Texas A&M University
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See extended forecast, Page 2.
llume 103 • Issue 162 • 6 Pages
College Station, TX
Thursday, July 10, 1997
Campus construction runs on schedule
wmpanies work
\o ensure safety
By Jenara Kocks
The Battalion
With the number of construction areas on the Texas
<M campus, most students cannot escape walking
rough or seeing these areas while trying to get to class.
A common sight this summer is someone walking
toss campus with a backhoe slowly following.
The amount of heavy equipment used in these ar-
smakes some students wonder about their safety
ring construction.
Marcus Brown, a senior environmental science
ijor, said places where a lot of construction is tak-
>place, such as Spence Street, should not be acces-
ile to pedestrians.
Please see Safety on Page 2.
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By Jenara Kocks
The Battalion
Concrete trucks, backhoes and steel
poles are becoming as much a part of the
Texas A&M campus as the Twelfth Man
statue or the Academic Building.
Several areas of campus are under con
struction. Some of these include the plaza
in front of the Blocker Building, roads on
Main and West Campuses, George Bush
Library, Sterling C. Evans Library complex,
Kyle Field and Reed Arena.
Guy Cooke, assistant manager of fa
cilities construction division of A&M’s
Facilities Planning and Construction,
said most projects are on-schedule and
are going well.
“We’ve been doing more work than
we’ve ever done,” Cooke said. “We have a
good staff, and we’ve been highly suc
cessful. I’d give us an A.’”
Tom Williams, director of Parking Traf
fic and Transportation Services, said road
construction on West Campus is sched
uled to be completed before the fall se
mester starts. Road projects on West Cam
pus include Olsen, John Kimbrough and
the roads alongside Reed Arena Special
Events Center.
Williams said that Olsen Road from
Bush Drive to Joe Routt Blvd. will be en
larged to two lanes each way instead of
just one. He said medians and more light
ing will be added to this road.
Williams also said that in the fall, stu
dents will be able to catch shuttle buses at
a regular bus stop with lights, trash cans,
benches and covered areas in front of the
West Campus Library, instead of waiting
at the circular drive.
Cooke said the Bush Library should be
completed by November.
Adelle Hedleston, public relations
staff assistant at the Evans Library and
Class of ’88, said renovations and addi
tions to the library should be competed
in Summer 1998.
Please see Campus on Page 6.
Bottscape&jpreme Court Decision
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A&M responds to Internet ruling
CDA Challenge:
A chronology
•February 1996 — President
Clinton signs into law the
Telecommunication Bill, which
includes the Communications
: Decency Act (CDA).
^American Civil Liberties Union
(ACW) seeks a temporary re-
strdining order against indecency
provisions in the CDA.
•March 1996 — The trial begins at a
federal district court in Philadelphia.
•June 1996 — First Amendment
victory: judges rule in favor of
ACID, preserving free speech in
cyberspace.
•)uly 1996: The government ap
peals the decision; case heads for
the Supreme Court.
|une 26, 1997 — Supreme
Court rules 7-2 to strike down the
CDA as unconstitutional.
•july 1997 — Texas A&M is taking
measures to clarify regulations of
student expression on the Universi
ty computer system.
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down
the Communications Decency Act on June 26, it
ruled that censorship of pornography on the In
ternet violates the First Amendment. Since this
ruling, Texas A&M officials said they are relieved
of the responsibility of regulating student activi
ty on the Internet.
However, officials also said they will continue
tp act in the best interest of A&M students and re
port any criminal or illegal activities on Web
pages to the proper authorities. •
Tom Putnam, director of Computer Informa
tion Services, said a problem at A&M has occurred
with students putting nude pictures or obscene im
ages on their Web pages. He said people outside the
University and those who do not understand com
puter systems sometimes believe the University
endorses these displays and demand immediate
removal of the offensive material.
“The real problem is trying to restrict people
from putting nude images up that could be seen
by minors,” Putnam said. “A&M could have been
held liable for something like this if the Supreme
Court ruling went the other way.”
The Court said the government cannot limit
adults to “seeing only what is fit for children.”
John Dinkel, associate provost for Computing In
formation Services, said the Communications De
cency Act (CDA) did not clearly define objectionable
speech and that the Court ruling was necessary.
“I think there’s a sense of release,” Dinkel said.
“It (the Court ruling) makes life easier for us at
A&M in the electronic field.”
Dinkel said a study of student Internet traffic
was done in the spring. The study found that stu
dents and faculty access the Internet through the
A&M server at a rate of 500-600 million times a
year. Dinkel said this number is steadily growing.
Putnam said criminal and illegal acts com
mitted by students on Web pages would be han
dled properly.
