WEDNESDAY
September 27, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 24
12 pages
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MSC evolution in students’ hands
Referendum will increase Complex Fee
By Elizabeth Raines & Kristin Rostran
The Battalion
Students are accustomed to the antiquated
carpet, dilapidated furniture and worn-down
floors. However, the Memorial Student Center
(MSC) Council is asking students to help give
the living room of Texas A&M a face lift.
The student body will have an opportunity
to vote today on the Student Center Complex
Fee Referendum regarding the remodeling and
funding of the MSC.
The first half of the referendum is to increase
the Student Complex Center Fee from $30 to
$40. The second half of the referendum is for
student support to ask the Texas Legislature to
raise the student fee cap from $40 to $ 100.
The $10 per semester fee increase would
fund the replacement of furniture, flooring, wall
coverings and ceilings in the MSC. The fee in
crease will be split: $8 will go toward renovat
ing the MSC and $2 will go toward normal
maintenance, cleaning, utilities and staff costs.
“We estimate it will cost in excess of $ 1 mil
lion to $1.5 million,” said Dr. William Kibler,
associate vice president of student affairs. “It
would definitely be done in phases, because you
can’t just shut down the MSC.”
A two-year task force came up with a list of
primary concerns and changes that are neces
sary for the MSC. The main concern is that the
MSC needs to take a step into the 21 st century.
“With over 100 meetings and 47 percent of
the student body visiting the MSC daily, all one
has to do is walk around the center to see the ef
fects of the wear and tear of 27 years,” said
Mary Helen Bowers, MSC associate director of
special events facilities. “The whole idea — of
course, pending student approval — is to give
the MSC a whole new look.”
If the referendum is approved by the students,
the $10 increase will goto the Texas A&M Uni
versity System Board of Regents for approval in
March. If approved by the board, the increase
will show up on the Fall 2001 student fee state
ment. Once approved by the board, remodeling
could begin in Summer 2001 on the first and sec
ond floors of the MSC. Visible results of the re
modeling are expected by Fall 2000.
If the referendum does not go through, the
MSC will have to put all remodeling plans on
hold and approach the students with the fee in
crease again in Spring 2001, said Dennis Busch,
University Center manager.
Once remodeling of the first and second
floor is complete, remodeling of the MSC base-
See Referendum on Page 6.
Fall semester general election underway
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
The Class of ’04 will make its first mark on
the Texas A&M campus when results from
freshman elections are announced at 10 tonight
in front of the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue.
The elections are not limited to freshmen; the
Student Complex Fee Referendum makes this
voting period a general election.
Neal Simpson, election commissioner for the
Student Government Association (SGA) and a
junior recreation, park and tourism sciences ma
jor, said there has not been a fall general elec
tion in at least three years.
“Normally only freshmen vote in these
elections, but due to the referendum, we are
hoping for a greater turnout,” he said. “This
election is very important to the freshman
class, not just because of the Freshman Coun
cil and Student Senate candidates, but due to
the fact that they’ll be the ones that pay and
benefit the most from the [Student Center] Fee
than any other class on campus.”
There are 13 names on the ballot for Class of
’04 president, seven for vice president, one for
secretary, one for treasurer, two for historian and
Polling
places will he
open until 5 P.ITI
one for social secretary. Simpson said the over
all candidate total is down from last year by
about 30 people, but the number of presidential
candidates has increased.
In addition to the class officer nominees, 13
candidates are vying for four seats in the Stu
dent Senate.
“The freshmen are the only class to have
seats in the Student Senate because they were
not here in the spring to be represented by the
various colleges and living areas,” said Chad
Wagner, speaker of the Student Senate and a ju
nior political science major. “The reasoning be
hind this is that the freshmen have no vote
placed on their behalf and are therefore under
represented without Senate seats.”
Their role in the Student Senate will be to
write constituency reports based on the demands
and concerns of the Class of ’04. They will also
be obligated to arrange sessions for freshmen to
express their concerns to the freshmen senators.
The senators will also be responsible for sit
ting on one of the four standing committees of
the Senate: Academic Affairs, External Affairs,
Student Services and Rules and Regulations.
See Freshmen on Page 6.
1) MSC
2) Front of Sterling C. Evans Library
3) Across from Sbisa Dining Hall
4) Duncan Dining Hall
5) Commons Lobby
6) Blocker Building
7) Zachry Engineering Center
Students can also vote Online at
www.voie.tamu.eiiu
PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
Top: Students frequent the MSC Flagroom each day
making it the "living room" of A&M. Right: Aggies
take a break on a tattered couch in the MSC.
Raise in funding used
for MSC renovations
By Tamra Russell
The Battalion
Every semester when Texas A&M students pay their
tuition, $30 goes toward a Student Center Fee that brings
in $24 million to the Memorial Student Center (MSC)
for operational costs.
According to figures released by the MSC Council,
the operational costs are on a decline, with an expected
budget deficit of $78,785 by the year 2002.
To combat this impending decline, the MSC Council
is proposing a $10 increase to the $30 Student Center
Fee, in a referendum on the freshman election ballot, to
assist with maintenance costs, to refurbish the MSC and
to finance design plans for MSC expansion. This in
crease would bring in an additional $800,000 for MSC
operational costs and keep the MSC afloat.
