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Texas A&M University
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85
Today
Tomorrow
See extended forecast, Page 2.
iume 103 • Issue 145 • 6 Pages
College Station, TX
^ M s H I
Tuesday, June 10, 1997
Briefs
1SWI
cal “music man” Chris
steers local bands
ivard success.
See Page 3.
LIFESTYLES
OPINION
demists and their actions
fee more harm than good
American society.
See Page 5.
ONLINE
'ttpc/Zbat-web. tamii.edu
5 ok for
Ipafl
ani ^itional
T 1 '! call on
le Batt’s
^ Page.
^■,^4
RHA proposes park for green space
aduate student to
cept grant, award
ic
9 largaret Hammer, a Ph.D candi-
| iineducation at Texas A&M Uni-
< ity,will travel to Washington, D.C.
iyto receive recognition as the
is'recipient of the Presidential
J rdfor Excellence in Mathematics
[Wscience Teaching.
|1 Jammer received the award, which
j lannounced March 25, for her work
IrkerIntermediate School in Aldine
w®Ttie $7,500 grant Hammer re-
icipledwiththe award will be used to es-
hejisli a wildlife habitat at Parker.
riidents to receive
femational award
terltiffidesign students will be pre-
oiciadwith the first International Ac-
n ef.sand Service Award today at 10
in the Gallery of the Langford Ar-
Jition cture Center, Building A.
eawardees received the honor for
|iou®ninga possible resort to be con-
omfdedinSasaga, Egypt, a well-known
yew area near the Red Sea. A total
nioiij;;second-and third-year design stu-
itsparticipated in the project.
iHietwo students, Robert McKay,
(aiiorenvironmental design major,
tDerekDemere, a senior environ-
uta! design major, whose design
chosen by the joint venture Ital-
development company
travel to Egypt this July to present
ifdesign ideas. The three stu-
..Adam Baldwin, a senior envi-
e 4nental design major, Scott
start inhard, a senior environmental
| s town major, and Kim Kowalik, a se-
eun? [environmental design major, who
dtopiiedthe runner-up project also
tofltravelto Egypt in December to
|cit fcttheir plans for the resort.
Steward, presented by the Col-
plfehitecture, will be given an-
inis-pioone student or activity judged
P r §Seffective in promoting interna-
cr wlservice and awareness,
one-
pirit' campaign
ises $110 million
1995-1996 "Capture the
if campaign earned over $100
in private donations for
University.
Die$110 million of private support
edbyA&M ranked 11th in an an-
ilsurvey of private support at pub-
get iwersities by the Council for Aid to
ration and other organizations.
I “it In the past six years, the cam-
Jehas raised over $600 million in
and pledges to the University,
lie money comes from private
stothe University, the Texas A&M
of sedation, the Association of For-
bve|'Students, the 12th Man Foun-
onand private research grants.
I&M alumnus L. Lowry Mays of
eAntonio donated $15 million,
of the largest single gifts in
il history,
his-
The Board of Regents will make the final decision
%■■■■
3H HR
. ■
Lv!/
Photograph: Tim Moog
The Residence Housing Administration is drawing up a final proposal to develop the green
space where Law and Puryear halls used to stand into a park with a walk-through fountain,
benches, picnic tables and barbecue pits.
By Michelle Newman
The Battalion
The lot across from the A.R Beutel Health Cen
ter where Law and Puryear residence halls used to
stand may have a new destiny—as a park.
The Residence Housing Administration is
drawing up a final proposal to develop the green
space into a park with a walk-through fountain,
benches, picnic tables and barbecue pits.
Responsibility for funding has not been dele
gated yet, but the Department of Residence Life is
expected to shoulder the costs of development. As
of now, the Residence Life office is asking only for
plans for the lot, not budget proposals.
Eric Williams, a senior biomedical major and
RHA president, said students should have a say
in the utilization of the land.
“RHA is the student voice to Residence Life,”
Williams said. “Being that the department owns
the property, it was a way for the students to
voice what they wanted done.”
The initial idea was to erect a memorial to Law
and Puryear, which would have cost over $50,000.
Students voiced their opinions and ideas
through surveys and a general assembly held last
spring. Ideas included fountains, benches, a
playground, a miniature amphitheater, a terrace
and leaving the lot empty.
A Recreation Parks and Sciences class
studying park design took on the lot design as
a class project this spring. The class conduct
ed its own survey of 120 students, both on- and
off-campus.
The survey showed that a majority of stu
dents wanted some development on the land.
Developments such as basketball and volley
ball courts were not favored, according to the
survey. Five class groups turned in plans of
how to develop the Law-Puryear lot in re
sponse to the survey results.
The class tried to incorporate a unique fea
ture to draw students to the area.
Please see Park on Page 6.
Cloning
Controversy
A&M genetics researchers comment
on the issue of human replication
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
Controversy over human cloning may
soon swell if President Clinton signs a bill
that would allow experimentation with
human cloning but forbid the actual repli
cation of a human.
A federal advisory panel said the partial-
cloning bill could lead to valuable research
improving mankind. The panel recom
mended researchers be allowed to clone hu
man cells but not be allowed to implant them
in a mother’s womb. All embryos would have
to be killed after experimentation.
