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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1995)
&£i JVI isr R V ' 50«*, ■ 5S | ol. 101, No. 156 (6 pages) Established in 1893 Tuesday • June 13, 1995 'fady J. >f the ’ Faculty Senate makes recommendations pr-fired mis$* ' l■-armsfire^ 1 | <he helico?.; es Bosnia i Proposals include hanging the atten- lance policy and the late of withdrawal rom the University. "VY Katherine A rn °ld "hf Battalion ed Press Jl‘he Texas A&M Faculty Sen ile approved recommendations rry ss Monday concerning the students’ ffht se^tendance policy and the with- i as Eflrawal date from the University, r proift’he proposals will be sent to Dr. lay Bowen, Texas A&M presi- nder lent, for consideration, has i As part of the revised atten- 5 fiigrlance policy proposal, students y r ad vho receive an excuse from the V.P. Beutel Health Center may lave to show proof of treatment to /alidate an absence as excused, n p, §?pr. Kurt Ritter, senator for the IK 3 0 J] e ge of Liberal Arts, said the recommended policy is the result if several previous proposals. The current policy states that 1 a faculty member may inquire a coir with the health center to deter- n billti treated on a specific day. This policy met resistance be cause medical records are pri vate and cannot be released, Rit ter said. With the change, faculty members would no longer be able to inquire about whether students were treated. Instead, the student would be responsible for proving they were treated by the health center, he said. “Believe it or not, I actually have students who are not ill who go to the health center just for an excuse,” Ritter said. Dr. Katherine Dettwyler, liber al arts senator, said a revised pol icy would be stricter on students who miss class and are not ill. “The health cen ter will hand any one who signs in an excuse that says they were seen by a doctor,” Dettwyler said. “It’s more of a ‘student sighting’ than an actual medical excuse. “Having such a relaxed atten dance policy encourages irre sponsibility,” Hall said. “The problem for the faculty is the large number of students who are not really ill.” The approved policy is an at tempt to keep students honest, Ritter said. “If a student doesn’t want to document that they were ill, then they don’t get an excused absence,” Ritter said. The Senate also proposed changing the number of days in which students must provide ex cuses to professors. If approved by Bowen, students will have to show proof of an excused ab sence within two working days "Believe it or not, I actually have students who are not ill who go to the health center just for an excuse." — Dr. Kurt Ritter College of Liberal Arts, senator rializi mine if a student was actually Dr. Michael Hall, senator for the College of Science, said some form of treatment verifi cation is necessary. instead of five. Changes to the policy on withdrawal from the University were also approved for recom mendation in Monday’s meeting. The Student Senate had passed an amendment propos ing the elimination of the “withdrawal passing” and “withdrawal failing” classifica tions. Currently, “withdrawal failing” grades are taken into account when determining the grade point ratio. The Student Senate recom mended that instead, a student who withdraws would receive a “W” for the classes from which they withdrew, which would not be figured into the GPR. The Faculty Senate approved this, as well as recommending the date of withdrawal from the University be moved to the Q- drop date. Currently, students can withdraw until the semester is completed. Stan Carpenter, senator for the College of Education, said exceptions will still be made for students who need to withdraw at a later date. “Some students will always have circumstances that require them to drop out of school,” Car penter said. “Students will still be able to withdraw after the Q- See Senate, Page 6 Dr. Pierce Cantrell presides over meeting q Faculty Senate speaker begins first year in the position. By Katherine Arnold The Battalion Dr. Pierce Cantrell, associate professor of electrical engineer ing, did an exceptional job at his first Faculty Senate meeting as the speaker of the Senate, his peers said. “I think things ran rather smoothly,” Cantrell said. “I still have some reading up to do on parliamentary proce dure, though.” Cantrell was elected as the new speaker at the Senate’s May 8 meeting. Monday’s meet ing was the first meeting of the 13th session of the Senate. Dr. Mark Weichold, professor of electrical engineering and for mer Senate speaker, said a suc cessful Senate speaker has first hand knowledge of the activities on campus and is well-versed in the issues discussed by the Fac ulty Senate. “Pierce is very well qualified: for the job,” Weichold said. “He has the right mix of experience to make him an effective speak er. He has a diplomatic de meanor, which you need to con trol this kind of meeting.” Cantrell, who is entering his sixth year on the Faculty Sen ate, has been with the Depart ment of Electrical Engineering since January 1982. Cantrell will