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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1994)
: rontiers [&M engineers develop a new fiber-optic sensor Page 2 THE Opinion ELIZABETH PRESTON: The whole point of opening lines of communication is to understand each other better. Page 7 Sports A&M quarterback Corey Pullig turns in a good performance in the season finale. Page 5 MONDAY November 21, 1994 Vol. 101, No. 61 (8 pages) “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 ” State senator to work or local book selection Amount of enrollment interest prompts task force proposal AUSTIN (AP) — The fight over chool textbook selection could move the legislative arena next year, when ne senator says he’ll work to get the iften controversial decisions handed iack to local school boards. The elected State Board of ducation for the past 10 years has lecided which books state money can ie used to purchase, But state Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount ’leasant, said he will introduce a bill hat would give local boards the reedom to use state funds to buy whatever books they choose. think people need to understand hat the decision already is in the lands of local districts,” said Ratliff, hairman of the Senate Education tommittee. "They have the option of uying whatever they want; they just an’t use state money to do that.” In past years, issues such as nclusion of the biblical theory of reation in science books and human lexuality in health books have stirred he most controversy at education loard textbook meetings. luts increase risks at tefinery, unions say HOUSTON (AP) — Four workers’ inions at the giant Exxon refinery in iaytown say maintenance cutbacks iver the past year have led to an ncreased risk of deadly fires, xplosions and chemical releases. The unions, which represent all ,850 refinery employees, made the xjmplaints in an Oct. 6 letter to refinery nanager Sherri Stuewer and in nterviews with the Houston Chronicle astweek. Union leaders claim that nspection and maintenance of pumps and other important | equipment have slipped noticeably, fef "Each undone project, patch job and purposely neglected tnaintenance project puts another nail in the coffin of certainty which brings us closer to a major incident,” he unions said in their letter. Grand jury investigates slaughter of horses DALLAS (AP) — A federal grand ury is investigating claims that wild rorses are being sold to slaughter with he help of officials responsible for Jrotecting them. The grand jury in the Texas )order city of Del Rio is looking into eports that officials with the Bureau of Land Management there are illowing people to acquire horses for !125 through the agency’s Adopt-A- Horse program to sell to slaughterhouses for up to $1,000. Current and former bureau employees told The Dallas Morning News in its Sunday editions that agency officials interfered with efforts to uncover wrongdoing in the program. Some current and former BLM officials said there has been no criminal wrongdoing. They call the investigation a misguided crusade by the bureau’s law enforcement officials. By Amanda Fowle The Battalion More people want to come to A&M than there is room for, so A&M System Chancellor Barry Thompson proposed Friday that the Board of Re gents have a task force look into options to reme dy the situation. The task force will consider issues like making the admission requirements stricter, increasing tu ition or expanding the current facilities to accommo date more students. “I really think it is in the best interest of the Uni versity to form a task force to look in to this issue,” Thompson said. “There are certain external forces that have to be looked in to.” The administration capped enrollment this year, and 2,500 qualified applicants were turned away from the University simply because there was no more room. Dr. Sallie Sheppard, associate provost, said these students were referred to other A&M Sys tem schools. Dr. Ray Bowen, A&M president, said enrollment was capped because of the increased cost of admit ting more students. He said adding 1,000 more students for just one year would cost the University more than $6 million. He said that amount does not include the costs of adding more dormitories, parking areas or library facilities. Bowen said that 42 more faculty would have to be hired to accommodate the extra students. “When you talk about increasing enrollment,” he said, “you have to look at your resources.” He said the A&M faculty is currently teaching at See Enrollment/Page 8 Proposal requires good teaching skills for tenure By Amanda Fowle The Battalion Faculty at Texas A&M Sys tem schools will have to meet new requirements, including good teaching skills and satis factory peer reviews, to be granted tenure under a pro posal that a tenure task force will make to the Board of Re gents in January. Dr. Manuel Ibanez, presi dent of Texas A&M at Kingsville and head of the task force, said that teaching skills are often over-looked at large, research-based universities. “Traditionally, we say if people have the degrees, they have the qualifications to teach,” he said. “That’s not true, though. You have to learn how to be a teacher.” Chancellor Barry Thompson said many A&M faculty are lacking in the area of teaching. “Institutional leadership is probably the weakest area we have here,” he said. Thompson said he would like to see a group of the best teachers helping other teach ers in the classroom. “If you really want to impact teaching in the classroom,” he said, “that will do it.” The task force also proposed See Tenure/Page 8 A precision team Robyn Calloway/THE Battalion The Fish Drill Team performs one of their exercises during the halftime of the A&M-TCU game Saturday. Corps to urge cadet adherence to Aggie Code of Honor By Lisa Messer The Battalion The Corps of Cadets is urging its mem bers to make the Aggie Code of Honor a pri ority in their lives by holding an honor dis cussion Monday and Tuesday night that each cadet will attend. Blaine Joseph, vice chair of education on the Cadet Honor Board, said the Corps needs to make cadets aware of the impor tance of integrity because it is the Corps’ mission to produce leaders of character and competence for the nation. “We’ve always had competent leaders come out of the Corps,” Joseph said, ‘hut not always moral people. This nation needs moral people. “I don’t believe there is complete igno rance of the Code of Honor in the Corps,” Joseph said, ‘hut sometimes there is a lack of concern about it. It’s the same in the Corps as it is back down through society.” Joseph said the meeting will focus on the day-to-day dilemmas that cadets are facing now and will be facing after they leave