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Friendship rock
Popular show proves to be
j a good source of music
from a variety of artists.
.
Aggielife, Page 3
Cut it out
Taylor: Democrat worries
about Republican cuts on
Medicare are unfounded.
Opinion, Page 13
Get out the Broom
The Lady Aggie Volleyball
Team swept the University
of Houston in SWC action.
Sports, Page 10
Battalion
Vol. 102, No. 29 (14 pages)
Established in 1893
Thursday • October 5, 1995
GSC, SG haggle over Harman’s status
□ The Graduate Student
Council is requesting the
removal of the fee allocation
committee chairwoman,
despite Student Government
efforts to fulfill the
committee's bylaws.
By Tara Wilkinson
The Battalion
Two Texas A&M graduate students
have been appointed to the Student Gov
ernment Student Services Fee Allocation
Committee, bringing graduate student
participation on the committee to the
number required by committee bylaws.
However, Stepheni Moore, Graduate
Student Council president, said she will
continue to support Tuesday’s GSC res
olution calling for the removal of Kelli
Harman, fee allocation chairwoman,
and for reconstitution of the committee.
Moore filed a request for a hearing
and investigation into the fee alloca
tion committee’s activities Wednesday
with Dr. Carolyn Adair, director of
student activities.
“I would like the Student Organiza
tion Hearing Board to review this mat
ter to ensure that the University de
partments and the student body are be
ing appropriately represented on the
[fee allocation committee], which has a
multimillion dollar budget,” Moore
wrote in the investigation request.
The fee allocation committee is re
sponsible for distributing approximately
$9 million among various A&M depart
ments. The GSC is
entirely funded by
this source.
Fee allocation
committee bylaws
state that three
graduate students
should sit on the
committee. Howev
er, two committee meetings have been
conducted this semester with only one
graduate student as a member.
Graduate student representation
was low because only two people ap
plied for the committee positions, and
one of these applicants was rejected.
Harman said she rejected this stu
dent’s application because she felt it
was negative and biased.
“I don’t feel the
need for an investi
gation,” Harman
said. “But if that is
what GSC decides
to do, I support
their position and
wish them the best
of luck.
“I’m not afraid of what will be discov
ered. I have handled this committee to
the best of my ability and as it has been
done in the past.”
Moore said she supports the addition
of two graduate students to the commit
tee, whose appointment was made official
at 9 a.m. today, but she will continue to
seek annulment of committee activity
that has taken place so far this semester
because graduate students were left out.
Toby Boenig, student body president,
said he thinks the GSC resolution and
request for an investigation are unnec
essary. Fee allocation committee activi
ties should be allowed to continue as
usual, now that there are three gradu
ate students on the committee, he said.
“There’s no way that I will, in any
way, endorse Kelli being dismissed,”
Boenig said. “As soon as we clear this
up, she will be able to do a great job,
and the committee will be able to ac
complish its purpose.”
"I have handled this commit
tee to the best of my ability."
— Kelli Harman
chairwoman, fee allocation committee
Forum considers presidential debates
□ More than 40 communities
and university campuses are
bidding to hold these debates.
By James Bernsen
The Battalion
More Americans who voted for president
in 1992 based their decisions on televised
debates than any other means, the co
chairs of the non-partisan group that spon
sors debates said.
Paul Kirk and Frank Fahrenkopf, chair
men of the Commission on Presidential De
bates, told A&M students in Rudder The
ater Wednesday night that exit polls show
an increasing influence of debates on the
results of the election.
Kirk said debates provide a different,
more civilized forum for the candidates to
express their views on major issues.
“Discourse is no longer civil, and I think
people are tired of it,” he said. “The com
mission is distinguishing itself from other
media like ads and shows like Larry King
and Oprah.”
Televised debates are a relatively recent
phenomenon, Fahrenkopf said. The first
one was held in 1960, and the next one was
not held until 1976.
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Paul Kirk, co-chairman of the Commission
on Presidential Debates, spoke Wednesday
night in Rudder.
The commission was created in 1987, he
said, to help educate the electorate and in
crease voting.
“It was a disgrace that we had less than
50 percent of the American population de
termining who would be the leader of the
free world,” he said.
Debates had been organized by the
League of Women Voters, but Fahrenkopf
said that after the 1984 election, a commis
sion was put together to study the need for
a permanent non-partisan organization to
run debates.
“After going through a year and a half of
study, we decided there should be created
an institution that existed for one purpose
and one purpose only,” he said, “and that is
to schedule debates between presidential
and vice-presidential candidates. Our mis
sion is to ensure that debates are a perma
nent fixture in the the electoral process.”
