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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1995)
BASEBALL STRIKE BLUES jRangers and Astros brace for the ^/reality of replacement players. Sports, Page 9 BLIND OF THE HOMELESSNESS PROBLEM Newly proposed solutions are likely to punish downtrodden rather than help them. Opinion, Page 1 3 MUSIC ON CAMPUS MSC Town Hall breaks down the methods and difficulties of bringing bands to campus. Aggielife, Page 3 THE I Society ts walks eryone s ring, many sible. heard ells it g that icative Id only said. 1. 101, No. 81 (14 pages) illl» “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 Thursday • January 26, 1995 Si* Sfew schools may join Texas A&M University System | Regents to vote on nclusion of Baylor, East has State in A&M system. \ Gretchen Perrenot ie Battalion East Texas State University and Bay- tr College of Dentistry may enter the xas A&M University System if each ool’s board of regents and the Texas islature approve. ee Editorial, Page 11 Baylor College of Dentistry has al- ady approved the merger through its m board of trustees and Bast Texas ate’s board of regents will vote on Ie merger Feb. 10 during its regular lard meeting. I East Texas State’s two campuses in Immerce and Texarkana will present a feasibility study to the board. East Texas State officials said the feasibility is in favor of the merger. Dr. John Anderson, vice president for academic affairs at East Texas State, said the board can vote independently of the study results. “I would think that the board would follow this lead and vote in the merger,” Anderson said. Dr. Barry Thompson, A&M system chancellor, said Texas A&M’s Board of Regents will vote Jan. 27 on the merg er with Baylor College of Dentistry, lo cated in Dallas. “Then we will go to Austin to seek approval from the legislature,” Thompson said. “There is still a lot of work ahead of us.” Dr. Dominick DePaola, president and dean for Baylor College of Den tistry, said the college is very excited about the merger. “The general feeling is very popular from the faculty, students, staff and alumni,” DePaola said. Thompson and DePaola both said the dental school will add more prestige to A&M’s medical fields. Baylor College of Dentistry is ranked in the top 15 percent of dental schools, DePaola said. It is one of two private schools in this percentage, he said, the other one being Harvard. “This merger is a great benefit to both Baylor College of Dentistry and Texas A&M,” DePaola said. “It will give A&M more pieces of the health professions. “It will also allow friendly competition with the other two dental schools in Texas,” he said, “both of which are locat ed in the University of Texas system.” In turn, Baylor College of Dentistry will have access to a network of exten sion services available in the A&M sys tem and will create more beneficial re search programs, DePaola said. “The college and the school of dental hygiene can become active participants in health promotion, disease prevention and clinical care with Texas’ rural citi zens,” DePaola said. “This is very impor tant in Texas and in the nation.” Anderson said the student response at East Texas State is overwhelmingly elected officials with each system added.” Other advantages, he said, would be that the best students from some of "Politically, this will make the system stronger. We pick up elected officials with each system added" — Dr. Barry Thompson, favorable. “We feel being a member of the A&M system will give East Texas State greater visibility in the community and increased enrollment,” he said. Overall, Thompson said the merg ers with the two schools would be ben eficial to A&M. “Politically, this will make the system stronger,” Thompson said. “We pick up these schools will come to A&M to seek graduate or other degrees. The 475 students from the Baylor Col lege of Dentistry and the 9,300 from . > * * i n East Texas State A&M system chancellor w iH create a more diverse population, Thompson said. The only prob lems with adding new schools to the system will be in the accounting de partments and in reorganizing the in frastructure, he said. “I think there are some mispercep tions,” Thompson said. “A lot of Aggies think A&M’s funds will be affected.” However, there will be no negative fi nancial aspects to these mergers, he said. Amy Browning/THE Battalion Holly Hamm, a freshman math major from Rockwell, enters the first floor of Legett through the middle of the dis tinctive three doors. Legett to remain female hall; Law, Fury ear residents given contract renewal priority □ Legett will not be converted into a residence hall for men. By Wes Swift The Battalion The Department of Residence Life and Housing has recommended that Legett Hall remain a female residence hall, possi bly ending a semester-long conflict with two male residence halls, Puryear and Law. The conflict involved a proposal to con vert Legett into a male residence hall. The recommendation, made by Ron Sasse, director for residence life and hous ing, must still be approved by Dr. J. Mal- on Southerland, vice president for student affairs. Last fall, Puryear and Law residents were notified that both halls were slated for demolition this summer and that resi dents would be given top priority for moves into other halls. In November, the Residence Hall Asso ciation approved a proposal supporting the conversion of Legett into a male resi dence hall for those being forced out of F^uryear and Law. A key element in the proposal was based on figures presented by Puryear and Law residents indicating a discrepan cy in available housing for men and women. FNjryear and Law residents said the de molition would cause the loss of 402 living spaces for males and the loss of 188 spaces in Legett would equal the losses between men and women. Rusty Thompson, assistant director for residence life, said the figures presented by the male halls were true, but mislead ing. “Law and FTiryear presented a discrep ancy between housing,” Thompson said. “But the large discrepancy lies in the fig ures of higher- and lower-priced housing. With Legett taken away, it takes away the lower price option for women who want to live on-campus.” Thompson said that without Legett, the only other dorms in the lower price brack et are Davis-Gary, Spence, Briggs and Ki- est halls. Thompson