Battalion
Vol. 93 No. 33 (8 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Wednesday, October 13, 1993
North Texas sorority faces possible ban for hazing incidents
The Associated Press
DALLAS — The University of North
Texas could ban a sorority for hazing
which already has brought jail terms to
five members.
The university's dean of students was
scheduled to meet Wednesday with Al
pha Kappa Alpha's national representa
tives. Dean Greg Sawyer said he would
then announce his decision about the
sorority's future at the Denton school.
The sorority's UNT chapter has been
suspended from group activities since
April, when the hazing was first reported.
Criminal charges were filed against
seven sorority members after accusations
that pledges were struck with paddles
and forced to eat hot peppers.
Phillip Bustos, associate dean of stu
dents, told The Dallas Morning News that
LINT could expel the sorority from cam
pus, place it on disciplinary probation or
impose other sanctions.
"There were allegations of phvsical
hazing, specifically paddling," said Phil
Revnolds, Denton County assistant district
attorney. "They were hitting them with
eggs, breaking raw eggs over their heads.
"They were making pledges.eat cer
tain foods that they most probably
wouldn't have eaten otherwise, like hot
peppers," he said. "It was verbal, mental
and physical hazing."
A Denton telephone number for the
chapter was not listed. Officials at the
sorority's Dallas office and Sawyer did
not immediatelv return telephone calls
Tuesday from The Associated Press.
In September, five sororitv members
were convicted of hazing, a misdemeanor.
Each woman was sentenced to 90 days in
jail and one year of probation, as well as 24
to 40 hours of community service. Two
were also assessed S500 fines.
Two other sorority members also faced
hazing charges but have not vet been tried.
The university will consider the sorori-
ty's hazing record when deciding
whether it should be allowed to continue
functioning on campus, said Sawyer.
Pie said national sorority rules and
UNT regulations ban physical and psy
chological hazing that was once consid
ered traditional.
Freshmen elect Kipe president
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
Freshmen elected Gary Kipe
as the new class president dur
ing Tuesday's runoff election.
Kipe said he will now begin
working to accomplish the goals
he set for himself.
"My immediate goal is to get
the fighting class of '97 as moti
vated and enthusiastic as possi
ble," Kipe said.
Kipe won the election with
55.21 percent of the vote.
Freshmen class officers are:
Chris Foster; vice president, re
ceiving 53.28 percent of the vote;
Jimbo Cross; treasurer, 54.5 per-
cent;Natalie Reinhardt, secre
tary, 58 percent; Tracey Mapes,
social secretary, 50.1 percent;
and Daniel Chaput, historian,
received 57.1 percent.
Election Commissioner
Steven Mathews said this has
been the largest turnout ever for
freshmen elections.
In the general election Thurs
day, 1,081 freshmen voted and
542 voted in the runoff.
Mathews said this year's elec
tion ran more smoothly than
past elections.
"I attribute most of the suc
cess of the election to the class of
'97," Mathews said. "They are
so fired up."
Mike Stcelc/l fu Battalion
Political science major Gary Kipe (left) of Houston
learns of his election as freshmen class president
Tuesday evening with his girlfriend Lacy Williams,
a freshman biology major from Houston.
Acid leak prompts
building evacuation
By James Bernsen
The Battalion
Fire Department officials suspect hydrochloric acid was behind a re
ported natural gas leak in the O&M Building that forced the evacuation of
faculty and students Tuesday afternoon.
Charles Hamburg, a University maintenance worker who responded to
the call, said he received a phone call around 2:25 p.m. of a gas smell in the
building. By the time he arrived, the building proctor had pulled the fire
alarm.
Lt. Bobby Rogers, College Station Fire Department, said firefighters ar
rived and searched the 14th floor of the building looking for a leak but
found no trace of gas.
"It's just one of those situations where you just don't know for sure
what the real cause was," he said.
Henry Moehlman, University maintenance worker, said he was part of
a crew that used hydrochloric acid to clean a water distillation unit, a
standard procedure.
"We were putting the chemical in the water system to remove rusts and
salts," he said. "I put some in earlier this morning and no one complained.
This is the first time in 15 years or better."
In all the years he has been using this procedure, Moehlman said he has
never received training on how to handle chemicals.
Mary Jo Powell, a representative of University' Relations, said the acid
used was not strong enough to require special training, and University
employees who are required to use the stronger chemicals receive training.
"What they were using was a mild, domestic, institutional acid that's
designed to clean such things as toilet bowls and urinals," she said.
Maintenance workers applied the chemical near an air handling sys
tem, which may have caused its fumes to spread through throughout the
building, Rogers said. But, he said, officials are not sure this was the cause
because by the time firefighters arrived the smell had dissipated.
"I can't verify that this set off the alarm," he said. "What they did may
have had nothing to do with it."
Powell said the Physical Plant is investigating the incident to determine
if the acid was responsible for the smell.
Neither the Physical Plant employees nor the people in the building
were ever in any danger, she said.
