V
"V
THURSDAY
January 27, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 78
14 pages
part oft»r
'es A(ec«n(Europ*any
ttfope needs weipiMts)!
ire sprinkler inadequacies found in dorms
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
I Tuesday’s fires at Texas A& M and a recent fa-
nl fire at Seton Hall University, have sparked
im >re than just flames—they have raised an eye-
pi i >w of concern about fire safety among students
and University officials.
I The Krueger Hall fire was the lifih dormitory
fiie in the nation since the spring semester began
Over a week ago - and the second at Texas A& M
I) the past fourteen months.
The Jan. 19 fire at Seton 1 lall claimed the lives
Hfthree students and injured 58 others. Seton Hall
o ticials hired a firm to do a surv ey of colleges’
fii • safety, which revealed that, of the 37 colleges
surveyed, only 55 percent of dormitories were
equipped with fire sprinkler systems.
Texas A&M is part of the 45 percent that is
not fully equipped with fire sprinkler systems.
“As far as student rooms, at this point we
don’t have any rooms that are sprinkled,” Dan
Mi/er, assistant director in the Department of
Residence Life, said.
The fire in Krueger began when a towel was
overheated in a microwave and thrown into a stu
dent's clothes hamper in the room.
Hie only sprinkler systems in dormitories on the
A&M campus tire in the trash chutes and trash
rooms, and these systems are not in all residence
halls.
The only residence halls currently equipped
with trash sprinkler systems are the Commons
dorms, balcony-style donns, and conidor-style
dorms.
Mclnnis Hall, a balcony-style residence hall
on Northside, is currently undergoing renovation.
A complete sprinkler system will be installed as
a part of this project. Five residence halls are
scheduled for this renovation over the next sev
eral years.
“Mclnnis will be our test hall,” Mizer said.
“We will be able to determine actual cost and see
how [the sprinklers] work in practice.”
Texas A&M University is not the only uni
versity in Texas to realize the need for fire sprin
kler systems in residence halls.
Jim Mecklin, fire safety inspector for the Uni
versity of Texas-Austin, said UT is currently in
the process of installing a sprinkler system in
Jester Hall, the high-rise dormitory that houses
almost 3,000 students.
“It’s a retrofit, and it’s difficult,” Mecklin said.
“It’s not as easy as it is on new construction.”
The project began in December 1999, and is
expected to be completed in a year.
The Residence Life staff first began to take a
closer look at installing fire sprinkler systems
when a fire erupted on Nov. 2, 1998 on the third
floor of Dorm 9, which houses part of the Corps
of Cadets.
The room in which the fire originated was de
stroyed, and there was extensive damage to the
room above it.
Mizer said adding sprinklers to the buildings
will be a long, laborious process. Residence Life
has taken action to improve fire safety in other
ways.
“Because of that fire, we started to look at
some issues that needed to be addressed,” Mizer
said.
Door-closing devices were installed on all
doors in all halls, with the exception of halls with
doors that open to the outside. If the room door is
open, the device provides enough pressure to
close it.
“In the Dorm 9 fire, when the fire department
discovered the fire, the door was wide open,”
See Sprinklers on Page 2.
omstock no longer
n critical condition
Monkey Business
BY TRAVIS PRICHETT
The Battalion
rehabilitation will be decided upon in the upcoming
weeks.
A'ii COG S22.SJ IMS
300 000 $228! |
I John Comstock, the last of tf
die 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse
Sod, was upgraded from critical
vksterday.
victims injured in
o remain hospital-
) serious condition
$ 7 8$ m
s-sw m
$*9.34 JttJ
romiBHiMi
I Comstock, a freshman biotechnology major
’ifih >m Richardson, spent seventy days in the intensive
Kirc unit of the College Station Medical Center.
a'.mg a &}*» (**
rorwfing * WfS
nee cuW* Hnci
wmsayrriucr,:
KBwfWft
ptame; *
eqiWTien! and a t
I Comstock has undergone se\
dibit to stabilize his condition.
