>■ * *
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
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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