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The Battalion
lume 103 • Issue 119 • 10 Pages
The Batt Online: http:// bat-web.tamu.edu
Tuesday, April 1, 1997
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andidate drops out of run-off election
immel disagrees with the yell leader run-off referendum's interpretation
I all I
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
■ difference in the interpretation of the
*| leader run-off referendum caused ju-
yell leader run-off candidate Robert
|mel to drop out of the election.
[he referendum states that four junior
leader candidates should go to the run-
If a candidate receives a majority of the
[, they will assume office immediately,
[he part of the referendum in question
tatt s, “The number of run-off candidates
■be decreased proportionally.”
■ is the student body president’s job to in-
-Iret referendums passed by the students.
Carl Baggett, student body president and a
senior accounting major, interpreted the ref
erendum to mean the number of candidates
should be reduced proportionally from the to
tal number of candidates. Therefore, four can
didates should proceed to the run-off if one
candidate is elected by a majority of the vote.
In this year’s election, Brandon Neff, a
sophomore business administration major,
was elected as a junior yell leader by a ma
jority of the vote.
Sam Bluntzer, a sophomore accounting
major; Chad Henke, a sophomore biomed
ical science major; Gregg Nichols, a sopho
more agricultural business major; and Kim-
mel, a sophomore mechanical engineering
“The purpose of run-offs is to
have better representation of
our student body.”
Robert Kimmel
former junior yell leader candidate
major, are the four run-off candidates.
Kimmel dropped out of the election be
cause he thought the referendum meant a
proportional reduction in run-off candidates
instead of the total number of candidates.
Therefore, he thought there should be two
candidates competing for one position.
Baggett said vague wording in the refer
endum allowed for various interpretations.
“The referendum is very vague,” Baggett
said. “There are no numbers stating specif
ically what to reduce or any course of action
I should take. With the information given,
there are multiple alternatives to take and I
interpreted it a certain way.”
Kimmel said it surprised him when four
run-off candidates were announced, because
he thought it was clear in the referendum that
“decreased proportionally” meant a reduc
tion from four candidates for two positions
to two candidates for one position.
“The purpose of run-offs is to have bet
ter representation of our student body,”
Kimmel said. “That’s very difficult to do
when you have four people running in a
run-off. When there’s one slot, there should
only be two people competing for it. I can
hardly see it any more clearly.”
Baggett outlined the actions that should
be taken in different election scenarios in a
March 17 memorandum, but additions
were made to the memo on March 27. The
scenario of one junior yell leader candidate
winning the majority and having a run-off
for the remaining position was outlined in
the revised memo.
See Election, Page 5
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Ryan Rogers, The Battalion
Rudell Wilson, a Department of Food Services worker, stirs an
onion and green pepper soup in Sbisa Dining Hall Monday.
Olsen Road to close
PTTS Director Tom Williams said
the road's closing will not affect
parking on West Campus.
By Graham Harvey
The Battalion
Portions of Olsen Road on West Campus will be
closed for redesign within the next 30 days.
Joe J. Estill Jr., manager of the Construction Division
for Facilities Planning and Construction, said the stretch
of Olsen Road near the Heep Center and the West Cam
pus Library is currently a bottleneck, hindering the
steady flow of traffic.
The plan is to tear down the old nearby greenhouse
to facilitate the reshaping of Olsen into a boulevard,
Estill said.
“We’re not shutting down the whole of Olsen,” he said.
“The area from Old Main Drive to George Bush Drive will
be open. The section from Old Main to the Food Protein
(Research and Development) Center will be open, and
the area from Raymond Stotzer Parkway into the med
ical libraiy will be open, but that section will only be ac
cessible from Raymond Stotzer.”
The Board of Regents recently awarded a contract for
the project, and construction will begin following the
completion of routine paperwork, insurance procedures
and a preconstruction conference. The project should
be complete in about four months, Estill said.
“This will throw a kink into traffic and bus operations,
but it will be much better once it’s all over,” Estill said.
Gary Jackson, manager of Bus Operations, said bus
es will continue to run near Olsen Road.
“We will have to reroute the buses,” Jackson said. “It
would be a minor transportation setback, but we would
try to provide service somehow.”
Tom Williams, director of Parking, Traffic and Trans
portation Services, said the bus stop in that area will be
temporarily moved to the other side of the Heep Center.
“Parking will not be affected,” Williams said.
Today marks end of Q-drop
period for spring semester
awyers question potential
rors about death penalty
pENVER (AP) — In a courtroom
tected by barricades and armed
Birds, Oklahoma City bombing de-
dant Timothy McVeigh gazed in-
tly at potential jurors Monday
revealed strong emotions and
ingness to recommend execu-
for the deadliest terrorist attack
ronU.S. soil.
