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Established in 1893
Wednesday • June 7, 1995
iston
Congress to vote on financial aid cuts College of Education
names interim dean
3C :
j Officials claim that the cuts are
iccessary to get the financial aid
iylstem under control.
lyjTara Wilkinson
hf Battalion
li 2' Congress has proposed eliminating sever-
.1 student financial aid programs, including
ederally subsidized Stafford Loans, Supple-
ffljteSnental Educational Opportunity Grants,
lU^ollege Work Study, Perkins Loans and
kmV
5tate Student Incentive Grants.
Don Engelage, A&M’s student financial
dd director, said attempts to reduce the fed-
sral deficit by cutting student aid would do
IATEDP . npre harm than good.
■“Eliminating these programs would cost stu-
“la.v lents and their families about S20 billion over
!J . al ,he next five years, increasing student indebted-
mmc-iess by up to 50 percent and reducing grant and
at 1' vork-study funding,” Engelage said.
^^Eliminating subsidized Stafford Loans
' n ts. yould mean that interest accumulated on
oans while students are in school will be
er t added to their post-education debt. With the
ou ^ existing system, the federal government
hasst:pays this in-school interest.
he" * WCngelage calculated that the removal of in-
i stilts r
wall
school interest subsidies would increase 10
years of monthly payments on a Si7,125 under
graduate loan from S210 to S252. This addition
al financial burden would total S5,113.
Sherry Marsteller, legislative assistant to
Rep. Jack Fields, said unsubsidized Stafford
Loans would only cost students about 79
cents a day.
“We’re talking about pennies,”
Marsteller said. “Of course, if you
take out a much larger loan, the
debt will be larger.”
Marsteller said students
have been given the wrong
reasons for why the cuts
have been proposed.
“There has been a lot
of misinformation put
out about these propos
als to scare students,”
Marsteller said. “The pro
posed cuts have more to do
with getting our financial
aid system under control
than about reducing the feder
al deficit. Many loans are not be
ing paid back, and the system will
eventually break down unless we add some
accountability. ”
Marsteller said Congress will vote on the
financial-aid proposals next year.
Grant Evans, a sophomore electrical engi
neering major, said the plan to cut student
aid is acceptable if it is done for improve
ment reasons.
“Congress needs to cut the budget, but it
could be cut from a better area than financial
aid,” Evans said. “But it’s OK, if they have a
more efficient plan to run the system.”
Stephanie Sanderson, a junior electri
cal engineering major, said that al
though elimination of the subsidy
on her Stafford Loan would be
financially straining, her edu
cation is worth any debt.
“Regardless of how long
it will take me to pay the
debt off, I have to do it or
I’m not in school,” Sander
son said.
Jennifer Sowders, a ju
nior management and mar
keting major, said financial
aid cuts would make her
study abroad and graduate
school plans more difficult.
“If the cuts are enacted, I would
research alternatives before taking out
loans, to see if there is any other way to do
it,” Sowders said. “It’s harder for us to pick
up once we get out of school after accumulat
ing so much debt.”
□ Dr. Viola Florez will serve as interim dean
until a national search for a permanent dean is
completed. Dr. Jane Stallings stepped down to
pursue teaching and researching.
By Scott McMahan
The Battalion
Dr. Viola Florez has been
named interim dean of Texas
A&M’s College of Education
in place of Dr. Jane Stallings,
who stepped down in May to
pursue teaching and re
searching full time.
Florez previously served
as executive assistant to
President Dr. Ray Bowen
and worked as a professor in
the college’s Department of
Educational Curriculum and
Instruction.
Florez will serve as interim
dean until the national search
for a permanent dean is com
pleted. The search will begin
within the next few weeks.
Dr. Charles Lee, interim
vice president and provost,
said the search committee
needs the support of faculty
and students.
“We appreciate Florez’s
willingness to assume this
very important transitional
role,” Lee said. “I also am
grateful to other dedicated
faculty, staff and students in
the College of Education who
have been involved in the se
lection process and will help
A&M choose a new dean.”
