IME MATTERS
zsident, Chancellor's homes
\lay years ofA&M tradition.
ilELIFE, PAGE 3
t mi t
SWEET RELIEF
• McCown, Cole lead Aggies to
28-9 victory over North Texas
University.
SPORTS, PAGE 7
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MONDAY
September 28, 1998
Volume 105 • Issue 22 • 12 Pages
The
..-si
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Construction nears completion
BY MELISSA JORDAN
The Battalion
^ie final stages of road con-
tion on University Drive will
^fcept. 28 to Oct. 2.
lie construction will affect traf-
fn University Drive between
s Avenue and Wellbourn Road,
onstruction will begin on the
l-bound lanes; the east-bound
■s will be under work for the
few days.
r ith a number of underlying
surfaces already laid, a hot-mix
overlay will be the final road sur
face put on University Drive.
Traffic will be decreased to only
one lane while the construction is
being completed.
Paul Sturrock, public informa
tion officer in the Texas Department
of TYansportation (TxDOT), said the
repairs will improve the driving sur
face and should endure the traffic
on University Drive for many years.
Construction was to begin a
month ago, but difficulties with a
sub-contractor delayed road work.
Construction work also will be
done on Wellbourn Road from
George Bush Drive to FM 2818 and
on Texas Avenue from University
Drive to Texas 21. Work on the
roads will include spot repairs and
also may cause lane closures.
TxDOT officials have advised
motorists to find alternate routes to
avoid construction areas and to al
low extra time for travel if unable
to avoid the University Drive pro
ject completion.
lalvert: State funding not enough
BY AMANDA STIRPE
The Battalion
|r. Stanton Calvert, vice chan-
illcr of State and Public Affairs,
Jented a $6.3 billion budget for
Texas A&M University System
)rj00-’01 to the Texas A&M Board
gents Friday.
■he Texas Legislature allocates
tcley for the following year relat-
jlo the number of students en-
Dllid for the present school year.
Jalvert said higher education
not receive enough money
Jattention in comparison to K-
Jducation.
|I)i a statement provided by
pert, Gov. George W. Bush said
Be Lubbock Avalanche-Journal,
e higher education systems have
tough power to generate their
; I money and K-12 education
|ls more attention.
S Higher education has enough
er in the House of Senate to fend
riiself. Needs in the K-12 educa-
olhave to be met first,” Bush said,
lalvert said the Texas A&M Uni-
lity System has to compete with
other Texas schools to receive the
money requested.
“We can’t get our base funding
without everyone else getting their
money because of the base funding
formula,” Calvert said.
The base funding formula is a
set formula that computes the
amount of mon
ey in the state of
Texas related to
the amount of
students at each
university.
Texas A&M
anticipated the
large freshman
class this year
and accounted BUSH
for this increase
when asking for money. Universities
do not receive additional money from
legislature after the amount is set.
Calvert said the legislature
needs to significantly increase the
amount of money given to univer
sities to increase the amount of fi
nancial aid universities can give to
prospective students. Calvert said
the state needs to give more mon
ey to universities because Texas
needs more Tier 1 schools.
“We’re different; we have to
ask for exceptions to get them,”
Calvert said.
Dr. Ray M. Bowen, president of
Texas A&M, spoke at the Board of
Regents meeting about enrollment
and Vision 20/20.
Bowen said Texas A&M has the
highest number of top-10 percent
students in the state, 3,007 students.
Bowen said the number of women
at the University is growing and
“slowly reaching men’s numbers”.
On the Vision 20/20 topic,
Bowen said the goal of the Univer
sity is “to be one of the best uni
versities by 20/20.”
A goal of the University is to
strengthen the arts and science pro
gram. More faculty will be hired
during the next 5 to 10 years.
The increase will provide more
faculty at the senior level, decrease
student/faculty size and will pro
vide promotion standards to attract
exceptional faculty.
see Regents on Page 6.
Cadets
reunite
Corps members past
and present gather
for annual event.
BY AMY CURTIS
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Corps of
Cadets held its second reunion this
weekend, welcoming 989 alumni.
Tase Bailey, Corps Commander,
said the reunion is important be
cause it gets people used to the idea
of an annual reunion. The Corps is
planning a big reunion event for its
125th anniversary in 2001.
Bailey said alumni like to see the
changes in the Corps, but also to see
the same lessons and principles be
ing taught as when they were cadets.
“They really enjoy coming back
and seeing the cadets and the
changes, and how things have
stayed the same,” Bailey said.
Bailey said alumni attended
many events including a barbecue at
the Sanders Corps Center Plaza on
Friday and visits to displays by the
Corps Special Units in front of Dun
can Dining Hall Saturday afternoon.
Bailey said the Corps tries to plan
the reunions on football-game week-
Gen. M.T. “Ted” Hopgood, Com
mandant of the Corps of Cadets,
addresses the crowd at the
Corps reunion at the Sanders
Corps Center on Saturday.
ends. He said the alumni like to see
the Corps march in to Kyle Field and
sitting together at the games.
Bailey said the majority of
alumni were from the Class of ’50
through the Class of ’70.
“The idea is to have everyone
here and have a good time and see
each other again,” Bailey said.
Pat Fenton, a staff assistant,
said the Corps hopes to make the
reunion a traditional annual event.
Fenton said the oldest alumnus
present was George Munson,
Class of ’28.
NAACP hosts forum
to address racial issues
BY NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
The Texas A&M student
chapter of the NAACP is hold
ing the first “Say What You
Want To Say” forum tonight at
7:30 p.m. in Rumour’s Deli next
to the MSC to let students talk
about what is on their mind.
