The Battalion
olume 103* Issue 112* 10 Pages
The Batt Online: http:// bat-web.tamu.edu
Thursday, March 20, 1997
linton nominates CIA head
[cting CIA Director
ieorge Tenet was
chosen after the GOP
lersuaded Anthony
Mke to withdraw
tom consideration.
[WASHINGTON (AP) — Playing it
after his first choice suc-
bibed to bruising attacks, Presi-
JitClinton nominated acting CIA
lector George Tenet on Wednes-
j[o head the nation’s spy agency.
IJust two days after Republi-
i-led opposition persuaded
|thony Lake to withdraw from
isideration, Clinton selected a
substitute whose long intelli
gence career started on the staff
of a GOP lawmaker.
“He’s well known to the Senate
and well-respected by Republicans,
as well as Democrats,” the president
said, sitting in a wheelchair to pro
tect his mending knee.
Tenet, 44, emerged as the quick
choice after Lake, Clinton’s former na
tional security adviser, bowed out with
a bitter letter to Clinton that said,
“Washington has gone haywire.”
An angry Clinton called then for
an end to “the cycle of political de
struction,” but he had settled on
Tenet by Tuesday night and or
dered a background check. The
president did not want partisan
sniping over Lake’s demise to cast
a shadow over other issues, in
cluding budget talks.
Tenet said he had looked for
ward to serving under Lake, an old
friend. “It is a bittersweet moment
for me,” Tenet said, flanked by his
wife, Stephanie, and his 10-year-old
son, John Michael.
He seems a safe choice: The Sen
ate confirmed him for the No. 2 spot
in 1995, and White House sound
ings suggested a second set of hear
ings would go smoothly. Clinton
hopes Tenet will move quickly into
the top job and begin repairing
morale at an agency that has been
without a full-time director since
December. If confirmed, Tenet will
be Clinton’s third CIA director.
“You can’t have a ship without a
captain,” the president said. “I did
n’t see any point in waiting.”
Tenet’s close ties to Capitol Hill are
a contrast to Lake, whose relations
with Congress were notoriously weak.
“There is no room for partisanship
in the conduct of our intelligence
community,” Tenet said to Clinton,
though the words were meant for the
ears of Republican lawmakers. “We
must always be straight and tell you
the facts as we know them.”
The choice was welcomed by
Republicans.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the
Intelligence Committee chairman
who led attacks on Lake, said, “I
have known George Tenet for sev
eral years and believe him to be a
man of integrity and professional
ism.” Shelby promised a “fair and
thorough examination” in confir
mation hearings.
SGA survey polls
student sentiment
.
t. * i
Friendly Skies
Ryan Rogers, The Battalion
Chad Whittington, a freshman chemistry major, flies over A&M during an instructional flight Wednesday
afternoon. When he completes his 1,500 hour requirement, he'll head to an aviation academy for his
commercial license.
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
The success of the Student Gov
ernment Association’s survey last
month encouraged student lead
ers to conduct future surveys us
ing the process.
Texas Aggies Making Changes
committee members called a ran
dom sample of 440 undergraduate
students drawn by Measurement
and Research Services over a three-
day period in Febmary.
Student Body President Carl
Baggett, a senior accounting ma
jor, said the survey’s intent was to
find out what the student body
thinks of its student government
and to develop a systematic and
scientific survey process.
Baggett said now that the system
is in place, the process can be used
more easily.
“Now we’ve got it set up for future
input on various issues from the stu
dents,” he said.
This survey process can help stu
dent leaders more accurately repre
sent the opinion of the student body,
Baggett said.
“I think this will only add weight
to the voice of the student leadership
when they express the students’
opinion,” he said, “because now they
have a cross-representational survey
to back it up.”
James Rogers, survey coordina
tor and a junior marketing major,
said this type of survey can pro
duce results more representative
of student opinion.
Rogers said Measurement and
Research Services expected SGA to
contact only 200 of the 440 students
called, but SGA was able to survey
315 of the 440 students.
Rogers said the persistence of the
volunteers and the willingness of the
students contributed to the high
number of students surveyed.
“It was a very positive process,”
Rogers said. “People in general were
motivated to do these surveys.”
Rogers said Student Government
is also in the process of conducting a
two-question survey.
