Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1996)
l 8 e 2 some sup. i at peopli time thj| J i'al emi s stress' : Perimet! ‘ exposm ifluence! ess level sts stress more dur- il of this mid, is to aliens to LOADED WEAPON The Aggie Baseball Team gears up for a run at the World Series. Sports, Page 6 UNHOLY MATRIMONY? Columnist Debate: Should states recognize same- sex marriages? Opinion, Page 9 INFINITE MUSIC Infinite Record Convention brings memory of vinyl to town. Aggielife, Page 3 The Battalion 102, No. 94 (10 pages) Serving Texas AdrM University Since 1893 Friday * February 16, 1996 raternity placed on two-year probation Pi Kappa Alpha was ouldbt und guilty of hazing larges and must write etter of apology to e student involved. ire plan, mt,” Par Jtions for you put its in tin in AM gy court- rch cred- nt. iceptual- results iblication by Tassi and two Michele e Hebl. Lily Aguilar ie Battalion The Inter-fraternity Council Ju- cial Board found the Texas chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha atemity guilty of hazing charges a hearing Thursday night. The fraternity was placed on robation for two years and will ave to complete 400 hours of community service as the penalty for subjecting pledges to forced work, sleep deprivation and de nial of food and water in January. The fraternity was ordered to write a letter of apology to an A&M student involved in the haz ing incident and initiate positive programs for pledges. Jeremy Moss, judicial board chief justice and sophomore politi cal science major, said the sanc tions should show that the Greek system will not tolerate hazing. “(Hazing) is a fairly serious problem that needs to be ad dressed,” Moss said. “I don’t know how fair it (the ruling) will go to stopping anything. I just hope people will think twice before do ing this.” Moss said the judicial board’s decision was based on reports filed during preliminary inves tigations and testimony given by fraternity members during the hearing. Robert D. Muse, Pi Kappa Al pha chapter president and a se nior industrial distribution major, said the fraternity will not appeal the judicial boards decision, al though it could. “We are happy with (the de cision),” Muse said, “and we are just hoping to prevent any thing like this from happening in the future.” Muse said the hazing incident was an isolated occurrence involv ing only a few fraternity mem bers. Fraternity members who participated in hazing were sus pended, he said, and could face expulsion from the organization. Muse said the actions of a small group within his fraternity should not be seen as represen tative of the whole organization, which he said is dedicated to philanthropy and community service and in no way condones hazing activities. Lanita Hanson, coordinator of Greek affairs and assistant di rector of student activities, said the judicial board tried to ensure that the hazing incident was handled appropriately. “I think they addressed the is sue very specifically,” Hanson said. “They were making sure pledge programs are supervised and thoughtfully put together. Hanson said the Pi Kappa Al pha pledge classes will have to meet with Greek advisers twice a year as part of the judicial board’s sanctions. This should establish a positive relationship between the 1 Pi Kappa Alpha members and ad visers, she said. The University does not set fraternity standards, she said, but members commit to ethics codes when they join fraternities. “Fraternity members publicly state what standards of member ship they have,” Hanson said. “I think one important thing we learned tonight is that they need to be held to that.” Moss said there is a broad, gray area within hazing laws, which leaves some fraternity members unclear about what is acceptable behavior. The Corps of Cadets has a similar problem, he said. “The atmosphere at A&M ... al lows things that are defined as hazing to be bred in as tradition, particularly within the Corps of Cadets,” Muse said. “If a pledge has to come up to me and introduce himself and say he is a pledge for Pi Kappa Alpha, that is illegal. But we have a whole student organization, the Corps, where (students) have to whip out.” )eff Williams, a senior wildlife ecology major, drives the Centerpole route. Williams has been working for the Bus Operations for two and a half years. Aggies teach Texas immigrants cultural assimilation skills ASTRAC dispute mediation on hold Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion SIT DOWN, BUS DRIVER □ An out-of-court agreement concerning the building of an A&M livestock center will be reached in March. By Pamela Benson The Battalion Mediation sessions between Brushy Creek residents and Texas A&M administrators to solve a dispute about a livestock center being built in the Brushy Creek community have been postponed until March 2 and 3. Dr. John Beverly, associate vice chancellor of the College of Agriculture and Life Sci ences, said mediation, originally scheduled for this weekend, was canceled in order to find a more convenient time. “The attorneys talked and mutually agreed to postpone the mediation because they are waiting for a convenient weekend when a professional mediator can be pre sent,” Hiler said. Dr. A1 Schaffer, an A&M sociology pro fessor and Brushy Creek resident, said he wants the mediation to be held as soon as possible because construction of the Ani mal Science, Teaching, Research and Ex tension Complex continues despite resi dents’ concerns. “I’m really upset that they’ve postponed the mediation,” Schaffer said. “The construc tion on the complex has progressed. They are bringing in dirt, pipes and building roads.” Today the two parties agreed on the per son who will preside over the mediation ses sions, an attorney from Dallas. During the mediation, the attorney rep resenting each side will have 20 minutes to make their arguments. Then the Brushy Creek residents and University representa tives will break into small groups and dis cuss their differences. The mediator will circulate among the groups and try to help them reach an agreement. If a satisfactory agreement can not be reached, Brushy Creek residents said they will seek court intervention. Brushy Creek residents have sought court injunctions before, but unsuccessfully. