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Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
THE BATT ON-LINE: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
Monday • July 8, 1996
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Senate set to vote
on minimum wage
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Senate is poised to vote at last on
a minimum wage increase, but
there’s no guarantee that will end
partisan gridlock over the elec
tion-year issue.
Before lawmakers left town for
their Fourth of July recess, Sen
ate Majority Leader Trent Lott
and Minority Leader Tom Daschle
broke a long stalemate by agree
ing to start debate Monday and
vote Tuesday.
But an amendment crafted by
conservative Republicans could
leave the Senate still hung up in
the partisan hammerlock that
held it before Lott, R-Miss., and
Daschle, D-S.D., cut their deal.
Meanwhile, the House is plan
ning to take up two spending bills
— one financing Congress itself
and a second covering the depart
ments of Labor and Health and
Human Services. It already has
passed seven of the 13 spending
bills for fiscal 1997. If time per
mits, the House also will turn to
legislation aimed at discouraging
same-sex marriages.
And both chambers will con
vene in a joint meeting Wednes
day to hear an address from
newly elected Israeli Prime Min
ister Benjamin Netanyahu.
President Clinton has threat
ened to veto the minimum-wage
legislation if the chairman of the
Senate Small Business Commit
tee, Christopher Bond, R-Mo.,
succeeds in attaching an amend
ment exempting employees of
companies with less than
$500,000 in gross receipts.
In a letter to congressional
leaders, Clinton said the provision
would exempt two-thirds of Amer
ican businesses and branded it a
“poison pill.”
“Don’t be fooled. It’s a cruel shell
game,” Labor Secretary Robert Re
ich told the National Press Club.
“This is their response to the invisi
ble workers of America: ‘Here’s 90
See Senate, Page 6
Clinton again testifies
before video cameras
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Clin
ton sat before video cameras again Sunday
for another Whitewater trial, this time tes
tifying in the case of two Arkansas bankers
accused of making political contributions
with bank funds.
After attending morning church ser
vices with daughter Chelsea, the presi
dent returned to the White House for two
hours and 20 minutes of closed-door ques
tioning by attorneys for Herby Branscum
Jr. and Robert M. Hill and cross-examina
tion by prosecutors.
Afterward, the White House issued a
statement reiterating that Clinton is not
the first president to testify in a criminal
trial and citing U.S. District Judge Susan
Webber Wright’s order that officials not
discuss Clinton’s deposition until after it is
shown in court.
“The president has consistently stated that
he will provide the court with whatever infor
mation he can offer, and today’s deposition
fulfills that promise,” the statement said.
Branscum and Hill are accused of reim
bursing themselves for contributions to polit
ical candidates — including Clinton in 1990
when he ran for governor and in 1991 when
he considered seeking the presidency — with
funds from their Perryville, Ark., bank.
While Clinton is not
charged with wrongdoing,
the White House hoped
Sunday to minimize politi
cal damage from his sec
ond testimony before a
federal judge in 10 weeks.
In April, the president tes
tified for just over four
hours in the Whitewater
trial of Gov. Jim Guy
Tucker and James and Su
san McDougal, all of
whom were convicted.
The president’s critics said Sunday
that the sight of Clinton testifying again
over Whitewater sends a message to the
nation that he isn’t being honest about
his involvement.
“When’s Bill Clinton going to stand up be-
CLINTON
fore the American people and tell them the
truth?” Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chair
man of the House Republican Conference,
said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “The public
needs to be able to trust the president.”
Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee and member of
the now-defunct Senate Whitewater Com
mittee, defended Clinton, telling CNN that
the president did not abuse his power of of
fice — unlike the “direct presidential involve
ment in the abuse of power” of the Watergate
scandal during the Nixon administration.
“There is nothing to suggest that either
Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton has done
anything wrong,” Simon said. “I think
we’ve wasted a lot of money and I don’t
think the American people have gotten
anything out of it.”
Clinton’s testimony began at 2 p.m. EDT
in the Map Room on the ground floor of the
White House residence. The room, filled
with historic maps, was the place where
President Roosevelt held top-secret briefin
gs during World War II.
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STUDIOUS STUDENT
Krista Marshall, a freshman business administration major, studies for a history final at Sterling C. Evans Library on Sunday.
Department
works to
alleviate class
shortages
R ecently, The
Battalion has
run four stories
on the shortage of
seats in Spanish class
es; three of the articles
focused on the hard
ships faced by graduating seniors in securing
seats. However, I want to assure readers the Mod
em and Classical Languages department acts in a
most responsible manner to ensure graduating se
niors are accommodated and everything is done to
satisfy student demand.
