y
Campus
Page 2 The Battalion Monday, September 23,19911
The Battalion
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Timm Doolen
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Sean Frerking
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Jason Morris
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Yvonne Salce
Sports Editor
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Opinion Editor
Carrie Cavalier
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The Battalion is published
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holidays, exam periods and
when school is not in session
during fall and spring semesters.
Publication is Monday through
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phone number is 845-3316.
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Bryan-College Station.
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Former GLSS advisor receives recognition
By Alysia Woods
The Battalion
A Texas A&M philosophy pro
fessor who has battled to preserve
the rights of gays and lesbians for
a decade has been honored for his
dedication and service.
Dr. Larry Hickman was pre
sented with a special service ap
preciation award from Gay and
Lesbian Student Services (GLSS)
during the committee's meeting
Thursday "for a decade of service
and advisement to GLSS."
Hickman served as faculty ad
visor for the organization for 10
years. He retired from the posi
tion last spring.
Hickman witnessed the orga
nization change from a non-recog-
nized organization by the Univer
sity, when it was Gay Student Ser
vices (GSS), into the active on-
•“ifc.i '
By Robin Goodpaster
TTie Battalion
Statistics can be fun - this may
be hard to believe, but Dr. Fred
Ruppel, a Texas A&M assistant
professor of international agricul
tural trade and finance, has an in
ventive way of translating large
numbers into interesting ideas.
For instance, using unofficial
twelfth day enrollment figures for
campus organization that it is to
day.
GLSS was recognized by the
University as a campus organiza
tion in 1985 after a court battle
that lasted nine years which went
all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
It began in 1976 when three
A&M students sued the Universi
ty because administrators de
clined a request by GSS to adver
tise the club's meeting in The Bat
talion.
"It's an important part of
A&M history," Hickman says.
"The scope of the organization
was very limited during those
years because of antagonism."
Although the organization has
been Restricted in the past, he says,
it will remain an active organiza
tion with goals.
Presently, GLSS offers several
services including a roommate re
ferral service, an information
number called the Gay-Line and a
A&M , Ruppel says the 40,969
A&M students attending classes
this fall could hold hands and en
circle the entire Bryan-College Sta
tion area.
The 33,022 undergraduates at
A&M could encircle the main
campus nearly eight times if they
were laid end to end, Ruppel says.
Ruppel says he got the idea of
translating statistics into common
events from "The Little Prince"
by Antoine de Saint Exupe'ry.
In the book, the little prince
speaker's bureau.
The speaker's bureau is a ser
vice GLSS provides for various
ethics and sexuality courses in
which a gay or lesbian visits the
class and discuss homosexuality,
answering any questions the class
might have.
The Gay-Line is an informa
tion number for people who want
information about GLSS, such as
meeting dates and times.
Hickman says, however, the
Gay-Line receives numerous ha
rassing phone calls.
During a recent two-week pe
riod, the University found that ap
proximately 32 percent of the calls
to Gay-Line were harassing calls.
Hickman says the University
Police Department has been ex
tremely helpful by tracing calls
and fining the offenders.
"During my time as faculty ad
visor, I met with all the top admin
istrators," Hickman says. "They
says that all-the people in the
world could fit in a 20- by-20
square mile area (about 400
square miles).
Ruppel says the five million
people that now inhabit the earth
could fit in a square between
Bryan-College Station, Brenham
and Caldwell, allowing 28 inches
by 18 inches per person.
Other statistics include:
* It would take more than
three months of non-stop double-
have all been very cooperative. I
believe there's not a single admin
istrator who wouldn't go the extra
mile for gay and lesbian rights."
The reasons for Hickman's re
tirement as faculty advisor for
GLSS are obvious, he says.
"For 10 years, there was not a
faculty member who would have
felt safe as an advisor," Hickman
says. "Since I am not gay, I was
protected in a way many were not
in the climate of fear and oppres
sion that existed.
"Now that the first faculty
member openly announced to be
ing gay (in the spring semester
1991), it's OK. It was then time to
pass it (the advisor position)
along."
That faculty member is Jim
Mazzullo, a geology professor and
one of two new faculty advisors
for GLSS. The other is Harriet An-
dreadis, an English professor.
Both began advising for the orga
nization during the summer.
