tro
PLAY BALL
The A&M Baseball and Softball
Teams kick off their home seasons.
Sports, Page 7
NONCONFORMITY, UNTUCKED
Clark: Clubs in town should not force customers to
tuck in their shirts.
Opinion, Page 11
ROW WOW
Native Americans gathered last
weekend to celebrate culture.
Aggielife, Page 3
/
The Battalion
)L 102, No. 91 (12 pages)
Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
Tuesday* February 13, 1996
Tim Moog, The Battalion
FIGHTING THE FLAMES
^) College Station firefighters put out a small grass fire Monday afternoon near the future site of the Special Events Center.
( The fire, which was caused by an electrical spark as welders cut through pipes was put out in 30 minutes. The fire damaged PVC pipes
on the grounds, but no injuries were reported.
I
**
ft
A&M, city prepare for tourists
Q Employees of the city of
College Station are required to
participate in 10 hours of
tourism training.
By Eleanor Colvin
The Battalion
Texas A&M and the city of College Sta
tion are preparing for a boom in tourism
that they anticipate the George Bush Presi
dential Library will bring to College Station.
The George Bush Presidential Library,
which is expected to attract 400,000 visi
tors in its first year, is scheduled to open
Fall 1997.
University and city officials anticipate that
the library will attract more people to A&M
than Bonfire and Aggie Muster combined.
Dr. Don W. Wilson, executive director of
the Bush Presidential Library Center, said
the opening of the library will increase retail
sales in the twin cities.
“Bryan-College Station is one of Texas’
undiscovered areas,” he said. “The library
will provide the area with more visibility
and help us become a desirable destination
year-round, not just during football season.”
The Bush Library will house 38 million
documents in 18,000 square feet of exhibit
space, the Presidential Conference Center
and the George Bush School of Government.
Dick Forester, director of the Chamber of
Commerce Convention and Visitors Bureau,
said the Bush Library will be an excellent
addition to Brazos Valley tourism.
“Last year, tourism in Brazos Valley gen
erated $105 million,” he said. “If library visi
tors stay in town for four hours, they will
spend at least $37.
“Thirty-seven dollars spent by 300,000 to
500,000 people really adds up. This area is
bustling and thriving with tourism, and the
library will certainly enhance this.”
Forester said the College Station economy
is sure to benefit as the number of conven
tions, conferences and bus tours in College
Station increases.
“This is an excellent location for confer
ences considering that 80 percent of the
Texas population lives within a 250-mile ra
dius of A&M,” he said.
Many tourists in Texas want to stop in
College Station, Forrester said.
“In the last year, we’ve had 50 bus tours
See Tourists, Page 10
Dole walks away
with victory in
Iowa GOP caucus
□ Clinton was unopposed in the
state's Democratic caucuses.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP), — Sen. Bob Dole
scored a shaky victory in Iowa’s Republican presi
dential caucuses Monday night as Pat Buchanan
emerged from the GOP field to ready a conserva
tive challenge in next week’s pivotal New Hamp
shire primary.
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander ran
a solid third and hoped that would be enough to
give his cash-poor campaign a fresh start for the
five-week blitz of primaries likely to settle the
: nomination fight.
All the candidates vowed to press on, but Iowa’s
results were sobering to publishing heir Steve
Forbes, who was a distant fourth, and may have
dealt a fatal blow to Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who
ran fifth.
President Clinton was unopposed in the state’s
Democratic caucuses, and the bruising nature of
the Republican race was a vivid reminder of Clin
ton’s luxury.
Rivals rushed to assert that Dole’s win was
See Caucus, Page 6
Students give soft water
in B-CS poor review
□ Water supplies in Bryan-
College Station are high in
sodium, but otherwise safe
and healthy.
By Kendra S. Rasmussen
The Battalion
Texas A&M students said the cul
prit responsible for blotchy complex
ions, filmy skin and changes in hair
texture is Bryan-College Station water.
Yet, city utility officials said Bryan
and College Station have
“superior” water supply
systems.
