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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1987)
Thursday, March 5, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5 >&M ethnic expert studies Indians, ollects cultural data from Acapulco By Sarah Cranberry Reporter I Two ceremonial masks guard the |oor to his office. His bookshelves e sprinkled with remnants of Mex- an Indians and his books are lacked on the floor. Dr. Norman Thomas sits behind a Rmputer at his desk, surrounded by ^imitive artifacts. [Thomas is an ethnologist with the [exas A&M anthropology depart- I For 38 years, he has been studying Bur Indian groups in Mexico: the curve! ■zotzil Maya, the Huastec, the Zo- w pe, and more recently, the Fame. iES atfeg.pnci I “I study contemporary Indian so- Jeties, collecting cultural data from by traveling, living and visiting lith them,” Thomas says. I Thomas studied the Fame last iimmer with A&M archaeologist B. David Carlson. ■ Nothing has been published in Biglish about the Pante, Thomas Bys, but some data has been written ip Spanish. “Some newspapers picked up on it aiid claimed I had found a lost tribe, Jhich wasn’t true,” Thomas says. I Thomas says the Mexican govern ment also knows about the Fame. Mexico’s organization which handles lidian affairs — Instituta Nacional ijidigenista — is trying, along with eU.S. Bureau oflndian Affairs, to ften these people’s entrance into e modern world, he says. "The Fame were settled by a kmp of Roman Catholic priests po set up a series of missions,” he ys. “The Fame turned into typical meso-American Indians,” he says. Thomas says the Fame still rely heavily on agriculture. They live in the mountains north of Mexico City where their main ag ricultural crops are corn, beans and squash. The poorest of them still gather wild food because a recent drought has hurt their corn production, he says. The Fame, who were studied by Thomas in Santa Maria, Mexico, had to go six or seven miles to get water from a well, he says. They carried the water in big plastic bottles either on their backs or on burros, he says. “While I was there, that well dried up and the Fame had to go six or seven miles in the other direction to get water from the river,” Thomas says. Because of the drought, he says, young Fame men have been forced to go north to help supplement their family income. “Well over 50 percent of the young men between the ages of 18 and 35 have come to the United States as illegal workers,” he says. The Fame’s chief source of money comes from making palm-leaf mats called petates, he says, which they sell to merchants for about 350 pesos each. “There are about 1,020 pesos to the dollar now,” Thomas says. “A bag of corn to last a family for a month costs about 12,000 pesos. It takes them three days to weave one petate.” ■ . -’PI' W® ***■' March 7&8. Century lake (Carlos, Texas-between College Staion and (-iuntr ■ \' . PtV. ; El. 2 Bound Slalom, fficJt and Jump Entry Fee: One Event si 5.00 Awards for first place in Two Events $20.00 each event Events $25.00 Information or entry: (4091794-1253 Spectators Welcome! MOVE IN NOW At Summer Rates! Prices start at $130 Efficiency - 1BR - 2BR Uiniouiick apartments 502 Southwest Parkway 693-1325 Dr. Norman Thomas displays a palm-leaf mat. Photo by Doug La Rue &M seeing major drop in hiring of students By Rachel Cowan Reporter As a result of recent budget cuts, Texas A&M las experienced more than a 50 percent drop in Judent hiring, an A&M student financial aid ad ministrator says. In December and January ol the 1985-1986 ■Tool year, A&M hired 2,259 students. During Bat same period in 1986-1987, only 1,095 stu- lentemployees were hired. I The budget cuts have left A&M less money to ■pend on student employees, says Lynn Brown, Itudent financial aid administrator for schol- Irshipsand employment. I Because the government pays 80 percent of Be wages, the departments want to hire work- Itudy employees, but the allotted work-study Binds are being used up. “With work-study, employers can hire five stu dents for the price of one employee,” Brown says. The College of Engineering, which hires its own workers, also will spend less money on wages this fiscal year than last year. From August 1985 to August 1986, it spent $501,579 in student wages. Quilla Toliver, business administrator for the college, says the projected employment spending for this fiscal year is $376,908. The entire budget for the department was cut from $23,500,505 last year to $22,749,584 this year. Brown says the financial aid office can’t accu rately determine how many students are looking for work, but that more students are seeking em ployment this year. “Because of the tight economy, parents are struggling to put their children through college,” Brown says. She also pointed out that the number of new students hired doesn’t take into account students who kept their jobs from the fall semester. Ed Janosky, manager of Budget and Payroll Services, says, “It could be that more students are hanging onto their jobs because of the bad econ omy.” Since Texas Employment Commission figures don’t differentiate between students and non students, student employment at local businesses can’t be measured. Hamp Patterson, a Texas Employment Com mission representative, says that because stu dents don’t file for unemployment, they aren’t represented in unemployment figures. THIS WEEKEND... PARTY at EASTGATE LIVE MARCH 6,1987 * FRIDAY NIGHT a MARDI GRAS celebration FEATURING... eeve^ dance music uuith a twist! $1 off cover with a costume SATURDAY NIGHT the LeRoi Brothers FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 764-2095 E GET RICH THE HARD WAY Luby’s Caferterias, Inc., operating 97 cafeterias in Texas, Oklahoma, Ari zona and new Mexico, is looking for 25 people to enter its management training program in March. To qualify, you must: • Be at least 22years old • Be willing to relocate • Have a stable employment history • Be college educated or have equivaten t expertence • Have little or no food service experience You will receive: • $19,200 starting salary • company funded profit sharing/ retirement • group health, life and disability insurance • relocation expenses • merit raises and advancement W\\% is a serious offer by an established and rapidly growing company. We invite you to call or send your resume and find out more about us. You will be amazed at the proven earnings potential of a career with Luby’s. rack rma- rV!! Interviewing in your placement center March 11&12,1987 or call Steve Schafer or Dave Simpson (512) 225-7720 (No collect calls please) or write P.O. Box 33069 San Antonio, Texas 78265 Luby’s Cafeterias, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with sales exceeding $175 million last year. IiubvQs Good food from good people. LUBY S CAFETERIAS, INC. 2211 N.E. LOOP 410, P.0. BOX 33069, SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS 78265 Lnby n is a Registered Trademark of Luby’s Cafeterias, Inc.