December 2
The Battalion
ume 103 • Issue 65 • 10 Pages
Tuesday, December 3, 1996
The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
urvey measures reactions to GUF proposal
urvey Results
you satisfied with the quality
f education at Texas A&M?
Yes: 86%, No: 14%
you feel our faculty and staff
deserve a pay raise?
Yes: 71.1%, No: 28.9%
mould you be in favor of the
mproposed increase in the
General Use Fee?
Yes: 41.6%, No: 58.4%
By JoAnne Whittemore
The Battalion
Texas Aggies Making Changes
(TAMC), a Student Government
subcommittee, conducted a non-
scientific survey to determine
students’ feelings about the pro
posed General Use Fee increase.
Laurent Therivel, vice presi
dent of finance for Student Gov
ernment and a senior manage
ment and marketing major, said
the purpose of the survey was to
measure students’ reaction to
the increase.
“We want a gauge of students’
opinions of the General Use Fee,”
he said. “First, if they know about
it; and second, what they think
about it.”
The survey was distributed to
students in the MSG and various
classrooms.
A brief synopsis at the top of
the survey informed students of
the current GUF rate, how a GUF
increase would affect them, and
why the issue is important.
Therivel said students com
plain about the last line of the
synopsis stating, “A failure to in
crease fees would result in a de
crease in the quality of education
and the value of the Texas A&M
diploma.” Therivel said students
felt the statement was biased in
favor of the GUF.
Matt Mayfield, executive vice
president of administration for
Student Government and a se
nior animal science major, said
the survey was as unbiased as
possible.
“If you want to tell people the
facts, you can’t go about it in a
completely unbiased way,” he
said. “You can’t be completely un
biased on something like this.”
The survey asked students
whether they are satisfied with
the quality of education at A&M,
whether they feel the faculty de
serves a pay raise, and whether
they would support an increase
in the GUF. There was also a sec
tion for students to add their
comments.
Therivel said students’ an
swers varied in the comments
section. He said students felt
they were constantly “slammed”
with fees since the GUF was re
cently increased and the pro
posed GUF increase would come
all at once, rather than in mone
tary increments.
Therivel said students felt fi
nancial aid and scholarships
needed to be increased to offset
the GUF increase. He said stu
dents suggested getting revenue
from other sources, such as the
state government.
Therivel said the GUF re
ceived a closely divided re
sponse because students are not
as informed on the issue as they
could be.
Student Government is at
tempting to better inform stu
dents by distributing information
to major campus organizations
and speaking to organizations
that show an interest in learning
more about the GUF. But Therivel
said it is mostly up to students to
get informed.
See Survey, Page 6
awsuit presses
‘ child support
35 interest payment
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A
dgt' entered a class-action or-
jr Monday providing for par-
to collect interest on past-
■ child support, a sum
iaii tiffs’ attorneys say could
(t# billions of dollars.
“ I his is based on the funda-
lental proposition that child
■We will not allow
private attorneys
to profit from the
tlhildren”
Dan Morales
I' ;: Texas Attorney General
ipport is not a request. It is a
Hirt order. These are just and
did debts owed to the children
ithe state of Texas,” plaintiffs’
wyer Steven Sinkin said.
■tate District Judge John D.
ffiriel Jr. ruled custodial par-
its who have been owed back
Id support would be certi-
las a class in the case.
Ilaria del Carmen Rios and
Idre Wilson, two San Antonio
omen who have been owed
l-due child support, are the
litiffs representing the class.
■It feels good to be able to
Bp out others,” Rios, the
loitier of a 15-year-old, said.
I’ past-due child support in-
feased from $4,575 to $22,199
Ice interest was figured in,
lin said.
■exas Attorney General Dan
bales intervened last week
fcehalf of the plaintiffs and
ffiged to pursue unpaid inter-
>tin the child support cases
Boffice handles.
■We do in fact want to collect
iterest on the past due child
upport,” said Ron Dusek, a
Bkesman for Morales.
■he state began collecting
iterest on pending cases of
pt-due child support in July,
Dusek said. Cases in which the
past-due amount has been paid
will be re-examined for interest
assessment, he said.
There is was no figure avail
able on how many cases that
would apply to or how much
money is involved, Dusek said.
