January 23, 1996
ic Professional En-
genera] meeting
7:30 p.m. in 202
ysics. For more
act the SHPE of-
Association: Or-
i internacional,
ro y entrega de
e held at 7 p.m,
Contact Adolfo at
ana at 764-8795
i Business Associ-
meeting will be
in 118 Wehner.
ome. Call Claris-
r details.
Battalion service
t student and fac-
rctivities. Items
led no later than
/ance of the de-
application dead-
re not events and
i What's Up. If
stions, please call
45-3313.
ARTISTIC DISTINCTIONS
African-American and youth art
illustrate diverse viewpoints.
Aggielife, Page 3
STUDENTS SET TO GO FISHIN'
Stidvent: Fish Camp counselors generally fit into
three categories.
Opinion, Page 11
ALMOST HEAVEN
Lady Aggie Angel Spinks
dominates opponents inside.
Sports, Page 7
H. 102, No. 78 (12 pages)
The Battalion
Serving Texas AcrM University Since 1893
Wednesday • January 24, 1996
Clinton challenges GOP to balance budget
JSen. Dole called the
President the main ob
stacle to a balanced
budget.
WASHINGTON (AP) — De-
Evering his State of the Union
address to a skeptical Republi-
Congress, President Clin
ton traced the themes of his re-
election campaign Tuesday
See related EDITORIAL, Page 11
night and confronted the GOP
the budget, demanding they
“never — ever” shut the gov
ernment again.
Democrats rose with loud
cheers but Republicans sat in
stony silence at Clinton’s chal
lenge. GOP lawmakers — par
ticularly the rebellious House
freshmen — had been coached
by party elders to be on good
behavior and not boo Clinton,
as some did last year.
The speech was brief by Clin
ton standards, 61 minutes, less
than last year’s record 81-
minute marathon.
Senate Majority Leader Bob
Dole — front-runner for the
GOP presidential nomination
— made the Republican re
sponse, outlining differences
with Clinton and assailing the
president as “the chief obstacle
to a balanced budget.” He
called the president “the rear
guard of the welfare state.”
Dole said Clinton was “ca
reening dangerously off course”
in welfare, education, Medicare
and taxes. “We will challenge
President Clinton again and
again to walk the talk he talks
so well,” Dole vowed.
Clinton proposed several new
initiatives, among them 81,000
college scholarships for the top 5
percent of graduates from every
high school, and turning the FBI
loose on youth gangs.
With Republicans controlling
the legislative agenda, Clin
ton’s propos
als are un
likely to see
the light of
day, especial
ly in an elec
tion year.
The House
chamber over
flowed with
Senate and
House mem
bers, Clin
ton’s Cabinet,
the Supreme
Court justices in their black
robes and ambassadors from
Clinton
around the world. House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, Clin
ton’s yearlong nemesis, sat im
mediately behind the president,
applauding politely on some oc
casions, and sitting in stern si
lence when the president criti
cized Congress.
And criticize he did.
“I challenge all of you in this
chamber,” Clinton said, “never —
ever” shut the government again.
He said it was time to “finish the
job” and pass a balanced budget
plan that he could sign.
First lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton, listening along her
GOP Whitewater critics, was
applauded as she entered with
her 15-year-old daughter,
Chelsea, who was making her
first State of the Union appear
ance. The president introduced
the beleaguered Mrs. Clinton as
a “wonderful wife, a magnifi
cent mother and a great first
lady,” and Chelsea led a stand
ing ovation of Democrats and
Republicans alike.
“The era of big government is
over,” Clinton said, twice, as if to
capture a campaign slogan. Re
publicans liked that, and an
swered with applause. Democrats
hailed Clinton’s next sentence:
“But we cannot go back to the
time when our citizens were left
to fend for themselves.”
V
fa/mtine
- 7 p.m.
$ 69 95 ac yl
c Ignition cars we’ll
)oed, set timing, test
key ignition parts.
MSC Council
elects president
J Williams will take
office in April.
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
The newly elected leader of
one of Texas A&M’s largest or
ganizations arrived on campus
four years ago as a shy student
who spent the first month of
| classes in his room.
I But life, at
\ l&M brought
1 Chris Williams,
a senior political
science and
speech communi
cation major, out
of his shell.
Last night,
Williams was
elected MSC
Council presi
dent.
“When I first came to A&M,
1 didn’t know anyone,” he said.
‘My parents had just moved to
Oklahoma, so I was pretty
much alone.”
Williams was attracted to the
MSC as a' freshman when he at
tended a Political Forum meet
ing. He decided to get involved.
There, he said, he found his
niche.
His MSC leadership experi
ence includes serving as Political
Forum chair and MSC Council
vice president for program ad
ministration.
“I have a clear understanding
of what the MSC is about and
where it needs to go,” he said.
“And I have a clear vision of how
to make a difference.”
Williams, who takes office in
April, said his three main chal
lenges this year will be reclaim
ing the MSC’s role on campus,
internally structuring the MSC
"I have a clear under
standing of what the
MSC is about and where
it needs to go."
— Chris Williams
new MSC Council president
to produce quality programs,
and building an MSC team.
As MSC Council President,
he will oversee approximately 40
council members from 27 MSC
committees.
Jonathan Neerman, an MSC
Council executive vice president
and a senior political science
major, has worked with
See MSC, Page 6
Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
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IGNMENT
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B-CS residents want to
open maternity house
Cl The Heritage House is in search
of a building to renovate or prop
erty to build a facility.
