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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
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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.