Stallings, who served as
dean from July 1990 through
May of this year, will work on
See Dean, Page 2
Vesecif
3 wars
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count j
2ople I
At
XAS
XT S I C F E S T I V A E
1995 festival features chamber music
Mike Friend, The Battalion
?Andor Toth plays the violin while Ruth Tomfohrde plays the piano Monday
Inight in Rudder Theater as part of the Texas Music Festival.
□ Internationally acclaimed
musicians are scheduled to
perform throughout this
month.
By Libe Goad
The Battalion
' When Warner Rose thinks of chamber
music, he envisions rustic images of a
nobleman sitting among friends in a
stony courtyard, listening to and playing
chamber music, a type of classical music.
“It’s different from orchestral music,”
Rose, coordinator of the music depart
ment, said, “because [chamber] music is
intimate by nature.”
This music is being featured at the
Brazos Valley Medical Center Texas
Music Festival. The festival opened
Monday in Rudder Theater with mezzo-
soprano vocalist Katherine Ciesinski
performing Roy Harris’ “Abraham Lin
coln Walks at Midnight.”
Rose said the stage was moved forward
to recreate the intimate atmosphere.
“[Chamber music] is a formal listen
ing experience that draws people into
the music,” he said. “But it’s more like
a conversation.”
Audiences are encouraged to visit
with the musicians at Rudder Exhibit
Hall after each performance.
The College of Liberal Arts and the
music program are sponsoring three
more nights of chamber music this
month performed by internationally ac
claimed musicians.
The Texas Music Festival Orchestra,
led by conductor Franz Anton Krager, will
also perform a special orchestral concert
Friday, June 23 that will feature selected
music students from around the world.
In 1990, Rose came to the music de
partment and brought the Texas Music
Festival, which he participated in at the
University of Houston.
“I felt there was a hole, a void, in the
summer here,” Rose said. “It was impor
tant for the (music) courses to have live
concerts performed on campus.”
He said the Texas Music Festival fo
cuses on chamber music to expose stu
dents to a non-traditional definition of
classical music.
“Courses in music are designed to ex
pose one to the doors of the art,” he said.
The Brazos Valley Medical Center
provided a major grant to open those
doors with support from the Brazos
Valley Arts Council, the Texas Com
mission on the Arts and the University
Honors Program.
Now that the doors are open, the fes
tival is able to attract world-renown
performers.
The St. Petersburg String Quartet,
winner of several international competi
tions, and Brazilian piano soloist Arnal-
do Cohen will also grace Rudder’s stage.
“I enjoy watching the Festival Orches
tra,” Keisha Henry, a senior psychology
student said. “There are a lot of talented
students, and it’s good to see them doing
something positive.”
Henry said she looks for
ward to the student’s orches
tral performance because
they play familiar classical
music.
“Last year the orchestra
played “Rodeo” by Aaron
Copland,” she said. “You
know, the music from the
‘Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.’
commercial.”
Other musicians playing
at the festival include:
* Violinist Guony Guo-
mundsdottir, a graduate of
The Royal College of Music in
London and the Juilliard
School in New York and for
mer concert master of the Iceland Sym
phony Orchestra. She trains violinists
and performs chamber music.
•The St. Petersburg String Quartet
from Russia, a young group of string
musicians that holds international ac
claim after winning several prestigious
competitions.
• Cellist Laszlo Varga a recitalist,
chamber musician and conductor for var
ious orchestras. Varga is also known for
his recordings on the Vox, RCA and Co
lumbia labels.
• Pianist Arnaldo Cohen, senior lec
turer at the royal Northern College of
Music in Manchester. His recording of
Liszt works were recently released.
Henry said the Texas Music Festival
offers a great opportunity to see different
cultures at A&M.
Students enrolled in music classes at
A&M are required to attend the con
certs, but Henry said the requirement
is not the only reason to anticipate the
unique concerts.
“I used to play the clarinet, and I miss
that,” Henry said. “It will be nice to hear
something different than pop music on
the radio.”
Mike Friend, The Battalion
Ruth Tomfohrde, piano, Laszlo
Andor Toth, violin,
Varga, violoncello, and Katherine Ciesinski, singing
Mezzo-Soprano, perform at Rudder Theater Monday
night as part of the Texas Music Festival.
