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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1992)
ber 12,199] \ —1 ontent. e got to df ,, | are taught;! ve them nok I chers are at-1 ' way that k | t's required,! ce that tli(i! e or she ntt 1 1 state th» \ ■ wonders; ! | can in woiijl Jral ideals. |fl s duty, obli| ? sure that it; 'ounded sta id. "A&Mi prepare stt Iticulturals! ■xas A&M: lents for tl ear 2000, k; Os. ird to not e: -lourrier sa: e importa: I should; find fundi: ptqj 3 been paid 1 1 contributa ort in the P! l olumbia, S.L> 1 most bizar- in 1987 inti Bakker to fa million to tl FL's Christia :itled to rein rot considere heir contribii rs, they woula ernal Revenut em Journalre- more thanSS, lurt-appointe narily lendin d claims froi fees, bills fro: es' claims l( emitted clair ie only mon nt, and 17 p ng that hell i hotel. Sub noney. /vers. Prose personal ii art - mai ED PRESS ie intersecli where emf mildings st e riots of tl /v focal poi( f the 1990s. d by flowers :ture of Mali d man beatf st week, athering poi ■esidents wl t where Gre ravel has | lood stains, his is happe irrie Washinj ee grown cb tion. :ed to be oi black motori ■acially mixe roiled thiscil ited, neighbo V Is with disci Rodney Kit; liliar with : lalice Grefi^ icthing else> : :e lacking tl 1 p to weed e iolent cops' loyed father d injuries in h police. 1 details ha' nesses say tl gan as Gre< 1 near a boar spected to h s officers in unmarked' ime areas, cc police bee he refused his hand, ids wallet, a pi* The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 55 (10 pages) ‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893” Friday, November 13, 1992 Class of '93 hopes to change Elephant Walk Senior officers seek return to solemn format of 'dying' tradition By CHERYL HELLER Reporter of THE BATTALION The Texas A&M Class of '93 hopes to change this year's Ele phant Walk from the egg-throw ing, whipped cream-spraying food fight it has become in recent years. "In the distant past. Elephant Walk was a solemn tradition and a special time for the seniors, but in the last 10 years it has become a big brawl," said Jennifer Cheatham, president of the Class of '93. "Current students think of Elephant Walk as a joke, but it shouldn't be." In the past few years. Elephant Walk has damaged the campus with food, mud fights and fights between the juniors and seniors. Cheatham and Mecca Howard, Class of '93 special activities chair, said they hope the original tradi tion of Elephant Walk will be re stored this year. The class is distributing fliers and pamphlets to educate stu dents about the tradition, and the slogan for this year's Walk is "Pre serve the tradition — keep it clean." "A lot of people don't think about it, but in trying to preserve the tradition they've ruined it," Cheatham said. The Class of '92 did clean up Elephant Walk somewhat, and the administration was pleased with the progress, Howard said. "They (the administration) think we're on the right track, and we want to stay on that track," she said. "We want to return Elephant Walk to the solemn tradition it used to be." Both Cheatham and Howard said they feel that Texas A&M stu dents should respect Elephant Walk as a senior tradition. "We want the seniors to be re spected, and we want a chance to have our own tradition," Cheatham said. "We want the juniors and up perclassmen to respect our tradi tion, because they'll have their chance later," Howard said. This year, the juniors will hold their own activities during Ele phant Walk to prevent tension be tween the juniors and seniors, Howard said. "In the distant past. Elephant Walk was a solemn tradition and a special time for the se niors, but in the last 10 years it has become a big brawl." - Jennifer Cheatham, president, Class of'93 FILE PHOTO/The Battalion Over the years, Elephant Walk has evolved into a food fight. The Class of ‘93 hopes to return the tradition to its original solemnity. Safe sex: Not an American practice THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Americans are not practicing "safe sex," leav ing millions at risk of infection by the AIDS virus, according to au thors of the largest national sexu al survey in more than 40 years. The survey results, to be pub lished Friday in the journal Sci ence, indicate that heterosexual Americans are not taking serious ly the risk of AIDS and that the vast majority with multiple part ners are engaging in sexual inter course without condoms. AIDS has been most prevalent in the United States among homo sexuals and intravenous drug users. But Joseph Catania, a Uni versity of California, San Francis co researcher and an author of the study, said that with so many people not using condoms or oth er protection, "it is just a matter of time before it will spread widely into the heterosexual communi ty" For the survey, more than 10,000 Americans were ques tioned by telephone about their sexual practices. Respondents were selected by a random digit dialing system and represented people between the ages of 18 and 75, married and single, living in major cities and in rural areas. Among the findings: * Seven percent of respondents said they had had multiple sex partners in the previous year. Ten percent of those with added AIDS risk factors said they had had mul tiple partners. * Among heterosexual adults with two or more sex partners in the last five years, 31 percent were at some level of risk of con tracting the human immunodefi ciency vinrs, or HiV, which causes AIDS. * Among those with multiple sex partners, 17 percent used con doms all of the time. Among those with high risk sexual partners, the condom use was only 13 percent. * People with muitiple sexual partners are more likely to be male, African-American or white (in comparison to Hispanic), un married, highly educated and young adults. Whites and blacks were essentially the same in the number of sexual partners. * Women and low-income peo ple were most likely to have risky sexual partners and about 71 per cent of those with such partners reported not using condoms. KARL A. STOLLEIS/Thc Battalion A&M running back Greg Hill celebrates his 2nd 30 win over U of H in the Astrodome Thursday touchdown with James McKeehan in A&M’s 38- night. See Page 7 for complete game coverage. A&M students favor franchises By BRANDI JORDAN Reporter of THE BATTALION Nearly half of Texas A&M stu