TUESDAY
February 16, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 93 • 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
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PAGE 7
today's issue
Toons 2
Opinion 11
Wednesday's issue
Greek Week events kickoff
to benefit charity and promote
leadership and unity.
aggielife
• Today marks the
beginning of the year
4697, the Chinese year of
the rabbit.
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BY NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
Bill Anderson, MSC president-
?ct pnd a senior mechanical engi-
erihg major, said his main two-
rt goal for the future of the MSC is
empower the internal parts of the
gaipzation and establish its exter-
1 program to help serve more stu
nts.
Anderson said he got involved
th MSC programs as a freshman.
He said he wanted to take advan-
5 e of the unique opportunities
ailable and put his skills to use.
“Tvdidn’t get involved thinking,
h, I want to become MSC presi-
nt,| Anderson said. “I just wanted
meet people and learn more about jpbeato ihk uai iauon
/se ] t >• Bill Anderson, a senior mechani-
Anderson said as MSC president, ca ' en & neer i n § major, is presi-
will oversee a total reconstruction dent-elect for the MSC.
the organization.
He said he and his staffers are delegating authority and responsi-
tities to councils and committees so the executive staff can focus on
flg-range strategic issues.
Anderson said he wants the executive staff to concentrate on creat-
g liaisons within the University.
“We want to help improve the student union,” he said, “and there’s
way I can do this by myself.”
Will Hurd, current MSC president and a senior computer science
d international studies major, said the mission of the MSC is to im-
)ve the quality of life of the 43,000 students on campus.
“Looking back, I feel that we’ve accomplished a lot,” Hurd said,
/e brought a lot of new dynamic programs.”
Hurd was on the panel that to select Anderson as the new MSC pres-
;nt. He said Anderson will do an effective job because he is focused
, the students.
1 “Bill embodies what this organization is about,” Hurd said. “It is a
mmunity center which brings people from different backgrounds and
Itures together to learn and understand from one another.”
Anderson said another change students will see in the upcoming
ar,is more openings in student development. He said he sees poten-
’ growth in the MSC.
;“Sometimes I lie awake at night and see these visions in my head
d wonder how to make them realities,” he said.
MIKE FUENTES/Thk Battalion
Senator Phil Gramm speaks Monday morning at the Pavillion. Gramm is
urging the Social Security Administration to exempt college student work
ers from having to pay Social Security taxes.
Sen. Gramm advocates
tax breaks for students
BY AMANDA STIRPE
The Battalion
Senator Phil Gramm visited the
Texas A&M campus yesterday to pro
mote the Student Tax Fairness Act and
to participate in a letter-signing cere
mony to advocate the act to the Social
Security Administration.
Donald Engelage, executive direc
tor of student financial aid, and
Daniel N. Stewart, state Social Secu
rity administrator, signed the letter
with Gramm. Jill Burness, an eco
nomics graduate student, accompa
nied the panel to express the student
view of the act.
The Student Tax Fairness Act ex
empts University employed students
from relinquishing part of their pay-
check to social security.
“The tax is an inequity that exist
ed in tax laws since 1972,” Gramm
said.
In 1972, the federal government
decided undergraduate and graduate
students should be exempt from the
tax, benefiting all workers of more
than 35 years.
Texas is one of three states that did
not sign the bill in time and has been
allowing students to pay the tax.
On the A&M campus 13,225 un
dergraduate and graduate students
work for the University.
see Gramm on Page 2.
Speaker addresses
effects of bombing
BY AMANDA PALM
The Battalion
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen.
Kenneth E. Eickmann shared
his experience of the Okla
homa City Bombing rescue
and recovery efforts Monday
evening at Rudder Theater.
Eickmann completed a 31-
year career in the U.S. Air
Force and is director of the
Construction Industry Insti
tute, a national forum for
construction research
housed at the University of
Texas. He was invited to
speak by the Association of
General Contractors of the
Construction Science Depart
ment.
When the Alfred P. Mur-
rah Building in Oklahoma
City was bombed on April
19, 1995, the governor of Ok
lahoma asked Eickmann,
who was commanding gen
eral at Tinker Air Force Base,
to guide the disaster re
sponse.
Eickmann said 122 vehi
cles and 800 people, includ
ing 11 rescue teams, were
brought to Oklahoma City to
respond to the bombing.
He said people from the
Air Force base and the local
fire departments worked well
as a team because many al
ready knew each other.
“It was a great experience
to work with the rescue
workers,” Eickmann said.
“Coordination is critically
important. You have to think
of everything that can be
done and do it.
“We had a plan, we fol
lowed it, and it worked.”
Rescue dogs were also a
SALLIE TURNER/The Battalion
Retired Air Force Lieutenant
General Kenneth E. Eick
mann speaks about the after-
math of the Oklahoma City
Bombing Monday night.
major part of the response ef
fort, Eickmann said.
The dogs were used to
sniff for parts of the bomb
and to search for survivors in
the debris of the building.
Eickmann said after the
recovery efforts were fin
ished, many of the rescue
dogs stayed in Oklahoma
City to visit local schools and
help aid grieving children.
As a result of the bomb
ing, 219 children lost a par
ent and 30 were orphaned.
“We wanted those 249
kids to never have to worry
about paying for college, to
have free education any
where they went,” he said.
“The amount we estimated
was $9.5 million. We asked
and had it in three weeks.”
Eickmann said no one can
ever train for a situation like
the Oklahoma City bombing.
