A Sc WL
U
N
V
R
T
Y
IT ON
The Battalion and
The Daily Texan battle
dueling editorials.
Opinion, Page 15
Full stack
Bonfire has been through
many forms and changes
since it began in 1909.
Bonfire '95, Page 3
SWC FINALE
The Southwest Conference
ends its legendary 80-year
history this weekend.
SWC, Section B
Battalio
Vol. 102, No. 68 (28 pages)
Established in 1893
Friday* December 1, 1995
snses
Board of Regents to draft cultures course policy
□Texas A&M is the only
school in the system that
does not have a cultures
requirement in the core
curriculum.
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Board of Re-
n gents informally called for a
System-wide policy on the cul
tures requirement Thursday,
less than a week after Dr. Ray
Bowen, A&M president, reject
ed a Faculty Senate proposal
supporting the requirements.
The Board’s Academic Cam
puses Committee, led by Regent
M. Guadalupe Rangel of Corpus
Christi, recommended that a res
olution or policy statement be
drafted in time for the January
meeting. The resolution would
provide a definite stance on the
cultures course requirement.
Bowen notified the Senate last
week that he could not support its
proposal that would require stu
dents to take three hours of cours
es focusing on U.S. cultures and
three horns of courses focusing on
international cultures.
The A&M president ^
defended his decision
to the Board Thurs- ^
day, saying a lack of
trust among differ
ent members of the
A&M community
forced him to reject
the proposal.
“The issue ... is one of
trust, and can we assume that
a proposal that was quite sensi
ble would stay that way,”
Bowen said. “Given the con
straints I was under, quite
unYS? 4 ***. frankly, I couldn’t devel-
op the level of trust
among all the stake
holders of the Univer
sity necessary to fur
ther this proposal.”
In a letter to Dr.
Pierce Cantrell, Facul-
ty Senate speaker, re
leased last week, Bowen
said more than 600 people con
without additional controls that tacted his office. All were con
cerned that the requirements,
while sensible in the Senate’s
proposal, could be unacceptably
altered over time.
Rangel also called on
Cantrell, who expressed his sad
ness at Bowen’s decision.
“I’m most disappointed that
the [proposal] has not been
passed,” Cantrell said. “I think it
would have been good for our
students. The faculty of this Uni
versity are very trustworthy,
and I am deeply offended that
the stake holders of the Univer
sity don’t believe that.”
Bowen and Cantrell’s re
marks came after each System
university was polled about its
cultural course requirements.
Some A&M schools, such as
Texas A&M International Uni
versity in Laredo, have interna
tional course requirements that
vary from degree to degree. Oth
er schools, such as Prairie View
A&M University, require a
course specifically devoted to mi
norities in American society.
Texas A&M has virtually no
See Regents, Page 10
Students target media, campus racism
□ The NAACP adviser said a
solution to campus racism is
students learning about each
other and seeing differences
in a positive light.
By Lisa Johnson
The Battalion
Students discussed racism in the media
and University traditions and heard a
possible solution to these problems during
a forum sponsored by Texas A&M’s
NAACP chapter.
NAACP members and other students at
the forum cited the mass media’s negative
portrayal of African-Americans and other
minority groups as a major contributor to
the continuance of racist sentiments.
Dr. Vincent Perez explained the views
on minority representation in the media
that novelist Ishmael Reid put forth his es
say The Airing of Dirty Laundry.
“According to Reid, the news media has
helped to create an environment of racial
fear and animosity,” Perez said. “The news
media perpetuates a negative image of
African-Americans by portraying the social
problems of crime, drugs, illegitimacy and
welfare as primarily black problems.”
In his essay, Reid said white-on-white
crimes are not publicized to the same ex
tent as minority crimes and said crimes
that occur in crack houses of predominant
ly black neighborhoods take media prece
dence over white-collar crimes of drug car
tels and bank scandals.
In addition to their reduced media expo
sure, Reid also wrote that white criminals
are treated less harshly and blacks are of
ten perceived negatively, without their
plights considered by the American people.
During the forum’s student discussion,
Donovan Wheatfall, a sophomore business
administration major, said African-Ameri
cans are being attacked in the media because
of the history of their American heritage.
“Blacks in the media are being exploit
ed to the American public because of cir
cumstances that are largely beyond their
control,” he said. “Most often, when
whites are focused upon by the media, it
is because they have chosen to place
themselves in the public eye.
Other students offered their views on
the media coverage of the O.J. Simpson tri
al which some perceived to be over-sensa
tionalized, and Colin Powells decision not
t0 David^Washin^om Student Government
executive vice president of administration
and a senior political science major, said
media coverage of Powell’s decision did not
present race as an issue.
“The coverage of Colin Powell was differ
ent from the coverage of other African-
Americans,” Washington said. “He was ide
alized by our society because he came from
immigrant parents and did some extraordi
nary things. For these reasons he was seen
not so much as black, but as more of an em
bodiment of the American dream.”
Conversation shifted from the negative
portrayal of African-Americans in the me
dia to the impact minorities have on cam
pus traditions.
Several African-American students said
they felt uncomfortable participating in
A&M traditions because of the few minori
ty participants and because attitudes of
some white students often made them feel
uncomfortable and unsafe.
Lovely Murrell, a junior anthropology
major, said she has not attended Bonfire in
the past because she did not feel safe.
“I have been here for four and a half
years and this is going to my first year to
attend Bonfire,” Murrell said. “In the past I
haven’t gone because I fejt threatened, and
I didn’t want to go where I wasn’t welcome.
