i s The Battalion lone cannot iml goers must bee ■ak said. PlO :e Day, 20tli }.5 million. Professor, million. jn, Disney, ick of Notre 14 million, rner Bros., 'isney, $8.6 Columbia, rner Bros., n possible, nillion. Guy, Co lon. id stand in lie uched a nerve' ing happens!; get involved ic (sphere of wk are. This is« Barnum woulJ lures are based nates of ticket sday througl ares will here ^rTozTNo. 161(8 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 THE BATT ON-LINE: http://bat-web.tamu.edu Tuesday • July 9, 1996 Powell says ‘no’ to campaigning for GOP WASHINGTON (AP) — Disap pointing Republican leaders eager to tap his enormous popularity, Colin Powell said Monday he did not plan to campaign for presidential hopeful Bob Dole or any other GOP candidates this fall. In an interview with AP Network News, Powell again said flatly he was not interested in serving as Dole’s vice presidential running mate. He said he had been in touch with officials planning next mon th’s Republican Na tional Convention but ‘T don’t know that I will play a role.” Dole has said re cently that he takes Powell at his word when the retired POWELL general says he is not interested in sharing the ticket. In any event, Pow ell’s views on abortion and affirmative action would make him a tough sell to conservative GOP delegates. Still, Dole has said he would turn to Powell for advice on defense and for eign policy matters and on several oc- cassions has talked eagerly of the prospect of taking Powell along on cam paign trips. Other GOP leaders have spoken of finding ways for the party to involve Powell in congressional cam paigns and perhaps fund-raising. But when asked if he would help fellow Republicans this fall, Powell told AP: “I don’t want to go out. I don’t plan to go out on the campaign or fund-raising trail. I am practicing my own politics privately.” Later, Powell told reporters he planned to vote for Dole and was certain he would speak to the GOP standard-bearer from time to time. He said he might appear publicly with Dole, but there were “not any plans to go out on the campaign trail.” Dole aides were disappointed, but publicly played down the significance of Powell saying he did not plan to campaign with Dole. Instead, cam paign spokesman Nelson Warfield suggested Powell’s pledge to vote for Dole was “a strong vote of confidence that Bob Dole is the best candidate to lead America in a dangerous world.” Dole and other leading Republi cans, including GOP Chairman Ha ley Barbour, have also talked of giv ing Powell a prominent role at the August nominating convention in San Diego. Powell said he did not want a major part but that he was in touch with planners “seeing if there is a role I can play.” A&M strives for diversity despite Hopwood ruling By Amy Protas The Battalion The recent Hopwood decision made it illegal for colleges covered by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to use race as a determining factor in admissions. Texas A&M, like all other public uni versities in Texas, Louisiana and Mis sissippi, will now have to overhaul its admissions process. The Admissions Advisory Committee deals with ways the University can handle admissions to comply with the decision. Curtis Childers, a student represen tative on the committee and junior agri cultural development major, said the committee made recommendations for the University to consider. “The committee was comprised of a di verse range of students, faculty and ad ministrative staff,” Childers said. “We put together a report to Provost Ron Dou glass. The charge of the committee was to look into current admission procedures and make sure they’re in line with what we look for at A&M in students.” The committee presented its report to Douglass on July 1. Once Douglass makes his decision, the report will be given to A&M President Ray Bowen for consideration. Bowen said new factors will probably replace the race criteria. “If you look at the criteria pre-ifpp- wood, race was a minor factor,” Bowen said. “We anticipate to supplement fac tors instead of race. We will use econom ic, first-generation college student and geographic factors as we continue to have a diverse campus.” A&M uses a point system in its en rollment process. Childers said prospective students were not given points for being from a particular ethnic background. “Ethnicity was only a consideration in which high schools were considered out lying schools,” Childers said. “These are schools that have populations that are under-represented at A&M. They offer a guaranteed diversity in the students they tum out.” Under-represented populations come from schools that are private or in rural or inner-city areas. Bowen said the University will see an initial decrease in minority students. “There will be some less minority numbers in the freshman class,” Bowen said. “In the long run, we will be able to regain the enrollment numbers prior to Hopwood. There’s going to be a possibili ty that minority students we recruited previously will go out of state.” Kevin Carreathers, director of the Department of Multicultural Services, said although the department is not re sponsible for the recruitment of minority students, it is concerned with the possi bility of decreasing minority numbers. “If we can’t come up with ways to ef fectively recruit minority students in light of the Hopwood decision, our num bers will decrease,” Carreathers said. Carreathers said the University has always enrolled minority students based on merit. The admissions committee says, how ever, there are other options to attract minority students. “The Hopwood decision will not change A&M’s mission of enhancing di versity on this campus,” Childers said. Some of the recommendations the committee has made to the University include reaching out to junior-high stu dents at outlying schools, appointing student ambassadors to promote mi nority acceptance and visibly reinforc ing the goal of diversity and condemn ing actions against it. Bowen said he also believes A&M stu dents will help in enhancing diversity. “As more of our current minority stu dents graduate, they will be