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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1996)
CELEBRATING DIVERSITY A&M staff members work to help minority students feel welcome. Aggielife, Page 3 BACHELOR'S IN FUTILITY Miller: Liberal Arts degree leaves students envious of engineering friends with job prospects. Opinion, Page 11 BIG Freshman center Brad Strieker is filling Aggie hopes and lanes. Sports, Page 7 activities that ere usual for aer promoted e organization, camp and man are not dealt with Be ing freshmen, ost significant ion to Texas ige amount of her. I think >gy to all of ent who have nts to making [ue organiza- who have had jt for coun- for you. Tina Esparza Class of’% isic stays ?ssage >k’s column v good points, yed Christian light. . Christian song is the or intent, of le ones who c into pop, etc. We are l music , 2,000 years, divided the ecular music id. rtists who nade mis- :n’t perfect, minority 3 they sing money first, art-types music min- e people Janies Ijicy Class of’97 '0 signatures The Battalion 1.102, No. 82 (12 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 Tuesday • January 30, 1996 Students wary of hasty fee increase □ Several students said they wonder if the administration is wasting money. By Heather Pace The Battalion A proposed increase in the Texas A&M general use fee is angering students and causing them to wonder if fees are prop erly allocated and if they will ever stop increasing. Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M president, who recently proposed an increase of $8 per semester credit hour in the general use fee, is planning a series of public hear ings to discuss how the money would be used. Amelia Taurel, a senior inter national studies major, attended one of Bowen’s hearings prior to a fee increase that was implement ed last semester. “It made everyone there realize why we needed the last fee in crease, when Bowen explained it to us,” Taurel said. “I think all students should go to the meet ings, because if they are arguing against fees, at least they know more about what is going on.” Taurel disagrees though with the most recent fee-in crease proposal. “It is too soon to do another fee increase, and it is too much all at once,” Taurel said. “A&M is sup posed to be affordable, but it is getting to the point where it isn’t.” Students are concerned that frequent fee increases will under mine their ability to pay for an ed ucation at A&M. Connie Vasquez, a freshman computer science major, said the fee increase would make financ ing college much more difficult for many A&M students. “Just because our general use fee is drastically increased doesn’t mean our financial aid will be in creased as well,” Vasquez said. Many students, including Stephanie McAfee, a junior spe cial education major, said they want to know how income gener ated by increased fees would ben efit them. * “When I heard about it, I was curi ous to know why they need ed more money,” McAfee said. Students said they want to know if the fees they currently pay are being spent wisely. Liz Rayburn, a junior psycholo gy major, said audits of the gener al use fee should be made easily accessible to students. “If they are going to raise our "Just because our general use fee is drasti cally increased doesn't mean our financial aid will be increased as well." — Connie Vasquez freshman computer science major fees, we need to make sure the ex tra money is actually going to help us,” Rayburn said. “They do accounting on the student service fee, so they should do something for the general use fee so we can find out what is going on.” Mark Floyd, a sophomore speech communications major, said the administration spends money frivolously. “The rec center is fun and all, but they need to get their priori ties straight,” Floyd said. Taurel said the general use fee should not be increased if a more efficient way to spend the funds generated by it can be found. “We see a lot of money wast ed,” Taurel said, “and it just makes you wonder how our mon ey is being spent.” Faculty Senate members span political spectrum Democrats Republicans Registered Registered Not registered ^ no party to both Brazos County $ listing parties □ Primary records from 1994 indicate that the Faculty Senate is a politically diverse group. By Wes Swift The Battalion The Texas A&M Faculty Senate is composed of an almost equal number of Republicans and Democrats, a statistic that surprises student leaders who have labeled the Senate a liberal organization. Brazos County voter registration and 1994 prima ry records show that 32 senators are listed as De mocrats and 32 as Republicans. Eight senators were not affiliated with either party, and 19 were not registered to vote in Bra zos County. One senator was listed