The Battalion
lume 103 • Issue 20 • 12 Pages
Friday, September 27, 1996
The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
edpots examine Bonfire safety
By Ann Marie Hauser
The Battalion
edpots have been busy seeking
ons to increase the safety of Texas
students traveling to and from
lonfire cut site near Hearne.
ison Burnett, a redpot and senior
:ultural economics major, said he
its to make sure everyone still
safe going to cut site,
want to stress that Bonfire is still
gto go on and we are going to use
1 as a lear ning experience,” Burnett
"We are all real broken up about
nd we’re praying for everybody.”
n accident occurred Sunday
ling on Highway 6 when a truck
ying 10 A&M students back to
ipus from Bonfire cut site rolled
r, killing one student and the re-
ning nine.
gt. Choya Walling of the Bryan
Police Department said investigators
are still contacting witnesses and talk
ing statements about the accident.
“Everything is still under investiga
tion,” Walling said. “There is no indi
cation if fatigue played a part in it.
There’s always a possibility.”
Kevin Jackson, associate director
for the Memorial Student Center and
the Bonfire committee adviser, pro
vides advice and insight on University
policies to the redpots. Jackson said
the Bonfire leaders have had a re
sponsible reaction to the accident.
“I have nothing but good things to
say about the junior and senior lead
ers,” Jackson said. “They’ve been very
forward-looking and proactive.”
Jackson said the redpots have been
brainstorming and asking leaders
within the Bonfire hierarchy for input
on how to improve travel safety to
and from cut site. Jackson said the
proposals are in a premature stage.
Anna Gronberg, an emergency
medical technician for Texas A&M,
said the EMS suggests an alternate
“Our advice for
improving safety
would be to consider
busing students.”
Anna Gronberg
Emergency medical technician
means of transportation to the cut site.
“Our advice for improving safety
would be to consider busing stu
dents,” Gronberg said.
Walling said it is illegal for passen
gers under age 12 to ride in the back of
a pickup truck that is traveling over 35
mph and it was legal for the students
to ride in the bed of the truck.
But Mike Donoho, Bryan Fire De
partment assistant fire chief, said he
advises against riding in the bed of a
truck because there is no way of se
curing oneself.
“As a public safety official, our rec
ommendation is that no one ride in
the back of a pickup truck because it
is very dangerous,” Donoho said.
“You become like a missile when
there is an accident.”
Walling said the Bryan Police De
partment will increase its presence to
prevent future accidents.
“Our intention is to increase pa
trols on the highways in our juris
diction during those times students
are going to and leaving cut,”
Walling said. “It depends on the
available manpower.”
See Sports for full coverage, page 7
• The Wrecking Crew faces its toughest test yet
• Day: Unlike last season, the pressure is off.
• Profiles on A&M's triple-threat running
Regents address issues
Bowen discusses faculty salaries, campus renovations
By Melissa Nunnery
The Battalion
A&M President Ray Bowen told
the Texas A&M University System
Board of Regents Thursday that
faculty salaries are not reflective of
research achievements at A&M.
Bowen reported that faculty
salaries have not seen a significant
increase to match increases in re
search expenditures.
“It goes against the trend of suc
cess,” Bowen said. “We’re not able to
reward our people as we’d like to.”
Bowen also addressed admis
sions criteria, which the Board will
vote on at its meeting in the
Memorial Student Center today.
Bowen said he wants to main
tain excellence in the student body
in the future.
“We have to pass on to the next
generation the same quality of stu
dents this generation has en
joyed,” he said.
Bowen also told the Regents
this year's freshman class is unique
in that it is the first time the Uni
versity has admitted more females
than males.
“To the best of our knowledge,
it’s unique in that respect,”
Bowen said.
Bowen announced the results
of the Capturing the Spirit cam
paign, a fund-raising effort that
began in 1990. The University will
celebrate the $637.6 million total
this weekend.
The finance and audit commit
tee approved the appropriation of
$2 million from the Permanent
University Fund for classroom
renovations on the College Sta
tion campus.
Bowen said the renovations will
protect the assets of the University
for the next generation.
The committee to construct a
Law and Puryear Plaza where the
two residence halls used to stand
went before the Board with infor
mation about the proposed plaza.
The plaza will be used for green
space or a park. The committee pre
sented the concept to the Facilities
Planning and Building Committee.
Chareny Rydl, associate direc
tor of Residence Life, said she
thought the regents showed in
terest in the project.
“There’s an interest,” Rydl said.
“I think they want more details ...
[or] a second opinion.”
The committee for service units
approved the establishment of an
ergonomics center for the Texas
Engineering Extension Service.
Dr. C. Roland Haden, director of
TEES, said that if the center is ap
proved, it will research ways to
make the workplace less stressful.
“[The center] will improve the
flow of materials and increase
safety in the workplace,” Haden
said. “The funding comes from the
National Science Foundation. We
asked the committee to approve it
as a center.”
The Board meets in the Memor
ial Student Center again today and
will vote on issues that went before
committees Thursday.
Enrollment in A&M graduate,
professional schools increases
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
Enrollment in graduate and professional studies
at Texas A&M posted an increase this semester after
a three-year decline and $15 million in lost federal
subvention funds.
Dan Robertson, director of graduate studies, said
the number of graduate students increased from
7,419 last fall to 7,550 this semester.
