T A M U
i n
>en
-extatiij
ehoot
)rity,:
v e aui^
yerbt etj
ies amlij
manyo!;
-d howj
sentijt;
iblicati
s werej
be atilf
way atn
ith.
a true a;
of the
out W|)|
What is truth?
Keith Mitchell looks
like A&M's next great
inebacker.
Sports, Page 9
Brown: The Veritas forum
engaged minds but raised
many questions.
Opinion, Page 13
FORUM.
Tried tradition
Sbisa Yell faces changes
in the face of a crack
down by Food Services.
Aggielife, Page 4
S'- -V:':
i viewol
e womfrj
tyt|
t is noil]
o of ear
■itinga
jy my
e I
tf
Timers';
who
ing hetj
was fern
I thint;
more!|
eministsl
everk
l. 102, No. 45 (14 pages)
Established in 1893
Friday • October 27, 1995
Taking care of business
Campus leaders meet at roundtable
MyC4
Classi
AM
ry tf j
1 arei
tt’s coverl
ntry teij
coupler
ion of ill
,4.
'oblem.'
ngeverj'l
k, the 1
their eM
strong ri
iners,
i Etchb
hreeinilj
Please^
i the full
□ A student liaison to
the Board of Regents
was among the topics
for discussion during
the meeting Thursday.
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
Student leaders discussed Uni
versity issues to promote campus
unity Thursday night in the MSC.
Led by David Washington, Stu
dent Government executive vice
president and a senior political sci
ence major, the second roundtable
this semester was attended by
leaders from groups including the
NAACP, Corps of Cadets and Col
lege Republicans.
Washington said the roundtable
allowed student leaders to con
verse about what is not discussed
in normal situations and to get to
understand each other better.
“It is intended to be a sound
ing board for ideas so we can
come together and strengthen
relations,” he said.
Members began the roundtable
with an update on the status of
the cultures proposal.
Chris Reed, Student Senate
speaker pro tern and a junior fi
nance major, briefed those attend
ing about the Senate’s three cul
tures proposals, which will be filed
at noon today.
One proposal would allow col
leges to set up culture courses for
themselves. The second would
support the Faculty Senate pro
posal, and the third would take
the middle ground, adjusting His
tory 105 and 106 to fit broad cul
tural requirements.
Reed said he expects the final
proposal will call for no require
ments in the future.
David Brown, College Republi
cans president and a junior politi
cal science major, said the majori
ty of the student body does not
support these requirements.
Shawn Williams, NAACP presi
dent and a senior management
major, said students are against
the proposal only because they do
not know what it entails.
The open dialogue among lead
ers was continued throughout the
evening as events concerning cam
pus unity were addressed.
Washington suggested the idea
of a “Unity Day,” which would
consist of teams chosen by lottery,
enabling different campus groups
to interact.
Marc Mulkey, Corps represen
tative and a senior industrial dis
tribution major, mentioned that
the All-University Barbecue that
is being sponsored by the Corps
this Friday as one attempt to al
low the student body to see
through stereotypes.
“The biggest problem in today’s
society is the misrepresentation of
what an organization is like,”
Mulkey said.
Events such as the barbecue,
Whoopstock and Chili Cook-off
will hopefully ease conflict among
different groups, he said.
Alan Watson, Conservative
Coalition president and a sopho
more agricultural economics ma
jor, said smaller group interac
tions would benefit the campus
more than large groups.
Washington said he wants to
increase the amount of campus de
bates and co-programming, such
as those coordinated by MSC, to
help organizations build bridges to
campus unity.
Also a much debated topic was
the issue of a student liaison on
the Board of Regents.
Williams said that because the
student liaison would have such a
high turnover, the position would
not be as effective as students
would like it to be.
Mulkey said it is in the stu
dents’ hands to let their opinions
be known to the regents.
“The Corps is sending represen
tative to every event we can,” he
said. “Students must take it upon
themselves to put the regents in
their environment.”
Williams mentioned an incident
in which a regent asked him at the
Board’s Oct. 12 open house how
the students felt about the fee in
creases. The regent should have
already known the students’ re
sponse to the increases, he said.
Washington said the roundta
bles should enable leaders to re
turn to their organizations and ex
press a different slant about other
organizations to members.
Forum addressed
students’ issues
□ Administrators and student leaders
discussed campus safety, the general use fee
increase and parking problems Thursday.
By Kristen Homyk
The Battalion
MSC Political Forum hosted “A&M’s Leadership: Where Is
It Leading Us,” a panel discussion including several campus
leaders and administrators who answered concerns and ques
tions Thursday.
Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M president; Dr. Pierce Cantrell,
Faculty Senate speaker; Becky Silloway, Student Senate
speaker; and Patrick Conway, MSC Council president, ad
dressed issues brought forth by the thirty students, faculty
members and staff members who attended the public forum.
Foremost in the discussion were the heated issues on stu
dents’ minds, beginning with the general use fee.
Bowen said that before last June, the general use fee for
state universities was capped by the state Legislature at Sl2
per semester credit hour. When the Texas Legislature was
forced to cut the budgets of public institutions, it removed the
cap and allowed universities to increase their general use
fees to equal tuition fees, he said.
