Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2000)
Former independent counsel reflects on impeachment trial South Korea and offering" imed at reducing tensions confidence in the region. : those attending thesui emonial head of state, part Yong Nam. though it was lave a private session witfi.fj ments under discussion, Ike, ives urged richer nations orer countries while im 0.7 percent of gross promised in 1970. i President Olesegun 01 rs the G-77, told a news sat such steps would hel and stability, citing thect is elected governmentn >rship last year, s e just established am locratic situation where ng right," he said, o said that if he goes u anted to give you water s ... even though theori) bious. and therefore I wil w ater... they will say‘get spensation’" of democracy, :ontin director for the British the international charit} 1 Children. he situation isexai cal officials say, by the li testy le of the people w the region. The nomads livestock for food When the rains fail, ct camels and sheep die- people with nothing. The)' grate to feeding centers, local resources and increa risk of disease. Some TOptcfb the 3 5 million people Jud g e Kenneth Starr walks with Former President George Bush Somali region, are nomads,d merit figures say. Ibrahim Abdi.chairperd on their way to speak at the Twanna M. Powell Lecture series, a program which brings distinguished leaders and recognized ex- JP BEATO/The Battalion perts on major public policy issues about or related to the state of Texas to the Campus of Texas A&M University. Starr became fa mous for his report covering President Clinton’s 1998 legal inquires. Referring to the spectacle that thrust him into the national spotlight as the “re cent unpleasantness,” Kenneth Starr re flected on the investigation and subse quent impeachment of President Bill Clinton Wednesday when he spoke at a lecture at the George Bush Presidential Conference Center. Starr was the guest speaker at the an nual Twanna Powell lecture, sponsored by the George Bush Library Foundation. Starr is the former Whitewater indepen dent counsel whose five-year investiga tion culminated in only the second im peachment trial of a president American history. “In the end, people decided they could not support the removal of a duly elected president for offenses that would warrant the removal of a federal judge or any lesser member of the executive branch,” Starr said. Reflecting on his role in the process, Starr said his main regret was allowing his mission to expand beyond what he called the “Arkansas phase” of the investigation. Appointed in 1994 to investigate Whitewater, Starr was later authorized by Attorney General Janet Reno to look into a series of scandals involving the Clinton ad ministration, including allegations the president lied under oath about having sex ual relations with a White House intern. think it would have been preferable for the attorney general to seek the ap pointment of other independent counsels to look into the new matters,” Starr said. Starr also said he failed to defend his of fice against partisan attacks in the media. “It was an enormous amount of litiga tion, and the patience of the American people wore thin, especially in this 24- hour news cycle,” Starr said. “We didn’t do an adequate job of informing the pub lic of the job description of our office and how broad our original mandate was.” Starr said the Department of Justice could have done more to fend off the cam paign of demonization against the inde pendent counsel’s office. “It would have been better if the Jus tice Department had been more support ive of our efforts,” Starr said. “I know if Griffin Bell [attorney general under Pres ident Jimmy Carter] was there, he would have called the White House and said ‘Call off the attack dogs right now.’ ” Starr discussed the flaws in the inde pendent counsel law, which he said cre ates a constitutionally awkward situation in which a president is subject to a prose cutor with almost unlimited jurisdiction and resources but who is technically part of the executive branch. “It was a well-intentioned but illuso ry effort to eliminate politics from jus tice,” Starr said. He advocated returning to the pre-Wa tergate system in which the attorney gen eral would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in the executive branch. In his closing remarks, Starr said that the president’s acquittal in the Senate tri al did not mean the American people con doned presidential misconduct. “Character does count. Despite all the economic and foreign policy issues that are important in this election year, I’m happy to hear citizens say that integrity matters,” Starr said. regional emergency taskfe he key is to persuade nomaij le and diversify into farmiit “The problem is peopli idapt so quickly because a£ d sverv laborious work,” Ak RHA hears plan io implement ® urs pdreless’ campus ‘oir BY CYRA GATLING The Battalion for $2( a