105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
today’s issue
Toons 4
News 6
Battalion Radio
Tune in to 90.9 KAMU-FM at
1:57 p.m. for details about the
new senior-citizen apartments
to be built in Bryan.
TUESDAY
June 1, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 144 • 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
opinion
• Parental liability laws react
unjustly to recent incidents
of school violence.
PAGE 5
Bowen celebrates
fifth year in office
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MIKE RJENTES/Thf. Battalion
Texas A&M security supervisor Bobby Richardson, Class of ’95, takes down an American flag on campus
Monday afternoon. A&M security will assume the responsibilities campus flags until, the Corps of Cadets
turns this fall.
I
r
H
omm to target youth violence
■ p
BY VERONICA SERRANO
The Battalion
sife
Residents of Brazos County and
tirqunding counties areas are in-
ifted to participate in a town-hall
^ftting on youth violence tonight
jOr 6 to 8 at the First Baptist
nlrch in Bryan.
B,arry Johnson, president of the
llJUege Station School Board, said
: o igh recent events has caused
e spotlight to shift to violence in
\ Bool, community focus should
i broader.
“It’s [violence] not just confined
to school,” Johnson said, “I see it
as more of a societal aspect.”
The forum will also be broad
cast live on KBTX-TV.
Jane Conoley, dean of the Col
lege of Education and Collie W.
Conoley, a professor of education
al psychology, are two of the 10
panelists scheduled for the discus
sion.
Mr. Conoley said he and his wife
host “Family Talk,” a radio show
on KAMU-FM 90.9 and mat is one
reason why they had been ap
proached to join the panel.
Mr. Conoley said he hopes peo
ple will walk away with ideas
about how they can make lifestyle
changes to better the community.
“[The program will help people
figure] out what I need to do and
what you need to do to make the
world a better place,” Mr. Cono
ley said.
Mrs. Conoley said her research
has focused on school violence and
safety in schools, and her hus-
see Forum on Page 4.
BY CARRIE BENNETT
The Battalion
Texas A&M University President
Dr. Ray M. Bowen celebrated his
fifth anniversary yesterday.
Walter Wendler, executive assis
tant to Bowen, began the celebration
by thanking Bowen for all he has ac
complished and he discussed the
“quiet and deliberate style” with
which he leads the University.
“Dr. Bowen faced challenging
situations upon his arrival at Texas
A&M,” Wendler said.
Wendler said among the improve
ments and programs Bowen has giv
en A&M, he has stabilized working
conditions for faculty and staff.
He contributed resources to the
construction of the George Bush
Presidential Library Complex and
helped obtain new resources for
the Sterling C. Evans Library.
Wendler said Bowen has been
working to affiliate Texas A&M
with the South Texas College of
Law and also has worked to out
line goals and events for Vision
2020.
Wendler said the most impor
tant thing Bowen gives to the Uni
versity is character.
“Character energizes an organi
zation when it’s there and it petri
fies the organization when it’s
not,” Wendler said.
Bowen was presented with a
number of certificates and pre
sents. Parking Traffic and Trans
portation Services (PTTS) present
ed Bowen with a proclamation
making him an honorary A&M bus
driver.
Bob Wiatt, director of the Uni
versity Police Department (UPD),
made Bowen an honorary junior
chief of the UPD.
TERRY ROBERSON/Tm Battalion
Charles Sippial Sr. (left), assistant vice president for Physical Plant,
presents Texas A&M President Ray M. Bowen and his wife Sally with
an animated picture of their dog, Lucy, eating an aluminum can.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice
president for student affairs, pre
sented Bowen with Bowen’s Corps
of Cadets conduct record from 1954
to 1958 when Bowen was a student
at A&M. Southerland also presented
Bowen with three engraved dia
mond-shaped emblems signifying
the Deputy Corps Commander posi
tion which Bowen held in 1958.
Kevin Graham, mascot corporal
and a sophomore general studies
major, presented Sally Bowen with
a framed picture of Reveille VI with
her paw print on behalf of the stu
dent body.
Bowen closed the celebration by
saying he has had an enjoyable
time and many interesting experi
ences in the last five years at A&M.
“I don’t know how you describe
the campus at Texas A&M,” Bowen
said. “It’s a culture.”
“A&M is the kind of university
that takes care of itself and being a
part of its community has been
such a treat for Sally and me,”
Bowen said.
oundation readies for new home
NEWS IN BRIEF
BY RYAN WEST
The Battalion
Jesse Corrigan, project director for the con-
itiction of the Jon L. Hagler Center, which will
e the new home for the Texas A&M Founda-
Ipn, said different Aggie traditions and sym-
lism have been incorporated into the centers’
chitectural design.
