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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1996)
• April 17,191 m Page 12 i speed and beiij Ithough he «• its in high schod a you are playii| ports. [ball, the seasot ;il Januarj', aai son starts arom anuary.” laying two sportf tn very busy, s competitive anil ge,” McCray said ed.” ot had the sam ; as other athlete vever, he is coi ,dy for the nation- leetintwoweek weeks are very ay said. “We are :h time." iy’s accomplish mal indoor team d a 4X400 meter p in 1994. ere are both pros two-sport athlete, lental toughness son said. “But tie away is a defid to have talent ail receiver and trad ed." rd for the Olympit in joining the foot- omissthemHoi- >ay plans on® no matter what g to miss thisop ray said. “Only Iream about on to represent you mpics.” The Lady Aggies make a wreck of Texas Tech. SPORTS, PAGE 7 Halbrook: Continual campus construction robs students of a beautiful time of year. OPINION, PAGE 11 A Golden Tradition About 2,000 students are receiving their Aggie rings today. AGGIELIFE, PAGE HE BaTTALIO 102, No. 132 (12 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 Thursday • April 18, 1996 Government system focus of debate Dave House, The Battalion George Mitchell, Dan Quayle and Authur Schlesinger discuss American policy in Rudder Auditorium Wednesday night. By Heather Pace The Battalion Partisan division is causing some Americans to question whether the current system of gov ernment is effective. Dan Quayle, former vice presi dent; George Mitchell, former Sen ate Majority leader; Arthur Schlesinger, former special assis tant to John F. Kennedy and recipi ent of two Pulitzer Prizes; and Mar garet Warner, correspondent with the News Hour with Jim Leahrer, a PBS program; debated Wednesday night at Texas A&M the effective ness of divided government. Tim Slaughter, a sophomore in dustrial distribution major, said he enjoyed the dialogue among the participants in the Wiley Lecture Series, “Framing American Policy: The Congressional and Presiden tial Roles.” “I liked the banter established between Quayle and Mitchell and how they shared the inside story,” Slaughter said. “There is so much criticism right now, and it is re freshing to see how optimistic they are.” Mitchell and Quayle spent a ma jority of the debate arguing whether the legislative branch, controlled by the Democratic Party, or the execu tive branch, controlled by the Re publican Party, is stronger. Quayle said he supports one- party control of both branches of government, particularly if the Re publican Party is in control. “We need bipartisan effort if the American people want divided gov ernment,” Quayle said, “but I would prefer it to be unified.” Mitchell, like Quayle, is opti mistic that America will fulfill the founding fathers’ dreams of the right to pursue happiness. “The central purpose of our gov ernment is to preserve and expand individual liberties,” Mitchell said. “We will succeed whether govern ment is divided or unified.” Schlesinger argued that legisla tive ineffectiveness is not the re sult of the design of government. He cited Truman and Nixon as examples of presidents who were successful in the face of legislative control by opposition parties. “A divided government doesn’t paralyze legislative action,” Schlesinger said. “Our problem isn’t one of structure; it is one of remedy.” The panel discussed the draw backs of a divided government on foreign policy. Quayle said divided government results in tension, which has detri mental effects on foreign policy. “You get into a mentality where it is trench warfare coming into for eign policy,” Quayle said. “Dole joined with Clinton over Bosnia, but there wasn’t a real understanding.” “We seem to be in a habit of al ways confronting each other.” Panel members discussed the shifts of power between the legisla tive and executive branches be cause of war — most recently, the Cold War. Mitchell said the nuclear poten tial available during the Cold War resulted in increased foreign policy power for the president. “There was a dramatic change in the balance of power out of See Debate, Page 5 took a little bit d son said. ‘He’s and 1 thinktk i lot better in tbs .ding up to tbs erence Champ! ig with the pres' > succeed in two his top prioritis; ;ood for the teat ; school, butmos: in academics' le to college tope: ;’s the mainthk is Jones canonb >asses. f talent, it’sjuf/ the football tale alent and seek! os,” Nelson sail years go by, hel ustomed to goiif >tball and tract ;oing to helpm mew experieiffl Senate considers condemning case By Wes Swift The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Senate Wednesday referred a resolution con demning the Hop wood vs. State of Texas decision to the Student Services Com mittee, saying it needed more time to raisult with its constituents before taking a stance on the issue. The referral brought jeers from some of the resolution’s supporters, who said referring it would give opponents a chance to water it down and lessen its impact on the stu dent body. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled three weeks ago in the Hopwood case that admission decisions using ethnicity as a criterion are unconstitutional. The ruling, which originally dealt with four students who applied to the University of Texas law school, was extended to cover all public universities in the 5th circuit, which in cludes Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Eliot Kerlin Jr., a Northside senator and junior finance major, argued to refer the resolution, saying the Senate should gain a better understanding of the situa tion before it takes a stance on such a serious issue. “We don’t know the facts,” he said. “I don’t know the law. I don’t know what the University can and can’t do. “I think this issue is bigger than the 15 minutes that we are giving it. I don’t feel I have enough information to make a decision.” Proponents of the resolution said referring it to committee would allow opponents to soften the resolution’s power. Josh Grahmann, Senate rules and regulations chair and junior