Texas A & M University
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TODAY
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)4F H YEAR • ISSUE 79 • 10 PACES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
THURSDAY • JANUARY 29 • 1998
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Vew committee set to carry A&M into future
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By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
N lx The eyes of Texas A&M focus on the future
v taints to become one of the top 10 univer-
J : in 3s in the United States by the year 2020.
wp n® Vision 2020Working Committee, led
|nteti DrjWalter Wendler of Texas A&M, pre
sses toward developing a plan to im-
b ivelthe oldest public institution in the
• n te of Texas.
lach Wei idler, the executive assistant to Presi-
I- it Dr. Ray Bowen, said the Vision 2020
i io: rking Committee consists of faculty rep-
iii sntatives, administrators, former students
pe L1 the ■ current student body president.
“As we (the committee) look at how Texas
M Vvill collaborate (in the future), we can
k at goals for the future,” Wendler said,
xas A&M is clearly one of the best univer-
es ui the state. We keep getting better and
Drov ing the quality of education.”
Wendler said that the committee looks
t variety of rankings to compare A&M to
ivefsities across the nation,
lemostcurrent (1997) USNews&World
Don data listed us as nineteenth among
Dlic universities in the nation,” Wendler
d. ‘[That is one kind of ranking. We also
k at other reports. With the National Ke
rch Council (NRC) rankings, the rank is
: as clear.”
The NRC lists only the top 25 universities
in the nation. Texas A&M was not on the
latest NRC report, Wendler said.
“We are looking at what the top 10 uni
versities from the NRC and the US News &
World Report rankings have,” Wendler said.
“Two of the things that come up when you
talk about great universities is
that they almost always have
a fine arts school and a
law school.”
On Jan. 23, Texas
A&M President Ray
Bowen signed an affilia
tion agreement with the
South Texas College of Law,
the first law school to have an
affiliation with Texas A&M Uni
versity.
Paul Henry, the associate director
of the Memorial Student Center and the
faculty advisor of the MSC MBA/ LAW
committee, said that the affiliation agree
ment with the Soutli Texas College of Law is of
great benefit to both institutions.
“We need a law school to become a top
10 university,” Henry said. “Pretty much the
only piece of the puzzle that was missing
was a law school.”
Henry said that the affiliation with a law
school complements A&M’s current gradu
ate and professional programs. Texas A&M
has a medical school, an affiliation with the
Baylor College of Dentistry, the Bush School
of Public Administration and a masters pro
gram for business students.
Curtis Childers, student body president
and a member of the Vision 2020 Working
Committee, said that affiliation with the law
school moves Texas A&M one step closer to
becoming a top 10 university.
“We want to set the stage for Texas A&M
to achieve top national status,” Childers
said. “Almost all top 10 institutions have a
fine arts program and a law school.”
Childers said that the committee hopes
to increase population diversity among stu
dents and faculty, develop a fine arts pro
gram and retain a strong faculty.”
Improving the percentage of graduate
students and upgrading the faculty of Texas
A&M are central to improvement, Graduate
Student Council (GSC) President Clifton
Griffin said.
Griffin, a member of the Vision
JPPT" 2020 Working Committee and a
f doctoral candidate in the
Wildlife and Fisheries de
partment, said that top
universities have a larger
percentage of graduate stu
dents than Texas A&M. Cur
rently, Griffin said that graduate
students make up only 18 percent
of the student population.
“We want to improve graduate
education but not at the expense of
undergraduate education,” Griffin said.
“We need to make a renewed commit
ment to graduate students and to promote
a sound faculty with top research-minded
individuals. That is going to take some lead
ership at the top.”
Dr. Howard Kaplan, a member of the Vi
sion 2020 Working Committee and a distin
guished professor of sociology, said that im
provements in faculty and graduate
programs will also take money.
“What will drive these improvements is
stable funding whether from state or pri
vate sources,” Kaplan said. “We must con
tinue to increase the amount of money
from private sources, national research
agencies and state allotments.”
