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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1995)
FIELD OF DREAMS Texas A&M softball pitcher wears out opposition. Sports, Page 11 TAKING THE REIGNS JEFF FOXWORTHY Guest Column: The Republicans have made Comedian brings redneck humor to many achievements in the first 1 00 days. Bryan-College Station. Opinion, Page 15 Aggie!ife, Page 3 THE Vol. 101, No. 141 (16 pages) "Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 Friday • April 28, 1995 Panel discusses race relations at A&M □ The conference ex amined ways for stu dents to improve race- related situations. By Eleanor Colvin The Battalion Participants in the Texas A&M Conference on Improving Race Relations Thursday said educating students on the im portance of diversity and ethnici ty is the solution to race-related problems at Texas A&M. Dr. Gail Thomas, director of the Race and Ethnic Studies In stitute, said the conference was organized by RESI and the stu dents in the Sociology of Minority Groups class so that students, fac ulty, staff and the Bryan-College Station community could talk candidly about race relations. “We encourage participants to assume owner ship of the issues presented here,” she said,“and work hard to find solutions.” Panelists dis cussed interra cial relation ships, student leadership and the future of race relations at Texas A&M and the United States. Dr. Patricia Larke, associate professor of multicultural education, said that as people educate them selves, they become more toler ant of interracial relationships. “When speaking of interra cial relationships, I couldn’t just speak of the male and fe male aspects of it,” she said. “I have to get to the core of the is- Eddy Wylie/THE Battalion Panelist discuss diversity Thursday. sue — what causes us to think differently and not appreciate one another. We must learn to accept, respect and understand one another.” Larke said education is the only way to reach the core of the issue and improve race relations. “We must learn to be critical thinkers,” she said. “We take so Parents’ Weekend begins today □ Parents' Weekend is designed to show parents how important A&M is to their children. By Tracy Smith The Battalion During Parents’ Weekend,which kicks off Friday, A&M parents will get the chance to see why their children chose A&M with programs geared toward educating parents about A&M traditions. Liz Bennon, an elementary education major, said events will be held throughout the weekend. She said most of the activities will show Aggie par ents why their sons and daughters decided to attend Texas A&M. Hope Siegele, chairwoman of the Parents’ Weekend committee, said the weekend will let parents experience life at A&M. “The main purpose of the weekend is to let Aggies bring their parents to A&M and let them get a feel for the traditions and spirit that Aggies hold,” she said. “One day would not fulfill that need.” A variety show will start the weekend on Friday, followed by a Yell Practice and the RHA Casino Night in the MSC. Siegele said the yell practice usually has a large turn-out. “The QT Army-style Yell Practice is one of the most heavily attended events,” Siegele said. “It shows the tradition of yell practice and lets parents see the Corps do a short performance.” Siegele said the yell practice is the first time that the newly elected yell leaders will perform. The practice also brings 20 former yell leaders from as far back as 1945, she said. Saturday, the Bevo Barbecue kicks off at 11 a.m. and continues throughout the afternoon, with A&M organizations such as the Aggie Wranglers perform ing for parents and students. “The barbecue is probably the most popular event we have planned,” Bennon said. “But over all the whole weekend usually proves to be a suc cess. A relaxing weekend for the students and parents is what we have planned.” The Aggie Moms’ craft show in Duncan Hall will be Friday and Saturday. Buffets will be served in the Commons and Sbisa Dining Centers Sunday. The weekend will end with the .All-Uni versity Awards Banquet in Rudder Audi torium. Corps awards, academic awards and A&M spirit awards will be given at the banquet. Bombing destroys faith in U.S. security, speakers say □ The survivors of the Oklahoma City bomb ing are showing signs of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. By Wes Swift The Battalion The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building last week will dramatically change the way Americans think about their safety, two experts on ter rorism said during a lecture in Rudder Tower Thursday. Gene Blackwell, a consultant on security and terrorism, and Dr. M. Paige Powell, an assistant professor of educational psycholo gy at Texas A&M, discussed how the terrorist attack shattered the security of Americans. Blackwell called the attack the biggest tragedy in the United States, and said it will fundamen tally change Americans’ view of safety in their homeland. “We have a war zone in the United States, for the first time since the Civil War,” he said. Powell said the bombing has destroyed Ameri cans’ security and faith. “This shows us that bad things can happen to good people,” Pow ell said. “This happened in the heart of America. We can see this happening in New York. We can see this happening in California. We can maybe even see this hap- much information for granted, and thus have no knowledge base of other ethnic groups. Re searching issues and other eth nic groups is a part of one’s edu cational responsibility.” Panelist Ivan Palacios empha sized the importance of respect. “Texas A&M is far from a world-class university in terms of race relations,” he said. “We won’t be, until we can look to the person on the right and left and honestly not stereotype them.” Several student panelists dis cussed the importance of remem bering one’s cultural identity. Panelist Chris Alvarado said his heritage is an important part of how he defines himself. “I prefer to call myself a Chi- cano, not a Hispanic, because it is more reflective of my cul ture,” he said. “I say Chicano to show that I am not Spanish See Panel, Page 1 4 Quantum cosmology expert speaks to filled lecture nail pening in Houston. But not in Oklahoma City.” Powell said that no previous terrorist acts impacted Americans the way this recent attack has. She explained that the recent This shows us that bad things can happen to good people." — Dr. M. Paige Powell, assistant professor ofeducational psychology bombing of the World Trade Center and Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, did not strike the chord in Americans that Oklahoma City did. See Faith, Page 1 6 Q Dr. Stephen Hawk ing from Cambridge University discussed quantum cosmology and black holes. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion More than 380 people filled the main lecture hall of the Chemistry Building Thursday to learn about quantum cosmology from the field expert. Dr. Stephen Hawking, profes sor of physics at Cambridge Uni versity, England, presented technical information on quan tum cosmology and black holes. Hawking holds the same chair at Cambridge that was held by Isaac Newton. Hawking is the author of the best-selling book “A Brief Histo ry of Time.” The book is also the subject and title of a recent mo tion picture. Ronald Allen, professor of physics, said Hawking is one of four great scientists: Galileo, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. “That’s why there is so much excitement about him speaking here,” Allen said. “He’s the fore most in his field and there are a lot of intelligent people studying quantum cosmology.” Hawking said he pursued the subject of cosmology and black holes because of the lack on in formation on them. “Until the 1920s, the only im portant cosmological observation was that the sky at night is dark,” he said. “But people didn’t appre ciate the significance of this. See Expert, Page 14 isiite 4L- Nick Rodnicki/THE Battalion Heads up Jay Jackson, a junior math major, practices his soccer skills on Simpson Drill Field Thursday afternoon. Investigators search for Arizona license plate connected to bombing □ The FBI is concerned that without finding John Doe No. 2, there could be another bombing. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Investigators issued an alert Thursday for a missing clue in the federal building bombing — Arizona license plate LZC646, tags that may have fallen off suspect Timothy McVeigh’s get away car. One possibility, said a law enforcement source, was that the plate may have been shifted to another vehicle used by the sus pect known as John Doe No. 2. And it is feared that John Doe No. 2 may strike again. At a hearing for McVeigh, FBI Agent John Hersley said his “primary responsibili ty is to find the other subject to prevent an other bomb from going off.” But in a possible snag for the governmen t’s case, Hersley also testified that three wit nesses to the bombing couldn’t identify McVeigh for certain in a lineup. The death toll in the nation’s largest ter ror attack, meanwhile, passed a grim mile stone: More than 100 bodies have now been found in the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At the hearing at the federal prison 30 miles west of Oklahoma City where McVeigh is being held, his lawyers renewed their re quests to drop out of the case and for a change of venue. U.S. Magistrate Lion How land denied both requests for now. Defense lawyer Susan Otto bolstered her plea to be let out of the case by reading a list of 10 people she knew who were killed in the blast and an eleventh who was still missing. Her colleague, John Coyle III, has also said he knew someone killed in the blast. “We heard it, we smelled it. We lived through it,” Otto said. Hersley testified at the hearing that three witnesses who thought they saw McVeigh outside the building before the bombing were not able to conclusively pick him out of a lineup. He said explosives residue was found on McVeigh’s clothes after his arrest. McVeigh followed the proceedings intently. See Plate, Page 14 % — AP Photo Thomas McVeigh, a suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing, is es corted from the courthouse in Perry, OK.