McVeigh, wearing a buzz haircut,
open-collared blue shirt and
khakis, smiled and shook his attor
ney’s hand as he was brought into the
courtroom from a basement holding
cell for the start of jury selection. He
nodded and mouthed “Good morn
ing” throughagrin when the judge in
troduced him to potential jurors.
But during detailed and excruci
atingly slow questioning, McVeigh’s
stare tightened over his folded hands
as prospective jurprs discussed how
they could recommend execution if
he is convicted in the April 19,1995,
blast that killed 168 people and in
jured hundreds more.
All but one of the six jury
prospects who were questioned said
they would be willing to recommend
the death penalty — and several
spoke in even stronger terms.
See Trial, Page 10
ASM allows students to
use three Q-drops during
their college careers
By Benjamin Cheng
The Battalion
The deadline to Q-drop a class is today, making it the last
chance for Texas A&M students to drop a class this semester.
Students are normally allowed three Q-drops during
their tenure at A&M, but may petition their dean for addi
tional Q-drops, which are granted in the event of unusual
circumstances.
In Fall 1995, there were 6,505 total undergraduate Q-
drops. Compared to the previous fall, that semester saw a
decrease of 905 in the total number of Q-drops.
Don Carter, registrar, said the College of Engineer
ing traditionally has the most students using Q-drops,
but that is because they have more students than any
other college.
Carter said students who Q-drop a class lose the money
they pay to take the class, and the class loses a potential stu
dent who could have received credit for it.
“If a student Q-drops a high-demand class, and there are
people wanting to take the class, then there’s unmet need,”
Carter said.
Dr. John Fleming, an undergraduate adviser for the elec
trical engineering department, said most seniors in the elec
trical engineering department have used zero or one Q-
drop when they graduate. The electrical engineering
department does not grant extra Q-drops.
Dr. Joseph Ross, who teaches Physics 201, said about 10
percent of the students who take Physics 201 Q-drop the
class. Ross said students drop the class because they want
to lighten their course load, rearrange their schedule or be
cause they are failing.
“Physics 201 is a difficult class,” Ross said.
Dan Arnett, a junior industrial distribution major, Q-
dropped Physics 201 this semester.
“I probably had a 10 (as a grade),” Arnett said.
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Brad Graeber, The Battalion
V.
Silver Taps
The Silver Taps ceremony
will be held in front of the Aca
demic Building tonight at 10:30
in memory of two A&M stu
dents who died last month.
The students are Mary
Jane Malone, a junior Eng
lish major, and Jack Brandon
“J.B.” Prater, a sophomore
agronomy major.
The Department of Stu
dent Life requests all lights on
campus be turned off from
10:20 p.m. until 10:50 p.m.
Dow continues to decline, inflation likely to grow
WASHINGTON (AP) — A govern
ment report showing Americans earn
ing and spending at a robust pace
wrenched an already-frazzled Wall
Street on Monday. Stocks plunged for a
second session on fears of more inter
est-rate increases from a Federal Re
serve intent on keeping the economy
from overheating.
Americans’ personal incomes surged
0.9 percent in February, the largest gain in
eight months and more than double Jan
uary’s 0.4 percent advance, the Com
merce Department said.
Spending growth — 0.3 percent —
was relatively modest but came after a
large 1 percent increase in January, the
best in 11 months.
Economists said February’s broad-
based income gain — with advances in
every category except farm income —
will help provide consumers with the
wherewithal for strong spending
through midyear. About four-fifths of
the advance came in wages and salaries
of private-sector jobs.
“People spend that money; they
don’t save it,” said economist Sandra
Shaber of the WEFA Group in Eddys-
tone, Pa. “More jobs and more pay-
checks certainly equal growth in spend
ing in the months ahead.”
That kind of thinking jarred the stock
market into the second day of its worst
two-session point drop since the 1987
crash. It implies that last week’s quarter-
point increase in short-term interest rates
will not be enough to keep economic
growth at or below the pace likely to pro
duce accelerating inflation.
The Dow Jones average of industrial
stocks fell 157.11 points to close at
6,584.23. That came on top of a 140-
point decline last Thursday on news
that existing home sales in February
posted the biggest increase in more
than a decade. Markets were closed on
Good Friday.
The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
INFIELDERS: Sean
Heaney and Brian
Benefield protect
second and third base.
Sports, Page 7
Aggielife
What's Up
Opinion
Page3
Page 6
Page 9