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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2001)
THURSDAY March 1, 2001 Volume 107 -Issue 105 Section A -8 pages Section B - 8 pages lion News Radio: 1:57 p.m. KAMU 90.9 www.lhebatt.com uide Southerland rejects dry-campus Sommer Bunce 'emattalion Texas A&M Vice President for Hnt Affairs Dr. J. Malon Souther- id|ejected a proposal to make the mpns alcohol free this fall. In. i decision released Wednesday, aitherland said the alcohol policy residence halls will be changed affect students of legal drinking e next year. ~ Alcohol will be allowed in rooms nly if both residents are of legal e, j Southerland wrote in a memo drlssed to Ron Sasse, director of jsidcnce Life. According to rules already in ace. students who are 21 may keep Alcohol to be prohibited from rooms where minors reside alcohol in a room if they do not con sume it in the hallways or with their doors open and if they do not allow access to alcohol to minors. In response to this aspect of the decision, Sasse said that any room with a student younger than 21 will not be allowed to have alcohol. Res idence Life will attempt to assign people of the same age in rooms to gether, Sasse said, though more dis cussion within the department is nec essary before changes to current assigning take place. Residence hall advisers and hall staff will ■ follow normal room- change procedures to accommodate « I'm satisfied with this ruling.” —SMatt Fuller Residence Life Staff Council students who wish to have a room mate of legal age, Sasse said. So-called “squatter’s rights” will still exist for residents assigned to a room, Sasse said. In an email ad dressed to Residence Hall Associa tion executives, Sasse wrote that no underage student currently assigned to a room with a student of legal drinking age will be required to move to oblige the older student. “In other words, an of-age stu dent could not tell his roommate that they had to leave because he wanted someone who was of age so they could have alcohol in their room,” Sasse said. Last summer, Southerland ap pointed a subcommittee on alcohol to find ways to combat alcohol abuse on campus. The subcommit tee gave six recommendations, in cluding making the campus resi dence halls alcohol free. Before making a final decision on the dry-campus issue, Souther land asked for input from Resi dence Life and thq Residence Hall Association (RHA). In January, RHA delegates voted unanimously against the dry campus proposal. , “Fm satisfied with this ruling,” said Matt Fuller, a Hart Hall resident adviser and member of the Residence Life Staff Council. “It’s a good rul ing for students and administration both because it addresses a problem that we do have on campus but it doesn’t hurt a student’s legal rights.” Most of the subcommittee’s oth er recommendations have been im plemented, including the recom mendation that substance-free housing be made available by the Fall 2001 semester. Southerland’s decision requires more substance-free housing op tions to become available to meet student demand. See Decision on Page 7A. borm contract renewal begins 1 iference _ on campus need to renew or cancel contract RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion VB rady Creel heBattalion Residence Life contract renewal Jgins today for pn-campus residents ho wish to live in residence halls ?aiu next year. • Cherney Rydl, associate director of esidence Life, said all students cur- :ntly living on campus need to inform J esidence Life of their decision, re- ardless of whether they wish to renew r cancel their contracts. Rydl said cancellations and deposit iflnd checks will be processed for udents who choose not to renew their antract. Renewed contracts can be arfceled before April 1 with no penal- ', she said. • ■here will be some changes to next ear’s on-campus configuration. ■Kydl said Keathley and Hughes halls 'ill be closed starting January 2002 in le third phase of the renovation plan for balcony-style halls. Schuhmacher was renovated in Spring 2000, and Mclnnis is currently undergoing renovation. Residence Life will also claim a big ger stake on the Quadrangle next year. The upper three floors of Kiest Hall, which are currently occupied by -the Corps of Cadets, will become a non cadet female Residence Life hall. The first floor will remain in place for the Corps staff. Rydl said the decision-to utilize more of the Corps housing was made after a study of A&M students and Corps re cruitment and retention was done. The first floors of Aston and Krueger halls will become substance free next year. Sue Foster, associate director of Res idence Life, said the new substance-free floors will not include a grandfather clause for current residents. “If they want to stay there, they would have to stay in the (substance- free) program,” Foster said. The decision to use the two Commons halls was made for multiple reasons. Fos ter said Residence Life wanted to offer the substance-free program to students with physical disabilities and meet the demand of incoming students. Currently, all substance-free floors are on the third or fourth floors of the buildings. “It is not surprising that a lot of in coming freshmen are interested in liv ing in the Commons,” Foster said. “That’s really what guided our choice.” Foster said the inaugural year of the substance-free program has been suc cessful, and Residence Life expanded the capacity of the program because it is See Renewal on Page2A. Three cars collide on University Clearing scene of accident delays traffic By Brady Creel The Battalion Four people walked away unharmed from a Wednesday afternoon vehicle ac cident in which two vehicles struck a car leaving campus when it failed to yield right-of-way. Vernon Autry of Brenham and Dawn Smith of Caldwell were traveling west bound on University Drive about 5:30 p.m. Autry’s Chevrolet S-10 pickup was in the left lane and Smith’s Ford Explor er was in the center lane. Christopher Lee gineering major, Terry, a sophomore chemical en- struck two vehicles on University BERNARDO GARZA & ANDY HANCOCK/The Drive with his car Wednesday. No one was injured in the accident. Danny Junek, a patrolman for the College Station Police Department (CSPD) said the driver of the Civic was Christopher Lee Terry, a sophomore environmental design major. The pas senger in the car was Jessica Marie Taylor, a sophomore chemical engi neering major. Autry said he and Smith were about side by side when they struck the Civic, which was turning left onto