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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1998)
ttfil™ YEAR • ISSUE 74 • 10 PACES COLLEGE STATION • TX THURSDAY • JANUARY 22 • 1998 egents to consider affiliation, new initiatives By Colleen Kavanagh Staff writer Th e Texas A&M University System Board of Lgei its is scheduled to consider proposals to- ly to. i How the president ofTexas A&M the au- Sority to execute the affiliation between the uth Texas College of Law and Texas A&M. t lim Ashlock, director of University Rela- ns, said the agenda would give Universi- Prosident Dr. Ray M. Bowen the authori- to proceed with discussions about the liajpce and sign an agreement. “Right now, the main motivation is that many people think a top university needs an affiliation with a good law school,” Ashlock said. “A&M is 127 years old, and it’s a lot dif ferent than when it was founded. We need the affiliation to show that A&M has a broad- based curriculum and discipline of studies.” Ashlock said the South Texas College of Law also would benefit from the alliance be cause when people are considering law schools, they look for university affiliation. “They want an affiliation with a large uni versity,” he said. "Discussions with them go back to the 1960s. We have been moving to wards each other for a long time.” Also on the agenda, the Board will consider approving the ranking of sealed proposals for the Kyle Field expansion project today in College Station. If approved, the University will begin ne gotiations with the top-ranked contractor. Tom Donathen, assistant vice chancellor of facilities planning and construction, said interested contractors have submitted infor mation about their team, workcrew, experi ence and safety records in addition to infor mation about the proposed cost of the job. A Facilities Planning and Construction committee has evaluated and ranked the contractors in order of preference. “The bids are no longer decided on the basis of the lowest price,” Donathen said. “Hopefully if the Board approves the committee’s results, we can negotiate with whoever was the preferred team. There may be some cost saved.” The evaluation ranking system of the sealed proposals is a new law for higher edu cation that went into effect Sept. 1997. Please see Regents on Page 2. I §4 affiliation between South Texas College of Law and Texas A&M. ranking of sealed proposals for Kyle Field expansion project. aves of grass ?:•- it mm --0: . " -mm .4'. ^ 'If, ‘. A iPIfe 1IKE FUENTES/The Battalion rman Scholthof, an assistant professor of virology in the Department of Plant Pathology, checks ||§nts affected by viruses Wednesday afternoon. 110 im Historic visit aggie life >ffee Station provides stomers with unique atmos- ere, gourmet beverages. See Page 3 omen’s Basketball Team ils down first conference n against Oklahoma. Pope calls attention to human rights in Cuba See Page 7 opinion rguson: Gender equity is ;blame for dwindling ucation standards. See Page 9 online tp://battalion. tamu.edu jle eck out The Battalion’s w online design for easier, picker access to today’s stories. HAVANA (AP) — Pope John Paul II, a “messenger of truth and hope,” began a historic pilgrimage Wednesday to Cuba, land of hard ship, embattled faith and an aging, struggling revolution. Long delayed, much anticipat ed, the papal visit to this commu nist island ruled by Fidel Castro may help set a new course for the Cuban church, if not for Cuba it self. Castro, dressed in a business suit, was among those waiting to greet the pope at the airport. Even before touching down here Wednesday afternoon, John Paul addressed some contentious issues surrounding his visit, telling re porters on the papal plane he hoped for more respect for human rights in Cuba, and for a “change” in the U.S. economic embargo. But no matter what else his visit brings, said Orquidea Mesa, one pious parishioner here, “the pope will bless the people of Cuba” —11 million who for four decades have suffered through one of the world’s longest- Students trapped in elevator after campuswide blackout By Chris Huffines Radio producer Four Texas A&M students were trapped last night when the elevator they were riding in stopped be tween the eighth and ninth floors of Rudder Tower. The elevator stopped because of the power failure across campus. The students were trapped for about one hour. Before UPD had arrived, Ron Fulton, a parks and recreation doctoral student and manager of the MSC guest rooms, arrived with keys to open the ninth- floor fire door. After prying the elevator doors apart, the students walked out of the elevator unharmed. The situation was found when Keith Helpenstell, a senior business administration major, checked the elevators after the outage and discovered the stu dents. Helpenstell called 911 and was routed to the Uni versity Police Department. Lyndsey Bellows, a freshman speech communica tions major, said the situation was “a little scary,” but that other students, notably Helpenstell and mem bers of Howdy Ags!, encouraged them during their confinement. Power went out throughout most of the University at about 8 p.m. and remained out until about 10:10 p.m., University officials said. Conference on leadership, unity to attract over 1,200 students By Jennifer Wilson Staff writer College students from 70 dif ferent Texas and southwestern colleges will attend the tenth an nual Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference (SBSLC) at Texas A&M today. About 1,200 students, staff and guests will attend the four-day conference, whose focus is “To day’s Black Leaders: Our Hope for Tomorrow.” Sandra Medina, an adviser for the SBSLC and communications co ordinator for the Department of Multicultural Services at A&M, said the conference