Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1995)
RUNNING DOWN A DREAM The Texas A&M 1 600-m relay team is racing towards a national championship. ?w phot ; present| s on Me 3 the $e it it. > anythij ationst] with tl 1 editor:! 3 been: •s newsJVol. 101, No. 120 (10 pages) anicatioij Sports, Page 7 THE TIME TO TAKE CARE OF TAXES Magee: Americans must pay taxes to reim burse government for services provided. Opinion, Page 9 NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL Touring jazz ensemble will per form at Rudder Thursday night. Aggielife, Page 3 “Serving Texas A drM since 1893 " Wednesday* March 29, 1995 Legislature proposes tuition increase for nonresidents Proposed bill would verage nonresident tu ition of the five most populous states, ex- luding Texas. By Gretchen Perrenot nominea j HE g ATTALION ver.. Tuition for Texas A&M nonres ident students will increase 26 percent if the Texas Legislature passes a bill proposed by Rep. Robert Junell from San Angelo. said. 63 will mics f, which irsity. ancell consis nding. anally. e ageni- nents.a to inp ucatiori ,s meets from li ly, Apri :orni See Editorial, ial. Page Si House Bill 1792 calls for av eraging nonresident tuitions of the nation’s five most-populous states, excluding Texas, and make that average a standard for Texas public schools’ non resident tuition rates. If passed, the bill will take ef fect during the 1995-1996 acade mic year. The Texas Higher Edu cation Coordinating Board would set the tuition fees for each uni versity no later than Jan. 1, 1996. The board would use the uni versities’ nonresident tuition rates from the previous year to compute the average. Junell said he proposed the bill to bring the cost of providing edu cation closer to the money out-of- state students pay. “The tuition paid by nonresi dent students attending Texas public colleges and universities does not come close to defraying the entire cost of providing that education,” Junell said. “Histori cally, Texas charges one of the lowest tuition rates at public in- // stitutions of higher education in the country. “In fact, it is often less ex pensive for a resident of anoth er state to attend school in Texas p ayin g a nonresident tuition than to pay resi dent tuition in his or her home state.” Dr. Dan Robert son, director of the Office of Graduate Studies, said that two of the states used in the average are considering an increase in their tuition fees in the coming years. Although it seems like a one time increase, Robertson said when these schools raise their tu itions the average will increase. “We have no way of controlling the tuition increases of the other universities,” he said. Dr. Ray Bowen, A&M presi dent, said the bill is worthwhile because out-of-state tuition in Historically, Texas charges one of the lowest tuition rates at public institutions of higher education in the country/' — Rep. Robert Junell Texas is not high enough. Kimberly Frost, legislative aide to Junell, said that nonresident undergraduate tuition, which is set by the state, will increase from Si71 for a semester credit hour to $222 if the bill is passed. Universities have some dis cretion in setting graduate tu ition, and can make the tuition twice the amount of undergrad uate tuition. Both A&M’s nonresident and international graduate tuition is S29 more a semester credit hour than nonresident under graduate tuition. Bowen said the bill will im pact graduates more than un dergraduates because graduate students make up the majority of nonresidents. Amy Kardell, Graduate Stu dent Council president, said the bill would have an averaging af fect and bring A&M to the middle of affordable schools. Kardell said she encourages students to call their representa tives and voice their opinions. “The overall affect on graduate students is that it will cost us more in loans,” she said. “I think that for current students, most of us are invested in the system so we will have to suck it up.” Kardell said one of the reasons she and others came to A&M was for an affordable education. “The bill will affect A&M’s ability to recruit,” she said. “Before, we offered a reasonable cost of education.” Kardell said international students may also be negatively affected because many are on fixed incomes. Dr. Emily Ashworth, assistant provost for international pro grams, said that if the bill is passed, it would definitely affect international students. The bill, she said, shows that the state is looking at an effective way to use state dollars. year, volvedi Council :perien( :xas M ft warn ti the my et vemiK “I've l pus life the for for jur ader s? and t! 1 leader led the On-campus committee created to improve residence life at A&M □ Students get a voice in decisions regarding housing. By Wes Swift The Battalion In a move to give students a larger role in decisions regard ing on-campus residents, Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi dent for student affairs, has ap pointed the Student Housing Input Committee. Southerland said he used in put from various campus groups when forming the committee. The committee’s 18 members eflect a cross-section of organi zations such as the Residence Hall Association, Corps of Cadets, International Student Services and the Department of Multicultural Services. Ron Sasse, director of the the Department of Residence Life and Housing, said the com mittee’s diversity is one of its biggest assets. “The committee represents the diversity of people in the resi dence halls,” Sasse said. “Its a real mixture. We’ve put together a group that will allow us to see an issue from every aspect.” The committee began its work this month. After a briefing on the resi dence halls system, the commit tee discussed possible ways to im prove hall finances. Sasse said the committee’s in put was surprising. “They said that, if anything, our approach was too conserva tive,” Sasse said. He added that because of the committee’s in put, his recommendations were changed to increase the re serves at a quicker pace. Future meetings will have an open agenda that will focus on members’ concerns. Sasse said some possible issues in clude: priority housing for freshmen, theme housing and additional on-campus housing. Will Rodriguez, a resident adviser for Dunn Hall, said he wants to discuss the rent dif ference between the Commons- style halls and the modular halls. Currently, there is only a See Committee, Page 6 Term limit expires before vote -ce of at Torn ith >\v nd ; as by, □ Term limit measure not likely to 1 survive the expected vote this week according to Republicans, even