During the preregistration period, 80 percent
of all seats in Spanish are made available to stu
dents. I hold back 20 percent to make seats
available for students who need them: majors,
minors, teaching field students and graduating
seniors. On the first day of class, at 9 a.m., the
remaining 20 percent of the seats are opened up
for terminal registration at the Pavilion. This
process accommodates nearly every student who
seeks a seat in a Spanish class. For those gradu
ating seniors unable to secure the class they
need, they can sign a force list in the depart
mental office. On the second day of class and
every day after that, I personally run a degree
audit on each student and force any graduating
senior in the class needed.
See Oberhelman, Page 5
STEVE
OBERHELMAN
Guest Columnist
Students, faculty react to
Russian election results
By Amy Protas
The Battalion
The Russian presidential
elections, held last Wednesday,
sparked an old rivalry —
democracy versus communism.
By a margin of 54 percent,
democracy won.
Mark Douglass, a sophomore
international studies major, said
be was relieved when he heard
of Boris Yeltsin’s victory over
Communist Gennady Zyuganov.
T thought it was great
Yeltsin won,” Douglass said. “If
Zyuganov would have won, it
would have been a major set
back for the Russian people.
This was a point where the
Kussian people could have decid
ed to not progress with the re
forms of the late ’80s.”
Zyuganov’s supporters
claimed they were better off eco
nomically under Communism.
George Edwards, a distin
guished professor of political sci
ence and director of the Center
for Presidential Studies, said it
is easy to be impatient with the
economic reforms.
“You can see the difficulty of
trying to impose an alien politi
cal system on a country,” Ed
wards said. “The complexity of
capitalism and the necessity for
infrastructure is difficult to do.
It takes a lot of time. This isn’t
something that happens fast.”
Edwards said the United
States should continue to sup
port Yeltsin.
“Our stance has been to em
brace Yeltsin as the best hope
for the continuation of democ
ratic reforms,” Edwards said.
“We have a huge stake in the
transformation of Russia. In
the long run, it will save us a
lot of money if we help them de
velop markets rather than
build nuclear weapons.”
Although Yeltsin was viewed
as the more democratic of the
two candidates, some feel his
victory should not be seen as a
victory for democracy.
Stjepan Mestrovic, a sociolo
gy professor who has written
four books about developments
after the Cold War in Russia
and the former Yugoslavia, said
Yeltsin is not the reformer
many believe him to be.
“Russia dominated the Soviet
empire and wants to restore
that empire back,” Mestrovic
said. “I see no good reason to
think just because communism
ended, this country would all of
a sudden turn democratic.
Yeltsin has become a national
ist and is willing to use military
force to expand Russia’s bor
ders. I don’t see this election as
a victory for democracy at all.”
In the initial election, held
See Election, Page 6
Aggie Moms president
first A&M graduate to
serve in top
By April Towery
The Battalion
he first Aggie graduate
to serve as president of
the Federation of
Texas A&M Mothers’
Clubs, Susie Powell,
has been selected for
the 1996-1997 school year.
Powell, a 1993 graduate with a de
gree in British literature and British
history, has been serving on the Aggie
Mom’s federation board since 1988.
Powell said she was an Aggie even
then, although she had not yet
earned her degree.
“There’s an old saying that Aggies
are born and not made,” Powell said.
“My husband is an Aggie, and two of my
daughters Eire Aggies, so I feel like I’ve
been a part of Texas A&M for years.”
Powell has no children who are cur
rently at A&M, but she is a firm be
liever in the old saying, “Once an Ag-
position
gie, always an Aggie.”
“Many people do not realize that
they can be an Aggie Mom without a
child currently enrolled,” Powell said.
“We have Aggie Moms who are in their
late seventies. There is a very broad
age range, which really provides a lot
of different perspective and insight.”
President of Aggie Moms is a full
time job with a variety of duties.
During the 1995-1996 school year,
the Aggie Mothers’ Clubs donated over
$1 million for A&M scholarships and
gifts to the University.
“The organization has a little over
7,000 members and 106 clubs in Texas,
Louisiana, Virginia, Nebraska and the
Washington, D.C., Eirea, so basically I
will assist the clubs,” Powell said. “I also
will interface with the University and
go to functions to represent Aggie Moms
and support the University.”
In order to serve as president of Aggie
See Powell, Page 6
Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion
Susie Powell, class of '93, is the first A&M graduate to serve
as President of the Federation of A&M Mothers' Clubs.
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