incorporates histo ry, unity, self-improvement tech niques, leadership skills, moral val ues and corporate America to inspire young black collegians to be productive leaders of tomorrow. “The theme of this year’s con ference, ‘Celebrating 10 years of Black Leadership ... Empowering Minds for the 21st century,’ is to help prepare students to be out standing leaders in their commu nity,” Medina said. With the aid of a 25-member A&M student staff, who have been preparing since last March for the conference, participants will be able to attend workshops and pro grams on education, finance, health and relationships given by major speakers as well as network with major companies and stu dents from other campuses. Medina said that although regis tration is closed for the conference, many events are open for the stu dents and community to attend. Dr. Julia Hare will be speaking tonight at 7 in Rudder Auditori um. A career fair will be in the Rudder exhibit hall Friday and a play will be presented Friday evening and cost is $5 for non- registered participants. A vendor fair supporting shops and businesses selling arts, crafts and Greek paraphernelia will be held on Saturday, and there will be a party in G. Rollie White Colise um at 10 p.m. Saturday. Tamara Raven, chair of the SB SLC and an accounting graduate student at A&M with three years of SBSLC experience, said this con ference teaches responsibility and skills for achievement in a goal- oriented setting. “One goal of the conference is for African-American students to be enlightened by the information available and to pick up or fine- tune leadership skills and net- “One goal of the confer ence is for African- American students to be enlightened by the information available and to pick up or fine- tune leadership skills and networking abilities with many different companies and students.” TAMARA RAVEN CHAIR, SBSLC working abilities with many dif ferent companies and students,” Raven said. The SBSLC is the largest African-American leadership con ference in the United States. running political showdowns. Ahead of the pope’s arrival, Cas tro’s government worked nonstop to make Cuba’s welcome a memo rable one. Havana workers had the after noon off on a sunny 80-degree day. In neighborhoods and work places, Cubans were organized to be bused to points along the pope’s route from the airport. The Cuban president himself, a diehard Marxist-Leninist, urged people to turn out for the island’s first papal visit ever. “Sure, I’ll be down at 16th and Paseo to see him,” said postman Jorge Luis Jimenez. “Everybody will be out, even the ones who aren’t re ally believers.” Communist party workers joined church volunteers in tacking the pope’s portrait and “messenger” slogan to palm trees, telephone poles and even the backs of bicycle cabs. One was even spotted on the national Capitol, where Castro’s revolutionaries once declared Cuba an atheist nation. Clinton denies allegations of affair with former intern WASHINGTON (AP) — In dozens of taped conver sations now in the hands ofWhitewater prosecutors, a former White House intern says she had an affair with President Clinton and that he tried to get her to lie about it, lawyers said Wednesday. The president de nied the allegations and expressed outrage. “There is not a sexual relationship,” Clinton said firmly in a White House interview. “I did not ask any one to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship.” His comments capped a dramatic day for Clinton and former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, who was at the center of a legal and media storm. Word of the new investigation gripped the White House and had political figures talking of possible impeachment if the allegations were borne out. The investigation was prompted when one of Lewinsky's friends, former White House staffer Linda Tripp, provided tapes to Whitewater Prosecutor Ken neth Starr in which Lewinsky apparently claimed an affair with Clinton and recounted conversations she allegedly had in which Clinton and his friend Vernon Jordan asked her to deny the relationship in affidavit she gave in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit, her attorney said. In her affidavit, Lewinsky denied she had an affair with Clinton. However, two lawyers who demanded anonymity said she describes the affair in no uncer tain terms in conversations tape-recorded secretly by her friend and former White House colleague Linda Tripp. The lawyers said that in these conversations Lewinsky said Jordan assisted her in getting a new job Clinton in New York in recent months, around the time she was sub poenaed in Paula Jones’ case against Clinton. “The charges are not true,” said Clinton, “and I haven’t asked anyone to lie.” Asked about the allegations during the day, first lady Hillary Clinton told re porters, “Certainly I believe they’re false. Absolutely.” Lewinsky is scheduled to give a deposition in the Jones lawsuit Friday. On Wednes day, her Los Angeles-based attorney William Gins- burg said, “at this time, she stands by her declara tion” in the earlier affidavit. He discussed the stress his client was enduring. “In her mind, it’s a lose-lose situation and quite ravaging in terms of what folks think of her,” he said. The Tripp tapes were secretly recorded and include dozens of conversations in which Lewinsky described in detail an affair so intense that Clinton even left pri vate messages on her home phone, lawyers said. Lewinsky was unavailable to comment, as was Jordan. Knowledgeable sources said Tripp voluntarily brought the tape recordings to Starr. Starr went to the Justice Department and with the quick blessing of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno he gained a court-ordered expansion of his investigation.