positive role models,” Bowen said. “People will see they are successful and will think of A&M as a place to send their children.” a effort to gain him National election. Russian peo- man War and ian and a na- ~y anti-West t would be a or comments ed said there in Russia - ddhism — a ice to Russi- re not close >ecific club,’ e members ;er and par- t-A-Student Student is Mom just s or birth- icular stu- ent is away t at college iversity ad- xms help to :ity atmos- miversity. Moms are romen he art of the the other ded some- ach you, I Mom and Powell at feeling that they ed for by age of tax 2 effective ;o Jan. 1, he period ing wage sion. And would be " all ages, ss., plans .he train- i vision in s. 1 to soft- ~aise, is hly Sll illion. Pat James, The Battalion DEWARE'D IT GO? A wrecking ball demolishes DeWare Field House on Monday afternoon. Fire training center recycles water By Melissa Nunnery The Battalion The Brayton Fireman Train ing Center uses millions of gal lons of water each year for train ing. But the year-round training and the recent lack of rain may cause some to worry about the availability of water at the train ing center. The fire training center, how ever, recycles 75 to 80 percent of the water used in training. The rest is lost through evaporation and overspray onto the grass. Jack Donovan, who works at the Fireman Training Center, s aid they use up to one million Sallons of water each day. The training center used 400 million Sallons last year. “We probably would have used 1.600 million gallons if we didn’t recycle,” Donovan said. The amount of water the training center would use without the recy cling system would be about equal to the amount used by the City of College Station in one year. “We’ve cut back this year be cause we have the oil and water separator,” Donovan said. The oil and water separator re- rtioves oil from the water before Pumping the water back into the firehoses for reuse. Donovan said after the water goes through the oil and water separator, 95 to 96 percent of the oil is removed. Oil is added to the water to keep the fires burning. Donovan said before they got the oil and water separator, the amount of oil in one of the hold ing ponds was so great it burned people’s eyes. The oil is now being removed from the pond, and algae has developed there. Donovan said they would like to start reusing water from the sewage plant to save even more water. “The goal is to use the resource (water from the sewage plant) a second time,” Donovan said. Steve Esmond, president of Esmond Engineering, the compa ny that designed the water recy cling system, said sewage water could be recycled with the cur rent system. “It would be technologically feasi ble and would save more water,” Es mond said. “We’re always looking for ways to conserve water.” Sand and oil are removed from the water used at the training center and reused as well. Esmond said the oil removed See Water, Page 8 Pat James, The Battalion The Fire Training Center recycles water for future use in training drills. Underground cuts back summer hours The Underground Food Market closes at 2 p.m. this summer because of a notice able decrease in customers. By Tauma Wiggins The Battalion Students and faculty members wanting to grab a bite to eat after 2 p.m. on Northside this summer will not get much farther than the Under ground’s locked doors. Mickey Speakmon, facility manager of the Underground Food Market, said the market closes at 2 p.m. because of a noticeable decrease in customers this summer. He said students were given the opportunity to provide feedback to the Department of Food Services. “There’s nothing on this side of cam pus and we don’t get any traffic in this area,” Speakmon said. “We put a ques tionnaire out verbally and on paper for the first couple of weeks this summer.” Ron Beard, director of Food Services at Texas A&M, said students’ comments and suggestions are always welcome. “We listen a great deal to students’ comments,” he said. “Comments come straight to my office and we pay atten tion to a lot of these.” Last summer, 11 Northside resi dence halls were occupied by students, Beard said, making it more feasible to keep the Underground open longer. Donna Okruhlik, a Northside stu dent worker, said no residence halls on Northside are being used this summer. Beard said only 14 of the 25 on- campus dining facilities are open this summer. Students seeking late-night dining can find Li’l Bernie’s open from 5 to 11 p.m. t The Common Denominator opens the earliest, at 6:30 a.m. Speakmon said students dissatisfied with on-campus dining hours are wel come to voice their concerns. “We have a comment section and would be glad to facilitate students in any way possible,” he said. Bertha tears through Caribbean CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Ripping off roofs and doors and hurling lumber and trash cans through the air, Hurricane Bertha slammed into the Virgin Islands on Monday with torrential rains and winds that gusted to 103 mph. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season powered over a string of north eastern Caribbean islands, growing to a 460-mile-wide menace as it hit St. Thomas and bypassed Fkierto Rico. While two surfers were reported miss ing in the storm, on the whole people on the islands that Bertha passed by Mon day were relieved by the relatively light damage, compared to last year’s punish ing Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn. “I feel very fortunate,” said Tracy Booth of St. Thomas, although she added that her friends lost the roof of their house to the storm. Bertha passed directly over St. Thomas but came no closer than about 45 miles to F^ierto Rico. Thousands of people took shelter on the islands, emerging to find destruction — al- rwcrviw v ^ ^ RtCD SI Tboma^ I >5, S' Manns Vtubtomat Hurricane Bertha Max winds: 85 mph Gusts at 100 mph Moving WNW at 15 mph Associated Press though extensive — far less damaging than they had feared. Bertha headed northwest overnight toward the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Hurricane warnings were in effect for See Bertha, Page 8