Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1995)
>■ * * PUTTING ON THEIR GAME FACE? The Razorbacks will face their rival team, Memphis, in Sweet Sixteen. Sports, Page 7 THE IT'S ONLY SKIN DEEP Pawlikowski: Society's ideal of deep tan is unhealthy and dangerous. Opinion, Page 9 HARD WORKIN' COUNTRY Manders brings songs about 'screwing up' to 3rd Floor Cantina this weekend. Aggielife, Page 3 Vol. 101, No. 117 (10 pages) “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893’ Friday • March 24, 1995 - S'' ■ # RHA proposes rent increases to preserve Law, Puryear □ If the bill passes, res idence hall rent rates would rise by an aver age of 13.4 percent. By Wes Swift The Battalion The Residence Hall Association pro posed additional rent increases Thurs day in an effort to preserve and reno vate Puryear and Law Halls. The bill calls for rent increases be yond those proposed by the Department of Residence Life and Housing. The department has proposed an 8 percent rent increase for the next fiscal year and subsequent 5 percent increas es each year until 1998. The RHA bill proposes a 20-year bond for a full renovation of the two male residence halls, costing more than 6.4 million. The repairs, which would take about one year to complete, would include as bestos abatement, foundation repairs and room and restroom repairs. The bond would be funded by dona tions and gifts from outside the University. If there are not enough donations, rents would be raised and kept at a constant level for 20 years, excluding increases not involved with the reno vations. With the proposal, rents for the resi dence halls would rise by an average of 13.4 percent. Corps halls would see the highest in creases at 15.5 percent, with rents reaching $782 per semester. Non-air conditioned halls would have the lowest increases at 9.1 percent, with rents ris ing to $455 per semester. Ron Sasse, director of the Depart ment of Residence Life and Housing, said the increases were based on stu dent input and divided to strike a bal ance between hall types. “We tried to look for a situation where everything could be balanced,” Sasse said. “We had open forums, we visit ed student organizations and lis tened to all the information and fi nancial data we had.” Sasse said the original increas es are intended to bring hall fi nances out of debt by fiscal year 1998, but he does not know how the new bill would affect these recommendations. The recommendations, Sasse said, will be presented next Tues day to the Vice President for Stu dent Affairs, Dr. J. Malon Souther land. The RHA bill sparked a debate be tween supporters of the halls’ tradi tional role and those opposed to the higher fees. Amy Wakefield, president of Hobby Hall, argued that the repairs would keep Puryear and Law’s place in the campus community. “We need to do everything to keep We need to do everything to keep Law and Puryear around. They've done a lot for the Uni versity." — Amy Wakefield president of Hobby hall Puryear and Law around,” Wakefield said. “They’ve done a lot for the University.” Suzanne Lyons, national communi cations coordinator for the RHA, said the bill is necessary to help preserve the halls’ traditions. “Law and Puryear are a tradition,” Lyons said. “If we don’t support this, what’s going to happen to Hart and Walton later? If we don’t do this now, we’re going to regret it.” Those opposing the increases focused on the number of new fees that the Texas A&M Board of Regents will con sider at its May meeting. The Board will consider higher tu ition and parking rates and a new li brary service fee. Mary Tyler, president of Leggett Hall, said the increases will force some residents to look for other ways to earn money. “An increase is going to force resi dents to find another way of finding money,” Taylor said. “Some people can’t afford it.” A&M’s Japan Club to hold fundraiser for earthquake victims I □ The fundraiser will benefit the people of Kobe, Japan. By Cheryl Heller HThe Battalion Texas A&M’s Japan Club l fe will hold a charity concert Sat- urday to help rebuild Kobe, the Japanese port city hardest hit l by an earthquake Jan 17. The earthquake, which mea- I sured 7.2 on the Richter scale, | destroyed more than 20,000 K buildings and killed 3,081 people. Motoki Saito, concert coordi- | nator, said the concert, which I" will be held at the Grove, is also I being sponsored by the TAMU | Music Program, Dong Yang Gro cery in College Station and j Japan Budget Travel in Houston. The concert’s funds will be I used to help the earthquake |i victims. “We have to do what we can to ! help rebuild Kobe,” Saito said. Yuichi Kobayashi, president of the Japan Club, said the con- I cert will feature performances by a Japanese drum group from ii Dallas, a reggae band from Houston, a local Japanese stu dent band and two American ■ student bands. Japanese food will be sold at the concert, Saito said, and gifts I sent to the Japan Club from com- ; panies in Dallas, such as the Sanyo Corporation and Texas In struments, will be raffled. The concert will begin at 2:30 p.m. and music and events will continue until 8:30 p.m. The club is also selling T- shirts at the MSC this week for $10, Kobayashi said, and has been accepting cash donations since mid-February. The proceeds from the fundraisers will be sent to Kobe, he said. Dr. Dennis Winger, director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center in the College of Architecture, said the Japan Club is doing the right thing by raising money for Kobe. The best thing that student groups, families and others can do, he said, is to raise money to help the cities rebuild after a disaster. “Cash is what’s needed,” Winger said. “Groups like the Red Cross and church groups with effective relief programs can help raise the cash and di rect it where it