“This year, though, I’m going to watch
See RACISM, Page 1 0
Texas A&M's chapter of the NAACP publicized its forum
by posting fliers that sparked a controversy among African-
American and white students.
Students expressed offense at the fliers that made refer
ences to the black stereotypes of Sambo and Aunt lemima
and compared the economic structure of America to a sys
tem of "white pimps and their million dollar hos."
Freshman Jamol Reynolds said the NAACP could have
produced more appropriate fliers
"Because I know that if we had seen a white organiza
tion put something like this up on campus we (African-
Americans) would have all raised hell/' Reynolds said.
Ferleshare Starks, A&M's NAACP chapter vice presi
dent, said the group used the inflammatory fliers purposely
as a means of gaining the public's attention.
"We knew when we issued these fliers that we would
offend the African-American students on campus," she
said. "But we had to ask ourselves who was not coming to
awareness meetings. The very people that we need to
reach the most are the ones whose attentions these fliers
would attract."
.af- TT ~ j**
Matthew Crawley, Special To The Battalion
Hump it, Acs
Senior Yell Leader Henry Hewes leads the senior class in a yell dur
ing Elephant Walk Thursday afternoon.
Park and ride locations
set up for Bonfire, game
Blue lots to close during turf conversion
The city of College Station and
the police department created
traffic and transit plans for visi
tors destined for tonight’s Bonfire
and Saturday’s football game.
For Bonfire, residential ar
eas bound by Texas Avenue,
Kyle Street, Dominik, Munson
and Cooner Street will be
blocked off to traffic starting at
5:30 p.m.
In addition, businesses along
Texas Avenue and University Dri
ve have been notified of options
regarding unauthorized vehicles
parking in their driveways.
Park and ride locations to
Bonfire are Sam’s, Bryan High
School and A&M Consolidated
High School. Brazos Transit
will run shuttles from 6 p.m un
til 10 p.m. for $1.
Those attending Saturday’s
Texas A&M-University of Texas
football game can utilize the
University or Brazos Transit
shuttle services to avoid park-
“iSSty Bus Operations
will offer free off-campus shut
tle service. Hours of service are
two hours before the game and
two hours after.
Off-campus pick-up locations
include all current shuttle stops,
and the on-campus stop is in front
of Texas A&M President Ray
Bowen’s house.
Brazos Transit will offer three
shuttles picking up at three loca
tions: the Texas Hall of Fame nr>
FM 2818 Bryan High Schoofon
Briarcrest Drive and A&M Con-
solidated High School on FM
2818 Brazos Transit shuttle ser
^ ^ 11:30 and costs
roundtnp per person. ^ ^
F or those who park at
Field exit routes will b e dil
played on campus. George Bulb
Drive between Wellborn
and FM 2818 will bo ° f ™ ^
bound, one-way tmfftr, - west ‘
hour after the game c f ° r an
□ A lot will be set up on
West Campus to ease
the burden of the
decreased parking
spaces at Kyle Field.
By Michelle Lyons
The Battalion
The parking at Texas
A&M’s football stadium will
change as a result of construc
tion on Kyle field.
Soon students parking in
blue lot areas 69 and 91 will be
rerouted elsewhere due to the
conversion of Kyle Field’s artifi
cial turf to natural grass.
Lot 69 is the lot adjacent to
the A&M tennis courts, and Lot
91 is the lot located behind the
flagpoles of Kyle Field. Both are
commuter student lots.
Tom Williams, Department
of Parking, Transit and Traffic
Services director, said the ma
jority of these two parking ar
eas will be used during the
transformation.
Three contractors working
on the field will use the space
from the two lots.
“There will be approximately
380 parking spaces taken during
the conversion to natural grass,”
he said. “We are building a tem
porary parking area on West
Campus for the students.”
Because the construction is
late in the semester, Williams
said the changes in parking will
be minimal.
“Our plan is that we won’t
take up too many spaces before
graduation this semester,” he
said. “Obviously we’ve tried our
best to develop the project to af
fect as few students as possible.”
Members of a FTTS Student
Advisory Board have also dis
cussed how the possible expan
sion of Kyle Field’s horseshoe
will affect parking.
Chris Cochran, a board
member and a junior industrial
engineering major, said the ex
pansion should not cause too
many problems.
“My understanding right now
See Parking, Page 10
Turf demolition set to begin next Monday
□ Pieces of turf may be sold to
those who donate toward the
football stadium's renovations.
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
The “wrecking crew” will line up to sing
the war hymn, and the Texas A&M Corps
of Cadets will chase yell leaders on artifi
cial turf for the last time Saturday.
Fences will go up, and demolition of arti
ficial turf on Kyle Field will begin Monday.
The projected completion date for the grass
on Kyle Field is April 1.
Billy Pickard, Kyle Field associate direc
tor of facilities, said students will not be
able to get free pieces of turf.
“No way will anyone be allowed to take
chunks of the field,” Pickard said. “We are
going to roll it up, store it and sell it.”
Wally Groff, athletic director, said it
has been proposed to start a campaign
that would give a plaque, with a piece of
turf on it, to people who donate money to
ward renovations.
“The Athletic Department paid for the
turf, not the students, so the athletic de
partment is trying to raise money to pay
for renovations,” Groff said.
The grass field was approved by the
Board of Regents in October as part of a
See TURF, Page 7