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The Battalion
tlume 103 • Issue 7*14 Pages
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
S OB
i&M makes top 50 University changes
By Matthew Flume
The Batt alion
iexasA&M is ranked one
he best national univer-
es by U.S. News & World
aort magazine.
Ihe magazine, in its Sept. 9
in indication to hij
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issue, surveyed 229 schools
concerning several different
factors to determine which
school ranks the best overall.
Rankings were based on
factors such as SAT/ACT
scores for incoming fresh
men, financial resources,
selectivity of admissions and
graduation rate.
Texas A&M tied with the
Georgia Institute of
Technology for 48th place,
making this the first time
A&M has been ranked in the
top 50 of the annual U.S.
News survey.
A&M was the only public
institution in the Southwest
to rank in the top tier of the
Best National University
category.
Rice University, ranked
16th, was the only other uni
versity in Texas to receive
honors as a top 50 school.
Dr. Ray Bowen, A&M pres
ident, said A&M’s rankings
pleased him.
“I’m thrilled to death with
the survey,” Bowen said, “I’m
not sure about the methodol
ogy [of the survey], but I like
the results.”
Two of Texas A&M’s indi
vidual colleges also ranked
well. The College of
Business Administration
ranked in the top 25 in the
nation.
Dr. A. Benton Coca-
nougher, dean of the A&M
College of Business
Administration, said the
ranking reflects the hard
work the faculty has put
into the college.
“We think that [the sur
vey] is certainly a recogni
tion of a great deal of time
and effort and resources
that have gone into making
our undergraduate pro
gram, what we think, is one
of the best in the country,”
he said.
The College of
Engineering also took high
honors, tying with four other
schools — including Rice
University — for 16th place.
The U.S. News article said
studies were done on differ
ent undergraduate programs
because more students are
choosing a school based on
its undergraduate reputation.
The magazine ranks the
business and engineering
programs because they tend
to be the most popular
among students.
health care policy
Foreign students will be required to have coverage
By Brandon Hausenfluck
The Battalion
Comprehensive health insurance will
soon be required of all international stu
dents enrolled at Texas A&M.
By Spring of 1997, it will be mandatory for
all international students to hold an insur-
► See Editorial, Page 13
ance policy that meets certain minimum
requirements.
At a cost of $476 annually, the policy
must include at least $50,000 in medical
benefits per accident or illness, $10,000 in
medical evacuation coverage, and $7,500 to
cover the cost of transporting the body if
the patient dies.
Dennis Corrington, chairman of the imple
mentation task force on mandatory health
insurance for international students, said the
mandate will benefit international students.
“Our primary concern was that indigent
health care is not available to international
students,” Corrington said. “If they (interna
tional students) have a catastrophic situa
tion and they do regain their health, it will
put them in a bad financial situation. They
need to understand how the system works so
they don’t assume they are taken care of.”
Corrington, who also serves as director of
the Student Recreation Center, said some
international students come from countries
where socialized medicine is the standard.
See Health, Page 6
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Freshman Elmir Alchmedov takes a break by playing Area 51 video game in the MSC Monday afternoon.
Faculty Senate
reviews tenure
By Wesley Poston
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Faculty
Senate introduced a proposal for
post-tenure review Monday, fol
lowing a Board of Regents man
date to create such a policy.
The Board of Regents man
dated that each institution in
the Texas A&M System craft its
own policy for post-tenure
review. The Board will consider
the individual policies once
each school has submitted a
recommendation.
Currently, all faculty mem
bers are subject to annual per
formance review both in and out
of the classroom by individual
department heads.
However, Faculty Senate
Speaker Steve Oberhelman said
in a previous interview that the
Board of Regents has been look
ing to implement a more rigorous
evaluation for tenured faculty.
“[The regents] have the mis
conception that there are
incompetent professors at
A&M,” he said. “The proposed
policy makes a good case for the
importance of tenure.”
Oberhelman said the Senate
needs to make it clear to parents,
students, legislators and regents
how well the faculty of A&M has
been doing.
“People hear that professors
only teach six hours in the class
room per week,” he said, “and
they ask, ‘What else do they do?’”
The speaker compared the
time professors spend in the
classroom to a minister spend
ing three hours in a pulpit per
week and a lawyer spending five
hours in a courtroom.
“Each professor spends five
hours a week in committee work
and 12 to 15 hours preparing for
class on top of the time spent
See Faculty, Page 6
tudent Senate to slate fall agenda
re
ms
lekwondo
~id meet Monday!
Tuesday/Thursday
? first week! Come
"ind out more by
*ber Services Desk
62-3995.
urse
of classes
* the Texas
~se!
er 5 p.m. daily)
ay/Sunday $11.00
n fees:
ziturday/Sunday
ziy/Sunday $16.00
Senators
propose a
bill to involve
students
with faculty
ting.
