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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1996)
larch 29,1996 ebut : Fargo's dark comedy may leave mainstream moviegoers behind. /\ X-J 1 fc L i k fc ^ xj t / Check out The Battalion's top stories for April 1. Qff PACTF 1 ^KW< Kxxk W ^ Soveo SLA VGHTERED The men's track team whips Texas in a dual meet SPORTS, PACT 9 he Battalion Vol. 102, No. 120 (10 pages) Serving Texas AdrM University Since 1893 Monday • April 1, 1996 House, The Battalion n a recent game we put a lot of r people and rely nsistent when it said. “In order to im the rest of us and handle some ;hat we often put idall, our starting :stop.” ’TRADER & COLLECTttm. Glassware >* Pottirj rls >•■ Military Gifts » Tools >* China dr Collectibles bilia >*■ Lamps lull. i.m. - 5 p.m. Sundays by chaws ryan (^09) 775-29a $y Frl-Sun 1:10 3:15 520 Fri-Sun 1:05 7:20 Fri-Sun 3:45 9:40 Fri-Sun 1:25 4:00 7:15 9« Fri-Sun 1 10 3:155207:259jl Fri-Sun E 1:05 3:05 5:157:30!$ in Dolby Stereo CE OPENS AT jrs 12:30 Fri-Sun RTIFICATES \LE NOW! iwings Available of Fifty or More By Heather Pace The Battalion More than 5,000 Texas A&M students turned out Saturday for the 14th annual Big Event, showing their gratitude to the Bryan-College Station community. Volunteers spent the day landscaping, building porches and handicap ramps, and helping children at South Knoll Ele mentary with a carnival. Lisa Hill, a freshman journalism ma jor, said the Big Event involved people in her residence hall who do not often asso ciate with each other. “It was a fun experience that brought together people from my dorm to give back to the community,” Hill said. “We built a brick patio from scratch, which is something we thought we couldn’t do,” Despite accomplishing tasks for com munity members, many volunteers were surprised to find themselves helping peo ple who they did not think were in great need. Pam Wollgast, a freshman business major, said she would have rather helped people that really needed assis tance. “I expected to help needy people,” Wollgast said, “but the people we helped were capable of helping themselves.” Wollgast’s organization spent the morning picking up rocks from a pasture and doing yardwork at a house with three new cars in the driveway. Heather Hewett, Big Event committee member and sophomore biomedical sci ence major, said, however, that the pur pose of Big Event is not only to help those in need, but to contribute to the community as a whole. “Sometimes there are people who need the help more than others, but it is im portant to remember that it is going back to all of the Bryan-College Station community,” Hewett said. “It doesn’t re ally matter who you are helping, as long as you are helping someone.” Some students said that though turn ing away people who request help would be difficult, the event would be more beneficial if stricter projects guidelines were established. "It was a fun experience that brought together people from my dorm to give back to the community." — LISA HILL freshman journalism major Allison Moran, a junior geography major, said a screening process would strengthen the process of matching A&M organizations with aid recipients. She said that her organization, the Texas Environmental Action Coalition, usu ally spends the Big Event at Twin City Mis sion, a Bryan-College Station shelter. When the Big Event’s computer sys tem failed to match TEAC with Twin City Mission, she spoke with a Big Event committee member. “She told me that Big Event was not See Community, Page 6 Sororities test handicap accessibility of campus facilities as part of Big Event By Lisa Johnson The Battalion Saturday, as part of Texas A&M’s Big Event, 11 members of Delta Deh Delta and Sigma Epsilon soror ities spent the morning in wheel chairs, rolling in and out of building entrances and bathrooms. The project, the brainchild of James Jones, a sophomore electrical engineering major, was an effort to begin collecting up-to-date informa tion about the handicap accessibility of campus building entrances, re strooms and elevators. Jones said he originally planned to collect the information this summer in order to revise A&M’s Physical Ac cessibility Guide, which ranks the handicap accessibility of campus buildings and parking areas. “In the past, the guide’s evalua tions for each building were done by the proctor of that building, so there were 15 different terms used to eval uate the accessibility of bathrooms,” Jones said. “Evaluations of the same conditions really varied tremendous ly. What I really wanted to do was to evaluate the information using a sin gle set of standards. When Jones found out that the summer was too late to collect infor mation for inclusion in the Fall 1996 guidebook, he thought of the Big Event. He decided to use student vol unteers to launch the project. “I explained to them what they should look for: the location and ac cessibility of doors, braille in the ele vators, etc.,” he said. “We didn’t get all of the information because on the weekends, some of the buildings Eire locked, but I think we got off to a great start.” Volunteers got first-hand knowl edge of what it’s like to use handicap- accessible features, going through doors and into bathroom stalls in wheelchairs that Jones provided. “I wanted the students to see what it’s like to have to use the facili ties on campus,” he said. “Because a See Access, Page 6 Dave House, The Battalion Will, a fourth grade stu dent, tries his hand at calf roping while Mary Kate Farmer, a ju nior wildlife and fisheries sciences ma jor, watches at the Big Event Carni val at South Knoll Ele mentary School. Students help out with carnival for Big Event By Tauma Wiggins The Battalion Saturday morning began a bit earli er than usual for many Texas A&M students who awoke to tackle their Big Event assignments. The student volunteers spread throughout the Bryan-College Station community in teams, working all day on a variety of tasks. Depending on the amount