TUESDAY
January 25, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 76
14 pages
roposed tuition increase for Fall 2000
BY ANN LOISEL
The Battalion
■A proposed fee increase for the Fall 2000 semester may raise
fexas A&M's University Authorized Tuition (UAT) to $40 per
.'reilit hour, the maximum allowed by the Texas State Legisla-
urtl, Fhoinas 11. Taylor, assistant v ice president for finance, said.
■The suggested $2 per credit hour fee increase will raise an es-
^ftited $2.2 million to help provide salary increases for faculty,
laylor said.
■Will I lurd, student hodv president and senior computer science
na or, said students may be wary of the proposed tuition increase.
“Any time you look at an increase like this, people question
whether or not it is really needed,” 1 lurd said. “But I think when
people realize how important this increase is to raising our fac
ulty’s pay to a level that is competitive with other national uni
versities, they will be behind it 100 percent.”
Taylor said the UAT increase will account for 22 percent of a
proposed salary' increase. The remaining 78 percent is expected
to come from the state government.
“If the State Comptroller certifies that money is available in
the State treasury, [the state of Texas] will provide 78 percent of
the cost of a 3 percent salary increase for faculty,” Taylor said.
An open forum for students, faculty, staff and any other in
terested parties will be held today at 3 p.m. in 206 Memor
ial Student Center.
President Dr. Ray M. Bowen and his staff will discuss
the need for the proposed increase and give attendees a
chance to ask questions and give their input.
“The statute that covers tuition in the state of Texas re
quires a public hearing to be held to discuss any increase in
the UAT, to let the public know what we are proposing and
why,” Taylor said.
After the public hearing, the recommendation will go to
System Chancellor 1 toward D. Graves for review and ques
tioning, Taylor said.
per credit hour?
Its a proposed University
Authorized Tuition
Increase.
Open forum for students,
faculty, staff, and public
3:00 p.m. Tuesday in Room 206 of MSC
BRANDON HENDERSON/I III BaTTamon
I
i
iM « i
i
We all turned at the Stlhic’Time .Wfwatchfcd
weeks of hard work tumbled to the ground, cov
ering those who were working on it. We sprinted
. fast as we could. There were people yelling from
{under the pile and there were bodies everywhere.
|We couldn't do anything. We were unable to help
those people who were suffering. They were call-
ling to us and we couldn't do a damn thing about
lit. There was terror everywhere. Two minutes l.it
police lights were lighting up the scene. Ambu-
pances were trying to help the people they could
beach. We gathered jackets and sweatshirts; and
{went around to cover up the injured. 1 saw a pair
lot boots sticking out fi
kjone. I saw a fish with t
{broken. People were b
{were scrambling. Pei
{soon the yellow tape \
a white sheet — he was
his wrists and his pelvis
ling and hurting. Medics
started gathering and
put up.
Diana Estrada
BY JULIE ZUCKER
The Battalion
^Brittny Allison, a sophomore environmental design ma-
jorji said she gets through the new semester with faith in God
and memories of the students who died in the 1999 Aggie
Bonfire collapse.
■“I know they are in heaven,” Allison said. “It is a horri
ble loss, but I have a sense of rejuvenation knowing they are
in n better place looking down on all of us.”
■ Allison was on a second stack swing when the logs fell.
■ “My foot was caught between two logs and I went down
with the stack,” she said. “Because my foot was stuck, I was
too scared to jump, so I fell on top of the logs and was able
to climb down.”
I Allison said she was hit between the eyes by a log, leav
ing a small scar that can be covered with makeup. She also
has scars on her hand and forearms.
■ Allison said she gets emotional support from her friends
and roommate. I Icr roommate, Diana Estrada, a sophomore
journalism major, was also working on the stack, but es
caped injury.
I Allison said the reminders of the collapse are always around.
■ “I wish the land was cleared — put in dry storage or
something," she said. “But I have strength from God and
support from my friends and family, and 1 can’t wait to go
out and work on Bonfire 2000.”
■ The physical scars are still visible and the emotional scars
are still healing, hut the survivors of the collapse are glad to
be back in class at Texas A&M University.
■ “I needed to get back to school, to be surrounded by my
friends and start classes again,” C had Hutchinson, a sopho
more industrial distribution major, said.
