Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1996)
The Battalion /olume 103 • Issue 62 • 12 Pages Tuesday, November 26, 1996 The Balt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu owen discusses GUF with public By JoAnne Whittemore The Battalion inday. Tito Wooten liking play, retun able Irvin fumt touchdown just® e for a 13-3 leadf iwn added a git linching 4-yardt|| Dr. Ray Bowen, president of down pass to Briajfxas A&M University, explained zlowski with 6:0:le uses and benefits of the General to play. Ise Fee to the public Monday night a p ra( j Q a [|l Rudder Theatre. had field Mil. 'b as * c idea here is to ex- jJ 4 r an( i 4fi plain what the proposal is going r - , li be to the Board of Regents and tell you how much money that generate,” he said. “All money generate from the fee increase be used to raise the salaries of r staff and faculty.” I Bowen has proposed an increase a two-game enging a 27-0 j) in the second in the GUR from $24 to $34 per se mester credit hour for Fall 1997. The proposed increase must be ap proved by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, with the earliest possible date of approval being January 1997. Every dollar per student increase in GUF provides about $1.1 million in recurring revenue. Bowen discussed some of the long-term effects of inadequate funding, such as a weakened acad emic infrastructure and difficulty in retaining and recruiting faculty, staff and graduate assistants. He said the alternatives to in- PART 5 IN A 5 PART SERIES creasing the GUF are not promising. “One option is don’t give raises,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a good one. We could use reserves, but the problem is reserves are one-time money and raises are recurring ex penses. We have looked at other op tions prior to the obvious one of try ing to increase fees.” He said as the cost of attending the University goes up every year, the percentage of that cost paid for by financial aid has also increased. Bowen said financial aid, through scholarships, grants, loans and waivers, has exceeded the rate of rising expenses. In a question and answer ses sion, John Alvis, president of the Graduate Student Council and a nuclear engineering graduate stu dent, said the increase in financial aid does not necessarily net a de crease in fees for students. “You’ve (Bowen) mentioned an increase in financial aid and that’s wonderful, but all that does is in crease our debt when we graduate,” Alvis said. Bowen said scholarship dollars have gone up 30 percent in the last six years. He pointed out that these were not loans, but “real- life” scholarships. Another student claimed his fees had gone up 110 percent since he was a freshman, but his financial aid had not. He also questioned whether his children would have to give 110 percent when they attend ed the University. Bowen said fee increases were inevitable and people of the stu dent’s generation were going to confront high tuition. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs, said there is no short-term solution to the problem of funding. “Right now there is no long-term perspective as to how that problem can be adjusted except by action of the Legislature.” More information may be found at http://www- fiscal.tamu.edu/vp/guf/ on the Internet. ilowou aStall Quadfest to serve food, entertainment Reedy’s future, d even moreqii the Reedy theffe coach to lose nference wast: and ay in Waco is determined with leading cola grains nationallyr best available ton said in a state: first head coic > with a 23-22tt st in his onlybot te 1994 Alamo Be sly, I am veryd t we will not h; to fulfill the go; ears ago,” Reedy be grateful toB >r giving me thel 3 of serving as its h. md pray that w 1 the universit itegrity andth [ram is in betters /as four years ago aid he wouldfoa nmittee iokJp irch for a new co Event gives students place to go before Bonfire By Erica Roy The Battalion Registratiof Now thru Dec, tors Sreak Wlf r -HX? Snorkel 79/559** ire down to >aradise, five Cozumel’ Dathe on the iches.or visit Gumbo and turkey wings will be served at Bonfire Quadfest ’96 today at 3 p.m on the Quadrangle to promote a non-alco holic Bonfire. Jason Waligura, head coordinator of Quad fest and a senior petroleum engineering ma jor, said the event provides students with a safe, alcohol-free pre-Bonfire activity. “If this keeps