1995
Gov-
! held
MSC
eneral
in IO4
irvey,.
irveys
in the
11 way,
and«
Soci-
5 held
e and
Pair.
Harp-
ition
ners-
-Id at
Hub,
but
n. at
For
rown
eting
man
n. in
icers
ety:
d at
uest
ocky
ork-
rva-
ina-
lore
t at
As-
) be
rith
ger,
ien-
uni-
3C1-
k to
it’s
ud-
ion
r at
■ice
cul-
uld
ays
itc.
are
in
>ns,
3.
TWO IN A ROW
The Lady Aggies look back on another
successful season.
Sports, Page 5
AMERICANS CANT DRIVE 55
Hall: Speed limit on Texas highways and inter
states should be increased to 70 miles per hour.
Opinion, Page 7
WILD SEED—WILD FLOWER
Dionne Farris steps out from the shad
ows of Arrested Development.
Aggielife, Page 3
Zol. 101, No. 109 (2 sections, 22 pages)
Faculty
□ The proposed
walkway will cross
Welborn Road and
increase pedestrian
safety.
■
“Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Tuesday • March 7, 1995
approves pedestrian crossing, library funding
Welborn Road and Old Main ft mn mnno o+n/i^+o nir r , „ _
By Tracy Smith
The Battalion
In an effort to lessen hazards for
West Campus students and faculty
walking to and from classes, the Fac
ulty Senate approved Monday the con
struction of a pedestrian crossing on
Welborn Road.
The resolution allows for construc
tion of an aesthetically pleasing and
well-lighted underpass at the inter
section of Welborn Road and Old Main
Drive.
Dr. Thomas Craig, veterinary medi
cine faculty senator, stressed the need
for a crossing because of the surge of
business students and faculty walking
to West Campus every day.
“By nature, anyone who has had to
walk across the street at that intersec
tion will understand the need for a
pedestrian crossing,” Craig said. “It all
comes down to safety for our students
and our faculty.”
The Senate noted that the railroad
posed another safety hazard for stu
dents and faculty and that more stu
dents have been crawling under or be
tween railroad cars lately.
Dr. Pierce Cantrell, deputy speaker of
the Faculty Senate, said the Student
Senate approved a similar resolution for
safer West Campus road crossings.
“The business school brings about
8,000 more students and faculty to West
Campus each day,” he said. “We need to
act now before another 50 years goes by.”
Several senators agreed that they
need to move quickly with the resolution.
“We need to alleviate this prob
lem by moving ahead with this
resolution,” one senator said. “Col
lege Station and Texas A&M have
a history of not solving problems
right away.
“I don’t want this to be one
problem the University is still de
bating into the next century.”
Craig said the planning com
mittee chose an underpass instead
of an overpass because more stu
dents will use it.
“We have an overpass crossing
right now and many people have no
ticed that it is used mainly by joggers,”
he said. “There is a trivial difference in
cost between the two so we are pushing
for the underpass.’
Dr. Arthur Hobbs, an associate
mathematics professor, was unable to
attend the meeting but previously
spoke in favor of an underpass.
By nature, anyone who has had
to walk across the street at that
intersection will understand the
need for a pedestrian crossing."
— Dr. Thomas Craig
Veterinary medicine faculty senator
“An overpass is 30-feet off the ground
while an underpass is 10—feet below,”
Hobbs said. “People are much more like
ly to walk down 10 feet than up 30 feet.”
Craig said the planning committee
does not have an estimate for the
crossing yet.
The Senate also approved an emer
gency resolution for additional funding
for the Sterling C. Evans Library to let
it meet the needs of academic and re
search programs.
The A&M Student Senate approved
a similar resolution Feb. 23 support
ing the administration’s proposal of a
library fee that would be phased in
over the next three years beginning
Sept. 1.
The fee would start at $2 per semes
ter hour in 1996 and increase to $3 per
semester hour in 1997 and $4 per se
mester hour in 1998.
The resolution stated that Texas
A&M, in comparison to its peer institu
tions, ranks third in student enroll
ment,- seventh in research dollars and
53rd in library expenditures.
Students volunteer to teach
A&M employees to read, write
JUMP!
Bart Mitchell/THE Battalion
U ea ^ Sm, ! h ’ ? r ?3 ldent of Colle 9 e Station jumps his skateboard over a brick wall by the H2O fountain near
the Chemistry building late Monday afternoon.
□ Aggie Literacy
Volunteers tutor
employees in basic
English skills.
By Lisa Messer
The Battalion
Through a new program
aimed at fighting illiteracy,
student volunteers will be
teaching A&M staff mem
bers how to read and write
English.
Aggie Literacy Volun
teers, a student chapter of
the Brazos Valley Literacy
Volunteers of America, will
tutor A&M employees in ba
sic English reading and
writing skills.
Anya Martin, president of
Aggie Literacy Volunteers
and a senior agricultural eco
nomics major, said volunteers
will begin tutoring employees
in late March.
Twenty-two students have
gone through two eight-hour
training sessions.
Mary Elam, the volunteer
coordinator with LVA, said
their organization had diffi
culty starting the program
on its own.
“Our tutors couldn’t park
on campus,” Elam said.
“They didn’t know their way
around and a lot of them
just didn’t feel comfortable.
