The Battalion
me 103 • Issue 18 • 14 Pages
Wednesday, September 25, 1996
The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
Hispanic Heritage JVlonth
eakers stress politics, community
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
speakers from the Mexican-
an Political Association (MAPA)
sed Texas A&M students about the
tance of be-
active in poli-
1 their commu-
iiesday night.
Navarro, the
lal director of
rerside, Calif.,
chapter, and
sa Valdez, the F” ^’^■ljii§l
of the San |
idino chapter,
invited to
by the Hispanic Business Stu-
ssociation, Ballet Folkloricos
tial and the Rio Grande Valley
town Club.
arro stressed that Hispanics
d understand and stand up for
Navarro
their personal rights.
“The issue is when it comes to
rights,” he said. “If you don’t know
what your rights are, then you’re not
informed. If you know your rights, then
you can inform your family, friends
and neighbors.”
Valdez and Navarro said students
need to visit communities after col
lege graduation.
“Don’t quit learning about your rights
after you leave college,” Navarro said.
“Have a commitment that you’ll go back
into the community and find someone
to take your place at the University. A lot
of us forget after we leave, that the com
munity needs help.”
Valdez urged students to become
involved politically in their commu
nities both during and after college.
“If our faculty won’t take leader
ship roles, then it’s up to you as stu
dents, so you can start working with a
younger generation,” Valdez said. “As
students, you have a lot to offer.”
Valdez said having a college de
gree does not always ensure equal
treatment in society. A day before
graduation, her 16-year-old daughter
was told that she would not be able
to receive her de
gree because her
English teacher did
not believe teen
age mothers
“should be allowed
to take up space in
a classroom.”
When Valdez con
tacted the teacher,
she was told there
was nothing she
could do that would enable her daugh
ter to graduate.
MAPA stepped in, and Valdez’s
daughter graduated the next day.
See Speakers, Page 12
New parking garage
planned for ‘fish lot’
Valdez
By Wesley Poston
The Battalion
Parking and facility offi
cials plan to begin con
struction on Parking Area
61, “fish lot,” next fall, so by
late 1998 or early 1999, it
will be covered with a park
ing garage.
Vergel Gay, an architect
for the facilities planning di
vision of the Texas A&M Sys
tem, said the proposed $18
million garage should house
about 2,400 spaces.
However, Gay warns, the
specific details "will change
all over the place.”
Tom Williams, director
of Parking, Traffic and
Transportation, said the
original plans were to
build a $12 million, 2,000-
space garage on the 981-
space lot.
The plans were altered
because it was more eco
nomical to increase the
number of spaces.
The covered parking
garage will include visitor
areas and contract spaces,
he said.
“We plan to sell about
1,000 spaces as dorm park
ing,” he said.
The construction should
coincide with the opening
of the Reed Arena parking
spaces. Parking spaces that
will be lost during con
struction will be reallocat
ed to Reed and other park
ing areas.
Williams said the new
site will be a popular addi
tion to the shuttle bus
routes. Students will be
able to park in the garage
and ride a bus to class on
West or Main campus.
Aggie Buck payment for
hourly parking will be
available, he said. Other
options like debit cards
may become available as
the plans are finalized.
The planning process
began, he said, with stu
dents’ requests to the
Board of Regents for park
ing that is accessible to
West and Main Campus.
“You can never have
enough parking for the stu
dents,” he said.
See Garage, Page 12
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- Saturday
a. - 6:00 pi
an Morales to discuss affirmative action
Dave House, The Battalion
Tressa Orsak, a junior environmental design major, carefully places a building on a
large-scale model of downtown Bryan.
RESPECT aims to
improve diversity
Carla Renea Marsh
The Battal ion
nney General Dan Morales
idress affirmative action as
I speaker at the Aggie De-
its’ meeting tonight,
irales will answer any
ions or concerns the au-
e may have about affir-
! e action.
