Tuesday, Augusi 2}
J towe
ting flat
a female elevator
upped about 860 feet k
said Nikolai Sarychev.il
lent spokesman at thesci!
1,771-foot futuristic tu;
like a giant needle, isapiii
st attraction. It hasanots
eck and restaurant about!
f the way up. The firesti
ove that level, and ol
Listen to KAMU 90.9 FM at 1:57 p.m. for
details on a Brazos Valley Veterans'
memorial hearing.
• Check out The Battalion online at
battalion.tamu.edu.
Howdy, Dammit!
Aggie traditions *
bring uniqueness
^ and unity/Traditions
can be annoying
and alienating.
Page 3A
Weather:
Partly cloudy with a high
of 99 and a low of 74.
WEDNESDAY
August 30, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 4
2 Sections
A 8 pages
B 6 pages
visitors were evacuatd,
chev said no one so fan
led or injured in thebte .
cause of the fire wasncj ^
dy known, but initialriy
apparently was sta
rcuit in equipmentkte
paging company,
fire began at about 3:3(1 w
night, flames and sn
ut of much of the tower,
ver a large park, andapfa
e towered over the citv.
age helicopter cap#I LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Pres-
,7 water from a aianf fknt.Clinton said Tuesday he should
uuzht to the scene bu!'l ot l ie ^ s ^ arre ^ over his testimony in
Me Paula Jones sexual harassment
Base, telling a state judge that losing his
|i\v license is too harsh a penalty.
I In a five-page response to a com-
llaint filed by the Arkansas Supreme
|lourt Committee on Professional
Conduct, the president said that court
recedents in Arkansas would pro-
ibit a stiff sanction.
“On the basis of the relevant facts,
e governing law and the applicable
cisions of the Arkansas courts ..., a
Sanction of disbarment would be ex-
iessively harsh, impermissibly puni-
Jve and unprecedented in the cir-
FICAN CITY (AP) - qumstances of this case,” Clinton’s
ohn Paul 11 basked Suni hwyers wrote.
•.uccess of the church’skl fh e sta te conduct committee says
rid Youth Day laudinsiflP 10 P res >dent lied about his relation-
.s and petceM’jmff 'S
who took pan. it. under oath, in January 1998.
■ six-day gatheringpealtl Jhe president’s lawyers agreed
9-20. An estimated Hits with the state’s claim that Clinton
pilgrims camped las trying to save face when asked
ght outside Rome topibout Lewinsky,
elebrate Mass with lot I
- one of Europe's bi©| Clinton "took CIC-
assemblies ever,
leir great numbers maiil
impression on all,' ! Jrl
aid Sunday, speaking \
1 gathered in thecourtui
summer retreat atCasit j
Ifo outside Rome,
yous, peaceful youngs
udy to smile and say
tful of the city and'
the pope said. For thejf
he said, the event
the first step in thepaf
(■>*'< ^-1 • i 11] eik’l 4; WI it
linton
r
nay race
disbarment
nediately deployed.
nillion
tend
nth day
f
list be followed.’
: youn
tions motivated in
part by a desire to
protect himself
and others from
embarrassment.”
— President Clinton's lawyers
in a written statement
High cotton
A&M policy deferred
Gay Ags question clause removal from Website
STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
Roy Llanes Sr., an agricultural worker, labels and clips cotton plants at
the Texas A&M Agricultural Research Center Tuesday. The cotton is to
be used in research to produce disease-resistant varieties of the crop.
By Rolando Garcia
The Battalion
Jubilation quickly turned to
anger and frustration among gay
student activists at Texas A&M
after A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen did an about-face and re
scinded a new clause in the 2000-
2001 student rules that would
prohibit discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation.
New rules were posted Aug.
15 on the student rules Website,
listing sexual orientation as one
of the protected categories cov
ered by anti-discrimination poli
cy. But gay students had little
time to savor their victory —
within 24 hours, the sexual ori
entation clause was removed and
the previous wording, which
does not list protected groups,
was reinserted.
“[Administrators] have made
no attempt to explain what hap
pened,” said Jordan Davis, presi
dent of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgendered Aggies (GLB-
TA) and a junior English major.
“We wanted a commitment in
writing because all we have now
is the slaveowner’s word that he
won’t beat the slave, and, just as
slaves don’t trust the master, we
don’t trust the University.”
Davis added that, while the
University has taken steps to
protect gay students from ha
rassment and discrimination, the
reworded statement that Bowen
removed would have created an
official enforcement mechanism
and compel the University to
foster a non-hostile environment
for gay students.
