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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1993)
12,1993 'S if the fee rs would ) the Uni- uate and m, Reece Sneering ent in the rincipally -tors," he fall if we - reactors ! sure. •s far, far, a month d. :ol ns /ful ... er- tg terrible /ere free )ut 30,000 rid Warl, ■uction he Germany as indeed J. "Jake" the crowd try's mili- ? up that cans this ys remain md today usands of ? gathered this great iks to our ,ng special i," he said if the Viet 1 in Wash- Ider, com- istin, toki ire no vet e a Fourth mm mm. mm ngen Ige of ? editor aditor rts editor ira, Stephanie Jay Robbins, ada and ring semester 5 7! periods), al ,M University' le Division of sd McDonalrf Jvertising, >nday through ar . To charge Friday, November 12,1993 The Battalion Page 3 Campus News Briefs Civil engineers build bridge, place at contest The Texas A&M University student chapter of the Ameri can Society of Civil Engineers qualified for a national com petition by constructing a 20 loot long bridge that holds up to 2,500 pounds. This bridge was one of 13 entered into the regional com petition held at the University of Texas at Arlington and won third place overall. The bridge was built by the nine-member team and was judged on aesthetics, deflection and speed of construction. The team had the fastest building time of three minutes and 28 seconds and came in second place in the aesthetics category. The civil engineers built the bridge over seven months and tested the bridge in the Univer sity's lab a week before the re gional competition with con crete bags. Program to help bilingual special education Texas A&M has developed a new graduate program in bilingual special education to help teachers better accommo date the disabled Hispanic population with limited Eng lish proficiency. The two-year program con sists of 45 credit hours, which includes a year of required coursework and a year-long in ternship in the classroom. Dr. Salvador Ochoa, coordi nator of the program and assis tant professor of educational psychology, said about one million children in the country require both bilingual and spe cial education. "There are very few teachers who are trained to work with children who have limited pro ficiency in English, as well as handicapped," Ochoa said. "Texas A&M has developed the second program' in the state for this critical area." He said, one out of every five children in Texas has limit ed proficiency in English. Dedication of A&M Beef Center Saturday Texas A&M University's new Beef Center will be dedi cated Saturday, Nov. 13, as the first completed phase of the new Animal Science Teaching, Research and Extension Com- plex. Dr. Bill Turner, professor of animal science and planning coordinator for the new com plex, said the new facility should make Texas A&M unique among land-grant uni versities because it is the only complex he is aware of with classrooms, laboratories, ani mal support facilities and a po tential for extensive student in teraction with all major agricul tural animals so close to cam pus. "It will be an all-purpose, interactive facility run not only for the students but by them, and giving them the best op portunity to achieve and inte grate everything they learn," Turnersaid. The dedication ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Scheduled speakers inclu de Texas A&M Interim President E. Dean Gage and Mary Nan West, a member of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Gage to review study on stress in universities Texas A&M University In terim President E. Dean Gage was one of four higher educa tion chief executive officers in vited to review the findings of a study on research and educa tion stresses in the nation's uni versities. The meeting, hosted by the National Science Board and the Council of the Government- University-Industry Research Roundtable, focused on the findings of a project entitled "Stresses on Research and Edu cation at Colleges and Univer sities." The campus-based pro ject was jointly conducted by the National Science Board and the Roundtable. Gage said his selection to the panel reviewing the find ings was based in part on the fact that Texas A&M is a "top ten university" in both enroll ment and its annual expendi tures in sponsored research. Vet students to sponsor rabies vaccinations Texas A&M veterinary stu dents will sponsor a rabies vac cination clinic to help increase the awareness of getting pets vaccinated to prevent pets from contracting the deadly ra bies virus. The A&M students work in conjunction with the Brazos Animal Shelter and the Brazos Valley Veterinary Medical As sociation to sponsor this event, which targets low-income neighborhoods in Bryan, The clinic is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bryan Central Fire Department. Pet owners will pay a fee of $12 per pet, which includes a rabies vaccination and a Brazos county license tag. General pet care informa tion will be available free of charge. H A&M students helping at-risk teens By Jennifer Kiley The Battalion Texas A&M students are working as men tors to help middle school students who are at risk for alcohol or substance abuse, poor school performance, anti-social behavior or poor achievement. Dr. Randas Menon is a co-principle investi gator for Project BELONG, Building Essential Life Options through New Goals, a program that allows A&M students to work with at-risk teenagers. Menon said the program has met with some success in helping local youth. "We are most successful when the adoles cent wants to be helped and when the parents are involved," he said. "One of the successes we have had is a 14- year-old girl who was thrown out of her home," Menon said. "We worked with the agencies to get her located with another fami ly, and legal guardianship was arranged." The long-term effects of the one-year-old program have not been measured. Menon said it would take at least two to three years before any evaluations could be made. Mentors for Project BELONG are trained during a 10-week program. During the train ing period, mentors learn about tutoring, me diation and conflict resolution. After the training program, each student mentor is paired with an adolescent most of the whom are 11- to 15-years-old. Mentors work with the teenagers for 10 hours a week for 24 weeks. "The mentors sit with the adolescents and identify a concrete goal, such as improving in terpersonal skills, staying out of trouble or im proving work and study habits," Menon said. The program includes activities aimed to ward getting adolescents interested in school. "We brought them to the A&M campus and showed them the labs, we took a group to NASA in Houston, we had