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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1989)
The Battalion ENTERTAINMENT 13 let 1 "'ins t| who Kill etti will 1 season player s t' ln ad(iitio r ,| bonuses.« w ' un >ngiJ l cl liis deci- ieled con- >ews Anai- convention downtown suggested announce- one time," lose Miami mes were a national Baylor, not ready, 1 at Cartet mpionslwj kes, a few i you can Jo. 2 at the rile Baylor ird. 'sing a col- cision” be- ortunity to s was con- te’s top of- caught 3" 5 Thursday, February 9,1989 Getting together: Profiles of new A&Mclubs igh named! Wor ld$en t i. MVP of 1 get $25,| ; a , r Gameaul Id Glove. yer Medicine Tribe members protest, work to solve problems with action By Thomas Boylan ENTERTAINMENT WRITER In its four months of existence, The Medicine Tribe already has made its mark on the Texas A&M campus. The Tribe is the group that boycotted classes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, put the tombstone commemorating what they called “the death of the constitution” on the MSC lawn, and stood outside Sbisa Dining Hall, handing out fly ers about world hunger as Thanks giving drew near. Derek Kalahar and Todd Honey cutt organized The Medicine Tribe in October 1988 because they be lieved that current campus activist organizations were insufficient, they said. In Kalahar’s words, “they just weren’t active enough." “We just didn’t feel that the existing organiza tions brought enough attention to the issues,” he said. “We wanted something more rebellious.” He and Honeycutt were members of Students Against Apartheid when they decided to form another orga nization called The Free America Society last year, which failed when no one showed up for the first meet ing- The Medicine Tribe is a re-vitali- zation of the Free America Society’s concept, which was to make people aware of major issues. There are about eight members in the club, and all but one are A&M students. Kalahar said the group’s main em phasis is “to bring up serious issues and make people think about them, make them aware of what’s going on around them.” He said he is con cerned that, too many issues are going unaddressed and wants peo ple to think about what is going on in the world. “A lot of people don’t give a damn about anything,” Kalahar said. “Alex P. Keaton en masse!” Kalahar said he does not yet know what kind of response the group ul timately will receive. “In the future, (students) will ei ther become callous and ignore the Medicine Tribe or keep hearing it and think,” he said. “The Medicine Tribe confronts them.” The Medicine Tribe’s name was concocted during a phone call be tween Kalahar and Honeycutt. Kala har was enrolled in an Indian an thropology class at the time and was looking for a name an Indian sound to it, and Floneycutt was listening to a Bob Dylan album and happened to catch the word ‘medicine’ in it. “Medicine Tribe” sounded good, they decided. They later rationalized the name, saying that the world was a sick place and that they were pro viding medicine for it, Kalahar said. Anyone who would like to join the group can go to its meetings. The club has no president or superior of ficer, trying to create a “round table” for discussion. The group sets no agenda, so, according to the found ers, no one must behave in a struc tured manner. Kalahar said that he and Honey cutt usually come up with most of the ideas for activities and dominate the group’s meetings, but said that the objective is to discuss all ideas freely, then go out and act on those ideas. One of the guiding principles of the organization is to act on ideas, not just discuss them, he said. A Medicine Tribe action may take several forms, ranging from skits to flyers. To date, their activities have included: •a mudslinging contest at the MSC on Election Day, a parody of the Bush and Dukakis presidential campaign. •a protest of world hunger near Thanksgiving. •boycotting classes and campus eateries on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when the University held classes. •erecting a memorial to the “death of the Constitution” on the MSC lawn on Inauguration Day. The organization is not recog nized by the University, but it has be gun the process. Last week, Terry Anderson, an associate history pro fessor, agreed to serve as the group’s faculty adviser. Kalahar and Honeycutt are both sophomore psychology majors. Ka lahar is from Houston and Honey cutt is from Longview -— “the buckle of the bible belt,” as he calls it. Their sources of information about world events are varied. Kalahar said he enjoys the tele vision program 60 Minutes. “They ask serious questions, and I like the way they don’t back down,” he said. To keep up on current events, he re ads the Houston Chronicle. Honeycutt does not have a tele vision. He is a fan of commentator Paul Harvey and said he enjoys col umnists Mike Royko and George Will. Kalahar said he was not sure if the Medicine Tribe will last after he and Honeycutt graduate. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it ceased to exist when I put my cap and gown on,” he said. But Floneycutt said he believes that if it becomes a recognized cam pus organization, the Tribe will sur vive for a while longer. People interested in the Medicine Tribe can contact Derek Kalahar at 260-1889 or Todd Honeycutt at 260-6306. The group usually meets every Sunday somewhere off cam pus — often at the Brazos Landing. Kalahar said the Tribe is always looking for new' members — people who want to be active, not just dis cuss the issues. Group practices non-destructive testing for flaws in materials to save time, money By Thomas BoylaTi ENTERTAINMENT WRITER They don’t smash, twist, crush or stretch things. They test things — materials —but not the way it usd to be done, which was to smash, twist, crush or stretch them. They look for flaws or defects in everything from jet engine parts to railroad rails, and after they’re through looking at an item, it’s ready to use. Make sense? To the American So ciety for Nondestructive Testing, it’s more thari sense, it’s the whole point. Before World War II, materials testing was destructive. To find out whether a part was holding up un der strain, it had to be strained until it failed. Its failure point was then used as a reference for other, similar items. Would you like to find out if your car’s crankshaft is over-stressed and ready to fail? The ANST might be able to find out without removing it and twisting it until it breaks. Testing materials for defects is big business and an increasing concern for inspectors and manufacturers, says Don Bray, faculty adviser for Texas A&M’s chapter of the ANST. Airline companies in particular have had to pay increasing attention to tiny flaws that often cannot be seen with the naked eye. Small cracks and defects can cause catas trophes without warning when air plane fuselages fail or engines tear off. Finding problems can be more difficult than repairing them though, as in the case of hairline fractures on the surface of the fuse lage of an airliner — there’s a lot of area on the outside of a 757. Finding problems that cannot be seen is what nondestructive testing is all about. Test Methods There are five main methods of nondestructive testing, Bray says. They are ultrasonic, magnetic, ra diographic, penetrant and eddy cur rent. The most widely used technique is penetrant. In that process, the item to be tested is coated with dve, the see how well a given material was holding up, and in the late 1940’s, the ANST was born. In magnetic testing, the object to be tested is magnetized and dusted with tiny metal filings. The filings gather around any surface cracks, attracted by the break in the magne tic field. More elaborate and technical processes can find defects deep within solid objects. David Stanley, a graduate me chanical engineering student, dem- “Wou,d you like to find out if your car’s crankshaft is over-stressed and ready to fail? The ANST might be able to find out without removing it and twisting it until it breaks... sound waves, emitted from a probe, bounce off any cracks or defects within the material. The reflections are detected by the probe and displayed on an oscilliscope. dye is treated with developer, and then the excesses of both are w'iped off. The dye stays in any cracks or rough spots and is visible to the eye or under ultraviolet light. If there is nothing wrong with the item, it goes back to work, undamaged. In contrast, according to Bray, had the item been tested destructi vely, it would have been subjected to stress until it failed, snapped and broke. Before World War II’s tech nological leaps, that was the only way to test materials. The broken items were standards of strength for the remaining ones. However, vast numbers of techni cians were able to find other ways to onstfated ultrasonic testing in which sound waves are used to “see” into a solid block. The sound waves, emitted from a probe, bounce off any cracks or de fects within the material. The reflec tions are detected by the probe and displayed on an oscilliscope. Using ultrasonic testing, the ex perimenter can tell the approximate size, shape and location of a flaw that otherwise would be completely invis ible. Bray noted that the destructive testing of the past had the disadvan tage of losing the tested object. If turbine blade from a jet engine had flaws and was tested to failure, that engine might not be useful again. Parts are not necessarily inter changeable after they’ve been under the stress of a jet engine. Also, if the part was unique and projections are based on its behav ior, the projections would be wrong. That part might have done things no other could. Finally, once the test was over, it cotdd not be repeated. The object was gone. Testing by Manufacturers By designing a part so that it can be tested easily, parts for everything from cars to 757s can be checked more quickly and less expensively. Random destructive testing is costly. A percentage of all materials must be destroyed each year to find out how well they’re holding up. Economically, testing makes struc tural materials more competitive. Bray described a case in which United States steel manufacturers were complaining about losing sales to cheaper, imported steels. However, those steels, from Japan and Germany actually were not cheaper. They were, in fact, more expen sive, but their manufacturers were willing to certify that the steel was free from defects because they were testing nondestructively. Bray added that the U.S. is com petitive now, but began testing about 20 years too late. The ANST is a nationally char tered organization. For more infor mation or to join the organization, call Howard Strahan, graduate