TThe Texas A&M Foundation is a private or-
ization which provides scholarships to A&M
Udents.
j The building is set up to where the front en-
ance has a narrow, individual focus that
[idens as one walks through the building,”
orrigan said. “This illustrates the larger focus
at grows from individuals. It takes more than
e person to make this university work.”
[Corrigan said the building also plays a great
Heal on light, which can be seen from the win
's and aluminum roof making up its’ exteri-
j’The building will look like a sparkling gem
gjfom the second or third deck of Kyle Field,” he
Epil.
^Corrigan said the Hagler Center will not take
lay from its neighbor, the Clayton Williams
iimni Center.
■“We use complementary architecture so the
lew building would fit in but not mirror its
jpeighbor,” Corrigan said. “The highest point of
IS Hagler Center is the same height as the Clay-
IPn Williams [Alumni] Center.”
"he Hagler Center is located across from the
flfiyton Williams Alumni Center on the corner
ff Houston Street and George Bush Drive,
fs an incoming freshman, Marcelle Mallory,
senior biomedical science major, was award-
la $12,000 Presidents’ Endowed Scholarship
|y the Texas A&M Foundation
I “The Texas A&M Foundation has been like
Special to The Battalion
The Jon L. Hagler Center, shown here in an artist’s rendition, will house the Texas A&M Foundation.
The center will be located across from the Clayton Williams Alumni Center on George Bush Drive.
a family,” Mallory said. “As a freshman, it was
an opportunity for me to meet other scholarship
winners, just like me.”
The Foundation matches each of its scholar
ship winners with a donor. In Mallory’s case the
donor was Texas A&M University President Dr.
Ray M. Bowen and his family.
“The Bowens have always made themselves
available to me and any questions I might
have,” Mallory said. “President Bowen and the
A&M Foundation have gone out of their way to
see to it that if I ever need any help I can come
to them.”
“The greatest single asset to the new building is
the increased focus on the role of philanthropy,”
Rose Anne McFadden, manager of communications
for the A&M Foundation and Class of ’90, said.
She said the Hagler Center will help raise the
number of private donations from alumni and
corporations.
see Hagler on Page 4.
Officials say higher
interest rates help
The Federal Reserve Board re
cently announced it is considering
raising interest rates to slow rapid
growth of the nation’s economy. Of
ficials at A&M’s Real Estate Center
said contrary to what people may
think, this could be good news for
potential home buyers.
In a press release, Mark Dot-
zour, chief economist and director
of research for the Real Estate Cen
ter said if the Federal Reserve rais
es rates, this might keep mortgage
interest rates from increasing.
"The Fed raises interest to keep
the economy from overheating be
cause that causes inflation.” he
said. “Any efforts to keep inflation
at low levels is going to be a posi
tive thing for the mortgage market.”
Dotzour said he expects first
time homebuyers to have a more
difficult time purchasing a home if
the mortgage-rate increases.
“[An increase] makes entry-lev
el homes less affordable, so the
lowest income segments of the
home-buying market become
priced out of the market,” he said.
Bowman appointed
engineering chair
Dr. Charles H. Bowman, head of
the Department of Petroleum Engi
neering has been appointed to a
five-year term as the inaugural hold
er of the Robert Whiting Chair. The
$1 million endowed chair was es
tablished in December of 1997 in
honor of Professor Emeritus Whit
ing who was the longest serving pe
troleum engineering department
head.
Bowman received master’s and
Ph.D degrees in petroleum engi
neering from A&M. He returned to
A&M after retiring,as chairperson
and chief executive officer of British
Petroleum America Inc.
Bowman is an advisory board
member and senior advisor on en
ergy for the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washing
ton, D.C., and an honorary director
of the American Petroleum Insti
tute.
Texas A&M to host
leadership seminar
A leadership conference offering
information from nationally known
leadership educators will be host
ed by Texas A&M June 10 and 11.
The conference is intended to
mark the formation of the Texas As
sociation of Leadership Educators.
The director of the Center for
Public Leadership Studies (CPLS)
at the Bush School of Government
and Public Service Arnold Vedlitz
said the creation of the association
will make Texas one of only six
states to have such a state organi
zation devoted to leadership edu
cation.
For more information or to reg
ister for the conference, contact
Tammi Caskey at 862-3857 or reg
ister online at http://www.bush-
school-tamu.edu.