in the records of both parties. David Brown, Texas A&M College Republicans president and a junior political science major, said he was surprised by these statistics because the See Faculty, Page 12 l Local gym attendance falls ido 289 lins, March 26. in 679 ives Desk □ Some Bryan-College Station health clubs bve decreased emphasis on students and are targeting other portions of the pulation. By Greg Fahrenholt The Battalion Local health clubs have re ported declines in business since the opening of the Texas yi Student Recreation Cen ter last semester. Students pay a $50 fee each semester in Rec. Center fees, whether they use the facility or t. Steve Lumpee, owner of Gold’s Gym in College Station, said his business has suffered greatly since the West Campus facility opened. Anytime that a business is competing with Texas A&M University in an effort to at tract student business, the Uni versity is going to be much more successful,” he said. Lumpee said his business has dropped 15 to 20 percent since the Rec. Center opened. “We’re playing on such an uneven playing field since the University is already forcing students to pay to use their own gym,” he said. To make up for the loss of student patrons, Lumpee said he is targeting other segments of Bryan-College Station. “We’re now trying to attract older, more business-oriented customers,” he said. Some local health clubs are trying to make up for the loss of student memberships by adding services such as child care and circuit training. However, Lumpee said that nothing can entirely make up for student loss. “Every business in Bryan- College Station has to rely on students to an extent,” he said. Larry Isham, marketing di rector at Aerofit, said business has not suffered too much at Aerofit because it is not depen dent on student memberships. “We have a steady base of old er clients and have still been able to profit despite a slight decrease in new memberships,” he said. Jeremy Lambert, a junior ge netics major who had an off- campus health club member ship before the Rec. Center opened, chose not to renew it. “I figure that since I’m al ready paying to come here (the Rec. Center), I might as well use it,” Lambert said. “Everything here is new, and most of the oth er gyms are much smaller.” But not all students are aban doning off-campus health clubs. But Ryan Avery, a senior psychology major, said he will keep his membership at an off- campus gym to avoid the Rec. Center’s large crowds. “It’s way too crowded at the Rec. Center,” Avery said. “I don’t always have enough time to wait in line to use the machines.” Dave House, Thje Battalion PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Kristina Edfors, a senior economics major and member of the A&M golf team, practices to perfect her putting Monday afternoon at the A&M golf course. I& \m Country each , turns, spins, iuple turns, will be taught er couple. Stew Milne, The Battalion The balcony on the second floor is only accessed briefly for cleaning. Opening the doors inter feres with the air conditioning. Dome holds unspoken histories □ The Academic Building has nooks and crannies unexplored by most A&M students. By Courtney Walker The Battalion The serene exterior of Texas A&M’s Academic Building hides a well-kept secret. The building’s sin gle dome is, in actuality, two. Between the dome seen from the outside of the building and the dome seen from the inside of the building is a graffiti-covered space accessible from the fifth floor by crawling through a window. Both the stairway to the build ing’s fifth floor and the window to access the dome are kept locked. Dr. Dudley Poston, Academic Building proctor, said people are al lowed into the dome only to play Sil ver Taps or for building maintenance. He said the dome is unsafe for general-public access because of the unlit stairway and lack of handrails. A Silver Taps team member said playing the solemn hymn from the dome has always been part of the Silver Taps tradition. “It’s an obvious place for us to play, that is out of the way, where we can be heard and not seen,” he said. Silver Taps team members are instructed to keep their identities a secret so that the attention goes not to them, but to the A&M stu dents honored in the services. “There is a lot of tradition and stuff, like names that are kept se cret for history and integrity pur poses,” he said. Team members do, however, re* veal their identities by inscribing their names on the walls of the in ner dome each time they play Sil ver Taps. Lists of decades of Silver Taps team members and other Corps-re lated graffiti covers the walls in side the dome. Another inaccessible area of the Academic Building is the second- floor balcony outside the office of Dr. Steve Oberhelman, modern and See Dome, Page 2