Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1995)
T A M U i n X A A &: WL U N R T Y Scarlet Letter Not a Choice Barely Clancy: Classic novel does Stidvent: God squads can't get it not translate into decent through their heads that homosexuality is not a choice. Aggielife, Page 4 Opinion, Page 11 The A&M Football Team avoids an upset with a 20-1 7 comeback win. Sports, Page 7^ Established in 1893 Monday* October 16, 1995 Regent Action oard approves demolishing Law, Puryear kth pThe area will probably be ke tb to bet lethinj eft as "green space." By James Bernsen In: Battalion attad- son be- ntion.1 is, bill laveto The Texas A&M Board of Regents ap- Ifoved the demolition of Law and iryear residence halls Friday and ked for more of a commitment by Uni- irsity officials to plan for new dorms. Gen. Wesley Peel, vice chancellor for Jcilities, planning and construction for the A&M System, said the University proposed tearing down the halls be cause it would cost $10 million to reno vate the structures, including bringing them up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In contrast, demolition would only cost $650,000. “To restore it in it’s original design would not be practicable because it would not meet today’s codes,” Peel said. “The University administration has come to the painful conclusion that the buildings must be demolished.” Brian Mason, chair of the Old Main Society, a campus organization that seeks to preserve aging buildings, said the group agreed to the University’s recommendation in the end. “I think the Old Main Society will support the demolition of these two dorms, and that’s a hard thing for me to say,” Mason said. “But it’s the best Students, administrators expected vote □ Because of the tremendous cost to restore the halls, campus residents are not surprised by the decision. By Wes Swift The Battalion See Demolition, Page 12 Texas A&M campus residents are forging ahead after the Board of Regents’ decision to demolish two men’s resi dence halls. The Board approved plans Friday to demolish Law and Puryear halls, after it was told that renovating the two non-air halls would cost almost $10 million, and demolition would cost only $645,000. Suzanne Lyons, Resident Hall Association president and a senior geophysics major, said the regents’ decision was not surprising. “Of course we knew this decision was coming,” Lyons said. “But we think it’s in the best interest of the residence halls.” The RHA lent its support to the recommendations by the Department of Residence Life and Housing to tear down the halls. Three engineering consulting companies determined that the halls should be demolished. Jesse Sanchez, RHA vice president for operations and former Fkiryear Hall president, said he was expecting the decision, and was relieved to see that a decision was made. See CAMPUS, Page 1 2 yle Field’s renovation starts with natural grass The conversion is sso/w|ne of three of the reject's phases. Bv James Bernsen The Battalion I The Texas A&M System Board of Regents approved a new grass playing surface and other changes as part of the pt phase of a project to reno- jvate Kyle Field. Wally Groff, A&M athletic di- ctor, said the motivating fac tor in his request for a grass field was recruiting. “The coach (R.C. Slocum) ago nized ... on this situation for some time; he liked the Astro- Turf.” Groff said. “The thing is, these people (professional ath letes) have been speaking, and the sportscasters have been talk ing this up, and the perception from the student athletes and the high school kids out there is that AstroTurf is unsafe.” Groff said the artificial grass that A&M has now is the best around, and there have been no major injuries because of it. “There is no scientific data available to confirm that Astro- Turf is more injurious to our players than natural grass,” he said. “But because of that per ception, we made the decision that, yes, we probably ought to go to grass rather than replace the AstroTurf.” Regent John Lindsey of Houston, finance, planning and building committee chairman, said that if it helped recruiting, the change would be good. “I know several members of the Houston Oilers, and I am aware that the professional ath letes do worry about getting hurt on artificial turf,” Lindsey said. “We ought to have the best situation in terms of recruiting.” Groff said the original plans to convert the field had focused on a later date, but recently, it was decided to speed up the project. “We’ve had a strange phe nomenon which brings us here today, and that is since some time last summer we’ve had a tremendous deterioration of the AstroTurf,” he said. “We really feel that if we don’t go ahead and make the decision as quick ly as possible ... that the Astro Turf, because of the breakdown See FIELD, Page 1 2 Stew Milne, The Battalion The A&M football team takes the field at Saturday's game against SMU. iStudents will participate on campus id in Washington in support of unity (nong African-American men. Leslie New tE Battalion illion Man March sparks ‘mini march” on campus “This is an opportunity for us to a part of an histor ical event,” McClendon said. “It’s a statement to the world. I wanted our students to have the opportunity to take part.” 1 Eight students and one faculty member w to Washington, D.C. to be a part of his- y by participating in the Million Man arch, and other African-American stu- ints will participate in a “mini march” on tnpus today. The students are participating in the arch after Cedric X, a representative of inister Louis Farrakhan from the Austin osque, spoke three weeks ago at Texas A&M. X lied for African-American men to participate in the arch as a sign of unity and change for the future. X asked that only African-American men partic- 'ate in the march because African-American women ‘ave carried too much of the load in the past. Rodney McClendon, Department of Multicultural Ervices coordinator of student retention and develop- ient, is leading the group to Washington and said e group is is not excluding women because it con- sts of two women and seven men. The women were hosen on the basis of an essay competition, “What it fleans to be a black educated man in America.” Cedra Brown, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, said she wrote her essay on the basis that African-American men cannot change the world on their own, and the African-American woman is there to help. Brown said she is a little nervous about at tending the march because of X’s request that only men attend. “I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not wanted,” she said. “That’s his (X) opinion, and that’s okay. But African-American men can’t do it alone. Ill be there to support them. In some way. I’ll be honoring their wish.” See MARCH, Page 5 Stew Milne, The Battalion Bringing the Aggies a bit of luck Trevor Shockley watches the A&M-SMU game with the Parson's Mounted Cavalry. ^hamburger’s local capital murder case third this year f Corrections: □ The former A&M student is charged with the capital murder of Lori Ann Baker. The trial begins today. By Lily Aguilar The Battalion Proceedings in the trial of a former Texas A&M biomedical science student accused of murdering Texas A&M stu dent Lori Ann Baker begin to day at 8:30 a.m. in the 361st District Court at the Brazos County Courthouse. Ronald Scott Shamburger is charged with the capital murder of Baker, a 20-year old accounting major. She was shot once in the head in the early morning of Sept. 30, 1995. Bob Wiatt, University Police Department director, said that Baker was shot after she awoke in her home in College Station. Wiatt said Victoria Kohler, Baker’s roommate, arrived at their home shortly after the shooting. Shamburger put Kohler in the trunk of her car and then drove her to a near by street. Baker’s room was doused with gasoline and set on fire, Wiatt said, with Shamburg- er’s keys in the room. Wiatt said Shamburger fled on foot. At about 5:30 a.m., he turned himself in to the Col lege Station police. If convicted of capital mur der, Shamburger could face the death penalty. This is the third local capi tal murder case this year. Carl Henry Blue was sen tenced to die for killing Car men Richards by setting her on fire in her College Station apartment, and Stanley Alli son Baker was given the death penalty in August for shooting Wayne John Wal ters at the Dollar Video store last September. In a Page X story in The Bat talion Friday it should have stated that all A&M faculty members, including tenured faculty, have to undergo annu al review. A proposal was passed by the Board of Regents Friday to expand the process to all A&M System schools. In page 1 story and a col umn on Friday, Cheezz Wash ington should have been iden tified as the political co-chair for the Texas A&M chapter of the NAACP.