Miller, vice president of
Democrats and a junior
ess management major,
Morales will tell students
e is doing on their behalf,
stina Perez, president of
Aggie Democrats and an edu
cational psychology graduate
student, said
tonight’s dis
cussion will
be unlike
other affir
mative action
debates.
“We want
to try to pre
sent affirma
tive action for
what it is,”
Perez said.
“Students can decide for them
selves rather than have an issue
Morales
shoved at them.”
Perez said the major goal of
the meeting is to educate and
clarify misconceptions about
affirmative action.
Misty Hataway, programs
director of Aggie Democrats
and a junior political science
major, said the Aggie Democ
rats plan to have more Texas
leaders speak at their meetings
to promote their organization.
“Wednesday night’s event will
showcase the Aggie Democrats
for everyone to see what we’re
about,” said Hataway.
She said the Aggie Democ
rats are dedicated to educating
college students and encourag
ing them to vote.
“With this year being an
election year, it is important for
college students to vote,” Hat
away said.
Perez said students need to
familiarize themselves with
the state officials in Bryan-
College Station.
“Even though several stu
dents are registered to vote in
their home town, it’s important
for college students to know
who represents them in the
place where they live,” she said.
By Ann Marie Hauser
The Battalion
The Division of Student Affairs
has a vision of how to enhance the
Texas A&M community for the 21st
century.
Achieving Community Through RE
SPECT is a mission “to critically exam
ine the Division’s programs and ser
vices to see where we could begin to
improve in areas of diversity.”
Felicia Scott, assistant to the vice
president for Student Affairs,
chaired the two-year Division Di
versity Task Force that developed
the program to outline A&M’s oper
ational philosophy. The program is
called Reaffirming Equality through
Sensitivity, Patience and Education,
leading to Communication and ulti
mately to Trust (RESPECT).
Scott said RESPECT aims to
make the Aggie experience positive
for all students.
“We are trying to be proactive in
meeting the needs of all the students
at Texas A&M through community de
velopment,” Scott said. “[The vision]
will have to come from the top down
and then the bottom up.”
The Task Force incorporated three
groups — students, student organiza
tions and staff and administrators.
After discussing the positive and
negative aspects of campus prac
tices, recommendations were made
and discussed with the Student Af
fairs Council.
Combined with input from the
Division of Student Affairs, the de
partments within Student Affairs
discussed the controversial issues.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice
president for Student Affairs, said
creating a sense of community will
impact the students.
“[The action plan] is a recogni
tion of the proper way to do busi
ness in a university system,”
Southerland said.
The first phase of RESPECT is the
knowledge and assessment phase
which was implemented this semes
ter with the Task Force on Racial Cli
mate Assessment.
Scott said the University hired an
external agency to study A&M’s
racial climate because we often can
not see the negative things happen
ing within the System.
We are an institution of higher
education, and people are from var
ious backgrounds, Scott said.
“We’re not a true community un
til every member of the community
“We are trying to be
proactive in meeting
the needs of all the
students at Texas A&M
through community
development.”
Felicia Scott
Assistant to vice president,
Student Affairs
feels a part of the community,” Scott
said. “Ultimately, by the year 2000,
we will achieve a true community.”
Phase two of RESPECT will be an
action plan, and phase three will
implement the vision.
What happens in the second and
third phases will depend on the as
sessments from the first phase.
Scott said the inherent mission
for the University is to prepare stu
dents for the world. She compared
A&M to a cocoon for students.
“It’s sad to grow just academical
ly,” Scott said. “But socially, how
have you grown?”
Carl Baggett, student body presi
dent and a senior accounting major,
said RESPECT will take time to per
meate throughout the organization.
“It will take time and a lot of ef
fort, but I think that it is very possi
ble,” Baggett said. “A&M is a great
place, but you can always improve.”
5 Street, 1
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e Battalion
rODAY
rish Faith
vish student
es his story of
iiig new pride in
eligion.