Adrienne Ballare, president
of the NAACP and a junior jour
nalism major, said this a spin
off of a nationally syndicated
radio talk show called “Say
What you Want To Say” and lis
teners just call in and speak
what is on their mind.
Ballare said the forum
tonight is going to focus on ad
dressing minority issues around
campus such as affirmative ac
tion and traditions on campus.
“An example from the
African-American perspective
is that I feel as far as traditions
are concerned, that everyone
always recognizes Sul Ross as
the founder of Texas A&M, but
no one ever attributes anything
to Matthew Gaines who was an
African-American who also
helped in the founding of
A&M,” Ballare said.
LeVoir Lewis, programs chair
for the NAACP and a junior ge
netics major, said the forum is
going to be held in a talk-show-
type setting.
“We are going to have a very
relaxed atmosphere so stu
dents can listen to one anoth
er and help each other out,”
Lewis said.
“The older students are real
ly good support for the newer
ones since they have seen the
changes that have actually hap
pened. We also are not going to
have any administrators there,
because so many times students
will not be as open and may fear
what other people will think.”
Lewis said he expects the
number one topic at the forum
to be the Hopwood decision.
Lewis said the forum could also
address other issues that do not
necessarily deal directly with
minority concerns.
“We could talk about why is
there so much money being
spent on new computer labs
when parking still is not fixed
or we could even go outside of
campus and talk about Clin
ton,” he said.
Lewis said this forum is open
to all people.
“Everyone thinks of the
NAACP as a black militant or
ganization, but our programs
are open to anyone from any
race, because everyone needs
advancement physically, men
tally and socially,” Lewis said.
Lewis said he expects 75 to
100 people to attend this
evening’s program and is hop
ing for more.
niversities participate in Sexual Harassment Teleconference
The Sexual Harassment
leconference today covers
iv to address claims of
jual harassment and what
he law demands.
Fhe teleconference will be
11 to 3 p.m. in 601 Rudder
1 will be broadcast from the
diversity of Vermont.
iKristin Harper, associate
■ectorof the Department of
Student Life, said the confer
ence will begin with an
overview of recent U.S.
Supreme Court rulings. A
panel of experts will then
discuss different topics.
She said the conference
will be televised nationwide,
with many different colleges
and universities participating.
It is an interactive teleconfer
ence — there is open time for
students and teachers watch
ing to call or fax in questions
for the panel in Vermont.
Harper said the confer
ence includes role-playing
to demonstrate how to han
dle sexual harassment in
the workplace.
Dr. Janice Stout, the dean
of faculty, said the telecon
ference will cover general
definitions of things related
to sexual harassment and
how people may respond if
they are sexually harassed.
“This is geared toward
the whole academic com
munity. Students are invited
to attend so they can under
stand better,” Stout said.
Stout said there will be a
follow-up to the teleconfer
ence on Oct. 28. that will be
based on recent Supreme
Court decisions.
Ruth Prescott, assistant
provost at Texas A&M, said
the U.S. Supreme Court has
made decisions recently that
have never been dealt with in
the area of sexual harassment.
“The decisions are un
precedented in the sexual-
harassment arena of law,”
Prescott said.
Three key decisions were
made in 1997 and 1998. The
first was that same-sex sexual
harassment can be actionable
under sexual-harassment laws.
The second was that an
employer could be found li
able for sexual harassment
even if he or she does not
know it was going on by a
supervisor beneath them.
The third decision was
that an employer can put for
ward as a defense that they
did everything they could to
institute policies and educa
tion efforts to teach employ
ees about sexual harassment.
Prescott said the second de
cision puts the responsibility of
education on the employers.
see Broadcast on Page 6.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Everett to discuss
‘Selling Abortion’
"Selling Abortion,” a firsthand
account from a former abortion clin
ic owner and manager, will be held
tonight at 7 p.m. in Rudder Theater.
Carol Everett, a former abor
tion provider, will speak about her
experiences.
She will speak about what she
believes are the tactics used to en
courage women to have abortions
and the physical and emotional ef
fects of abortions on women.
The presentation is sponsored
by the Brazos Valley Coalition for
Life, Texas A&M’s Catholic Student
Association and Aggies for Life.
Board to decide
Pradhan’s status
Texas A&M University computer
science professor Dhiraj Pradhan
will go before a board of six repre
sentatives from Texas A&M Oct. 6
to determine his employment sta
tus at the University.
A University system audit ac
cused Pradhan of misappropriat
ing $100,000 in relation to two of
his private businesses. After a
year on paid leave, Pradhan re
turned to the University.
Ganies West, the attorney who
will represent Pradhan at the ad
ministrative hearing, said Universi
ty administration will decide what
the six-member board will be dis
cussing at the hearing.
Scott Kelly, Texas A&M general
counsel, was not available for com
ment Friday afternoon.
Scholarship
recipients
celebrate
anniversary
BY JOE SCHUMACHER
The Battalion
Past and present recipients of
the President’s Endowed Scholar
ship as well as donors to the pro
gram were on hand Saturday at
Reed Arena to celebrate the 30th
Anniversary of this program.
The celebration began at 8:30
a.m. and continued until noon. It
was primarily a chance for students
and former students to meet and
socialize with their sponsors.
“This program is
what my father was
most proud of. This
program is what
separates Texas
A&M from other
Universities/'
— Royce Wisenbaker Jr.
Class of ’82
The scholarship program was
initiated in 1968 to attract students
to Texas A&M University that oth
erwise would have gone to Ivy
League schools. The first scholar
ship was funded by Royce Wisen-
backer, and was awarded to Harold
Johnston, ’73.
Royce Wisenbacker Jr, ’82, was
there on behalf of his father, who
could not attend due to ill health.
Wisenbacker was also a PES recipi
ent and is sponsoring a student.
see Scholarship on Page 6.