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University
Fhe Great Pumpkin I After the march
Clark: Smashing
Pumpkins' latest
is a massive
undertaking.
Blast from the past
Benson: The Million
Man March is over, but
its goals should be kept
in sight.
Aggielife, Page 3
ime out
Former A&M baseball
standout Scott
Livingstone talks about
life in the majors.
Opinion, Page 9
Sports, Page 7
ALT
teat Yol. 102, No. 47 (10 pages)
NY
said.
Established in 1893
Tuesday • October 31, 1995
ams backs out
of lecture series
qFuII refunds are available
for "Road to Reconciliation."
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
I Gerry Adams canceled his Nov. 3
[peaking engagement at Texas A&M to
Irepare for President Clinton’s upcom-
mg Ireland visit.
I Sponsored by the Wiley Lecture
leries, “Road to Reconciliation”
was to feature Adams, the
leader of Sinn Fein, and Dr.
John Alderdice, the leader of
[the Alliance party, to present
their on the peace process
[ evolving in Northern Ireland.
I Currently, the two parties
are struggling to reach a
Compromise concerning
Northern Ireland’s separation
rom Great Britain.
Sinn Fein represents the political
of the Irish Republican Army and is
redominantly Catholic, while the Al-
ance Party is Protestant.
Overtures to peace have been made
since 1993 and are at a standstill be-
ause of the IRA’s refusal to surrender
ts weapons to the British Government.
Adams said he hopes Clinton’s visit
vill allow the two sides to move beyond
)resent obstacles.
Stacy Sprague, Wiley Lecture Series
hairwoman and a senior history major,
said Adams’ visit would have presented
viewpoint of the conflict in Northern
Ireland, which most Americans do not
see usually.
“Many people understand the British
side because we always see their side of
the story,” Sprague said. “We never see
the Loyalists burning down Catholic
homes. Adams was going to bring in the
other side.”
Joanne Redell, head of the Wiley re
search committee and a junior political
science major, said each speaker would
have given a 10-minute speech fol
lowed by a panel discussion to clarify
both viewpoints.
Chris Heble, Wiley director of opera
tions and a junior bioengineering
major, said the group considered
replacement speakers but decid
ed not to pursue them to avoid
one side having an advantage
over the other.
“We decided that since both
sides were on the forefront of
peace prospects, substituting
people would put Dr. Alderdice
at something of an advantage,”
Heble said. “We just didn’t want
to have a second-class program.”
Heble said Adams withdrew
dent MM
from the Wiley lecture to prepare for
Clinton’s visit, which marks the first
time a U.S. president has ever visited
Northern Ireland.
“This is the first time the U.S. has re
ally recognized Northern Ireland, so it is
a very integral part of the peace
progress,” he said. “Adams really wants
to be there so as not to jeopardize the
peace process.”
Group members are open to the idea
of Adams’s speaking in the future,
Heble said.
“If Northern Ireland continues to be a
hot topic, there is a possibility that we
will pursue him again if he makes an
other college tour,” he said.
Those who have purchased tickets
can receive refunds from the MSC Box
Office in Rudder Tower.
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Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Puppy love
Senior marketing major Holly Hess takes her new pomeranian puppies out
side Monday. The pups were anxious to explore the grassy area around
Hess's apartment complex.
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Noel Hofs, a sophomore agricultural economics major, and Travis Mabry, a junior poultry science major, roll a log in
preparation for Bonfire stack. Centerpole will arrive Thursday and will be erected Nov. 9.
Preparing for perimeter poies
□ Residence hall and Corps
members will begin guarding
the erected logs today.
By Lisa Johnson
The Battalion
Bonfire construction is swinging
into high gear, and Aggies all over the
world can catch a glimpse of one of
A&M’s most famous traditions
through cyberspace.
Perimeter poles, which are posi
tioned around Bonfire site and hold
the lighting system surrounding stack
site, will be put up on the Polo Field
Tuesday. Centerpole will arrive
Thursday and will be erected Nov. 9.
Once yellowpots set up the perime
ter poles, the poles will be guarded
around the clock by students. Three of
the poles will be guarded by residents
of different dormitories on campus.
