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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1998)
Texas A St M University i pi pi jf-i p | ; 04 ! " YEAR • ISSUE 102 • 10 PAGES ■"'tWP TODAY TOMORROW COLLEGE STATION • TX TUESDAY • MARCH 3 • 1998 esidence halls to undergo 9 percent increase By Amanda Smith | Staff writer Students planning to live on campus this 1 can expect a nine percent increase in eir room rent. The largest increase is in tlities expenses, which accounts for 56 [rcent of the increase. Ron Sasse, Department of Residence Life bee tor, said the increase is part of a series jim reases designed to tmlance the de- [rtment budget. “At the time we took over the depart ment, we were $1 million in the red,” Sasse said. “We developed a fiscal plan to have in come expenses met by the end of fiscal year 1998, which is this August. We are on target to meet that goal.” A nine percent increase for fiscal year 1999, which runs from September 1998 to August 1999, will follow after this year’s in crease. Rates increased 9.5 percent in 1997, which included a student-initiated increase of over 4.5 percent for cable TV and ethernet. Jason Taylor, a senior RHA member and a a senior recreation, parks and tourism sci ence major, said the rent increase impacts students wanting to live on campus. “It seems like we got hit,” Taylor said. “The increase is a lot to be hit with at one time.” The average student lives on campus for the nine-month academic year for about $2,150, Sasse said. On-campus residents do not pay separate utility bills, phone instal lation fees, cable fees and service or trans portation costs. The average cost of off-campus housing is about $480 per month, which does not in clude the additional costs of housing ex penses, according to a spring 1998 report released by Off Campus Student Services. Texas A&M on-campus residents pay the fifth-highest rate to live on campus com pared to other Big 12 universities, accord ing to an A&M report. Occupancy rates, the percentages of stu dents living in residence halls, affect bud get estimates by the Department of Resi dence Life, Sasse said. “The residence hall budget has typically been built on actual occupancy, which has been very high,” Sasse said. “Our 10-year average is over 100 percent. We are trying to slowly lower the percentage that we use to build the budget. We have to reduce income to do this and we need all the income we have to make the budget work right now.” Please see Increase on Page 2. ■iBi m MJ.., f'A mr wk Bit! ! HHiL fJTmi 1r* Program ranked first by U.S News jMJr W' UK tgfc - / WKBWMHm GREG MCREYNOLDS/The Battalion Upward Lam, a freshman electrical engineering major, works on lettering at the Hong Kong exhibit for International Week in the MSC Monday. ousing renewals made easy •epartment of Residence Life introduces website, simplifies process By Amanda Smith Staff writer Today is the last day stu- bnts living in residence halls In renew their contracts over |e Internet. Mack Thomas, an associate rector of the Department of bsidence Life and head of msing Assignments, said al- ig students to renew con- icts electronically provides ►nvenience. “It allows students the oppor- Inity to fill out the form work at jeir leisure,” Thomas said. “It ?o allows the Department, of bsidence Life to avoid mistakes reading and entering the forms.” Thomas said students can make changes to their contract renewals at any time during the renewal period. The deadline for final changes is April 1 but students must directly contact the De partment of Residence Life. “Due to wide access, the elec tronic contract renewal will al low students to make changes without going back through a gi ant paper system,” Thomas said. “At the same time that it will allow us to survey work, it won’t allow the students to make choices that waste efforts.” Hall residents will receive pamphlets from the Depart ment of Residence Life to ex plain the procedure to follow when renewing the contract over the Internet. Once students hook up to the website, then they click on a contract renewal icon. Students enter their student identification number and birthdate to access the system that allows selection of resi dence hall, roommate and re lated preferences. Thomas said the Depart ment of Residence Life expects the first electronic contract re newal to run with little or no technical difficulties. Students with access to the Internet can access the pro gram from their dorm rooms. “Any students capable of run ning on the Web with Netscape 3 or 4 or with Internet Browser 3 or 4 should be able to renew their contracts from their rooms,” Thomas said. “That covers about 99 percent of students with In ternet access. “Others can log on at the li brary, the computer labs or at the Department of Residence Life. It is important for stu dents to print and read a copy of their housing contracts.” Please see Dorms on Page 2. By Susan E. Atchison Staff writer Aggie engineers have once again set a national standard for excellence, according to one recent magazine report. Texas A&M’s petroleum engineering program is ranked first in U.S. News & World Report’s 1998 annual rankings of America’s best graduate schools. “Aggies have been leading the way in en ergy development, not just in Texas, but also in the world, as long as that industry has existed,” said Jim Ashlock, executive di rector of University Relations. Dr. Roland Haden, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, said the ranking reaf firms the school’s credibility. “We’ve been ranked number one for some time, and it’s good to see that we con tinue to he,” Haden said. Haden cited a number of reasons he thinks A&M’s petroleum engineering pro gram received the number one ranking. He said the strength of the faculty and the number of faculty in the National Acade my of Engineering probably played a role in the ranking, Haden also Cited A^M’s membership in the Global Petroleum Research Insti tute, a partnership with eight of the world’s largest oil companies, including Exxon and Texaco. Dr. Bud Peterson, executive associate dean of engineering, credited the faculty with the success of A&M’s petroleum engi neering program. “We have a fine faculty who are very closely tied to the petroleum industry,” Pe- U.S. News terson said. “They are not only doing an outstanding job in the preparation of both undergraduate and graduate students, but are also actively involved in some leading- edge research activities.” Dr. Dan Robertson, executive director of the Office of Graduate Studies, said he is pleased with the ranking from a recruit