TO
Concern heightens over Ebola virus
A&M professors and
the U.S. Centers for
►isease Control say
>eople should not
>anic over the virus
>ecause it is an isolat-
id incident that is un-
ler control.
ly Katherine Arnold
/he Battalion
[After the recent release of the
llm “Outbreak” and the non-fic-
ion best-selling book “The Hot
2one,” the outbreak of a deadly
drus in Zaire is rather ironic,
mid Dr. Barbara Gastel, associ
ate professor of journalism and
f humanities in medicine.
The virus, formally known as
JSola Virus Hemorrhagic Fever,
^rpke out in Kikwit, Zaire, in
Vlay. According to the U.S. Cen
ters for Disease Control, CDC,
:his form of the virus is closely
■elated to a strain that broke out
n 1976 in Sudan and Zaire,
killing more than 400 people.
Dr. John Quarles Jr., profes
sor of medical microbiology and
immunology, said the disease
has received a large amount of
media attention.
“For something that is so iso
lated, it probably didn’t deserve
as much attention as it got, but
at least people are now aware,”
Quarles said.
Gastel said too much
media coverage can cause
unnecessary worry.
“If the coverage of a fatal
disease is not handled well,
it can cause undo panic,”
Gastel said. “People are
fascinated with Ebola be
cause it is exotic and has
very dramatic effects.”
According to the World
Health Organization, there
have been 211 confirmed
cases of Ebola and 164 deaths re
sulting from the virus.
Tom Skinner, spokesman for
CDC, said the current outbreak
is isolated in Zaire.
“The number of new cases is
declining,” Skinner said. “Since
the methods of transmission
are known, we can work to lim
it its spread.”
Ebola is transmitted by conta
minated injections and direct
contact with infected blood or
other bodily secretions.
The symptoms of Ebola are a
sudden onset of fever and
headaches, followed by vomiting
and diarrhea. The outbreak in
Zaire has been about 80 percent
fatal, Skinner said.
"If this disease were here in
the United States, our
health care techniques
would be good enough to
stop its transmission."
— Dr. John Quarles, Jr.
professor of medical microbiology and immunology
Ebola attacks and destroys
the body’s blood system and the
membranes containing bodily
fluids. Victims usually die of
massive internal hemorrhaging.
Quarles said the spread of Ebo
la is primarily due to the lack of
adequate health care in Zaire.
See EBOLA, Page 2
A&M professors, TTI work
together on Technocar 2000
□ The system will al
low police to access
complete traffic and
criminal records of in
dividuals stopped for
traffic violations.
By Javier Hinojosa
The Battalion
The Texas Transportation
Institute, TTI, and two A&M
engineering technology profes
sors are working together on
project Technocar 2000, a sys
tem designed to improve safety
conditions for Department of
Public Safety officers and other
police departments.
Dr. Joe Morgan, associate
professor of engineering tech
nology, said the project’s pur
pose is to improve the accuracy
and timeliness of acquiring traf
fic-safety data.
Police will be able to get com
plete records of the person being
stopped without leaving the pa
trol car by entering license plate
numbers into a computer system.
Records will include driver li
cense record files, vehicle li
cense plate and registration
files, criminal records, warrants
and accident reports. Stolen car
reports will also be included.
The key to the project is de
veloping a system of computers
that will support these efforts,
Morgan said.
George Wright, an A&M en
gineering technology lecturer,
said central processing units
will be placed in police vehicles.
This computer will be radio-
linked to a hand-held unit car
ried by each officer.
Wright said the hand-held
computer weighs almost 3
pounds and is 6 by 10 inches.
The device is operated by a pen
that reads the magnetic strips on
the new Texas drivers’ licenses.
“It will give a quicker access
of data to the police officer on
the scene,” Wright said.
David Ransom, a mechani
cal engineering graduate stu
dent who works on the project,
said officers are at risk when
they are filling out paper work
when stopping someone for a
traffic violation.
“The less the officer has to
look at paper and push buttons,
the more he can pay attention to
the situation at hand,” he said.
Wright said the computer
system will also be linked to
the radar and the video cam
era mounted on the vehicle’s
dashboard.
“This would allow better
control over the police vehicle,”
he said.
Wright said the project en
tered the second phase of a
See Technocar, Page 6