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Field study programs help
students learn through
experience. Eating habits in
Mexico targeted.
Aggielife, Page 4
Benson: Prisoners should be
compensated for the work
they perform behind bars.
Opinion, Page 13
Leone: Corey Pullig
might not be Bucky, but
he just might win a
national championship.
Sports, Page 9
he Battalion
m
102, No. 7(14 pages)
Established in 1893
luesday • September 5
Dorm overassignment problem improving
aAn off-campus housing fair
scheduled Friday to offer
other housing options for the
remaining 400 overassigned
students.
By Michelle Lyons
The Battalion
While residents and housing admin
istrators say the overassignment prob
lem in residence halls is improving,
students remain living three peo
ple to a room.
The number is down from the 700
students placed on the waiting list
last week.
Ron Sasse, director of the Depart
ment of Residence Life and Housing,
said he attributes the decrease in dorm
overcrowding to a number of circum
stances, including students going else
where for housing.
“It’s a variety of things — cancella
tions and no-shows mostly,” Sasse said.
Sasse said the situation is becoming
more bearable.
“It’s starting to get real controllable
and manageable from our end,” he said.
“Hopefully, those on overassignment for
the semester will be in a situation they
are happy with.”
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi
dent for student affairs, said he expects
all overassigned students to be placed in
other rooms by the end of the semester.
“There is no scenario where students
will be an overassignment for the
spring semester,” Southerland said.
“The number of overassignments go
down virtually every day.”
Southerland also expressed an inter
est in eliminating as many of the three-
person room situations as possible, with
the smaller rooms eliminated first.
Scott Harris, a freshman engineering
major, said he was not happy about be
ing overassigned in Dunn Hall, but is
becoming accustomed to it.
“It’s kind of uncomfortable,” Harris
said. “It’s really cramped. Still, I guess
it’s not that bad.”
Rebel Rainwater, a freshman bio
medical science major, expressed her
discomfort in her three-person room as
signment in Krueger Hall.
“It’s a little bit crowded, but it’s not
as bad as I thought it would be,” Rain
water said.
The residence life and housing de
partment is hosting an overassignment
housing fair for students interested in
exploring other housing options.
The fair is Friday, Sept. 8 from 1-
3:30 p.m. in 110 and 111 John J. Koldus
Student Services Building. Representa
tives from local off-campus housing fa
cilities will answer questions and give
information on their properties.
Students who find suitable housing
off campus will be released from their
contracts with A&M and given re
funds, Sasse said.
Southerland said overassigned resi
dents do not have to remain on campus.
“There is no requirement to remain
an overassignment,” he added. “It’s
completely by choice.”
The Department of Residence Life
and Housing is also sponsoring an
Adopt-An Overassignment program
for students.
On-campus residents can offer to
take in an overassignment for the re
mainder of the semester and in return
will receive a 25-percent reduction on
their rent.
Traffic task force to examine
results of shuttle bus program
□ The Traffic Management
Task Force will assess last
weekend's game day
traffic flow and will make
improvements for the next
home football game if
deemed necessary.
By javier Hinojosa
The Battalion
Although preliminary reports sug
gest that traffic during Texas A&M
home football games was alleviated,
Traffic Management Task Force offi
cials said they will not know if the
shuttle bus program reduced conges
tion until later in the week.
Denise Fischer, public informa
tion officer for the Texas Depart
ment of Transportation, said the
task force will meet on Thursday to
make assessments.
“We will figure out what our suc
cesses and failures were and discuss
what changes will need to be made,”
Fischer said.
* Elmer Schneider, associate direc
tor of the University Police Depart
ment, said he was encouraged by the
efforts made by the task force to cre
ate a plan for traffic movement.
“The efforts resulted in an en
hancement in traffic flow, which was
part of the game plan,” Schneider
said. “I think it worked well overall.
“The crowd at [this weekend’s]
football game was pretty close to ca
pacity. It will give us a good gauge
for what type of traffic volume to ex
pect in future games, especially the
one with the University of Texas,
which will reach a capacity crowd.”
