The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 11, 1987, Image 3

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    Tuesday, August 11, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
jA&M athlete academic records
io be studied by Faculty Senate
the
By Yvonne DeGraw
SI Staff Writer
“ *.I Speaker Dick Shumway of
OtliketMex 35 a&M Faculty Senate an-
»eingttie ; nounced Monday that the academic
records of A&M’s athletes will be
studied by a Senate subcommittee.
H Dr. Peter Hugill, chairman of the
Academic Affairs Committee that
|11 appoint the subcommittee, said
is comes as a result of a series of
iquests by senators.
ommittee will have rep-
sentation from several areas of the
University. Hugill says that in addi
ng tha! tipn to senators, the committee will
mesfrOE appoint former students, athletic de-
itheis j partment staff members, other fac-
li'lHiiim P» v members and students. The
Vh ' su b comrn i ttee may be ap-
i MOUlfli Bjinted an( j charged as soon as
I hopetj Thursday, Hugill says.
“There are no preconceived find-
Blgs,” Hugill said. “We want to be as-
n my sured that the academic perfor-
ghborly
3eak for
; have a
ishdi
ndF
5 and Sa
an manit
if you asl
mance of athletes is up to par.”
Shumway said the committee will
deal fairly with the issue.
“This is not a witch hunt,” he said.
remand the plans because of “inter
nal inconsistencies.” But since de
partment heads from the college
were not present, the Senate decided
“This is not a witch hunt. College athletics here and
elsewhere have been under increased scrutiny and crit
icism, some deserved and some not deserved. ”
Dick Shumway, A&M Faculty Senate speaker
“College athletics here and else
where have been under increased
scrutiny and criticism, some de
served and some not deserved.”
The committee will gather and
evaluate the academic records of
athletes at A&M and compare these
records to those of the general stu
dent body. If necessary, Shumway
said the committee will “recommend
ways to enhance the academic expe
rience of athletes.”
Senator Stephen Fulling moved to
to remand only one footnote from
the environmental design curric
ulum.
A large part of the discussion fo
cused on the continuing debate over
whether the spirit or the letter of the
core curriculum plan will be en
forced.
In other action, the Senate passed
the first section of the core curric
ulum. The degree plans proposed
by the College of Architecture were
approved after lengthy dissent.
One of the departments chose to
require Math 166: Topics in Con
temporary Mathematics and Phil
240: Introduction to Logic to satisfy
the mathematics requirement.
Courses on the history of architec
ture are specified to meet cultural
heritage requirements, also.
Dr. Mark Busby said this limits
students’ options in areas that the
Senate wanted to allow choices.
“The spirit was to allow students a
choice,” Busby said, “and the spirit is
much more important to me than
the letter.”
Sen. Leonard Ponder, who gener
ally speaks in favor of expanding
student options, said he had to dis
pute this point.
“It seems that the best we can
hope for in this Senate is to agree on
a law,” he said. “I believe it’s almost
impossible for us to determine the
spirit of the law.”
arketing lecturer mixes humor, style
to make classes interesting to students
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By Mary McClenny
Reporter
S As a marketing lecturer, Anil Me-
qon is his own best commodity. His
enthusiasm and zany style keep stu
dents flocking back for more.
■ “This is my second time to take
One of his classes,” says Chase Con
over, a senior marketing major from
llouston. “I like his sense of humor
and the way he conducts class.”
| But pleasing students isn’t Me-
non’s first priority.
i “Some students don’t like me and
I don’t care,” he says. “I get a few
(students) every semester who think
I’m too cocky. I don’t intend to
change. I don’t try to please everybo-
ly-”
1 But his students attest to his popu
larity.
I Christie Carter, a senior business
major, says, “Marketing 321 is one of
the most enjoyable classes I’ve had
because of Anil’s witty sense of hu
mor and the fact that he made the
subject matter so interesting.”
|| Ironically, Menon says teaching
^wasn’t his first career choice. Menon,
26, a native of Bombay, India,
bucked family tradition by shunning
a medical career in favor of a doctor-
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ate in marketing from Texas A&M.
B “I got cheap thrills shocking m
my
family by going into marketing,” he
says. “In my family, you just didn’t
become a ‘professional manager.’ I
liked the high visibility, though.”
? Menon completed his undergrad
uate work at schools in India, but
when it came time to pursue his doc
torate, he chose A&M.
“No one had any doubts that I
Photo by Robert Morris
Anil Menon, marketing lecturer at Texas A&M
would come to the United States,” he
says. “It just seemed natural because
I had always been so westernized.”
Despite preconceptions about
Bombay, which often include visions
of cattle running loose on the streets,
Menon says the city is actually “quite
cosmopolitan.” Menon melded the
lifestyle and customs of his home
land with a few Western ideas, in
cluding country-western music —
not exacdy a staple in Indian cul
ture. His decision to come to the
United States was influenced by his
desire to pursue an education —
both academically and culturally.
Menon admits he’s ambitious and
backs it up by pointing to a photo
graph of Ted Turner tacked to his
bulletin board.
“He’s my hero because he’s used
his ambition to build a cable tele
vision empire and as a result, he is al
ways in the limelight,” he says.
“Working on my Ph.D. is a lot of
hard work, but it’s just the first step
— the beginning,” he says. Menon is
working on his dissertation; he’s
completed the written and oral ex
aminations, an experience he com
pares to a root canal. But, he’s quick
to add, “I like stress. In fact, I’m un
comfortable when I’m relaxed.”
That same drive is apparent in his
classroom style.
“My job is to make y’all love lear
ning,” he says as he strokes his
beard. “I can’t stand people who
have no ambition and who don’t
want to learn — not necessarily book
learning—just anything.”