The funding would assist other aspects of the Univer
sity Center complex, including the John J. Koldus Build
ing, Rudder Tower, Rudder Theater, the Board of Regents
Annex and Rudder Fountain.
William Kibler, associate vice president of Student
Affairs, said the University Center does not re
ceive money from the MSC Bookstore, the MSC
Post Office, Department of Food Services or the
state of Texas.
“The only two sources of funding come from
the Student Center Fee and non-student cus
tomers,” he said. “We could increase the charges
to non-students, but then we might lose business.”
Nathan Cray, MSC Council president and a se
nior mechanical engineering major, said the Student
Center Fee is strictly used for the MSC and does not
go to MSC committees or businesses in the MSC.
“We have our own internal budget,” Cray said.
“What is being voted on is going toward the build-
PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion
ing — like renovations, upkeep, the basement and operat
ing the other buildings in the University Center. Most stu
dent organizations meet here at some point or other, so they
[would] all benefit in some way.”
Pending approval by the student body, the $ 10 increase
would then go to the A&M System Board of Regents for
its March meeting. If approved, the increase could take ef
fect by Fall 2001.
Dennis Busch, University Center manager, said he
hopes the students see the need for refurbishing the MSC.
“Most of the furniture is from the last face lift in 1973,”
Busch said. “Based on input from former and current stu
dents, they want the look of the MSC to improve.”
Income
Student Cell Fee
Available
Less Expenses
Balance
MSC Operating Budget
2000 2001
Projected 2002 Budget
WITHOUT WITH
INCREASE INCREASE
$106,215
$156,215
$96,215
$96,215
$1,250,000
$1,300,000
$1,300,000
$1,300,000
$2,400,000
$2,400,10
$2,400,000
$3,200,01'
$3,756,215
$3,856,215
$3,796,215
$4,596,215
$3,600,000
$3,760,000
$3,875,000
$3,875,000
~$1562lf
$96,215
<$78,785>
1721215
' Budget with Increase is based on an Increase
of 1/3 for the same number of students.
SELSO GARCIA/The Battalion
Two teenagers wounded
by same gun in shooting
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An argu
ment between 13-year-old and 14-year-
old students escalated into a gunfight on
the grounds of a middle school Tuesday,
critically wounding both boys.
Witnesses told police that after an
argument, the 13-year-old got a gun
from someone who passed the weapon
through a fence.
The 13-year-old shot the 14-year-
old, then, the 14-year-old grabbed the
gun and shot the 13-year-old, accord
ing to police spokesman Lt. Marlon
DeFillo said.
Police recovered .38-caliber re
volver believed used in the shooting at
Carter G. Woodson Middle School in
uptown New Orleans.
The shooting happened just before
noon in a breezeway between the
school cafeteria and the main building.
Both students appeared conscious
when they were taken by ambulances
to Charity Hospital, said David Bows
er, a police spokesman. They were list
ed in critical condition, said hospital
spokeswoman Jean Patterson.
There had been several fights re
ported at the school in the past few
weeks, but it was unclear whether the
shooting was related to the fights,
Bowser said.
Minority report yields alarming data
BY Stephen Metcalf
The Battalion
Nearly a year after Texas A&M President
Dr. Ray M. Bowen requested analysis on mi
nority enrollment, a report from the A&M
Race and Ethnic Studies Institute says a lack
of financial aid and personal attention are the
primary reasons Hispanics and African-Amer
icans choose not to attend Texas A&M.
The 187-page report, titled “Factors Influ
encing Minority Students’ Decision Not to
Enroll at Texas A&M University,” gathered
information from 14 focus groups in 11 cities.
Seventy-nine minority students and their par
ents took part in the research. The participants
were African-Americans and Hispanics who
had been admitted to Texas A&M in the fall
of 1999 but chose not to enroll.
“I believe the administration became quite
alarmed when they saw data that indicated 47
percent of minorities, particularly Hispanics
and African-Americans, who were admitted
chose not to enroll at Texas A&M,” said Dr.
Mitchell F. Rice, author of the report and di
rector of the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute.
According to the report, if left unchecked, the
situation will threaten “the efforts taken by the
leadership of Texas A&M toward achieving the
necessary prerequisites, such as a diverse student
body, to be considered one of the top 10 public
universities in the nation by the year 2020.”
The report says the yield rate — the per
centage of students enrolled out of students
admitted — of minority students at Texas
A&M is comparable to the eight most selec
tive state universities in Texas. A&M has one
of the most unsatisfactory majority-to-minor-
ity ratios among public universities in the
state, according to the report. Admissions data
indicated an increasing proportion of fresh
man minority students enrolling at A&M un
til the Hopwood decision took effect in 1996.
In an effort to increase college admissions for
under-represented ethnicities in the state after the
Hopwood decision, the Texas Legislature en
acted a bill that entitles the top 10 percent of the
graduating class of each Texas high school to at
tend any state public college or university.
Dhananjaya Arekere, co-author of the re
port, said the Legislature’s efforts have been
fruitless at A&M.
“In fact, the number of minority students en
rolling at A&M within the top 10 percent pool
is decreasing,” Arekere said.
Arekere said the research indicates that SAT
scores were significantly higher for nonen
rolling minorities than for enrolling minorities.
“Other universities that were comparable to
A&M in stature and reputation offered many of
the students in the study a better financial pack
age than A&M,” Rice said. “Also, parents felt
See Minorities on Page 2.