E X A S
A &c 3V1
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•More
oil
Simple Soccer
Junior forward Yvette Okler
stresses consistency over
flash for Texas A&M.
Sports, Page 7
Talking Tech
Pawlikowski: Students
cease to learn if they rely on
technology too heavily.
Opinion, Page 11
Becoming NORML
Group works to educate
A&M students about
marijuana.
Aggielife, Page 3
HE BATTALIO
13 (12 pages)
Established in 1893
Wednesday* September 13, 1995
aston gets shot at vice president position
iDemske, one of three
Mists withdrew from
onsideration because
iffamily reasons.
If Wes Swift
k Battalion
Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice
resident for finance and admin-
stration, is now in the running
or the permanent position be-
ause one of the top candidates
withdrew his application.
Edward Demske, the vice
president for finance and busi
ness affairs and treasurer at Mi
ami University of Ohio, with
drew his name from contention
for family reasons.
Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M
president, received a letter from
Demske Thursday morning say
ing he is withdrawing as one of
three final candidates for the
A&M position.
Bowen said the letter suggest
ed that Demske withdrew for
personal reasons.
“After he and his wife talked,
they decided that they didn’t
want to move at this time,”
Bowen said.
Demske was out of the office
Tuesday and could not be
reached for comment.
Bowen said Demske’s decision
will not push back the timetable
for naming a vice president.
“We were moving pretty slow
ly already,” he said. “I still plan
to visit the leading candidate’s
campus and look at things on
the campus and talk to the peo
ple he works with.”
Since the vice president
must be confirmed by the Texas
A&M Board of Regents, Bowen
said, he would like to have a fi
nal candidate by the Board’s
October meeting.
The other two candidates,
Dr. Jennus Burton, associate
vice president for administra
tive services at Arizona State
University, and William
Krumm, associate vice presi
dent for business operations at
the University of Michigan,
have already visited A&M for
on-campus interviews.
As of Tuesday, Bowen had
not scheduled an interview
with Gaston.
Gaston said he was honored
to be named a finalist and is ner
vous about his interview.
“You’re always nervous when
you go through an interview
process,” he said.
A former A&M sociology pro
fessor, Gaston said that he
thinks his 14 years of experi
ence with the University might
just give him an advantage over
the other candidates.
However, he said the other
finalists’ experience should not
be underestimated.
“I think that all the other can
didates have a lot experience,
just not local experience,” he
said. “I think you shouldn’t as
sume that local experience
would be more valuable than
other kinds of experience.”
The position for vice presi
dent for finance and adminis
tration became vacant when
Bowen reassigned Robert
Smith to the newly created ex
ecutive director for special op
erations position.
Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
Coin' for the long ball
Zack Farr, an animal science graduate student, tees off A&M's
10th hole Tuesday morning.
Excuses, Excuses
Health center’s policy put on
examination table this semester
□ A Faculty Senate
subcommittee on
student absences will
review Beutel's excuse
policy. Faculty
members and doctors
are concerned that
students are abusing
the system.
By Tara Wilkinson
The Battalion
Texas A&M students, faculty
members and A.P. Beutel
Health Center staff members
said they are dissatisfied with
the existing system through
which students receive excuses
from the health center for miss
ing classes and exams.
In response to concerns that
students often abuse the health
center’s excuse policy, Universi
ty regulations regarding excuses
given for missed classes will be
examined and clarified this se
mester by a Faculty Senate sub
committee on student absences.
: See related EDITORIAL, Page 11
Dr. James Carman, associate
director of clinical services, said
an unnecessary burden is placed
on health center staff as a result
of a University policy requiring
students to provide proof of
treatment when they miss an
exam or class.
Students who are not sick of
ten make appointments to see
doctors in order to
receive an excuse,
Carman said.
. “You can’t al
ways tell them
apart (students
who are truly ill
and those who are
not),” he said, “but
the main reason
they are here is for an excuse.”
Dr. Lucille Isdale, recently
appointed director of the health
center, said she is trying to un
derstand what the practice at
the health center has been in the
past and how it can be made
more efficient for the future.
Isdale said she has heard
stories of how the system has
been abused.
“There are students who come
here with all sorts of pretenses,”
she said, “and when they get in
to see the doctor,
they say they
just need an ex
cuse. I think
that’s a waste of
valuable time.”
Even students
who are ill can
find themselves
facing a dilemma
when it comes to dealing with
the excuse policy.
Dr. Donald Freeman, staff
physician, said he thinks alter
ations should be made to the
current policy because it forces
students to seek treatment when
they do not need it.
