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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1995)
A&M STATUES WHO SHOULD DECIDE? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE J|1 School history is shown through var The Texas Legislature should allow citizens to de Michael Jordan begins his quest ious campus statues. cide the fate of the concealed hangun bill. to regain old form. J|§|j|K ||||» Aggielife, Page 3 Opinion, Page 11 Sports, Page 9 Ijllt THE Vol. 101, No. 114 (12 pages) .ynrsaaB&aa “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 Tuesday • March 21, 1995 Gov. Bush appoints new members to Board of Regents □ The appointees are graduates of the Texas A&M System and will serve a six-year term. By Lisa Messer The Battalion Gov. George W. Bush appointed three graduates of the Texas A&M University System to the Board of Regents Monday. Bush named Robert H. Allen, a Hous ton investor; Frederick D. McClure, an independent public affairs consultant from Dallas; and Donald E. Powell, an Amarillo banker, to the Board. The men will serve six-year terms that expire Feb. 1, 2001. They will replace regents Raul Fer nandez, Class of ‘59 and vice chairman of the Board; Billy Clayton, Class of ‘50; and Gerald J. Ford. Bush said the new regents will lend strategic vision and a wealth of experi ence to the A&M System. “They share a commitment to excel lence in higher education,” Bush said, “and the practical knowledge to achieve that goal. “Working with other regents and the outstanding educational professionals in the A&M System, they will insist that A&M graduates are prepared to lead Texas and the world into the next century,” Bush said. Allen graduated from Texas A&M University in 1951 with a bachelor’s de gree in business administration. He did graduate work at the University of Hous ton and South Texas College of Law. He is the managing partner of Chal lenge Investment Partners in Houston and the former chief executive officer of Gulf Resources & Chemical Corporation. Allen serves on the boards of Feder al Express Corporation, First City Bancorporation and other business and civic organizations. • McClure graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in agri cultural economics in 1976 from Texas A&M University, where he served as the University’s first black student body president. McClure earned a law degree from Baylor University in 1981. He served as an assistant to the president for legislative affairs in the Reagan and Bush administrations and is a former associate deputy U.S. at torney general. This year. Time magazine named McClure one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under the age of 40. Powell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1963 from West Texas State University, which is now West Texas A&M University. He grad uated from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. He is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Boatmen’s First Na tional Bank of Amarillo, and has served on the boards of the United Way and Amarillo Chamber of Commerce. The Board’s next meeting will be March 23 and 24. [AT&T distributes funds to residence halls through ACUS long-distance program ■ □ The funds are used for hall improvements iUp and activities. —I By Wes Swift ■The Battalion ^ Residence halls can now use ) funds supplied from the AT&T ||ACUS long-distance funding of tk#!program to improve residence onne hall life. The program, which began this year, gives a portion of the money made from the ACUS long distance program to resi dence halls, the Residence Hall Association and the Staff Coun cil. The funds are used for hall improvements and activities. Owen Ross, president of the RHA and head of the ACUS re view board, said the funds are distributed through a three- step process. First, a seven-question appli- Ication is submitted to the board, [which meets every two weeks. The board sifts through the pro posals to decide which ones mer it a further look. 737 524 525 555 511 326 Ross said the sifting is vital to making the process more efficient. “Some proposals are so ridicu lous that they’re a waste of our time and a waste of their time,” Ross said. “Sometimes, a pro posal can be killed altogether right there.” He also explained that some proposals are turned away be cause of incomplete applications. Some are turned down because they lack a hall staff member’s signature; others are turned down because all the questions are not completed. Barry McKinney, resident di rector of Mclnnis Hall, said one of his hall’s proposals was de nied because it was incomplete. “It was denied because we had an incorrect cover sheet and lacked a signature by a staff member,” he said. McKinney said that because of time constraints, he did not re submit his proposal to the board. Ross said the second stage of fund distributions allows board members to clear any gray areas in the proposal by meeting with applicants. At this stage, the board decides if the proposal will advance to the final stage. “The second stage is a chance for us to ask questions and clari fy the proposal,” Ross said. “This is where we make a deci sion about if we send it on and make recommendations on how much money to give.” Ross said the board approves about 70 percent of all proposals. Those approved are sent to Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi dent for student affairs. The funds are distributed according to Southerland’s decision. Ross said Southerland ap proves about 95 percent of all the proposals he receives. Ross said that originally, there was $50,000 in ACUS funds and now, about $15,000 remain. Southerland said that any leftover ACUS funds would be placed in reserves. “Each year’s funds are zero- based, so everything zeros out,” Southerland said. “Any excess funds are put back into ACUS reserves. They may be used for emergencies later.” Student groups prepare for Earth Day by gathering signatures on petitions 's. ■ y* 2S. □ Environmental groups are counting the days until the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. By Lynn Cook The Battalion Texas A&M’s Texas Environmental Action Coalition and the student gov ernment’s Environmental Issues Com mittee are counting the days until the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. The two groups are working togeth er to gather 3,000 student signatures on a petition sponsored by the Free the Planet Coalition for Earth Day. Rachel Barry, TEAC president, said TEAC and EIC will have a booth in the MSC for the countdown to Earth Day. For the next 25 school days, infor mation on one of the 25 points in the action agenda will be available from 9 am. until 3 p.m. Carrie Thompson, TEAC vice presi dent, said the countdown is intended to educate students and meet the sig nature goal. “Each day we’re highlighting one of the 25 actions,” Thompson said. “We’re going to have people there to answer questions and discuss the actions.” Barry said the TEAC needs many more signatures to meet its goal. “We want to gather at least 3,000 signatures from students by Earth