dents find the idea of a food court with brand-name, or franchise restaurants, "very favorable," ac cording to a survey commissioned by the Office of Finance and Ad ministration. Mary Miller, assistant to Fi nance and Administration Vice President Robert Smith, told the Student Senate Wednesday that the proposed privatized food court would not have a negative impact on food services at A&M. "We don't want a food court versus food services," Miller said. "I guarantee them (food services) that we're only talking about Sbisa Underground, and that's all." Miller said food services per sonnel had objected to the food court proposal because they were poorily informed and unsure of the impact it would have on food service's business. "We feel it's just moving busi ness from one part of the opera tions to another part of the opera tions," she said. "If you had a mo nopoly, you'd be scared of change, too." According to the survey, 38 per cent of students would choose to have a food court instead of exist ing facilities, 13 percent would choose to keep the present food services and 26 percent would choose to have both. Competition among the various businesses will help to keep prices reasonable, Miller said. "We assume the market will drive the prices," Miller said. "If they (the food court) jack up their prices, people won't shop there." Although 42 percent of the stu dents surveyed expressed fears that a privately-owned food court will lead to total privatization of food services on campus. Miller said the students themselves — not the administration — will make that decision. "If all of the students prefer to eat there (at the food court) and food services goes out of business, then that's because of choice," Miller said. WHAT TEXAS A&M STUDENTS ARE IN FAVOR. 38% 3] food court instead of existing facilities | [ keep present food services IB have both food court and services * 23% are indifferent 26% 13% Survey by Texas A&M’s Office of Finance and Administraion ANAS BEN-MUSA/The Battalion United States ranks high in violence, study shows THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The United States leads industrialized nations in murders, sexual assaults and other attacks, and the fear of vio lence has permeated American life, the authors of a new study say. The specter of violence has de graded American life, left people afraid to walk their neighbor hoods at night, put children in danger in school and caused many to barricade themselves be hind locked doors, according to a report released Thursday by the National Research Council. The United States, the study found, is generally more violent than other societies. Despite this, the study said U.S. violence is not the worst it has ever been. The homicide rate peaked in the early 1930s and then dropped for the next 30 years, the study said. The rate rose again be tween 1979 and 1981, then de clined, only to rise again in the late 1980s. Both victims and perpetrators of violent crime are more likely to be male and come from ethnic or racial minorities, the study said. The most likely to commit vio lence are men in the age range of 25 to 29. In the majority of as saults, rapes and homicides, the perpetrator was an acquaintance of the victim. Homicide rates are five times higher among blacks than among whites, and the rate among Native Americans is almost double that of the rest of the population. Victims most often are minori ties, with blacks 41 percent and Hispanics 32 percent more likely to be victims than are whites. The i ost to society of violence is high, the report said. It estimated these average costs per violent in cident: rape, $54,000; robbery, $19,200, and assault, $16,000. This loss includes a value given to pain, suffering, psychological damage and the loss in quality of life. Universities handle multiculturalism differently This is the last in a four-part series that ex amines the possibilities of a required multi cultural curriculum and opinions of people on the University campus. The series will fo cus on faculty and student opinions regard ing multiculturalism at Texas A&M as well as multiculturalism on other university cam puses. By TANYA WILLIAMS Reporter of THE BATTALION ' Texas A&M University is not alone in experiencing insensitive actions against minorities, such as the incident A&M recently experienced involving a frater nity theme party which depicted African-Americans negatively. Across the nation, other universities have experienced the same insensitivity against minorities. But, these universities have already tak en steps to make students more aware of sensitiv ity issues involv ing other races. Stanford Uni versity, in Califor nia, offers an American Studies program in its Department of Humanities which requires students to take a course in race and ethnicity. The class that students are required to take. 'Race and Ethnicity in the American Ex perience/ is listed in the catalog as "re quired by all majors" but does not count towards a student's major. The class focuses on "how factors of race and ethnicity influenced the Ameri can experience, and how prevailing atti tudes about racial and ethnic groups over time have affected the historical and contemporary reality of the nation's major minority popu lations." Other uni versities have dealt with the multicultural question in similar ways. Syracuse Uni versity offers a course entitled, 'Ethnic Minorities/Intergroup Relationships' as a part of its College of Arts and Sciences Program. New York University offers a similar program as a part of its Peace and Global studies minor. But how close is Texas A&M to getting a curriculum change that includes multi culturalism? Pierce Cantrell, chair of the curriculum oversight committee of the A&M's Fac ulty Senate, said that the committee sent out a survey last spring to take recom mendations for establishing a multicul tural curriculum. The survey was sent to the different colleges at A&M and requested opinions on the addition of a multicultural class as recommended by the Committee for a See Culture/Page 6 "I think it would be to the best interest to the University, and to the students, that we educate to have a required mul ticultural course as well as to infuse multiculturalism throughout the regular academic course requirement for particular majors." - Kevin Carreathers, director Department of Multicultural Services