I In a press release. I )r. Joseph Fe
leads the team of physicians and ni
for Comstock's care) said Comstoc
need of respiratory support or hem
now able to receive nutrition by m<
I “I fe has continued to make prog
tamed the last few days without a rei
feu ions or complications,” Fedorcl
| The matter of when and where C
ral surgeries in an
"I am very grateful to
the staff at the Med —
they are the reason I'm
here today. So, when
do I get to go home?"
— John Comstock
1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse victim
orchik Jr. (who
ses responsible
is no longer in
dialysis, and is
In the press release, Comstock expressed grati
tude to the Aggie community and the Medical Cen
ter staff.
“I’m overwhelmed with the outpouring of con
cern from Aggies everywhere and from the com
munity,” he said.
“I’m very grateful to the staff at the Med—they
tire the reason I’m here today. So, when do I get to
go home?”
too AgsHobby Hall coed next fall
BY RICHARD BRAY
The Battalion
following arei
Dair
if I lobby Hall — an all women’s
residence hall on Northside —
will be coed by Fall 2000, the
Residence Hall Association
(RHA) announced at Wednes
day's meeting.
■ “We listen to the residents,
and create legislation according
to what they tell us,” Julie Cast,
president of RHA and a junior
marketing major, said. “We
talked to Northside students and
they expressed a desire for more
coed and male dorms.”
1 Recent changes made by the
Department of Food Services to
replace Sbisa Cafeteria, closed
for the semester due to extensive
renovations, were also addressed
at the meeting.
Council members agreed that
Sbisa I fut and the expanded out
bound programs were success
ful, but were concerned about
the shortage of outbound meals
on Northside on Sunday.
“Sbisa I hit was not expecting
the overwhelming response from
students, so they are doing better
to have more options this week
end,” Cindy Zawieja, associate
director of Food Services, said at
the meeting.
Council members also sug
gested that signs be posted in the
12th Man International Food
Court, so students can avoid con
fusion about where to get out
bound meals for breakfast.
“The meal plan is only on the
lefl side [of the 12th Man during
breakfast] and the other side is just
cash operations,” Zawieja said.
Zawieja also asked the coun
cil for its opinion on the
“Wheels to Meals” busing pro
gram, which provides students
with busing to the MSC and the
Commons.
“It’s quite expensive to keep
the buses running,” Zawieja
said. “We want responses to see
if the program is working.”
The council decided to post
pone discussion on the matter for
a few weeks to see if the busing
program is necessary.
GUY ROGERS/THE Batiai.ion
Tony Park, lead vocals/trumpet, and Howie Behrens, guitarist, of Push Monkey, work the audience into a
fan frenzy at Hurricane Harry’s Wednesday night. The crowd was persuaded into stage dives and mosh pits.
te training,
fodder Tower
>r.
Blinn grows
in Spring ’00
BY DANA JAMUS
The Battalion
j|; Texas A&M University may be slow-
ng down in terms of admitting new stu-
lents, but Blinn College is going full
peed ahead. .
1 ; Approximately 500 more students en-
ees, fill out Sidled at Blinn’s Bryan campus in
all 1999 as compared to Fall 1998, ac-
tording to Barbara Pearson, vice president
)f Blinn College.
iiMJnly 193 additional undergraduate
ttudents enrolled at A&M in Fall 1999 as
:ompared to Fall 1998, according to
s at a later
UNDERGRADUATE
ENROLLMENT
BLINN
Up by 680 in Spring 2000
9% II
Total Enrollment: 8,277
unofficial from Blinn for
Spring ?0C*0
Clinton to give last State of Union
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wedged
between the Iowa caucuses and New
Hampshire primary, President Clinton
grabs the spot-
JEFF SMITH/The Battalion
ies.
le elevators
\&M’s Office of Institutional Studies and
^hning’s Fal I 1999 enrollment record,
and 4 p.m. ^ p his spring semester, enrollment at
Jlinn increased by 680 students as com-
)ared to Spring 1999— making the total
enrollment 8,277 students. Pearson said
he official enrollment is not determined
mtil the 12th day of classes to allow for
Iropouts.
