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Jy Staff & Wire
■A state district judge correctly dis-
||ved a partnership between Texas
A&M and the private South Texas
■liege of Law, an appeals court ruled
■ursday.
■in a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 3rd
Bart of Appeals in Austin decided
stale District Judge Suzanne Coving-
pr had grounds to void the affiliation
Krause it had not been approved by
Ihe Texas Higher Education Coordi-
■ing Board. The board oversees pub
ic colleges and universities.
■“South Texas' argument that the affil-
pon agreement is merely a compact
ph a private institution, and therefore
fts not come under the auspices of the
ftrd's authority, fails,” Chief Justice
Marilyn Aboussie wrote for the majority.
‘iSouth Texas, in the lawsuit against
he board, said the state had no authori-
rto approve the affiliation, but the
But ruled that the possibility that A&M
■ild spend public money in the agree
ment demanded the board's approval.
■The court agreed with Covington’s
King, handed down Aug. 2, 1999, that
i&M has no authority to teach law.
■“Neither A&M's mission descrip-
jion nor its table of programs state that
■ruction in law is within A&M’s role
pd mission,” Aboussie wrote.
■South Texas, in downtown Hous-
ion; and A&M began a partnership in
lanuary 1998, giving the law school
he A&M name while remaining a pri-
/ate school.
iSouth Texas had been referring to it-
Bfas “South Texas College of Law af-
iliated with Texas A&M University”
lefoieCovington’s ruling.
Aboussie • and Justice Bea Ann
Smith found that Covington properly
ordered the schools to cancel their af
filiation agreement, which meant
South Texas could continue working
with A&M, but had to cease using the
A&M name.
In dissent. Justice Lee Yeakel
wrote, “I do not believe that ... (the
coordinating board) has the power to
expand its enumerated functions in or
der to prohibit or discourage coopera
tive efforts between public and private
institutions.”
The schools, which have waited
more than a year for Thursday’s deci
sion, both said they would confer and
evaluate their options.
‘‘We could ask for a rehearing, ap
peal to the (state) Supreme Court, let it
go or go back to square one and sit down
with Texas A&M and work with the co
ordinating board and do it they way they
insist we need to do it,” said South
Texas spokeswoman Sheila Hansel,
adding that the school’s board will dis-
.cuss strategy in meetings next week.
A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen,
speaking from the A&M System Board
of Regents meeting in Dallas, said
A&M would wait to see what South
Texas does before reacting.
‘‘We remain committed to an affilia
tion with South Texas College of Law
and we will explore all avenues, includ
ing going back to the coordinating
board,” Bowen said. “We will be talking
to South Texas College of Law about the
next steps they might take.”
Lane Stephenson, deputy director of
See Partnership on Page 2.
Dancing in the dark
Aggie Players Marisa Saenz, a senior
theater arts major; Amber Verret, a ju
nior elementary education major; and
Erica Garcia, a senior theater arts major,
perform in Shakespeare Pastiche on
STUART VILLANUEVA/Thf. Battalion
Thursday night at the Fallout Theater.
The show featured the Sonnets of
William Shakespeare set to music and
dancing under black lights. See related
article on Page 3.
Student Senate approves two new fee bills
Election
Feb. 20 & 21, 2001
>50 for unlimited access to bus
Jsystem: on and off campus.weekend
| service, new buses and service to
the mall and movie theaters.
$1 increase per semester credit hour,
maximum of $12 per semester to
provide unlimited official transcript
and degree copies.
V0^©«||:CP|
fttboctain
during tine
sf»eciall elec Ho n»
BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion
By Jeanette Simpson
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Student Sen
ate passed two bills and created a
referendum at the final meeting
of the semester Wednesday.
• The student body will vote on
the referendum Feb. 20 and 21,
2001.
The first of the bills on the ref
erendum was the Transportation
Fee-Bill. This bill, if approved by
students and the Board of Re
gents, will create a $50 fee per
student each semester.