Interest has not been as
sessed uniformly in private or
state cases for back child sup
port, according to the Attorney
General’s Office. A state law was
passed in 1991 allowing interest
to be paid. It was amended in
1993 to provide for a 12 percent
interest rate.
Sinkin and Richard Orsinger,
another plaintiffs’ attorney in
the class-action lawsuit, said
the judge’s order means anyone
who received child support
"since Sept. 1, 1985, can seek re
calculation of the amount of
any past-due child support to
include interest.
The attorneys estimate some
2 million Texas children may be
affected, with the interest total
ing billions of dollars.
“This is a situation that has
existed in Texas for a long
time,” Orsinger said. “I think it
just takes a little push ... and
then it’ll start rolling.”
The attorney general’s office
handles 800,000 child support
cases. The interest calculation
won’t place an unmanageable
burden on the office because a
new computer program will
handle much of the work,
Dusek said.
Court hearings are to be held
to determine who will notify
the members of the class and
how the private attorneys in the
case will be paid.
Morales said last week all the
past-due interest should go di
rectly to children or to refund the
state for welfare payments that
supported the children when
child support wasn’t paid.
“We will not allow private at
torneys to profit from the chil
dren,” Morales said.
Famous Pearls
Pat James, The Battalion
Former First Lady Barbara Bush gets her first glance at the new George Bush Presidential Library
during a site visit on Monday afternoon.
Computerized GRE benefits students
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Texas A&M now offers stu
dents the opportunity to take a
computerized version of the
Graduate Record Examination
(GRE) instead of the pencil-and-
paper version previously used.
Dr. Kathy Hannula-Bral, a
testing services administrator
with Measurement and Research
Services, said the computer-
based test can benefit students
in various ways.
“It’s valuable for students in a
number of ways,” Hannula-Bral
said. “They have the flexibility in
when they can take the test, a
quick score reporting to the in
stitution, and immediate feed
back (on the test score).”
The first computerized test at
A&M will be administered
Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Room
005 of the Agriculture Building.
Four students may take the ex
amination at a time, and two of
the spots are filled.
The next computerized test
will be administered Saturday at
2 p.m. Various other test dates in
December are available.
Computer testing for the
spring semester will begin Jan. 6,
1997. Tests will be given every
Monday, Tuesday and Friday
(except for Jan. 20 which is Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Day) from 8
a.m to 5 p.m. and on Wednesday
nights from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
More test dates will be offered
if the demand arises, Hannula-
Bral said.
The pencil-and-paper version
of the test is still available, but
the Educational Testing Service
and the GRE Program are gradu
ally de-emphasizing it. Only
three pencil-and-paper tests are
scheduled this school year, and
two for the next year. Eventually,
the GRE will only be adminis
tered via computer.
The computer version of the
test is not simply the pencil-
and-paper version copied onto
the computer. The test is com
puter adaptive, which means the
answer a student gives to a
question determines the next
question the student receives,
and responses to questions can
not be changed once they have
been answered.
After the administration of the
test is over, the student has the
option of canceling the score or
viewing it immediately. If a stu
dent chooses to view the score, it
can no longer be canceled.
Students do not have to be
computer literate to take the
exam on the computer, because
tutorials will be held before the
administering of the test.
Students may call 1-800-GRE-
CALL (National Registration Cen
ter), 862-7375 or 845-0532 (Mea
surement and Research Services)
to register for the computer-based
GRE. To register by phone, a stu
dent must have a credit card or
Educational Testing Service Au
thorization voucher. Students
may also register in Room 005 in
the Agriculture Building and pay
with check or money order.
|hi Battalion
TODAY
Jonnick’s Way
filters: Musician
Irry Connick Jr. is
ftified in moving
Pm jazz to funk.
Aggielife, Page 3
ist Hurrah
Jnior Page White has
?h hopes on the eve
her final NCAA post-
ison appearance.
Sports, Page 7
ark Alliance
hitefall: Quanell X
eaks about former
esident Bushs al-
ged conspiracy.
Opinion, Page 9
Sheriffs challenge Brady law
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two coun
ty sheriffs from Montana and Arizona
are challenging the Brady gun-con
trol law before the Supreme Court,
arguing the federal government can
not require local police to help en
force the measure.