The task force, made up of Uni
versity, city and state officials, pro
duced maps pointing out routes for
drivers to use when leaving Kyle
Field and gave fans the chance to
See Shuttle, Page 8
New fall hours at health center
promote efficiency, save money
□ Administrators said emergency care
hours at the health center were costing
one-eighth of the center's budget and
were used by only 5 percent of patients.
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
Night and weekend medical care at the A.P. Beutel
Health Center was dropped to promote efficiency and
save money, Dr. Bill Kibler, associate vice president for
student affairs, said Monday.
Kibler told student leaders that the after-hours ser
vice cost $500,000, one-eighth of the health center’s
$4.25 million budget, and only 5 percent of the health
center’s 85,000 patients over the past year were treated
during nights and weekends.
“We determined that the number of students who
used the health center at those hours and the reasons for
it did not justify using those funds,” he said.
Students often used the health center to seek medical
attention for ailments that could wait until normal oper
ating hours, he said.
Kibler said some students who came to the health
center during evenings and weekends needed serious
medical care. But those students were forwarded to a lo
cal emergency room to receive the necessary treatment
and can still use the health center’s 24-hour ambulance
service.
“For the more serious problems, this may actually
save time,” he said. “We eliminate the middle step.”
If students need help after hours, they also can call
the health center’s new Dial-A-Nurse program at 845-
2822. The new phone line will connect callers with a reg
istered nurse who will give students advice on how to
seek medical treatment.
Dr. Lucille Isdale, the new health center director, said
the A&M nurse line is one of only 25 in the country. A
similar program was established at the McKinley Stu
dent Health Center at the University of Illinois, where
Isdale previously worked, when that health center
dropped after-hours care.
The phone program at A&M began last weekend and
received 25 calls, Isdale said.
However, Isdale said the nurse program should not be
used in place of medical attention.
See Health Center, Page 14
Strganac develops electronic blackboard
QAn interactive computer
classroom is being developed
for instructors with disabilities.
8 V Javier Martinez
The Battalion
Dr. Thomas Strganac, an A&M associate
Professor of aerospace engineering, is devel
oping an “electronic blackboard” that will al-
W people with disabilities to use interac
tive technology while teaching classes. ■
The blackboard will be developed into an
Piteractive computer classroom where infor
mation can be transmitted to the class
through individual computer monitors.
Lectures will be complemented by
stored computer simulations to bring in
a dditional information.
Strganac began developing the “black-
hoard” after he was confined to a wheelchair
five years ago by an unknown disorder that
left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Missing the ability to interact with stu
dents by the use of a conventional black
board, Strganac wanted to find a way to con
tinue his same teaching style.
"We're hoping to have [the pro
gram] up and running sometime
in 1996."
— Mike Downey
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
Strganac said that creating the black
board would benefit others in the teaching
field as well.
“I don’t want this classroom just for me,”
he said. “I want something to improve learn
ing and teaching for all.”
Strganac hopes to introduce new courses
using the innovative technology and re
search experience.
Mike Downey, science writer for the
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
Communications Division, said the H. R.
Bright Building is a proposed sight of the ex
perimental classroom.
“We are hoping to have [the program]
up and running sometime in 1996,”
Downey said.
The project will be funded by a National
Science Foundation Faculty Early Career
Development Program research grant
awarded to Strganac in June.
The award is geared toward career de
velopment, not only in research, but also in
education. The four-year award consists of
a base grant of $200,000 and then $50,000
a year.
Additional financing will come from cor
porations and the University, as well as oth
er sources.
Strganac came to A&M in 1989 after 15
years working as an engineer for NASA.
Silver Taps
The Silver Taps ceremony begins
tonight at 10:30 p.m. in front of the Acad
emic Building.
The campus will be hushed and dark
ened at 10:20 p.m. in memory of five
Texas A&M students who have died
since May.
Those being honored in this month's
ceremony are Debashis Biswas, a geogra
phy graduate student; Brian D. Hazel, a
junior electrical engineering major;
Daniel A. Long, a senior electrical engi
neering major; Gregory M. Sandrock, a
senior mechanical engineering major; and
Craig Douglas Stone, a freshman bioenvi-
ronmental science major.
The tradition of Silver Taps dates back
almost a century. During the ceremony,
the Ross Volunteers will fire a volley
salute and buglers will play a special
arrangement of “Taps.”