By Melanie D. Smith
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Student
Senate will outline the issues
it plans to address when it
approves its legislative agen
da during the group’s first fall
meeting Wednesday.
The Senate will also dis
cuss the impact of student
evaluations on faculty
members.
Items on the proposed
agenda include campus
child care, increasing the
visibility of Student Senate
meetings, and the possibili
ty of adding an art depart
ment to the University.
Chris Reed, Student
Senate speaker, said the
agenda will not prohibit the
Senate from addressing
issues not already included.
“This resolution does
not limit us to addressing
only those things on the
legislative agenda,” Reed
said. “But it is our promise
that we will address those
things, in addition to any
others that may arise.”
A bill will be submitted
Wednesday to increase the
impact of student evalua
tions on professors.
The Professor Quality
Assurance Bill calls for the
use of student evaluations to
determine tenure and salary
increases. The proposal also
solicits student involvement
in the faculty hiring process.
Jill Jackson, a co-sponsor
of the bill and a senior
international studies major,
said she would like students
to be involved in the hiring
and evaluation process.
“When you choose a new
administrator, there is always
a student on the panel,” she
said. “As far as I know, stu
dents are not involved with
faculty. I thought, since they
affect us most directly, it
would be beneficial to have
student involvement.”
Jackson said the proposed
bill is not a criticism of the
professors.
“We want them to know
that we would support a high
priority to be placed on
salaries, and the distribution
of tuition to reflect that prior
ity,” she said.
Silver Taps
The solemn Silver Taps cere
mony will be conducted tonigh t
in memory of eight A&M stu
dents who have died since May.
I he memorial ceremony will
be held at 10:30 p.m. in front of
the Academic Building.
This month’s ceremony is in
memory of the following stu
dents: Joe B. Davis, a senior
computer science major from
Lamesa; Bonnie C. Richards, a
senior interdisciplinary studies
major from Wimberley; lames E.
Lich-Tyier, a senior geography
major from Kerrville; Go
Shibata, a senior management
major from Japan; Graciela
Rodriguez-Aragon, a graduate
student in clinical psychology
from Houston; Jose M. Ibanez, a
junior construction science
major from Falcon
Heights; Khema S.
Jules, a freshman
educational health
major from Killeen,
and Bobby W. Lassiter,
a poultry science grad
uate student from
College Station.
In keeping with
the tradition of Silver Taps,
which dates back nearly a cen
tury, the campus will be hushed
and darkened at 10:20 p.m. In
memory of each deceased stu
dent, the Ross Volunteers honor
guard will fire a volley salute
and buglers will play a special
arrangement of “Taps.”
The tolling of the Albritton
Tower bell signals the end of
the ceremony.
he Battalion
TODAY
ilative Art
C Visual Arts
ery hosts mother-
ighter art exhibit
[High Oct. 5.
Aggie life, Page 3
sists Duo
ah Mensik and
India Robertson
dify setter position
A&M Volleyball.
Sports, Page 9
dtime
;ar: The University
uld quit regulat-
residence hall
isitation hours.
Opinion, Page 13
Cartoonist draws his way out of life’s mazes
By Matthew Flume
The Battalion
Brad Graeber’s love of drawing has taken him
from selling animal drawings on the elemen
tary school playground to drawing editorial car
toons for the Conroe Courier and The Battalion.
Graeber, Battalion cartoon editor and a
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Brad Graeber has been drawing for years.
junior English major, drew his first cartoons in
third grade. To him, it was an easy way to get out
of assignments.
“All I had to do was draw pictures on my
homework,” Graeber said, “and the teacher
wouldn’t realize how bad my work was.”
Graeber said he even used this trick to get
out of math tests. He would draw on his answer
sheet, and the teacher thought it was creative.
Graeber’s road to success has not always
been so easy. He drew cartoons for his high
school paper in Tomball, but the position only
lasted about two weeks. The principal edited his
cartoons — which criticized school policies —
because they were deemed offensive.
During Graeber’s tenure with the Conroe
Courier, he managed to offend people to the
point of dropping their subscriptions.
Such incidents did not affect Graeber, he
said. He keeps all of his “hate mail” in a file with
his cartoons and uses them for motivation.
Graeber does not restrict his artistic talent to
cartoons. During his spare time, he enjoys
drawing portraits. He said he also enjoys oil
painting from time to time.
Brad joined the American Association of
Editorial Cartoonist, but soon found that a
career in drawing could become tiresome,
“especially on the days when nothing happens.”
“If I am going to draw editorial cartoons for a
living, I want to do it in a small town where I can
make a difference in the community,” he said.
This is part of a four-part series profiling the cartoonists of The Battalion.
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