“This $50 fee will provide un
limited access, on and off cam
pus, for all students; weekend
service; more routes and greater
frequency; new buses with air
conditioning; and service to
places such as the mall and
movie theaters,” said Gary Jack-
son, manager of Bus Operatidns.
The bus system is funded by
the sale of bus passes, charter
revenues and a portion of the
student services fee. This in
come keeps Bus Operations
running, but the lack of funds
has forced service levels to be
decreased, Jackson said.
The second fee approved for
the referendum was the Records
Management Fee Bill. This fee is
designed to provide an unlimited
number of official transcripts and
degree certifications to students
and former students.
The Records Management
Fee would be a $1 per semester
credit hour fee, not to exceed $ 12
a semester.
This fee would replace the
current $5 per official transcript
fee.
The referendum will appear in
February in a special election, in
stead of in the usual spring stu
dent body elections, so students
can vote before the March meet
ing of the Board of Regents.
Students can vote on new
bus colors at Bus Ops site
By Brooke Hodges
The Battalion
Aggies are being asked to vote again this year, but this
time it is to choose the paint color for the new A&M buses.
Seven choices can be seen and voted on during the
rest of the semester on the Bus Operations Website:
www-busops.tamu.edu.
The 22 new buses will begin operating in May or June
2001.
. “Hopefully by the first of the year, we’ll have a new
paint scheme,” said Gary Jackson, manager of Bus Op
erations.
Some students have voiced opinions about wanting the
new buses to read “Texas A&M” instead of “Texas A&M
University.”
The colors available are maroon, white and gray,
Jackson said.
Jackson said the two or three designs with the most
votes will be presented to focus groups that will make a
final decision.
The fate of the older buses will be determined by a ref
erendum later, Jackson said.
Families
of wreck
victims
sue IKE
By Rolando Garcia
The Battalion
Families of five of the six students
killed in a car accident Oct. 11,1999,
outside the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE)
fraternity house have filed a lawsuit
against the fraternity and Brandon
Kallmeyer, the A&M student who
was driving the vehicle involved in
-the accident.
Kallmeyer, a sophomore animal sci
ence major, was driving on FM 60
when he fell asleep at the wheel and
veered off the road, hitting eight stu
dents who parked on the shoulder and
were preparing to cross the road to at
tend a party at the TKE house.
The victims of the accident were
Ted Bruton, a 21 -year-old A&M stu
dent; Baylor students Tricia Calp, Emi
ly Hollister, Erika Lanham and Dolan
Waste!; and Southwest Texas State
University student William Flores.
Trial is set to begin Jan. 15,2001, in
a Harris County district court.
According to the petition filed by
the families’ attorneys, Kallmeyer
was guilty of negligence because he
drove while he was physically inca
pacitated and he failed to keep his ve
hicle on the road.
Kallmeyer volunteered for and
passed a blood alcohol test after the ac
cident. No criminal charges were filed
against him.
But the plaintiffs’ petition saves the
bulk of its negligence accusations for
the TKE defendants, including the lo
cal fraternity chapter, the national TKE
organization and the fraternity corpo
ration that owns the fraternity house.
TKE failed to provide safe and ad
equate parking for its parties, the law
suit says, forcing many party-goers to
park on the shoulders of both sides of
FM 60. Because the limited grassy area
bordering the highway shoulder is next
to a steeply sloped drainage ditch,
guests had to walk along and cross the
unlighted highway at night on the way
to the TKE Party Barn.
The lawsuit also says TKE had been
warned by the police of the dangerous
situation created by unsafe parking
along the highway, but neglected to
limit the number of guests invited or
provide additional parking.
In a legal brief filed in court by San
Antonio lawyer Jerry Gibson, TKE’s
attorney, the fraternity denies the
families’ allegations and said the ac
cident was caused by conditions be
yond its control.