be the Senate speaker for one year. His term as a senator also ends at the end of this Senate session. s recruits new students cpt j Members of the Corps Sum- twK ner Recruiting Company en- v :ourage freshmen attending ttDm\ekM student conferences to join heir organization. y Tara Wilkinson he Battalion roaoi -oducffi! Franc haver Sixty cadets are working this summer to • „ I ecruit incoming Texas A&M students for ; g hejCorps of Cadets. Sgt. Maj. Thomas Epting, assistant re- ruiting coordinator for the Corps, said the lorps Summer Recruiting Company, in its • econd year of operation, encourages fresh- llltian attending new student conferences to ^)in the Corps. jecial® “The goal of the recruiting company is to >rk is ecruit quality young men and women for nterache Corps of Cadets,” Epting said, be ab: The company is striving to recruit 850 jle in adets this summer, Epting said. Hopefully, ry saihe said, 250 of these recruits will be stu- i peop tents who have not previously expressed in- metr erest in the Corps. All of the cadets in the company live on se th-he Quadrangle and work two nights a week ter at t New Student Conference programs, while leetinhttending summer school. ents is The cadets are also conducting an “exten- ition ive phone push” to contact students identi- ied as prospective cadets at least three days a reahefore their conferences, Epting said, pie at viousiy 3 cour “They spend about three hours a day on the phone, contacting anywhere between 60 to 100 prospects,” he said. The names come from a list of high school students who participated in a recruiting ef fort called Spend the Night With the Corps. Epting said the program hosted 1,911 high school students during the fall semester. Thirty percent of the students were high school seniors. During the first night of each New Stu dent Conference, at the Convocation Pro gram, three cadets will speak about the Corps. Five more cadets will help explain special units like Parsons Mounted Cavalry and the Ross Volunteers. About 35 cadets will interact with the au dience and talk with prospective recruits. The company, divided into Team Maroon and Team White, work conference programs on alternating nights of the week. The recruiting company will operate four resource tables in front of Duncan Dining Facility. Epting said the company will pro vide information, not only about the Corps, but about many aspects of the University. Epting said cadets in the recruiting com pany are required to wear their uniforms to class once a week, in an effort to give visitors to the A&M campus an accurate picture of what life in the Corps involves. Heath Larkin, Corps staff recruiting sergeant, said summer recruiting efforts are especially crucial because the prospects have already been accepted to A&M. “I think the Summer Recruiting Compa ny is the most important recruiting pro gram for the Corps because it’s crunch time,” Larkin said. “We can see the prospects up close and personal and con vince them to join from there.” The cadets in the recruiting company were selected by their outfit commanders and outfit recruiting officers based on their recruiting performance throughout the year, Epting said. All of the Corps’ special units and the Aggie Band are represented. Thirteen of the 60 cadets in the company are women. Epting said this female to male ratio is purposely disproportionate to the actual ratio. “We are trying to increase the number of females participating in the Corps,” Ept ing said. David Flores, a junior political science major and senior Corps staff recruiting offi cer, said the cadets in the recruiting compa ny are motivated, have good speaking skills and know how to present the Corps. “The Corps is not for everybody,” Flores said. “You have to know how to give both sides of it. The best communicator will tell you the good and the bad and let you make your own decision.” Epting said the summer program height ens the year-round recruiting efforts of cadets, full-time Corps recruiting officers and the approximately 175 former- students who volunteer to make up the Corps Leader ship Outreach. Epting said the recruiting efforts of these three groups compliment one another. “But if I had to rank them, I’d say cadets are the most influential recruiting tool we have,” Epting said. Eddy Wylie, The Battalion Ian Townsend, member of the Corps Summer Recruiting Co., stands in front of a slide show Monday during the New Student Conferences. \thlete graduation rates drop in sub r, eng- i The decrease may be —-lue to students leaving [p l&M to play for pro- r essional teams before IllUeceiving their degrees. ugboa*' y Wes Swift : a 60f’hi Battalion at ran joftfr Graduation rates for Texas antucik&M student athletes dropped 1 ferrie percent from last year, but shore i&M Athletic Director Wally ity g p Iroff said the figures may be if Nar misleading. , whib Of the freshmen student ath- iuda i stes who entered A&M on full 3 enger : cholarship in Fall 1988, only 47 n500 »ercent had graduated by Au- - or brust 1994. appa>'. Overall, A&M students had a d, sai c l7|percent graduation