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Cool in the pool
A&M's Mel Nash wants a men's
SWC Swimming Championship
before the move to the Big 1 2.
Sports, Page 10
Media madness
Hernandez: The media was
responsible for making the O.J,
trial the sad spectacle it was.
Opinion, Page 13
Time warp
The Renaissance Festival
brings the Middle Ages to
Texas tourists.
Aggielife, Page 3
B AT TALI O
Vol. 102, No. 33 (14 pages)
Established in 1893
Wednesday • October 11, 1995
V
Regents open house for students’ opinions
□ The mixer provides
an opportunity for
Aggies to voice their
concerns before the
Board's Thursday and
Friday meetings.
By James Bernsen
The Battalion
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents will
hold an open house tonight to
give students an opportunity to
express their views on a vari
ety of issues.
The event is at 7 p.m. in 153
MSC. Regent Robert Allen of
Houston said the open house is
not like a forum or other orga
nized meeting, but more like a
gathering or mixer.
“It’s, a very informal thing,”
Allen said. “We don’t expect
anything, just for students to
come and ask us anything.”
Allen said the reception was
the idea of Mary Nan West,
Board chairman, who saw it as
an opportunity for students to
get to know the Board.
“There’s no agenda — no
hidden agenda — just a get-to
gether,” he said.
Regent John Lindsey of Hous
ton said students have illusions
about the Board being unap
proachable, based on things they
read in the newspaper.
“Nothing could be further
from the truth,” Lindsey said.
“Hell, if I didn’t have inter
change with the students, I
wouldn’t be on the Board.”
This is the first such open
house since he has been on the
Board, Lindsey said, but the com
munication is not what is new.
“There’s nothing unique about
it at all,” he said. “I have ex
change with students all of the
time. I guess the convenience of
being on campus is good.”
Lindsey said students can
bring up any topic they want,
and he expects to answer ques
tions on many issues.
“Everybody has a student
parking problem, for instance,”
he said. “And we’ve talked with
the Old Main Society about
preserving old buildings.”
One of the issues the regents
will vote on at the meeting this
Thursday and Friday will be an
initiative to tear down Law and
Puryear residence halls.
The regents originally
turned down the initiative dur
ing its January meeting. Uni
versity officials had planned to
destroy Law and Puryear in
Summer 1995.
Because of increasing room
and board rates and historical
significance of the building, the
Board decided to give adminis-'
trators more time to strength
en their arguments for tearing
down the buildings.
“If students want to voice
their opinions, I’ll be interested
in hearing about it,” Lindsey
said. “I’m Class of ’44, and I
knew some people who lived
there, so I can see their con
cerns. But when I saw [the res
idence halls] last time, they
looked pretty bad.”
Toby Boenig, A&M student
See Regents, Page i d
test
iris./
A
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Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY
Catherine Devine, junior management major and co-captain of the rifle team, lines up a target at A&M's
shooting range Tuesday.
Bridging the gap
Student leaders reach
out to fellow Aggies
□ SG is aiming to make its
committees readily accessible
to others.
By Kristen Homyk
The Battalion
Texas A&M’s student leaders said they
intend to concentrate this year on commu
nicating with the students they represent.
Toby Boenig, student body president,
said Student Government has put effort
into publicity and communication.
“One of our goals was to make our com
mittees readily accessible and make appli
cations [for those committees] available for
everybody,” Boenig said.
Boenig said Student Government is try
ing to become accessible to the students this
year, personally and quickly. Student sena
tors plan Constituency Days at the MSC,
where students can simply walk up to a
senator and register a comment, he said.
Students are welcome at Senate forums
and roundtables, Boenig said, and Student
Government also has a home page on the
World Wide Web for students to use.
Chris Foster, chairman of Student Gov
ernment’s Fee Oversight Committee that
provides information about fee use to stu
dents, said his committee tries hard to
keep the lines of communication open,
since they exist to give out information.