“We thought if we created
a student group, it would be
really convenient. They
would already be on campus
and students would have
weird schedules just like em
ployees do.”
Martin said most of the
employees will come to the
program to learn English as
a second language.
“Most people are going to
be Spanish-speaking,” Mar
tin said. “Some will have
verbal skills in English but
won’t be able to read English
and have practically nil in
Aggie Batters ’95
Tuesday • March 7, 1995
Inside:
A look at this season
• Softball
page 5
• Baseball
page 11
Player profiles —
Chad Alexander. Kristy
Bunting, Merry Mapp,
Ryan Roop and others
Photo highlights —
pages 6 & 7
1993 Season Guide Inside Today
The Texas A&M men’s baseball and women’s softball teams
are gearing up for the 1995 season.
a student group, it would b
Improved parking wont come
without a price, PTTS says
□ narlrincr -forsc e d on Agronomy Road for veterinar-v
writing skills.
“Others won’t be able to
read or write in English or
Spanish.”
Martin said most of the
employees will be sent to the
program through the Univer
sity’s General Education
Diploma and Adult Basic Ed
ucation classes.
“The GED and ABE class
es are full, with people on
waiting lists,” Martin said.
“Also, some people can’t do
the work in those classes be
cause the work is set on a
12th-grade level.”
Martin said many of the
employees expressing an in
terest in the classes work in
maintenance, the Physical
Plant and Food Services.
“There is a stigma at
tached to certain jobs that a
certain level of education is
n’t needed,” Martin said,
“but that’s not true.
“If you mix two solutions
that shouldn’t be mixed be
cause you can’t read the
warning labels, you can come
back with burns. A&M is
trying to erase that stigma
and raise the standard.”
Ken Reeves, staff assis
tant for the Department of
food services, said he has re
ceived a good response to Ag
gie Literacy Volunteers from
Food Services employees.
“We’re still waiting for a
specific number, but I as
sume quite a few will be in
terested,” Reeves said.
“We’ve already had a good
number graduate from the
GED program.
“We encourage our em
ployees to take advantage ol
programs like these. They’re
to benefit themselves and ad
vance themselves in their
own careers.”
Reeves said he likes the
idea of students teaching
employees.
“This is one of those
things you can do to get in
volved,” Reeves said. “It’s a
great sacrifice for students tc
give something back to the
people who serve them.”
Dollar tumbles once again
while Fed sits on sidelines
□ Increased parking fees
will pay for campus parking
improvements.
By Cheryl Heller
The Battalion
Student requests for improved
parking may result in an increase in
parking fees.
Tom Williams, director of Parking,
Transit and Traffic Services, said the
department has started improving
parking conditions mostly because of
students’ complaints.
But, Williams said, the only way to
get money for the improvements is by
increasing parking fees.
Williams said the parking fees have
not increased during the six years he
has been at Texas A&M.
“Parking fee increases are only
asked for when they’re needed, and
students generally don’t mind them if
they can see where their money is go
ing,” he said. “They’ll be able to see the
improvements on existing lots and the
construction of new garages.”
Projects are currently underway to
upgrade the lighting in 15 parking ar
eas, most of them on west campus, and
to improve faculty and staff parking at
the Wehner College of Business Ad
ministration Building and the
Reynolds Medical Building.
Parking spaces are also being creat
ed on Agronomy Road for veterinary
and biomedical sciences students and
500 spaces are being built at the Recre
ational Sports Center.
Other plans include expanding
Zachry and the veterinary school park
ing lot. Adding special events center
parking, a west campus sports field
parking lot, a library parking garage
and a west campus parking garage are
also included in the plan.
<J.D. Cole, Student Senate’s student
services chairman, is proposing to Stu
dent Senate a campus parking im
provements bill supporting the pro
posed fee increases.
“Parking is something that students
have registered a lot of complaints
about,” he said. “We support what
See Parking, Page 8
Q The Federal Reserve
is not expected to raise
interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The dollar plunged to a third
straight record low against
the Japanese yen Monday
and sank against other cur
rencies as well. Despite the
global dumping, the Federal
Reserve was not expected to
raise interest rates.
Private economists said a
Fed rate hike in the current
turmoil was extremely un
likely unless the dollar’s de
cline turns into a free fall
that roils U.S. stock and bond
markets.
‘The Fed isn’t going to
jack up rates just because
the dollar is under pres
sure,” said Bruce Steinberg,
an economist at Merrill
Lynch in New York. “This is
not a crisis even though the
dollar is going to he search
ing for a bottom over the
See Dollar, Page 8
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
Parking lots next to G. Rollie White
and the tennis courts are consistently
being packed during school hours.
0*1 >-1-*
Oliver Taps
The Silver Taps ceremony will be
tonight at 10:30 p.m, in front of the Aca-'
deraic Building.
The ceremony is in memory of two
Texas A&M students who have died
since the last ceremony.
Those being honored in this month’s cer
emony are Stephen Mark Brewer, a senior
physics major from Nash, and Diana
Sharon Stepan, a senior petroleum engi
neering major from Hempstead.
In keeping with the tradition of Silver
Taps, which dates back almost a century,
the campus will be hushed and darkened at
10:20 p.m. In memory of the deceased stu
dents, the Ross Volunteers will fire a volley
salute and buglers will play a special
arrangement'of “Taps.”