See Forum, Page 7
Robyn Calloway, The Battalion
Test run
Senior aerospace engineering major Bryan Duke tests the aerodynamics of his design class project in the wind tunnel at East-
erwood Airport Thursday afternoon.
MSC Council celebrates
center’s 45th anniversary
□ The number of programs
and students involved in
Memorial Student Center
activities has increased over
the years.
By Lily Aguilar
The Battalion
The MSC’s 45th anniversary
gives MSC Council members
and students time for reflec
tion and celebration.
Jonathan Neerman,
Council executive vice
president for relations
and a senior political
science major, said the
Council will have a
cake-cutting ceremony
45 minutes after the
A&M-University of Hous
ton football game Saturday.
“We’re having two former
MSC Council presidents speak,
Dr. J.T.L. McNew and Jim Ray,” Neer
man said. “Patrick Conway (MSC
Council president) and Jim Reynolds
(MSC director) will also give speeches
about the MSC.”
The festivities will allow students
to learn about the progress the MSC
Council has made since its founding
in 1950.
’“We are hoping for a good mix of for-
versary form. Th
bers j way,
:c- nk, ue
JJL.
- nf r
y- |||f sa;
mer ^ wr nific.
mer and present students,” Neerman
said. “It should give current students a
sense of history about the MSC.
“Former students can see how
things have changed with the times. I
think the current MSC organizations
can get a better grasp of all that has
been put into programming by talking
to the former members.”
Neerman said the MSC’s mission,
statement has changed to reflect the
students, but has remained true to
form. The MSC has come a Ion,
he said, and will contin-
to improve.
“I see changes in the
next five years in the
amount and quality of
programs because of
the increase in fund
ing,” he said.
Liz Rayburn, Coun
cil public relations
chair and a junior bio
medical science major,
said the anniversary is sig
nificant to students through
out the University. More stu
dents should get involved with MSC
organizations, she said.
“I want to move into the 21st centu
ry with a boom,” Rayburn said. “In the
year 2000, we’ll be 50 years old, and
I’d like to see expansion.
The MSC programs are addressing
topics that reach a more diverse group
See MSC, Page 7
Student dies
after accident
IK
3IT
Christopher H. Stehouwer, a sopho
more biomedical sciences major, died
Thursday as the result of falling out of a
moving truck near Hearne, University
police reported.
Bob Wiatt, UPD director, said Ste
houwer, a 20-year-old from San Antonio,
was returning from gathering bamboo for
a fraternity event when he fell from the
truck around 4 a.m.
Stehouwer was admitted to St. Joseph
Regional Health Center in Bryan and
was pronounced brain dead around 5
p.m., Wiatt said. University Relations re
ported that Stehouwer’s family, friends
and University staff members were pre
sent at the hospital.
Students needing assistance concern
ing this incident can call Student Coun
seling Services at 845-4427 or 845-2700.
Jurors sentence Saldivar to life term for Selena’s murder
□ About 100 fans of the slain Tejano
music star celebrated Thursday's
verdict in Houston.
HOUSTON (AP) — Devotees of slain Tejano
music star Selena whooped it up a second time
Thursday when Yolanda Saldivar drew' a life
prison term from the same jurors who convicted
her of murder.
“I can scream nowq” said Natividad Rodriguez,
age 54, of Houston. “This is a time when you can
scream in the middle of the street. Yeah!”
A crowd of about 100 Selena fans gathered, as
they have throughout Saldivar’s trial, to awmit the
jury's decision on punishment.
After nine hours of deliberation over two days,
the panel decided on a life prison term, the maxi
mum punishment under consideration. Jurors did
not impose the S10.000 fine sought by prosecutors.
On Monday, the same 12 jurors found Saldivar,
founder of the Selena fan club, guilty in the
March 31 shooting death of a 23-year-old rising
music star, who was immensely popular in the
Hispanic community.
Thursday’s crowd was spirited. Selena fans
held poster-sized photographs of the singer,
mugged for the dozens of television cameras and
waved signs demanding that Saldivar be sent to
prison for life.
Minutes after word of the verdict spread around
Houston, downtown streets began filling with
horn-honking Selena fans headed toward the cour
thouse. They passed to the crowd’s cheers.
More than a dozen police officers, including sever
al mounted patrols, stood watch outside the building.
Rodriguez, a Harris County worker who said
she had stood vigil outside the building throughout
the 2 1/2-week trial, said Saldivar’s punishment fit
her crime.
“I think so, because she (Saldivar) is still alive.
Her family can still see her,” Rodriguez said. “But
look at poor Selena. Where is she?”
Saldivar will not be eligible for parole until the
year 2025. That’s long enough for Selena fan
Melissa Santos, age 25, of Houston.
“I'm happy it is over and she got what she de
served," Santos said. “She’ll suffer within those years.
It wun’t bring Selena back, but it’s some satisfaction.”
AP File Photo
Yolanda Saldivar is escorted to a Texas Department
of Public Safety airplane in Corpus Christi Oct. 3, for
transfer to Houston to stand trial. Saldivar was con
victed of murdering Selena in a Corpus Christi motel
room March 31.