Aggie!ife, Page 3
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!Opener
20th-ranked A&M
! yball Team faces
5 Texas at home
!htin Big 12 debut.
Sports, Page 9
Sessifl
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on per custom
3S 10-15-9^
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e For All
tyear: Students
Jd take advantage
food and great
ersation tonight.
Opinion, Page 13
Right to carry firearms
does not cross border
Enrollment figures reveal trends
Numbers show decrease in African-American, Hispanic students
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A
warning to gun-toting Tex
ans: Your right to carry
does not extend past the
border, and the conse
quences for ignoring that
fact can be severe.
An East Texas couple re
cently found out how much
trouble it can be to take a
firearm into Mexico, even
unwittingly.
Marguerite Braden and
James Ronnie Mossburg were
held in Reynosa, Mexico, for 1
1/2 days earlier this month
after they told Mexican cus
toms officials they were carry
ing a .22-caliber rifle and am
munition in their pickup.
They’re now back in their
home in Brookeland, 125
miles northeast of Houston,
but they have yet to get their
$50,000 truck out of a Mexi
can impound lot.
“We wanted to learn
more about the country,”
Braden said Tuesday. “We
got an education.”
Even though they didn’t
remember the rifle was in
the truck until they were
asked about weapons, the
couple broke a Mexican law
prohibiting the importa
tion of firearms or ammu
nition without a permit.
Such problems are actual
ly common on the border, of
ficials said, often because
people either forget they
have the weapons or the fact
they’re entering another
country or don’t realize that
U.S. laws don’t apply there.
Five people are currently
in prison on gun charges in
Ciudad Juarez, across from
El Paso, and another is be
ing held for taking ammu
nition into Mexico. An
American is also being held
in Matamoros and another
in Reynosa.
“It’s a real heartbreaker to
find people who have gotten
themselves in this situa
tion,’’said Larry Colbert, con
sul general in Juarez.
By I aura Oliveira
The Battalion
The numbers are in and the total
Texas A&M main campus enrollment is
41,892 students, 102 more than last fall.
Male Female Total
23
21
44
F&&hman :/
4182
3830
8012
3402
3098
6500
juftior I
4613
4028
10641
Stesntof If
6080
4829
10909
Class 5
110
126
236
Professional
318
400
718
Graduate
4429
2409
6832
23157
18735
41892
But while overall enrollment has
risen, the freshman enrollment
among African-Americans and His
panics is down more than 19 percent.
Males still outnumber females
with 55 percent, or 23,157 students.
Females make up the re
maining 45 percent, or
18,735 students.
Donald Carter, Universi
ty registrar, said the enroll
ment ratio of men to
women has “evened out” in
recent years, but male en
rollment is still consistent
ly higher.
Seniors make up the
largest group of students,
with 10,909, and sophomores,
with an enrollment of 6,500,
are the smallest group.
The junior class has an
enrollment of 8,641, and
there are 8,012 freshmen.
Of the total enrollment,
1,320 are African-Americans
and 4,052 are Hispanics.
Gary R. Engelgau, execu
tive director of the Office of
Admissions and Records,
said that although they are not exact
ly sure why, some say the drop in mi
nority enrollment is connected to the
Hopwood decision!
Starting in Fall 1997, race and eth
nicity will no longer play a role in the
admission process. However, the fill-
in-the-blank race/ethnicity box is still
on admission applications for federal
and state purposes.
“It has not been taken off the ap
plications, but at the same time, it is
not being considered in the applica
tion process,” he said.
A feature that will be added to Fall
1997 applications is consideration of
the family educational background of
an applicant.
Engelgau said that when the fami
ly’s educational background is con
sidered, applicant reviewers are given
more insight into each individual’s
personal circumstances. This allows
A&M to diversify all aspects of its stu
dent population.
“Diversity is important in all its
dimensions,” he said. “What we are
going to do is make sure we have a
good geographic distribution
throughout Texas.”