a Career Day, and we took a group to the SMU game this week end with tickets donated by the Athletic De partment," Menom said. "The idea is to show the adolescents what is available down the road if they are willing to work for it." Texas A&M student Lisa DaVila completed students the 24-week program. She said the program proved successful for the student that she worked with. "Some of the kids were not cooperative at all," she said. "I was one of the lucky ones. Mine was very cooperative. She took advan tage of the program and really got a lot out of it." Study group conducts research on education By Kim McGuire The Battalion The Texas A&M University Legislative Study Group is con ducting research on issues affect ing higher education in order to prepare for the next meeting of the Texas Legislature. The Legislature won't meet un til January 1995, but Karla Staha, LSG chairman, said the organiza tion will keep busy during the "off year" doing research. "We'll be conducting massive research in many areas that will be affecting the students of Texas A&M," Staha said. "After the re search is done, we'll take a stance on it and will represent the views of Texas A&M at the next Legisla ture." LSG consists of four subcom mittees that conduct research in their respective fields. The Budget, Financial Aid and Tuition subcommittee is research ing areas such as budget and ex penditures, tuition and fees, and financial aid. Holly Womack, subcommittee chairman, said they have concen trated their research efforts on fi nancial aid. "We've been working with the Legislative Coordinating Board to obtain information about how much is allocated to programs like grants, loans and scholarships," Womack said. "We're very con cerned about the status of Pell grants and the possibility of tu ition increases." The Student Regent Subcom mittee finds support for creating a student regent position on A&M's Board of Regents and develops a plan of how a student regent could be selected. Becky Silloway, student regent subcommittee chairman, said LSG supports the idea behind the stu dent regent plan and plans to voice its support during the next legislative session. "This idea has been around for the past 30 years and each year it gets a little closer to being passed," Silloway said. "Last year, it passed the Senate and died on the floor of the House. Staha said the subcommittee is focusing its research on develop ing qualifications a student regent candidates would need to meet. "Around 44 states have student regents," Staha said. "We've been looking at what works for them and are trying to determine what the qualifications should be." Staha said LSG v^ill take trips to Austin to meet with legislators to establish relations before the next legislative session begins. "Our members are expected to meet with their legislators when ever they can to let them know what LSG is working on," Staha said. "One of our goals is to in crease awareness about LSG and what we're doing." She said LSG works closely with the Student Senate and must have their approval on all the leg islation they advocate. "That's why we encourage stu dents to talk to their student sena tors," Staha said. "We encourage them to voice their opinions about the issues we are confronting. They are things affecting us at state and national levels." Staha said another of LSG's goals is to network with other or ganizations similar to LSG to as sist in research. "Some of the systems' branches like West Texas State and Galve ston are currently setting up LSGs," Staha said. "We want to get them involved because legisla tion going through the Legislature affects them, too." ! V Mi M Original All-Leather Spectator ENTIRE STOCK! $>7099 Genuine Similiar to Photo 119 99 1st Quality LIZARD Reg. $249.99 s 219 99 laiedo Hmm WESTERN BOOTS Men’s & Ladies ERS Reg. $49.99 $Ofl99 Sex issues in health textbook cause 'pro-family' debate ih >4 w *4 A j-C wr ffr f4 A *4 ^ K ^-*-4 A The Associated Press AUSTIN - "Pro-family” ad vocates predicted a court chal lenge Thursday if the State Board of Education adopts health text books that they said contain objec tionable references to sex, homo sexuality and contraceptives. But gay and lesbian supporters said the textbooks should present homosexuality in a sensitive non- judgmental way. Jonathan Bell, a representative of Out Youth Austin, said gay and lesbian students often feel isolated and fearful at school. "Schools need to be a safe place for all students," he said, and a proper discussion of homo sexuality in a textbook could help that. But earlier Jeff Fisher, execu tive director of the American Family Association of Texas, said, "Parents don't send their children to school to debate homosexual adoption or create a 'safe sex' ad campaign, yet that is exactly what these textbooks call for." Anne Newman, executive di rector of the Texas Council for Family Values, added, "Students may not be able to locate Europe on a map, but they will be able to locate erogenous zones and sources of condoms and contra ception." Fisher said he anticipates a court challenge if the books are adopted and that he would expect lawmakers to "have something to say about it" in their 1995 session when they revise the education code. Fisher and Newman spoke at a news conference before an Educa tion Board hearing on $103 mil lion in textbooks in various sub jects, including health, up for adoption for use beginning next school year or later. Most would have to be put into classrooms later because board members expect to have only up to $10 million for new books in the 1994-95 year. The Education Board was scheduled to take a tentative vote Thursday on the books and final action Friday. "I do expect that the board will ask for some modifications" in the health textbooks, said board chair woman Carolyn Crawford of Beaumont. She didn't detail what those changes might be. Education Commissioner Li onel "Skip" Meno has recom mended that the board give grade 7 science books top funding prior ity. They cost $9.4 million, while the health books would cost $7.5 million. Other subjects include pre-calculus, analytic geometry, business law and supplementary readers. Many of the textbook contents that Newman and Fisher objected to were in the teacher's editions, although some were in student books. EDBYiasr FELT HATS $>11199 & BUCKLES ENTIRE STOCK! 15% OFF! Australian Oilskin MEN’S SHIRTS and ENTIRE STOCK! s 99 99 20% OFF! SPECIAL FALL CLEARANCE! STRAW HATS GIANT GROUP! \ 14 99 IOCKY MOUNTAI1 ENTIRE STOCK! 20% OFF! Where Texans Get Their Boots!™ GAVENDER'S BOOT CITY STATION 1400 HARVEY ROAD NEAR POST OAK MALL 696-8800 • MON-SAT 9-9; SUN 12:30-5:30 LAYAWAY NOW FOR CHRISTMAS! - Sale Ends Nov. 14.