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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1996)
The Battalion uim* 10 5 * Issue 58 « 12 P«ujes Wednesday, November 20, 1996 The Bcltt Online: hUp://bat web.tamu.edu egents approve se Fee hearing 77840 vlien vou *ES 2/1/9 inic By Melissa Nunnery The Battalion A public hearing regarding a 0 ber credit hour increase in the sneral Use Fee is set to take place onday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m. in Rud- ;r Theatre. Bie Texas A&M University Sys- m Board of Regents gave A&M 1m nistrators the go-ahead Tues- ay during a meeting via tele- ion e to hold the hearing . Bexas state law requires that te universities hold public hear- gs before considering a General ,se Fee increase. ^■r. Barry Thompson, chancellor Hie Texas A&M University Sys- 1m, said the public hearing will be eld before the semester break so :udents can attend. The regents Hted to ensure the forum would e held at a time when students In College Station. “ [We don’t want to] be perceived, as we were last year, as holding meetings when no one was there to attend,” Thompson said. Texas A&M President Ray Bowen said the purpose of the hearing is to inform students about the GUF increase. “We will explain the increase and how the money would be used,” Bowen said. The majority of the funds gen erated by the fee increase would be used for faculty and staff raises. The hearing is open to every one. Students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to ask ques tions about the fee increase. The regents will consider the GUF increase at a later meeting and will have the final say in whether the increase will be im plemented. If passed, the GUF increase would be effective Sept. 1, 1997. GUF may increase by $10 By Wesley Poston The Battalion The General Use Fee may in crease $10 per semester credit hour next fall to generate funds for faculty and staff salary in creases, pending a Board of Re gents decision next year. Texas A&M President Ray Bowen will hold an informational forum Monday oudining the rea sons for the increase and how the money will be used. Carl Baggett, student body president and a senior ac counting major, said he does not want the increase and is unsure as to when increases are going to cease. “No one wants a fee increase,” he said. “The Legislature is not giving us any money. Students are going to have to bear a larger part of the burden. “I’m worried where this is lead ing. Where is this going to stop?” The proposed GUF increase follows a Texas Legislature deci sion allowing state universities to raise the GUF to equal tu ition. The previous cap on the GUF was $1.2, The Texas Legislature sets tu ition for all state universities and is increasing tuition $2 per semester credit hour until the year 2000, when it will then reach $40. Tuition at Texas A&M for the 1996-97 school year is $32 per credit hour and the GUF is $24 per hour. The 1997-98 academic year tuition will be $34 per hour and the proposed GUF increase would raise that fee to $34 as well. Chris Reed, speaker of the Student Senate and a senior fi nance major, said the Legisla- 1 ture has shifted an enormous burden to students. “The Legislature has decided to fund priorities other than edu cation,” he said. “The administra tion’s hands are tied.” Dr. Bill Kibler, assistant vice president for mMmmmmmMMmM student affairs, said there were two competing philosophies in these deci sions. On one side, there are those who feel every- one should contribute to education be cause it benefits society, he said. The other side, he said, insists education should be paid for by education’s consumers — the students. “The trend for the past 20 years has been toward consumer- funded education,” Kibler said. PREVIOUS PROPOSED '94 $12 '97 $34 95 20 '98 36 '96 24 '99 38 40 Bi* I ^ E E* £ SX ^ PART 1 IN A 5 PART SERfES ► See editorial, Page 11 Officials estimate that if ac cepted, the proposed increase will generate $11 million for faculty and staff pay increases. Baggett said the salary increas es are necessary to ensure the quality of education at A&M now and in the future. “It’s difficult, but it’s neces sary,” he said. “If the faculty does n’t get pay raises, we’re going to see a drain on our faculty.” Bowen said A&M has fallen be hind on raises and he is told that faculty are unhappy. “This will not solve our prob lem, but it is a step in the right di rection,” Bowen said. See GUF, Page 12 n Shoe a Bag i rurday OO p.m. 10-6 Sun 12'6 sntistfl Practice alancing Act Dave House, The Battalion Natalie Hawes, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, rides her unicycle to her classes from Underwood Hall. She's been riding since May. Battle of the Bands Internet letter prompts rivalry MOB member asks Longhorns to vote against A&M By Carla Renea Marsh The Battalion The Texas Aggie Band may be given a run for its money in ESP- NET’s Battle of the Bands if stu dents and faculty at the University of Texas respond to a plea by a supporter of the Rice University Marching Owl Band (MOB). Bev Blackwood, systems analyst for Rice University, posted a letter on the Internet to encourage fans of the University of Texas to vote against the Aggie Band in its competition to day against Stanford University. Blackwood, a former Rice band member, wrote: “Since Rice’s MOB has always been a long-time friend of the UT Longhorn Band and both schools HATE the Aggies, could we get you to vote against the Aggies? ... Texas A&M has us completely outgunned in ESPN’s Battle of the Bands, and not only that, they’ve really mobilized their voting forces, with more votes cast for them than any other match-up had for BOTH schools.” The Aggie Band defeated the Dart mouth University Marching Band in the preliminary round by receiving 74.4 percent of the 13,897 votes cast. No other preliminary competitor came close to that many votes. Blackwood said she solicited the help of UT fans because A&M’s large student population gives the band an advantage. “It is all about numbers,” Black wood said. “One only has to go back and look at the ESPN voting num bers to see [A&M has] roughly a 9,000 [member] voting pool. "If you do the math, we (MOB) have to have help if we are going to have any chance of success at all.” Voting in the quarterfinal compe tition against Stanford University will continue until noon today. Mike Hays, combined band com mander and a senior speech com munications major, said the letter shows poor sportsmanship. “They have to stoop that low to write a