Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1990)
IlP‘3«'"D _ « m _ 1» - ne Battalion '-.trfr mm How to handle stress Symptoms alert students ^ to stress See Page 6 Vol. 90 No. 4 USPS 045360 16 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, September 6,1990 Residents approve 24-hour visitation for coed dorms “Because the majority of residents living in Eppright and Wells halls are upperclassmen, we feel they are old enough to handle the 24- hour visitation rights.” — Tribble Carter, RHA director of facilities By ELIZABETH TISCH Of The Battalion Staff Residents of Texas A&M’s coed halls are allowed to have late-night guests starting today after residents voted in favor of 24-hour visitation. Tribble Carter, director of facili ties for A&M’s Resident Hall Asso- dation, said if residents wanted the present visitation hours to change, more than 90 percent of the coed hall votes had to be in favor of the policy revision. “The voting results showed Ep pright Hall residents voted in favor of the 24-hour visitation rule 220-1,” Carter said. The drafting of the proposal, which excludes the coed honor dorm, began in February when Car ter and Wells Hall President Andrea Maisonneuve decided residents of the two coed south-side dorms were responsible adults who could respect and manage extended visitation hours. “Because the majority of residents living in Eppright anti Wells halls are upperclassmen, we feel they are old enough to handle the 24-hour visitation rights,” Carter said. Maisonneuve and Carter both agreed 24-hour visitation rights only would make sense within a coed hall because male and female residents interacted daily while entering and exiting the hall. Carter explained that Lechner, the coed hall for honor students, was excluded from the proposal because residents are mostly first-year stu dents who might not be accustomed to coed hall living. Additionally, he said Lechner Hall students are members of the A&M honors program which con tains different policies about visita tion rights. Carter said the decision for ex tended hours came as no surprise since Eppright and Wells halls al ready had granted all-day visitation within the hallways. “Last year, all-day visitation took place in the halls, but the noise level increased,” he said. “We knew this could be prevented by allowing resi dents to visit with guests in dorm rooms.” Roger Lopez, a resident director for Eppright Hall said he does not foresee any major problems with the policy revision. He said his hall residents are co operative and quiet. He is worried, however, about roommate conflicts that could result from visitation abuse. “Some students may become an gry when their roommate’s guests stay too long,” he said. “To avoid this confrontation, every student living under the new coed rule must sign a contract that promises to respect (one) another’s study and sleeping time.” Carter said those questioning stu dents’ safety should be reminded about the heavily enforced escort policy. In other words, guests are permitted entry only at a resident’s request. Residents also must walk vis itors into and out of the halls at all times. RHA President Kyle Jacobson said other A&M resident halls have reacted to the new policy by drafting their own proposals that would allow for a similar visitation policy. The non-coed halls are allowed visitation from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 10 to 1:30 a.m. on weekends. Ja cobson said because of A&M’s con servatism, it might take longer for these halls to convert to all-day visi tation rules. Hall councils most likely will have to settle for 24-hour visitation in the television and study lounges before a complete change will occur. Loyal Aggie Band fans N Photos by Jay Janner Above: Underwood Hall residents Terri Goertner, Amy Brownd, Vicki Carlock, Jennifer Hopp and Mary Ellen Phelps brave the wind and rain to watch the Aggie Band practice at their drill field -- as they do every Monday through Thursday. Below: Aggie Band members run through the rain between drills Wednesday. Railroad track area to provide parking By CHRIS VAUGHN Of The Battalion Staff Fearful of accidents near the railroad tracks on I Wellborn Road, Texas A&M and Southern Pa- 1 cific Railroad negotiated a lease giving A&M con- 1 trol over the area and off-campus students more I parking. A&M signed the $500, one-year lease this sum- ! mer giving students the right to park in the area 1 on Wellborn Road across from Kyle Field, which i previously was prohibited by the lease. This adds 450 spaces for off-campus students I only. University officials prohibited parking in the If dirt lot except during football games until two I years ago when it quit patrolling the area. A&M and Southern Pacific then became con cerned cars were parking too close to the tracks. “It became dear we were going to have to do something because there was a lot of liability in that area,!’ said Mary Miller, assistant vice presi dent for finance and administration. “We either needed to enforce it or come to a new agreement.” Tom Williams, director of Parking, Transit arid Traffic Services at A&M, agreed the Univer sity had to restore order in the area. “Several times trains had to stop because cars were on the tracks or too close and the police had problems with it because there was no order to the parking,” Williams said. “Now we have the ability to police it and bring some order to it.” Miller said A&M chose to negotiate a new lease allowing students to park there because of a shortage of off-campus student parking. The University placed 1,000 concrete bump ers in the lot to better regulate it and prohibit parking closer than 15 feet to the tracks. Stu dents now must have a parking sticker to park in the lot. “It will be regulated and enforced like any other lot,” Miller said. Williams said there are no plans to pave the lot since the LoTrak project is still in the planning stage. Some of the off-campus student parking prob lems will be relieved when construction ends at the parking lot near the tennis courts and the MSG parking garage opens, he said. Bush considers fresh look at economic aid to WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Wednes day, four days before the U.S.