Page 2 • The Battalion
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Wednesday* January 18
Center offers 24-hour support,
encouragement for rape victims
Q Volunteers are
ah essential part of
the Brazos County
Rape Crisis Center.
Susan said women who
have been raped go through a
denial stage and try to continue
with their daily routines as they
did before the incident. Once
the woman realizes she cannot
go on with life as she did before,
she seeks help to deal with the
feelings that have overcome her.
involved with the twenty-four
hour escort service to the hospi
tal, she said.
Although the center works
with women thirteen years and
older, eighty to eighty-five per
cent are sixteen to twenty-four
years old, Hostetter said.
Hostetter said the center re-
By Dana Jones
The Battalion
The large number of
women who have experienced
the trauma of rape puts volun
teers at the Brazos County Rape
Crisis Center in high demand,
center officials said.
Sherry Hostetter, assistant
director of the Brazos County
Rape Crisis Center, said the cen
ter receives 1,500 to 2,000 calls a
year, making the need for volun
teers great.
Susan, a center volunteer
required to remain anonymous,
said there are a number of events
that a trained volunteer will go
through to assist a rape victim.
'"When called, the trained
volunteer goes to the hospital
with the rape victim, where she
supports her, answers the wom
an's questions and gives her a
care package containing a
change of clothes, tooth brush
and tooth paste," Susan said.
"Our organization cannot function without
volunteers. We depend on them so heavily. We
operate 24-hours a day, so we could not keep
our doors open if it were not for volunteers."
• ■ a — Sherry Hostetter
Assistant director, Brazos County Rape Crisis Center
The individual support that
women who enter the clinic receive
is vital to their healing, she said.
"We see people who might
not have a lot of support in their
life," Susan said.
Because volunteers are not
trained professionals, their main
job is to support the women by
listening, answering the twenty-
four hour rape hotline or being
lies heavily on the support the
volunteers provide the women.
"Our organization cannot
function without volunteers,"
Hostetter said. "We depend on
them so heavily. We operate
twenty-four hours a day, so we
could not keep our doors open if
it were not for volunteers."
Rape Crisis Center volun
teers are required to go through
two weeks of training. During
the training time, volunteers
hear a variety of speakers to ed
ucate them on a number of perti
nent topics.
Bob Wiatt, director of the
University Police Department at
Texas A&M, was one of the cen
ter's three founders in 1983. He
was president for three years and
is still actively involved with the
center. He serves on the Board of
Directors and begins the training
session for the volunteers.
"I give a lecture that details
the profile of a rapist and other
sexual offenders," Wiatt said. "We
discuss what police do in rape sit
uations, the procedure involved in
dealing with the criminal and the
follow up for the entire case."
The Department of Human
Resources, Brazos Valley Crisis
Pregnancy Center and Phoebe's
Home, a safe place for battered
women and children to reside and
get away from abuse, are also rep
resented during the two week
training time for volunteers.
The Brazos County Rape
Crisis Center's 32nd Training
Class for new volunteers will be
Jan. 30 through Feb. 9. Those in
terested in training to become a
volunteer can call the center
(268-7273) to receive an applica
tion and a copy of the training
class agenda.
Counseling cente
expands services
by'
[HR
By Betty Milbum
Student Counseling Services
Students will see many changes in the Student Counseling Si ;om
vices this semester.
Beginning this semester, three new full-time staff membersi ;ard,
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Students now only a telephone call
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□ Students in need of counseling
can call the student-run HelpLin
By Kasie B
The BattALi
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for help on
In an effort to give students a service that will listen to their
problems in times of crisis, the Student Counseling Services has
created a new Student Counseling HelpLine.
The HelpLine, which will begin accepting calls Jan. 27, offers
students the chance to talk to other students
problems, needed information or referrals.
Dr. Kerry Hope, associate director of Stu
dent Counseling Services, said plans for such a
HelpLine have been in progress for some
time. ’ . > ;
"Dr. Wade Berch, Director of Student
Counseling Services, and I have been plan
ning this service for many years," Hope said.
