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AGGIE CULTURE IN PRINT
From good bull to Muster, Aggie au
thors show tradition through books.
Aggielife, Page 3
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Robbins and Clark: The Battalion provides
many opportunities for students at A&M.
Opinion, Page 9
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“Serving Texas A&M since 1893”
ouse votes to expand Aggie Bucks
SWC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Texas A&M tennis teams vie for
the conference titles this weekend.
Sports, Page 7
to off-campus use
hat pr □ If the Texas Senate passes
“ithinkhe bill, students will be able
surprisin' to purchase books, souvenirs,
3en abjand food from off-campus
was dis! vendors.
nal pmil
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so that 9(11 he Battalion
studentil
r collegel The Texas House of Representatives
3rovisicJ : P asse< l a bill Thursday to expand the
remedhi Aggie Bucks system to off-campus use.
I House Bill 3122, sponsored by Rep.
1 help foil Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, gives the Texas
need it A&M Board of Regents the ability to cre-
oncem:|ate a debit card system provided that
illy elimf Tuch cards shall not be limited exclu
sively to on-campus use for essentially
the same merchandise or services.”
The bill will now be sent to the
Texas Senate.
Before the vote, Ogden said that he
saw little opposition to the bill.
“This is not a controversial bill,”
Ogden said Wednesday. “I expect very
little opposition.”
John Haney, owner of Texas Aggie
Bookstores, said he supported the bill
and knew no reason to oppose it.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Haney said.
“I don’t see why anybody would oppose
something that’s good for the University
and the students. I’m looking forward to
seeing it pass through the Senate.”
Although expansion may cause funds
to be diverted from the University to
other businesses. Dr. Jerry Gaston, in
terim vice president for finance and ad
ministration, said the University has
no reservations about the bill.
“The issue here is that Aggie Bucks
serve the students,” Gaston said. “If
the students wish to spend their Aggie
Bucks off-campus, they should be able
to do so.”
Haney said that although he was not
sure which products or services would be
eligible for Aggie Bucks purchase, the
University has expressed some concerns.
“The only concern the University has
expressed to local businesses is that alco
hol could not be purchased,” Haney said.
“But I feel certain that restaurants that
do not sell alcohol will be included.”
Ogden said that “the same merchan
dise or services” clause should be inter
preted on a practical basis.
“The clause will be interpreted like a
reasonable person would understand
it,” Ogden said. “It is not meant to be
excessively narrow.”
Gaston said he expects students will
able to purchase items like books, sou
venirs and food. He said that although
details are not ready, there are plans
for selecting which vendors will be giv
en the Aggie Bucks option.
“Businesses will have to apply,”
Gaston said.
Gaston said he hopes to add the off-
campus vendors quickly, but noted that
the present exclusive contract with
Barnes and Noble, Inc., who owns and
operates the bookstore in the MSC,
must be renegotiated.
“We have to renegotiate first,” Gas
ton said. “Obviously they paid for the
option. But, I think the renegotiations
will go smoothly.”
Ogden said he expected the vendors
to pay for any expansion costs.
“This bill does not imply that any
costs for setting up the expansion will
be borne by the University,” Ogden
said. “In fact, I expect most of that
cost to go to the vendors who use
Aggie Bucks.”
The Aggie Bucks System came un
der question amid concerns that uni
versities could profit from the interest
earned from the money in debit
card accounts.
Last April, Texas Banking Commis
sioner Catherine Ghiglieri sent a let
ter to state Attorney General Dan
Morales asking for a decision on
whether debit card systems at univer
sities should be regulated.
Earlier this winter local business
men and the University agreed to have
House Bill 3122 filed and voted on by
the state Legislature.
tires
ARF proposes ways to diversify MSC artwork
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□ The Appropriate Repre
sentation of Facilities task
force recommended the
changes to make the art
work more representative
of the A&M student body.
By Gretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
• ; The Memorial Student Center
^artwork may be updated to repre
sent A&M’s diverse student body, if
Recommendations made by the MSC
Appropriate Representation of Facil
ities task force are implemented.
The ARF task force has drafted
12 recommendations and will final
ize the plan April 29.
The recommendations will go to
the MSC Council for approval and
then to the University Center for
approval of funding and
implementation.
The MSC Council created the task
force in March in response to campus
wide discussion on diversity issues.
The 28-member group repre
sents various MSC and campus mi
nority organizations.
Kevin Carreathers, director for
the Department of Multicultural
Services, said the task force was
needed because of the historical
changes in minority representation
at A&M.
“There was no need to have a rep
resentation of a diverse student
body in the past, because there was
n’t one,” Carreathers said. “Now
there is. Problems can be managed
better if people feel part of an inclu
sive atmosphere.”
Carreathers said no single recom
mendation is more important than
the others.
Jimmy Charney, ARF chairman,
said the major recommendations deal
with the artwork in the meeting
rooms and throughout the complex.
“Some of the artwork in the MSC
is significant to the building or was
donated, but a lot of the artwork is
not,” Charney said. “So these are
the things we are looking at.”
Charney said the artwork is be
hind the times at A&M because of
the changes the school has been
through over the years.
“The whole university was once a
military institution, but has explod
ed into something different,” Char
ney said. “Students are no longer
all cadets and more diverse cultures
are represented in the student body.
“The College of Liberal Arts is
expanding and the University has
moved from an agricultural and
mechanical curriculum to a full
university.”
The recommendations include
creating another wood carving in ad
dition to the carvings in the first
floor hallway next to the Flag Room.
The ARF recommendations sug
gest that the carvings are not up-to-
date and should represent the diverse
student life and cultures at A&M.
