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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1988)
i; Mm m Texas A&M ^ v# The Battalion College Station, Texas Friday, July 8, 1988 on Post onspird A&M student apartments torn down after 52 years Don Metcalf, of Coronado Wrecking and Salvage, uses a bulldozer to demolish one of the Southside Married Student Apartments. All 15 units, which Photo by Jay Janner were built in 1936, are scheduled to be torn down because the cost of maintaining them became too high. By Alan Sembera Staff Writer Demolition crews have begun the work of bulldozing the houses at the Southside Married Student Apartment complex. The 15 houses, which were built in 1936, are being destroyed for economic reasons, University officials said. “The buildings were more or less just unreasonable to maintain and repair,” said Phil Hash, staff architect for Texas A&M’s Facili ties Planning and Construction Department. “They’re too far gone and it costs too much to bring them up to standards,” he said. Hash said the first house was torn down Wednesday, and the demolition should be complete in 30-45 days. Dr. Donald B. Powell, director of business services at A&M, said the students who were living in the houses have been moving out over a period of months. The last ones left at the begin ning of June, and no families were forced to move off of cam pus, he said. “We have people that come and go all the time,” Powell said. “They graduate or they move on or whatever. “Those who wanted to remain in the married student apart ments were found accommoda tions over at the Northside apart ments.” The destruction of the South- side apartments will cause a loss of 59 housing units, and there is already a waiting list to get mar ried student housing. Powell said new students who are married and cannot get an apartment on campus now have other choices. He said this is because of the large number of apartments in the community. But living off campus can be more expensive than living in campus housing. Rent for the Southside apart ments was about $170 per month. Northside married student hous ing costs from about $ 170 to $265 per month, and is smaller than the Southside apartments. The University has no plans for the land where the houses are located, but ideas include build ing parking facilities, dormitories or athletic facilites. The decision to demolish the houses was made by the Board of Regents in June 1986. Powell said the Southside houses are the oldest married stu dent apartments on campus. He said there was no need for married student housing until af ter World War II, when service men came back to school with wives. At that time, he said, there were no apartments in College Station. Army barracks were used in the late ’40s to meet the demand for married student apartments, Powell said, and the last one was torn down eight years ago. Study to oat bran on heart S By Theresa Emmert Reporter Texas A&M researchers will con duct a major human study on how oat bran and diet decrease the chances of heart attacks by-lowering cholesterol levels. Subjects will be chosen before the Aug. 1 study start date through a preliminary screening. Subjects who are at a moderate to high risk of a heart attack will be chosen. The pre liminary screening will be from 7 a.m. to 1 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and July 15 in 145 MSC. On July 16, the screen ing time will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Studies have shown that a 1 per cent reduction in blood cholesterol decreases the rate of a heart attack by 2 percent. One to one-half cups of dry bran per day, according to the Journal of the American Medical As sociation, decreases the level of cho lesterol from 19 percent to 13 per cent. The researchers will monitor the cholesterol levels in 150 people eat ing different amounts of oat bran during the 28-day study. These peo ple will be divided into six groups and will eat different amounts and types of products containing oat bran such as cookies, muffins and cereal. In addition to the consumption of oat bran, the participants will receive instructions about a fat-modified diet suggested by the Isfational Cho- monitor ’s affect attacks lesterol Education Program. This diet contains foods which decrease cholesterol and increase fiber. Susan Clay, project coordinator, said the study will be the first to use diet in a clinical trial. Health Valley Foods from Califor nia is funding the project. It will furnish the oat bran products and monitoring devices. Each participant will receive $50, tests on cholesterol levels, the results of the diet modifi cation, a computer analysis deter mining the nutritional adequacy of the diet, free oat bran products and free diet education. The criteria for partication in the study are anyone between the ages of 20 and 64 who are within 30 per cent of ideal body weight. Their total cholesterol has to be greater than or equal to 220 milligrams per deciliter and they cannot smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day. The participants can’t be pregnant nor have diabetes millitus. Participants must not have a per sonal history of occlusive or definite vascular disease, hypo/hyperthyroi dism, liver or kidney problems, coro nary heart disease or cholesterol al tering agents. They can’t have a history of alcohol or drug abuse. Participants