stu dent and president of the local chap ter, at 845^4361 or Don Bray at 845- 5114, or go by Room 403T of the Engineering Physics Building, Local restaurant may become cultural center, provide forum for alternative artistic expression By Cray Pixley ENTERTAINMENT WRITER As rain and lightning spread across the sky outside, a different storm is pounding the stage inside Brazos Landing. Two men, backed by a screen showing a man in various stages of undress, play minimalist music while the vocalist hovers between scream ing and murmuring a stream of ly rics. “Hey, it’s just an act,” the vocalist of “Abandoned Orgasm” says to a quiet and perhaps stunned audience. He follows this announcement by I miming the shaving off of his chest I hair and pretending to slice his I wrists, which are doused with ket- I chup. The band’s bizarre poetic perfor- B mance and video of genitalia is fol- I lowed by more serene poets reading I from their original works. The poems are tame in comparison with the opening performance. This mixture of art forms was part of an open poetry reading given last week at Brazos Landing. The reading is the first bid in Bra zos Landing owner Hugh Stearns' attempt to give students at Texas A&M and members of the commu nity an open forum for creative ex pression. Stearns says he always has consid ered his business to be a place that provided an outlet for alternative art forms. Fie is fostering a fine arts college forum since A&M does not have one. “From music, art and now poetry, the stage of the Brazos Landing has always been open for alternative means of expression,” he says. “If A&M would put in a college of fine arts, it would reallv change the face of education. I here would be a stronger stirring of cultural events. “Since A&M doesn’t have a fine arts college, we decided to have one for them,” Stearns says. Stearns says he hopes to encour age not only poetry, but also paint ing, video productions and theater through his open forum. “One of my employees is working on an original play, and I hope that we wall be able to present it here sometime,” he says. “In this way, I would be encouraging theater.” Brazos Landing already sports original paintings and sculpture from area artists. “The Landing itself is a sort of free-form piece of art,” Stearns says. “I was talking to a guy about the amount of light coming into the place, and he said if I got him the cardboard, he would do a sculpture for the w indow'. He did a great piece of art for the window.” It would be nice to see College Station become as much of a cultural center as possible, Stearns says. “Around most universities there is a bohemian, creative crowd that Coalition gets to roots of conservative politics, Christian civilprinciples By Cray Pixley ENTERTAINMENT WRITER The Texas Aggie Grass Roots Coalition Club is a newly-recog nized campus organization ded icated to educating students in biblical principles of civil govern ment and encouraging Christian students to serve in student gov ernment. The club is an affiliate of the Brazos Valley Grass Roots Coali tion and shares many of its aims, but puts an emphasis on bringing students with Christian concerns into campus, local and state gov ernment. Ricardo Davis, interim presi dent of the BVC and a graduate student in chemistry at A&M, was instrumental in bringing the club to campus. “Our organization is a non-de- nominational and non-partisan group that hopes to motivate men and women of integrity to hold positions in civil government,” he says. “Our chapter is the first uni versity affiliate of the statewide Texas Grass Roots Coalition,” Da vis says. Although the TAGC will pre pare students to become public servants in campus government positions, educating members 05001 about government will be of paramount importance. “By providing Christian stu dents with the necessary scriptu ral teaching that fosters a biblical world-view and philosophy, we will give them the foundation to serve as responsible citizens and officials,” Davis says. The club meets on campus ev ery third Monday of the month and collects $10 in dues for a yearly membership. Dues go toward the TGC news letter that each member receives. During each meeting, the club reviews a tele-conference call from Adrian Van Zelfden, presi dent of TGC, which gives an up date of current events at the state level as well as any local issues that need to be discussed. The call from Van Zelfden goes to about half the chapters in the state and keeps members in formed of events at the capitol and around the state, Davis says. The campus chapter members are studying a workbook, “Cod and Government: A Biblical and Historical Study.” “The book discusses the scrip tural view of government and the early history of Christianity’s in fluence on the U.S., its leaders and its philosophy of civil govern ment,” Davis says. Although education and cam pus elections are the chapter’s current primary goal, Davis says the chapter intends to become in volved with issues at the precinct and state level as the need arises. Acting TAGC President John Booher says members will be en couraged to write to government representatives about forthcom ing issues that concern its Chris tian membership, such as the Roe vs. Wade abortion questions. “We will try to write and talk with our local representatives about anything that goes against Christian