The fourth will be guarded by the
Corps of Cadets.
Before the poles are erected, the
field must be cleared and the logs cut
for Bonfire will be put into smaller
stacks, a process commonly known as
“swamping the logs.”
Zach Huyge, a senior redpot and a
senior construction science major,
said extra volunteers are usually
needed for this part of the process.
“Usually we need lots of help with
See Bonfire, Page 6
Research grant groups A&M unit with
other Texas universities to study DNA
□ The Texas team is investigating
how unusual chromosomes
cause human diseases.
By Lisa Johnson
The Battalion
Texas A&M’s Institute of Bio
sciences and Technology in
Houston, said the team
worked diligently on v
preliminary re-
search to receive
the grant, which was
A $2.6 million grant is allowing re
searchers from Texas A&M, Baylor Col
lege of Medicine and the University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to
conduct a five-year study on how unusual
DNA structures cause human diseases.
The research team is studying the
triple repeats of human chromosomes,
the sequences of nucleotides in DNA, and
the variations in the repeat system,
which recently have been linked to 12
human genetic diseases.
Dr. Robert D. Wells, team leader and
Center for Genome Research director at
awarded by the Na
tional Institutes of
Health, NIH.
“There have been 30 to
40 man-years worth of work
done on this project before the
grant was awarded,” he said.
“Getting this grant was a very in
volved, detailed process.”
Wells said receiving a research pro
gram grant is an honor because the NIH
does not ordinarily give grants of this type.
“It was a great honor to receive this
grant,” he said. “The NIH really made a
special case for us, and it is a real honor
to have them realize the high promise of
our research.”
Joining Wells on the research team are
Dr. Richard R. Sinden, also of the IBT; Dr.
David L. Nelson of the Baylor College of
Medicine; and Dr. Samuel H. Wilson of
t* 16 University of Texas Medical
%
r
Branch at Galveston.
Nelson said the team has
great potential for solving the
- problems it is researching.
“The group has been very in
terested in understanding the para
meters that lead to the instability of
the DNA and will continue to work these
out in research,” he said.
The group plans to study the replica
tion of DNA in organisms other than hu
mans by simulating the effects of the ex
tended repeat in their non-human models.
See GRANT, Page 6
Browsing Library offers relaxed reading
□ Some students say the MSC
bookroom provides a more
private atmosphere and is
more convenient.
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
Free coffee during finals, a relaxing
atmosphere and a central location, Texas
A&M students said, are a few reasons
the MSC Browsing Library and Lan
guage Lab are preferred over other cam
pus libraries.
Students said the Browsing Library
offers the them the chance to listen to
music in private rooms while studying,
making the environment more relaxing
than a typical library.
Sachin Parekh, a senior economics
major, has used the library located in
288 MSC two or three times a week for
the past two years.
“It is an undervalued resource,” Parekh
said. “It’s not so crowded like the Evans or
West Campus library, and the location
gives me quick access to Hullabaloo or ba
sically anywhere on campus.”
Although the Browsing Library does
not have the magnitude of research ma
terial available that the Sterling C.
Evans or West Campus libraries do, it
does have video and cassette tapes, along
with numerous newspapers, magazines
and other periodicals.
The library has been operating since
the MSC opened in 1950.
Luke Allendorf, MSC assistant direc
tor, said the Language Lab was added to
the library after MSC renovations to ex
pand the MSC’s international focus.
“We work closely with the language
labs in the Academic Building so we
don’t duplicate their services,"Allendorf
said, “but offer students different times
to study and do similar exercises.”
Thomas Shisslett, a senior finance
major, has been going to the Browsing
Library for a year and said that there
is easier access to the periodicals in
this library.
“It is a lot easier to access newspapers
and other reference material because you
just walk in and pick up what you want,”
Shisslett said.
Business hours are from 8 a.m. until
11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and
8 a.m until 8 p.m Fridays. Weekend
hours are 10 a.m. until 8 p.m Saturday
and 11 a.m. until 11 p.m Sundays.
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Ana Maria Sierra, a senior Spanish and
sociology major reads a magazine in the
Browsing Library Monday.