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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1993)
The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 131 (12 pages) 1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Thursday, April 15,1993 Unify Fest '93 urges alternative to KKK By GINA HOWARD The Battalion Ten Texas A&M University student organizations are banding to gether to provide the community with an alternative to protesting the local Ku Klux Klan rally April 24. Whoopstock Unity Fest '93 is a non-discriminatory event to keep people away from the rally, said Michael Deen, co-coordinator of the festival. "When we read the KKK was coming to town, we realized the need for an alternative event to celebrate the unity of Bryan-College Station and A&M," Deen said. "We wanted to put on an event everyone could participate in regardless of religion, sex or color. The festival is for all people." He said he hopes people participate in Whoopstock to keep pub licity away from the Klan rally. "We don't want to see anyone protest because it would only give them publicity they don't deserve," Deen said. "Some groups who planned to protest are now part of the Unity Festival." Even if people are offended and angry at the Klan's activities, the best protest is to not go to the rally, he said. "We want to show the Klan the Aggie Spirit," Deen said. The festival will provide music and entertainment at no charge. Deen said financial support will come from Texas A&M's student services department and donations. Entertainment will include local bands, and possibly celebrities, but nothing has been confirmed yet. The yell leaders will be on hand to conduct yell practice. The Department of Food Services will provide food at a minimal cost. "For somewhere around a buck you will be able to buy a coke and a hot dog," Deen said. Ric Gonzalez, MSC Black Awareness Committee member, said he would like to see the festival continued in the future. "This (the Klan rally) may be the reason to unify, but we need to keep it going and show we don't need a reason to come together," Gonzalez said. Deen said as many as 2,000 people are expected to attend. Student organizations sponsoring the program include Student Government Association, Interfraternity Council, MSC Black Aware ness Committee, Off Campus Aggies, NAACP, Pan-Hellenic Coun cil, Panhellenic Council, Fish Camp, and University Awareness for Cultural Togetherness (U-ACT). Whoopstock Unity Fest '93 will be April 24 from noon to 5 p.m. on the Polo Fields. Communication breakdown Linguistic barriers hurt education, dean says By STEPHANIE PATTILLO The Battalion One of the greatest obstacles to learning in the classroom is a lack of communication between stu dents and instructors - especially foreign instructors, said Dr. William Perry, dean of faculties and associate provost Tuesday. But although Texas A&M has taken measures to alleviate this problem, it still exists. Dr. John J. Koldus III, vice president of student ser vices, fre quently holds student lun cheons to dis cuss student concerns. "I ask stu dents if they could change one thing about Texas A&M, what would it be," Koldus said. "Often the con cern of a great number of students is the difficulty of understanding some members of the faculty." Brian Walker, Student Senate speaker and student body presi dent-elect said the fact that pro fessors are foreign is not the prob lem. "A lot of students have voiced concern when they have a professor whose English isn't eas ily understood," he said. But, Larry Greshom, director for the Center for Teaching En hancement, said not all classroom communication problems are lan guage differences, some may be traced back to cultural differ ences. "In many foreign countries the profs are seen as gods," he said. "Here in America, students don't buy that. Foreign professors de mand more respect than the A&M student population gives them." To give students an opportuni ty to voice their concerns and complaints about their instruc tors, the Classroom Com muni- cation En hancement Program was formed more than three years ago. Dr. E Dean Gage, senior vice president and provost, said the program was started to investigate and handle scattered complaints among students. Fewer than 10 students register complaints each term about their instructors be cause of communication prob lems, he said. "Rather than deal with the ru mor, we decided to put in place a procedure in which legitimate concerns could be expressed by students and addressed by the University," Gage said. See Professors/Page 3 "Often the concern of a great number of students is the difficulty of under standing some members of the faculty." -Dr. John Koldus III, vice president student services NOW rally stresses campus safety By JULIE CHELKOWSKI The Battalion Texas A&M's chapter of the National Organization for Women banded together with other stu dents Wednesday night to pro mote a safer campus for women and children during the second annual Take Back the Night rally. Poor weather prevented a high turnout, but it did not stop NOW from communicating its message - violence against women is a se rious problem, and it needs to stop. Jennifer Adams, NOW treasur er, said the purpose of the annual rally is to raise awareness that vio lence is a problem on campus, and help is available for victims. "People aren't aware that rapes occur on campus," she said. NOW and the Brazos Valley Rape Crisis Center submitted a list of suggestions to A&M offi cials for increasing campus safety. The list included increased light ing, increased publicity for escort services and the rape crisis center, convenient night parking for women, and rape awareness fo rums for all incoming freshmen. "These freshman girls are sit ting ducks," said Dr. Wendy Stock, professor of psychology and NOW adviser. "They come to school, go to a party, get drunk, and then get raped." The rally featured a local folk singer, Stacy Lieder, who wrote a song specifically for the Take Back the Night and summarized the goal of the rally with the follow ing passage: "Daughters of the night, born in the shadows of the night. Join your hands and show your might for now is the time to Take Back the Night." Take Back the Night began in the late 1970s at the University of California and continues today nationwide sponsored by various feminist groups. Jim Kuboviak, Bryan county at torney, praised Take Back the Night and other programs like it