letter,” Hays said. “There’s such an overwhelming support at A&M. If we make it past this level (quarterfi nals), I think we’ll do all right.” Joel Neuenschwander, B Com pany commander and a senior fi nance major, said the letter goes too far. “Normally, people would encour age others to vote for and not against,” he said. The single-elimination, virtual re ality Battle of the Bands competition will continue until Nov. 26. The MOB won its quarterfinal competition against the University of Wisconsin and will compete against Princeton University in the semifinals. If the Aggie Band defeats Stanford in the quarterfinal round, the Aggie Band will take on Grambling State University in the semifinals. If A&M defeats Stanford and Grambling State, and if Rice defeats Princeton, the Aggie Band will face the Owl Band in the finals. See Letter, Page 12 Planes collide killing 13 people QUINCY, Ill. (AP) — A commuter plane coming in for a landing col lided at a runway intersection Tuesday with a small private plane that was trying to take off, igniting a fireball that killed all 13 people aboard both aircraft. The planes collided on runways that “intersect, actually cross,” said David Smith, manager of Baldwin Municipal Airport. The airport, which serves smaller planes, does not have a control tower. The incoming plane was a Unit ed Express flight with nine ^passen gers and two crew members that had originated in Chicago and made a stop in Burlington, Iowa, before heading on to Quincy. The private plane, with two peo ple aboard, was from the St. Louis area, but it was not immediately known where it was headed. Mike Coultas, a private pilot, was arriving at the airport when the crash occurred. “I kept thinking to myself I can’t believe this aircraft on Runway 4 does not see the other aircraft,” which was landing, Coultas told CNN. “Just about the time I got to the fence to park my car, the two air craft impacted at the intersections of the two runways and then ex ploded into a ball of flames,” Coul tas added. Thick black smoke could be seen from 10 miles away, said firefighter Darren Smith. “The only thing that resembled an aircraft was the United Airlines tail section,” Smith said. “It was still intact.” “I never did make out the other plane,” said David Douglas, anoth er firefighter. Coroner Chris Boyer said the bodies would remain in the planes overnight because of the difficulty of working in the dark. te 105, The Battalion TODAY tcGiEs *ower Pop G CADET Bus Stop Uistin-based band astball looks for a ockin’ crowd to show tVertigo tonight. Aggielife, Page 3 ils —id Nails iber Glass Manicures -NICURE | it 0.00 1 foung Blood Virh the loss of five |ei iors, the Lady Aggies m looking to its corps eshmen to produce. Sports, Page 5 iickback j wodwin: Celebrities 823 iit slow deaths, n. closed Hqqks to devoted ^itrepreneurs. Opinion, Page 11 Women continue to play pivotal role in building Bonfire By Erica Roy The Battalion The roles of women in the building of Aggie Bonfire have evolved from dropping off lunches at cut site in 1979 to wiring logs on the fourth stack in 1996. Micki Helm, a pinkpot with Women’s Bonfire Committee and a junior elemen tary education major, said women now play a more important role in building Bonfire than in years past. “Now, we’ve become a pivotal role in the building of Bonfire,” Helm said. The Bonfire Reload Crew began in the early ’80s and is comprised of 150 women who serve cookies, punch and hot choco late at stack. Donations from the Aggie Moms Club provide funding for the Crew. Sarah Sullen, a Mosher Hall co-chair and sophomore history major, said she is the cut and stack pot for Mosher, which requires her to be present at all Aston Hall cut and stack shifts. Sullen said women make a big dona tion to the building of Bonfire. “A girl can contribute as much as a guy can if she’s willing to work hard,” Sullen said. Women have the opportunity to partic ipate in cut and stack through their resi dence hall or with Off-Campus Aggies. The WBC provides lunches and water for the students at cut site. They also pro vide water at stack and make sure the red- pots are fed while working. Selling soft drinks at the Coke shack at stack site is an other WBC responsibility. James LaMarr, a junior redpot and a construction science major, said every person building Bonfire makes a contribu tion. He said he thinks the women are comfortable helping out. "I see a lot of women that come out regularly and they seem to be having a good time,” LaMarr said. “They would n't keep coming out if they didn’t (have a good time).” Erin Hopkins, BRC director and a senior theater arts major, said she works at stack because she enjoys being there and watching students build Bonfire. Sullen said working on Bonfire results in a feeling of satisfaction which, along with friends, encouraged her to continue helping out this year. All three women said the treatment of women at cut and stack has changed over the past few years. Hopkins said the treatment from men at Bonfire has improved compared to when she first started working. “Over the five years I’ve been here, it’s evolved tremendously,” Hopkins said. “Women feel more comfortable going out there now.” Helm said the relations between men and women building Bonfire are positive. The men want the women to come out to cut and stack, she said. “Guys seem to appreciate us, and we love being out there,” Helm said. Sullen said women working on Bonfire are respected. “I think that if you come out there to work, guys respect you,” Sullen said. “They’re going to admire you for what you’re doing regardless if you’re a boy or a girl.” Hopkins said the treatment of women can vary depending on what outfit or resi dence hall they are with. Sullen said Mosher Hall is fortunate to work with Aston Hall because crew chiefs and residents are supportive of Mosher residents who come to cut and stack with them. Helm said when women do participate in Bonfire, they are expected to contribute as much as the men. “Most of the dorms (male residence halls) expect as much out of you as ... any guyout there,” she said. Hopkins said Bonfire Adviser Kevin Jackson has worked to improve the way women are treated at Bonfire. “Kevin Jackson has done a tremendous job of cleaning it (Bonfire) up, and making it better,” she said. Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion Jennifer Minor, a freshman biology major, wires logs at Bonfire on Monday night. Women can participate in cut and stack through their residence hall or with Off-Campus Aggies.