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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1998)
HI "is m fij » C.C K (t S.B 2 3 > I Q B V 3 X 3 TODAY TOMORROW THURSDAY • APRIL 2 • 1998 Elementary my dear Watkins 0 ew basketball coach, Melvin Watkins leaves UNC-Charlotte to revive Aggies m 0) 0 : By Jeff Schmidt Assistant sports editor “ \ new day has dawned for Texas A&M Men’s ■ball and Melvin Watkins will be the architect. Abalkins, who led North Carolina-Charlotte to i consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAATour- neri appearances, was hired as head basket- | 1 coach, Athletic Director Wally Groff an- inced yesterday. A/at ins spent 18 years as an assistant coach for ■ Hia mater after he took the 49ers to the Final irin 1977 as a player. Tm \ ery excited about this opportunity, and vety proud to be a part of the (A&M) family,” tkins said at a Wednesday press conference, fefest few days have been tough for me. I’ve had refeleepless nights, but the opportunity wakes iub.” Before the press conference, Watkins had an in- nal meeting with the players, and he told them luf his open-door policy and what he expects nthem. ‘I law a group of men who are hungry and a up who feels that passion,” Watkins said. “As we ntp the new arena, we want to create a winning losphere. 'You have to have a belief in yourself. Compo- itsfof success are consistent and if you apply them you have a chance to be successful,” Watkins said. “I believe in hard work and rollin’ up the sleeves.” Watkins, 43, replaced Jeff Mullins at UNCC be fore the 1996-97 season and compiled a 42-20 overall record with a pair of NCAA Tournament vic tories at UNCC. He was named Conference USA Coach of the Year his first season after leading the 49ers to a 22-9 regular season and a first round win against Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament. This season, the 49ers defeated Illinois-Chica- go in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and pushed top-seeded North Carolina to overtime be fore losing. “Melvin was one of the top three candidates from the start of what was a very thorough and ex haustive coaching search,” Groff said. “I am ex tremely pleased and excited that he has accepted the position, and we look forward to working with him and his staff. The primary goals for all of our programs are to contend for Big 12 Championships and to be competitive on a national level. I am con fident in Melvin’s ability to lead us to those goals.” A nine-person search committee decided on Watkins when Mississippi Coach Robb Evans was rejected by Groff. New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss was then thought to be the leading candidate, but he decided not to pursue the job. Watkins was one of only two candidates to for- RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion New A&M men’s basketball coach, Melvin Watkins speaks at a press conference yesterday, mally interview for the position. Vanderbilt’s Jan Van Breda Koff interviewed the day after Watkins and was told Watkins likely would accept the va cant position. Perhaps Watkins’ first order of business will be to persuade sophomore guard Brian Barone to stay at A&M. Barone is the son of former Head Coach Tony Barone, who was reassigned in February. Al though Barone said he has no timetable for his de cision, he does plan to talk with Watkins and de cide pretty quickly whether to stay or not. Please see Watkins on Page 9. RHA delays vote on visitation bill By Amanda Smith Staff writer The Residence Hall Association (RHA) tabled the resolution last night that favors extending visita tion from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily in all residence halls on campus. RHA failed to meet the required quorum of 50 RHA members to vote on the resolution. Peter Schulte, the RITA vice president for administration and a sophomore business major, said the extended legislation is well-developed. “The committee has gotten a lot of good input from the residents,” Schulte said. "It is a good way for the Department of Residence Life peo ple to stay on campus.” Schulte said RHA needs to vote on the extended visitation pro posal by the next general assem bly, April 15. “There is a lot of support for the extended hours visitation bill with in RHA but the legislation could go either way,” Schulte said. An addition to the extended hours, the resolution supports the right of each hall to vote for com plete 24-hour visitation or 24-hour visitation on weekends only. Currently, only co-educational residence halls allow 24-hour visi tation. Northside co-ed halls in clude Clements, the FHK complex and Lechner. Southside co-ed halls include Eppright and Wells. All non co-ed halls currently al low visitation from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Rusty Thompson, the