1 A ¥ f 1CJ/ lN AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY lent College Station, Texas Volume 106 • Issue 50 • 8 Pages HA rejects plan to make hall honors-only Li Hong^ BY KENNETH MACDONALD The Battalion I The Residence Hall Association (RHA) recently passed a bill officially disap- ormersoldiei proving of the University’s plan to turn government Clements Hall into a co-ed, upperclass- astern China men honors dorm. un GongfroinP j u ii e Cast, RHA president and a junior r he has neve marketing major, said RHA does not sup- "h'nesegove p (irl t h e move because there is not the deathsc l 10u gb evidence to show that there is a need for this kind of residence hall. ■ “We are not sure that there is a need oi a demand for that,” she said. “Eighty- traditionaisk seven percent of the Clements residents ;e philosophic surveyed said that they did not want the annel unseer ptange. ” through the boiH Cast said RHA has had little opportu- ends concept nity to give input toward the situation, iddhismand |l “if they had worked with us from the practices are# :' alth and mi T~ beginning we would not be so upset,” she said. “They have not gotten input, nor so licited any input from RHA.” One part of the bill, passed Oct. 27, made a point to attempt the establishment of a committee with representatives from Residence Life, the Honors Program and RHA. The committee would then increase the communication between the groups for an understanding between the Uni versity and RHA on this issue, Cast said. Cast said RHA will continue to sam ple the Northside population to get a bet ter understanding of the sentiment of its residents. “Some of the issues in this change will be if there will be any grand fathering for current Clements residents,” she said. “There won’t be any male modular dorms on Northside, and will there be any fe male [modular dorms] going co-ed?” John Chenault, Clements Hall presi dent and a senior computer engineering major, said the news to him was a com plete surprise and the change is not pop ular among the residents. "We are not sure that there is a need or a demand for that [a co-ed r upperclassmen, honors haU]r — Julie Cast RHA president “We did a survey and got back 80 re sponses. Eighty-five to 90 percent of them were against [the change],” he said. “Of the 39 people living in the hall that would qualify for the Honors Pro gram, 26 said that they did not like the idea. It was kind of sprung on us, and nobody gave us any reason.” Dr. Susanna Finnel, executive director of the Honors Program, said this change has not been kept secret from anyone. She said they have been in contact with RHA during the past year. “We got the nod from the administra tion to explore the possibility late last spring,” she said. “We have been in communication with RHA for the past year. We tried to get on the docket to speak [at the last general assembly last spring], but we ran out of time. [Clements] will not be an in stant honors hall overnight. We have seen how popular Lechner is and we want to expand that community and get more people to participate in honors.” Ron- Sasse, director of Resident Life, said there has been dialogue with last year’s RHA president Michael Haughey throughout the summer. He said this change will be a gradual evolution. “Probably it will change by attrition, as students leave and are replaced by honors upperclassmen,” he said. “We don’t know how long this process will really take.” Sasse said this change is part of Vision 2020, which is the University’s initiative to make A&M one of the top 10 public uni versities in the nation, and creates special ized learning communities on campus where students of the same majors and academic interests live together. He said this in reference to Lechner Hall, where the freshmen honors students currently live. Yell yeah under nave been nd southern in Gulf War. ds and Shii addam Husseir 1 a violation ?ntly challenge: ■ceinber. d ‘Formal’ construction of Aggie Bonfire begins with Centerpole raising BY JEANETTE SIMPSON The Battalion Bonfire construction formally begins at 4:03 p.m. today with the raising of centerpole. Centerpole, the structural support of Bon fire, arrived at the polo fields on the northeast side of campus exactly a week ago. BRADLEY ATCHISON/Thh Battauon Jeff Bailey, senior yell leader, leads yell practice Thursday night at Cain Park to help send the Aggie Football team off to Nebraska on a good note. The game against the Cornhuskers starts at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. After the erection of centerpole, the Bon fire “stack” surrounding the pole will be con structed in shifts and will be guarded 24 hours a day until it is ignited Thanksgiving night. Travis Johnson, head stack and a senior finance major, said centerpole arrives in two pieces and is brought to the stack sight a week early so workers can join the two poles together. More than 125,000 hours of work will go into the six-tier stack of logs before it is lit at “dark-thirty. ” Johnson said there have been many visi tors who have come out to watch centerpole being raised. “Centerpole is an important part of Bon fire, because it is the backbone on which Bon fire begins,” Johnson said. Rusty Thompson, Bonfire adviser, said the two poles that make up centerpole are chosen by eight people; two senior red pots, two ju J nior red pots, two senior centerpole pots and two junior centerpole pots, and size is the most important criteria. “The four redpots and four centerpole pots went to the Lufkin Creosote Company, which donated the two pieces which will make jup center pole,” Thompson said. “There they se lected two poles which would fit together, poles that were the right length and were straight.” Thompson said in preparation for the rais ing of centerpole, perimeter poles have been constructed to support the stack until it is large enough to support itself. Perimeter poles also hold lights and other electrical equip ment, and the two poles which will make cen- see Centerpole on Page 2. vDAS A&M chosen to study Gulf of Mexico U.S. Department of the Interior awards University $4.2 million contract HOUR 9