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DOUBLE THREAT
A look at A&M's
two-sport athletes.
SPORTS, PAGE 9
Agreement in Transition
Baggett and Boenig agree
on merit of DAB project.
OPINION, PAGE 13
The Blue fjeut
A police band aims to
keep children off drugs.
AGGIELIFE, PAGE 3
Battalion
Vol. 102, No. 131 (14 pages)
Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
Wednesday • April 17, 1996
A&M remembers Holocaust
ByMarissa Alanis
The Battalion
As part of an effort to recognize
the survivors and the estimated 5.1
million Jews who died in the Holo
caust, Israel has created an interna
tional calendar day known as Holo
caust Remembrance.
Established in the 1950s, Yomha-
Shoah, the Hebrew name for Holo
caust Remembrance, takes place
midway between Passover and Is
rael Independence Day on April 16.
In observance of Holocaust Re
membrance, Texas A&M’s Campus
Ministry Association and Interdisci
plinary Academic program spon
sored a two-part series Monday and
Tuesday. The series included pre
sentations about the Holocaust, a
reading of victims’ names and a
multi-denominational Holocaust ser
vice at A&M Presbyterian Church.
Emilio Rendon, an educational and
instructional curriculum assistant lec
turer, spoke at the presentation titled.
Three Scholars Face the Holocaust,”
Monday night at the MSC.
While teaching at Harlandale
High School in San Antonio, Rendon
noticed that only half of a page of
literature was devoted to the Holo
caust in a history book.
This triggered Rendon to focus on
telling his students about the Holo
caust in a way they would appreci
ate and understand.
Rendon said students think the
Holocaust was a Jewish problem, but
in essence, it was a human problem be
cause human beings had judged them
selves to be superior over others.
Rendon recalled that at one Holo
caust seminar at Harlandale, he no
ticed students with swastikas drawn
on their blue jeans and books be
cause they thought it was cool. But,
he said, they were ignorant of the
fact that the symbol stood for op
pression and murder.
Jay Locey, a professor in the Bay
lor English department and lecturer
at the presentation, offered the
viewpoints of four Holocaust sur
vivors, such as Eli Wizzell.
Locey said Wizzell treated his
writings about his imprisonment at
the Auschwitz concentration camp
in a subjective manner with a raw
emotional intensity that is devastat
ing for the reader and Wizzell.
Locey said the central concern in
documenting the Holocaust experi
ence is that a language barrier must
be dealt with to accurately describe
the experience.
David Myers, an associate profes
sor of English, spoke about the Holo
caust Denial Movement that
emerged in the late 1970s with pub
lished books that claim the Holo
caust was a hoax.
“It is a deliberate misrepresenta
tion of fact in order to deprive Jews
a major portion of their history,”
Myers said.
In August 1994, Myers discovered
at least a dozen Holocaust denial
books at Sterling C. Evans Library
and tried to have them removed.
After negotiations, the library re
classified the books into the catego
ry of Holocaust Eras and Inventions.
“No reputable library would hold
books disputing the historical exis
tence of slavery,” Myers said. “But
when it turns to the question of de
bate whether or not the Holocaust ex
isted, some libraries think these
books ought to be represented, which
is due to latent anti-Semitism.”
Myers said latent anti-Semitism
is the secret suspicion that Jews are
liars and are involved in a world
conspiracy with their partner, the
U.S. government.
Myers said the intentions of the
Holocaust Denial Movement is to call
into justification the state of Israel.
Holocaust victims who were de
ported to the concentration camp of
Terezin from Vienna had their
names read Tuesday at noon in front
of Rudder Fountain.
Myers said that since a third gener
ation has emerged since the Holocaust,
people must attempt to fix the rupture
in human values that it created.
“Our responsibility as post-Holo-
caust human beings is to somehow
mend that rupture,” he said.
Gwendolyn Struve The Battalion
Karen Hild, a student from Hearne High School,
plays a young Jewish survivor of a concentration
camp during the Holocaust.
Muster
week
arrives at
iV&M
DyCourtney Walker
The Battalion
Each year on April 21, Texas
A&M current and former students
pack themselves into a candle-lit
G. Rollie White Coliseum to honor
those who have died during the
past year.
This year’s Muster is the 50th
year anniversary of the 1946
muster on Corregidor Island dur
ing World War II.
Members of the Student Gov
ernment Muster Committee are
already preparing for the sacred
Muster tradition.
Information tables will be set
up this week in the Kleberg Cen
ter, the Commons, Wehner Build
ing, the MSC and the Zachry En
gineering Center from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. for students who have ques
tions about the Muster ceremony.
Along with information tables
throughout campus, an Aggie
Muster Reception and slide show
will be presented at 6 p.m. in
292B MSC.
Muster Committee members
are offering the reception this year
to let people know more about the
spirit of Muster.
Dr. Lee Phillips, Class of ’53,
will be the keynote speaker for the
reception and was also the speak
er at last year’s Muster ceremony.
Phillips will talk about what cur
rent students have in common
with the Class of ’46.
Susan Ayotte, a Muster Commit
tee subchair and sophomore mar
keting major, said she was amazed
that many fifth-year seniors do not
know what Muster is about.
“They may know about it or may
have heard about Muster through
Pish Camp or T-camp, but are more
concerned with academics and don’t
See Muster, Page 7
Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
READY, AIM, FIRE
Nicole Sitz, a senior history major, aims at a target in her
archery class.
