mpwood affects programs yisnority-based organizations experience fewer participants n By Wesley Poston H The Battalion ■ exas A&M minority organiza- ions and programs faced the end of ace-based admissions and scholar- hips with Hopwood vs. The State of exas, and now look to a potentially ess diverse student body in the ears to come. ^linority-targeted programs and irganizations have seen a drop in larticipation as a result of fewer mi- lorities enrolling in the University. B"he Aggie Recruitment Committee ABC) recruits for A&M at the high cbools of the committee members, ■[ban Duong, ARC area code coor- lilator and a sophomore computer cience major, said the recruiters dis- rihute information at their home- jm'n high schools, but do not have pecific information about minority ipi ortunities. ■At this point, we don’t have any pecific plans to boost minority inter est in A&M, Duong said. Its some thing we may have to look into.” Carl Baggett, student body presi dent and a senior accounting major, said ARC has always targeted all po tential A&M students. “They’ve recruited Aggies,” he said, “and they’re going to keep doing it.” Nikki Guerra, Student Govern ment executive assistant to minority affairs and a senior civil engineering major, said student recruitment ef forts would have to combat schools in other states offering minority stu dents scholarships, since Texas uni versities cannot “A lot of the burden has been placed on students’ shoulders as far as recruitment goes,” she said. “I don’t think the administration is go ing to help us as much as we’d like.” Guerra said minority affairs would have to increase its recruiting efforts at minority-rich high schools and telephone minority applicants to en courage their attendance if accepted. We 11 have to work twice as hard to make minority students feel wel come at this University,” she said. “If we’re having to work so hard, was this {Hopwood) such a good de cision?” The decrease in minority enroll ment following the Hopwood deci sion has impacted minority pro grams as well. Rodney McClendon, coordinator of student retention and develop ment in the Department of Multicul tural Services, works with ExCEL, a program targeted toward accepting minorities into A&M. ExCEL begins with a conference in August for participants and their par ents. The conference outlines oppor tunities and resources for minorities at A&M. Throughout the following year, participants attend a class in tended to continue their develop ment and to retain them as students. See Hopwood, Page 8 Chancellor reports low Texas graduation rates By Melissa Nunnery The Battalion The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents heard from Chancellor Dr. Barry Thompson Friday that Texas lags behind other states in the number of college graduates it produces. He out lined the System’s agenda for the upcom ing Texas legislative session, which coin cides with the goals of the Texas Higher Education Coalition. Thompson said Texas graduates 14 percent fewer college students a year than the national average. He said one goal of the Texas Higher Education Coali tion is to raise those numbers. "We want to increase the number of graduates by 15,200 without lowering our standards,” Thompson said. He said one way to bring up the number of college graduates in Texas is to encourage students to first attend a community col lege, then transfer to a senior college. The Texas Higher Education Coalition sponsors public service announcements to inform and encourage students. Thompson said increasing scholarship money to make attending college easier for disadvantaged students is another of the coalition’s goals. The Regents also heard a report from the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Board (CSAB) Friday. The president of board reported to the regents on the advisory board’s goals and progress. The CSAB consists of student dele gates from each of the 11 A&M System schools. See Graduation, Page 8 It's too Loud Ryan Rogers, The Battalion Megan Winemiller covers her ears while watching a band march by in a Christmas parade. She watched the parade with her brother, Brent Winemiller, and her mother, Leslie Winemiller, Sunday afternoon. GUF proposal to benefit staff Fee increase affects more than faculty ampus rests during holiday season By Wesley Poston The Battalion Students vacate the Texas A&M campus ch Christmas, leaving a vacuous silence in Jeir wake. ■ Dr. Malon J. Southerland, vice president for student affairs, described the uncom mon quiet as “eerie.” ■ “You can see the silence very clearly,” ho said. 1 Southerland said he strolls about campus ptiring the silence, taking in the peacefulness. “It’s a time for reflection, family and friends,” he said. Southerland