Robertson said the increase was partly because
of aggressive recruitment by campus departments
and an increase in graduate assistant stipends.
The stipends, made possible by the Graduate En
hancement Fund and President Ray Bowen’s office, give
graduate assistants salary increases up to 15 percent.
Robertson said the economy may be a factor of
the enrollment increase.
“Some argue that the job market is soft now,” he
said. “During the decline, the job market was up,
and if someone could get a good starting pay job,
they would take it instead of going to graduate
school. Now, with all the downsizing and unem
ployment rates increasing, some argue the best bet
is graduate school.”
The enrollment increase will also bring more in fed
eral subvention funds to A&M. The University had lost a
significant amount over the past three years.
“In ration terms, the University gets $1 for every un
dergraduate credit hour and at the same time gets $3
for masters and $8 to $10 for doctoral,” Robertson said.
Subvention money is given to the University to
compensate for costs not covered by tuition.
The amount of money given is determined every
two years when statewide public institutions pre
pare a Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) to
submit to the Legislative Budget Board in Austin.
The LAR is a formal declaration from the fiscal
office containing enrollment data from Summer
1996 through Spring 1997.
Klaas killer sentenced to death A&M Foundation plans
new fund-raising facility
Davis enrages victim’s family with molestation claim
idwest Trip
>e sixth-ranked A&M
ccer Team takes
iekend trip to Iowa St.
Rd Nebraska.
Sports, Page 9
impsonites
mdauer: From OJ. to
rt, the American
ciety likes the idea of
tting away with it.”
Opinion, Page 11
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) —
The killer of Polly Klaas en
raged her family even as he
was being condemned to
death Thursday with a wild
claim that the 12-year-old girl
told him before he killed her
that she had been molested
by her father.
Marc Klaas cried “Burn
in hell, Davis!” and lunged
at his daughter’s killer as he
was hustled out of the
courtroom. Polly’s grand
mother wailed aloud and
wept, leaning against her
husband in shock.
Richard Allen Davis was
sent to California’s death row
at San Quentin Prison for
killing Polly after kidnapping
her from a slumber party in
the bedroom of her Petaluma
home Oct. 1, 1993. A nation
wide search for Polly ended
when Davis led police to her
body in December.
Moments before his for
mal sentencing, the 42-year-
old career criminal criticized
his investigators and lawyers
in a rambling speech. The
Klass family listened with
rapt attention from the front
row, smiling incredulously at
some of his complaints.
Then, Davis started talk
ing about the one charge he
had always steadfastly de
nied — that he had tried to
sexually molest Polly.
“The main reason I
know I did not attempt any
lewd act that night,” Davis
said, “was because of a
statement the young girl
made to me while walking
up the embankment: ‘Just
don’t do me like my dad.’”'
Spectators gasped and a
long-drawn out moan of
“Ohhhh!” echoed in the
courtroom as Klaas shouted,
jumped toward his daugh
ter’s killer and had to be es
corted outside.
Prosecutor Greg Jacobs,
who said he was “nauseated”
by Davis’ allegation, said no
such claim had ever been
leveled during the case, nor
was there any evidence to
support it.
Davis’ defense attorney,
Lorena Chandler slumped
down in her chair, obviously
distraught, her faced buried
in one hand.
The accusation was remi
niscent of Davis’ contemptu
ous action in court the day he
was found guilty, when he
thrust both middle fingers at
a courtroom camera.
Outside the courtroom,
Klaas called Davis’ state
ment a “vile and sinister and
evil act,” and that he had ex-
pected trouble from the
“gutless coward.”
“I brought him down,”
said Klaas, who wants to be
present when Davis is execut
ed. “He knows that as well as
everybody else. We have been
pursuing the death of Richard
Allen Davis for three years. I
am his worst nightmare.”
After the outburst, Supe
rior Court Judge Thomas
Hastings confirmed the sen
tence of death the trial jury
recommended Aug. 5.
By Christie Humphries
The Battalion
One of Texas A&M’s major fund-raising or
ganizations will soon be getting a new home.
The Texas A&M Foundation, formerly
the Development Foundation, has plans to
bujld a $10 million facility on the corner of
Houston Street and George Bush Drive,
just west of the Clayton Williams Jr. Alum
ni Center. The site is the current location
of the University Police Department.
Randy Matson, Association of Former
Students executive director, said the facili
ty will provide permanent headquarters
for the A&M foundation.
“The idea of constructing a $10 million
building to house fund-raising organizations
may sound a bit paradoxic, but not if you
consider the vital role teamwork has played in
A&M’s fund-raising efforts,” he said.
The A&M Foundation is a private, non
profit organization that directs major
fund-raising projects for the University.
Matson said the new facility is being
planned with A&M’s future and fund-rais
ing needs in mind.
“With even greater opportunities in the
future, our organizations must grow and
work together to make changes,” he said.
“This project (building the new center) will
help make those changes possible.”
The Dallas-based architectural firm
HKS Inc. has been hired to design the
53,000 square-foot facility. The building
“With even greater oppor
tunities in the future, our
organizations must grow
and work together to
make changes.”
Randy Matson
Executive director, Association of Former
Students
will feature a curving, windowed Donor
Hall of Honor. Eddie J. Davis, A&M Foun
dation president, said the building will be
built, furnished and maintained solely
through private gifts.
The project has already received finan
cial commitments that will fund more than
half of the estimated cost.