needs to go.” Winger said that when peo ple in the United States hear of a disaster in another country, they tend to send food and clothing, which is absolutely the worst thing they can do. “The people there aren’t in need of food or clothing,” he said, “and when tons of the stuff arrive, it takes time away from the real relief effort.” Eddy Wylie/THE Battalion The forecast is .. . Parke Gregg, a junior environmental design student from San Angelo, uses an anemometer to measure the wind speed on Thursday afternoon on the grassy lawn in front of the Oceanography and Meteorology building. Texas senator proposes student regent bill □ The bill would allow each state university to decide if it wants to appoint a student regent. By Kasie Byers The Battalion A recent bill proposed by Texas Sen. Jeff Wentworth could allow each state university to decide if it wants a student representa tive on its board of regents. Brooke Leslie, Texas A&M student body president, said the A&M student govern ment supported the bill because it gives student governments the option of using a student regent. “I am for student regents, but I don’t feel it is necessary for A&M to have one,” Leslie said. “However, not every Texas school has the same strong relationship with its re gents that I feel we have. “In 20 years, though, A&M may no longer hold such a relationship and at that time it would be beneficial for us to opt in.” Recently, the Student Senate approved a resolution introduced by Toby Boenig, speaker of the Senate, supporting Went worth’s bill. According to the resolution, the Student Senate supports the bill, but will choose not to have a student regent if the bill is passed. “Now that this resolution has been ap proved, I can speak before the state legisla ture or at a press conference and say with confidence that the A&M Student Senate supports student regents,” Leslie said. “Be fore this was approved, I couldn’t do that.” Zach Brady, Texas Tech University stu dent body president, said Tech is not interest ed in a student regent for its university but supports the idea for other Texas schools. “The student government of Texas Tech isn’t interested in sending a student regent to the board because you can’t legislate rela tionships,” Brady said. “However, we are in support of the idea because schools such as the University of Texas feel they need it. “I’m certainly not going to oppose it be cause I can’t tell them what they need based on our relationship with our regents.” Texas A&M and UT have been the pio neers of student regents for the past 21 years. Forty-one states already have stu dent regents as part of their state law. Leslie said that after many years of fight ing for student regents unsuccessfully, A&M decided to focus its efforts locally and ask for a student liaison who was not state-mandated to the Board of Regents. "I am for student regents, but I don't feel it's necessary for A&M to have one." — Brooke Leslie Texas AdrM student body president “We went to the Board of Regents and asked for a student liaison locally, not state-mandated,” Leslie said. “That was in December of last year, and it is still up in the air whether the proposal will be ac cepted or rejected.” Big 12 schools hold conference □ The schools' student leaders met in Kansas to discuss non-athletic issues. By Kasie Byers The Battalion The first non-athletic meeting for schools in the new Big 12 conference was held at Kansas State University March 3 to 5. Student government representatives from nine of the 12 schools focused on the ways the Big 12 could be active non-athletically. Brooke Leslie, Texas A&M student body president, said the weekend conference allowed the schools to talk about different issues in a variety of forums. “We talked about issues concerning parking, fee increases, library funding and student regents,” Leslie said. “Presidents, vice presidents and speak ers of the individual student senates met in round table discussions as a whole and in state delegations to discuss these issues.” Jeff Wilson, A&M student body vice president, said the conference had three important benefits. “The main benefits of the conference were the strong relationships that were built between the schools, the steps taken at the conference and the ideas brought back from the other universities’ input.” Wilson said. “In fact See Conference, Page 6 Gingrich asks for health care reform support □ The House Speaker urged hospital industry executives to support the GOP's proposals. DALLAS (AP) — House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday urged hospital industry executives to support proposed reforms of Medicare and Medicaid as they grapple with rapid change in the health care industry. “We need you to help in partic ular because the largest single purchaser of health care is the government, through Medicaid, Medicare, and veteran’s health. I believe we have to have dramatic improvements in all three,” said Gingrich, R-Ga. Gingrich spoke from Washing ton via satellite to a receptive au dience of nearly 2,000 at the Fed eration of American Health Sys tems annual conference and trade show in Dallas. The Washington, D.C.-based group represents more than 1,700 investor-owned hospi tals and management systems. But Gingrich had more on his mind than health care, as he showed the audience his copy of the OOP’s “Contract With America” leg islative agenda. He asked them to try to drum up support for a vote on the Republican welfare reform plan expected Friday, as well as for term limits, tax cuts and, especially, a balanced federal budget. “We need your help in rethink ing and transforming medical care if we’re going to get the balanced budget,” he said. “With your help we need to re think how we deliver Medicaid. We need to dramatically transform See Health Care, Page 6