British soldiers were wounded in one of the worst at tacks on peacekeepers in recent months. The attack came the day the Serbs re-established their stran glehold on Sarajevo by closing off the only route open to com mercial trucks. Maj. Rob Annink, a peace keepers’ spokesman, said the Bosnian Serb army sent a letter of apology to the U.N. command several hours after the attack, saying their soldiers mistook the British convoy for a Bosnian government convoy. Annink said one Bosnian truck was stuck on the stretch of road where the British trucks were. Col. Hugh Dourtivron, deputy chief of staff for peacekeepers in Sarajevo, said one of the 5,200- gallon British tanker trucks burst into flames when the am bush began in mid-afternoon. Several of the nine other trucks were damaged. “They were obviously aiming at the oil truck,” said Lt. Johnny Mitchell, a British soldier in the convoy. “The vehicles were clearly marked, so it was a direct at tack. I was scared.” The tanker was still burning hours after the crash. Once peacekeepers’ head quarters was alerted, French ar mored vehicles raced to the scene. U.N. officials said NATO airplanes were called in to make overflights, but were not asked to counterattack. U.N.convoy attacked A U.N. convoy came under fire as it neared a road closed by Serbs. Approximate areas of control H Croa. H Muslim □ Serb Roadblock AP/Carl Fox