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. ruled against a restraining order that Brushy Creek residents requested in the summer to stop the building of ASTREC in their community. Some residents claim A&M’s decision to build ASTREC in the midst of their predomi nately African-American community, about six miles outside of College Station on High way 21, is an act of environmental racism. Others said they fear ASTREC will cause See Mediation, Page 10 J Money management and parenting are part of he education provided to some residents of the Rio Grande Valley. By Heather Pace The Battalion The Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Communications is using a new technology to educate groups of Underprivileged Texas immigrants. The program is targeting settle ments throughout the Rio Grande Valley inhabited primarily by low-in come immigrants with little formal education or English skills. Students are providing education with the use of Compact Disc Interac tive, a compact disc player connected to a television that allows on-screen choices to be made by remote control. Carla Beals, an agricultural com munications multimedia communica tions specialist, said the technology is effective because many settlement residents own televisions. “It was interesting to go into the homes, because some roofs looked like they were going to fall in and some people had extension cords running into their houses from their neighbors,” Beals said, “but everyone had a television.” The educational program began a year and a half ago when the United States Department of Agriculture awarded A&M a grant for innovative efforts in telecommunications. A&M’s agricultural communica tions department began the program as an attempt to combine continuing- education programs with the newly developed CD-i technology. The program provides people See Education, Page 10 Relationships improve through conflict Q An A&M professor's research on conflict management took her to Washington D.C. By Heather Pace The Battalion For more than 16 years, Dr. Linda Futnam, Texas A&M professor and head of the Department of Speech Communication, has studied some thing people face every day — conflict. Putnam’s expertise was put to use Jan. 29 when she spoke about conflict management at the “Campus on the Mall” series in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the Smithsonian Insti tution, the series offers continuing education courses in humanities and science. The series addresses issues such as urban conflict and the media, crisis communication across cultures and conflicts within intimate relationships. Putnam was selected as the lead speaker by the Speech Communica tion Association, one of the series’ sponsors. In her speech titled “The Language of Con flict,” Putnam em phasized that con flict does not have to be viewed in a negative light. “There are many ways in which conflict can become construe- tive,” Putnam said. “It promotes change, helps iden tify problems and relieves tension.” Putnam said her speech was aimed at showing that conflict is a necessary part of communication. “The end of one conflict is often the beginning of the next one with that individual,” Putnam said. “So we need to view conflict as something that is managed and not really resolved be cause it often occurs in other forms.” "(Conflict) promotes change, helps identify problems and relieves tension." — Linda Putnam A&M professor and head of the speech communications Putnam became interested in con flict management 16 years ago when she got involved in a conflict situa tion related to faculty salaries at a See Conflict, Page 10 MSC officers share experiences via video □ Former and current MSC presidents are recording their experiences for the benefit of future students. By Courtney Walker The Battalion In a video being produced by Texas A&M’s MSC Council, past and present MSC officers will pass advice and in spiration to generations of emerging MSC officers. The MSC video history is a collabora tion between former council presidents and the 1995-1996 MSC officers, who reflect on the experiences and accom plishments of their reigns. Patrick Conway, MSC Council president and a senior genetics major, came up with the idea for the project. The video, he said, will provide a different medium through which to examine former MSC officers. New officers will have something more to build on than advice from those in of fice immediately before them, he said. “Every time I meet a new former presi dent, they share the wealth of their past experiences with me,” Conway said. “And I thought this would be a way for other of ficers to tap into this information.” Conway said he considered other ways to use the MSC’s rich past, such as a MSC Council reunion, before deciding to make the video. But since former presidents are scat tered across the world, Conway said it would be almost impossible to find a weekend for everyone to come to A&M. Jimmy Charney, MSC executive vice president and a sophomore political sci ence major, recently finished his video in terview and said he hopes his experiences will point others in the right direction. “It gives new officers a chance to learn from our mistakes and develop a lot of on going themes,” Charney said. Officers are asked in the interview to give general advice and talk about what they have learned from their mistakes. “I just tell the new officers to keep their priorities and goals straight,” Char ney said. "Every time I meet a new former president, they share the wealth of their past experi ences with me." — Patrick Conway MSC Council president Heath Hendrix, the MSC president’s assistant and a freshman chemical engi neering major, said the video will pro vide an opportunity for new officers to get information that may not be passed down otherwise. “How much information we get de pends on the person,” Hendrix said. “Some interviews have lasted five min utes, and some have lasted 30 minutes.” A video cassette was sent out to each of the 45 former MSC presidents to record their messages. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of March. Hendrix said he has received 15 to 20 responses so far.