I Hutchinson was working on the fourth stack when the
logs collapsed. I le fell down w ith the logs, but does not re
KIMBER HUFF/Tm BaTTaI.ION
Brittany Allison, a sophomore environmental design major, and Diana Estrada, a sophomore journalism ma
jor, members of Squadron 3 in the Corps of Cadets, were injured during the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse.
member anything until he woke up in the hospital.
Hutchinson’s friends told him about the parts of the night
he can’t recall.
"I was told I was running around yelling at the para
medics to help all of the other people who were hurt,” he
said. “But they grabbed me and I was mad to be the first per
son taken to the hospital.”
Hutchinson suffered two collapsed lungs, a broken left
eye socket and a broken nose. I lutchinson was wheeled into
the hospital unconscious and underwent emergency surgery
without anesthesia for his collapsed lungs.
Hutchinson entered St. Joseph Regional Health Center
in critical condition, almost entirely dependent on a respi
rator to breathe.
“1 don’t know the medical terms for what they did to me,
hut basically what happened was they cut my chest open
with a scalpel, broke open my rib cage and stuck a tube into
my chest. 1 am grateful I was unconscious,” Hutchinson said.
When I lutchinson woke up in the hospital he was told by
staff and family what happened.
“My uncle is a cop and saw the story on the news,” he
said. “He told me he grabbed my parents [from Houston]
and they were all by my bed in less than an hour.”
After live days, he was released from the hospital.
Hutchinson has scars on his chest from the surgery and on
his arms and hands from the fall.
“I am glad to be back. I hope the commission looks over
it [the collapse] and we can build a fire next year,” I lutchin
son said.
Michael Guerra, president of Fowler, Hughes, Keathly
Complex (11 IK), and a sophomore mechanical engineering
major, was wiring logs on the first stack before the collapse.
A friend of his wanted to go home, so he left the Bonfire site
to escort her back to her dorm.
“I was really lucky. We were walking back and heard the
sirens but didn't know what was happening,” Guerra said.
FHK lost three students: Michael Ebanks, a freshman
aeronautical engineer, Jamie Lynn Hand, a freshman envi
ronmental design major, and Chad Anthony Powell, a sopho
more computer engineering major.
Guerra said it is quiet in the dorms, but the spirit is still around.
“We are a tight-knit group, and we are all supporting each
other,” he said. “Break was a good time to be away and re
flect, but I think the whole campus needs to be back so we
can continue the tradition of great Aggie spirit.”
Dorm fire safety
evaluated by
Faculty Senate
BY BRANDIE LIFFICK
The Battalion
In the early morning of Jan. 19, three students were killed
and 58 injured in a residence hall fire at Seton Hall Univer
sity in South Orange, N.J.
Boland Hall, where the blaze occurred, did not have a
sprinkler system installed because the building was built be
fore such a system was required.
This tragedy prompted the Faculty Senate Monday to ad
dress fire safety in residence halls and other buildings on the
Texas A&M campus.
“The older buildings are not as ready in the mishap of a
fire as opposed to the newer ones. I am concerned that a lot
of them don’t have sufficient sprinkler systems,” Dr. Pete
Rose, professor of finance, said. “This is an issue that begs
to be solved, as Seton Hall has just demonstrated.”
Rose said he believes this situation should he further in
vestigated by the Faculty Senate in cooperation with the
Bryan and College Station Fire Departments.
“If a tragedy occurs, we do not have a way of protecting
ourselves,” Rose said. “Bryan-College Station must re
spond. We must work together with the two cities.”
Former Faculty Senate speaker and assistant professor of
educational curriculum and instruction, Dr. Diane Kaplan,
said she approved-of the efforts to maintain a safe campus
for both students and faculty.
“The older buildings are not
as ready in the mishap of a
fire as opposed to the newer
ones..."
— Dr. Pete Ross
Faculty Senate member and professor of finance
“I was very impressed by a fire drill that occurred in my
building [Harrington Tower). Instead of just the straight
buzzing, a voice actually came over the intercom and re
peated over and over what was happening. It was very
loud...I hope that they continue working towards the other
buildings’ systems being as safe.”
In other business, the Faculty Senate unanimously ap
proved a new minor in the College of Geosciences. The new
minor field of study, geoinformatics, will require a minimum
of 15 hours chosen from a list of geography, geology and
computer science courses.
Also approved were changes to the Industrial Distribu
tion curriculum for a bachelor of science degree. The
changes included offering different accounting courses to
industrial distribution majors.
