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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1995)
rats ficit- “ll’s i the it to / oc- )ate, ted, tion 'hey ris- n to and Jack 'yes i he* nter hat ans rats sure illy em- lass itol late i ted ;ar- 1 as ein, an, est A&M approves addition to System Vbl. 101, No. 108 (8 pages) “Serving TexasAdrMsince 1893’ □ The Board of Regents gives permission for ETSU to join the A&M System. By Lisa Messer The Battalion The Texas A&M University System chancellor will ask the Texas Legislature for permis sion to merge the East Texas State University complex into the A&M System. See Editorial, Page 7 Friday, the Board of Regents gave Chancellor Barry Thompson permission to file the legislation needed to grant the merger. The Board said that if by March 8 the committee finds any reason that ETSU should not be merged, the Board would auto matically revoke the request for the merger. Regents T. Michael O’Connor and John Lindsey said their com mittee will present the final reports on ETSU to each regent by March 8. The deadline to introduce new leg islation into the Texas Legislature is March 10. Regent Guadalupe Rangel said she would not grant Thomp son permission to file the merger request before she reviewed the committee’s report. “I believe it’s very inappropri ate to get legislation going on a subject we know very little about,” Rangel said. “We’re pre ceding with filing without ever seeing any documents from our employees, from our side.” Thompson said he thinks the merger would benefit A&M and ETSU. "By the year 2010, there are only going to be two systems in the state of Texas." — Billy Clayton, Board of Regents member “Everything we’ve seen has been extremely positive,” Thompson said. “I have no doubt that ETSU would be a strong asset to the A&M Sys tem and we are excited about the possibilities that exist.” ETSU University has a main campus in Commerce, an upper- level branch campus in Texarkana and a Metroplex Cen ter, which offers graduate cours es, in Mesquite. With an enrollment of 9,200 students, ETSU would become the second largest university in the A&M System. O’Connor said 90 percent of ETSU’s alumni approve of the merger. Lindsey said everyone in the university has been supportive. “They think A&M is the best thing in education,” Lindsey said. “They like everything they know that’s connected with A&M.” ETSU is the second institu tion this year to win the Board’s See Addition, Page 2 GOING OUT WITH A BANG The women's basketball team crushes Baylor 99-65 in their season finale. Sports, Page 5 Monday • March 6, 1995 Regents approve step to resolve Tenneco dispute □ A&M agrees to non binding arbitration with Tenneco over the scrapped cogeneration plant project. By Lisa Messer The Battalion The Texas A&M Board of Re gents gave the A&M System’s chancellor permission Friday to pursue non-binding arbitration to resolve a dispute with the de veloper of A&M’s scrapped co generation plant. The Tenneco Power Genera tion Company claims the project cost the company $59 million be fore A&M killed the project, pri or to completion, in June 1994. The University offered Ten neco $16.2 million in January, but Tenneco did not accept. On Feb. 28, the Texas Senate Administration Commission gave A&M’s Board of Regents until 5 p.m. Friday, March 3, to agree to arbitration, settling out of court with a third party’s help, in order to resolve its dis pute with Tenneco. The Board unanimously agreed to arbitration in an emer gency meeting Friday morning and instructed Chancellor Barry Thompson to start the process. Terri Parker, director of com munications, said that if the Board had not agreed to arbitra tion, public hearings would have been held on the subject. See Project, Page 2 ■011- are 1 to sny cer- ita aw, re- ist- not ine ane gth he aid ad- ing > of ife ars ie- se lal je, ed th- \!1 ► o I \ o Eddy Wylie/THE Battalion Spending an afternoon in the past David Shipman, a B-CS resident is about to the Society for Creative Anachronism on Sunday strike C.W. Karstens, a junior mechanical engi- afternoon. The society’s purpose is to study all neer major from Bryan, in a chivalry practice of aspects of the Middle Ages through recreation. Colin Powell gives insight into America’s role in world affairs □ Gen. Colin Powell tells students how his life has changed since the end of the Cold War. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the American family has kept the United States a strong nation in the af termath of the Cold War. In a speech sponsored by the Wiley Lecture Series that re ceived two standing ovations Saturday in Rudder Auditorium, Powell said the solution to both internal and external problems is for Americans to continue to come together as a family and take care of one another. “We’re looking inward to solve problems at home,” he said. “We’ve got to start being out raged at the things that shame our family. That will take us through this difficult period of trying to find out what our new mission is. “It’s that concept of American family that allowed us as a na tion to overcome the Cold War. The concept of family is why people look to us for leadership.” Although America has prob lems at home, he said, there is a need to help other countries. “We cannot return to an isola tionist view,” Powell said. “We will always have a regional in terest and a moral interest in other nations. “It is much harder for leaders to deal with these issues that have, little to do with College Station, Texas.” Other nations have a trust in the U.S. that cannot be ignored, Powell said. “The people of Haiti trust us,” he said, “the people of Eastern Europe trust us, just as the peo ple of Kuwait trusted us a few years ago.” Powell said that the U.N. forces’ defeat of Iraq was the first test of the new world order established after the Cold War. “This time the U.S. and the Soviet Union were working to gether,” he said. The political objectives were achieved when the war ended, he said, despite complaints that the war was not over. Powell said the war was both a victory for the military and a victory of the American spirit. “There was an incredible out pouring of love,” Powell said. “You fell in love with your Armed Forces again.” Powell said he wanted the pa rades celebrating the return of Gulf War veterans to also in clude the Korean and Vietnam veterans so they could finally have the parade they deserve. Powell said during the first 28 years of his military career there was a period of consistency with the U.S. mission of contain ment. But since the end of the Cold War, he said, the U.S. has been in an era of uncertainty. Com munism has gone, he said, and with it America’s strategy of con tainment. Powell said that during dis cussions about ending the Cold War with Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union Gorbachev sensed Pow ell’s skepticism. “He could see the skeptical look on my face and he said ‘General, I’m very sorry you have to find another enemy,”’ Powell said. “And I thought to myself, T don’t want to.’ Every thing I had studied for 28 years would be changed.” Powell said there were times he had trouble accepting the new world order. For instance, when Palestinian chairman, Yasser Arafat, tried to kiss his cheeks in a show of friendship, Powell had to pull away. “I cannot take this much new world order at one time,” he said. Powell said he has enjoyed his retire ment after 32 years in the military and has been working on his memoirs and spending time with his family. “For the first time in 30-odd years there is time,” he said. “There’s no phone calls and no crisis. Powell said he misses putting on the uniform of the U.S. Army and being around all the men and women of the military. He said he enjoyed A&M’s military atmosphere and rich history. In a note of advice to the stu dents, Powell said they will be remembered for their good works. “Find out what you love in life and give it all your heart and soul,” he said. “Make sure you hold something back so you can give something back to your community.” Powell said he found all this for himself in the Army. Find out what you love in life and give it all your heart and soul." — Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman for Joint Chief of Staff ft Mexico requests return of suspect in cover-up I LI Mario Ruiz Massieu is accused of altering depo sitions to protect former President Salinas' brother. MEXICO CITY (AP) — The po litical drama unfolding in Mexico is the story of two powerful fami lies long connected by friendship, Uiarriage and partisan interests. Former President Carlos Sali nas and his brother Raul, and for- nier federal prosecutor Mario Kuiz Massieu — now being held in New Jersey by U.S. officials — Play key roles in a murder mys tery swirling around Ruiz Massieu’s assassinated brother, allegedly killed on Raul Salinas’ orders. In the latest twist, Mexican Pews media reported Sunday that the government on Monday will request Ruiz Massieu’s extradi tion back to Mexico to be tried on charges of altering depositions to protect Raul Salinas. “This is turning into a novel about power — full of suspense with improbable turns,” said Homero Aridjis, a writer and po litical activist. “If this story was written by a novelist, some would doubt its believability.” Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the No. 2 man in the ruling Insti tutional Revolutionary Party, was shot to death in September as he left a Mexico City restaurant. That killing followed the March 1994 assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI’s origi nal candidate for last year’s presi dential election — another sub plot in the drama that has more closely touched Carlos Salinas. Fields explains views in town meeting □ U.S. Rep. Jack Fields spoke about his support for the balanced budget amendment and PBS funding cuts. By Wes Swift The Battalion U.S. Rep. Jack Fields discussed issues ranging from PBS funding to the proposed balanced budget amendment with about 50 people at a town meeting Saturday night in the Brazos Center. Fields said that the Senate’s not voting for the balanced budget amendment proposal last week will put pressure on senators who vowed to support the proposal during the elections. “There are some senators who promised to support it during their campaigns and voted against the bill,” Fields said. “Now there is a record of their vote. The pres sure is going to be very intense on those who voted against it.” The proposed amendment would force the government to balance the budget by the year 2002. Fields compared the proposal to a brick wall that will make the federal government accountable for its finances. “Until you put that brick wall up, you will never have real fiscal re sponsibility,” Fields said. Fields said the GOP wants to stop federal funding for the Corpora tion for Public Broad casting, which controls the Fhib- lic Broadcast System and Na tional F*ublic Radio, and encour age private funding. “I think we should keep PBS,” Fields said. “But it should not have one cent of federal funding.” Fields, the chairman of the subcommittee for telecommunica tion and finance, said PBS sta tions should take advantage of digital technology and cooperate with major television corporations that would distribute their signed nationwide. Royalties from the distributed signal would generate money for the station, he said. “There needs to be creativity in finding alternatives to federal fi nancing,” Fields said. Fields said the departments of Energy, Education and Hous ing and Urban Development may be eliminated. He said the duties of those departments could be reassigned to other ar eas to improve.efficiency. “The good things the Depart ment of Energy does can be put in other departments,” Fields said. “The Department of Edu cation should be eliminated. Ed ucation should be left to the states and municipalities. And HUD is a dinosaur.” Fields said the town meetings give him a chance to see his con stituents and hear their concerns. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years,” Fields said. “It’s an oppor tunity for the people to come out and let me hear their concerns, maybe to criticize me.” Fields said he uses the forum to get away from the government attitude in Washington. “This is a chance for people to listen to what’s going on, to hear the proposals and hear the rea sons why,” Fields said. “This is a good way to tell people because it’s far from the political air.” "I think we should keep PBS, but it should not have one cent of federal funding." — Rep. Jack Fields