A plan designed for the more immediate fu
ture, 1998 to 2002, establishes goals for
Texas A&M University that resemble short
er term goals of the 2020 vision plan.
Wendler said that the shorter strategic
plan provides a stepping stone for A&M as
it progresses towards 2020.
“Most of the objectives in the shorter fo
cus plan are things that need to be accom
plished to get to the 2020 project,” Wendler
said. “When you get up near the top of the
universities in the nation, it gets harder.
That is the challenge to make us better than
we already are.”
Major goals of the short-term strategic
plan aim to:
-Strengthen colleges through improved
faculty and student body across the Texas
A&M campus.
-Increase campus computing invest
ment from $50 to $60 million per year.
-Increase investment in library materi
als, both print and electronic, to make the
library system one of the top 35 university
systems in the nation.
Please see Future on Page 6.
Dinner time
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|TiWShelly Novotny, a sophomore biomedical science major, feeds Emma and Frog, a pair of whitetail deer, at the Wildlife and Exotic Animal Building
^Wednesday afternoon as part of her veterinary physiology and pharmocology class.
Kyle expansion
awaits finish of
cost discussion
By Stacey Becks
Staff writer
The proposed expansion of Kyle
Field is still uncertain as Texas A&M
University officials attempt to low
er Bartlett Cocke Inc.’s originafbid
for the project to meet the school’s
$33 million budget.
Tim Donathen, assistant vice
chancellor of Facilities, Planning
and Construction, said he does not
know how long it will take for the
negotiations to be conclude so that
construction can begin.
“We would hope within two to
three weeks we’ll know whether we
will be able to recommend to the
Board a contract award or whether
we’ll be required to move to a sec
ond team,” he said.
“We could be repeating the ne
gotiations until we get a contract
that meets the budget.”
Last Friday, The A&M Board of
Regents gave a team of individuals
from the University permission to
negotiate with Bartlett Cocke, Inc.
of San Antonio, Texas for the ex
pansion of Kyle Field.
Wally Groff, athletic director,
said the plans are to tear down the
horseshoe and add two decks with
two levels of seats in between.
“The overall project is to demolish
the north end zone of Kyle Field and
add a lower and upper deck,” he said.
“We’re moving it 58 feet closer to the
field and taking horrible seats and
providing a good view.”
The expansion will almost dou
ble the amount of seats available in
the end zone and add higher priced
seats in between.
Groff said the seats between the
two decks will include a club area with
1,800 covered seats. People who pur
chase the season tickets, for $2,000
each, will be Zone Club members.
Alcohol will be served in the
Zone Club, but will not be allowed
outside the area.
There will also be food buffets
before the games and snacks served
during the games for members.
The next level will have 20 suites
with 12 seats each that will sell for
$27,000 per season.
The club area will include a
14,000 square foot private club sep
arated by glass from the seats.
Shay Scruggs, chief develop
ment officer for the 12th Man Foun-
dation, said the Zone Club will in
clude many amenities.
“Amenities inside the club will in
clude television monitors, elevators,
possibly an escalator, food, drink and
ample restrooms,” he said.
Please see Expansion on Page 6.
agffielife
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In ’Da House:
Many uses of
patios, balconies
often overlooked
by students.
See Page 3
Aggies assist in new
hearing-aid project
d ;as A&M Men’s Basketball
,1m squanders 20-point
d, falls 68-67 to Colorado,
on's*’
See Page 10
lumacher: Tobacco industry
i to blame for health troubles
smokers.
See Page 9
e»iK' e tp / /battalion.tamu.edu
ok up with state and
sS- a! tional news through The
re, AP’s 24-hour online
J0/VS service.
By Susan E. Atchison
Staff writer
By developing a wireless volume
control and a noise reduction sys
tem, electrical engineers at Texas
A&M University are making life easi
er for people who use hearing aids.
Graduate student Alexander H.
Reyes and professor Edgar
Sanchez-Sinencio are working
with researchers at the University
of Extremadura, Spain, and the
University of Pavia, Italy to im
prove hearing aid technology.