because they have a positive im pact. He said that even though re ports to the Bryan Police of family violence have increased from 500 in 1985 to 666 in 1992, it does not mean that violence has increased - just awareness. "It is no worse than it has ever been, it's things like this that help to educate people about violence," Kuboviak said. Stock presented an explicit slide show of pornography and See NOW/Page 10 Rain or shine? RICHARD DIXON/The Battalion Students try to keep dry Wednesday afternoon outside of Harrington Wednesday afternoon and night, but the heaviest storms moved east Education Center. About 10 minutes later the sun was shining and j n to Louisiana late in the afternoon. The line of thunderstorms was the rain had quit. Much of Texas was under a tornado watch associated with a cold front that was moving across the region. Senate committee OKs new power plant for University Mobley to make A&M smoke-free by summer By GINA HOWARD The Battalion Texas A&M University will be come a smoke-free campus this summer under the order of Uni versity President Dr. William Mobley. Dr. E. Dean Gage, senior vice president and provost, said Mob ley's order is an extension of cur rent University guidelines. "A&M is already an almost smoke-free campus," Gage said. "This will just carry it a little fur ther as is being done in many oth er cases throughout the country." Last week, Mobley released a memorandum outlining extend ed restrictions on A&M's present smoking policy, including a smoking ban inside all University facilities and vehicles. The prohi bition extends to all public seating in outdoor arenas such as Kyle Field and Olsen Field. The order, which originated in the Faculty Senate, will go into ef fect June 1. In a survey requested by Mob ley in January, building proctors reported 145 of 190 buildings are presently smoke-free. Thirty-three percent permit smoking in designated ar eas only, and 12 restrict re strict smoking to individual offices. Gage said he has heard only good responses about the new policy. In the memorandum, Mobley cited scientific findings by the U. S. Surgeon General and the Envi ronmental Protection Agency which indicate the separation of buddings into smoking and non smoking sections does not neces- saiily eliminate tobacco smoke health risks. "Such evidence leads me to conclude that a more beneficial policy would require all facilities to be smoke-free," Mobley stated in the memo. See Smoking/Page 3 By JULI PHILLIPS The Battalion AUSTIN - The state Senate Ed ucation Committee unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would allow Texas A&M Univer sity to build a power plant to cov er its increasing energy needs. "This plan has the potential to be an incredible model to others in the state and country," Univer- By SHELIA VELA Tlte Battalion Texas A&M University will serve as host for its annual 1993 Parents' Weekend this week with activities including campus tours, awards ceremonies, social events such as Casino Night and a Fish Drill Team performance. "It is an opportunity for us to show our parents what we do and what traditions exist at Texas sity President Dr. William Mobley told committee members Wednes day. "We need to find a cost-ef fective way to meet our energy needs." Sen. Jim Turner, R-Crockett, the bill's sponsor, told the com mittee that the new facility would be environmentally sound be cause it would burn natural gas to See Power Plant/Page 10 A&M, as well as giving them a big welcome," said Ashley Mathews, Parents' Weekend Chair and se nior marketing major. Parents' Weekend originated in 1919 and was originally called Parents' Day. In the past 20 years, it has become a weekend event held every year in the spring. "Parents' Weekend is a way to show off everything about A&M in one weekend and thank parents See Parents' Weekend/Page 6 Gage Campus gears up for annual Parents' Weekend, activities A&M, SACS meet to discuss re-accreditation Academic Building By JENNIFER SMITH The Battalion The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which has been visiting the Texas A&M cam pus since Monday, will meet with University President William Mobley today to re-accredit the University. Members of the SACS have been interviewing faculty, staff and students in an attempt to re view University services. A&M participates in the accreditation process every 10 years. To prepare for this process, the University has conducted a self- study for the past two years. The self-study was completed about a month ago and was given to the SACS before representatives came to A&M. Dr. Lee Blank, director of the self-study, said after the study was completed, the University compiled a list of recommenda tions for A&M's future. "Our basic recommendation is that this University become much more involved and serve as a fa cilitator for continuous improve ment," Blank said. Dr. E. Dean Gage, provost and senior vice president, said A&M will surely be re-accredited. "It is essential for A&M to be accredit ed," he said. The self-study has assisted A&M officials in evaluating per formance, Gage said. "It's a process that is helpful to us," he said. "They (the SACS) al ways makes recommendations based on their findings. But, Gage said, the SACS does more than point out areas needing improvement. "They also point out good things A&M is doing," he said. Blank said three of the 33 mem bers of SACS are visiting A&M at Galveston to assess its services. The Galveston campus had not been included in previous accredi tation processes was studied this time because it is now a part of the A&M campus. The SACS has been in continu ous contact with students since they arrived on campus. "They are asking questions about programs the University provides to the student, and how they feel about their input in the future," Blank said. SACS' fundamental goal is to decide whether A&M is meeting its mission and purpose. Gage said this involves academics, re search, faculty policies, student programs, foundations and many other services. "They've been meeting since Monday with all the different col leges looking at all the academic programs," Gage said. "The crite ria for accreditation involves the entire University." Insid Sports •Baseball: Texas Aggies defeat Texas Southern 1 2-2, move to 38-5 •Column: Raggies walk fine line between heckling and harassment Page 7 Opinion •Editorial: Aggies not obligated to uncover in MSC •Column: No one ever stops growing up Page 11