-Soviet ; summit, that it would take a fresh look at direct economic aid for the Soviet Union in light of Moscow’s “real and very helpful support” in the Persian Gulf. The administration has previously rejected the idea, but presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, “The Soviet cooperation in the gulf has impressed us to the point where we are even more interested in being supportive economically if we can be.” Meanwhile, the White House an nounced that President Bush would address a joint session of Congress next Tuesday night after returning from his weekend summit with So viet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Bush’s topics, aides said, would in clude the summit and the gulf crisis. According to a White House statement, Bush had brought up the idea of the joint session appearance earlier in the day in conversations with House Speaker Thomas S. Fo ley, D-Wash., and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine. “Speaker Foley extended an invi tation to the president on behalf of both chambers,” the statement said. White House aides said that the speech would deal primarily with the Persian Gulf crisis but that Bush would also give lawmakers a run down on his session in Helsinki with Soviets Gorbachev. In pre-summit comments, White House officials seemed to be going out of their way to praise the Soviets. Fitzwater said he was certain the issue of Western economic aid to Moscow would come up at Sunday’s summit. The administration op posed direct economic aid as re cently as last July at the economic summit of seven industrial nations in Houston. But, Fitzwater said of the Soviets, “They have sent ships to the gulf. They have been supportive. Presi dent Gorbachev has made some strong public statements” of support for the U.N.-backed trade embargo against Iraq. BATTIPS Anyone with story suggestions can call BATTIPS, The Battalion’s phone line designed to improve communication between the newspa per and its readers. BATTIPS’ number is 845-3315. Ideas can include news stories, feature ideas and personality pro files of interesting people. Focus will be political, cultural Persian Gulf crisis topic of discussions By MIKE LUMAN Of The Battalion Staff Texas A&M’s Jordan Institute for International Awareness and the MSG Political Forum will explore the crisis in the Middle East through a lecture program Sept. 25 and 26. Topics include political aspects of the Persian Gulf situation and in sight into the culture of Iraq. Michael Burguieres, Jordan Insti tute program director, said the orga nization’s focus was on understand ing the Iraqi outlook. “In the long-term, we need to find a solution that sits well with the Iraqi people,” Burguieres said. “To do that we need to understand who they are.” He said the image of Iraq pre sented by the media leads people to believe Iraqis are “a bunch of fanat ics.” News reported is necessary and accurate, but reporters give little time to Iraqi culture, he said. “The media is concerned with the political side of the crisis,” Bur guieres said. “They don’t really go into the people. “Why do they act as they do? Not just outward appearances, but who are they even if the crisis had never happened?” He said speakers were not defi nite, but the University of Texas center for Middle East studies had been contacted. Dr. Ronald Hatchett, lecturer in geography and deputy director of programs for A&M’s Mosher Insti tute for Defense Studies, will speak for the Political Forum. Hatchett was a member of the Middle East desk of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1980 to 1983. He said he would speak about U.S. interests in the Middle East, and why the U.S. military will likely remain active in the region a long time. “Why did Saddam Hussein go into Kuwait?” Hatchett said. “It’s not as simple as to grab some money. “It’s a culmination of a long sim mering social, political and economic process in that portion of the world.” Erin Bertin, Political Forum pro gram director, said the forum is in terested in communicating facts about the gulf crisis. Political Forum seeks to educate students in world affairs, she said. The Jordan Institute, an MSG program, promotes international awareness through programs in cluding travel opportunities, inter national speakers, exhibitions, cultu ral programs and international career seminars. Friendship partners ease international transitions By JULIE MYERS Of The Battalion Staff Imagine being a new student at an unfamiliar university in a foreign country — and being alone. Texas A&M’s Office of Interna tional Student Services is trying to ease international students’ tran sitions with international friendship partners. Friendship partners bring U.S. and international students together to have cross-cultural relationships. The program also furthers under standing among people of various cultures, said Suzanne Droleskey, student adviser for the office of In ternational Student Services. An influx of applications from in ternational students began during the fall semester, Droleskey said, and 30 to 40 students have been waiting for friendship partners since the spring. The need is great but the problem is no one knows it exists, Droleskey said. She said two types of applications are available — one for the interna tional student and one for U.S. citi zens or families. Droleskey said the application and interview process is simple. Partners who are U.S. citizens should specify their background and occupation, hobbies and countries interesting them, and whether they are married or single, and male or female. “Some students who have an in terest in Japan, for example, might want to be a friendship partner with a student from Japan,” Drolesky said. “But the best kinds of partners are those with no preferences be cause if a student specifically prefers an Australian there might not be one.” Once international student serv ices makes a match, the U.S. partner is given the international student’s name and phone number and the rest is up to them. Some partners set up a time to have dinner once a week or some other casual gathering. “Do what you feel comfortable with,” Droleskey said. It’s always exciting, she said, be cause participants are open to a wide range of experiences. Many friendships endure beyond the college years. Droleskey said some international students have invited their Ameri can friends to their country for Christmas, or the American friends have hosted the international stu dents for Thanksgiving. Droleskey said U.S. citizens want ing to become international friendship partners should be open to students from all countries, not just those they are familiar with. “Having international friends makes a person well rounded and more able to understand and handle international types of problems,” Drolesky said. “U.S. citizens who vol unteer to be friendship partners are acting as ambassadors of good will and hospitality between countries. “We send a message through the international student that the United States is a welcoming place for people from other countries. We need that for international stability, and I think that’s a feeling we want to perpetuate.” For more information about the program, call international student services at 845-1825.