GSC reviews day care decision
By Lily Aguilar
The Battalion
The Graduate Student Coun
cil voted Tuesday night to con
tinue to seat members on the
Day Care Advisory Committee,
despite debate to remove gradu
ate students from the committee
to send a strong message to ad
ministrators.
The GSC voted two weeks
ago to support University-spon
sored child care, but the organi
zation refused to support use of
the Grenada Building located
at 1 Research Park.
Stephen! Moore, former GSC
president and graduate meteo
rology student, said her experi
ence on the advisory committee
has been frustrating.
She said she has been chas
tised by committee members for
publicly stating her disapproval
for measures the committee has
made.
Moore said she did not think
the committee paid attention to
her suggestions and that many
decisions already seem to be
made.
Amy Kardell, a graduate so
ciology major, said students
need to let the University know
they do not support the direc
tion child care on campus is
heading. She said participation
on the advisory committee
might be equated with support
of all committee decisions.
Kardell said the committee
has ignored past graduate stu
dent members and suggested
students attend as vocal, non
voting members.
“I think this is an ill-fated idea
that we will regret getting into,”
Kardell said. “If you believe in
something, you should act on it.
“I think this is a good chance
for the graduate student body to
See GSC, Page 5
Ebola kills monkey
The virus outbreak is not a threat to humans
ALICE, Texas (AP) — Look
ing to erase dramatic images of
a widespread outbreak, health
officials Tuesday said the Ebola
virus that claimed two monkeys
at a primate center posed virtu
ally no threat to humans.
“Nobody’s sick. There’s not a
big outbreak of something,”
said Dr. Pierre Rollin, chief of
the special pathogens branch
for the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Rollin, a top Ebola expert who
has studied the infection’s deadly
strain in Africa, acknowledged
human infection was not impossi
ble but said it has never occurred
with the particular strain that
was diagnosed at the Texas Pri
mate Center.
The virus killed one monkey
and caused another to be euth
anized at the South Texas
breeding facility, which pro
vides primates to researchers
worldwide. An additional 98
monkeys, which were among a
shipment that arrived March
21 from the Philippines, re
mained quarantined and were
being tested.
Federal, state and local offi
cials stressed Tuesday that the
Texas strain poses no similar
threat to the more lethal strain
of Ebola, which infected 316
people and killed 245 last year
in the central African nation of
Zaire. Earlier this year, at least
13 people died from Ebola in
Gabon in western Africa.
To make the case, state Health
Commissioner David Smith said
rabies and tuberculosis were
more serious health threats.
“These are issues that are far
more concerning to us,” he said.
Class travels tough course
Permanent A&M courses must be thoroughly reviewed
By Lisa johnson
The Battalion
The gay and lesbian literature course, currently
a temporary course offering, will go before the Fac
ulty Senate at its May meeting.
If the Senate approves the course, the English
Department would need only the approval of Dr.
Ray Bowen, Texas A&M president, to become a
permanent course offering.
Linda Lacey, director of Academic Support Ser
vices, said the course will be available as a perma
nent course cross-listed as English 333 and Wom
en’s Studies 333 for Fall 1997 if approved by the
Faculty Senate and Bowen.
Jeanette Phariss, assistant provost and acade
mic vice president, said the selection process for
permanent courses is detailed. She said each
course is reviewed at several levels within its de-
pgirtment and college before it is considered by the
administration.
“Any course that makes it through this selec
tion process is thoroughly reviewed,” she said. “On
each decision, there is lots of input by both faculty
and students.
“That’s one of the best things about A&M’s se
lection process. We don’t just pick up a course and
decide to teach it tomorrow.”
Courses are first reviewed by the departments
within the respective college. If it is deemed a vi
able course at that level, it progresses to the de
partment head and then on to the college’s cur
riculum committee.
The college dean must give approval before the
course is given to Lacey's office, where the appro
priate information is filed with the University’s
curriculum committee.
It then progresses to the Academic Programs
Council and to the Faculty Senate.
Before the course is presented to the Academic
See Course, Page 7
Groovin ’
By Eleanor Colvin
The Battalion
As if Texas A&M students
do not have enough to master
in required English and for
eign language courses, slang is
another language that stu
dents must stay on top of to
show that they are all that.
The resurgence of valley
girl-type phrases, such as as if
and hell-o, used in recent
movies like Clueless, and more
hip-hop sayings, such as all
that, show that although slang
varies among groups, its usage
is fairly universal.
A&M linguistics professors
describe slang as a specialized
vocabulary that students use
to define groups and establish
solidarity among peers.
Noelle Newby, a senior Eng
lish major, said she thinks
slang unifies the individuals
that use it.
“Sometimes if groups of peo
ple differ in terms of race, gen-
with words /)
der or where they’re from,” she
said, “you may not understand
what they’re talking about be
cause of different ways they
describe the same things.”
The differences in ways
A&M students refer to sexual
intercourse, attractive mem
bers of the opposite sex, or
having fun illustrate the range
of slang Newby describes.
On the A&M campus attrac
tive students, or those who have
it going on, are thought to be
tight, hot and all that, among
other things. / /
The multiple meaning of
words such as tight, which can
be good or bad, reflect the com
plexity and evolution of slang.
Dr. Barbara Johnstone, a
professor of linguistics, said the
unique uses of slang show that
slang is not a mindless and
sloppy choice of words, but a
useful means of communication.
“Lots of people think that
since slang is not used in for
mal settings, we could do with-
out ^
it,” she safe
“Those people tend to have for
gotten that they had slang in
their generation too.
“There’s more use for slang
as a youth, but even adults pick
up jargon as they are socialized
See Slang, Page 7