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Senior Debbie Bierman looks for a win in her
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PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
Pawlikowski: Gramm cannot solve the nation's
problems with empty campaign promises.
Opinion, Page 7
RODEO INTERNS
Students are getting work experience at
the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Aggielife, Page 3
bl. 101, No. 107 (8 pages)
“Serving Texas AdrM since 1893
Friday • March 3, 1995
mm
' ..A. ' ,■
: 1 :
U
legents to consider fee increases for fall semester
j Tuition, parking fees
md departmental fees
II be increased if a
jroposal is approved.
yKasie Byers
he Battalion
If a fee proposal before the Board of
egents is passed, students can expect
icreases in the costs of tuition, parking
nd admission applications for the up-
jming fall semester.
These increases, proposed by the De-
artment of Finance and Administra-
ion, will go before the Board in March.
Mary Nan West, Chairman of the
ioard of Regents, said the Board’s de-
ision will depend on how drastic an
mpact this proposal would have on
le students.
“I don’t approve of pricing ai good edu-
ation out of the market,” West said. “I
See Editorial, Page 7
don’t want to pass this proposal if it will
place undue burdens on the students.”
If passed, tuition will increase for
both graduate and undergraduate resi
dents and non-residents.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, executive vice pres
ident with the Department of Finance
and Administration, said the Texas leg
islature must allow the residents’ tu
ition to be increased before the Univer
sity can take action.
He said the state legislature decided
several years ago that residents’ tuition
could be increased up to $2, which will
occur if the proposal passes.
All other tuition increases, he said,
are determined by the University with
in different boards.
Out-of-state tuition is set by a Uni
versity coordinating board at the direc
tion of the state legislature, he said, and
graduate tuition is set by the Depart-,
ment of Finance and Administration.
Carmen Layseca, a senior construc
tion science major and out-of-state res
ident, said the fee increases are a par
ticular btirden.
“It doesn’t bother me when the Uni
versity raises fees when we can see
where the money is going, but I don’t
see where my tuition is going,” Layseca
said. “I don’t see why out of state tu
ition needs to go up. I pay six times as
much as in-state residents do already.”
All parking fees from commuter to
garage visitor parking and staff parking
will also increase.
Gaston said the parking fee increases
will be proposed for two main reasons.
“Parking fees must increase because
of the maintenance and repair of old
lots and garages and the construction of
new lots,” he said. “Apparent inequities
between parking for off-campus stu
dents and on-campus students and
garage spaces are also a major reason
for increases.”
Gaston said the upcoming construc
tion of the Student Access Building,
which will operate 24 hours and will
connect to the expansion of the Evans
Library, will create a need for better
parking and ultimately higher fees.
“If we make the Student Access
Building available to students we also
need parking where they can get to it
easily,” he said. “We need to think of
the students’ safety. Busses don’t run
all night.”
Admission application fees will also
increase.
Gaston said this increase was pro
posed because application processing,
printing and postage costs have in
creased significantly since the applica
tion fee was first enacted.
Gaston said the fee proposal also in
cludes creating equipment access fees in
the colleges of architecture and geo
sciences.
“The equipment access fees for the
College of Architecture and the College
of Geosciences are two new fees that are
also included in the proposal,” he said.
“These fees will pattern after the access
fees in the colleges of engineering, agri
culture and science.”
Brad Ramsey, a junior construction
science major, said new fees within the
College of Architecture are not fair.
“We already pay fees for things that
we don’t even use,” Ramsey said. “Initi
ating another fee within the College of
Architecture isn’t fair. We pay tuition
and whatever is covered under this new
equipment access fee should be provid
ed for us through that tuition.”
The Texas Legislature is proposing a
12 percent budget cut for higher educa
tion. This cut would take $20 million
dollars from Texas A&M’s funding.
Brooke Leslie, student body presi
dent, said she sees the fee increases as
a way to make the students pay for the
state’s proposing these budget cuts.
“The students have definitely been
wronged here,” Leslie said. “As higher
education is continuously cut, it puts us
(the students) in a situation to carry the
burdens of this lost funding.”
Currently, the costs of attending
Texas’ universities and colleges are the
least expensive in the nation and Texas
A&M is one of the least expensive uni
versities in the state.
Leslie said that although Texas’ high
er education expenses are less, the state
ranks at the bottom in financial aid.
“Texas by far has one of the best
deals in the nation as far as higher edu
cation goes and because of this the Leg
islature thinks cutting our funding
won’t hurt,” she said. “But what people
don’t realize is that Texas doesn't pro
vide nearly as many grants and loans
for its students as other states do.”
Powell to speak on Gulf
War experiences, U.S.
military engagements
□ The Wiley Lecture
Series sponsors Gen. Colin
Powell on Saturday in
Rudder Auditorium.
ByGretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will relate
Ms experiences during the Gulf War
and other U.S. engagements Saturday
in Rudder Auditorium.
The MSC Wiley Lecture Series, a
foreign policy series, chose Powell to
speak because of his contributions to
the nation’s foreign policy and defense.
Powell served 35 years in the mili
tary and was the first black chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the coun
try’s highest military post.
He is also the author of an autobiog
raphy describing his climb in the mili
tary and has been urged to run for the
1996 presidential election.
Powell’s speech agenda is not for
mally set, but program coordinators
said they expect he will discuss U.S.
engagements during the Gulf War,
Haiti and Somalia and future U.S.
engagements.
Susan Emmons, chair of Wiley
Lecture Series, said Powell will dis
cuss where U.S. troops will go in the
future and why they should or should
or should not be there.
Wiley Lecture Series has sought
Powell as a speaker for a year, she
said, and had hoped to have him
here last year.
Bringing Powell to A&M was diffi
cult, Emmons said, because of several
obstacles including raising funds,
having the proposal approved and
setting the date.
