Sports: Aggie face challenging Big 12 schedule • Page 4 Opinion: Stripping pedophiles of civil rights • Page 7
THE BATTALION
[Volume 109 • Issue 74 • 8 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
conomic turmoil curtails A&M funding
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
With a $10 billion state budget shortfall loom-
ng, additional funding for Texas A&M is out of
he question, a leading state legislator said, and
he University will be lucky to escape budget cuts.
“There won’t be an increase. I'll tell you that,”
Itate Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said last week
pm his office at the state capitol in Austin.
The Texas legislature, which convenes today,
|iust grapple with a huge budget deficit and a
olitical environment that makes large tax increas-
[s unlikely meaning state agencies, including
bublic colleges and universities, may have to make
|o with less.
A&M got almost $290 million from the state for
he 2002 fiscal year, covering more than one-third
bfthe University’s $808 million annual budget.
The tight budget situation has not made A&M
officials bashful. They are asking for a more than
10 percent increase from last year’s appropriation.
According to requests filed this year, the
University is asking for $321 million from the
state, much of it to keep up with the growth in
enrollment, said Michael O'Quinn, A&M’s vice
president for governmental affairs. O’Quinn said
A&M will make its case to the legislature and
hope for the best.
”It doesn't look good right now, but we believe in
our cause. Higher education is important to Texas,
and the legislature understands that,” he said.
A&M officials are also asking legislators to
change the way public universities are funded.
Currently, system, most funding is distributed by a
complex set of formulas that takes into account
factors such as how many credit hours a universi
ty offers.
However, additional funds are available only to
selected schools, partially to offset the Permanent
University Fund. The fund’s primary beneficiaries
are A&M and the University of Texas.
Distributing all funds through the formulas would
be a more equitable system, O'Quinn said, and
would compensate the schools with the highest
enrollment growth.
University of Texas System Chancellor Mark
Yudof is urging legislators to deregulate tuition
rates, which would remove caps on tuition and
allow the board of regents to raise tuition without
legislative approval. Also, as part of the proposal,
UT would waive tuition for students from low-
income families. This measure would create a sys
tem similar to private institutions that aid poor stu
dents and charge full tuition for all others.
“UT just wants to be a private university,”
Ogden said.
O'Quinn said tuition deregulation is not currently
a top priority for A&M, but the University may lobby
for it as a funding alternative if the legislature cannot
adequately provide for A&M's needs.
$10 billion state deficit announcec
No additional funding for A&M;
likely budget cuts
Jin 2002:]
j A&M received approximately $290 million
from legislature, covering one-third
of total budget
In 2003:
Take a number
m
irTeljJJ
Event Date
Jan. 28
Feb. I
Feb. 18
Feb. 22
Feb. 23 ,
Feb. 22-23
Long lines filled the Pavillion Monday as Will Johnson, junior political science hours to pay their tuiton bills. Students will
major and Erika Bhateley, a freshman biology major, waited for two and a half Wednesday if tuition fees are left unpaid.
JP BEATO IH • THE BATTALION
be dropped from classes
March
March!
: A&M is asking for $321 million
Final revenue projections still to come
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
However, Ogden said he opposes deregulating
tuition, except for summer terms. If tuition caps
were removed and schools raised their tuition, the
legislature would likely cut funding by an amount
equal to the increased tuition revenue.
See Funding on page 2
$9.9 billion
budget hole
unexpected
By Connie Mabin
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rising Medicaid costs and a slowing economy
have helped create a $9.9 billion budget hole, twice
as large as expected, state Comptroller Carole
Keeton Strayhom said Monday.
When lawmakers gather for the start of the
140-day legislative session Tuesday, they will find
a $1.8 billion deficit in the current $114 billion,
two-year budget that ends Aug. 31. The state con
stitution prohibits deficit -spending, so they must
balance that budget before crafting another.
The shortfall is mostly due to higher-than-
expected enrollment in Medicaid, and other health
and human services, Strayhorn said.
Just to maintain existing services, lawmakers
will need to find an estimated $8.1 billion more
than Strayhorn says the state will have.
That makes the combined $9.9 billion shortfall
a Texas-sized headache.
The amount is enough to run the $4.8 billion
state prison system — twice. It’s 14 times larger
than the $706 million spent to run the 50,000-stu
dent University of Texas at Austin this budget cycle.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry has already warned
that nothing is safe from cuts. “In tough economic
times the focus must be on government spending
less, not on taxpayers paying more,” he said.