University Drive from Houston Street. Autry and Smith broadsided the Civic, and the momentum car ried them across the street, and over the curb next to the Loupot’s Bookstore building. Smith said her airbags de ployed and she was wearing her seatbelt. Junek said ambulances re sponded to the call, but no one needed to be taken to the hospital. “It was basically a minor ac cident, but just looked big be cause of where it was at, and it was 5 o’clock traffic,” he said. The manager of the book store said none of the employ ees saw anything, but they heard some noise from up stairs. Junek said Loupot’s sus tained minor damages. “One of the vehicles struck the south wall and cracked some bricks and bent a win dow frame,” he said. Junek said westbound traf fic on University Drive was de layed while the scene was cleared. Normal traffic re sumed shortly after 6 p.m. A ggiestry lo reduce ower bills By Rob Phillips Jbe Battalion J Because of a surprisingly cold prwmter in Bryan-College Station, ■udents have seen their wallets ^ grow thinner while paying for in- 1 | ££31 creased electricity costs in recent Months. The power cost adjustment, a fig- e used in determining utility bills, is nearly doubled from .008 to 1)14. This, in addition to the in- creased use of heat during the win- m ter months, has resulted in unusual- / j ly high bills, a major concern for the average college student. 1 I Cathy Starks, customer service ^Supervisor for College Station Util- N lilies, said many students have asked S ip 0111 the rising costs but she thinks tire power cost adjustment will drop ■ext month. ■ “At this point, the temperatures are leveling off, and it seems to be going back down,” Starks said. ■ Many students returned from TMLpyinter break to find their electric |■)ills more expensive, partly because K lyBhe heaters had to remain on. Starks Mrjaid. See Elect ricity on Page 7A. Women’s successes important to University By Risha Bryan The Battalion Texas A&M will celebrate Women’s History Month, a national celebration honoring women’s achievements, with full extravagance this month. Following the theme, “A Celebration Success,” Women’s Spirit Month ’01 sponsors of events throughout March highlighting the achievements, issues, motivations and interests that define women’s lives. The celebration begins today, with the annual luncheon and awards ceremony featuring Liz Carpenter, a journalist, author and formqr press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson, wife of former president LBJ, Dubbed “a political artifact, an aging feminist and author and lec turer,” Carpenter covered the Roo sevelt administration as a reporter and the Johnson administration as press secretary and staff director. Carpenter was chosen by former President Gerald Ford to serve on the International Women’s Year Commission in 1976 and 1980. President Clinton honored Carpen ter’s writing talent by appointing a Women's Spirit Month is especially significant for Texas A&M because women have not always been here.” — Lara Zuehlke publicity co-chairwoman her to the advisory committee of the White House Conference of Aging. Carpenter recently pub lished her fourth book. Start With a Laugh: An Insider’s Guide to Roasts, Toasts, Elgies and Other Speeches. Other highlights of Women’s Spirit Month include: “The Ages of Women’s Health,” a program fea turing Yvonne Green, associate di rector of women’s health at the Cen ters for Disease Control and Prevention; a series of brown-bag luncheons; lectures on women in history, entertainment and public service; and other performances. “Women’s Spirit Month is a good opportunity for all people in the Bra zos Valley to recognize the activities and successes throughout the com munity’s history,” said Lara Zuehlke, publicity co-chairwoman for Women’s Spirit Month and commu nications specialist for the Lowry Mays College of Business. “Women’s Spirit Month is especial ly significant for Texas A&M be cause women have not always been here. We want to recognize the ac tivities women have brought to the See Women on Page 7A. A8dVfs reputation in military remains strong By Mariano Castillo The Battalion The most famous saying of Aggie lore may be the quote credited to Gen. George Patton: “Give me an army of West Point grads, and I’ll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I’ll win a war.” Texas A&M’s history is linked closely to the military. A&M began as a full-time mili tary academy and continues to commission more officers than any other school with the exception of the military academies. As the University changes, so have the type of military training on campus and the armed forces. Even though the military is not the same as in Patton’s day, former and current A&M stu dents in the military sector say that the Uni versity maintains a strong reputation in the armed forces. Col. Jake Betty, Class of’73, will complete 28 years of service in the U.S. Army in May. As adviser for the First Brigade of the Corps of Cadets, he has seen many A&M graduates enter the armed forces during his career. After graduating, Betty immediately went to Fort Benning, Ga. Fort Benning was com posed of students from all over the nation par ticipating in infantry training. His training at Fort Benning gave him an opportunity to observe people from other training backgrounds, Betty said. “Our people were more prepared to go into the military than others from ROTC programs , he said. Betty said he remembered being more ready than students from other military insti tutions, such as the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel. Historically, comments from A&M re garding the military have been positive. There are also instances when people’s actions work ing with Aggies have made strong statements about A&M’s military reputation. During his active Army career, Betty was chosen from a company in the 101 st Airborne Division to solve some problems because his superiors trusted Aggies. “There was already one Aggie in the com pany,” he said. “I was specifically assigned there because I was an Aggie. They didn’t beat around that issue.” An A&M degree is valuable in the Army, Betty said. “[The position received] was not so much because of me, but the reputation of A&M,” he said. Many cadets question the value of Corps See Military on Page 2A. This is the final story in a three-part series about the value of a Texas A&M degree. Part I focused on the international presence of A&m graduates and Part II focused on the Aggie Network. The focus of today is military reputation.