In fact, College Station
received the Environmen
tal Protection Agency Ex
cellence Award for Water
Systems in 1991.
Michael Collins, Bryan’s Water Ser
vices manager, said the conditions stu
dents complain of are not caused by
unsafe or low-quality water. He said
the water may just be different than
what students are familiar with.
“In a lot of cases, it depends on what
you were raised on or what you are
used to,” Collins said.
Charlie Rivas, owner of Acadia Wa
ter Purification of Bryan, said that
most people who move to Bryan-Col
lege Station think the water is quite
different from what they are accus
tomed to because this is one of the few
areas in the country with naturally
soft water.
Rivas said it is the water’s softness,
not its perceived poor quality, that
causes students to complain.
Jamie Treinen, a senior speech
communications major who has lived
in Bryan most of his life, said he no
tices the soft water’s effect
when he takes showers.
“The water here is distinc
tively different,” Treinen
said. “I can definitely tell
when I take showers.
“You get a faster, thick
er lather, but when you
get out of the shower, you
feel greasy, like you
haven’t gotten all the soap
off. But when you get out
of a hard-water shower,
your skin feels squeaky
See Water, Page 10
Faculty Senate
hears Bowen’s
GUF proposal
□ Senate members
said Bowen's proposed
increase in the General
Use Fee is probably
necessary.
By Michelle Lyons
The Battalion
Dr. Ray Bowen, Texas A&M
president, presented his plan for
an increase in the General Use
Fee to the Faculty Senate Mon
day afternoon.
Bowen is calling for an $8 in
crease in the General Use Fee
for Fall 1996, as well as linking
the General Use Fee to tuition
so that they increase together in
future years.
“We are asking for a fairly
dramatic increase in fees,”
Bowen said.
The increase would bring the
General Use Fee from $24 to $32
per semester credit hour and
would generate almost $9 mil
lion for the University.
Bowen said the increase is
necessary because many areas
have been negatively affected by
insufficient funding, including
staff and faculty salaries, gradu
ate assistant stipends and facul
ty recruiting.
General academic infrastruc
ture, including the number of
courses offered and the amount
of instructional equipment avail
able has also suffered.
Raising the General Use Fee
would ensure the preservation
and enhancement of quality pro
grams at A&M, Bowen said.
Dr. Ron Darby, a faculty sen
ator and a chemical engineering
professor, said some of the num
bers quoted by Bowen might be
misleading.
Darby said a graph indicat
ing the number of “students per
administrator” should have
been labeled “administrators
per student.”
“The critical number is ‘ad
ministrators per student,”’ Dar
by said. “There is a general per
ception that A&M is top heavy in
it’s number of administrators.”
If the graph were changed as
Darby suggested, A&M would
rank fourth out of 11 Southern
universities in the number of ad
ministrators per student. There
is one administrator for every 52
students at A&M.
But Bowen’s graph ranked
A&M near the bottom.
Diane Kaplan, Senate deputy
speaker, said an increase in the
General Use Fee is necessary,
especially because graduate as
sistant stipends are low.
“There’s no other place for the
money to come from,” Kaplan
said, “so to maintain the quality
of the academic program, 1 think
it’s very necessary. We want to
retain and attract good faculty
and staff.”
Dr. Pierce Cantrell, Faculty
Senate speaker and associate
professor of electrical engineer
ing, said he agrees with Bowen’s
proposal even though students
will not like it.
“I know that this will not be
popular with the students, but I
believe it’s essential for the Uni
versity,” Cantrell said. “Based
on last year, I think nobody is
ever happy when fees go up.”
Cantrell said many class
rooms around campus need up
graded computer protection sys
tems, lights and sound systems.
“We’re just kind of in the
See GUF, Page 10
Dave House, The Battalion
GATHER YE ROSEBUDS
Melanie Holm, a sophomore animal science major, works at a
flower shop across from campus and prepares the store for the
upcoming rush of last-minute Valentine's Day purchases.