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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1995)
y 27, # =aT* i' X A. 08 ma 1. 101, No. 181 (6 pages) ]V[ U N I V E R S I T Y Established in 1893 Monday • July 31, 1995 ng. nake 3fficials change housing allocation to avoid vacancies nthe Construction of off-cam- theyrjs housing units during te past two years and the nes?.allocation of on-campus musing will prevent hous- l v g shortages for A&M stu- ?nts this fall. irs suf Katherine Arnold cxas." ie Battalion it some louldf The abundant number of on-campus urt.Ttsidence hall vacancies last fall ould not be a problem this year at xas A&M, housing officials said. II havtln Fall 1994, there were more than 500 vacancies on campus, primarily because of students who canceled housing contracts and others who end ed up not attending A&M. Jennifer Evans, summer coordina tor for on-campus housing, said the housing office has changed the alloca tion of on-campus housing to prevent this from occurring in the fall. “Last year, 10 percent of housing spaces went to transfer students and 10 percent went to returning stu dents,” Evans said. “This fall, 5 per cent will go to transfer students, 5 per cent will be for returning students, and the rest of the housing will go to freshmen.” All 8,000 residence hall spaces are filled for Fall 1995, with 1,000 stu dents booked to fill vacancies as they occur. Those students will be assigned to study rooms or will be assigned three people to a room until a perma nent space for them is found. Unlike many other universities, freshmen at A&M are not required to live on campus. As a result of last year’s housing discrepancy, many freshmen lived off campus. Ann Goodman, assistant director of Student Life Programs, said they worked closely with the on-campus housing office to make sure freshmen were aware of their options. “We tried to be very proactive last year,” Goodman said. “We got every single address of students rejected for housing and sent them our survival guide and price list [for off-campus housing]. That took a lot of the pres sure off the students having to worry about where to live.” Although there were a larger num ber of students turned down for hous ing last fall, students were easily able to find housing off campus, Goodman said. “Our worst time, as far as off-cam- pus housing is concerned, was in the summer of 1993,” Goodman said. “There were just not enough units available. A lot of*private builders came in and ended up building at the same time, so now we have more than enough housing to accommodate the number of people coming in.” Several recently-constructed apart ment complexes include amenities such as security gates, microwaves and ceiling fans. This makes it diffi cult for older apartment complexes to compete, Goodman said. “We are seeing a slight decrease in rent rates at the older complexes that just can’t compete with all the ameni ties offered at the newer complexes,” she said. The latest construction of new apartments and duplexes filled a need for housing in this area but will proba bly begin to level off, Goodman said. Tanya Mendez, building technician for the city of College Station, said there have been fewer building per mits issued in College Station this year than last year. From January to June, building permits were issued for 173 single family homes, 21 duplexes and 238 in dividual apartment units. During the same time period in 1994, permits were issued for 248 single family homes, 31 duplexes and 400 individual apartment units. f the fear. sal woe donors program neets students’ ■Specialized needs -'ECourses taken through the honors program allow rv j ce (iore individual contact and group discussion than uly2; > gular course sections. nentoff' Katherine Arnold potenti ie Battalion 27-28. /icesp r ph e flexibility of the Texas m ^&M Honors Program offers a ie , vvo , iique opportunity for students I ^ 5f i, to excel academically. ^ en i s Dr. Dale Knobel, director of entsto e Office of Honors Programs Tort toe d Academic Scholarships, said ollege. e program’s goal is to meet , studenadents’ specialized needs, jtrition “We can’t assume that a one- 5e education fits all,” Knobel g their id. “The ) identii!, nors pro- n i ng w a m shows y an 1 at students e ready to .pjprke responsi- ity for their los|n|ucation. ” More than -0 sections of ty Connors courses I an inie taught endatif year, s and' )riors classes canine ually