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
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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