said emotions also factored into the decision. “There were a lot of emotional issues,” Thompson said. “If Puryear and Law were given Legett, Legett could ask for the same. This could go on forever.” Mary Taylor, Legett Hall council presi dent, said that residents’ reactions were enthus i astic. See Legett, Page 1 2 Texas driver licenses receive makeovers □ New licenses will soon look more like credit cards. By Kasie Byers The Battalion Texas driver licenses are getting a new look this year. The new licenses will resemble credit cards. Along with the owner’s picture, the license will bear images of the state flag and seal against a beige background. The card will have a laminate embossed with the word “Texas” in lines on the front which will glow under ultraviolet light. ; The licensees’ photographs will be enhanced by new digital imaging technology. Photos will be taken with video cameras linked to computers, allowing technicians to better assure a good likeness of the applicant. Presently all drivers’ pictures are located on the right of the license. The new licenses will have the pic tures of drivers older than 21 remain on the right and those younger than 2l moved to the left. The fees for the license will re main the same. Judy Sibert, the Department of Public Safety’s project manager for the digital image driver license sys tem, said the license’s new features will be an added convenience for mer chants as well as drivers. “The new format will include a magnetic stripe, a bar code and a spe cial laminate to maximize security,” Sibert said. “Licenses issued for Tex ans under the age of 21 will look dif ferent from regular licenses, making it easier for merchants to determine a customer’s age.” Application and renewal proce dures will change very little, she said. Applicants’ thumb prints will be tak en using imaging equipment, elimi nating the mess of ink. The new look of the licenses and method by which they are created will provide more security features and will be more convenient for Texas’ 15.6 million license and identification card holders, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. James R. Wilson, DPS Director, said the technolo gy for creating the new cards helps prevent crime as well as reduce the dri- vers’ waiting period, to receive their licenses. “We’re always looking for new ways to prevent criminals from using driver licenses for illegal purposes,” Wilson said. “The new licenses and identification cards will be much harder to forge or alter.” Another bonus, he said, is that the same technology that makes the new licenses more secure will also reduce the time it takes for people to get their licenses. The DPS began phasing in the new technology in January, and expects the new driver licenses to be available in all 243 towns and cities with driver li cense offices later this year. Sgt. Bruce Fallis of the Brazos County DPS said local drivers should see the implementation by early spring. “Brazos County will have an oppor tunity to receive new licenses around April,” Fallis said. “Austin drivers will get the licenses even sooner than that.” Fallis said that receiving the new li censes will not be a difficult process. “People will not have to go out of their way to receive a new license,” Fal lis said. “Whenever it comes time for them to renew their license, the new style will be issued.” Sibert said the new system will be quicker as well as more efficient. “A real benefit to licensees is that the new system will allow us to get the licenses in their hands in less than than ten days, instead of the current four to six weeks,” Sibert said. The last major change to driver li censes occurred in 1968, when pic- tures were added and the use of paper licenses was discontinued except for temporary licenses, learners’ pennits and certain special-needs licenses. "We're always looking for new ways to prevent criminals from using driver licenses for illegal purposes." —James R. Wilson DPS Director A&M computer officials take measures to strengthen security Q A&M computer experts are cracking down on hackers. A&M computer experts are cracking down on computer hackers. By Stephanie Dube The Battalion Computer hackers have learned how to exploit a 10-year-old flaw within the Internet system, leading A&M computer officials to strengthen the University’s computer security. Doug Schales, systems analyst with Computing and Information Services (CIS), said although the actual security problem has existed within the Internet system for 10 years, people are just start ing to exploit the flaw, “We have taken additional steps to re duce the problem at A&M,” Schales said. “The actual problem is in the network it self; it is not something that can be changed on the machines.” The flaw involves the way a computer recognizes and accepts data from another computer, Schales said. When two computers communicate, the data sent contains two addresses: one from the sender and one from the re ceiving computer, he said. A computer’s network service may use these source addresses as a security mechanism. This trusted-host mecha nism exists when a computer will accept communication only with recognized source addresses, Schales said. An intruder can forge a trusted-source address and trick a machine into think ing the data being sent is from a “trust ed” machine, Schales said. After receiving this initial access, the intruder must find the proper sequence number to receive further access, Schales said. Intruders can guess the range the number will fall within and flood the computer with guesses until finding the correct sequence, he said. Once the sequence number is discov ered, the intruder gains access to the ma chine, Schales said. “Depending on the level of access, the intruders may be able to do whatever they want on the machine,” Schales said. “At that point, they can destroy or alter files or do nothing.” Dr. Dave Safford, director of CIS, said A&M has a three-stage security pro gram. The first stage consists of a firewall that reduces the ability of people outside the University to break into the comput ers, he said. The second and third stages involve cleaning up the machines broken into and monitoring for intruders, he said. Schales said CIS has implemented ways to help stop intruders originating from outside the A&M campus who See Security, Page 12