See ARF, Page 6
Cadets gear up for March to the Brazos
0 The Corps hopes to raise $50,000 for
the March of Dimes as a result of march
to and from the Brazos River Saturday.
By Gretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
The Corps of Cadets will march 15 miles to and from
the Brazos River Saturday to support the Bryan-College
Station March of Dimes.
The cadets started collecting donations for the March
of Dimes in December to reach a goal of $50,000.
As of Wednesday, the Corps had almost reached its
I goal with $40,000 collected.
[i The money goes toward a $1,000 scholarship for a
medical student and research for the March of Dimes,
which provides support to children with birth defects.
; Ashley Coleman, Bryan-College Station division direc-
; tor for the March of Dimes, said working with the Corps
f has been wonderful because the Corps is so organized.
i; Each outfit is sponsoring an Ambassador Child who
Ijhas benefited from the March of Dimes, she said, and
jghe Ambassador Children met with cadets for dinner at
[ Duncan Dining Hall.
; “Most of the children are handicapped in some way,”
Coleman said. “It was interesting to see the reactions
from the Corps.”
1 Kyle Hendrick, chairman for the March to the Bra-
||os, said the children took a tour of the Corps Center
[tfind met with the Corps leaders.
“The kids and parents loved it,” Hendrick said. “A
lot of cadets aren’t familiar with what the March of
Dimes does.
“The dinner helped put a name and a face to
the cause.”
Brennan Dobbs, first sergeant for the March to the
Brazos committee, said working with the children
helped him see how important the march was to them
and their families.
Dobbs has raised the most money individually for the
past two years. He raised $1,200 his freshman year and
$1,400 last year.
Hendrick said the March to the Brazos is an annual
event that began in old Army days.
“It originally was held on April Fool’s Day,” Hendrick
said. “To keep the cadets from getting into trouble and
playing pranks, they would be marched out to the river.”
The event was restarted in 1972 as a fundraiser for
the March of Dimes.
The cadets will step off from the Quad at 7:30 Satur
day morning and head down Joe Routt and across West
Campus. From there they will take FM 60 all the way
to the river.
When they reach the river, the cadets will pass on
the new positions for next year, Hendrick said.
“The seniors give positions to the juniors, the juniors
to the sophomores and so on,” he said. “The seniors ride
back on buses and the Corps marches back with the
new leaders in position.”
Hendrick said this, like Elephant Walk, signifies the
seniors’ last days as cadet leaders.
Nick Rodnicki/THE Battalion
Raycing to the top
David Briner, a senior electrical engineering major, attaches one of the drive belts on
his team’s sunraycer in Thompson hall on Thursday afternoon. When complete, the
sunraycer will compete in Sunrayce ’95 in June and will travel 1,100 miles from Indi
anapolis, Indiana to Golden, Colorado.
Two men sought in Oklahoma bombing
□ Governor tells of discovery
that would double the death toll
to more than 100.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- “Upwards of
50” more bodies were found in j ust one area of
the bombed-out federal building, the governor
said today, a number that would double the
death toll to more than 100.
“And this is not an area that they anticipat
ed finding this number of individuals,” Gov.
Prank Keating told ABC’s “Good Morning
America.”
Earlier, Jon Hansen, assistant fire chief,
had said that in addition to the 52 confirmed
dead in Wednesday’s blast, rescuers were
“working in areas now where we’ve got a sig
nificant amount of fatalities.”
“We didn’t expect that many in that loca
tion ... upwards of 50,” Keating said.
“Unfortunately, the news is not real good
this morning,” the governor said.
Late Thursday, the confirmed death toll
rose to 52, and officials said 150 more were
still missing in the tangled rubble of the Al
fred P. Murrah Federal Building. More than
400 people were injured, many slashed by fly
ing glass or buried helplessly under doors,
walls and concrete beams.
Investigators, scouring the heartland and
far beyond, issued warrants for two John Doe
suspects.
A tattoo and a crew cut were about all that
distinguished sketches of the suspects from
countless other medium-build white men.
They were believed to have rented the truck
that carried the half-ton homemade bomb,
FBI Agent Weldon Kennedy said.
Their identities — and their motive — were
unknown, Kennedy said. He speculated they
may have wanted “some revenge on the feder
al government as an entity or one of the agen
cies housed in that building.”
As President Clinton promised “swift and
certain and severe” justice. Attorney General
Janet Reno announced a $2 million reward for
See Bomb, Page 4
Aggies to call Muster tonight
□ Aggies from around the
world will gather to re
member those who have
passed on.
By Kasie Byers
The Battalion
Students and former students will
call the Muster tonight at 7 p.m. in
G. Rollie White Coliseum and
around the world.
Muster began in 1883 as a track
and field day for students and alumni
and as a celebration of Texas’ victory
at the Battle of San Jacinto April 21.
In later years, because more Aggie
students and alumni were unable to
attend the event because of the wars,
roll call was taken for the absent.
Today the Aggie Muster ceremony
recognizes the Aggies who have died
during the past year by conducting
roll call for them.
Fellow Aggies in attendance an
swer “here” to the call.
This year’s Muster will include a
barbecue at the Academic Plaza
grounds in front of the statue of
Lawrence Sullivan Ross.
Kim Greebon, sub-chair for devel
opment with the Aggie Muster Com
mittee, said the barbecue is a fairly
new event that has been a part of the
Muster tradition for about five years.
“The barbecue helps to re-estab
lish the camaraderie among Aggies,
which was the purpose of the first
Musters,” she said. “The barbecue
reinforces that Muster is not only a
reverence for the dead, but a cele
bration of life as well.”
The barbecue, which will take
place from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.
See Muster, Page 2
Corps members fire a
twenty-one gun salute at
Aggie Muster 1994.