Hi he additional number of students cn-
olkd at A&M this spring is not available
or distribution until the 12th dayofclass-
:s,iccording to the Olfice of Planning and
nstitutional Research at A&M.
KrOne of the attractions to Blinn is that
he cost ofattending a junior college is al-
.vays lower than a four year university,”
’earson said. “Blinn charges $27 for every
credit hour and this will be rising, but there
is always a limit where the cost of a col
lege is lower than a university.”
Pearson said she does not believe that
Blinn is taking students away from A&M,
but rather that A&M’s reputation is bring
ing students into the area and this is having
a positive effect on Blinn’s student count.
Pearson said she believes that more
and more students are joining Blinn’s two-
year program because the college is be
coming more visible in the community.
Blinn has attempted to improve the
registration process by cutting the waiting
time and long lines that caused students
frustration in the Fall 1999.
“The surge of students applying to
Blinn took us by surprise in the fall,” Pear
son said. “The college has added extra reg
istration days to make the process more
convenient for the students.”
CLINTON
light Thursday
night with a
State of the
Union address
intended to pro
mote the last
year of his pres
idency and the
political ambi
tions of his part
ner, A1 Gore.
It will be a
speech watched
by millions of Americans, probably
Clinton’s biggest audience of the year.
Clinton will boast about the nation’s
extraordinary prosperity, which in Feb
ruary will turn into the longest eco
nomic expansion in history. He’ll cat
alog hundreds of billions of dollars
worth of programs he’d like to see
Congress approve to crown the final
year of his presidency — from health
insurance and medical research to ed
ucation initiatives and tax breaks for
the working poor.
It’s Clinton’s night and his big
speech. But the president probably will
he thinking, at least in part, about how
his remarks could help Gore, the man
sitting behind him at the rostrum of the
cavernous I louse chamber.
Five days before the New Hamp
shire primary, Gore will rush back to
Washington to occupy that seat and
lead the applause for Clinton.
One of the most important contri
butions Clinton can make to his legacy
is to help Gore become president arid
carry on the work of the Clinton-Gore
administration. It is a factor in devel
oping Clinton’s own agenda.
But on the other hand, she said, that
doesn’t mean Gore gets to write Clin
ton’s script. “This is still the Clinton
administration and they are very firm
ly in charge.”
“Gore also realizes the strongest
thing going for him in this election are
the governing successes of the Clinton
administration and the broad successes
in the economy and improvements in
American society,” Mann said.
“It would be foolish to run away
from those,’ he said.’
Clinton also has his mind on the
Senate race of his wife, Hillary. “I
think she’s done a good job with this
and she’s getting into it,” he said Tues
day.
“I think it would be a good thing for
New York and a good thing for our
country.”
Lockhart said Clinton’s administra
tion was “not in the business of micro-
managing our policies to try to help or
hurt any campaign.” But he acknowl
edged there is coordination between
the Clinton and Gore teams.
“There always is. We talk to their
staff all the time,” Lockhart said.
“But the agenda that the president’s
going to lay out is the president’s agenda.”
The spokesman would not say how
much of it came from Gore.
“There’s a long list of people in that
category who want things,” he said, but
it is the president who decides how to
lay out the speech.
Clinton will offer a boost in the
minimum wage, a prescription drug
benefit under Medicare, tougher gun
controls and a patients’ bill of rights.
In health care coverage, alone, Clin
ton is proposing a $110 billion initia
tive — saying it would be the largest
investment in health coverage since
Medicare was established in 1965.
Under a section headed “White
House budget leaks,” the committee
keeps a running tab of the cost of Clin
ton proposals “tallied from about 50
leaks.”
The latest estimate was that Clin
ton’s program would increase spending
next year by $30.4 billion over current
totals.
• Shut Down
B-CS clubs
frequently
go out of
business.
• Collateral Damage
Government should allo
cate more money
for soldier wages. Page 1 3
• Aggies losing
streak
con
tinues
No. 23
Sooners down
the Ags.
• Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9
at 1:57 p.m. for details on
Texas Sea Grant.