For the past two years, Strayhorn has said the
See Budget on page 2
March 8-131
March 9-14
March 12-16
OPERATION
International students face U.S. visa complications
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M student Daniel Ayewa’s
sister has given up hope of attending
college in the United States.
Sarah Ayewa was denied a visa in
the summer of 2001 even after her
|cceptance to Baylor University in
^aco, and denied again a year later.
Daniel, a junior aerospace engineer
ing major and Nigerian student, is pres
ident of the Texas A&M African
Students’ Association.
Intense screening of international
students seeking visas and the detailed
requirements that must be met after
their arrival have made it increasingly
difficult for these students to study in
the United States.
The Immigration and Naturalization
Services (INS) announced, on Dec. 11,
2002, the most recent in a long series of
changes in the requirements for student
visas.
For Sarah, having two brothers
already in college in the United States,
scoring well on her TOEFL and SAT
tests, and paying in advance for her first
year of college were not good enough
criteria to allow her to get a visa to the
United States.
“The embassy never gave a really
concrete reason for the visa denial.
There just doesn’t seem to be a solid
reason why she was denied,” Daniel
said.
He said the United States is likely
trying to control the number of people
that enter the country.
The INS changes are aimed toward
stricter monitoring of the activities of .
international students, said Suzanne
Drolesky, director of International
Programs for Students. Universities
must provide all information con
cerning international students’ course
schedules, grades and other personal
information. Some of the most recent
changes require that international stu
dents take at least 12 hours every
semester and officially inform the
INS within 10 days of changing
addresses.
Daniel said the new regulations
See Visas on page 2
> find out about
link on the web[
ome pages
ellborn road sees future lane closures
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
>ur aroup lessons
hunker ploy ; Since construction started on
"application and Wellborn Road in August 2001,
• ' place January Motorists have dealt with con-
o 24 playe rs011 tinuously changing lane clo-
inners and inter- lures as construction workers
completed different phases of
lie project. All four lanes of
Ipellborn Road are now fully
Operational, but there are a few
more short-term closures
expected in the future, said
Doug Williams, associate direc-
Cosl tor of Transportation Services.
ormation, pl ea5e
side of the A&M
yisit us online o'
B0
;l $225/$24
il $25/$35
$25/$35
>4 $1 lO/Wj
Lanes will be shut down on
Wellborn Road again within a
few months. The lane closure
will allow for gutter work and
7 $25/$36> curb placement on the east por-
$50/$75 tion of Wellborn.
$25/$36> || Williams also said the parking
$50 | ireas near the Student Recreation
FREE I fcenter may be disrupted tem
porarily in mid-February when
the contractor, Vaughn
Construction, removes tower
cranes from the construction site.
The completed construction
will add the largest parking
garage on campus in the area
formerly known as commuter
parking area 56 that lies north of
the Rec Center.
Williams said the construc
tion is on schedule and should
be complete in August 2003.
Despite additional expenses that
will add handicapped parking
near Kyle Field, he said the
work is on budget.
The passageway will run
from Main Campus near the
north end of Kyle Field under
Wellborn Road and from the
railroad tracks to West Campus
by the soon-to-be finished
garage site. The passageway
opens to a plaza on either side of
Wellborn Road.
This initiative to unite East
and West Campus complies with
the goals of Vision 2020 as listed
on the Texas A&M Web site to
“develop pedestrian, bike and
vehicular pathways for the safe
movement of people” and “break
down the distinction between
See Road on page 2
Cadets reveal doubts,
readiness in wartime
Architects original renderings pf the planned walkway and parking garage
Courtesy of Transportation Services
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
Senior Corps Commander
Spence Pennington said he is
going to fight in the Middle
East on behalf of all the worried
friends and family of those who
serve in the military.
“I am more than willing to
risk my life to protect the
American way of life for my
family and friends,” he said.
Other cadets agree with him.
Senior accounting major Nick
Sikes said he was excited about
the possibility of being deployed
after graduation in August.
“I am anxious for the chance
to repay America for the bless
ings of a good life that America
has given me,” he said.
But along with these heroic
attitudes, many cadets admit
they are afraid to go to war.
Corps member Kyle Lippold
said his biggest fear is death.
“Everyone is afraid of dying.
I don’t think anyone in their
right mind can say that going to
war doesn’t scare him,” he said.
Lippold, a senior sociology
major, said he will miss his
family, friends, and “the little
things like going to the movies
or out to eat.”
The idea of the Lippolds’ son
going to fight overseas echoes
of the conflict from his parents’
generation: Vietnam.
See Cadets on page 2