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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1995)
9,199; ONLY EVERYTHING Juliana Hatfield's latest album shows an unflattering new style. Aggielife, Page 3 THE pages) CAST OUT UNEDUCATED VOTING Pawlikowski: Students should abstain from vot ing rather than making uninformed decisions. Opinion, Page 11 “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT First baseman Mya Truelove puts power in the Lady Aggie line-up. Sports, Page 7 Thursday* March 30, 1993 H 1 IMIiliiMllli nd sus' ids nd Car; g $U ■om tin ve cor im ' to tb lg, wtl! Sauk .er this nee be er race- male e: 'd ui, Proposed budget calls for A&M System cutbacks If the prospective approprintions bill is approved by the Texas Legislature, A&M's '96-'97 budget will face reductions. By Lisa Messer The Battalion The Texas A&M University System will face million-dollar budget cuts if the Texas Legislature passes a pro posed appropriations bill. The bill recommends a $77.7 billion budget for higher education institutions in Texas during 1996 and 1997. Dr. Barry Thompson, chancellor of the A&M System, said that if the cur rent appropriations bill is passed, the A&M System would suffer several mil lion-dollar cuts including: •freezing and rolling back employee hiring to 1994 levels. •reducing state retirement contribu tions by $28.6 million. •capping group health insurance pre miums and staffing at fiscal year 1994 levels, creating an $8.3 million shortfall. • cutting non-formula funding items by 20 percent, creating a $12.3 million shortfall. “These are real cuts affecting real people,” Thompson said. “It’s a hard ship, not a myth. They’re a threat to the academic programs in our state. “Classes might become larger. Ser vices in some agencies where funding is cut will be limited. One of these days there will obviously be enroll ment limits.” Thompson made the announcement Wednesday from Austin over the A&M System’s Trans-Texas Videoconference Network. Thompson said restoring funding cuts and shortfalls and providing cost of living salary increases for faculty and staff are the priorities of the A&M System. Thompson said the System will work to help students who might not be able to afford higher education’s costs be cause of the cuts. “I would hate to exclude anyone from the educational process who can benefit and become a successful tax-paying member of society,” Thompson said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of new money out there for students who want to be first generation college graduates. “We’re going to try to accommodate those students. We’re going to make a Herculean effort to do that.” Thompson said A&M System stu dents are planning a rally for April 25 at the Texas Capitol to get the attention of Texas legislators. “They’re hoping people believe they’re citizens of the state,” Thompson said. Thompson said he believes A&M was on the defensive this year, but will be on the offensive in the next leg islative session. “We will be in much better shape in ’97,” Thompson said. “The administra tion inherited a fairly large number of well-publicized problems, although we’ve been trying to work through them in a very honorable and forthcoming way.” '“T A&M student remains in coma McKie S [after bicycle accident last month ne tb ! Text: I n vita- en the; finis!’, datioti as loEi ilthy. ry fret aid. ontinis eekecc exas a: eekenc □ The 26-year-old made his first move after being hit by a bus. By Lisa Messer The Battalion The 26-year-old Texas A&M student who was run over by a bus on West Cam pus in February made his first purposeful moves Wednesday. Trevor Shockley, an animal science major from Montgomery, moved his arm across his body in what appeared to be an attempt to stop a physical therapist from working with him. Wendy Leber, Shockley’s girlfriend and a former A&M student, said Shock- ley moaned and seemed agitated, signs ; that he might be coming out of his - eight-week. coma. She said that although Shockley shows I signs of improvement — he’ll open his eyes if you stand beside him and repeat his I name — he is still classified as comatose. “His neurosurgeon wants him to be ■ able to raise one or two fingers on one : hand,” Leber said. “That would help show he’s regained consciousness.” According to a University Police De- | partment accident report, as Shockley i rode his bicycle past a stopped bus on Agronomy Road Feb. 1, the bus pulled away from its bus stop. Witnesses said that as the bus turned ! left onto Soil and Crops Circle, Shockley tried to make a sharp turn to avoid hit- | ting the 40-foot bus. Instead, the bicycle wheels came out \ from underneath him and he slid under the 18-ton bus as its double-rear tires j rolled over him. Shockley was rushed to Brazos Valley Medical Center with severe head injuries, a broken jaw, broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken and shattered legs. Leber said that since that time. Shock- ley has dealt with pneumonia, blood clots j and a fever that doctors cannot explain. “He’s really compromised right now,” Leber said. “Typical stuff, like a cold that normal people get, can be deadly to him.” Leber said Shockley’s family is trying to get him moved to Hermann Hospital in Houston so he can have a better chance of being accepted as a charity case by the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston. “That’s the place the doctors want him to go,” Leber said. “TIRR’s the best place for him.” Leber said most people have shown uncommon compassion for Shockley, but the A&M administration disappoints her. “The governor’s office called up and got him preapproved for Medicaid,” Leber said. “F*rofessors have come by to check on him. What really bothers us, though, is that we haven’t had anybody in any type of official position come up to see how he’s doing. Not one single A&M ad ministrator has come up here.” Leber said that while Shockley com bats his physical problems, his family is wrestling with the growing medical costs that are ahead of them. As of March 13, Shockley’s hospital bill, not including doctors’ bills, was $233,000, and if Shockley is moved to TIRR his bills could total more than $1 million dollars. Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, state entities, including state universities, can not be held liable for more than $250,000. John Youngblood, A&M counsel, said that although the Universi ty has a limit on dam ages, A&M’s vehicles are covered by Royal Indemnity Insurance. “The University doesn’t have insurance for very many things Shockley because we’re limited in the ways we can spend our money,” Youngblood said. “The fleet policy would cover this particu lar situation, but whether or not there is any liability is still to be determined.” Shockley may get some financial relief from an A&M student organization. Craig Pfeiffer, treasurer of the Resi dence Hall Association, said the RHA controls an accident relief fund for stu dents that may be used to help Shockley. “There’s not a whole lot in there right now, but we’re looking into doing campus fundraisers to build up the account,” Pfeiffer said. “Then, I hope, we’ll be able to give the money to him.” Leber said it is frustrating that fault for the accident may never be clear. “I’ll never know how fast the bus pulled out or where Trevor was when it pulled out,” Leber said. “Trevor might not even remember the accident. I hope to God he doesn’t remember.” Men respond to women’s movement in discussion □ Wednesday's panel dis cussion was a part of Wom en's Week. By Lynn Cook The Battalion “We see a confusion of roles. Guys don’t know if they should hold the door open or pick up the check,” Williams said. “Conflicting messages from women are forcing men to think about what they really want.” Dr. Gary Brooks, a psychologist with Men should break down gender barri ers and avoid traditional stereotypes, panelists told a predominately male au dience during a Women’s Week discus sion Wednesday night. Dr. Brian Williams of A&M’s Student Counseling Center said he has seen a change in the way males on campus are treating women. “One benefit of the movement is that males are becoming more sensitive to the needs of women,” Williams said. “There has been more respect for the roles of women in society. Many males may graduate and have a female for a boss and you have to adjust to that.” Williams said traditional male stereotypes confuse male students about dating and relationships. See Discussion, Page 10 Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion Mike Waldron speaks on what the Women’s Movement has done for him in the MSC forum on Wednesday night along with Bary Brooks, Royce Bord- man, and Brian Williams. Amy Browning/THE Battalion Library leftovers The marks of fire scar the walls of the Bryan Library, and signs on the door warn of asbestos and state that the library is closed for repairs after a fire was set early Tuesday morning. GSC elects Stephen! S. Moore as new president □ She will take over as Graduate Student Council president on April 11. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion Making a smooth transition be tween new and former officers is the main goal for the new president of the Graduate Student Council. GSC President-elect Stepheni Stephenson Moore’s term begins April 11. Moore said she will sit down with the current GSC president Amy Kardell and discuss the issues con cerning graduate students. To help ease new officers’ transi tions, the GSC has created a new offi cer position for the past president which Kardell will hold during the upcoming term. “This allows me to finish some pro jects I’ve started,” Kardell said. “It gives us continuity.” Kardell said the position has been passed into the GSC’s constitution. “New candidates will realize it’s actually a two-year term,” she said. Moore said she is aware of most of the issues concerning graduate students and has had previ ous experience in student government during her un dergraduate years at Baylor University. However, she said that with this new position, she can become even more famil iar with her new role. “Amy’s been here,” Moore said. “She knows what’s go ing on and I think that should make a smooth transition be cause most of the graduate students are here for such a short period of time.” Moore said most graduate students are here for maybe a year or a year-and-a-half. “We don’t have the expe rience of four years in the Student Senate,” she said. Moore said she also wants to con tinue the GSC’s positive relationship with the undergraduate student gov- See GSC, Page 1 0 Stew Milne/THE Battalion Stephen! Stephenson Moore was recently elected GSC president. Term limits bill faces likely rejection in House □ The proposed constitutional amend ment would limit lawmakers' terms . WASHINGTON (AP) — An idea whose time evidently has not yet come, a constitutional amendment slapping term limits on lawmakers faced likely rejection Wednes day in the House, looming as a rare defeat for the Republi can “Contract With America.” Speaker Newt Gingrich sought to pin blame in advance on Democrats, who lined up to vote overwhelmingly against the politically popular measure. “Give us 60 more Republi cans next year, and we’ll pass term limits,” he said. Yet after closing ranks with remarkable discipline on earlier items in their campaign manifesto. House Republi cans faced numerous defections on term limits. “I just can’t be an accessory to the dumbing down of democracy,” said Rep. Henry Hyde, the 11-term Illinois Re publican who helped steer other “Contract With America” items to passage as Judiciary Committee chairman. “If this were a trial, I’d call as my first witnesses the Founding Fa thers, who directly and unanimously rejected term limits.” Perhaps redundantly for a party that just lost its majority at the polls last fall, many Democrats said the amendment was unnecessary. “We’ve already got term limits,” said Rep. Bill Richard son, D-N.M. “They’re called elections.” In daylong debate, the House sifted through four rival versions of term limits before a final vote expected late in the evening. A two-thirds majority is required to send the measure to the Senate. The first proposal — a 12-year limit written by De mocrats to apply retroactively — gained only 135 votes, with 297 opposed. The second — limiting lawmakers to three two-year terms — received only 114 votes, with 316 against.