though it has 70 percent approval | in public opinion polls. WASHINGTON (AP) — Anticipating defeat on a Ikey element in their “Contract With America,” I House Republicans hope to reap credit for holding a I vote on term limits while blaming Democrats for the 1 measure’s likely demise. “If we get half the Democrats, we will pass the ■ term limits constitutional amendment,” House I Speaker Newt Gingrich declared Tuesday as debate I opened. He said that more than 85 percent of GOP i lawmakers would vote for the measure and “it ought I to be possible to get half the Democrats to side with | the country that elects them.” Gingrich’s partisan jabbing aside, the term I limits issue has had a rocky path toward this I week’s expected vote, particularly for an issue I that commands support in the 70 percent range I in public opinion polls. Some senior Republicans oppose the limits. The critics include Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee who calls them a “dumb idea” that would rob Congress of needed expertise, sind Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, the party’s whip, who says they would enhance the power of unelected bu reaucrats. Efforts to build public support for a specific version have been hampered by squabbling among outside interest groups, and GOP energy has been diverted into hardfought struggles over welfare, taxes and other legislative issues. In ad dition, Gingrich noted earlier this month that constitutional amendments often take years to amass the support needed. It takes a two-thirds vote — 290 if all 435 law makers vote — to send the measure to the Senate. Republicans hold 230 seats in the House, Democrats 204, and there is one independent. Republican leadership aides, speaking on condi tion of anonymity, predicted roughly 190-200 GOP lawmakers and about 40 or 50 Democrats would vote for term limits, leaving the measure well shy of passage. “I’m against any abridgement of the right of voters to choose,” said one Democratic opponent, Pat Williams of Montana. Robyn Cailoway/THE Battalion Scientist in training Tuesday afternoon in the MSC, Tommy Ramirez, an eighth grader from Jane Long Middle School, explains his science fair project about bridge structures to Tom McKnight, a judge for the fair. >r e of me ass an »s afus ends ow ip i* 1 | commander reflects on past year □ Matt Segrest says the Corps has had a good year. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion A renewed interest in the hon or code was the greatest accom plishment and the greatest chal lenge for the Corps of Cadets this past academic year. Corps Cmdr. Matt Segrest said. Segrest said renewing interest in the honor code was one of his goals as Corps commander and the other Corps leaders con tributed greatly to this goal. “The honor code has been brought to the forefront this year,” Segrest said. “The difficul ty was making people see that it’s worth it and something that should be held in high value.” Segrest believes the honor code needed to be reinforced be cause members of society focus on only their needs. “Our society has the attitude of what’s good for you is good for you and what’s good for me might be different,”’ he said. There have not been any major problems for the Corps this year, Segrest said, and the Corps has had a good year in the public eye. “I attribute that to the empha sis on living to a higher stan dard,” he said, “being a soldier, statesman and knightly gentle man like we’re supposed to be. “Giving the ladies your seat on the bus and opening doors for them is only a part of that.” Segrest said the honor code is important for the Corps to up hold because the Corps is a leader in the University. However, he said he does not want the Corps to turn into a so cial organization. “The Corps is tough,” he said. "We accept anybody, but the ones that want to make something of themselves stay.” Overall the Corps has had a strong year, Segrest said. Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Thomas Darling said Seg rest has also reached goals in academics, retention and re cruiting this year. “Matt has been an excellent Corps commander,” Darling said. “I certainly think he’s moved the Corps upward in academics, re tention and recruiting.” Darling said Segrest deserves much of the credit for starting a new mentor program for the Corps. The mentor program brings in former students to dis cuss their careers with cadets. Darling said Segrest has also been active in participation and discussion during the Corps De velopment Counsel meetings. Segrest said the Corps has ac complished its scholastic goals. “We’ve had the highest grades in the history of the Corps this past semester,” he said. “We also had the highest mid-terms ever recorded last week.” He said he hopes these mid term grades indicate even higher overall grades this semester. “I accredit that a lot to Mark Honea, who is my scholastics officer,” Segrest said. “He has worked hard and done an ex cellent job.” Segrest said the Corps tutor ing program and new computers in the academic center has also aided in scholastic achievement. He said that goals for Corps recruiting have also been ac complished. He said the Corps invites ju nior and senior high school See Corps, Page 6 Court questions loss of privacy in war on drugs □ Supreme Court de cision could call for drug testing of all schoolage children, not just athletes. WASHINGTON (AP) — A lively debate about students’ privacy rights and the war on drugs seemed to leave the Supreme Court deeply divided Tuesday over mandatory drug tests in public schools. In a case closely watched by educators nationwide, an Ore gon school district and the Clinton administration urged the justices to allow such tests for all student athletes in schools where drug use is deemed a problem. But a teen-ager’s lawyer said his client wrongly was barred from his junior high football team for refusing to undergo urinalysis because such tests amount to un reasonable searches. “This is being compelled by the government. They’re watch ing you do it. They’re taking your urine. They’re testing it to see what secrets are therein,” Portland lawyer Thomas Christ contended. The court’s decision, expect ed by late June, could deal with student athletes only. But, de pending on how broadly the justices rule, the decision con ceivably could affect all school- children — even those in ele mentary school. Justice Department lawyer Richard Seamon, when pressed on the scope of his argument, said, “It is not our position that drug-testing of all students would be invalid under all cir cumstances.”