Will Hurd, executive assistant to
the student body president and a
sophomore computer science and
international studies major, said the
results showed a majority of the stu
dents surveyed were satisfied with
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SURVEY RESULTS
1. 1 feel that student government
does a good representing my
opinions on issues.
A 3.5 B 54.6 C 36.2 D 4.8 E 1.0
2. Student government Is an
effective organization on the
Texas A&M campus.
A 16.5 B 59.0 C 21.0 D 3.2 E 0.3
3. When 1 vote for a senator, 1
trust him/her to make an
educated decision.
A 28.9 B 53.7 C 15.2 D 1.3 E 1.0
4. When I vote for a senator, 1
trust him/her to solocit my
opinion on each individual
issue.
A 12.4 B 47.3 C 22.2 D 16.2 E 1.9
5. I am satisfied with the job the
student body president is doing.
A 11.7 B 56.5 C 28.6 D 3.2 E 0.0
6. Do you know the name of the
student body president.
Yes 38.7 No 60.6
A Strongly Agree
B - Agree
C - Undecided
D - Disagree
E - Strongly Disagree
figures are in percentages
student government.
“Everyone thought that student
government is an effective organiza
tion,” Hurd said. “It shows us we are
going in the right direction.”
Baggett said the survey results in
dicated some students do know
about the hard work and dedication
of the SGA.
“It (the survey) shows the stu
dents do know what I Ve seen all year
long, that the Student Senate and
other parts of student government
work very hard for the students,”
Baggett said. “I think most of the stu
dents know that.”
Hurd also said the results showed
some students are undecided or do
not have an opinion, and SGA needs
to reach these students.
“We need to target these people to
make sure they have an opinion,
good or bad,” Hurd said.
ensions peak on eve
if summit with Yeltsin
NATO expansion
and arms control
are two major
issues Clinton will
confront at the
Helsinki summit.
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — On
eeve of the Clinton-Yeltsin sum-
fit, there are anxious words from
?e Kremlin and the Wliite House.
The biggest strain by far is
oscow's objection to the U.S.-pro
ved expansion of NATO eastward
Ward Russia’s borders. But tensions
td uncertainty also linger about
ills control, Boris Yeltsin’s health,
epath of economic reform and a
onths-long vacuum in the top
nks in the Russian government.
No one is predicting break-
roughs in Helsinki.
“The relationship has deterio-
ted,” Russian specialist Ilya Prizel
the Johns Hopkins School of Ad-
nced International Studies said,
s a very delicate moment. They
[The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
IfRANCIS: Smoking
during pregnancy is
J abusive to child as
Iwell to mother
■* Opinion, Page
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are at a certain low point” after be
ginning to decline in late 1994 or
early 1995.
Leon Aron, a Russian scholar at
the American Enterprise Institute
and author of a Yeltsin biography,
agreed. “I have some strange pre
monitions about the summit,” he
said. “I tend to be very optimistic
about these summits, partly be
cause ofYeltsin’s habit of creating a
crisis and then coming in and
pulling a rabbit out of the hat.” This
time, however, he is worried about
the outcome.
“On both sides, the presidents
have very little room to maneuver,”
Aron said. “The plate is extremely
full and neither of these presidents
is a foreign policy president, not a
Gorbachev, not a Nixon or even a
Bush. They have very little taste and
even less skill to untangle compli
cated foreign policy issues.”
In their 11th meeting over the
last four years, the two leaders will
greet each other Thursday night at
a dinner hosted by Finnish Presi
dent Martti Ahtisaari at the Presi
dential Palace. That will be followed
Friday by two rounds of meetings,
followed by a joint news conference
and a private dinner.
In recent weeks, a healthier
Yeltsin has moved to reassert con
trol and end the sense of drift in
Moscow. He replaced his Cabinet
with a team that the United States
believes is more focused on eco
nomic reforms. As he prepared to
leave Washington Wednesday
night, President Clinton said he was
encouraged by the appointments.
Despite repeated assurances,
however, Clinton has been unable
to convince Yeltsin that Russia has
nothing to fear from NATO’s expan
sion, probably beginning with in
clusion this summer of Poland,
Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Proposal calls for Liberal Arts equipment fee
By Benjamin Cheng
The Battalion
The Apple IIEs in the psycholo
gy department will be history if a
proposal to raise fees to replace
and upgrade instructional equip
ment in the College of Liberal Arts
passes next week before the Board
of Regents.