are in,onS ialler than commiii^ u ^ ar classes, with class en- ere( j byOrnent limited to 25 students. itonio^ 16 workload often features Base tore! individual interaction and nissionioup discussion than regular arse sections. )wgoes Brian Tees, a senior journal- gativeie n said he takes honors mmittef asS e S f or f, en efit of the ^^issj format. r - 1^! “Most of the [honors] classes 6 taken are great,” Tees said. ' ou get a lot more out of the .puhlicjTssi material and discussions.” ,heldthe The A&M honors program ns. ffers from those at other earlie'bools because students do not commis^roll in the program or com as at twC|t themselves to a single hon- or c '°;“s track. ■w sco r ’ There are two distinct tracks the chaf^hin the honors program. I C | int0 pundation Honors students h re | uc t ; ust complete one honors by per urse in each of the core cur- (Ts at MKuliim categories, for a total of aamenK] honors credits. University nio cou mors students must complete ctor. i hours of honors course credit, 1 of which must be in upper- , /elj courses. or arU In 1994, 81 students graduat- ” he s ; as University or Foundation he cost Honors graduates or University Undergraduate Fellows. Dr. Susanna Finnell, associ ate director of the honors pro gram, said students do not have to pursue either of these tracks to enroll in honors courses, but can take one or two courses if they choose. Knobel said there are sever al advantages to the honors program. “When you take honors cours es, you are providing evidence that you have experi ence in fast- paced cours es^” he said. “It’s also very flexible and isn’t a membership program.” Students who enrolled at A&M be fore Summer 1995 must . have a 3.25 grade point ratio or higher to en roll in honors courses. Students who enter the University after Summer 1995 must have a GPR of 3.4 or higher. To enroll in honors classes, incoming freshmen -.who enter the University in Fall 1995 must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class and score at least 1150 on the SAT or 28 on the ACT. Freshmen who enter in 1996 must graduate in the top 10 percent of their class and score 1250 on the SAT or 28 on the ACT to enroll in honors classes. Each year, 3,000 students en roll in honors courses, with an average class size of 19 students. Of students eligible for honors courses, 15 to 20 percent register for the classes. Knobel said there is room for improvement in the honors program. “Right now the demand for honors courses exceeds supply,” he said. “The honors classes fill more quickly than other courses, so we would like to see more See Honors, Page 2 Missed ... again! Mike Williams, senior biomedical science major, is scored on by one of his buddies who were out with him Sunday afternoon on Simpson Drill Field. They were playing a game of soccer, but more balls missed the net than went in. Rebel Serbs pledge to stop attacks. q U.N. reports Crotian Serb attack in Bosnia's Bihac region Monday. ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Rebel Serbs from Croatia reneged on an hours-old agreement, at tacking Bosnian government forces Monday in a northwestern enclave that threatens to become a flashpoint for more widespread Balkan warfare. The United Nations reported a Croatian Serb attack in Bosnia’s Bihac region early Monday — an assault that showed Croatian Serbs remained in border regions of neighboring Bosnia despite a partial pullout. Croatia’s Serbs, in a verbal agreement with U.N. mediators Sunday, had promised to stay away from Bihac and not to at tack Croatian troops unless pro voked. They also said they would al low the United Nations “unhin dered access” to areas around Bi hac and to let aid convoys from Croatia travel through their terri tory to Bihac. The Croatian Serbs also pro posed holding talks with the Croatian government. But Croat ia, flush with recent battlefield victories, swiftly rejected the of fer. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said in a letter to U.N. envoy Yasushi Akashi that he would not negotiate with the Croatian Serbs’ leader, Milan Martic, or “any other war crimi nal.” Serb rebels in Croatia and Bosnia are allied against the Croatian and Bosnian govern ment and have been involved in the fight for the Bihac region in northwestern Bosnia. Croatia has sent thousands of troops across the border into Bosnia, where they joined forces with Bosnian Croats and seized two strategic towns, Grahovo and Glamoc, from the Bosnian Serbs. They also cut the main supply route between Knin, the Croatian Serb stronghold, and Serb-held Banja Luka, the second-largest city in Bosnia. The Bosnian Serbs vowed to re taliate. “Croatia has made a decisive mistake and shall pay dearly for it,” their military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, said Sunday during a visit to Knin. Serb-held villages 10 miles northwest of Knin came under sporadic rocket attack Sunday. Croat commanders also reported that their troops took a strategic hill north of Gornji Vakuf, at the far east of the Croat advance into Bosnia. War broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1991. but don’t £3 Govemment-Croat federation 0 Bosnian Croats and the Croatian army took Glamoc and nearby Grahovo, moving into Bosnian Serb heartland and opening a southern front in Bosnia. 0 Bosnian Croat soldiers also severed the chief road linking Knin, the self-proclaimed capital of rebel Serbs, with territory held by Bosnian Serbs. Associated Press Iropical storm brings much- g the s g, the t ies Con' forfur Tropical Storm Dean hit M st^ ie Texas coast near Galve- the coit . luencedfon Sunday evening and f/S rought heavy rain and mi- , or street flooding. ,ue doe* ° , hast* HOUSTON (AP) — The remnants of come . Tort-lived Tropical Storm Dean drenched i£ salfl -eas of Southeast Texas early Monday nd the flash-flood producing rainfall. ,sulto Tire rain began spreading across a vast by the .;.-ea of Texas Monday with flash flood e n | at ‘ atches posted from Southeast Texas • ^ Northward and westward into the Hill iPP r p 3untry, portions of South Central Texas t^ e jid into southeastern areas of North of 5 u !»s. -uctiofl A flood and flash flood watch was in ef fect today for the area north and east of a line from Rockport to Beeville to Hondo to Junction. It included the cities of Hous ton, Galveston, Beaumont and Port Arthur as well as San Antonio, Austin and Victoria. Rainfall was expected to spread into most of West Texas by Monday night and continue through Tuesday. In North Texas, forecasters said the clouds and rainfall from the storm system would give residents a break from the heat wave with tempeeratures to remain in the 80s Monday and in the 80s and 90s on Tuesday. Authorities said the storm system, a full-blown tropical storm for only four hours on Sunday, provided coastal emer gency teams a chance to check out their needed rain, break from heat emergency preparedness plans. But the tropical depression produced flash flooding in Chambers and Liberty counties. A flash flood watch was in effect through the night for Southeast Texas along and south of a line from Columbus to Newton and included the cities of Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Galveston. Chambers County authorities said por tions of Interstate 10 and Texas 61 west of Winnie were closed. The National Weather Service estimat ed that 8-13 inches of rain fell in Cham bers County during an eight-hour period ending early today. Liberty County re ceived 4-7 inches of rain in the same peri od of time, the NWS reported. The storm, which earned its name just before making landfall at Galveston, buf feted the upper Texas coast with 45 mph winds and much-needed rain Sunday evening. By early Monday, the depression was some eight miles east of Angleton in Bra zoria County, National Weather Service meteorologist Josh Lichter said. “It will lose it’s wind strength. We ex pect the winds to diminish,” Lichter said of the storm’s expected ferocity. ‘We still have general 15 to 25 mph winds forecast through (today).” “There’s still a threat of very heavy rains and there’s still a threat of isolated tornadoes,” Lichter said. The fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season spurred eavy rain in Galveston and nearby Bolivar Peninsula but caused only minor street flooding. Clarification: A Page 1 story in The Battalion Wednesday about the Graduate Student Council’s stance on the proposed general use fee increases did not present fully the organiza tion’s position. A press release from CSC Pres ident Stepheni Stephenson Moore states the CSC supports an in crease in the general use fee, but is aware of the adverse effects that the increase would have on students. According to the statement, the CSC is “attempting to arrive at the best solution to the budget prob lems facing the University — both for graduate students and the Uni- : versity as a whole.” .