people from going to par ties or big beer bashes ... then this would be a great service to the student body,” Waligura said. There is no admission to Quadfest, but tickets for food will be sold. A ticket for gum- j bo costs $3 and a turkey wing ticket costs $2. Drinks may be purchased for 50 cents, but a ' gumbo or turkey ticket includes a drink. Entertainment will be provided by local country band Highway 6, the TAMU Dance Team, the Aggie Wranglers and the Aggie En ergizers, a barber shop quartet from the Singing Cadets. Radio stations KTEX 106 and Mix 104.7, both Quadfest sponsors, will broadcast from the Quad during Quadfest. Entertainment will end at 6 p.m., but guests are welcome to stay until the Aggie Band marches to Bonfire site. Waligura said Quadfest gives students a place to gather before Bonfire. “They don’t have a gathering point be fore Bonfire,” Waligura said. “Everybody’s kind of spread out doing their own thing, then why don’t we do something? Bring everybody together and give everybody a gathering area before they go over and watch Bonfire burn.” Waligura said the organizers of Quadfest wanted to open up the Quad to students who are not in the Corps of Cadets. In the process of planning the event, he said, they realized they were also promoting a non-alcoholic Bonfire. “It (Quadfest) started out as a good event for the Corps, inviting everybody to come eat on the Quad,” Waligura said. “Then, in doing so, we realized by doing it on the Quad it is a non-alcoholic environment, so we’re also promoting a non-alcoholic Bonfire ... then once we realized that, that became the cen terpiece for it (Quadfest).” Waligura and a team of sophomore cadets will cook the gumbo. The recipe they will use was provided by Jim Burnett of Huntsville. His son, Jason Burnett, is a senior at Texas A&M. Jim Burnett will be at Quadfest today to help the cadets prepare the gumbo. See Quadfest, Page 4 The Circle of Life Pat James, The Battalion Jeff Geisen and Larry Howard, members of the Class of ’98, pet Nanda, a 24-year old African elephant at Bonfire site Monday for E-Walk. Outfit runs game ball to Austin Bonfire Coverage Bonfire Wrap-Up, Page 5 Concessions at Bonfire, Page 2 By Wesley Poston The Battalion Corps of Cadets outfit Chal lenger 17 will jog to Austin tonight, carrying the game football from Bonfire site to the University of Texas Memorial Stadium to benefit the Brazos County Boys and Girls Club. After speaking to the Bonfire crowd, Head Coach R.C. Slocum will toss the game ball to Squadron 17 Executive Officer Andy Cuellar to begin the 15-hour relay to Austin. The 59-cadet unit will run to Fish Lot (Parking Area 61), divide up into their cars, and drive to their stations along the route. Challenger 17 cadets will take turns running individually with the football along George Bush Drive to FM 2818, on to Highway 21 and then west toward Austin along Highway 290. Each Challenger 17 cadet will run along the shoulder of the road wearing a reflective vest, followed by one of the outfit cars and bathed in its headlights for safety. The cadets from each vehicle will take “When we get there, the outfit does a run around the t.u. campus, ending at Memorial Stadium." Andy Cuellar Squadron 17 turns running a 1.5-mile stretch before passing the ball to the cadets from the next vehicle. Cuellar, a senior health major, said the entire outfit will reunite at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on the UT campus around 11 a.m. Wednesday. “It’s a long process,” Cuellar said. “When we get there, the outfit does a run around the t.u. campus, ending at Memorial Stadium.” The ball, sealed in a protective wrap and carrying the Texas A&M emblem, will be given to a UT ath letic official and later returned to the A&M Football Team for use in Friday’s game. Cuellar said UT officials have been cooperative in planning the trek into Austin and around campus. “They know we’re coming,” he said. “They’ve been quite supportive.” Squadron 17 was reorganized in 1992 as a memorial to the astro nauts who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion on Jan. 28, 1986. Challenger 17 is the only Corps outfit formed in memorial of others. The outfit’s goal is to raise $5,000 for the Brazos County Boys and Girls Club, supporting local chil dren in need, with the game foot ball escort. he Battalion TODAY Fiery Affair