ment perspective. “Rankings play a major role in the deci sion of prospecti ve students in where they go to school,” Robertson said. “Usually this kind of recognition will be followed by an ‘ increase in the number of applications re ceived from around the nation.” The March 2 issue of U.S. News & World Report ranks the nation’s graduate schools in business, law, medicine, health educa tion, engineering and public affairs. Texas A&M is ranked 21st out of the top 25 schools of engineering. Among engineering spe cialties, A&M is ranked 8th in nuclear engi neering and 7th in industrial/manufactur ing engineering. Prof released on $4,000 bond By Amanda Smith Staffwriter A tenured Texas A&M professor was arrested and released on $4,000 bond on two felony counts that charge him with misappro priating state funds for per sonal financial gain. Dhiraj Pradhan was in dicted at a Brazos County grand-jury hearing on the two felony counts on Feb. 26. A trial date has not been set, District Attorney Bill Turner said Friday. TUrner could not be reached for comment Monday evening. Pradhan said he hopes to avoid a trial. “I am hoping that this does not go to trial,” Pradhan said. “This indictment will have a drilling effect on the faculty.” Pradhan faces accusa tions of misusing between $1,500 and $20,000 of state university funds for his two businesses, Technology Transfer Institute and Reli able Computer Technology. Travis Bryan, Pradhan’s criminal defense attorney, could not be reached for comment Monday evening. Pradhan was suspended with pay in August, as a result of a separate University audit that accuses him of misap propriating $100,000 of Uni versity funds. T research links biology female homosexuality WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers ^y they have found the first strong evi- jrlce of a physical difference between isbians and straight women — a find- ■ that the inner ears of gay women |oi:k more like those of men. The discovery adds new support to the lieory that sexual orientation maybe pre- isposed before birth, llirhe origin of ho- losexuality has long |een a matter of con- mtion. Some believe to be a matter of loice, but others — icluding many gay jeople — say it is not |hoice but biology. Jjfln the study to be published today in the Bceedings of the Na- loi ial Academy of Sci- fnces, researchers at te University of Texas, said they found the mer ears of female homosexuals have |ldergone “masculinization,” probably pm hormone exposure before birth. TrTheir auditory centers have been tiasculinized and the presumption is pat so have the sites in the brain that di- leifct sexual preference,” said Dennis Mc- fadden, the lead author of the study. | It has yet to be proven, however, that The research is compelling and consistent with the biological origin of lesbianism. Dr. Michael Bailey Northwestern University there is a specific site in the brain that di rects women to be lesbians, he said. Dr. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University, said the research is “com pelling” and may be “consistent with the biological origin of lesbianism.” “The most likely interpretation,” he said, “is that this represents some kind of effect of early hor mones on the devel oping fetus.” Bailey cautioned, however, that the re search will not be ac cepted as valid until others replicate the experiment. To test for differ ences between the sexes, the re searchers recruited more than 200 adults divided into four groups: homosexual women and men, and heterosexual women and men. Some from each of the four groups were later identified as bisexual. The sex ual orientation of the subjects was de termined by questionnaire. The results, McFadden said, indicat ed that lesbians had click-responses that were significantly weaker than those of heterosexual women. 20 dead after protests ends with pohee confrontation PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) — Riot police fired water can nons and tear gas Monday at tens of thousands of ethnic Al banians, clubbing them as they fled into side streets in Pristina. It was the third day of violent clashes that some fear could ig nite broader regional fighting. Hundreds of policemen wad ed into a crowd of30,000 ethnic Albanians protesting the deaths of compatriots in clashes last weekend. Those confrontations claimed at least 20 lives. The violence in Serbia’s restive Kosovo province has alarmed the international com munity and heightened fears of a wider conflict in the Balkans. Serbia is the dominant republic in what is left of Yugoslavia. Some worry the clashes could lead the province into a war of separation similar to those in Bosnia and Croatia. In Washington, State De partment spokesperson James P. Rubin condemned the vio lence and said the ranking U.S. diplomat in Belgrade has protested to authorities in Ser bia and Yugoslavia. “The United States expects the Serbian police in Kosovo to act with maximum restraint,” Rubin said. “Further state- sponsored violence would only deepen Belgrade’s isolation and dim prospects for the integra tion of (Yugoslavia) into the in ternational community.” Rubin added that U.S. sanc tions against Belgrade will re main in place until authorities there “have taken meaningful steps to address the legitimate grievances” of Kosovo’s Alban ian community. The United States also has called on ethnic Albanian lead ers to condemn actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army, he said. Kosovo Albanians, who make up more than 90 percent of the province’s 2 million peo ple, have been pushing for in dependence from Serbia, which abolished the province’s broad autonomy in 1989. Kosovo province, bordering Albania and Macedonia, has HUNGARY . \ 50 km ‘ja Vojvodina { ROMANIA CROATIA, f~ Belgrade j V '7 'A/©:... A. BOSNI ' S L / ,, v HERZE /INA YUGOSLAVIA Kosovo 1 Montenegro Serbia Adriatic Sea •? MACEDONIA GREECE simmered with violence since Serbia introduced heavy mili tary and police rule a decade ago. In Brussels, Belgium, the Eu ropean Union called for in creased international pressure to push Yugoslav President Slobo dan Milosevic into negotiating a peaceful solution to the crisis. INSIDE Adopting a pet provides students with a furry friend who can offer a lifetime of love. See Page 3 sports Women’s Big 12 Basketball Championship promises ‘March Madness’ preview. See Page 7 opinion Lemons: Tradition of polishing Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue causes damage, ruins features. See Page 9 SSSSSSSSSSEMuuSESSSSm http: / / battalion.tamu.edu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.