By Kendra S. Rasmussen
The Battalion
A 16-year-old girl who solicited help from Brazos
County Crisis Pregnancy Services about a year ago
probably has no idea what she set in motion.
Sue Sorensen, crisis pregnancy center staff
Member, said that when the girl came to her, she
a one-year-old child and was three weeks
away from delivering her second.
"We want to help the girls that want
to be helped."
.s
— Margaret O’Quinn
Heritag, House board member
are
en
The girl had no place to stay. She refused to live
"ith her mother in a crack house where she had
been raped twice.
Sorensen said she spent 100 hours on the tele-
m. - 7 p.m-
Phone trying to find someone who would take the
?iti in.
“It was the most frustrating thing I had ever
dealt with,” she said.
Her frustration came from the fact that Bryan-
. - 7 p.m.
College Station has no facility to house homeless,
lite D
77840
, next to
Pregnant women.
So she began checking into a program she had
heard about that housed women in crisis situations.
A woman had laid the groui iwork for a mater-
^ y
% home to serve the Bryan-t. ullege Station area,
and then abandoned the project a year ago to move
to Canada.
She called it Heritage House.
“It’s been sitting there ever since, waiting for
someone else to pick it up,” she said.
So that’s what Sorensen did.
At an organizational meeting Tuesday night at
the College Station Conference Center, Sorensen ex
plained that Heritage House is ready to go, with one.
exception.
“We have everything but the place,” she said.
Heritage House coordinators are looking for a
home to renovate or property on which to build a
pregnancy home.
But for now, they are searching for couples to vol
unteer their homes as “shepherding homes,” in
which homeless, pregnant women would be placed
as soon as March.
When a facility is found, Sorensen said she hopes
to start by housing up to eight girls, all of whom will
have been screened extensively.
“We’d like to house single, pregnant teens to start,
with,” she said. “But my vision would be to house up
to, say, 30 or 40 girls.”
Margaret O’Quinn, a Heritage House board mem
ber, said the home will not be a revolving-door orga
nization, but one that expects something from the
ladies they help.
“My purpose is not to take in a rebellious teenag
er who doesn’t want to listen to anyone,” she said.
“We want to help the girls that want to be helped.”
Dana Jones, an A&M junior journalism major,
said she feels called to give time, guidance and love
to this project.
“God placed an intense burden on my heart for
women in pregnancy crises.” she said. “I long to give
my heart to it.”
Heritage House coordinators are looking for vol
unteers to provide support of any kind.
Money for school still available
□ University and federal
officials predict different
futures for college
financial aid.
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
Financial aid remains avail
able to Texas A&M students de
spite federal government bud-
get-balancing attempts that
threaten to cut it, an A&M fi
nancial aid officer said.
Jack Falks, Student Financial
Aid assistant director, said fi
nancial aid is safe from budget
cuts in the long run, although fi
nancial aid processing will prob
ably be slowed down by the gov
ernment shutdowns.
“There were a lot of threats
about cuts and interest subsidies
for the students,” Falks said, “But
it looks like that has been tabled,
and we’re not as worried as we
were three or four months ago.”
Financial aid stability some
what eases the burden on stu
dents who graduate with sky-
high debts, he said.
And more students than ever
before are in debt.
“The average debt is increas
ing somewhat on this campus, as
the typical undergraduate leaves
with about SlO.OOO in student
loans,” Falks said.
Jane Glickman of the United
States Department of Education
views the financial aid situation
differently.
She said aid is not yet safe
from budget balancers.
“It is one of the issues being
considered with the budget-rec
onciliation talks between the
President and the leaders of the
Senate,” Glickman said.
Some Congress members are
attempting to limit the number
of schools that offer repayment
and direct-lending plans.
Under direct lending, federal
money goes straight to universi
ties’ financial aid offices, bypass
ing banks and other middlemen
that make
loans more
complicated
for students.
Currently,
students na
tionwide can
take advan
tage of a loan-
repayment
plan offered
under the William D. Ford Fed
eral Direct Loan Program.
The program allows students
to make monthly pa-ments after
graduation based on their in
comes, with annual adjustments
as their income levels change.
Falks said he supports this di
rect-loan program, though
A&M’s financial aid office does
not offer it.
But under the Stafford Loan
Program available at A&M, stu
dents benefit from a similar in
come-contingent repayment
plan.
“Repayment plans allow stu
dents to choose majors that may
not pay as high of starting
salaries, but they don’t have to
deal with ballooning payments,”
Falks said.
Regardless of future financial
aid trials and tribulation, many
A&M students are dissatisfied
even with the existing system.
Many students feel cheated
because their parents’ annual in
comes exceed the minimum
qualifications for financial aid.
Rick Fournier, a sophomore
mechanical engineering major,
said financial aid should be re
vamped to allow more students
financial assistance.
“My parents make just a little
bit too much money to get finan
cial aid, but they still can’t af
ford to send me to college,”
Fournier said. “I think financial
aid needs some serious overhaul
ing if it is going to work and be
fair to everyone.”
But struggling students should
take note, Falks said, because nu
merous financial aid opportuni
ties go unclaimed each year.
A recent National Academic
Funding Administration (NAFA)
report stated that more than S6
billion of national funding
See Money, Page 6
"It [financial aid] is one of the issues
being considered with the budget-rec
onciliation talks between the President
and the leaders of the Senate."
—Jane Glickman
United States Department of Education