Menon says he never wants to stop
learning. Although he admits to tak
ing time out to watch programming
such as television’s “Divorce Court,”
Menon says that at any given time
he’s reading four books — westerns,
philosophies, humor and a diction
ary — that Menon says “helps me
build my memory.”
A Veteran lecturer now, Menon
remembers his first A&M teaching
assignment with more than a hint of
humor.
“The class consisted of 140 fresh
men students and they wrote down
every word I said,” he says. “It was a
bizarre experience. I started speak
ing a mixture of English and Indian
to see what they would do. And they
just kept on writing. I really enjoyed
teasing them.”
Having fun is important, Menon
says, but he is serious about learning.
“I know immediately if the stu
dents are learning and if my lecture
interests them,” he says. “That’s
what I like most about teaching —
instant feedback.
“And the second best thing about
teaching is that I can stay young,
which works out well for me because
I never want to grow up.”
emtofa
is spread
jets hoti
st Texas,
x in west
Spouse jailed
for mutilation
of young wife
KILLEEN (AP) — The hus
band of a 19-year-old Killeen
woman remained in jail Monday,
accused in the mutilation slaying
of his wife, authorities said.
Pfc. Ernest Jack Chappelle Jr.,
as being held in lieu of $1 mil
lion bond on a murder charge.
Chappelle, 22, is a medic sta
tioned at Fort Hood. He was ar-
aigned in the slaying Saturday.
The head and arms of Lisa
arie Chappelle were discovered
ug. 1 in a trash bin outside an
ustin convenience store. The
est of her body hadn’t yet been
bund, said a spokesman for the
alleen Police Department, who
id not give her name.
Bell County officials said that
ihappelle allegedly disposed of
is wife’s remains in several gar
age bins as he drove south along
nterstate 35 from Killeen to San
ntonio.
Mrs. Chappelle was seven
main.
Authorities said they searched
landfills at Killeen and Fort Hood
^ ^ I for additional body parts.
I Killeen police said the woman
r porting nq evening of July 31 at the
j^AfcMa/ mobile home she shared with her
thoteofti* 1 husband in Killeen.
’ According to police, the Chap-
focuityor*' 1 pelles argued before Mrs. Chap-
oenpr** 1 was hilled. Her body was
Jhydaiw’i dismembered and disposed of at
■^J several locations by her husband,
who left the couple’s home en
^ route to his parents’ residence in
djSP ^ an Antonio, police said.
An autopsy has indicated the
dy was dismembered by a knife
ith a 3-inch-long blade.
e realize
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iscussed
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Newest prison unit in Texas
to begin accepting inmates
PALESTINE (AP) — Texas’ newest prison unit, ca
pable of housing 2,200 convicts, is opening its doors to
new inmates this week and prison officials hope the unit
will help alleviate other crowded facilities.
“I think this facility is going to be the model for
handling inmates anywhere in the United States,” said
Marshall Herklotz, northern regional director for the
Texas Department of Corrections.
About 100 inmates will be transferred to the new unit
Wednesday, prison spokesman Charles Brown said
Monday. He did not know if other prisoners would be
moved into the facility this week.
“This is going to a phase-in type thing,” he said. “It’s
a slow process.”
Officials hope the new facility will help ease crowding
at the 26 other prisons in Texas. The department has
had to close its doors to new inmates 19 times this year
when the inmate population climbed over a state-man
dated 95 percent capcity.
The Michael Unit, named for Warden Mark W. Mi
chael, who died in 1985 — is the brainchild of prison
employees and officials, Herklotz said. The facility will
have about 800 employees when it is fully staffed.
The $67 million unit, in nearby Tennessee Colony,
also is the first prison built on a lease-purchase
agreement in Texas. It is being built under a contract
involving the prison system, Citicorp, Rauscher Pierce
Refsnes Inc. and Anderson County.
The new facility’s four general population buildings
are split into three pods each to accommodate highly di
vergent convicts — from maximum to minimum secu
rity — in each building.
Unlike other convicts in the 38,500-inmate system,
general population inmates in the Michael Unit will be
able to look outside through two narrow windows.
The unit will house 1,728 inmates in the general pop
ulation area — two to a cell — and another 504 in a sep
arate building designed exclusively for administration
segregation prisoners who will be housed one to a cell.
Mandated reforms push industry
of prison construction into top 10
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — Prison ex
perts say federal prison reform or
ders and burgeoning prison popula
tions have touched off a $4 billion
prison construction boom in Texas
and across the country.
“There’s no solution in sight,” said
Anthony P. Travisono, executive di
rector of the American Correctional
Association. “We’re still 10 years be
hind the population curve. “Even
though the public wants the crimi
nals off the streets, they are reluc
tant to pay the bills.”
The $4 billion frenzy of prison
construction has pushed that indus
try into the top 10, experts say.
According to a 1985 Justice De
partment report, the country needs
to spend about $7 billion in the com
ing years to keep pace with the in
creasing number of criminals sen
tenced to prison.
Christopher Innes, a Justice De
partment statistician, told the Hous
ton Chronicle, “It’s not reasonable to
believe that states will painlessly
build out of this problem. We expect
that the correctional systems will
continue to struggle through some
difficult times.”
Between 1960 and 1986, state
prison populations increased 126
percent, but capacity grew by a little
more than half that rate, or 76 per
cent. The prison population nation
wide, which totals about 530,000, is
growing by 1,000 inmates a week,
according to the latest census by the
Justice Department.
In Texas, Gov. Bill Clements has
proposed spending $325 million
over the next two years on prison
construction.
The Texas Department of Cor
rections is under court order to im
prove the system and has been
forced to close 19 times this year
when the inmate population sur
passed a mandated 95 percent ca
pacity.
when an accident
or sudden illness
occurs
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