m
ns
u^sday, April 12, 1994
The Battalion
Page 3
,eslie looks
o improve
.tudent life
By Traci Travis
The Battalion
It’s not the position you hold
df the title you possess, it’s the
fference you make that counts.
This is the code newly-elected
udent Body President Brooke
slie said she lives by.
"I want people to remember
me as a very dedicated student
body president who did
everything in my power to
improve student life and to
represent students in every
aspect,” Leslie said.
I As the first woman to be
elected to the position at A&M,
■eslie said she hopes she has
Rpened some doors for females
Behind her. But her gender was
never a consideration in her
campaign.
I "For me, being a female was
never an issue,” she said. “But I
[eally don’t think it’s created any
ind of lull or obstruction to any
path that I would like to take.”
| Leslie said her campaign
1^1 fill started last September with about
M-lldl 20 people. These advisors,
“'mentors and friends are the
reason for her success, she said.
I “They believed in me and my
ability,” Leslie said. “The reason I
sit in this office today is because
of them and their hard work.”
But Leslie’s reaction to her new
title is one of mixed feelings, she
aid.
“I am definitely excited about
he opportunity, and I am grateful
e ate skorojjto the students of Texas A&M,”
she said. “And to be honest, I’m
sometimes a little overwhelmed at
all the responsibility.”
She said it will be difficult to
combine all of the duties of
he owners c F student body president with her
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“It is a tough, tough job,”
Leslie said. “But I’m going to do
the best I can, if I have to work 22
hours a day.”
Leslie said because she has
always been very involved, being
student body president is not
going to require too many
sacrifices.
“A part of me has always had
to have every hour of the day
full,” she said. “I might have to
sacrifice some of my time with
friends, but th^y understand.”
In order to implement her
platform of 39 items, Leslie said
she plans to appoint special
advisors who will have projects to
work oh.
Specifically, Leslie said she
plans to spend at least one hour a
day, every day, on an issue in her
platform; whether this includes
interviewing or talking to
administrators. “I’ve seen student
body presidents in the past get
caught up in the ceremonial
things,” Leslie said. “For the past
few days it has been very evident
to me how easy putting the
platform aside can be. But my
priority is to put time aside every
day for my platform.”
Above all, Leslie said she hopes
to improve A&M’s public image.
Being an Aggie is something
that is different for every single
student and former student, she
said. But being an Aggie is not
about negative issues such as
NCAA sanctions or the
controversy surrounding the
Board of Regents.
Leslie said after traveling to at
least 30 states as a motivational
speaker, the only aspects of A&M
people mention are the
controversies, she said.
“Getting stories out there like
Muster, the code of honor, the
Corps of Cadets — these are what
will change our image so we can
let the rest of the world know
what being an Aggie really is
about,” Leslie said.
Leslie said despite her love for
public speaking and government
involvement, her family is not
interested in politics at all.
“My mother hates to mix and
mingle,” she said. “And my dad
is a little better than that. But,
despite this, public service has
always been a part of me ever
since I can remember.”
At this time last year, Leslie
said, she had no plans of running
for the office of student body
president because she wanted to
focus on motivational speaking.
“That lasted for about two
weeks,” she said. “I had found
my niche in government and I
knew this was where I was
needed.”
But of all the accomplishments
in Leslie’s past, she boasts most
proudly of the friends she has
made at A&M.
“My greatest accomplishment
would not be anything like a title
such as student body president,”
she said. “To be blessed with
people who touch my life — that
is truly an accomplishment. And
for those friendships, I am really
grateful.”
The role model behind the
new student body president is not
a great political figure, but Leslie’s
own mother.
When her parents divorced,
her mother had to take care of
everything on her own, Leslie
said. Despite her obvious time
constraints, her mother always
had time to be there for Leslie.
“She taught me to make a
difference,” she said. “And if you
have the right motives and ethics
behind it, no matter what your
decision is or the outcome, it’s the
right thing to do.”
As she travels to Austin this
summer and fall to meet with the
Texas legislature, Leslie said she
plans to be completely prepared.
“In a year from now, a lot of
people are going to disagree with
some of my decisions,” Leslie
said. “But I want them to at least
say that I was in it for the right
reasons and I did make a
difference; and I did improve
student life.”
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By Margaret Glaughton
The Battalion
Jerri has bright eyes, a pleasant
face and a vibrant smile. At first
glance, she seems to be a peaceful
woman, happy with the world
and her place in it. But the sight
of a pregnant woman makes her
very jealous, and talk of babies in
general is enough to make her
cry.
Jerri has a large bone to pick
with Old Man Fate and a few
choice words for parents of un
wanted children.
Jerri and her husband Jim are
among the 2.4 million couples in
America unable to have a child of
their own.
“People don’t understand what
it is like if you can’t have a child,”
she said. Tt feels like when you
die, everything about you will
die, too, because there will be no
one left.”
After discovering they had a
fertility problem in 1989, the
couple has endured an emotional
roller coaster over the last five
years.
“We have had some tough
times because of this,” Jerri said.
“It is equally as hard on both of
us”
It is also hard, she said, for her
to understand why so many
women keep or abort their un
wanted children.
After hearing about the Texas
A&M student who recently dis
posed of a baby in a residence
hall trash chute, Jerri was out
raged. Her bright eyes turned to
slants and the vibrant smile be
came gnashed teeth.
Trying to remain poised, she
explained her disbelief
“I can’t understand how some
thing that is so precious to me
and something I’ve worked so
hard trying to get could be
thrown out. It makes my whole
life absurd that what I want so
much, everyone else has and
doesn’t want.
“The mothers who beat their
children in the grocery store or
the ones who have six or seven
Kyle Bumett/TTie Battalion
Jim and Jerri want-to maintain a degree of privacy in their fight
against infertility, but feel it is important to inform women of the
need for adoptable babies.
and can’t even afford to feed
them; those are the ones I think
don’t deserve them because they
don’t appreciate what they’ve
got.”
Since 1 989, Jerri has im
mersed herself in research and
become an expert on all types of
adoption as well as every method
of fertility treatment.
During her studies, she has
discovered there is a shortage of
healthy adoptable babies. In fact,
couples wanting to adopt may
have to wait three to five years for
a baby.
“Many women have the mis
conception that there is a surplus
of babies out there,” she said, “so
they decide to abort the child or
keep it. But they end up starving
it because they are not financially
ready.”
Jerri said she hopes many
women with unwanted pregnan
cies will realize there are many
couples who are willing to give
an adopted child a good home.
Another misconception
women have, she said, is that they
think by giving their child up for
adoption, they will not be in
volved in that child’s life. But
through processes like open
adoption, birth mothers can re
main involved in the child’s life
through the adoptive parents.
“There are so many different
types of adoption. A birth moth
er can actually look through a list
of letters and photos and pick and
choose their child’s adoptive par
ents,” she said.
With programs such as this,
Jerri said, there is no reason why
mothers should keep children
they do not want or are unable to
care for.
“I hope women with unwant
ed pregnancies will strongly
See Child/Page 4
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Student locator 1
By Paul Neale
The Battalion
“Your call will be completed as soon
as a line is available 409-845. . .”
“Student locator,” says a voice
from a probably dark room.
“Yeah, uh, what time does
midnight yell practice start?”
Although it sounds like a lo
calized version of Beavis and
Butt-head, student locator, or di
rectory assistance for Texas A&M,
regularly receives calls like this
one — and the callers are seri
ous.
Kari Wise, a senior speech
communications major, has
worked at student locator for 2
1/2 years. She does more than
give out phone numbers,
though. Wise and other student
locator operators tackle some of
life’s tougher questions.
“Is it easier to wash soapsuds
off with hard or soft water?”
Good question.
Calls pertaining to animals
have been some of student loca
tor’s funnier inquiries, operators
said.
“The ducks are hungry at the
resident’s (then, Mobley’s)
ouse,” a caller from the Univer
sity Police said.
“The UPD called and won
dered who would feed them,”
Wise said.
Surely the proper duck feed
ing department was alerted.
“A woman asked us what to
do when her ostrich was having
babies,” Wise said.
Another concerned caller
asked, “My fish are floating up
side down. What do I do?”
Wise said operators directed
both calls to the Wildlife and
Fisheries Department.
She said some students believe
the student locator can do more
than it actually can.
“We have people call in and
say they met a girl at a club, they
know how she looks, her first
name, and want to find her
number,” Wise said.
It doesn’t quite work like that,
she said.
One caller asked, “If we get a
new president, will the name of
George Bush Drive be changed?”
And if that wasn’t silly
enough, Clinton had already
been elected.
But no matter how absurd the
request or how dense the caller,
student locator operators say they
have their customers’ best inter
ests in mind.
“We try to help them to the
best of our ability,’ Wise said.
She said students’ parents also
provide their share of unusual
moments.
“The parents are some of the
funniest because they don’t have
a clue,” Wise said.
Parents visiting from out of
town call about hotel and restau
rant suggestions.
“Moms call looking for their
kids and want us to tell them ex
actly where they are,” Wise said.
For some callers, student loca
tor is a misnomer. Contrary to
the title, operators at student lo
cator can only provide directory
assistance. Missing persons is a
different number all together.
Andrew Gault, a senior kinesi-
ology major, said one of the
most peculiar calls he received
was to determine the winner of a
$500 bet.
“During football season, a
guy from New York City called
and asked what ‘A&M’ stands
for,” Gault said.
The question is frequently
asked, believe it or not.
“A lot of people ask for Mark
Paul Gosselar’s number,” Gault
said. Gosselar plays the TV char
acter Zack on “Saved by the Bell.”
But Gault insists that last se
mester’s rumor — that Gosselar
attends A&M — is purely rumor.
With the exception of facul
ty/staff holidays, student locator
answers calls all day, every day.
Thirteen full-time operators and
seven part-time student operators
assist 600 to 7 00 callers each
hour. Three eight-hour shifts are
manned with an average of four
operators each shift.
Geneva Johnston, a physical
plant administrative assistant,
said no matter how unusual
some calls are, student locator
receives very few calls that aren’t
legitimate.
“We get a few calls from the
See Locator/Page 5