NATION
THE BATTALION
LIMON • THE BATTALION
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p@RT§; Aggies close weekend with win over UH • Page 3
Overcoming AIDS • Page 11
Volume 109 • Issue 97 • 12 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Monday, February 17, 2003
Two senators reject deregulation
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
The Student Senate will consider a resolution
Wednesday rebuking Student Body President Zac
Coventry for lobbying state legislators in support of
luition deregulation and demanding he solicit stu
dent opinion on the issue.
“For Coventry to go to Austin and voice support
fortuition deregulation without getting student input
was reckless,” said Jeff Graham, a student senator
and sophomore management major.
The resolution, introduced by Graham and stu
dent senator Kerri Ward, seeks to hold Coventry
accountable and to put the issue of tuition deregula
tion on the senate’s agenda.
Coventry, however, denies speaking in sup
port of deregulation and said student government
would study the issue more before taking a posi
tion. During a Feb. 11 trip to the state capital
sponsored by the Association of Former
Students, Coventry and other student leaders
were supportive of deregulation, which would
remove tuition caps currently in place and allow
the Board of Regents to raise tuition without
approval from the legislature.
“We were just talking about different options,”
Coventry said. “If the state cuts the University’s budg
et. (raising tuition) is one way to make that up.”
He also cautioned against following the lead of
the University of Texas Student Government, which
recently passed a resolution expressing fervent
opposition to tuition deregulation.
“UT may have done it a little too quickly. If you
just throw a fit and say ‘no,’ you lose credibility,” he
said.
Friday, Student Senate Speaker Brooks
Landgraf requested senators gather student opin
ion on tuition deregulation for Wednesday’s meet
ing. Landgraf, a senior political science major,
said the request was not prompted by Graham’s
resolution. Although no resolutions in support of
or opposition to deregulation are currently pend
ing, Landgraf said he wanted the senate to be
COVENTRY
u
If the state cuts the
University's budget,
(raising tuition) is one
way to make that up. ”
ready to discuss the issue when a deregulation bill
comes before the state legislature.
Graham said the steep tuition hikes resulting
from deregulation would jeapordize accessibility to
a quality education for many Texans and urged stu
dent leaders to oppose deregulation.
“At a public university, it should be the responsi
bility of elected representatives, who are accountable
to the voters, to set tuition rates and not unelected
regents,” Graham said.
Want milk?
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Senior agriculture development major Chad Martindale tends a Station. The cattle are part of an Embryo Transfer Research project
group of research cattle after laying down hay for them to eat on at A&M. The Dairy Center is also home to a large number of cattle
Sunday at the Texas A&M Dairy Center off of F&B Road in College that are milked twice a day.
A&M reacts
as the world
protests war
By Michael Neu
THE BATTALION
A flood of antiwar rallies has decorated the
streets of Washington, D.C., New York, and most
of Europe during the last few days amid fears of
impending U.S. retaliatory efforts. In Geneva,
around 2,500 people protested on Sunday against
potential military reprisals, according to CNN.
The protesters marched peacefully from the cen
ter of the city to the European headquarters of the
United Nations, carrying banners proclaiming, “No
war,” and “Stop global ten or, fight for justice.”
Although many students on the A&M campus
demonstrated similar anti-war feelings at a peace
rally Feb. 3, others have remained in support of
the position held by President George W. Bush’s
administration.
“I don’t like the idea of goinc to war, but I feel
that the Bush administration should be trusted in
making the right decisions,” said Alexandria
Arbizu, a senior marketing major. “We’ve elected
them as our representatives, and we need to stand
behind them on these issues.”
In addition, several A&M students who had
spent the summer traveling abroad shared their
opinions on the bitter but evolving European sen
timent on U.S. policies.
“Spending most of my summer in Europe, I
witnessed a lot of disdain toward Americans and
U.S. foreign policy,” said Matt Josefy, a junior
accounting major.” The lack of acceptance 1 some
times felt as an American student led me to be
more open in listening to the views and concerns
See War on page 5
New top 40 radio station
Source: BEN DOWNS TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
By Molly Cain
THE BATTALION
A local radio station will go off
the air at the end of the month to
make way for a new hit music station
aimed to play music’s top 40 hits.
KNDE 95.1, or Candy 95, will
replace Clear Channel
Communication’s KTSR 92.1,
which plays hard rock and alterna
tive music. KTSR will officially go
off the air Feb. 27.
Clear Channel CEO and Texas
A&M University System Board of
Regents member L. Lowry Mays
testified Lit a congressional meeting
in January that Clear Channel is not
a monopoly.
The new station’s history goes
hits B-CS
back 14 years, Downs said. It took
the Federal Communications
Commission that long to decide
whether Bryan Broadcasting or
someone else should have the rights
to the frequency.
He said once the FCC made its
decision place a radio station in
College Station instead of its com
petition city, which was in Caldwell,
KNDC received the go-ahead for its
plans for the new station.
Candy 95, which will officially
launch March 3, will play only
current radio hits. The new station
was tested Friday afternoon to aid
in a smooth transition. The first
two songs played on the channel
were “Amazing Grace” and the
See Radio on page 2
A&M and Clark Atlanta seek alliance
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
The administrators of Texas A&M
and Clark Atlanta University, a predom
inately black university in Atlanta, Ga.,
are contemplating an alliance that would
construct an educational pipeline
between the two institutions.
In January, Dr. Walter D. Broadnax,
the president of Clark Atlanta, visited
A&M and publicly invited A&M
President Robert M. Gates to form a part
nership between the two universities.
A&M students would go to Clark
Atlanta to study liberal arts, and Clark
Atlanta students would reciprocate by
sending students to A&M to study cut dif
ferent fields of engineering.
Brooks Landgraf, a senior political
science major and speaker of the Student
Senate said Clark Atlanta’s department of
liberal arts is highly accredited.
A measure approved by the A&M
Student Senate said the benefits A&M
would reap through the association with
Clark Atlanta University include a more
appealing curriculum to a wider spectrum
of students, a more receptive learning
environment and the ability to share and
exchange priceless experiences with
another university.
Gates said he supports the student ini
tiative, though he is only aware of the
proposed endorsement in general terms.
Landgraf said the alliance would cause
no financial burden for A&M, and that
both universities would possibly gain
greater recognition in their counterparts’
geographic region.
Clark Atlanta students would come to
A&M for the same reason current stu
dents do: to receive an education at the
highly-ranked Dwight Look College of
Engineering, Landgraf said.
Levi Winn, student senator and a
freshman general studies major, supports
the educational alliance.
“This resolution will open the door for
increased knowledge and understanding
of unique perspectives,” Winn said.
The Student Senate unanimously
approved the proposed alliance.
Landgraf said the Student Senate feels
See Clark on page 2
Gas prices experience
record highs in Texas
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Gasoline prices experienced a
record one-week increase last
week and will continue to rise as
crude oil inventories are at the
lowest point since 1975, according
to the federal Energy Information
Administration.
The price of fuel rose more
than 8 cents last week to a
statewide average of $1.56 per
gallon, almost a 50 percent
increase since the statewide price
of $ 1.04 during February 2002.
Texas prices are 4 cents less
than the national average of $1.60
and 19 cents less than the
California average of $1.75, the
highest statewide average.
Texas is categorized as part of
the EIA Gulf Coast region, which
experienced the largest increase
out of the five regions. The lowest
regional increase was in the West
Coast region.
Local prices posted on
gaspricewatch.com range from
$1.49 per gallon for regular to
$1.59 at gas stations in Bryan-
See Gas on page 5
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
The weekend highs in College Station were similar to this Exxon