registe zings >• Hhe Residence Hall Association RHA) is working to make the idea of I‘tireless” campus— one where stu- iels would be equipped with cellular 'hSues as part of their dorm experience ia reality. |■^he RHA heard a proposal for the Implementation of a wireless campus. ■The proposal calls for each student ivfligon campus to receive a cell phone iifmke free calls on campus. Students oijld then sign up for wireless plans to iSathe phones off campus and make Mr distance calls. ■Valter Magnussen Jr., associate di- :or for telecom- lications, pre led the wireless pus proposal, he proposal dd eliminate or “hard” me lines, forres- fice halls. ‘Capital costs anticipated to 59 million to $10 million,” Mag- Wisjsen said. “We already pay $7 mil- UB so this is more of an incremental BHtthan an additional cost.” VH«hc proposal details a variety offea- <4es for the phones. H\s soon as students go off campus, ^Biim light would come on to signify •hat they are being charged for calls. /‘'mBemergency notification light will be bailable on the phones to notify stu- toits of bad weather or other emer- jWtcy situations. There will also be an emergency number on the phone that "fould dial directly to the University Police and alert police of the caller’s H^Btion. ^fcomc students disagree with the Tf posed implementation of cell Pines. ■“Although cell phones would be c ®rivenient, there are far too may un seen complications to consider a pro- pos.s yet,” said Thomas Coulboume, a r es:dent of Hotard Hall and a sopho- rop e English major. “Problems [in- el|de] time in setting it up, limitations on usage, course registration and inter- ;top ion during class and events.” ^TThere are too many things up in the nornm 4. ■5-1723 air..... We want something more definite.” Many factors are still up for debate, such as how the project would be fund ed, whether the cell phones will be op tional and how the cell phones would be distributed for a possible trial-basis offering. If approved the project would not be enacted for another year or two. The RHA approved a bill in favor of the “Not on Our Campus” Campaign, which stands to create a campus of tol erance and unity. The “Not on Our Campus” Cam paign hopes to curtail acts of intoler ance, bigotry and hate based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ability, age or language through multiple steps. “The fact that the leaders in the halls support ‘Not on Our Campus’ will help improve the community be cause they are the leaders and role models who will take the campaign back to the halls and instill it into the halls and the com munity,” said Julie Cast, president of RHA and a junior marketing major. The campaign aims to establish a long-lasting tradition of tolerance on the Texas A&M campus. “Support for ‘Not on Our Campus’ will change the conception that A&M is not as tolerant as other campuses,” Cast said. “Not on Our Campus” hopes to re ceive support from all organizations and to change the climate around cam pus for the better. Additionally, Cindy Zawieja, associ ate director of Food Services, spoke on the status of the Sbisa Dining Hall, which will be back in business on Dec. 15. Until the reopening of Sbisa, stu dents can continue to eat at the Memo rial Student Center (MSC), Commons Dining Hall and Sbisa Hut and through Outbound Dining. Bus services, how ever, may change to operate solely dur ing dinner hours. These dining options will be avail able throughout the summer and fall. Incoming freshmen will receive in formation about dining options in their packets at freshman orientation. Recruitment efforts to change Student advisory committee will focus on increasing minority enrollment, diversity BY APRIL YOUNG The Battalion Adrienne Ballare, a senior journalism major who partici pated in the round table discus sion as a part of Black History Month, said the University’s most recent attempt to increase minority enrollment by creating the Office of Admissions Stu dent Recruitment Advisory Committee is just another un successful tactic rehashed from A&M’s past. “The Recruitment Advisory Committee is just another show- and-tell that A&M is trying to get on the ball and increase mi nority enrollment at A&M,” Ballare said. “I think the Uni versity should take a more active role in recruiting minorities, like they did to recruit me.” The Student Recruitment Advisory Committee, a com mittee formed to help the Office of Admissions better recruit mi norities to create a more diverse campus, held their first meeting last Thursday. The committee consists of student leaders from different minority groups who will serve as liasons between the Office of Admissions and the student body. Maco Faniel, vice president for community improvement for the Strident Government Asso ciation and a sophomore speech communication major, said the committee is in the process of identifying problems with the current recruitment strategy and