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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1995)
12, SWC SHOWDOWN A&M baseball looks to extend SWC lead against Baylor this weekend. Sports, Page 9 X-amining OUR GENERATION Taylor: Our generation is so diverse, it is hard to define us with one label. Opinion, Page 13 DRAMATIC ARTS AT A&M Theater arts program and Aggie players present "Othello." Aggielife, Page 3 ne Tau, J17. fe esday i(t; : Walk dturaUy l-4:30pi| n ecess.-| ; , u ol. 101, No. 131 (14 pages) “Serving Texas AdrAi since 1893’ Thursday • April 13, 1995 HA recommends fee increase Weekend starts early 0 iy' pv- if?,? ] Debate lasted less 11 Molly;; r. ban a minute on ngmeets, at 7 p.m. )n caUBi he bill to make ca- tie fees mandatory or on-campus stu- Jents. Good Fi it the Uii dent Cei v. Ridia> |y Wes Swift re Battalion Cable TV may become a regu- tme to tki ^feature of residence hall rooms ion ate: |bill passed Wednesday by the ■ch. Tte ;ation. Ft nformaii; ?kend Die Park. Fa -8501, ■vice tk 1 faculi; ihouldkj e daysiil :e. Appl » are m /hat's F ease ci TCA Cable TV currently con tracts with on-campus students to provide cable services. A decision on the bill came af ter less than a minute of debate, causing surprise among some. Trevor Dunham, RHA vice president for operations, said that he was shocked by the lack of debate. He said he thought more would be said for those who would have to pay for the service but do not have a tele vision. But Dunham said he under stands why there was little debate. “We’ve been looking at this for time,” he said. a long The resi- “We’ve had extensive discus sion on this,” Ross said. “We’ve been working on this since the beginning of last fall. The hall councils have had time to talk to the residents. We’ve got feedback and we’ve put a lot of effort into this.” Dunham pointed to a recent survey of on-campus residents that showed 82.7 per cent of the 1,029 re spondents agreed to pay the fee. Only 3.3 1 percent had neutral feelings, and 14.4 ilf&juvl percent did not I fv/l I want fo P a y- ilirrin The recommen- ' ' ' dations come amid a flurry of possible fee increases. The Texas A&M Board of Regents raised park ing fees in its last meeting, and is expected to consider raising resi dence hall rents in an upcoming meeting. Ross said that the cable fee Thank you, Easter Bunny Amy Browning/THE Battalion Anissa Summers, a freshman English major, offers to trade Easter eggs for donations to the American Heart Association outside the MSC Wednesday afternoon. Vlaroon carrot has deep roots at A&M ^ New vegetable is healthier. s »y Brad Dressier Jhe Battalion I If Texas A&M University sci- | ®itists have their way, in a few ars, the Easter Bunny and the neral public will be enjoying aroon carrots. Dr. Leonard Pike, professor of 'rticulture sciences, is develop- g the maroon carrot, which is Tssbred from carrots with p ar il maroon color. The maroon carrot began as a jlovelty concept aimed primarily Aggies worldwide. I “We just had to have a ma- foon carrot from Aggieland,” he said, “but after growing some samples, it was determined that the maroon carrot had a nice crisp, crunchy texture sim ilar to an apple.” Pike said that while working on the ideal maroon carrot, he dis covered that the maroon carrot is healthier and tastier than tradi tional carrots. Kilsun Yoo, research assis tant professor of horticulture sciences, has been focusing on the maroon carrot’s healthy, in ternal qualities. “I have been working to en sure that the Aggie carrot is high in beta carotene, natural sugars and low in the terpenoid compound, which causes a bit ter, harsh flavor,” he said. The crossbred maroon carrot is naturally high in beta carotene sharply differs from other pro posed fees, because residents will know what the fee will pay for. “The biggest problem that resi dents have about fees is that many times they don’t know what a fee is for,” Ross said. “This is dif ferent. Residents can look at this fee and know exactly what they are paying for.” The bill will now be voted on by the Staff Council and sent to the Department of Residence Life and Housing for examination. The bill will progress from there, depend ing on the Department’s ruling. Ron Sasse, director of the De partment of Residence Life and Housing, said since the Regents have to approve the fees, action may not be taken on the proposal until 1996. But Sasse did say he expects the proposal to be passed. “I think it can be in place by Fall 1996 like the bill says,” Sasse said. “I don’t see any reason why it would not happen.” □ Classes that begin af ter noon on Good Fri day have been can celled. By Lynn Cook The Battalion Students, faculty and staff will get Good Friday off beginning at noon Friday. The Texas Legislature passed a resolution that Gov. George W. Bush signed stating, “I ... order that all State de partments and agencies, except emergency services, be closed for half a day beginning at noon on Friday, April 14.” Dr. Ray M. Bowen, president of A&M, said in a memo that all faculty and staff will get half-a- day off beginning at noon. Each department will deter mine which offices should remain open as emergency services. Em ployees who do not know if they are required to work Friday should contact their supervisors. Jeanette Phariss, assistant provost, said classes that begin after noon on Friday will be canceled. “If class begins at noon or later, the class will be dis missed for the day,” Phariss said. “If class starts before noon, student will be expected to attend and finish class.” Sheran Riley, assistant to the University president, said the University has a limited number of holidays it can declare each year. Each agency head usually decides which holidays to take, she said. Instead of Good Friday, this year faculty and staff had two days off at the end of spring break instead of one. Riley