Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1989)
Page 4 The Battalion Monday, April 24,1989 HOW ARE YOU UTILIZING YOUR TIME ON CAMPUS? ZENITH INNOVATES AGAIN —WITH THE NEW BATTERY-DRIVEN SUPERSPORT 286™- TO GET YOUR CAREER ON THE FAST TRACK. Compact. Lightweight. Yet bursting with 286 desktop speed and power. Operating at 12 MHz with zero wait state technology. To tackle research, engineering, statistics, architecture and math-intensive classes. That’s the new SupersPort 286 from Zenith Data Systems —today’s leader in battery-operated portables. ADVANCED DESKTOP PERFORMANCE TO GO. The SupersPort 286 offers fast 20MB or 40MB hard disks and 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive to carry volumes of data and application programs. 1MB RAM — expandable to 2MB with EMS and extended memory capabilities to run MS-DOS® and MS-OS® PC/XT and AT compatibility to give you the ability to multi-task applications. Plus a detachable battery with AC adapter/recharger. For 286 desktop standards in a truly portable PC. ENJOY BETTER HOURS ON CAMPUS. Hours of battery power, that is. For greater productivity in all your classes. After all, the SupersPort 286 features Zenith’s comprehensive Intelligent Power Management—& system that lets you control how your battery power is consumed so you won’t waste valuable energy on components and peripherals not in use. AN EASY READ ANYWHERE ON CAMPUS. For crisp text and superior readability, the SupersPort 286 also features Zenith renowned dazzling back-lit Supertwist LCD screen with 640 x 400 double-scan CGA resolution for greater clarity. The screen even tilts back 180-degrees so it lies flat to accommodate a desktop monitor. - TO HARNESS THE NEW SUPERSPORT 286 PORTABLE PC AT A SPECIAL STUDENT PRICE, W RITE OR CALL TODAY: Try the new Educational Purchase Program! M icroComputerCenter Computer Sales and Supplies Located at the MSC inside the Texas A&M Bookstore Monday thru Friday 7:45a.m. - 6:00p.m. Saturday 9:OOa.m. - 5:00p.m. (409) 845-4081 data systems ^pccitl pricing offer good only on purchaie* directly through Zenith Contact Itited above by itudcnu. faculty and naff for their own um No other ducount* apply Limit one portable computer per individual in any 12 month period. Pncea lubject to change without notice. •1988, Zenith Data Syiierm T£M/rH CALL BATTALION CLASSIFIED 845-2611 For ===eeeee FAST Results A&M assistant dean joins MCAT revision process By Andrea Warrenburg REPORTER The Medical College Admission Test, used for almost 60 years to de termine if a person is qualified to en ter medical school, is being revised with the help of a Texas A&M assis tant dean. The MCAT, introduced in 1930 by the Association of American Medical Colleges, has been criticized recently by medical students who have taken it and by undergraduate advisers who help the students pre pare for it. They argue the test takes too long to complete and the major emphasis of the test is on science. “The biggest problem is the test is very, very lengthy,” said Billy Ran kin, assistant dean in A&M’s College of Medicine and member of two AAMC committees overseeing changes in the examination. The exam lasts almost 10 hours and tests students on biology, chem istry, physics, science problems, reading and quantitative skills. The committees overseeing the revisions, planned to take effect in 1991, plans to cut the test by 90 min utes and consolidate some science sections. Four of the six parts of the test are science-related, implying that people have to be science majors to go to medical school, Rankin said. “We want to say in a clear voice that it is possible for a person to ma jor in anything of interest to them and still go to medical school,” he said. The new test will contain four sec tions — biological sciences, physical sciences, verbal reasoning and a writing sample. “We are adding an opportunity for people who are skilled in writing to show us,” Rankin said. Texas bar gives refugees free legal help AUSTIN (AP) — Many of the 3,300 Central Americans detained in camps and jails along the Texas- Mexico border soon will receive free legal help thanks to the State Bar of Texas. The bar has agreed to co-sponsor a free legal clinic in South Texas slated to open by the end of May. Most of the 1,549 refugees de ported en masse from the Rio Grande Valley by the Immigration and Naturalization Service since Feb. 21 have gone without legal help. On that date, the INS began de taining all Central Americans apply ing for political asylum, instead of al lowing them to travel to their U.S. destinations to pursue their claims. Only Nicaraguans have escaped the new policy. As of Sunday, the INS had not deported any Nicara guans of the 1,235 in custody in South Texas. The great majority of those de ported — from El Salvador, Guate mala and Honduras — were not rep resented by attorneys during INS proceedings against them. “I think the immigration service is railroading asylum hearings in order to deport the applicants quickly,” im migration attorney Paul Parsons told the Austin American-Statesman. “It’s outrageous to expect persons fleeing from death squads and civil war to arrive in the United States with detailed, written documenta tion of persecutions,” Parsons said. The writing portion will consist of two 30-minute tests where students, given a brief paragraph on a subject unrelated to science, are asked to write a narrative about it. The revisions to the test are a good idea, a biochemistry student said, because they will allow the ap plicants to express some of their per sonalities. “It is important for a phy sician to express himself,” the student said. Rankin said the revised exam will continue to assess the science knowl edge students need to know to suc ceed in medical school, including in troductory organic chemistry, general inorganic chemistry and physics. “We don’t want to downplay tilt importance of science,” he said. Rankin said a 16-member com mittee consisting of medical (acuity, admissions officers, undergraduate and pre-med advisers, physicians and students researched to ensure that the new test retained reliability, “We’re hoping the new test will be even better than the old,” Rankin said. What’s Up Monday BRAZOS VALLEY AIDS FOUNDATION: Evelyn Cox, director of education for the Houston AIDS Foundation, will speak at 7 p.m. at the Bryan Public Library. MSC POLITICAL FORUM: Sarah Weddington will discuss Roe vs. Wade at 8:30 p.m. in 201 MSC. MSC FRESHMAN LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS: Adviser applications are due by 5 p.m. in 216 MSC. MINORITY ASSOCIATION OF PRE-HEALTH AGGIES: Dr. Joyce Davis will speak at 7 p.m. in 308 Rudder. AGGIES FOR LIFE: will meet and elect officers at 7:15 p.m. in 228 MSC. HONORS STUDENT COUNCIL: will elect chairpersons at 7:30 p.m. in 410 Rud der. PHYSICAL THERAPY CLUB: will elect officers and have a pizza party at 6:30 p.m. at Mr. Gatti's. CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATION: will have a senior dinner at 7 p.m Call Loraine at 696-6918 for more information. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will meet at noon. Call the C.D.P.E. at 845-0280 for more information. Tuesday DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY/JUNGIAN SOCIETY: will present The Col lective Unconscious: Myth of Scientific Hypothesis" at 7:30 p.m. in 206 MSC. FACULTY FULBRIGHT WORKSHOP: will be at 2:30 p.m in 410 Rudder for all faculty interested in 1990-91 opportunities and application, peer review and se lection process. RECREATIONAL SPORTS: will have registration from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. in 159 Read for a fun run and frisbee golf. ASME/ASCE: will meet at 7 p.m. in 110 Civil Engineering. TAMU HORSEMAN’S ASSOCIATION: will elect officers at 7 p.m. in 115 Kle berg. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will meet at noon. Call the C.D.P.E. at 845-0280 for more information. TAMU SAILING TEAM: will meet at 8 p.m. in 104 Zachry. DANCE ARTS SOCIETY: will meet at 5:30 p.m. in 268 Read. Items for What's Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no later than three business days before the desired run date. We only publish the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Up is a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. if you have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315. Bill would boost funding for community colleges AUSTIN (AP) — Community col leges could tax residents outside their current jurisdictions if lawmak ers pass a bill by Rep. David Hudson that is awaiting a hearing by the full House. Hudson says the bill, co-spon- sored by Sen. Hector Uribe, D- Brownsville, is needed to help strug gling community colleges stay alive by gathering financial support from outlying areas. “Some of the older community colleges . . . started out being at tached to a single independent school district, and in some cases, those are very, very small,” Hudson said. “In some cases, they . . . have not been able to expand. Their local tax ing authority is very, very small be cause their tax base is so small,’’ Hudson said. His bill would allow community colleges to apply to the Higher Edu cation Coordinating Board to ex pand their taxing districts at least to the county line. The Coordinating Board would define the service area of each com munity college, and residents in the existing tax district and the pro posed expansion area would vote on the move, Hudson said. Service areas now are based on in formal agreements by communit) officials through the Regional Coun cils of the Coordinating Board. Under 1969 Texas laws, bounda ries of community college districts may expand by: • A contract signed by all prop erty owners in the territory and pre sented to the district’s governing board. • A vote of the taxpayers in the proposed territory. • Adding territory contiguous with current boundaries with appro val of the voters in the district as changed. Hudson’s proposal would make the colleges less dependent on gov ernment for funding, and would help the institutions lower tax rates and tuition and expand their tax bases, Hudson said. OMMUNICATIOMI UHE KEI TO ROOMMATE SUCCESS lINJj ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A ROOMMATE? If you need a roommate for Summer and/or Fall semester, the Off Campus Center is offering five Roommate Sessions. Attend one or more of the following sessions and meet potential roommates: Dates: Tuesday, April 18 Thursday, April 20 Monday, April 24 Wednesday, April 26 Thursday, April 27 Time: 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Place: MSC 145 For more information, please contact the Off Campus Center, at (409) 845- 1741. The Off Campus Center is located in Puryear Hall, across from the YMCA Bldg., and it is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. carped THE FOLLOWIN AVERAG BULLETIf WITH MERRITT JENNING duJV/x/ <% rs Waldo AJTHE CORPS GOES /N REVIEW, WE FIND THE: WOMEN IN THE BAND MADE IT THROUGH... Proboscis UtSU ' sturup cx. ZmCTHlklU EL Fede accej HOUSTON (AP) the most expensive < history, was accept* Protection Program ecuted for the mur Judge John H. Woo< ported Sunday. Chagra, an El Pa: stakes gambler, was 1984 in exchange fo a Boston man be h U. S. attorney, accon Chagra never tes reached a plea barg; Kearns, who accept* the Justice Departr ecute his wife. The prosecution V. Harrelson of Dal defendant’s acquitta the government sei 1,000 hours of con pects and spent mo its case, Chagra wa: gram by June 1984, Chagra’s acceptai was part of a plea b; U.S. attorneys Ray t nio and Lawrence L criminal division o Washington, the nc The deal was app S. Sessions, who su< of the federal West* is director of the FI per. Sessions ordered sealed in 1984 and Engii of rol LUBBOCK (AP names like Ithinkl Robo-Raider, but 1 blance to R2D2 am Wars robots. Six robots desi| graduate engineeri universities aero; matched wits, or r cessors last weeken only walking robot Walking Machine E With a whir anc signed version of 1 was one of only two push a hockey pucl the specified di marked out on a gy Aptly named I State University’s t six legs that marche with military prec the task to win thi second year in a ro\ University of M smaller creation, dc “We weren’t sur make it,” said Jim CSU electrical eng who along with h acted as a pit crew which was troublec