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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1997)
Texas A & M University 35 54 33 YEAR • ISSUE 68 • 8 PAGES COLLEGE STATION • TX TODAY TOMORROW See extended forecast. Page 2. FRIDAY • DECEMBER 5 • 1997 lei recommends >1 expense curb HKWyAfeHINGTON (AP) — Conclud- that tuition has grown faster I tlfie cost of educating stu- Is, panel recommended Thurs- ;COlleges curb expenses and ■more information available on Aand student aid. National Commission on the It of Higher Education, agreeing ; eC( mmendations to Congress ■e White House after just four fiths of work, also questioned |iteed tenure for faculty and la mandatory retirement policy. The 11-member panel, chartered H this year by Congress, held its fjllublic meeting just two days af- jmg cautioned by the chair of |House Education Committee, Bill Goodling, R-Pa., not to un- 3te the problem. aharrfs condition graded to stable JJACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The JBilly Graham has pneumonia |i|s responding well to treat- mi his doctor said Thursday, lie 79-year-old evangelist was ■italized Wednesday night for Btiment of the respiratory infec- |i| which he developed during a lipbean vacation. |‘He’s responding nicely. I don't E^fiere will be any complica- Dr. Charles Burger, pul- -ary medicine specialist at Mayo iC-Jacksonville, who is treating [(ham, said. 1e is listed in fair condition at jluke’s Hospital, which is affiliat- ifith the Mayo-Clinic Jack- liville, a satellite clinic of the jied Rochester, Minn, clinic. Physicians ran a series of tests araham Thursday which indicate infection in his right lung is uring, his fever has subsided his white blood count is back normal. |udy shows folic acid luces birth defects WASHINGTON (AP) — Adding folic I to women’s diets during child- ^ering years can reduce brain and lal-cord birth defects by almost alt, says a study that reinforces fed- pl plans to fortify bread and cereals pth the vitamin. |Dr. James L. Mills of the National Ititute of Child Health and Human i/elopment said the study shows bingeven a small amount of folic fid a day can have a strong effect on 1 number of babies born with neural le defects such as spina bifida. I “There has been a lot of debate if a Jail amount of folic acid will do any- |fling to prevent neural-tube defects,” |d Mills. “Nobody knew what mini- Im dosage was needed.” [Now, he said, it is clear daily sages as small as 100 micrograms |folic acid can reduce the number of ch defects by around 22 percent, [sages of 400 micrograms cuts de bts by about 47 percent, Mills said. lifestyles Mary Melodies: Seven Mary Three to perform tomorrow night at Dixie Theatre. furton: Day of not spending loney improves spirit of Capitalistic America See Page 7 Regents reject bids for Kyle project By Colleen Kavanagh Staff writer The Texas A&M System Board of Regents rejected all bids received for the Kyle Field expansion project and authorized a budget increase for the project Thursday in Commerce. The bids were all $10 million more than the estimated budget. The budget was increased from $28.5 million to $37.8 million. Terri Parker, director of communi cations for the System, said the 12th Man Student Foundation has agreed to cover the increased budget costs. “The project is being revised, so that the cost will be within the scope of the proposed budget,” she said. In other business, the Board ap proved proposals for Sbisa Dining Center renovations, cooling tower replacements, a geology bachelor of arts program and a public health masters program. The public health, geology and Kyle Field proposals have to be ap proved by the Texas Higher Educa tion Coordinating Board at their meeting in January. Sbisa renovations are estimated to cost $6.6 million. The main en trance will be re-established at its original location facing Military Walk, kitchen equipment will be upgraded and kitchen areas will be The spirit of giving i RONY ANGKRIWAN/The Battalion Sheri Schmidt, coordinator of Diversity Education, buys Christmas gifts at the MSC bazaar Thursday afternoon. Corps to march in San Antonio parade By Rachel Dawley Staff writer As a prelude to the Big 12 Championship game Saturday, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets will march in an early parade in downtown San Antonio. Chris Chase, inspector general of the Corps and a senior history and English major, planned this week’s trip and parade. “The Corps usually takes two trips each fall, but this year it was n’t feasible because there were no schools close to A&M,” he said. “Normally, we travel to Baylor [University] and [University of] Texas, but those games were at home this year.” The Corps marched in San Anto nio before the 1994 Southwest Con ference game between A&M and Southern Methodist University. “The Class of ’98 went to San Antonio during their freshman year,” Chase said. “The city is very excited about us coming back be cause there was such a large turnout then.” Chase said the trip is an oppor tunity for cadets, especially fresh man and sophomores, to get to know others in their outfit and to meet friends. James Benham, a cadet in Com pany C-2 and a freshman comput er engineering major, said the pa rade is an opportunity for cadets to represent the University. “Corps trips are a time for fish to get to know their buddies bet ter, as well as represent the Corps and Texas A&M across the state,” he said. Cadets travel together with their outfit, and normally stay at the homes of fellow members. Reagan O’Reilly, a cadet in Squadron 17 and a freshman fi nance major, said the cadets in his outfit are traveling to the game and midnight yell together. “The trip provides us with a chance to bond with our bud dies outside the Corps environ ment,” O’Reilly said. “It helps us to get to know them on a more personal level.” The parade will begin at 11:30 a.m. near the corner of Dolorosa “Don’t play up a dumb quote just to make space. Trust me, I’ll know.” HELEN CLANCY PROFESSIONAL BULLY and San Saba streets. From there, the Corps will march east along Do lorosa to Market Street and contin ue east on Market. The parade will end at the intersection of Market and Bowie streets. Trey Herndon, a cadet in Squadron 13 and a freshman me chanical engineering major, said the parade will allow the nation to see the Corps and A&M. “The Corps represents what A&M was founded on,” Herndon said. “Even if the rest of the country only sees us for a few seconds, in a high-profile game like the Big 12 Championship, it reflects well on the University and the principles on which it is based.” The Aggie Band will lead the pa rade and will stop and play near the reviewing stand at Market