can’t be under extreme stress. For information, contact Susan Clay or project director Dr. Joanne Lupton at (409) 845-2142. A&M seeking more aid for students Financial aid awards double in five years By Lisa Williams Reporter Data compiled by Texas A&M’s Student Financial Aid office show that $90 million was awarded to A&M students during 1986-87, more than twice the $38 mil lion awarded five years ago. Taft E. Benson, director of the University’s financial aid program, said the largest aid awards, about $41 mil lion, went to institutional employment, including the college work-study program, assistants, part-time and summerjobs. Benson said financial aid programs assume students and parents are primarily responsible for securing edu cation funds, so this type of aid benefits all parties. “Students are not just handed the money, they earn it,” he said. “They provide largely for themselves, and the University benefits from the work they do.” Loan programs, which require repayment, were the second largest funding categroy with about $20 million. Benson said long-term loans constituted $17 million while the short-term loan program received about $3 million. These aid packages are available at low interest rates with varying payback periods. They include Guar anteed Student Loans, installment plans, Health Pro fessions and Student Loans and other student and par ent supplemental loan programs. Short-term loans are available for temporary finan cial problems. Such funds exist for graduating seniors’ relocation expenses, emergency medical expenses, in terview trips, co-operative programs and other uses. “There is a marked increase in ‘students relying on FINAtNlCIAL A|I|D Graphic by Carol Wells long-term loans funded by banks, savings and loans and credit unions,” Benson said. “But we have no way of de termining these figures.” Grants and scholarship programs, commonly known as gift aid because there is no repayment, received about $14 million each. Grants are awarded on the basis of need, while scholarships go on the basis of academ ics, campus or community activities, leadership posi tions and work experience. By Lisa Williams Reporter In the wake of federal cuts in finan cial aid, the Texas A&M Student Fi nancial Aid Department has beefed up its efforts to solicit funds ear marked for financial aid, depart ment director Taft E. Benson, said. But many students forfeit their college career because they think they aren’t needy enough or out standing enough to qualify for assis tance. The department’s goal is to find enough money for those stu dents to secure a higher education, Benson said. “Although the aid may seem harder to come by, it hasn’t disap peared,” he said. “The Development Foundation and the Former Stu dents’ Association are the biggest contributors of funds. Independent corporations and organizations are also sources. “Texas A&M generates funds through the Texas Public Education Grant, which requires the University to collect and save a percentage of each student’s tuition to be used as grant money. “But we (the financial aid depart ment) provide support in solicitation with brochures, presentations and other direct involvements with do nors. And we provide information and counseling to students seeking financial support.” Benson advises students to write their congressmen and express con cerns about education opportunities. He thinks it is especially impor tant to increase government funding for grant programs because schol arship and loan programs usually re ceive more donations. Benson said donors will contribute to scholarship or loan programs because they think the government will take care of grant programs. “It’s important for students to take an active role in lobbying for more funding, as well as expressing views on funding regulation,” Ben son said. “Make your opinions known to the people who make the decisions — your congressmen.” The Texas Student Coalition also has committed itself to helping stu dents reach their goals for college careers by developing a plan of ac tion to influence the 1989 Legis lature on tuition and financial aid. In a statement released at a news conference, the coalition of student associations said, “Policies promot ing affordable education are nec essary to the future of Texas. Pro gress depends on a highly-educated workforce and electorate. Proposals by the coalition call for legislative control over the establish ment of tuition rates, no tuition in creases until the effects of the most recent increases can be assessed, es tablishment of a statewide work- study program and a complete re view of current financial aid pro grams. The Texas State Teachers Asso ciation also has joined forces to keep career goals alive by designing a free guide, “Paying for College,” which outlines various assistance pro grams, including scholarships, grants, low-interest loans, work pro grams and private sources. Illinois officials not commenting on death of A&M student By Loyd Brumfield Senior Staff Writer Belleville, Ill. police are keeping the cir cumstances surrounding the death of for mer A&M student Audrey Cardenas tightly under wraps and police officials indicated it may stay that way for a long time. Cardenas, 24, a May journalism graduate from Houston, was found dead Sunday, June 19th, after a week-long search. She was reported missing from her job as an intern