Debates are essential to educate the citi
zens in a non-partisan way, Fahrenkopf said.
“Any man or woman who feels they have
the leadership qualities to be the leader of
this country, they ought to face the Ameri
can people,” he said. “We believe those can
didates ought to face them, look into the
camera and answer hard questions.”
Kirk said that debates give no special
deference to any candidate, including a
sitting president.
“That’s one of the reasons the commis
sion is still in business,” he said. “Once we
lose credibility as a non-partisan organiza
tion, we are out of business.”
Fahrenkopf said the actual production
of debates is much more complicated than
one might think, as issues range from site
selection to who to include.
See Forum, Page 14
Northgate revitalization continues
□ Another community meeting on the project
will be held before the City Council votes on
final plans.
By Melissa Keerins
The Battalion
Northgate business owners are still concerned over the future
of their businesses, and the revitalization project officials are
modifying their plans for the area.
A Steering Committee meeting was held before Wednesday
night’s community meeting and decided that the map depicting
the Northgate area needs more alternatives.
Joe Pobiner, project coordinator for Hellmuth, Obata and Kass-
abaum, the architectural firm designing the revitalized area, said
modifications will be made to the map as soon as possible.
“We have an idea of revitalizing Northgate and making it look
good, but there will be many options,” Pobiner said.
Pobiner said he has looked at other college towns around the
nation with similar “college drags,” to get an idea of how the city
and universities worked together.
He also said there are many issues that the city needs to dis
cuss when they start to revitalize the area.
“With any revitalizing there will be a need to increase water
supply, especially for fire flow,” Pobiner said.
In addition to utility issues, Pobiner discussed on- and off-
street parking issues. He said the area needs an additional 300
parking spaces to meet the current public demand, and the exist
ing on-street parking should be kept.
Pobiner talked about potential funding for Northgate and said
See Northgate, Page 14
Amy Browning, The Battalion
Happy Birthday, TAMU
Junior biomedical chemistry and physics major Scott Wilson ties off a
balloon. The Traditions Council was giving away balloons in front of
the MSC Wednesday afternoon to celebrate A&M's 119th birthday.
Freshman class elects senators, officers
□ Class council runoff
elections will be next
Tuesday.
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
About 1,000 freshmen turned out Tues
day to elect their fellow classmates to Stu
dent Senate and class council positions.
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Freshman Kendall Kelly finds out Wednes
day she won a seat on the Student Senate.
The freshman senators are Kelly
Hartline, Kendall Kelly, Nathan Big-
bee, Josh Hennessey, Natalie Cobb,
Kevin Ward and Matt Pacey.
Runoffs will be between Gris Denard
and Stephen Lair for president, Gregg
Nichols and Natalie Cobb for vice-presi
dent, Amy Berger and Anthony Clay for
treasurer and between Ryan Workman
and Aaron Campbell for historian.
Kendall Kelly and Colby Cessnum
will runoff for secretary while Jenny
Martin and Trevor Richards will runoff
for social secretary.
Runoffs for class council positions
will be held Oct. 10.
Voting for Tuesday’s elections was set
up at four locations: the Zachry Engi
neering Building, the Sterling C. Evans
Library, the Memorial Student Center
and the gazebo on West Campus.
The election commission ran the
elections with support from the MSC
Hospitality Committee. Polling judges
were at each site and enforced elec
tion regulations.
Chris Cochvan, the head of the elec
tion commission and a junior industri
al engineering major, said voter
turnout was “pretty good” and around
the usual number.
Many freshman, though, were con
fused about when and where they
should vote.
Chris Franks, a freshman architec
ture major, said he does not “really care
about elections.”
“Student Government hasn’t made
much of a difference with the power
that the Board of Regents has,”
Franks said.
Freshmen voted for seven Senate po
sitions and a class council that is com
prised of a president, vice-president,
treasurer, secretary, social secretary
and historian.
Campaign signs have been frequent
sights around campus for the last sever
al weeks, and candidates showed their
ingenuity in many ways.
Josh Hennessey, a freshman busi
ness major, handed out fortune cookies
that asked freshmen to vote for him.
Even though advertising provided
name recognition, many freshman had
no idea who the majority of the candi
dates were.
Sherryl Smyer, a freshman chemical
See Elections, Page 14
Correction:
In a story on a College Republican's meeting in The Battalion Wednesday, it should
have stated that Jeff Livingston and Matt Murphy are not members of the organization.
Their request for a student referendum concerning the multiculturaiism requirement is a
student initiative and is not sponsored by College Republicans.
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