morals,” Booher says. The chapter plans a field trip to the state capital where mem bers will be able to meet with state Grass Roots representatives to discuss lobbying efforts. “We also plan to be involved in the local political awareness cam paign that the MSC Political Fo rum sponsors,” Davis says. “In addition, we will show free videos that will address specific prob lems within government and how people can deal with those prob lems.” It is important to encourage good, hondst students to give of themselves to student govern ment, he says. “Members can take their first steps in standing up for the right in government here at A&M and then take this experience into the state and local level when they leave college.” The next TAGC meeting will be Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Students in terested in attending should check for the room number at Rudder Tower. How to organize an A&M club By Stacey Babin does not fit into the framework of the university,” he says. “A&M has this crowd w'ho are interested in the arts, but they are scattered and there is no focal point for expression.” Through the Brazos Landing, Stearns is seeking to organize crea tive individuals and realize these fo cal points for their creative express ion. The creative strains would be en couraged throughout the commu nity and the A&M campus. The poetry readings are free to the public now, but Stearns says he may charge some fee if the readings become more frequent. “If I did charge, the money would go toward starving artists or the pro duction costs,” he says. “I don’t know what more I can do to further the arts than provide a place where al ternative means of expression can take place. I’m involved with the Free World Press, an eight-page See Landing/Page 16 ENTERTAINMENT WRITER Many students know how to get involved with clubs on cam pus. They can go to MSC Open House, check bulletin boards or call organizations’ officers to get information on joining. Many people, however, don’t know how to start a club. “It’s really a simple process,” said Student Activities Adviser Jan Paterson. Anyone with an idea for a new club is encouraged to apply for University recogniton with the Student Activities office, she said. The office gives a Policy and Procedures book and a Student Organization Guide to anyone who wants to form a new club. The first step in starting a club is to find out the level of interest in the new group from other stu dents, Paterson said. The person or people who want to start a club can place an ad in the paper or have an orga nizational meeting to see what kind of response the club gets. If there is an interest, paper work is the next step. The group’s leaders or officers must fill out a signature card, Pat erson said. The card sets up the club’s account and signifies who can spend the money from that account, she said. Signature cards also serve as a contact card to be kept on file for those who want information about the club. The club then must request of ficial University recognition. The name and purpose of the organi zation are identified at this point. “We want organizations that are successful, so we don’t want groups directly competing with each other,” Paterson said. “Of course, we have a number of serv ice organizations, but we want or ganizations that are unique and have a direction, a purpose.” All organizations must have a constitution, she said. The consti tution form the Student Activities office has is simple, Paterson said. Many groups, like hometown clubs, can just fill in its officers’ names. For other groups the process is more complex. Advisers as well as group lead ers must sign the paperwork. Faculty advisers can be asso ciated with a certain club’s de partment, and may be assigned to that group, she said. But groups often choose their own advisers. “We usually just leave the deci sion up to the group,” Paterson said. An adviser must be a full time A&M employee. “The adviser is a representa tive of the University and, there fore, is a connection between the organization and the university,” Paterson said. “This gives the stu dents guidance and, because the purpose of the organization is to learn and grow, (the adviser) is one more positive experience.” After a§group officially is rec ognized, it can apply for a room or cubicle on campus. Each orga nization must explain why it needs a space and what it will be used for, Paterson said. If the space is being wasted, the group may lose it, she said. Offi cers also are required to set office hours for the club. All groups have the chance to be recognized, Paterson said. As a state university, she said, Texas A&M must follow the U.S. Constitution. Groups have the freedom of assembly, speech and worship, she said. Only groups that disrupt the “educational environment” might lose their recognition, she said. “The responsibility is on the group’s part for not losing its privileges,” Paterson said. No group, she added, has the right to restrict membership on the basis of sex, color or religion. H owever, some groups, of course, such as honor societies, have certain standards that must be met for membership. Organizations are encouraged to have guest speakers and to meet regularly, Paterson said. “The organizations are an op portunity for leadership and working together,” she said. “You learn about yourself, others and new ideas.”