"Berch had a similar service at East Texas
State University when he was the Director of
the Counseling Center there and a lot of uni
versities across the nation already have them.
We felt the need to provide a listening ear for
the students of the Texas A&M campus."
Although initially intended to be open 24
hours, the service's hours will be limited to 7
p.m. to midnight on weekdays and 2 p.m. to
midnight on weekends.
"VVe wanted to make sure that all the service's procedures
were worked out," Hope said. "We decided to start with a small
group and limited hours." '
Training for HelpLine operators began last week and 35 stu
dents volunteered for the job. The final interviews for the job will
take place over the next two weeks. After these interviews, ap
proximately twenty students will be hired as operators, with each
,.na.ying gone through over 40 hours of training.
Operators of the HelpLine were chosen based on their quali
fications and certain counseling criteria.
"We have a list of about twenty qualities we hope for the
student to possess," Hope said. "The main ones are their ability
to convey warmth and caring, to listen without giving advice, to
keep personal values out of their interaction with the callers, to
have mature judgment and calmness when a crisis occurs and to
keep the calls absolutely confidential."
Most students said their main reasons for volunteer
ing for the service were to gain experience for future
involvement in human services, to give back to the
A&M community and to simply help people.
Susan Vavra, coordinator of the Student
Counseling HelpLine, reinforced these stu
dents' ideas with her own reasons for ac
cepting the coordinator position.
"I was the associate director of the Bra
zos County Rape Crisis Center and so I was al
ready doing similar work," Vavra said. "How
ever, when I saw this position open up at the Uni
versity, I saw it as an opportunity to broaden my
experience with other issues besides sexual as
sault."
As coordinator of the HelpLine, Vavra said
she takes care of problems that the volunteer op
erators may run into while working in the service
and oversees the service to ensure that everything runs smoothly
"I'm basically in charge of running the entire HelpLine," Vavra
said. "I'm in charge of taking care of any problems that may arise and
of setting up training classes for those who wish to volunteer."
provide counseling services solely in the career and study skills
eas of the Student Counseling Service.
Learning Skills Center Workshops
The Learning Skills Center has dramatically expanded seras
since moving to Henderson Hall. The center’s mission is to ass. oom
students in developing knowledge, skills and attitudes which w jech
enhance their study and test-taking abilities while decreasingarj Jail
eties related to academic performance. Approximately two stui ;ee 1
skills workshops are offered throughout the semester.
Two support groups have also been added. One is a stress-i
agement group and the other is a thesisydissertation support groqEiet 1
A mid-term group is also being added to focus on reducing araie to th
and increasing study skills to help participants complete the sem; gthe
ter successfully. For more information about this group, conta mair
Marcella Stark at 845-4427 ext. 157 or at e-mail address mara five >
la@scl.tamu.edu.
Aggie Counseling Experience (ACE)
Students may schedule an appointment with counselors to
cuss academic difficulties. ACE Peer Helpers, volunteers trained
help fellow students with study skill concerns, are also available
discuss academic concerns on a drop-in basis.
Learning Skills Center Lab
The Learning Skills Center lab contains self-help resources sti
dents may use at their own pace. The lab contains books, compui
programs and VHS and cassette tapes on a variety of learning ski
topics. The lab also has software preparation programs for
GRE, GMAT and LSAT. No appointment is required to use the*
self-help materials from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Studem
may also use lab materials from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday thmig
Thursday by appointment. For a list of resources available conta
Lyle Slack at 845-4427 ext. 209 or e-mail addrei
lyle@scl .tamu.edu.
Learning Skills Certificate Program
This new program is individualized for each student but coi'
tains five consistent elements: a pretest with a learning skills mfj
sure, an initial counseling session, a contract of self-paced worh
be completed by the end of the semester, an exit interview (post-tea
is optional) and a certificate verifying completion of the contract
The time required for this program varies between 9 and 17 hours
Grade Distribution Lists
Another addition to the Learning Skills Center is the computer
zation of the grade distribution lists. The information includes tb
percentage of grades given in each section of each class taught £
A&M in a particular semester. Currently, this service is in tram
tion from paper to computer format. Until all the bugs are worke
out of the new system, students will have a choice of format.