Sheriffs’ departments may not “be
conscripted for a federal crusade,”
say lawyers for Jay Printz, sheriff of
Ravalli County, Mont. Also seeking to
overturn the law is Sheriff Richard
Mack of Graham County, Ariz.
But government lawyers say the
1993 Brady law is a legal effort to
curb a “national epidemic of gun vio
lence,” and “there is no constitution
al rule preventing Congress from de
vising a national solution and then
requiring limited local assistance.”
“I believe it’s constitutional,” Pres
ident Clinton told reporters Monday.
“Tens of thousands of people with
criminal backgrounds and other seri
ous problems couldn’t get handguns
because of the Brady law. ... People
are alive today because of it.”
After hearing arguments in the
case Tuesday, the justices are expect
ed to issue a ruling by next July.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals upheld the Brady law in 1995,
saying the requirement was a minor
burden similar to “the federally im
posed duties of state officers to report
missing children or traffic fatalities.”
However, previous decisions by
the high court suggest some justices
may be sympathetic to a states’
rights argument.
In 1995, the justices struck down
a federal law that banned gun pos
session within 1,000 feet of schools,
saying the states — not Congress —
had the authority to enact such
criminal laws.
Last April, the court signaled a
further shift in the balance of power
between states and the federal gov
ernment when it said Congress can
not force states into federal court to
settle disputes over gambling on In
dian reservations.
The Brady law was enacted by
Congress over bitter opposition from
gun-control opponents, including
the National Rifle Association.
The measure is named after
James Brady, who was seriously
wounded in the 1981 assassination
attempt on President Reagan.
Brady, who pushed for the law, has
urged the high court not to “mess
with success.”
Seniors prepare to graduate
By Marika Cook
The Battalion
In the aftermath of Elephant
Walk, the Class of ’97 is dead,
but life after the Twelfth Man
awaits them.
As graduation approaches,
seniors are faced with major life
decisions. Many are left won
dering where they will go and
what they will do to bridge the
gap between their college years
and their future.
Melanie Benson, a senior
international studies major, is
looking at all her options be
fore deciding where she will go
after graduation.
“I am a member of PRSSA
(Public Relations Student Soci
ety of America) which is provid
ing me with tips on the job mar
ket,” Benson said. “We do office
visits and practice interviewing.
I’m also using a job bank in
Houston and going to the
PRSSA Career Fair in the spring.
I want to get an internship after
graduation and then continue
with that company.”
Many seniors are already
working, hoping to gain valu
able work experience that will
benefit them after graduation.
Michelle Lyons, a senior
journalism major, is Class of ’98
but will graduate one year early.
“Unfortunately, I went for
quantity, not quality, and I
don’t feel like I learned
enough,” Lyons said. “I work at
The Eagle now and I think ex
perience is more important
than grades. I feel like I work
all the time anyway, so I might
as well be finished with school
and working full-time.”
But looking for a job is not
the first item on every graduat
ing senior’s agenda. Other grad
uates choose to put their pro
fessional lives on hold while
they pursue personal interests.
Ashley Jensen, a senior Span
ish major, said she wants to enter
the job market but is in no hurry.
“After graduation, I plan to go
to Argentina and enjoy some free
time while I can, before I have to
pay off my loans,” Jensen said.
Another option for seniors is
to continue their education in
professional school.
Anthony Semien, a senior
agricultural development major,
said he plans to attend business
graduate school at A&M. Semien
is a “non-traditidnal” student be
cause he has been married more
than two years and has an 18-
month old daughter.
Semien began school at A&M
in 1989. He withdrew one and a
half years later to complete a
two-year mission for his church
in South America. He started
school again in the fall of 1993
and has been attending ever
since. Along with taking 13
hours of school, Semien works
45 to 50 hours a week at two dif
ferent jobs and is a newly ap
pointed off-campus senator.
“My wife thinks I’m burning
the candle at both ends, but I
wanted this (Student) Senate
seat in order to represent stu
dents that get lost in the shuffle
— especially married students,”
Semien said. “I’ve learned that
it’s important to find your niche,
what you really want to do with
your life.”
See Seniors, Page 6