Also, Gibson filed a motion re
questing the judge sanction the plain
tiffs’ attorneys for placing an adver
tisement in an Oct. 23 issue of The
Battalion. He said the advertisement
See TKE on Page 2.
Florida lawmakers ready to
appoint presidential electors
1 (AP)—A1 Gore’s lawyers battled for
Ws political survival in the Florida and
l.S. supreme courts Thursday, pleading
against delaying fresh vote recounts
iven one day” as a half-million ballots
sped by rental truck to Tallahassee. GOP
lawmakers jockeyed in the state capital
to award the presidency to George W.
Bush in case the judges would not.
1 “When the counting stops, we want
to be prepared to lead this nation,” Bush
Said in Texas between transition meet-
igs with retired Gen. Colin Powell —
ffle star of his Cabinet-in-the-making.
■fficials said the meeting cemented
Powell’s position as secretary of state in
a presumptive Bush administration.
I In Florida, the GOP-dominated state
'legislature drew a step closer to appoint
ing its own slate of presidential electors
as a committee urged leaders to call a spe-
|ial session. Democrats called that “a
■azen power play,” while they worked
elsewhere to keep Gore in the game.
|. Bush, whose brother is governor of
Florida, raised no objection to the Leg
islature’s actions, and his lawyers de
fended the lawmakers’ right to name a
GOP slate. “It’s time to get some finali
ty,” Bush said in an appearance with
Powell at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.
Hundreds of miles away in Florida,
Lt. Jim Kersey’s squad car headed up
the ballot brigade as it passed a hand
made sign reading “No chad zone.”
Also Disney World.
“Oh, my God,” he said. “The whole
world is watching.”
And what sights to see: Lawmakers
cussed and fumed in a legislative com
mittee room; the two could-be presi
dents plotted their transitions to power;
legal briefs ricocheted between the na
tion’s courts; and the banana-yellow
rental truck — swarmed by police and
media vehicles on Ronald Reagan Turn
pike — carried contested ballots to Cir
cuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls’ court.
See Election on Page 2.
Jeff Kempf approved as
Battalion editor in chief
By Marium Mohiuddin
The Battalion
The country may not have a new com-
; .,v 7 / mander in chief, but The Battalion has a new
llliltlfefc- editor in chief for Spring 2001.
Jeff Kempf was approved as editor in
chief Thursday by Ronald Douglas, provost
and vice president of academic affairs.
The Student Media Board is a 10-mem-
ber panel that nominates candidates for the
position and sets standards relating to Stu
dent Media — The Battalion and The Ag-
gieland. On Nov. 21, the board met to inter
view candidates, and it nominated Kempf, a
senior management major, for the position.
“He has been managing editor for the
summer and fall and obtained a lot of valu
able experience,” said Dr. Barbara Gastel,
chairwoman of the Student Media Advisory
Board, interim head of the department of
journalism and associate professor of jour-
stuart villanueva/the battalion nalism of medical humanities. “He enters
Jeff Kempf, a senior management major and with a good deal of knowledge about the po-
current managing editor for The Battalion, will sition. The role is a very responsible role on
be the editor in chief for Spring 2001. campus. He has the background.”
Ron George, adviser for The Battalion
and a lecturer for the journalism department,
said he has worked with Kempf for many se
mesters and that Kempf has demonstrated his
capabilities for the position.
“Jeff is a capable and experienced young
man,” he said. “He will continue to improvfe
the quality and will be good for morale. He is
an approachable person and has a good nose
for the news.”
The award-winning Battalion is a million-
dollar business with a circulation of 22,000.
Kempf said this fall, the newspaper made
some great progress in coverage and design,
and he said he hopes to continue this progress
in the spring.
“We are going in a good direction and we are
covering our bases, and we need to continue in
that direction,” he said. “I would like to see more
coverage about the surrounding community.
There are many students [who] live off campus.
This is their community, their neighborhood and
their streets. Students are our main focus. We
are here to inform readers about every aspect.”
See Editor on Page 2.