These days, Hickman is invest
ing his extra time in research, anti
several professional organizations
where he serves on the boards of
directors.
He is also a member of the Fac
ulty Senate and chairman of the
Senate's Minority Conditions Sub
committee.
Hickman teaches PHIL 251 (In-
trod uction to Philosophy) and
PHIL 205 (Technology and Hu
man Values).
He also teaches PHIL 375 (Phi
losophy of Visual Media), a class
he developed that is usually of
fered in the spring.
Hickman says despite his re
tirement as faculty advisor, he
hopes to keep in touch with GLSS
in the future.
"I am very proud to have beer
able to work with the gay students
over the years," he says. "I plan to
continue to do so, only now,ina
different role."
Police seek
grocery store
burglars
The Brazos County Sheriff!
Department received reports of
three burglaries of grocery stores
in the first three weeks of August.
Benny's Grocery on Highway
21 east of Bryan, Green Acres Gro
cery on Highway 30 east of Col
lege Station, and Wellborn grocen
on FM 2154 in Wellborn were the
targets of the thieves.
In each case, the thieves forced
their way into the store, searched
through the counter for things of
value, then stole over 250 cartons
of cigarettes, six 12-packs of beer
and more than $200 worth of
change. Store owners report that
more than $4,000 worth of these
items were stolen.
Sheriff's investigators believe
that these burglaries may have
been commi^t*d by the same per
sons and that they may be related
to similar burglaries in Grimes
County. Investigators also believe
that the thieves will have solder
traded the cigarettes in the local
area.
This week the Brazos County
Sheriff's Department and Crime
Stoppers need your help in identi
fying the people responsible for
these burglaries.
If you have information that
could be helpful, call Crime Stop
pers at 775-TIPS.
Custodians help campus run smoothly
By Melinda Cox
The Battalion
They rise early in the morning, performing
some of the most important but often most
overlooked tasks on the Texas A&M campus.
They clean, tidy and maintain more than
eight million square feet a day, and most of
them report to work before 6 a.m.
They are A&M's custodial workers and
their jobs are essential for running the campus,
says Robert Mathis, manager of custodial ser
vices.
"Our workers come across something dif
ferent every day," he says.
Custodial workers are responsible for the
cleaning and maintenance of most buildings
on campus, but they no longer clean the dor
mitories, Mathis says. The workers do general
housekeeping including cleaning the floors.
"The workers even do windows," he says.
A&M custodians also do bid work. Bid
work includes being hired on contracts to
work at places such as the Association of For
mer Students. Mathis says his department has
won the bid through lower prices and better
work.
"Custodial services is a service orientated
business and cost is important," Mathis says.
Cost and efficiency are maintained through
classes each employee must attend. Workers
must go through a training course to become
familiar with different techniques and chemi
cals used by the services. New devices are con
stantly becoming available to reduce cost and
time and workers must be familiar with the
changes, he says.
Keeping A&M's campus clean is a 24-hour
job, Mathis says. Shifts begin at different times
of the day with the first shift starting at 6 a.m.
and ending at 2:30 p.m. Mathis says this is
when most of the cleaning is done.
Restrooms are the first areas to be cleaned,
then office spaces, hallways and finally labora
tories. Mathis says each worker is responsible
for about 24,000 square footage.
Mathis says because the workers become
an integral part of the building, they become
part of the family with A&M faculty and staff.
In fact, when staff move to another building
they often request certain custodial workers
move with them, Mathis says.
Some workers have been with the Univer
sity for a number of years, he says.
A promotion system might be the reason
for the long term employment rate with the
University.
People who are hired through custodial
services enter as a "custodial worker 1" and
are able to progress up the ladder as a position
becomes available, Mathis says. The next posi
tion is "custodial worker 2" , then leader, su
pervisor and finally shift supervisor.
Professor translates statistics into fun ideas
elimination competition to deter
mine the table tennis champion of
the 7,292 graduate students at
tending A&M this semester.
* It would take 50 Aggie buses
more than 10 trips each to haul the
23,989 men enrolled during Fall
1991 to the Snook Bakery for Sat
urday morning kolaches.
* It would take 4,000 Bucky
Richardsons to bench press the
16,975 women that are enrolled
this fall.
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