rate, nd th f Groff said the drop in the ath- [ajesi ete graduation rate was not as dgnificant a change as the fig- ajesl' ires suggest. rasvisi;' “I wish it were up by 6 per- ’ feet i ;ent,” Groff said. “But this is not lowwahn appreciable drop. This last water :lass was bigger than others, was irind that can make a difference.” e shiP’ Within the breakdown, His panic athletes had the highest f helpjraduation rate, with three of jnottlhe four athletes enrolled since .gttkbr’all 1988 graduating. White jd. athletes had the second highest jr^chiation ra t e> with 31 of the 31 enrolled graduating, a 51 per cent rate. Five of the 18 black athletes enrolled graduated, a 28 percent rate. Kevin Carreathers, director of the Department of Multicul tural Services, said the rates may be lower since many black athletes leave A&M to play pro fessionally at the end of their senior seasons, before receiving their degrees. “I think that if you talk to the 18 athletes, you’ll find that many went to the pros,” Car reathers said. “Those figures do not take into account that many return to get their degrees seven to eight years later.” The NCAA calculates the graduation rates as a percentage of student athletes who have earned their degrees within six years after enrolling as fresh men. Graduation rates do not in clude athletes who have left school to play professional sports before receiving their degree. The NCAA began monitoring the graduation rates of universi ties after Proposition 48 was passed in 1986, establishing aca demic requirements for incom ing freshmen athletes. Groff said that the rates for successful sports programs like Texas A&M’s can some times be misleading. “The NCAA very often penal izes successful programs like ours,” Groff said. “We have a lot See Athletes, Page 6 1988-1994 Full Scholarship Student Athlete Graduation Rates Financial aid cuts in debate Total number of student athletes who entered A&M on full schol arship in 1988 Total number of these same athletes who graduat ed from within six years 83 39 The percentage of first-time freshmen that graduated from A&M within six years is 47%. The NCAA calculates the graduation rates as a per centage of student athletes who have earned their de grees within six years after enrolling as freshmen. Grad uation rates do not include athletes who have left school to play professional sports before receiving their individual degrees. q Congress may vote on federal budget proposals involving reduc tions within the next few months. By Tara Wilkinson The Battalion Congress may vote on federal budget propos als involving financial aid reductions within the next few months. The proposals, being debated in a conference committee, would eliminate subsidized Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, College Work Study and Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants if adopted. A report from Rep. Chet Edward’s office, D-Texas, said that although half of the savings from the elim inated Student Education Op portunity Grants, College Work Study and Perkins Loans would be redistributed as Pell Grants, the plan is harmful to students. “The proposal will add nearly Si3 billion to the cost of going to college for Ameri can students over the next five years,” the report said. Vance Gore, spokesman for Ed wards, said the proposed financial aid reductions are part of a plan to bal ance the national budget by the year 2002. “They are non-binding recommendations, but they do carry a lot of weight,” Gore said. The proposed policies would not be effective until Oct. 1, 1996, the start of the next fiscal year. However, Gore said if the policies are ap proved, Congress will most likely implement por tions of adopted programs before that date. “I think it would be highly unlikely not to do anything this year and then try to implement it next year,” Gore said. Sherry Marsteller, legislative assistant to Sen. Jack Fields, said the proposals are not “cuts.” She said the proposals would involve pulling back some of the 1995 financial aid funds, limit ing the growth rate on the amount of money des ignated to financial aid next year and restructur ing the system of loan distribution. Marsteller said the redistribution is necessary and logical because it will force students to be more accountable for their loans and will make the process of getting a loan simpler. ‘Loans are not going to be eliminat ed,” Marsteller said. “There will be some effects, but for the most part I don’t think these are go ing to be drastic changes. There will be students out there applying for loans, though, who won’t get as big of a loan as they want.” Toby Boenig, Texas A&M student body president, said he is worried about the affect that the reductions might have on students. “I’m fully against them,” he said. “I’m scared of what they are going to do to lower- and middle-in- come students going off to school.” Since Student Government is not allowed to lobby, Boenig said that concerned students should voice their opinions to the senators and representatives of College Station and of their home towns.