“We have to define what obscenity is — what
is legal and what is illegal — before we can noti
fy authorities,” he said.
^ ^ It (court ruling) makes
life easier for us at A&M in
the electronic field.”
John Dinkel
Associate provost for computing
Dinkel said A&M has followed the Texas Penal
Code to decide what is illegal. The code (para
graph 43.21) defines obscenity as material that
depicts or describes “patently offensive” sexual
acts, including sexual intercourse, sodomy and
sexual bestiality.
The Student Conflict Resolution Services Cen
ter handlesxases of male and female nudity post
ed on the Web, copyright infringement and use
of a Web site for commercial use.
Please see Internet on Page 2.
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Photograph: Stew Milne
Construction workers dig up the sidewalk leading to Blocker Building
Wednesday morning.
Bush questions
Mauro’s hiring
of convicted felon
hi
A
Mauro
AUSTIN (AP) — Land Commis
sioner Garry Mauro’s hiring of a
man convicted of bank fraud to
oversee a $52 million state con
struction program raises ques
tions, Gov. George W. Bush said
Wednesday.
“I just believe it’s important for all
of us (in government) to maintain
the highest ethi
cal standards,”
Bush said.
“I know what
my own in
stincts are. I’m
confident this
person would
not have been
appointed in my
administration.”
The com
ments were Bush’s first on the
controversy that surfaced last
week after reports that Mauro, a
possible Democratic candidate
for governor in 1998, hired ex
banker Ruben Johnson to help
start a $52 million program to
build assisted-living centers for
veterans.
In 1989, Johnson was indicted on
charges of bank fraud in taking kick-
backs from contractors building a
new bank in Austin.
He still owes $4.6 million in restitu
tion ordered when he was convicted.
Mauro defends the hiring as giv
ing an ex-con a second chance and
says that Johnson’s fiscal expertise
was an asset.
“I just hope this doesn’t mean
Gov. Bush doesn’t believe in giving
people a second chance,” Mauro
spokesman Joe Cutbirth said
Wednesday.
It does not, Bush said. But he said
there are other ways of providing
those opportunities.
“There is doubt about this per
son’s capacity to manage construc
tion bids. That’s precisely what the
job is,” Bush said.
“There’s all kinds of ways of giv
ing people a second chance.... Par
ticularly when all of us must be
earning the public trust, it’s a
mixed message.”
Johnson helped fund the 1982
Democratic Party ticket, making
more than $100,000 in contribu
tions and millions of dollars in loans
to candidates.
Texas Ethics Commission
records show he contributed $5,000
and his bank loaned $228,000 to
Mauro’s campaign in 1982.
While not directly criticizing
Mauro, the Republican governor
did offer a preview of what could
become a campaign issue should
Mauro jump into the race.
“I found it interesting he (John
son) had loaned enormous sums of
money to different candidates,”
Bush said.
“I’m not going to comment on
Garry Mauro and his ethics until
there’s a campaign on. We’re not in
a campaign,” he added. “There’ll be
an appropriate time.”
TODAY
IN
in a. ■
BAl
ick by brick: Red Brick
Mery owner Timothy Vanya
icusses improvements.
See Page 3.
incis: Campus construction,
Ovations cause harm to
locent trees; hinders students.
See Page 5.
LIFESTYLES
OPINION
ONLINE
^tp://bat-web.tamu.edu
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web
5 §e for CIS
Micies.
Witness: Chief
fund-raiser was
pushed into job
WASHINGTON (AP) — White
House officials from President Clin
ton on down pushed John Huang for
his controversial fund-raising job at
Democratic headquarters though
party officials had misgivings about
Huang’s grasp of campaign laws, the
first witness at Senate hearings testi
fied Wednesday.
Richard Sullivan, the former De
mocratic Party finance director, said
he was so concerned about Huang’s
lack of fund-raising experience that
he warned him about adhering to
federal election laws and insisted he
be instructed by a lawyer about pro
hibitions against accepting money
from foreigners.
“I was concerned that John knew the
rule,” Sullivan told senators.
The party has returned nearly half
of the $3.4 million Huang raised as the
Democrats’ chief fund-raiser among
Asian-Americans last year because of
concerns that the money came from
improper sources.
In Spain, far from the blare of the
hearings, Clinton acknowledged he may
have made a pitch to get Huang the
fund-raising job.
Please see Witness on Page 2.
Roll On
Photograph: Tim Moog
Jared Bayer, standing at the intersection of Hwy 6 and Hwy 21, watches half of a historic two-story Victorian house that is
being moved. This is one of five intersections where the street lights had to be removed so the house could pass. The
house was bought at an auction and is being moved from Navasota to Bryan.