. Supreme Court turns down
appeal for fired homosexual
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A CIA employee fired for hiding his homosexu
ality from the agency for more than five years lost an appeal to the
Supreme Court Tuesday.
The court refused to hear his job-bias argument that the CIA im
properly view's homosexual employees as a greater security risk than
heterosexuals.
A lower court ruling in the case leaves federal executive agencies
free to discriminate against gay employees, the appeal had argued.
The man identified in court papers as John Doe has been on paid
administrative leave since 1985, w'hen a federal judge ruled that his
dismissal had been improper.
CIA spokesman David French said the agency now will consider
seeking reimbursement of Doe's pay and benefits.
In other action Tuesday, the court:
— Let stand the conviction of New Hampshire school instructor
Pamela Smart, serving a life prison term for coaxing her student lover
to kill her husband in 1990.
— Agreed to use a Maryland case to consider giving convicted crim
inals an earlier chance to challenge career-offender sentences based
partly on their prior convictions.
— Agreed to clarify the deadline for giving people charged with
federal crimes their initial day in court.'The case involves a California
man accused of possessing counterfeit money.
In the CIA case. Doe joined the agency as a clerk-typist in 1973 and
was promoted to an undercover position in 1980. He began engaging
in homosexual activity in 1976 and voluntarily told a CIA official in
January 1982 that he was a homosexual, his app>eal said.
See Homosexual/Page 3
American warship retreats from Haiti
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Hundreds of
militant right-wingers cheered Tuesday as an
American Warship left Haiti, in a retreat that
marked a major setback for the U.N. mission to
restore democracy here.
The aborted troop deployment threatened
to derail international efforts to prepare for the
return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aris
tide on Oct. 30, U.S. officials in Haiti said.
The National Coalition declared Tuesday a
"dav of indignation," stoppiing buses to keep
children out of school and urging their army to
resist a foreign "invasion."
"We're ready to die!" said Jacques Robert,
32, an engineer w'ho with scores of others
stayed through an all-night "patriotic vigil" at
the dock.
"We'll stay here till Oct. 30. We're mobi
lized. We don't w r ant Aristide back!”
The USS Harlan County pulled anchor just
minutes after Pentagon ordered it to withdraw
to international wmters.
Among the crow'd of applauding/cheering
people at dockside was a beaming, gun-
wielding senior aide to Haitian army com
mander Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, who ousted
Aristide in 1991.
See Haiti/Page 3
Inside
Sports
•Baylor comes off a one-game
passing suspension against
A&M this weekend
Page 5
Opinion
•Parents shouldn't blame
Beavis and Butt-head for
children's misbehavior
Page 7
Weather
•Wednesday: partly
cloudy, scattered
showers, highs in 80s,
lows in 60s
• Thursday: mostly cloudy,
highs in 80s
•Weekend forecast: partly
cloudy, slight chance of
showers, highs in 80s
Math anxiety? — Fear of numbers hits A&M
By Kim Horton
The Battauon
A bout 25 students at Texas
A&M have been diag
nosed with math anxiety,
the acquired fear of the language
of math.
Rodney Paris, lecturer for the
Center of Academic Enhance
ment, said the problem has been
around for
"One young lady broke
into tears at the mere
mention of math."
- Rodney Paris, lecturer for
Center of Academic
Enhancement
years, but it
has only re
cently been
treated seri
ously.
" All
math teach
ers who
have taught
in the past
50 years
have come
across students with this fear, but
it is not until now' that it has
gained acceptance as a problem,"
Paris said.
"It was humiliating for stu
dents to say they had this prob
lem," Paris said, "but now it is al
most acceptable to be afraid."
Students with this anxiety ex
perience sweating, trembling
hands, and extreme fear when
faced with basic math problems.
"One young lady broke into
tears at the mere mention of
math," Paris said.
Many students' fears stem
from a past humiliating experi
ence with math.
"1 never understood ninth
grade algebra,'" said Lynne
O'Kelly, a junior anthropology
major. "I thought I was stupid
and refused to take math in high
school."
O'Kelly said she discovered
that Texas A&M's math profes
sors rush through their lectures
and do not
give ade
quate exam
ples, and the
help ses
sions did
not have
enough in
structors to
help all of
the students.
Through
the develop
mental math
classes and lectures offered by
Paris, students progressively re
learn the structure of math while
building their confidence and un
derstanding.
Paris said it only takes a cou
ple of semesters for students to
reach the equivalent level of
math as their peers.
"There is no known cure, but
students can learn to live and
cope with this fear," he said.
Paris has w'orked wdth stu
dents wdth math anxiety for the
past 10 years.
A ngcl Kan/Tm Battalion
30-93
■J
Tomorrow in Aggielife
Features:
An interview with A&M
student Aval Allen, a
modern dance teacher
&
The Texas
Renaissance
Festival
“llemolition linn" and “Hr. Jonesf
alliums bv Alahaina. He La Siml