“It’s still hard to tell the
story,” he said, “but it’s im
portant people understand
what happened.”
niversity looks to hike schooling costs
four student fees may increase
in Fall 1999pending approval
BY SALLIE TURNER
The Battalion
RFour student fees are scheduled to
ncrease for Fall 1999, costing a stu
dent taking 14 hours $97.30 more per
semester.
■The proposed increases of the Uni
versity Authorized Thition (UAT), Li
brary Use Fee (LUF), Computer Use
Fee and Student Service Fee will go
before the Texas A&M Board of Re
gents in March for approval.
■William B. Krumm, vice president
for finance and controller, said the
proposed UAT increase of $4 per se
mester credit hour will fund salary in
creases for faculty and staff. The UAT
increase will generate an additional
$4.4 million.
■“We would rather not raise fees,
but the University has to move for
ward,” he said. “This is one of the el
ements we have to balance.”
■The proposed increase will provide
the University with the opportunity to
award merit salary increases to facul-
staff.
Krumm said the University is keep
ing students in mind as fees increase.
■ “As tuition and fees increase, every
effort has been made to increase the
level of financial aid to students in
each classification,” he said.
■ The LUF has gradually increased
over the past three years. In 1996 the
j ty and
fee was $2, $3 in 1997 and $4 in 1998.
The fee would increase to $5 for the
1999 school year, raising the library’s
budget to $8.8 million.
Charlene Clark, public relations of
ficer for the Sterling C. Evans Library,
said the fee increase will help the
A&M libraries acquire more collec
tions including electronic databases
and a base of journal subscriptions.
“[The LUF] has allowed us to fi
nally begin acquiring materials nec
essary to support teaching and re
search at a level commensurate with
our stature as a university,” she said.
“It has made us a national leader in
the acquisition of electronic databas
es and texts.”
The Student Service Fee would in
crease from $9.97 per semester credit
hour to $10.92 per semester credit
hour, an increase of 9.5 percent.
Corey Rosenbusch, a member of
the Student Service Fee advisory
board and a sophomore agricultural
development major, said the maxi
mum increase of the Student Service
Fee would be 10 percent per year, un
less a student referendum is held.
“The fee is divided up between 23
departments who receive funding,”
he said. “The different departments
make presentations to the advisory
board, who then allocates the funds.”
see Fees on Page 2.
Proposed Student Fee Increases
• University Authorized Tuition (UAT) -
A fee increase of $4 has been proposed.
The increase would be used to increase
faculty and staff salaries based on merit.
• Library Use Fee (LUF) - The LUF has in
creased a dollar each year since 1996. It
will increase by another dollar, allowing
the library to allot these funds towards
acquiring more collections such as
electronic databases and journal sub
scriptions.
• Student Service Fee - The fee is divided
by 23 departments. Each department
then makes the decisions about how the
fund will be spent. The fee could be
increased 10 percent per year unless a
referendum is held. This year it may be
increased by 9.5 percent.
• Computer Use Fee - The computer fee
may change to a pay-per-copy fee or the
per semester credit charge may be
increased by $1, raising the fee to
$7 per semester credit hour.
Study finds women at greater
risk for STDs than they believe
(U-WIRE) NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.
— Many women are at a greater risk
of contracting sexually-transmitted in
fections than they believe, according
to a recent study.
Perceptions of risk based on good
impressions of a sexual partner are re
lied on more heavily than testing for
STDs, said Mary K. Hutchinson, assis
tant professor at the College of Nurs
ing at Rutgers-Camden.
Hutchinson recently conducted a
study of 18- to 26-year-old women to
determine whether their perception of
being at risk of contracting STDs is the
same as their actual risk.
Even formal education about STDs
does not make a big impact on many
people’s perception of risk, Hutchin
son said.
She said the results of the study will
not be published until later this
month, when they will appear in the
Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and
Neonatal Nursing and in the Journal
of Family Relations.
“I know unsafe sex is bad for me,”
Rutgers College senior Rebecca Kept-
ner said.
“If there was some way that a con
dom could magically appear at the ap
propriate time, I would be set, but
who has the time to think about their
risk when they’re all riled up?”.
The participants of the study con
sisted of a sample of 100 Black
women, 100 Latina women and 100
White women. Findings were similar
among each group, Hutchinson said.
More than half of the women sur
veyed said they did not discuss their
level of sexual risk with their partners
before sex Hutchinson said.
She said common reasons for not
discussing risk include assumptions
that their partners were low-risk indi
viduals, they were too uncomfortable
or embarrassed to talk about sex or
they just didn’t think to ask.
The survey also found that condom
use within ongoing relationships de
clines as the relationships progresses.
Women who had more than 30
partners in the past, but who were
currently involved in monogamous re
lationships, perceived themselves as
low risk.
“The idea that women thought that
discussing sex was too personal was
very disturbing,” Hutchinson said. “If
you aren’t comfortable talking about
sex with someone you are having sex
with, you are taking a serious sexual
risk. If you can’t trust someone
enough to talk about sex, do you real
ly want to trust your permanent health
to them?”
All sexually active people are at
risk, she said. Any person who has sex
and thinks he or she is not at risk of
contracting diseases is making an in
accurate assessment, she said.
“Going by the kind of person some
one is, being selective about who you
sleep with, and choosing certain kinds
of partners is not a good method of
protecting yourself from the perma
nent STDs that are out there,”
Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said partners should
bring up the topic of sex before they
have sex, not during sex or foreplay.
Risk can be nearly eliminated if
sexual partners discuss sex early on
and get tested twice before having sex
without a condom, she said.