agribusiness major, said he was disappointed by the Senate’s deci sion to refer the resolution. “I think the Student Senate should have taken a stance,” Grahmann said. “I think the resolution has a chance to get watered down in the com mittee and will lose its impact on the student body. This could have had a ma jor impact had it passed.” Grahmann said he is afraid that op ponents of the resolution will work in See Senate, Page 5 GO, SUNRAYCER, GO John Costanza, secretary of the Texas A&M Sunraycer Club and senior engineering technology major, drives Aggie Beam- er 12 down Spence Street to be displayed near the Bright Building Wednesday. The sunraycer, powered by batteries recharged by the sun to the solar panel, is a senior design project which races every two year in a 1,200-mile race from Indianapolis, Ind., to Golden, Colo. The sunraycer will be in Dallas this weekend to raise funds for the 1997 model. Czelusta strives to give back to A&M students By Tauma Wiggins The Battalion Members of Texas A&M’s Residence Hall Association have an optimistic outlook on the coming academic year. They are looking forward to the leadership of the organiza tion’s newly elected president, Jesse Czelusta, a senior agri cultural economics major, who will take office next week. Suzanne Lyons, a senior geography major and 1995-96 RHA president, said Czelusta is extremely dedicated to campus residents and has proven himself reliable, orga nized and motivated. Czelusta has been involved with many student service ac tivities during his four years at A&M, including Student Sen ate, Class Council and the the Health Smart Coalition. One of his favorite activities is eating, which he said fits in well with the duties of his newly ac quired leadership position. “Dr. Southerland often in- Amy Browning, The Battalion vites student leaders over on weekends,” Czelusta said, “and he always provides us with lots of food.” Czelusta said he has a mis sion to serve A&M and that he wants to give back to the peo ple and the community. “The involvement of stu dents makes A&M outstand ing,” Czelusta said. “I want to capitalize on that. With 9,000 (campus residents), we have so much potential, and I really want to involve them.” Czelusta is listed as an agricultural economics major, but he often refers to his ma jor as “everything.” “A&M has so much to offer students; there’s no way you can possibly take it all in,” Czelusta said. “I think diversi ty is God’s greatest gift to us.” Jake Carr, a senior English major and director of RHA fa cilities and operations, who worked with Czelusta on a bill RHA developed this semester, See Czelusta, Page 10 Menendezes receive life without parole The jury deliberated for 13 hours before sentencing the Menendez brothers LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez were spared the death penalty Wednesday for methodically gunning down their wealthy parents 6 1/2 years ago in their Beverly Phils mansion. The jury recommended life in prison without parole for the killings of record company execu tive Jose Menendez and his so cialite wife, Kitty. The brothers have already spent more than six years in jail. “There was no way we could put them to death,” said juror Bruce Seitz, 34. “There were oth er good things about them that warranted their life, that warranted their living.” The penalty was the best the defense could hope for. “Lyle is re lieved because he wants to live,” said his Erik Menendez lawyer, Charles Gessler. “You know life without parole is not something to be looking forward to. So you can’t say he is happy, but he is re lieved that it was life.” Erik’s attor ney, Leslie Abramson, was relieved for both brothers. “On the good side I will say they’re both such con- Lyle Menendez siderable hu man beings that they will find a way to be productive,” she said. The eight men and four women jurors deliberated for 13 hours over three days before filing into the courtroom Wednesday with grim faces. The room was gripped with tension as the foreman handed in their written decisions. Lyle, 28, and Erik, 25, wore shirts and ties, their faces paler than ever. Neither reacted much. Erik sat foreward to lis ten more closely, then leaned back in his chair as the verdicts were completed. There were separate verdicts for each brother for the killings of each parent. When “life in prison See Sentence, Page 5 Corps’ win e Greek streak By Marissa Alanis The Battalion The Texas A&M Corps of Cadets team defeated the Fraternity team 11- 7 Wednesday night at the seventh an nual Corps-Frat baseball game at Olsen Field. The Corps win ended the fraterni ties’ two-year winning streak. Alan Nisbet, an Interfraternity Council member and junior biomed ical sciences major, said the event was organized to weed out common misconceptions about the rivalry be tween the two groups, which he said is virtually nonexistent. See Baseball Game, Page 5 Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion David Hendal from the Corps of Cadets at bat. Quannel X to speak Quannel X, a Nation of Islam minister who is visiting Texas A&M with a message of unity, hopes students of all races will come hear him speak tonight. X, who is speaking at 7 p.m. in 228-29 MSC, told Shawn Williams, director of programs for Alpha Phi Alpha, the fraternity who is hosting X, that the event is not for African-Americans only. “He specifically said that he wants a wide variety of people to come,” Williams said. “His message is not just for African-Americans.” Alpha Phi Alpha decided to invite X to A&M as a pre lude to next week’s Explosion Week, which will promote campus unity in honor of Crystal Miller and Reginald Broadus, two A&M students who were murdered in 1994 in DeSoto. X spoke at A&M two years ago, causing some controver sy with his message that African-Americans should be treated equally in terms of recruitment and scholarships and that African-Americans on all campuses need to unite. Williams said he hopes X’s appearance will again be controversial. “We need to be made to feel uncomfortable because it helps us check our norms and views,” he said.