of work to be done, some Big Event teams were as small as 10 or as large as 200, which was the number of students needed to help out with South Knoll Elementary School’s annual carnival. The elementary school, which puts on a carnival every year to raise money for school supplies, usually utilizes parent volunteers. But this year, with the help of Big Event volunteers, more parents were able to enjoy the carnival with their children. Becky Eden, a math teacher at South Knoll and carnival coordinator, said A&M students always volunteer for the carnival, but this year was the first time the Big Event got involved. “This is our first time with Big Event, and it’s been wonderful,” Eden said. “The Aggies were here right at 10, See Carnival, Page 6 Dave House, The Battalion Fish Camp 1996 counselors from Camp Stansell wash wheelchairs as their part of Big Event. COLLEGE STATION ass @ Hwy 30 764-7$ in. Schedule HEAVEN (G) iNY (G) 9:20 10:05 PG-13) 10:00 ND II (G) U-Act conference brings out diversity among students & ^ By Heather Pace 31 The Battalion Many Texas A&M students d^JIand faculty members have been idvocating campus unity for ^ fears; participants in •rfj| tis weekend’s U-Act inference took cyj steps to achieve OPUS (PG) 15 GAS <R) G-13) (PG-13) ) 10:20 UNG (FI) ,n 10:30r M (R) 0 9:45 this goal. RSONAKPG13) G7| Ab()ut 16 People from VS oil areas of fj : ampus at- ^ tended the (0 te?o-day U-Act ‘ftreat, which (^Promoted -0 freater under- ^ standing among di- f erse organizations y SQd cultures. 0 Groups represented included, saiong others, the Asian-Ameri- ten Student Association, the ^ ^tional Organization for SIBIUTYTO ^ Hab . t | t ^ Humanity Dpens ted several sororities. Rajani Nair, a senior civil en- teering major, said the wide tenge of perspectives added to the retreat’s effect. Nair said this retreat, her fourth, was unique because it was smaller than usual. “Overall, it was a wonderful experience that enlightened people who hadn’t met people from different organizations,” Nair said. “It was smaller but more informa tive because I got to meet people from various areas.” Tanya Williams, a U- Act co-adviser, said the conference focuses on enabling participants to grow in their understanding of both themselves and others. “The purpose of U-Act,” Williams said, “is to get stu dents from across campus to begin discussing issues: intro ducing them to other cultures, looking at their own cultural See U-Act, Page 4 Commandant names new leaders By Danielle Pontiff The Battalion Maj. Gen. Thomas G. Dar ling, commandant of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, last week announced the students selected to lead the five major units of the Corps for the 1996- 1997 academic year. Joseph Royo, a junior ele mentary education major, will command the 1st Brigade, and Shawn McManamy, a junior history major, will command the 2nd Brigade. Royo and McManamy each will be in charge of more than 400 cadets in six Army ROTC companies. Jim Harrison, a junior busi ness analysis major, will lead the 1st Wing, which consists of 475 cadets from eight Air Force ROTC squadrons. Alexander Burch, a junior fi nance major, will command the 1st Regiment’s more than 400 cadets in six Navy and Marine ROTC companies. Michael Hays, a junior man agement major, will command the Aggie Band. The band started this year with 390 members of mixed ROTC affiliation. Darling said the new com manders were selected based on leadership abilities demon strated during their first three years in the Corps. “They are the ones who have direct objectives and goals for their unit,” Darling said. “They have the qualifications we look for to represent major units on the drill field, at outfit meet ings and march-ins.” Junior cadets either applied or were nominated to be inter viewed for the commander posi tions. They had to meet stan dard qualifications, including maintenance of a minimum 2.3 grade-point ratio. A board of representatives from the commandant’s office and the Corps Staff interviewed each candidate. See Leaders, Page 4 College of Education holds round table By Michelle Lyons The Battalion Laura Welch Bush, wife of Gov. George W. Bush, was the speaker at the Texas A&M College of Education’s 1996 Dean’s Round table Friday night at the Pebble Creek Country Club. For six years, the round table has been held to recognize teachers who have posi tively influenced their students. Honorees, their families and friends. College of Education faculty and staff, and several education students were invited to attend. Dr. Viola Florez, interim dean of educa tion, described the round table in a press release as a “partnership of people who are concerned about American education and who recognize that Texas A&M’s College of Education is in a unique position to help make significant changes in education. “The round table serves as the college’s means of recognizing those educators who have dedicated their lives to learning and who have given so much of themselves to their students.” Sponsors made Si,000 donations to honor their former teachers, their relatives who are teachers, or their children’s teachers. The donations will provide students with financial aid, including scholarships, as well as helping the College of Education purchase equipment for academic programs. Windi Fourdraine, College of Education relations development coordinator and co ordinator of the event, said that since the round table began, it has honored more than 100 teachers. Twenty-one teachers were honored at Friday’s round table, ranging from preschool teachers to higher education pro fessors. Each was awarded a crystal, apple shaped plaque and a certificate. Dr. Barry Thompson, Texas A&M Uni versity System chancellor, was one of the educators recognized at the event. He said he was honored to be chosen for the award because he is more accustomed to receiving criticism than praise. “I feel very positive about the fact that my colleagues would recognize me,” Thompson said.