Former independent counsel
reflects on impeachment trial
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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.
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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