Career Counseling & Testing Center
The biggest change in the Student Counseling Service care;
area is the new name: Career Counseling & Testing Cknier.
change was initiated in an effort to better describe the work to
with students in the initial stages of career exploratio/i and to
the confusion between the SCS career services and the Career Cd
ter services, which focus primarily on cooperative education eJ
employment.
Interest Inventories
The variety of interest inventories available to students
also expanded. In addition to the Strong Interest Inventor;
and the Self-Directed Search, the Career Occupational Prefer
ence System and the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
being used. The COPS contains interest, values and abilities
measures. The CISS provides information based on students'
self-reported interests and skills. Students do not have
schedule an appointment to take an interest inventory, but it is
recommended that they at least talk to an ACE Peer Helperto
determine which measure might best meet their needs
SIGI-Plus
Available in the Career Counseling & Testing Center, this is
computerized career gruidance program. It provides an assessment
of career values, interests and skills and generates a personalizes
list of career options based on the information.
Career Library
The 500-plus volumes of occupational information available
in the Career Counseling & Testing Center have been reorga
nized to be more “user friendly.” In addition to books and hand
outs, there are a number of videotapes about career planning
These self-help resources are available for students to use
their own pace from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday
and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
Ca
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Orienl
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Li i i L£/vi i /Xi.ion
MARK SMITH, Editor in chief
JAY ROBBINS, Senior managing editor
HEATHER WINCH, Managing editor
JODY HOLLEY, Night News editor
TIFFANY MOORE, Night News editor
AMANDA FOWLE, City editor
STERLING HAYMAN, Opinion editor
ROB CLARK, Aggielife editor
NICK GEORGANDIS, Sports editor
DAVE WINDER, Sports editor
STEWART MILNE, Photo editor
Staff Members
City desk—Stephanie Dube, Kasie Byers, Lynn Cook, Brad Dressier, Dana Jones, John Kerrigan,
Lisa Messer, Gretchen Perrenot, Tracy Smith, Jed Stockton and Wes Swift
News desk— Kristi Baldwin, Michele Chancellor, Kristin De Luca, Kristen De Rocha, Libe Goad,
Robin Greathouse, Zachary Toups and James Vineyard
Photographers—Tim Moog, Amy Browning, Robyn Calloway, Stacey Cameron, Blake Griggs,
Nick Rodnicki and Eddie Wylie
Aggielife— Michael Landauer, Amber Clark, Margaret Claughton, Amy Collier, Eloise Flint,
and Jay Knioum
Sports writers— James Anderson, Kristina Buffin, Tom Day, Shelly Hall, Roh>ert Hanson
and Robert Rodriguez,
Opinion — Erin Hill, Drew Diener, Laura Frnka, Zachary Hall, David Hill, Kyle Littlefield,
Jenny Magee, Jim Pawlikowski, Elizabeth Preston, Gerardo Quezada, David Taylor
and Amy Uptmor
Cartoonists— Greg Argo, Brad Graeber, Alvaro Gutierrez and Quatro Oakley
Office Assistants— Wendy Crockett, Heather Fitch, Adam Hill and Julie Thomas
The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is pulolished daily, Monday through Friday during the fall
and spring semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer sessions (except
University holidays and exam periods), at Texas A&M University. Second class postage
paid at College Station, TX 77840.
POSTMASTER; Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University
in the Division of Student Publication, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial
offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. E-mail; BATT@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU.
Newsroom phone number is 845-3313. Fax: 845-2647.
Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by
The Battalion. For campus, local and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For
classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald and
office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678.
Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick
up a single copy of The Battalion. Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester, $40 per
school year and $50 per full year. To charge by VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American
Express, call 845-261 1.
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