Day,” she said. “So far we have about 200.” Free the Planet is a national coali tion of major environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Green peace, Thompson said. “The groups realized at the last elections how endangered the environ ment was,” Thompson said. Thompson attended the Emergency Free the Planet Campus Conference in . Philadelphia on Feb. 24th. Representa tives from more than 1,000 schools at tended the conference, which dealt with environmental education and incorpo rating the Free the Planet Petition into campus Earth Day celebrations. The petition includes an Environ mental Bill of Rights holding See Earth Day, Page 1 2 Petition Outline The 25 points on the petition sponsored by the Free the Planet Coalition are: • Protect the Safe Water Act. Strengthen it to get cancer-causing pollutants out of drinking water. • Protect the Clean Water Act. Strengthen it to stop toxic discharges and runoff into water and to better protect American’s wetlands. • Protect the Superfund law. Improve it to make polluters pay promptly for toxic waste cleanup and to make toxic waste cleanups quicker and more effective. • Protect the Delaney Clause. Strengthen it to get cancer-causing pesticides out of food. • Protect the Clean Air Act. • Curtail releases of dioxin into the environment by passing a Chlorine Discharge Ban. • Place a moratorium on new solid and hazardous waste in cinerators. • Phase out nuclear power. • Promote environmental justice. • Promote sustainable, environmentally-sound agriculture and strengthen Farm Bill protections for soil, water and wild-life. • Protect wild regions like the Northern Rockies, Colorado Plateau and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by designating roadless areas as wilderness. • Protect the Endangered Species Act.- Strengthen it to focus on the protection of entire ecosystems, not just individual species. • Ban all logging in remaining old-growth forests and roadless areas. • Ban offshore oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. • Stop overfishing and rebuild depleted fish populations. • Prevent further destruction of public rangelands by setting envi ronmental standards for grazing and increasing grazing fees to fair market value. • Reform the 1872 Mining Act to end taxpayer subsidies for mining and set protective environmental standards for mining operations. • End taxpayer subsidies for the oil, coal, nuclear and timber in dustries, and for unnecessary irrigation projects like the Auburn Dam and the Animas-LaPlata Project. • Oppose “takings” legislation which require taxpayers to pay for polluters’ compliance with environmental laws. • Increase fuel efficiency standards for cars to 45 miles per gallon by the year 2004. • Curb global warming by cutting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent and increasing investments in clean and renewable en ergy sources, such as solar power. • Pass a national Bottle Bill. • Require 50 percent recycled content in newspapers and increase government purchasing of recycled products. • Require mandatory minimum penalties for the worst polluters, increase fines and expand citizens’ right to sue to enforce anti-pollu tion laws. • Pass the Community Right to Know More Act. Require that the public be informed of toxic chemicals present in communities and workplaces. Bart Mitchell/THE Battalion / got it! Ryan Sitton, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, and his partner Rod Sachs, a College Station resident, set to return a volley during a daily game on the sand court between Law and Puryear halls on Monday afternoon. Improving economy boosts job market □ The job market looks promising for college graduates if students begin preparing early, experts say. By Eleanor Colvin The Battalion Texas A&M graduates may face a more promising job mar ket than in the past because of the improving economy. A recent College Placement Council survey found that 50 percent of responding employers planned to hire more new gradu ates than they did last year. Dr. Leigh Turner, director of the Texas A&M Career Center, said positive turns in the econ omy are already benefiting A&M students. “I don’t think the economy is hot yet, although it is definitely warming up,” Turner said. “We’ve already seen 10 percent more recruitment at A&M this fall.” While more jobs are available, Career Center officials still de scribe the market as competitive and offer a number of sugges tions to help students make themselves more marketable. Turner said almost all em ployers want to hire someone with experience. “Regardless of their major, stu dents need some relevant work experience,” she said. “One-third of employers hire only from stu dents who either have intern or co-op experience.” See Job Market, Page 12 University leaders to host caU-in show □ The question-and-answer forum will air today, and students can call in their questions. By Gretchen Pen enot The Battalion Students can ask A&M leaders questions to day on “Ray Bowen and Friends,” a televised question-and-answer show. The program, started by Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M president, will air from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. on TCA Cable Channel 15. Students can call in their questions at 845- 5656 or ask them on camera at the remote ques tion site at the Commons Lobby main desk. There will also be a studio audience of student leaders and others who wish to attend. Bowen will be accompanied by Brooke Leslie, student body president. In addition. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs; Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice president for finance and adminis tration; Dr. Charles Lee, interim executive vice president and provost; and Dr. Robert L. Walker, vice president for development, may attend to answer questions in their specialized fields. “The show will give people in the community a chance to get to know us and ask us questions," Bowen said. Leslie said she wants an opportunity to reach students and the best way to do so is through the media. She said she tried to have an open house before, but there was not much student interest. Though he is not sure what Students will ask, Bowen said he is going in with an open mind. Bowen said there was a turnout of about 110 students at his Open House earlier this month. Mary Helen Bowers, the show’s organizer and deputy director of University Relations, said there were 15 to 20 people in Bowen’s office at one time. “Some just wanted to meet him,” she said, “and some had more specific questions.” Students asked Bowen questions about park ing, the legislative session, the budget and fee in creases. Bowen said he expects similar questions on the show. Bowers said Bowen is willing to field questions on almost anything. “He wants students to know he is accessible and will give them a straight answer," she said. “1 don’t know anyone who gives a more direct an swer than Dr. Bowen.” Bowers said at least one question-and-an swer show will be scheduled each semester if this one goes well. H