deciding the most tangible and effective means of making im provements. The committee hopes to help accomplish coordinating of events for campus visits, in volving key organizations on the campus in the recruiting efforts and dispelling the neg ative image of Texas A&M not being sensitive to the needs of all students. Faniel said the committee hopes to target minority students during their campus visits. “We want to create programs for campus visits that give prospective students of color a sense of familiarity,” Faniel said. “If they don’t see students of color, that might deter them from coming to A&M, but by creating programs during their campus visit, prospective stu dents can interact one-on-one with students of color at A&M.” But Ballare said the commit tee will not be effective in re cruiting if they only reemit when prospective students come to A&M for campus visits. “A lot of minorities don’t even come to A&M to visit be cause of the negative stereotype this school has,” Ballare said. “It makes more sense for minority recruiters to go to their high schools and talk to juniors and seniors about the importance of a quality education and share their experiences with the prospective students.” Van Johnson, a senior chemistry major who also par ticipated in the roundtable dis cussion, said the committee is a step in the right direction, but the University has to listen to the committee and try some of its ideas for the committee to be effective. “This is definitely a positive step because the University is getting feedback from people who are here, which will give them an outlook on what A&M is to the people who are at A&M,” Johnson said. “How ef fective it will be depends on how many of the recommendations the committee makes are actual ly implemented.” Joe Estrada, director of Ad missions, said the committee will serve as student ambas sadors to share experiences with potential students. “My excitement about the process is student participation in activities,” Estrada said. “We have a cadre of students we can call to participate in recruit ment activities on and off’cam pus and, though it’s been done in the past, [the committee] gives it more formality.” 53rd session student senators name Chad Wagner as speaker BY JEANETTE SIMPSON The Battalion Chad Wagner, a sophomore polit ical science major, was elected speaker of Student Senate for the 53rd session Wednesday evening. As speaker for the Senate, Wagner has set many goals for the 53rd session. “I want to work at promot ing positive interactions among senators, and I hope to increase students’ accessibility to the senators through increased technology and personal inter action,” Wagner said. “As speaker, I will work as the voice of the Student Senate. Just as each senator acts as a voice of the student body, I want to keep the focus of the Senate on the student body.” Wagner promised to work as an advocate for the issues and con cerns cf the student body to Texas A&M administrators. “Progress — tangible progress has to be our goal,” Wagner said. “Progress that the student body can see in everything we do. I want the student body to know that we are always working for the better of Texas A&M.” Wagner has been a student senator “Progress — tangible progress has to be our goal. Progress that the student body can see in everything we do. I want the student body to know that we are al ways working for the better of Texas A6rM." — Chad Wagner Speaker of Student Senate for two years and was chairperson of external affairs during the 52nd ses sion of the Student Senate. Though Student Body President- Elect Forrest Lane has not officially taken office, the senior political sci ence major was sworn in at Wednes day’s meeting. Lane said he understands the im portance of maintaining good rela tions between the executive branch of the Student Government Asso ciation (SGA) and Student Senate. “Cooperation and commu nication between student body president and Student Senate is essential to getting work done on campus,” Lane said. “The 53rd session is a dy namic group of great people who I know have a lot of good ideas for this University.” The Senate elected Court ney Eschbach, sophomore po litical science major, as the speaker pro-tempore. The speaker pro-tempore handles the administrative as pects of Student Senate, while the speaker chairs Student Sen ate meetings and represents the Student Senate. “I am excited to be working with Chad Wagner, he is a very open per son, and [has] some great ideas for the Student Senate,” Eschbach said. . “I want the student body to know that I am here for them.” Aggie swimi • This room for rent Students discuss pros and cons of subleasing Page 3 • From student council to city ouncil Students should support city council represen tation Page 19 • Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on the Texas teenager abortion case. • Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu