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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1996)
SETTING STANDARDS Becky Silloway reaches goals as first female Student Senate speaker. Aggielife, Page 3 NO FOOD, DRINKS OR JOURNALS Halbrook: The library has made great strides by adding a desk, but more should be done. Opinion, Page 11 SHOT DOWN The hot-shooting Houston Cougars down A&M, 79-75. Sports, Page 7 r mg. t power,” jchael Klii -owboys, U e j“;r 102. No. 98 (12 pages) ‘Side the I e NFL e the law ? s has offei Proceeds, ?nt rcent to The Battalion Serving Texas AdrM University Since 1893 Thursday • February 22, 1996 &M probes into possible Boenig hazing is resot P abduction of the because indent body president Presidents Day may ningthatJ* ^priating'! rrible ant earing up act, he is: be considered hazing by ■niversity regulations. )ld the_ ed to chi: by violi| lut on his and ma: d Nike. r Wes Swift ie Battalion | The Department of Student tivities is investigating a pos- le hazing incident involving Jnby Boenig, Texas A&M stu- S nt body president, which has awn complaints of unfair iatment from fraternities and Corps members. Boenig, a senior agricultural development major, was kid napped early Monday by six Fish Aides, or freshmen Student Gov ernment assistants, in honor of Presidents Day. The six freshmen handcuffed and blindfolded Boenig and took him to Albert son’s grocery store. See related EDITORIAL, Page 11 Boenig was then covered with sugar, syrup and eggs and taken to the corner of Texas Avenue and George Bush Drive. There, Boenig held a sign that read, “Honk if you love your student body president.” The Department of Student Activities began the investigation after Christi Moore, head of the Student Organization Hearing Board, saw a picture on the front page of The Battalion of Boenig on the street corner holding the sign. Moore also heard of several complaints from fraternity mem bers alleging that the kidnapping fit the definition of hazing. Under University regulations, hazing is defined as “any act of threat, physical or mental, perpe trated for the purpose of submit ting a student or other person to physical pain or discomfort, indig nity or humiliation...” Moore said she plans to talk to the six Fish Aides who par ticipated in the incident, as well as Boenig, to decide if the case should be referred to the hearing board, which will de termine if any disciplinary ac tion should be taken. Boenig said he is cooperating fully with the investigation and has already talked to Moore. He defended the incident as well, saying that several circumstances distinguish this incident from typ ical hazing incidents. “I have power over these six freshmen,” Boenig said. “At any time, I could have told them to stop, and they would have.” The nature of the incident will be considered, Moore said, but will not carry more weight than other factors. “Certainly the intent will be taken into consideration,” she said, “but it doesn’t change the action.” The handcuffs the freshmen used, Boenig said, were plastic and easily breakable. The fact that the freshmen bought him breakfast, Boenig said, shows no malice was intended. University regulations, howev er, say intent and consent are ir relevant in hazing incidents, specifically citing physical bondage, such as handcuffs and taking students somewhere and dropping them off, as hazing. A&M fraternities have objected to the incident. Jason Jordan, Interfratemity Council president and a junior marketing major, has received “a ton of calls” from fraternity members who were furious that the incident was being treated as a joke. Jordan said the Battalion pic ture reminded him of similar inci dents involving fraternities and the Corps of Cadets that drew penalties from the University. “When I saw the picture, I real ized it was all in good fun,” Jor dan said, “but by the time I fin ished the story, [the kidnapping] reminded me of some incidents that caused fraternities to pay big fines and serve a lot of community service hours.” PLAYIN' WITH THE BOYS Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion Tom Thurmond (right), a senior petroleum engineering major, lays down a domino in the game of 42 at SidePockets Wednes day for Engineering Week. Matt Stewart (left), a senior petroleum engineering major, is Thurmond's partner. Student Senate, GSC mull merits of GUF proposal rilm critic sites problems in entertainment J Michael Medved spoke about the need for people mth traditional American values to regain control over the entertainment industry. By Heather Pace The Battalion Michael Medved has completed law school projects with Hillary Clinton. He has appeared on the Phil Donahue Show with Las Vegas showgirls. And he re cently appeared on Rush Limbaugh’s show as a guest host. But Tuesday night, the well-known film critic, added another experience to his resume when chatted about enter tainment and politics with Texas A&M students. Medved came to A&M as part of Rush Week II, an event sponsored by College Republicans. Much of Medved’s speech focused on problems he sees within the entertain ment industry, and he said his wide range of experience has given him a broad understanding of how the indus try functions. Medved said that though Hollywood has inaccurately judged America’s desire for entertainment, its detrimental effects on the American family can be reversed. “For the past 10 years, the American people have demonstrated that they do not believe movies and television are orna ments to our civilization,” Medved said. The argument that sex and violence sell better, he said, is simply not true. For example, Medved said G- and PG- rated movies generate two-and-a-half times the revenue of R-rated movies. “America is craving more wholesome entertainment,” he said. Medved asserted that the failure of many movies, such as Showgirls, shows that producers do not understand what the public wants. “Lots of people call producers bad peo ple,” he said. “I call them bad businesspeo ple. They turn to hopelessness for shock value so they can gain peer respect.” Hollywood entertainers, he said, argue See Medved, Page 10 □ Senators said that though A&M needs the revenue, students may not respond well to another fee increase. By Heather Pace and Kendra S. Rasmussen The Battalion Texas A&M undergraduate and graduate students have mixed reac tions to a proposal by Dr. Ray Bowen, A&M president, to increase the Gen eral Use Fee (GUF). Bowen presented his plan to the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Tuesday night and the Student Senate Wednesday night. Bowen’s proposal calls for an $8 increase per semester credit hour in the General Use Fee for Fall 1996 that would generate an additional $11 mil lion for A&M. The increase would raise the Gen eral Use Fee from $24 per credit hour to a maximum of $32 set by the state Legislature. Stu dents would pay an additional $100 to $120 more per semester if the pro posal is approved. The added revenue would be used primarily for merit-based salary in creases. Revenue would also fund in structional enhancements, such as classroom and library materials, and classroom improvements, such as chair replacements and new visual- aid equipment. Josh Hennessey, a freshman senator and a business major, said the revenue from the General Use Fee increase would have little impact on A&M be cause the funds would be so diversified. “The increase in the GUF is not only too much for the students at this point, but the spending is so spread out that A&M will see no real effect,” Hennessey said. Bowen said the fee increase is nec essary for A&M to remain competitive and uphold its reputation, but stu dents are worried it may have an ad verse effect on the University. Ashanti Johnson-Pyrtle, a Black Graduate Student Association repre sentative and an oceanography gradu ate student, said she worries the Uni versity will suffer decreased enroll ment in the long run. “It appears as though the University severely needs the income,” she said. “However, I am concerned about how this increase will affect the students. “My concern is that the price may be too high. Some students may not be able to afford to continue their edu cation, especially graduate students that stay around for six years or so.” Students said Bowen presented a well-researched proposal. Kyla Dodson, a masters of business administration representative and MBA graduate student, said she does not welcome the idea of an increase in fees but realizes it is necessary. "I simply cannot support such a drastic fee increase without a parallel proposal to increase financial aid." — Bo Armstrong off-campus senator “I hate to see it become more ex pensive for us to get an education, but I think people will still come to A&M,” she said. “It looks like (Bowen) has been re ally thorough in his analysis. There seems to be no room for internal bud get cuts. The proposal was presented on a really strong business and eco nomic basis. It didn’t seem like a big political presentation.” Bo Armstrong, an off-campus sena tor and a junior computer science ma jor, agreed that the proposal was well- researched, but he said many stu dents are already struggling to pay current fees. “I simply cannot support such a drastic fee increase without a parallel proposal to increase financial aid,” Armstrong said. Stepheni Moore, GSC president and a meteorology graduate student, said she feels Bowen is sincere in his See GUF, Page 10 University, Brazos Valley receive zero anti-Semitic activity reports □ Some Jewish officials said that, overall, A&M does an effective job of discouraging anti-Semitic activity. By Lisa Johnson The Battalion Though 35 incidents of anti-Semit ic activity in Texas were reported to the Anti-Defamation League in 1995, no incidents were reported in the Brazos Valley. Anti-Defamation League Director Jonathan Bernstein said the majority of anti-Semitic acts in Texas occurred in the San Antonio and Houston areas. Rabbi Peter Tarlowe of the Hillel Foundation in College Station defined anti-Semitism as a form of racism in which an individual is judged by his or her affiliation with an ethnic group rather than who they are as a person. Anti-Semitism can be cate gorized in two forms, passive and active. Passive activities in clude the exclusion of a person or group based on their affiliation, and ac tive anti-Semitism includes destruction of property and physical or verbal abuse toward a person or group be cause of their affiliation. The ADL report covered anti-Semitic acts that were specifically anti-Jewish. Tarlowe said he is not surprised by the lack of reported anti-Jewish activity in Brazos Valley, specifically on the Texas A&M campus. He said the Univer sity has gone out of its way to be sensitive to the Jewish is sues he has brought to the ad ministration in his 13 years at the Hillel Foundation. “The University has really managed to be an island of administrative toler ance,” Tarlowe said. “The administra tion, and especially Dr. (J. Malon) Southerland, (vice president for Stu dent Affairs,) have immediately stepped in whenever anything came up that I thought would present a problem for Jewish students.” Tarlowe said potential problems in the past have included moves to say Christian prayers at campus events and to hold final exams on Friday nights, which would interfere with Jewish religious services. But one University area where anti-Semitism has not been corrected easily, Tarlowe said, is in the contents of The Battalion. He said the publication has failed to print any articles about activities conducted in conjunction with Holo caust Day. “Holocaust Day is participated in by all of the area churches here,” he said. “A few years ago, we had a huge thing on Holocaust Day here on campus. It was covered by The Eagle and by other members of the press, but The Batt act ed as if it did not exist.” Tarlowe said, however, that such oc currences were probably the result of ignorance or incompetence on the part of The Battalion staff. Overall, he said, the University does a good job of countering anti-Semitic See Anti-Semitism, Page 10