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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."
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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.
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