“We’ve had numerous requests to look
up information already,” Foster said.
“We’re answering those questions.”
Foster said students interested in reach
ing his group can contact a student senator
or leave a note in the Student Senate box.
“We don’t intend that the public meet
ings be the only way that students can con
tact us,” he said.
A&M students offer differing opinion of
the representation and communication of
the student leaders thus far.
Ashley Huffman, a senior finance major,
said her student representatives are
See Leaders, Page 14
Senators ready for Q & A
□ Class leaders will
be stationed across
campus today to
address students'
concerns.
By Tara Wilkinson
The Battalion
Texas A&M student sen
ators, eager to receive stu
dent input and answer
questions, will be stationed
across campus today from
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the
first Student Senate Con
stituency Day.
Senators will work one-
hour shifts at tables in front
of Sbisa Dining Hall, the
Wehner Building, Zachry
Engineering Center, the
MSC and the Quadrangle.
Nicholas Dickson, an en
gineering senator and a ju
nior civil engineering ma
jor, said the Senate decided
to implement Constituency
Days in order to facilitate
communication between
students and senators.
Because of the size of
A&M, most students do not
know who their Senate rep
resentatives are, Dickson
said, much less how to
reach them with their ques
tions and suggestions.
“Our main idea was to
make it easier for our con
stituents to get in touch with
us and vice versa,” he said.
Senators have been en
couraged to work shifts at
campus locations frequent
ed by their constituents,
Dickson said, in order to
answer specific questions.
For example, senators rep
resenting the College of En
gineering will be at Zachry,
and Northside senators will
be at Sbisa.
But for some senators,
who represent, for example,
students from the College
See Q & A, Page 14
New freshman officers whoop up success
□ More than 500
students voted during
the Class of '99 council
elections Tuesday.
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
The Class of 1999 elected new
leadership Tuesday amid stu
dent concerns that voter turn
out and election procedures may
not put the most representative
candidates in office.
Stephen Lair was elected
freshman class president with
51.2 percent of the votes, and
Gregg Nichols won vice-presiden
cy with 60 percent of the votes.
The other officers elected were
Amy Berger, treasurer; Ryan
Workman, historian; Kendall
Kelly, secretary; and Trevor
Richards, social secretary.
Lair whooped excitedly after
the results were announced Tues
day night in front of the Academ
ic Building, and Nichols said he
was “really excited and ready to
go to work for the class.”
Lair and Nichols said they
plan to represent the freshman
class by going out and meeting
their constituents.
“We want to be people the
freshmen know, not just names,”
Nichols said.
Lair said he will keep in touch
with the freshmen by continual
ly meeting more people and lis
tening to new opinions.
About 550 freshmen turned out
yesterday to vote in runoffs for
freshman class council positions.
Max Mitchell, a freshman bio
medical science major, and Ja
son Schultz, a freshman bio
chemistry major, helped run the
voting station at the Zachry En
gineering Center. They said few
freshmen knew about elections
and even fewer bothered to vote.
“Voting turnout was very
poor,” Mitchell said. “Freshmen
don’t seem to care who they put
into office.”
Schultz said freshmen are not
getting their say in government
because “the actual winners may
not be the choice of the majority,
but the majority didn’t come out
and vote.”
Candidates were allowed to
use 33 percent of their budgets
for campaign funds. Most candi
dates spent last week making
sandwich boards and flyers and
trying to meet people.
Berger and Kelly campaigned
to different groups. Both went to
fraternity and sorority houses
and Berger spoke to Fish Aides,
Aggie Leaders of Tomorrow
(ALOT), Aggie Fish Club and the
Corps of Cadets.
Mitchell said he was im
pressed that Berger came to
speak at Fish Aides.
“It was a big plus,” he said.
“It showed she really wanted
See Election, Page 7
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Historian Ryan Workman, Vice President Gregg Nichols and Presi
dent Stephen Lair celebrate the freshman election results Tuesday
night in front of the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue.
ii *1^: