F h x a s Sc iVI U niversity
Extra symbolism
Day Without Art aims to
raise awareness of the
AIDS epidemic.
Aggielife, Page 3
Keep it clean
Guest Column: Juniors 13^1
should respect seniors' «' «
wish to have a respectable Elephant Walk.
Opinion, Page 11
Jump start
The men's basketball
team opens its season
with a 75-47 win.
Sports, Page 7
Battalio
M. 102, No. 66 (12 pages) Established in 1893 Wednesday • November 29, 1995
Clinton urges Congress to support deployment
Fort Hood troops consider
U.S. involvement in Bosnia
jSen. Bob Dole said he
wants to support the
iresident's decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As
■’resident Clinton pressed his
lase for sending 20,000 U.S.
ground troops to Bosnia, the
Pentagon said Tuesday an addi
tional 17,000 Americans would
provide support in and around
the former Yugoslavia.
Even Republican critics ac
knowledged that the deployment
seemed inevitable. “He’s hell
bent to do it, so we’re going to
have to support him,” said Rep.
Dan Burton, R-Ind.
Clinton had more persuading
to do outside Washington. Thou
sands of Americans called the
White House after his televised
speech, and “there was a great
deal of skepticism,” conceded
spokesman Mike McCurry. “The
American people clearly want to
know more,” he said.
Asked what he would do to
overcome public skepticism,
Clinton said, “More of what
we’re doing. We’ll keep answer
ing questions and reasserting
what is at stake here.”
On the day after his speech to
the nation on Bosnia, Clinton
held a series of meetings with
congressional leaders and mem
bers of the House and Senate
committees that will examine the
Bosnia peace agreement reached
last week in Dayton, Ohio.
House Republican Leader
Dick Armey of Texas said he
told Clinton that if members of
Congress are “getting the kind
of phone calls from their dis
tricts that I’m getting from my
district, that getting a winning
vote on this matter would be
like pulling teeth through the
back of your head.”
“I am extremely skeptical of
this whole operation. I am not at
all convinced,” said Armey.
McCurry said that after the
speech, Clinton talked by tele
phone with former President
Bush and retired Gen. Colin
Powell, who was the nation’s
top military officer during the
Persian Gulf War. The
spokesman declined to charac
terize the conversations.
Senate Democrats closed
ranks behind the president
during an hour-long meeting at
the Capitol.
“I was impressed that we did
n’t hear a single mention of a
poll,” Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada
said after the meeting.
Emerging as Clinton’s most
powerful ally among the Repub
lican leadership of Congress,
Sen. Bob Dole said, “I want to
support the president if I can.”
He also said, “Congress will have
hearings and we’ll debate it.”
□ It is unlikely that the
45,000 soldiers in Killeen
will take part in the
peacekeeping effort.
KILLEEN (AP) — Ask a sol
dier what he thinks about U.S.
military involvement in the re
gion of the world that used to be
Yugoslavia, and the first answer
you get is purely official.
“Wherever they tell me to go.
I go,” said Douglas Washington,
a 38-year-old Army sergeant
who is a veteran of the Persian
Gulf conflict.
But in interviews with more
than a dozen solders Monday
night at the Fort Hood Army
post, the second answer — the
personal response — contained
the diversity of opinions that re
flects the debate nationally over
President Clinton’s decision to
See TROOPS, Page 6
Regents open house
a second time tonight
□ Items that could surface
for discussion are the Kyle
Field expansion and Bowen's
rejection of the cultures bill.
Kyle Littlefield
The Bat talion
The Texas A&M Board of Regents
will hold its second open house of the se
mester today at 6 p.m. to get to know
students and answer their questions.
See related EDITORIAL, Page 1 1
Today’s open house, which will be
held at the Regent’s Annex in the MSC,
precedes the Board meetings Thursday
and Friday.
Regent John Lindsey of Houston said
the open house is for students.
“If the students have a question to ask
they can do so,” Lindsey said, “or if they
just want to come out and a have a glass
of punch and a cookie, that’s fine too.”
Because the students, not the Re
gents, dictate the content of the open
house, Lindsey said he is not sure what
issues will be discussed.
Toby Boenig, Texas A&M student
body president, said he expects students
will ask the Regents how they feel about
the decision by Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas
A&M president, to reject the Faculty
Senate’s cultures requirement.
The Board’s Academic Campuses
Committee is scheduled to discuss the
multicultural course requirements.
Boenig said other possible issues
that may be discussed are the possibil
ity of yet another general use fee in
crease for the spring semester and the
Kyle Field expansion.
Becky Silloway, Student Senate
speaker, said A&M System issues will
be discussed in addition to campus is
sues. The Chancellor’s Student Board,
which is composed of student represen
tatives of the A&M System schools, will
also attend.
The first open house drew more than
100 A&M students and was considered a
success by student leaders and Regents.
“It was a good start,” Boenig said,
“but you have to realize you’re not going
to get the whole campus to come out on
the first one.”
See Regents, Page 6
The Bilhartzs of
Duncanville
have raised six
Aggies
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
| i1 or their lifelong dedication
and devotion to A&M, James
JL and Shirley Bilhartz were
recognized for their time as Texas
A&M Parents of the Year at the
A&M-Middle Tennessee State football
game Nov. 18.
The Bilhartzs of Duncanville,
Texas, who were elected to the posi
tions in Spring 1995, have six children
who have either graduated or are cur
rently attending A&M.
James Bilhartz Jr., Class of ’78,
said he was excited when he learned
his parents had been named 1995-96
Parents of the Year.
“I was thrilled to death,” Bilhartz
said. “I felt they had deserved it all
fheir lives.”
Bilhartz said his parents merited
the award because they have continu
ally supported A&M for as long as he
can remember.
“They have put six children
through,A&M,” he said. “They have
lived and breathed A&M for 40 years.
They encouraged all their children to
attend A&M and have been extremely
supportive of the University.
“They consider A&M to be the only
college there is.”
James Bilhartz said his love for
A&M has grown since graduating
from A&M in 1954 and learning more
about other universities as a recruiter
for an oil corporation.
“At the time, I did a lot of college
recruiting at schools throughout the
nation,” he said. “I had a good chance
to evaluate most of the universities
and compare it with my background
at A&M.”
The Bilhartzs have their activities
as Parents of the Year, including the
Aggie Hostel during the summer,
president’s luncheons and a recep
tion after the football game at the
Forsyth galleries.
“We have enjoyed it very much; the
Parents Weekend Committee has
been outstanding and very good to
us,” Bilhartz said. “We get a lot of let
ters from them, and we feel that we
know most of them individually.”
Anne McElroy, Parents Weekend
Committee chairwoman and a senior
speech communications major, said the
Bilhartzs met the entire committee af
ter their presentation on Kyle Field.
See PARENTS, Page 6
CAMAC hosts Las Posadas procession
□ The event is the Christmas Mass celebrated
in Spanish for members of the Hispanic
community.
By Lily Aguilar
The Batt alion
The MSC Committee for the Awareness of Mexican Amer
ican Culture will host “Las Posadas,” a re-creation of Joseph
and Mary’s journey on the eve of Jesus’ birth today at 7 p.m.
Miguel Gonzalez, CAMAC cultures director and a junior
management major, said the journey is unique to the Mexi
can culture because it combines the traditional story of Mary
and Joseph with the food and songs of Mexico.
The procession will trace the couple’s journey from All
Faith’s Chapel to the Grove, with stops at a residence hall
and Albritton Tower.
“The couple will proceed from All Faiths Chapel to one
of the residence halls, which is supposed to be the first inn,
where they will be turned down,” Gonzalez said. “While
they are walking, the followers sing Spanish songs describ
ing the journey.
“The second stop will take place at Albritton Tower, where
another inn keeper will turn them away. The final stop is
The Grove. This is where they are accepted, and Jesus will
be bom.
After the procession pinatas will be broken, and tamales,
rice and beans will be served.
Las Posadas is celebrated throughout Latin America and
Mexico. In the United States, the procession is seen in strong
Hispanic communities.
“Las Posadas is a family celebration,” Gonzalez said. “It is
the Christmas Mass celebrated in Spanish for members of
the Hispanic community.”
Translated, Las Posadas means “the stations” or “the
inns.” The ceremony began when the Spaniards came to the
New World, spreading the Catholic faith.
Jerry Perez, a CAMAC member and a junior bioengineer
ing major, said the Spanish had to use a procession and sym
bolism to communicate with the Aztec Indians in Mexico
about the journey of Mary and Joseph. This ceremony be
came a tradition within the developing Mexican culture,
Perez said, and migrants from Mexico brought the posadas
See CAMAC, Page 6
OPAS gives Aggies chance
□ The car bash will start off
this week's A&M-University
of Texas pre-football game
activities.
By Michelle Lyons
The Battalion
Members of the MSC’s Opera and
Performing Arts Society will “beat the
hell outta t.u.” — literally.
OPAS is sponsoring a “Beat the Hell
Outta Bevo-Car Bash” at Rudder Foun
tain today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students and faculty members are
invited to purchase tickets for a
chance to bash an old van painted to
resemble University of Texas at
Austin’s mascot, Bevo.
Tickets are $1 for one swing at the
van and $2 for three swings. Proceeds
from ticket sales will benefit OPAS.
Patricia Wehner, OPAS secretary,
said the event is an excellent way to
kick off the A&M-University of Texas
pre-football game activities.
“It’s going to be cool,” Wehner said.
“[The van is] painted orange; it has
eyes and Bevo horns on the side that
you can bash, too.
“Just take out all your frustrations
there. It’s really going to be fun.”
In addition to the Bevo look-alike
van, Wehner said, Aggie 96 radio sta
tion will broadcast live from the site.
Other Aggie spirit items such as
bumper stickers with the slogan, “Visu
alize No t-sips” designed after the popu
lar “Visualize World Peace” stickers
will also be available.
to bash Bevo
Karen Allen, MSC OPAS chair and a
senior biomedical science major, said ob
taining the car for the bash was the eas
iest part of organizing the fund-raiser.
“It was very strange,” Allen said.
“We called up some people in town, and
they said that they couldn’t help us, but
See BEVO, Page 6