for the Belleville News-Democrat onjune 13th. Cardenas was working as part of an in ternship for minority students and had been on the job 10 days before disappear ing. James Rokita, chief of detectives, said the department was not going to release any in formation to the media any time soon. “We’re still actively investigating at this point, but we haven’t released any informa tion to the media and we probably won’t for a while,” he said. The Major Case Unit was called in from St. Louis, which is about 16 miles away from Belleville, and it left last Friday. Rokita would not comment on the case unit’s role in the investigation. “It’s nothing personal, but we just aren’t talking to anyone from the media,” Rokita said. “We’re still working on it, and when we decide to release whatever news we have, we’ll let you know,” he said. Belleville Police Chief Robert Hurst also would not comment on the situation, but he said murder was still suspected. Rokita would not say if the police had de veloped any leads or suspects in the case. “We’ve pretty much kept to ourselves the past few days,” he said. “Everything is still wide open at this point.” A memorial service for Cardenas was held last week at A&M All Faiths Chapel. AIDS plight hits close to home for local victims AIDS in B-CS Final part of a three-part series By Janet Goode Senior Staff Writer Editor’s note: This the final seg- Mment of a three-part series on AIDS Band its impact on the Bryan-College ■ Station community. Part three ex- ■ amines the plight of local AIDS vic- ■ tims. It presents some interesting I statistics and focuses on the efforts Band advice of support groups and Borganizations that try to help victims ■ cope with the personal reality of the B disease.. Shock. Fear. Denial. Depression. ■ And finally — acceptance. It’s hit Bhome. You’ve tested positive for the || HIV virus and you will most likely develop AIDS. Death is a four letter word that forms in your mind and stays there until the day it’s over. At least 21 people have gone through this in Brazos County since 1980. At least 14 have died. According to the Texas Depart ment of Health, AIDS surveillance division, June 20th statistics show 4,506 people in Texas have been di agnosed with AIDS — 2,567 of whom are dead. By 1991, the de partments estimates that 16,000 Texans will have contracted the deadly disease and 11,000 will be dead. A report from the states’ health department lists the most important things to understand about AIDS: • The “AIDS” test is not a test for AIDS — it is a test to identify antibo dies to the HIV virus. A positive test does not mean that a person will def initely develop AIDS. • A negative test result in a mem ber of a high-risk group does not guarantee the person has never been infected with the virus either. • The antibodies indicate that a person has been infected by the vi rus and may possibly carry it throughout their lives. Some re searchers believe whether a person develops AIDS may be dependent on the strength of their immune sys tem because the incubation period seems to be different for everyone infected. Because of this, health officials suggest a person should wait at least six months after engaging in “risky behavior” before getting tested to give the antibodies time to show up. If the test is negative, they should wait another six months and be re tested. If a person has the antibodies (AIDS-related complex), they can pass the disease on to others through unprotected sex or sharing of IV drug needles, even if they never de velops AIDS. It is also important to note that a positive test can be “false-positive” — it can say that you have antibodies to the disease when in fact, you don’t. Despite all the confusion over test ing, health department officials say the test was designed with the pur pose of screening blood and making blood transfusions safer. The report says everyone at risk should be tested as a safeguard against this. According to the book “AIDS: A guide for survival,” people who are “at risk” include: • Any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 (even once). • People who inject illegal drugs or who have done so in the past. • People with symptoms suggest ing AIDS. • People from Haiti or Central Africa. • Prostitutes and their sex part ners. • Anyone who is entering into an intimate relationship, planning to get married or thinking about hav ing a child and has not been in a mo nogamous relationship for seven years or more. John Schnase, chairperson of the board of directors at the Brazos Val ley AIDS Foundation, says this dis ease is unique in that scientists have known from an early point how to contain the illness. Schnase says it is primarily behavior-controlled and information on what behaviors not to engage in can save people’s lives. “Information coupled with appro priate behavior will distinguish the illness,” he says. “There are very few examples of this in medical history.” But for some people, it is too late for behavior control. Chris Blaundet is one person who contracted AIDS before he even knew it existed. In his story, as told in the May 22 issue of theEagle, he says he ex pected to live only another 12 to 18 months. Blaundet has been known as a ho mosexual since high school and spent several years living in San Francisco before coming to Bryan- College Station seven years ago. See AIDS in BC-S, page 4