gie spirit goes up in mes as Bonfire rns, symbolizing e desire to beat t.u. Bonfire, Page 5 rgy irfcout urning Desire ith one game against IIHft flfltf aflS fexas, A&M can erase e memories of a dis- Ppointing season. Sports, Pages 6-7 9 10 p.m. led on this day iftattherocl^ 1 Bonfire to burn bright Both sides of rivalry have for out-of-town Aggies common ‘burning desire’ Redemption aldez: If nothing else, new prison program ill at least save the iouls of inmates. Opinion, Page 11 By Marika Cook The Battalion The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire will burn in Aggieland tonight. At the same time, a Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire will light the sky over the small East Texas town ofWoodville. Dave Bordelon maintains his burning desire "to beat the hell outta t.u.” through his own Ag gie Bonfire tradition, which began in 1984. Bor delon is not an A&M graduate, but his son, Dan Bordelon, is Class of ’84. Dave Bordelon said the tradition began with Just family, but now many friends and mem bers of the community attend the Bonfire, wliich coincides with Aggieland’s blaze. “It’s pretty strong Aggie ebuntry over here,” Bordelon said. “For a town of 2,000 people, we have a large number of Aggies.” The day after it bums, the Bordelons begin building the Bonfire for the next year from any thing flammable and non-toxic. “We stack trees, limbs, whatever we have,” he said. “We also build an outhouse from card board and put an Austin city limits [sign] on it. This year, we’re adding timbers to the outside with cables.” The 15-foot replica of the real Bonfire, built annually OF Army style, is burned in a clearing with torches lighting the way. Bordelon announces a public invitation on the local radio station. Graduates from many different schools attend, including the Univer sity of Texas and the University of Houston. “We always have a good crowd,” he said. “We serve coffee and hot chocolate. They enjoy the camaraderie.” The Bonfire burns for approximately one and a half hours and includes other traditions. “We plug in the band tapes and do a little sawin’ Varsity’s horns off and some yells,” Bor delon said. “t.u. has only out scored us twice since we started this. We may not be the real reason A&M’s winning, but we like to think we’re part of it.” The Bordelons, who have attended Bonfire in College Station once, began the tradition be cause they could not always make the trip to Aggieland and wanted to join in the spirit of the rivalry. Bordelon’s wife, Mary Lou, is a charter member of the Tyler County Aggie Moms Club. “We throw together what we can for our Bonfire,” Mary Lou Bordelon said. By John LeBas The Battalion As the flames leap from Bonfire 1996 tonight, thou sands of hearts will swell with Aggie pride. Texas A&M students, for mer students and visitors will sway and yell, eager to “saw Varsity’s horns off.” Their “burning desire to beat the hell outta t.u.” in Friday’s football battle will materialize as the wood stacks go up in smoke. In Austin, Longhorns will be doing the same thing — sort of. Tonight also marks UT’s annual Hex Rally, a “high school-type pep rally,” as one UT student described it. Longhorns will gather and burn red candles to show support for their team. Granted, flickering can dles don’t compare to the ferocity of a raging Bonfire. And rallying around melt ing wax may not make sense to many Aggies, who “When you burn something, that's pretty rough.” Adil Khan UT student have built and burned some of the largest bonfires in the world for more than 80 years. But, likewise, it is hard for many Longhorns to understand exactly why A&M students make Bon fire so big, so loud — and so uniquely Aggie. Adil Khan, a freshman physics major at UT, said Bonfire takes Aggies’ “burn ing desire” too far. He said Bonfire promotes A&M’s animosity toward UT and makes the schools’ rivalry one-sided. “It seems like there’s a lot more hatred from A&M to UT than a rivalry,” Khan said. “When you burn something, that’s really pretty rough.” Khan, who has never been to Bonfire but would like to attend one, said he wants to see if Bonfire is re ally as “bad” as he’s heard. “I would expect to see a lot of Aggies bashing UT, not promoting football or their school,” he said. “More nega tive than positive.” Some UT students see nothing positive in Bonfire. See UT, Page 4