Amy Hinze, a senior sociol
ogy major, said the symbolic
value of the rescinded clause
was important.
“It’s a great victory just to
have sexual orientation recog
nized,” she said. “That would
have sent a very good message.”
The reversal was prompted
by a press release distributed by
gay student activists announc
ing the rule change, said Asso
ciate Vice President for Student
Affairs Dr. Bill Kibler.
“What hap
pened is not a
change in poli
cy, but simply a
rewording of the
existing rule”
— Dr. Bill Kibler
associate vice president for
Student Affairs
“[The students’] immediate
response was to claim this change
meant something different than
what it really meant,” Kibler said.
“What happened is not a change
in policy, but simply a rewording
of the existing rule.”
In Fall 1999, Bowen vetoed
a proposal passed by the Stu
dent Senate and the Faculty
Senate to specifically prohibit
discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation, citing the le
gal liability that would be
placed on the University if it ex
tended anti-discrimination pro
tection to categories not cov
ered by state and federal law.
The new clause was intend
ed to clarify that University
rules do protect gay students
from harassment, including
physical, sexual and emotional
harassment, Kibler said.
“If, for example, a faculty
member treats and grades a stu
dent differently just because that
student is gay, we can do some
thing about that,” Kibler said.
Bowen has deferred imple
mentation of the reworded state
ment until there is sufficient un
derstanding of what it actually
means, Kibler added.
Davis defended the students’
press release and said Bowen re
scinded the rule change in retali
ation for the media attention gay
students have brought to the issue.
“A lot of money is riding on
the fact that this is a bastion of
racism, sexism and homopho
bia,” he said. “A lot of parents
send their kids here and alumni
make donations to this Universi
ty because of that image.”
Davis also said, despite assur
ances from some administrators
that they would continue to meet
with gay student leaders to ham
mer out an understanding, that
Bowen was quick to dismiss him
and another student when they
went to the president’s office to
schedule a meeting.
“Bowen came out, and, in a
rather curt, hostile and unprofes
sional way, said there would not
be any meetings,” Davis said.
Bowen was unavailable for
comment.
g people for a W i 1 , dLUUlls 1I U .
a c r r , to. by a desire to protect hi
ed - or outnumbered' C,’,/ from el X rrassm ,
ication-time populaii i av!/ y (
Clinton “took actions motivated, in
himself and
arrassment,” the
ers wrote.
ne- ■ A federal judge found Clinton in
city managed the throt contempt and fined him more than
:w reported problems.lfpO,000, saying he intentionally gave
t was a subway esc* misleading testimony while she
icked under the weigl P^ed oyer the deposition.
f njifl Clintons lawyers also acknowl-
' ^ c s " 1 ■= edged that the president did not fight
several. the contempt citation, but said he did
n Paul started the wjbt do so because the needs of the
idition in 1984. The kit country came first,
ing was in the Philippic} f Jones filed suit in May, 1994, alleg-
sTwhen 4 million yowg Clinton made a crude sexual ad-
Local police crack down on alcohol use
attended.
jyance toward her three years earlier in
a Little Rock hotel room. Jones had
foped to use evidence of the Lewinsky
affair as part of an attempt to show a
paitem of predatory behavior.
I U.S. District Judge Susan Webber
Wright, however, said the Lewinsky
material was not essential to Jones’
base, and later dismissed Jones’ lawsuit.
ByMarium Mohiuddin
The Battalion
The College Station Police Department
and the University Police Department an
nounced the creation of a new task force to
combat alcohol violations this semester.
“This [last] weekend we handed out 210 ci
tations, which include MIP, public intoxica
tion and consumption of alcohol after hours,”
said Bob Wiatt, director of UPD. “This week
end it was active because students were com
ing back in town and settling in.”
The task force is a combined effort be
tween. the two police departments. Last
weekend was the first time the program was
enforced. The focus now turns to football
game weekends, because there will be more
people in town, Wiatt said.
“We want to make sure that kids know that
they are accountable to the law,” he said. “We
are trying to get the word out to students that
they can’t drink under the age of 21, but kids
are still doing it.”
Wiatt said the crackdown is a response to
A&M’s being plagued with tragic alcohol-
related accidents.
“We have had many deaths because of al
cohol poisoning,” he said. “There was also
that one student who was killed last January
when he fell down the Southside Parking
Garage stairs because he was drunk. We are
just trying to make the campus safer.”
The idea was introduced a few years ago by
CSPD, UPD and Charles Sippial, then-assis
tant vice president for Physical Plant and now-
vice president for administration.
“This is just the first year that it has been
implemented,” Wiatt said.
The Bryan Police Department also is faking
steps to reduce the number of alcohol citations.
BPD has adopted a zero-tolerance policy.
“1 have been on the force for 27 years,
and we have always had a first-time
warning policy,” said Sgt. Ernie Mon
toya, public relations officer for BPD.
“But now they are taking it away. You
will get a citation for an MIP and you
will be arrested if you are furnishing al
cohol to minors because it is an ar
restable offense.”
Last weekend BPD handed out four
citations and arrested seven people for
alcohol violations.
Although they are not on the same
task force, the three police depart
ments, the Sherriff’s Department and
the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Com
mission are independently the same types
of practices.
Montoya said the easiest way for people
to avoid citations and arrest is to use discre
tion and not break laws.
ALCOHOL PROBLEMS
|210^H
THIS WEEKEND THERE WERE
Minor in Possesion
Public intoxication
Consumption
,.Citations
College Station
after Hours
4 Citations in Bryan
7 Arrests in Bryan for
contributing to minors
BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion
illions, but Co-op
tial cash while
! It also provides
h
Ind out about the
)r you.
PM ♦ 402 Rud
♦ 402 Rudd
5 M
CIS enforces printing charge
Students will be billed for printouts in excess of 150 pages
STUART VILLANUEVA/Thi: Battalion
♦ 402 Rudd^ ichael Neerman, a senior biology major, picks up
his printouts at the Student Computing Center. Stu-
Mnts will be charged for excess prints during the
fill and spring semesters.
ve into your
career!
By Richard Bray
The Battalion
Starting Fall 2000, the Depart
ment of Computing and Informa
tion Services (CIS) will charge stu
dents for printing in the Open
Access Computing Labs.
Each student will be allocated a
total of 150 pages for the fall and
spring semesters and 75 pages for
the summer semester, which is cov
ered in computing fees. When the
quota is reached, students will be
charged 4.9 cents per black-and-
white printed page. Students had
been charged for only transparency,
color and specialty printing last year.
My Print Charges, an application
located on University computer
desktops, will allow students to see
how many pages they have printed
and how much they will be charged.
“Increased printing was costing
us much more money than we were
bringing in from the Computer Ac
cess Fee,” said Tom Putnam, direc
tor of CIS. The new charges were
implemented to recover some of
the printing costs.
“We did take it to the Student
Government last fall and informed
people about it and asked for input
on different ways of structuring it,”
he said. “One of the possibilities
was raising the Computer Access
Fee. The problem with that possi
bility is that it makes everyone pay
when in fact the problem of exces
sive use is really limited to a small
minority of the student population.
“We also considered not subsi
dizing any of the printing but just
charging from the outset like many
universities do, like the University
of Texas, for example. I think the
opinion was that people liked hav
ing the existing Computer Access
Fee subsidy in place,” Putnam said.
Other universities have taken
similar action in the past, which
have caused student printing to de
crease, Putnam said.
„ “The experience that has been
reported by other universities has
been that, when people have to
think of printing as something that
actually costs money, then they are
much less frivolous in their use and
more responsible,” he said. “Usu
ally, what happens initially, is the
people print about half of what
(they) had been printing before
charges were put in place.”
Sue Dowling, computer equip
ment supervisor for CIS, said the
new charges will force students to
prioritize what they need to print.
“The students will have to put
more thought into the planning or
the importance of what needs to be
printed,” she said.
AOC advises on
study program
By Mariano Castillo
The Battalion
The Academic Opera
tions Committee (AOC)
deans advised the Corps of
Cadets unit commanders and
their scholastics personnel to
re-evaluate the Corps study
program at a forum Tuesday.
The forum was arranged
to discuss concerns the AOC
deans had about freshman
cadets not faring as well as
their non-reg counterparts.
The effectiveness of Call
to Quarters (mandated study
time), class loads for fresh
men, average graduation rate
and use of faculty advisers as
a resource were among the
issues brought to the floor.
Associate Dean of Archi
tecture Rodney Hill said the
Corps regimentation can dis
rupt the creative process, of
ten resulting in less time
spent on scholastic projects.
Cadets argued that the
AOC deans need to consider
the time new cadets need to
invest in the Corps in order to
fully reap its benefits.
Paul Jackman, 1st Group
commander and a senior
aerospace engineering ma
jor, said cadets who take
smaller class loads tradition
ally get good grades and bal
ance Corps and academic re
sponsibilities without
extending their college ca
reers more than non-reg stu
dents. The Corps offers aca
demic support to cadets,
including quiz files and free
tutoring from the O.R. Simp
son Honor Society.
See AOC on Paoe ~> *