said the University does not have any more holi days to give. “This year, the faculty and staff got two days off at spring break, so the University has no more holidays,” Riley said. Campus Crime Stoppers put on hold □ Lack of leadership has caused setbacks in getting program started this semester. By Eleanor Colvin The Battalion Student leaders, hoping to make Texas A&M the second university in the nation to im plement a campus Crime Stop pers program have faced some problems in getting the pro gram off the ground. The Student Senate ap proved the resolution to begin the Texas A&M Crime Stoppers last semester. Since then, no further developments in the program have been made. Toby Boenig, student body president-elect, said he is inter ested in seeing this program grow. “We’ve had some difficulty getting this program started,” he said, “but I am interested in seeing it get off the ground.” Brooke Leslie, student body president, said this year was dedicated to working out the problems associated with the ship will be the key to the suc cess of the Texas A&M Crime Stoppers. “The first thing to be done is find a chairman that is a real ‘go-getter,’” he said. “We need someone to really move this project in the right direction.” Leslie said deciding who will serve as phone operators is an other problem. “Finding volunteers to work the phones has not been a prob lem,” she said. “The concern is that many students may not handle crimes sensitively enough or adhere to certain le galities in reporting the crimes.” Gene Zdziarski, associate di rector of student life, said the program would help curb crimes commonly occurring on campus. “This program would focus on mis demeanor theft,” he said. “We’re looking at bicycle and back pack theft and other destructive and ma licious acts. Violent student body president be COV e re d mainly by the county Crime Stoppers.” Zdziarski said the Texas program. “There have been problems re garding the structure of the pro gram, where the phones will be located and how the University Police Department fits into this,” she said. “We feel like everything is in place now, and we’re ready to take the next step.” Leslie said one of the biggest problems with the program was its leadership. “We’re hoping everyone will work hard to establish this pro gram,” she said. Boenig said effective leader- "We're hoping everyone will work hard to establish the pro gram." — Brooke Leslie, A&M Crime Stoppers would be structured in the same way as the county Crime Stoppers, and anonymous callers will be re warded if the information they provide leads to an arrest or a conviction. Leslie completes te and sugars. However, the scien tists want to perfect the flavor and healthy qualities before re leasing the carrots into the com mercial market. The inner portion of the ma roon carrot retains the orange color. Pike said the high-quality taste, texture and unique color scheme of these new carrots sug gest a unique marketing idea — carrot chips. “The maroon and orange color combination make an attractive package,” he said. ‘We are work ing on how to create carrot chips, yet still retain the sweeter taste, high quality and unique colors.” The maroon carrot should be on the commercial market in about two years. □ Leslie gives advice to incoming student body president, Toby Boenig. By Kasie Byers The Battalion The transition between stu dent body presidents has already begun as Brooke Leslie moves out of her office, making room for Toby Boenig to move in. All of the items from her draw ers and file cabinets are piled on top of her desk, but her platform still hangs on the wall, with every point checked off. At the end of her term as student body president, Brooke Leslie has achieved the promise she made before being elected: implementing all of her plat form goals. Leslie said the most impor tant points on her platform were the implementation of the bookswap and the student lead ership scholarship. “Both ^bookswap and the stu dent leadership scholarship were main concerns of the student body and have been tried in the past unsuccessfully,” Leslie said. “Their implementation is truly a landmark achievement.” She said that throughout her experiences as student body president, she is most proud of the friendships and relation ships she has built and the more complete sense of love she has gained for A&M. “When you work so closely with a university, you begin to see the inside of it as well as the out side,” Leslie said. “A&M has its share of problems, but I know without a doubt it is the best Uni versity to attend.” As Leslie prepares to leave her duties as student body president and graduate in May, she said she wants students to remember her work ethic, integrity and abil ity to motivate and lead. “I hope Ill be thought of as do ing this for the right reason, not for self-glorification or any kind of egotistical motive, but because I could do the best job,” she said. Leslie said she advises Toby Boenig, student body president elect, to never forget that his main focus is the students. “Stay focused and remember what your role is,” she said. “You’re not here for the adminis tration, faculty or former stu dents. You are in this office to do what is best for the students of Texas A&M University. “Never lose the chance to take advantage of the many opportuni ties you have within this office to make a difference.” After graduation, Leslie said she plans to travel to Europe to Nick Rodnicki/THE Battalion Outgoing student body president, Brooke Leslie will graduate in May. take a break from school and have some fun. “This office has reaffirmed my belief in taking some time to have fun or else you can never enjoy the job you’re doing,” she said. After the break, she is going to law school. Notice: The Battalion will not publish tomorrow be cause of the Universi ty holiday. We will re sume normal publica tion on Monday.