Laura Bay, director of advertising
for Wiley Lecture Series, said Wiley
was able to secure Powell because of
A&M’s background as a military
school and the interest of the Corps
of Cadets.
Joanna Hetsko, a senior in the
Corps of Cadets, said she plans to at
tend the event and hopes Powell will
discuss the nation’s situation now
that the Cold War has ended and
changes are taking place.
“I’ve seen him speak on television
before and I’ve heard from others
that he is a very powerful speaker,”
Hetsko said. “I like having the oppor
tunity to hear one of our nation’s
leaders speak.”
Emmons said she does not expect
the audience to be predominantly
cadets, but does expect a large turnout.
Wiley Lecture Series sponsors one
major speaker and several smaller
symposiums each year.
Past topics were on the mid-east,
economics in the far east and the
rising threat of nuclear weapons.
Other major speakers have been
British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and former Presidents Jim
my Carter and Gerald Ford.
Wiley Lecture Series committee
members said they hope to have
Mikhail Gorbachev as a future
speaker.
Robyn Calloway/THE Battalion
Taking a ride on the wild side
Brad Hoeksema, a sophomore biomedical science major, spins in the Gyro during the Greek Week carnival at Rudder
fountain on Thursday afternoon.
Mentors: Profs listen, offer advice to students
A&M faces funding reductions
□ Officials and state
legislators began
negotiating the 1996-1997
budget on Thursday.
By Amanda Fowle
The Battalion
Texas A&M officials and state
legislators made the first step
Thursday in negotiating the A&M
System’s 1996-1997 budget.
The A&M System has requested
S336 million, but budget cutbacks
proposed during the negotiating
stages could bring a reduction of at
least $16 million.
A&M administrators are con
cerned that the results of a state au
dit published in January will make
budget negotiations more difficult.
But State Rep. Steve Ogden said
all Texas state schools are facing
tighter budgets because of a 5 to 8
percent reduction in funding for all
| of higher education.
“A&M’s situation is not unique,”
1 he said.
Dr. Ray Bowen, president of
Texas A&M, was not pleased with
the preliminary negotiations.
“If this was the budget that we
were actually given, it would hot
have gone well,” Bowen said.
Ogden compared Thursday’s ne
gotiations to a football game.
“We’re coming up on the end of
the first quarter,” he said, “and
we're down by two touchdowns.”
Despite a rough start, Ogden said
a happy ending is still possible.
“It’s fairly normal to start out
with a pessimistic budget,” he said.
"But I’m confident that we can
work out a satisfactory budget.”
Dr. Barry Thompson, chancellor
of the A&M system, said the nego
tiations went better than he had
expected.
"They’re always reminding us
about the audit results,” he said, “but
this was a positive atmosphere.”
Bowen is optimistic that future
negotiations will provide a bigger
budget.
“The appropriations committee is
very sympathetic to A&M,” he said.
□ The group is still going
strong after nearly 20 years.
By Lynn Cook
The Battalion
For almost 20 years, members of the
Mentors program have opened their
doors and offered advice to students.
In 1976, chemistry Professor Dr. Rod
O’Connor and a dozen other faculty
members organized a group to better
serve students:
O’Connor said they called their pro
gram “Free Love” and operated under
that name for three years until adminis
trators decided they needed to change
the name.
“Mainly we wanted to let students
know there are people out there who
care about them as individuals,” O’Con
nor said. “The administration suggested
we change the name because we might
make some mothers think we were en
couraging students to move in together.
“Really, 12 or 13 of us felt that if we
pooled our brains we could be more effec
tive. I think I get more credit than I de
serve for the program. I was probably
just the one with the loudest mouth.”
In 1979, the program became the
Mentors program. Today, Mentors has
just less than 400 faculty, staff and ad
ministrators participating.
O’Connor said faculty members orga
nized the group because they started
seeing more students with serious prob
lems beginning in the 1970s.
“We started seeing more severe prob
lems than before, like suicide,” O’Connor
said. “Most of the people we talked to
had problems with roommates and that
sort of thing. A lot of them were fresh
men and were just lonely.”
O’Connor said he runs across many
former students who remember the help
they received from the program.
“I would go with students to the fi
nancial aid office and stand on a chair
and refuse to come down until a student
got their check than was six weeks late,”
O’Connor said. “I wasn’t endeared in
that of
fice.”
Dr. Bet
ty Mil-
burn, as
sistant di
rector of
counseling
with the
Student
C ounsel -
ing Services and coordinator of the
Mentors program, said a Mentor’s two
main responsibilities are listening to
students and referring them to the ap
propriate services.
“The purpose is to provide students a
place where they can go that is safe and
know that a professor is interested in
them as a person,” Milbum said. “Men
tors advise and guide students in the ar
eas they are competent in and refer
them to the appropriate sources.
“The problems we see run the gamut.
We see everything from problems with
relationships, families, finances, study
habits, academics and career choices.”
Dr. Williams Bassichis, professor of
physics and a Mentor, said students
come to him with questions ranging from
academic performance and career choic
es to personal and family problems.
“Everybody always seems to have a
different question,” Bassichis said. “The
University and community have so many
resources that if it involves a serious
problem, we know who to refer them to.”
Dr. Murray Milford, professor of soil
sciences and a Mentor, said Mentors
are available to students to talk about
anything.
“Mentors just want to let it be known
that a lot of faculty are willing to talk on
a very informal basis about anything
they want to talk about,” Milford said. “I
don’t see it as a job. Independent of
most university connections, we are
making ourselves available to students.”
Bassichis said it is important for stu
dents to know they have options.
“The Mentor signs on our doors indi
cate who we are,” he said. “If you feel
you have a problem, the sooner you let
someone try to help you, the sooner you
can get your problem solved.”