The wireless volume control al
lows users to adjust the volume
without removing the hearing aid.
The remote control, small enough
to fit in a purse or a pocket, may be
programmed to contain four or
five different volume settings for
different environments.
“Hearing-impaired persons
each respond differently according
to degree of hearing loss,”
Sanchez-Sinencio said. “If we take
an audiogram, which is like a fin
gerprint of a person’s hearing re
sponse, we can see just where the
patient’s frequency gaps are.”
With this new technology, users
would visit an audiologist to receive
their prescription for a hearing aid,
Reyes said. The audiologist would
record the user’s audiogram and then
program the hearing aid accordingly.
Programs are developed not
only to fit the patient’s individual
hearing pattern but also to fit en
vironments, such as restaurants
or offices, Reyes said.
The noise reduction system in
creases the volume of human speech
while cutting out background noise.
Unlike volume controls used in the
past, which made all sounds louder,
the system is able to block out un
wanted sounds.
While the noise reduction system
has direct application in hearing aids,
it could have a broader application in
reducing noise in cars, airplanes or
factories, Reyes said.
The new technology has been
developed for hearing aids worn
both behind the ear and inside the
ear, Reyes said.
Partial funding for the project is
provided by Iberdrola, which is
Spain’s major utility company.
Advising for the project comes
from audiologists at Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston.
Agents’ testimony sought
Prosecutors look to Secret Service for possible evidence of affair
WASHINGTON (AP) —Aggres
sively pressing for evidence of an
alleged presidential affair and cov
er-up, prosecutors on Wednesday
sought Secret Service agents’ tes
timony, questioned President
Clinton’s former chief of staff and
tried to clinch a deal for Monica
Lewinsky’s cooperation.
In a whirlwind day, investiga
tors crossed the country to pick up
possible evidence in a safety de
posit box in Oregon while opening
negotiations deep inside the Trea
sury Department.
Officials told The Associated
Press Whitewater prosecutor Ken
neth Starr’s office and Treasury of
ficials were discussing how to gain
testimony from Secret Service
agents about whether they saw
anything while protecting Clinton
that would support allegations that
he had an affair with Lewinsky.
The two sides were trying to
work through Treasury concerns
that forcing agents to breach
their customary code of silence
might jeopardize the effective
ness of his security detail, the of
ficials said, speaking on condi
tion of anonymity.
Former chief of staff Leon
Panetta spent most of the day at
the federal courthouse and said
he had been “largely detailing
the operations of the White
House and the physical setting of
the White House.”
He said he was unaware of “any
improper relationship, sexual or
otherwise,” involving Clinton, and
he added, “My fervent prayer is
that for the sake of the president
and the sake of this nation that
this matter is resolved soon.”
With Clinton keeping mum
about the crisis, an anxious White
House awaited word of whether
prosecutors would provide Lewin
sky immunity in exchange for her
testimony before a grand jury.
Attorney William Ginsburg, who
represents the former intern, said
prosecutors have been in regular
contact as they try to clarify various
points in his client’s formal offer
earlier this week to testify.
“There is regular give and
take,’’Ginsburg said in an inter
view with the AP. “We are clarify
ing points (in the offer) as they
come up. And they have kept us
pretty much in the loop. There’s an
open line of communication.”
Asked if he was growing more
hopeful, Ginsburg said: “In nego
tiations, it is
not a matter
of opti
mism, it is a
matter of
patience.”
Lewin
sky swore in
an affidavit
earlier this
month in
the Paula
Jones sexual
harassment Clinton
case she did
not have an affair with Clinton.
But prosecutors have custody of
secretly recorded conversations in
which Ms. Lewinsky tells a friend
she did have an affair and was
asked by Clinton and presidential
friend Vernon Jordan to deny it.
Among the charges prosecu
tors must weigh is whether
Lewinsky and the president
committed perjury and whether
she, Clinton and Jordan con
spired to suborn perjury and ob
struct the investigation.
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