A&M. “If you sign out of CQ (call to quarters) to go to the library but go to your girl friend’s instead, that’s a question of char acter,” Joseph said. “There are always going to be problems. For example, the Corps instills the buddy system in cadets, but sometimes that crosses the line between loyalty and honor.” Joseph said the Honor Board is looking for open discussions among cadets. After Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for stu dent affairs, addresses the cadets, the group will divide into battalions for scenario dis cussions led by faculty members. Dennis Davenport, assistant Corps area coordinator and a discussion leader, said cadets need to remember everyone is subject See Honor Discussion/Page 8 Republican win could net Bentsen more influence Democrats expected to support tax cuts WASHINGTON (AP) —- Outnumbered in Congress for the first time in four decades, Democrats are likely to lend significant support to Republican efforts to cut spending and taxes,-reduce government and reform welfare. But they will spend the next two years attempting to hold Republicans accountable for keeping the deficit in check, shielding student loans and other selected programs from the ax and making sure the wealthy aren’t the prime beneficiaries of tax cuts. They’ll also try to hold the line on any attempts to enact a conservative social agenda. "I’ll vote for some spending cuts, sure,” as well as work with Republicans on welfare, said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., echoing the views of many Democrats. At the same time, he said, “I think we have to stand for something. I think we have to have a social conscience. I think we have to be concerned about the working people.” T* J f TT> . ; Today s rxATf Classified 6 Frontiers 2 Opinion 7 Toons 4 Weather 8 What's Up 3 WASHINGTON (AP) — As most Democrats prepare to lose stature when Republicans take control of Congress next year. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen could become a more valuable player, say analysts and interest groups. His moder ate political views, con gressional ex perience and good standing with many Re- publicans could boost his influence, they note. Bentsen “Secretary Bentsen was a major force oh Capitol Hill for a long time. He has well-developed working rela tionships on both sides of Capitol Hill,” said Carol Cox Wait, presi dent of the bipartisan Commit tee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “Having acquired that stature and relationship is of tremendous value today.” But the question is how long does Bentsen, now 73, want to stay in the Cabinet? Unlike for mer Defense Secretary Les As- pin or outgoing Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, there is no suggestion he would be forced to leave. But practically since he was picked by President Clinton as a key member of the administra tion’s economic team, it was widely assumed he would not serve the full four-year term. Speculation about his depar ture was fueled by reports that his advice on crucial issues was not being heeded. And lately, Bentsen may have helped the rumors by toning down his exu berance when asked how he likes the job. A year ago, when asked his plans, Bentsen said: “I am pleased with my position. I find it interesting and exciting. I have no intention of leaving.” These days when asked if he intends to retire, his stock response is, “You all keep ask ing me that question, and one of these days you’re going to be right.” Also, Bentsen and his wife recently bought a million-dol- lar townhouse in Houston that is unoccupied. And, aides note, he might want to be clos er to his six grandchildren who live there. But, they quickly add, if the White House asks him to stay on the job to help deal with hostile forces on Capitol Hill, he is not likely to depart and risk appear ing a quitter deserting a strug gling administration. Texas spends more for basics Educating students who fall short is shared by large state universities, but about 85 percent of all remedial instruction is taken on by community colleges. The smaller schools now devote about 20 percent of their academic instruction to the cause, up from 5 percent in 1987. “This isn’t a development we’ve cheered,” said Stan Calvert, executive director of the Texas Asso ciation of Community Colleges. “Community col leges would like nothing better than to get out of remedial education and teach college-level work.” Remedial courses are considered “developmen tal” and don’t count toward a degree. They can range from math classes on fractions and percent ages to basic reading "This [report] shows taxpayers are having to pay twice to teach kids basic skills. And underfunded colleges are being stretched even thinner." Remedial college classes cost state $127 million in 1994-95 school year HOUSTON (AP) — Teaching Texas college stu dents the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic is costing nearly four times more than it did six years ago, according to a report by state education officials. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board report says the cost of remedial col- ' 'O'' N lege classes in the three R’s exceeded $127 million for the 1994-95 school year. That’s up from $35 million in 1988-89. “This shows tax payers are having to pay twice to teach kids basic skills,” board chairwoman Nancy Atlas told the Houston Chronicle for Sunday editions. “And un der-funded colleges are being stretched even thin ner.” The skyrocketing remedial course work isn’t unique to Texas. Experts say spending has in creased dramatically nationwide since the 1980s, though no national statistics are available. In Texas, the increase is driven largely by the Legislature’s 1988 imposition of the Texas Acade mic Skills FYogram, a mandatory placement test that identifies incoming college students in need of remedial help. Roughly a third of college freshmen fail the. test annually. Nancy Atlas, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board chairman courses and instruc tion in grammar and punctuation. Nearly $60 mil lion, or 46.2 percent of the total spent on remedial courses in 1994-95, was spent teaching basic math skills. Writing class es took 32.9 percent of the total, while reading courses took 20.9 percent. The Coordinating Board report is being touted by some as proof that public schools are failing to do the job. “Those numbers are a great indication of public schools’ failed curriculum,” said George Scott, president of the Tax Research Association of Houston. “They show we’re spending money the wrong way.” Some public school leaders acknowledge the problem but say progress is being made by phas ing out less rigorous courses and implementing college-preparatory classes.