assistant director of residence education for the Department of Residence Life, said co-ed halls tend to have fewer disciplinary problems. Thompson said fewer problems may be due in part to 24-hour visitation and oth er factors. Please see RHA on Page 2. > y D 2. CL D V> ifj i. fD o 3 > 1 I > 'sO LO oc £ <T> a 3 I'D VI a CD > 73 LO vO 00 Heightened experience GREG MCREYNOLDS/The Battalion Blair Halliwell, a University employee, touches up the stone flowers as part of a renovation project beneath the overhang of the Academic Building on Wednesday afternoon. < Big Event tackles 400 jobs Saturday O l nt’ a m By Amanda Smith Staffwriter Helen Pugh is thankful for the help she re jives from Big Event each year. The College ation resident and Texas A&M supporter B students have come to her home to help can out the gutters and perform other ■res that she cannot do alone. |fl appreciate the Big Event,” Pugh said, ley didn’t mind getting up on the roof be- ise I wouldn’t be able to get up there. The udents do an excellent service to tire com- lunity, and they always help with more than fat I ask for.” gMore than 3,000 volunteers are expected to pplete more than 400 service jobs in the Rtimunity Saturday for the annual Big Event. Congressman Joe Barton will kick off the ceremonies for Big Event at 8:30 a.m. in front of the Jack K. William Administration building. ‘The students do an excellent service to the community...” Helen Pugh Colege Station resident Debbie Emminger, Big Event director and a senior community health major, said any body in the Bryan-College Station area is eli gible to apply for help. “It is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to all so cioeconomic backgrounds in the Bryan-Col- lege Station community,” Emminger said. “A lot of people have misconceptions about the Big Event, but anybody is eligible.” Big Event is the largest student-run com munity service event in the nation and is co ordinated by an executive committee of Stu dent Government. The history of Big Event can be traced to 1982 ,when Joe Nessbaum proposed a bill to the Student Senate to develop a community wide service event. The first event included six students who cleaned up the grounds of a local cemetery. Please see Big Event on Page 2. c ’anel examines future role of arts on campus in By Kelly Hackworth Staffwriter The English Language & Literature So- |ety and Sigma Tan Delta presented an ts panel last night to about 70 students > discuss the future of the arts program at exasA&M University. I Dr. Woodrow Jones, Dean of the College ot Liberal Arts, said the college needs a Wronger arts program. I “Arts are a reflection of liberal learning,” h<‘ said. “It is through arts that we get a pance to act out what life is all about.” I Dr. Paul Parrish, arts development co- |rdinator and a panelist, said the depart- jjjpent wants to offer a music degree and a jfombined theater and music department. I "It would be the first time in the history |f Texas A&M that there would be a de partment whose mission would be the Ins,” he said. I Parrish said the arts program may help I- Texas A&M get a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, a national honor society. “The absence of developed academic programs in arts was one of the criti cisms,” he said. “This will be a positive step forward, but no guarantees are built into that.” The process of implementing the arts program will be long, Parrish said. It will take about a month to move the proposal up to the chain of command, he said. “We should know within the next acad emic year," he said. Dr. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs, said the Board of Re gents is looking for a $5 million donor for the Arts program. “It may sound like a iot of money to us, but when $5 million is an endowment, that’s $250,000 a year to spend forever,” he said. The $5 million is needed to make the re quest feasible to the coordinating board, Jones said. It is especially attractive because state funding is not necessary, he said. The mon ey will be used to underwrite the program, and provide scholarship, and it will not drain the state funds, Jones said. “Since we are the only public universi ty in the state without a music program, we are asking them to allow us to duplicate programs,” Jones said. Dr. Peter Lieuwen, music section coor dinator, said the music major will not em phasize performance at this time. “Many good Texas schools have perfor mance degrees," he said. “A lot of the jobs in music are not in the performance area but music technology and music therapy.” Southerland said the Aggie Band will not be affected by the new music program. “Colonel Toler supports this program,” Southerland said. “The only way we would have a problem is with a perfor mance program.” Sexual harassment suit thrown out by judge WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic vic tory for President Clinton, a judge threw out Paula Jones’ lawsuit Wednesday and said her claim of sexual harassment wasn’t worthy of a trial even if the president’s alleged behavior was “boorish and offensive.” Jones “has failed to demonstrate that she has a case and the court therefore finds that there are no genuine issues for trial,” U.S. Dis trict Judge Susan Webber Wright wrote in Lit tle Rock, Ark. “While the court will certainly agree tliat plaintiffs’ allegations describe offensive con duct, the court... has found that the gover nor’s alleged conduct does not constitute sexual assault,” she ruled. Her 39-page ruling abruptly halted a sen sational lawsuit that had haunted the White House for more than three years and threat ened to place his sexual conduct with a variety of women before the nation in a historic trial. Clinton, wrapping up a six-nation tour of Africa, was so stunned by word of the ruling that he asked if it was an April Fools’ joke. The president is “pleased that he has received the vindication he has long awaited,” press sec- retary Mike McCurry said. Jones’ lawyers said an appeal is “very like ly” and that while they were disappointed with the decision, “this ruling does not vin dicate or exonerate Mr. Clinton.” “It is a shame that unless the ruling is re versed on appeal, there will now never be a determination of who was telling the truth and who was lying,” her law firm said in a statement. “I’m shocked,” said Susan Carpenter McMillan, Jones’ spokesperson. “I’d be less than honest if I didn’t tell you I was com pletely blown away by this decision.” While the White House cheered the deci sion, Clinton’s legal woes are far from over. Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr is press ing his criminal investigation into whetirer Clinton lied about having sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and en couraged her to cover it up. “Judge Wright’s ruling today has no effect on our au thority and we will continue working to complete the inves tigation as expedi tiously as possible,” Starr said in a state ment just hours af- Clinton t er the ruling. The White House brushed off the linger ing issues. “This has been a fact of life and no doubt other things will remain a fact of life for him,” McCurry said. He said Clinton had shown “extraordinary discipline” in not be ing distracted. In her ruling, Wright said that whatever went on in the Arkansas hotel room in 1991 between Jones and Clinton, then the state’s governor, she had failed to prove she was harmed emotionally or in her career as she contended. “The plaintiffs’ allegations fall far short of the rigorous standards for establishing a claim of outrage under Arkansas law,” Wright wrote. Whatever went on in the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock “was brief and isolated; did not result in any physical harm... did not result in distress so severe that no reasonable per son could be expected to endure it,” the judge wrote. Software takes science to edge By Jennifer Wilson Staffwriter Geophysics students now have the opportuni ty to learn about their field in a hands-on learning process thanks to a software donation. Seismic Micro-Technology of Houston donat ed $410,000 of software to Dr. Joel Watkins to teach his geophysics students on computers in stead of by textbooks. The software helps locate oil and gas deposits by examining pictures of layers of rock. Bill Lance, director of marketing at Seismic Mi cro-Technology, said the donation was a result of a shared goal between the corporation and Texas A&M to train students in the techniques of mod ern technology. “Our goal is to provide tools to educate young geoscientists,” he said. “The three-year donation offers the latest versions of the software to the stu dents, and I imagine it will continue again after the three year period ends.” Lance said there is a shortage of trained geosci entists and the software gives students the oppor tunity to experience modern technology and learn what otherwise would be taught by a textbook in a practical way. “The software gives students the ability to know how to deal with the technical tools,” he said. Dr. Joel Watkins, a geophysics professor, said the technology makes it easier to explain concepts to his students. Please see Software on Page 2. INSIDE — aggie life — ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ dances into Rudder Auditorium, brings memorable Elvis tunes to the stage. See Page 3 sports Senior tennis players Vanessa Rooks and Monica Robolledo lead young Aggie team. See Page 7 opinion Patton: Prospect of Al Gore as president stands as a frightening possibility. See Page 11 online http: / / battalion, tamu.edu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.