Common illnesses such as
headaches or stomach viruses,
though often severe enough to
keep students out of class, he
See Excuses, Page i o
Map projects Northgate in 20 years
□ Possible Revitalization plans
include additional married
student housing and a three- to
five-level parking garage that
would facilitate 1,200 to 1,500
vehicles.
By Tara Wilkinson
The Battalion
A map depicting the Northgate area as it
could be in 20 years was presented last night
at the third public meeting of the Northgate
Revitalization Project.
The map, architectural firm HOK’s pre
ferred concept for the revitalization and devel
opment of Northgate, is a compilation of three
different concepts HOK designed and present
ed for community feedback in August.
The preferred concept emphasizes the
development of additional student housing
and retail businesses.
Joe Pobiner, HOK project coordinator,
said modifications will be made to the
Northgate plan based on community sug
gestions and concerns voiced at last
night’s meeting.
“This is still a draft idea that may need
some massaging as we go along,” Pobiner said.
Todd McDaniel, Northgate project coordi
nator, said that although the HOK plan for
Northgate will most likely undergo alter
ations, it has merit.
“I think the overall plan is definitely
conductive to the Northgate area,” Mc
Daniel said. “It’s realistic. Other cities
have successfully done the same types of
redevelopment projects.”
HOK’s finalized concept for Northgate
will be presented at a fourth community
meeting scheduled for the last week of Sep
tember. The plan will be submitted for ap
proval to the College Station City Council
in October.
If Texas A&M decides to keep the vacant
land located on Nagle Street behind Newport
Condominiums and North Ramparts Condo
miniums, Pobiner proposed that the area
could be used as married student housing.
If A&M is willing to sell the land, he envi
sions developing a series of duplexes or
houses that would be purchased by students’
parents and used by the same students for
the duration of their college careers.
Pobiner said the population density of
Northgate can logically be increased up to
three times by building apartment complex
es of 20 to 30 units to replace the smaller,
existing eight to 10 unit complexes.
On the Northgate map, a hotel and con
ference center were placed on University
Drive in the area in front of the Albertson’s
shopping center.
See Northgate, Page 12
Mew research program opens doors for graduate students
iThe Program in
oreign Policy Decision
taking will hold a
series of lectures on
international conflict
fesolution.
Lori Young
'he Battalion
, A new research program in
hternational Conflict Resolu-
!l on with a new computer sim-
flation and experimentation
Moratory is this year’s initia
te for Texas A&M’s Program
A Foreign Policy Decision
taking.
Dr. Alex Mintz, director'of
program, said this interna
tionally recognized program in
global decision making allows
graduate students to regularly
participate in study groups to
discuss foreign policy.
“This gives graduate stu
dents an opportunity to do re
search in a more supported con
text — to be part of the whole
thing,” Mintz said.
Zeev Maoz, director of the
Jaffee Center for Strategic
Studies at Tel-Aviv University
and a distinguished scholar of
international relations, pre
sented the first lecture Tues
day.
Maoz spoke on the quantita
tive study of international rela
tions in a lecture titled “The
Strategic Evolution of Enduring
Rivalries.”
Enduring rivalries are long
term conflicts between two na
tions, such as the cold war be
tween the United States and
the Soviet Union.
The past seven to eight years
has seen a growing interest in
the field of enduring rivalries
among graduate students,
Maoz said.
Chris Hanson, a Ph.D. can
didate in political science and a
graduate assistant for the pro
gram, said that enduring rival
ries account for many major
wars and conflicts in the inter
national theater.
Maoz said it is important to
realize how the conflicts arise.
“The basic idea is that we
want to study how these rival
ries develop,” he said.
Part of this new research
program includes a new com
puter lab to study mathemati
cal models.
Lyn Reitmeyer, program co
ordinator, said the lab will help
students recognize how interna
tional leaders make decisions.
“If you’re the President, and
you’re faced with a crisis like
the Persian Gulf War, you need
to know how much information
is required to make a decision,”
Reitmeyer said.
The program will send three
faculty representatives to Israel
Jan. 2 for a conference co-spon
sored by the Hammer Founda
tion, the Jaffee Center and
Economists for Peace in the
Middle East.
With a grant from the Arab-
Jewish Center, the program
will also sponsor professor
Michelle Taylor for two months
of field study in international
conflict resolution in the Mid
dle East.
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Zeev Moaz, director of the jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel-
Aviv University presented the program's first lecture Tuesday.