The Faculty Senate will further address several points at
their meeting next month, including parking fee concerns,
faculty grade distributions and ideas for a 1999 Aggie Bon
fire collapse memorial.
Official Rules
jrn postage.)
Bush, Gore take top
spots in Iowa caucus,
New Hampshire next
ELECTION 2000
IOWA CAUCUS RESULTS
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
■ DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) —Open
ing the presidential election season, Re
publican George W. Bush won Iowa’s
caucuses in a closer-than-expected race
against conservative publisher Steve
Forbes. Vice President A1 Gore breezed
to a Democratic victory over Bill Bradley
and declared, “I can’t wait to get to New
Hampshire.”
I Bush described the caucus results as
“a record shattering” validation of his
compassionate conservative agenda.
“It’s a solid victory and I’m humbled,”
he told the Associated Press as the presi-
deniial campaigns but the best-possible
spins on their finishes.
■ Forbes said, “we vastly overper-
fomied the polls and have emerged as the
conservative candidate” going into New
Hampshire. He told AP, “I’ll take more
losses like that, and I’ll win the nomina
tion.”
I In an interview. Bush said, “We have
accord-shattering victory tonight. I’m
grateful for the outpouring of support my
message of compassionate conservatism
has received, and I’m looking forward to
taking it to the state ofNew I lampshire.”
I I lours before the voting, Bradley in
dicated he was in
for the long haul:
“The longer the
competition goes,
the better chance
that candidate is go
ing to have... in the
fall.”
Gore and
Bradley differed in
tone more than
substance. They
wrestled primarily
over alternative
approaches to fed
eral health insur
ance policy. While
Bradley promised
to provide big
ideas to solve a
few big problems.
Gore said the next
president should
not limit himselfto a handful of issues.
McCain’s only two trips to the state
were for debates. He leads in New
Hampshire polls, but didn’t discourage
lowans from lending support.
Al Gore - 66%
Bill Bradley - 33%
REPUBLICAN PARTY
(TOP THREE CANDIDATES)
George W Bush - 41% Steve Forbes - 30%
Alan Keyes * 14%
Ar ★ ★
JEFF SMITH/The Battalion
He and Bradley emerged as signifi
cant challengers for 2000, their fund rais
ing dramatically boosted, after they be
gan drawing substantial support in New
Hampshire.
Students’ cars in parking lots
are targets for burglary,
vandalism, according to UPD
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
Jared Pittman, a freshman political
science major, parked his car at North-
gate Sunday to grab a quick bite to eat
before the basketball game. When
Pittman returned, he found the car’s dri
ver-side window smashed.
“I parked on [Church] street behind
the pay lot around 11:30 Sunday morn
ing,” he said. “I went back out there
around 12:15 and the window was bro
ken. Nothing was stolen.”
Sergeant Allan Baron, a criminal pre
vention officer with University Police
Department (UPD), said parking areas
56 and 62, which make up Fish Lot on
West Campus, along with parking areas
40, 88 and 30, all located on main cam
pus, are the scene for most of the on-
campus vehicular crimes.
Baron said on-campus residents who
leave their ears in parking lots for ex
tended periods of time have a greater
chance of having their ears vandalized,
broken into or stolen.
“Students may not realize they have
been burglarized until they go out to
their car which may be a week or even a
month later,” he said.
UPD had 39 reported cases of vehi
cle burglary and 71 cases of criminal
mischief—which includes any destruc
tion of property (keying a vehicle, break
ing a window, defacing a building) —
from Sept, to Dec. 1999.
Baron said Texas A&M has seen a
major decrease in the number of re
ported vehicle crimes over the last
five years.
“It has really tapered off,” he said.
“We have security officers doing indi
vidual patrols in cars and on bicycles and
random police surveillance from build
ing tops.”
Baron said students can prevent their
cars from being vandalized or burglar
ized by removing or hiding all valuables
left in their cars and by parking in well-
lit areas that are visible to the public.
Baron said writing or etching your
driver’s license number on your proper
ty will increase your chances of getting
See Pars on Page 10.
INSIDE
,• The Phantom
ear 2000
j\s it really the
new millenni
um? Page 3
Bible beating down
the door
Page 1 3
• Making an
Impact
Junior forward
Saunders
Aggies in fir:
season
Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details on the
debate over a Bryan Hotel.