Mark Westhusin, an assistant professor of
See related story. Page 2
veterinary medicine at Texas A&M Universi
ty, has worked on embiyo transfer experi
mentation at A&M for the past eight years.
“I think no one wants to see humans
cloned,” Westhusin said. “What I am
concerned about is the shutting down
and inhibiting of research that involve
good things.”
Westhusin added that cloning re
search on human tissue growth and can
cer cells could lead to cures for diseases
that affect society.
“If this piece of magic happens, a cure
for cancer could be found,” he said.
Brain tissue that does not heal, non
growing cells or paralyzed cells could be
replaced with healthy cloned cells, West
husin said, but even in this process prob
lems could arise.
The research approved in the bill
would be funded mostly with federal
money.
Cloning became realistic with the suc
cessful cloning of the Scottish sheep Dolly
last spring by scientists. The experiment
was aimed at improving the quality of live
stock in Scotland and the agricultural in
dustry as a whole.
With Dolly’s birth came the possibility
of cloning humans. If Clinton signs the
cloning bill, the federal government will
be able to regulate science experiments
dealing with human cloning.
The Texas A&M University College of
Veterinary Medicine Ultimate Genetics
Lab has been working cloning livestock
as well. However, no progress has been
or is intended to be made toward the
cloning of humans, said Dr. Duane C.
Kraemer, associate dean of the College of
Veterinary Medicine.
One concern government must address
when considering the partial-cloning pro
posal is the private sector’s role.
Westhusin noted that a company in
Canada named Clonaid says it will attempt
to clone a human for a price of about
$200,000. The Wisconsin State Journal
documented the company as saying noth
ing is 100-percent sure.
Westhusin, who is cloning pig and cat
tle embryos, said Texas A&M’s cloning
process differs from the process used to
create Dolly.
Please see Cloning on Page 6.
p'-. ■
rM
Photograph: Tim Moog
Angie Baxter, a senior biomedical science major, is collecting bovine eggs to incubate for
24 hours before fertilization. A&M researchers will continue to focus on animal, not hu
man, genetic advances.
New Student Conferences give
freshmen glimpse of college life
By Jenara Kocks
The Battalion
The confident smiles of stu
dent orientation leaders and exec
utive committee members of the
Aggie Orientation Leader Program
(AOLD) greeted the excited and
scared faces of incoming fresh
men in the Commons Lobby
Monday afternoon.
Monday marked the first day of
programs for the New Student Con
ferences for the Fall 1997 semester.
This session is one of 12 three-day
New Student Conferences offered
to freshmen this summer. Three
conferences will be offered to trans
fer students this summer.
Four hundred and fifty to 500
students attend each conference.
Leslie Lueckemeyer of Corpus
Christi, Texas, a freshman at this
conference, said she hopes the ex
perience will help her adjust to at
tending Texas A&M.
“I hope to learn to feel more
comfortable,” Lueckemeyer said.
“I’ll have my class schedule and
Photograph: Tim Moog
Robert Needham, a senior environmental design major, and Kelly
McMillan, a sophomore agribusiness major, lead a campus tour as
part of the New Student Conferences.
will start feeling more comfortable
with what I’m doing, so it will be
come a routine to me.”
April Peterson, an incoming
freshman from San Antonio, said
she hopes the conference gives
her a preview of life at A&M.
“I want to get a feel of what it’s
going to be like so I won’t be com
ing into it blindly,” Peterson said.
Please see Freshmen on Page 6.
Witnesses tell of changes
in McVeigh’s character
DENVER (AP) — Timothy McVeigh
blushed, smiled and even laughed
Monday as penalty-phase witnesses
chronicled his life, from a happy-go-
lucky teen-ager and model soldier to a
disillusioned veteran fixated on the dis
aster at Waco.
“I’m tom, confused,” McVeigh’s long
time neighbor Richard Drzyzga said in a
choked voice. “There is a part of me that
still remembers
him from a little
kid. And then
there’s a part that
sees what every
body else sees on
TV and gets angry.
And I can’t put the
two together.”
Drzyzga, who
lived four doors
down from the
McVeigh family
in Pendleton, N.Y., recalled that after
McVeigh served in the Gulf War he
disappeared for about a year, and
then one day in 1993 sent him a
videotape critical of the FBI’s deadly
raid on the Branch Davidian com
pound near Waco.
McVeigh
“It scared me,” he said. “It scared
me to the point that I turned to my
wife and said, ‘What the hell has he
gotten into?”’
McVeigh’s attorneys sought to spare
him the death penalty by showing ju
rors the human side of the convicted
Oklahoma City bomber. They began
with a parade of Persian Gulf comrades
to tell how he was a compassionate
“soldier’s soldier" with a top-gun aim
and a bright future.
“He was it, the man, the top dog of the
company,” said Bruce Williams, who
served in a cramped Bradley fighting ve
hicle with McVeigh during the 1991 war
against Iraq. “I just assumed he would go
and do great things.”
McVeigh, who showed no emotion
during last week’s prosecution testimo
ny about the horrors of the bombing,
appeared more animated that at any
time in the trial, swelling with pride and
often smiling as his old buddies sang his
praises. Later, he dropped his head and
placed his hands over his mouth when
a neighbor told how he went off to war
with the tearful prediction: “I'm coming
home in a body bag.”
Please see McVeigh on Page 2.