and Alamo streets as the remainder of the Corps passes. Parson’s Mounted Cavalry will ride as the parade’s fi nal unit. Gen. Lloyd W. Newton will be the reviewing officer for the parade. Newton is commander of the Air Education and Training Command headquartered at San Antonio’s Randolph Air Force Base. The com mand recruits, trains and educates Air Force personnel and encom passes 13 air bases nationwide. renovated. The work will be done during the next three summers. Parker said the designers of Sbisa Hall renovations want to maintain the building’s historic architecture. The cooling tower replacement will complete a 15-year project to re place the wooden cooling tower cells with ceramic-filled concrete towers. PITS to close red lot By Amanda Smith Staff writer Construction will begin Dec. 10 in the red parking lot at the corner ofWellborn Road and George Bush Drive. Students who use this red lot may use the blue-permit lots for the remainder of the semester. The red lot accommodates on- campus students. TomWilliams, the director of Park ing, Traffic and Transportation Ser vices (PTTS), said the construction was delayed until after the last day of classes to eliminate parking inconve niences for students using the red lot. Williams said students can start using the blue lots Dec. 8 without being ticketed. “There should not be a problem with parking,” he said. “We are ask ing that students [using the lot] move to the blue lots.” Because demand for parking spaces decreases during the spring semester, Williams said the elimi nation of the red lot should not pro duce significant parking problems. “The spring semester is lighter as far as parking is concerned,” Williams said. “There should not be a parking crunch.” The red lot under construction has 300 spaces. Williams said blue parking lots for the Reed Arena should be completed by late spring. The lot will have 1,500 spaces. Williams said the red parking lot is being eliminated for the develop ment of practice fields in that area. Guy Cook, the assistant manag er of facilities construction, said the practice fields should be completed by the end of June 1998. Wally Groff, athletic director of Texas A&M, said the Athletic Depart ment will have two grass practice fields and one Astroturf field. He said the decision to rebuild practice fields accompanied the decision to change Kyle Field from Astroturf to grass. “It is the trend in college athlet ics to play on grass,” Groff said. “If you play on grass, then you need to practice on grass.” The construction will take out some tennis courts and remove Mt. Aggie, the simulated ski slope. Groff said he expects Mt. Aggie to be moved to West Campus near Reed Arena. Student Senate works to bring grade information to Internet See Page 3 fmmmm | Bex as A&M Football Team prepares for Big 12 title game vjersus Nebraska. See Page 5 lttp://battalion.tamu.eclu Jook up with state and na- ponal news through The fire, AP’s 24-hour online jews service. By Brandye Brown Staff writer The Texas A&M Student Senate passed the Interaction Assurance Bill Wednesday, which will make grade distributions of classes acces sible through the Student Govern ment Association homepage. The grade distributions are scheduled to be on the homepage next semester. The bill also asks the classroom communications form be put on the Internet and the student’s name be removed from the third and fourth copies of the form. Kaycie Swain, off-campus sena tor and a junior political science major, said the Senate felt the need to take steps to improve the quality of teaching because some of the constituents were not satisfied with classroom experiences. “We have received a lot of com plaints about the quality of teachers,” she said, “and we have surveyed our constituency on the issue, and many students feel they do not receive the quality teaching they deserve.” The student’s name is removed from the form so the professor, the department head of the pro fessor and the Provost’s office will receive anonymous copies. The SEN student’s name will remain on the copy submitted to the student’s department head. Swain said the classroom com munication form is for students to voice violations of University policy by the professor. Swain also said the form is not used of ten because it can be a conflict of interest if the student is enrolled in the professor’s course. “The forms help students deal with situations where a student would not want to confront the teacher on their own,” she said. “By removing the student’s name, we are increasing the ef fectiveness of the form and pro tecting students who need to voice their concerns.” In other business: •The Student Senate Transition ing Procedures Bill and Senate Ab sence Policy Reform Bill, which deal with Senate rules and regulations, were passed. • The Q-Drop Period Extension Bill, which would expand the time to Q-drop until the last day of class before dead week, was re ferred to committee. • A resolution was passed in sup port of the Texas A&M Football Team and Coach R.C. Slocum for capturing the Big 12 South Championship. The resolution also named the weekend of Dec. 5-7 “The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football Weekend.” RHA seeks solutions to revenue problems By Stacey Becks Staff writer The Residence Hall Association tried Wednesday night to find ways to offset revenue loss for the De partment of Residence Life. Mac Thomas, associate director of housing assignments and con ference services, said Residence Life is losing money and is trying to find the cause of the problem. “Rather than spread the problem out among everybody, we’re trying to pinpoint the problem,” he said. Thomas said the three main ideas for halting revenue loss are to raise deposits for housing by $ 100, charge a $25 application fee and stop stu dents from breaking contracts. Peter Schulte, vice president for administration and a sophomore meteorology major, said losing the current deposit of $200 does not stop students from moving out mid-year. “The $200 deposit is not a stiff enough penalty to stop people from moving out," he said. “The ex tra $100 would help.” Although some schools charge an application fee, Texas A&M does not. Thomas said the department is losing money on processing ap plicants who decide not to attend A&M. It costs anywhere between $25 and $31 to process one person through housing, he said. Nia Woods, hall director of Mosher Hall and an educational administration graduate student, said students breaking contracts is a problem in Mosher. “In Mosher, lots of girls leave be cause they pledge a sorority and want to live in the house or with friends,” she said. “Trying to keep students in residence halls is hard.”