Students will pay an equipment
access fee for each liberal arts class
they take. The fee will apply to up to
three classes a semester. Students
will not be charged for classes that do
not use instructional equipment
needing upgrading or replacement.
The fee is $35, $50 or $65 depending
on the amount of equipment used in
the class.
Dr. Ben Crouch, executive asso
ciate dean of Liberal Arts, said the
fee follows the lead of other col
leges, such as science and engi
neering, which charge similar fees.
.J
“We need to keep up with the
equipment and technology de
mands that are rising faster than
our resources [to pay for
them]," Crouch said.
The instructional equip
ment in the college has fall
en behind current technol
ogy, Crouch said.
“We’re not where we’d like
to be,” he said.
Crouch said the funds will
be carefully audited so the
money will not be diverted to
other areas.
“If students are charged a
fee for upgrading instructional
equipment, then those dollars
should go into instructional
equipment,” Crouch said. “They
ought to go to the department
where the students pay for them.”
Crouch said A&M’s low tuition
compared to other state schools
and limited state funds make the
fee necessary.
Mike Schwartz, a sophomore
journalism major, said he does not
favor the fee in its current form.
“I think $65 a class is steep if
you can be charged that three
times in one semester,”
Schwartz
said.
Dr. Charles Self, head of the
journalism department, said the
department uses more instruc
tional equipment than most liber
al arts departments and the fee is
necessary because instructional
equipment is an integral part of
teaching j ournalism.
“I feel it’s a necessary evil,” Self
said. “ [But] I wish we didn’t have to
use fee increases.”
Dr. Paul Wellman, head of the
psychology department, said his
department will not be affected as
greatly because instructional
equipment is not a vital tool in
teaching psychology.
However, there is a need to re
place equipment, Wellman said, as
his department still has Apple IIEs
lying around.
“They make nice paper
weights and ash trays,” Wellman
said.
Schwartz said some of the
equipment in the journalism de
partment is usable but outdated.
“I understand the money needs
to come from somewhere and we
(students) are the only source,”
Schwartz said.
Seniors to vote on class gift suggestions
By Rebecca Torrellas
The Battalion
The senior class will vote on its class gift next
week after receiving suggestions from students,
staff and organizations.
The seniors will have five choices when vot
ing for their class gift in the general student body
elections.
K.C. Allan, Class of ’97 president and an ac
counting major, said the budget for the senior
class is expected to be between $60,000 and
$80,000, depending on the profits from Ring
Dance April 26.
“Most of our profit comes from Ring Dance,”
Allan said. “The money we have before that goes
to the expenses of Ring Dance.”
Class officers receive suggestions for the class
gift from several people on campus.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for
student affairs, said he makes one suggestion
to each class, although he can make unlimit
ed suggestions.
“I simply thought it would be useful to have
an idea from someone like myself that is exposed
to so many needs and could suggest a priority,”
Southerland said.
David Recht, class gift co-chair and a senior
civil engineering major, said the suggestions
are helpful.
“All the suggestions are feasible with the cor
rect budget,” Recht said.
Following tradition, money left over from the
class gift will be passed on to the incoming Class
of 2001.
Other classes are getting prepared for their se
nior gift, holding fund raisers and dances to raise
the budget.
Nolan Barkhouse, Class of ’98 president
and an international studies major, said the
junior class currently has a budget of around
$12,000 and is planning an end of the year
bash as a replacement for the class ball, which
was canceled.
Amy Berger, Class of ’99 treasurer and mar
keting major, said the budget for class of‘99 is
about $6,500.
“We’re right on target or a little ahead with
how the other classes were doing,” Berger said.
Mike Lemonds, Class of’00 president and po
litical science major, said the freshman class has
a current budget of $6,000 and is hoping their
Fish Class Ball on Apr. 4 will add to it.
“It’s twice as much than the highest any oth
er class has done before,” Lemonds said.
Classes do not start planning for class gifts
until the fall of their senior year, when they re
search the suggestions and decide on the best
five choices depending on their class budget.
The gifts on the ballot include enhancing the
Bonfire endowment, funding restoration of The
Grove, enhancing Evans Library research mate
rials, establishing a service organization to sup
port the elimination of substandard housing in
Bryan and making a $20,000 endowment to the
Memorial Student Center for renovation of con
ference facilities.
The Class of ’97 gift will be announced at the
senior banquet held before Ring Dance.