will spend the first part of the holiday break with friends in Houston and East Texas. He will return to A&M to spend Christmas with his aunt. “My family has always had a small Christ mas,” he said. Southerland said he looks forward to the relaxed pace of the Christmas holidays. “I’m about as ready as y’all are,” he said. “Everything returns to normal after New Year’s, and then there we go again.” This will be Southerland’s third Christmas in his on-campus residence, and he said he is still waiting for the ever-elusive white Christmas. Snow fell on the evening of Bonfire in 1980, when it still burned on Duncan Field. “It’s pretty easy to remember,” he said. "It was beautiful.” Ray Bowen, A&M president, said his fond est Christmas memories of A&M were from the winter of 1994, his first as president. “After many years of being away, we spent the holidays with family and old friends,” he said. “Things like that are hard to replace.” See Campus, Page 8 By Marika Cook The Battalion The proposed General Use Fee increase for Fall 1997 would be used to fund raises for Texas A&M staff members, who often receive less than those doing comparable jobs off campus. University President Ray Bowen said it is important to remember the staff, not just faculty, when considering pay raises. “They (staff) often feel left out in issues such as this,” Bowen said. “They haven’t received a raise in over a year.” Staff members include secre taries, staff assistants and word processors. They are employed in departments such as student fi nancial aid and student affairs. Bill Crum, vice president for fi nance and control, said staff raises are a necessity. “Thirty-seven percent of staff at A&M make less than $20,000 a year,” Crum said. “In comparison, think of a student’s budget with tu ition and other expenses. These people are having problems just paying everyday expenses for themselves and their families.” Bowen said there is insufficient data on exact staff salaries. “What we do know is that some of these people are taking jobs off campus for more pay or having to work a second job because their income isn’t adequate,” Bowen said. “If the increase goes through, the plan is to give a small raise in March and then another small raise in September, totaling a 3 percent increase.” Staff salaries are funded by the education and general budget, which is used for academic and support services. Jerry Gaston, vice president for administration, said more money must be allocated to staff salaries for the University to remain com petitive. “A study completed earlier this year told us that in order to bring the entire staff up to what they ought to be making, based on a predetermined salary, the Univer sity would need an additional $2,976 million,” Gaston said. “This would keep our staff at relative market, which means they make the same with us as in the area of Bryan-College Station.” Ben Armintor, a junior anthro pology major, said the GUF in crease is legitimate and should be accepted by students. “I don’t feel like students realize that the motivation for this in crease is not to add things, it’s to keep things from being dropped,” Armintor said. “The fee increase is necessary just to maintain the sta tus quo.” Some staff employees believe businesses in Bryan-College Sta tion align their wages with what the University sets because of the school’s dominance in the com munity. Therefore, they would have to go outside of Bryan-Col lege Station to find higher wages for the same job. Marilynn Osoba, an administra tive secretary, said her last pay raise was a 2 percent increase two years ago. “I think one benefit that should be offered to staff should be a slid ing scale for parking garage costs,” Osoba said. “I pay just as much to park on campus as someone who makes five times my salary. My salary is pretty low. I'm single and if I didn’t have a supplemental in come, I couldn’t live.” he Battalion TODAY Finals Food andy bars and sodas on’t be enough to ower students rough final exams. Aggielife, Page 3 un & Gun he Men’s Basketball earn utilized the fast- reak in a trouncing f Southeastern La. Sports, Page 5 ive and Learn leinroth: Life’s op- ortunities outside of le classroom should |e seized. Opinion, Page 7 Students show appreciation for staff Dorms, Corps outfits buy Christmas gifts for custodial workers By JoAnne Whittemore The Battalion Some on-campus stu dents at Texas A&M are busy this holiday season collect ing money to buy gifts for the custodial workers in their residence halls. Mike Saddler, president of Moses Hall and a junior business major, said recog nizing custodial workers for their efforts is the least stu dents can do. “They work hard all year long, and a lot of people don’t appreciate it,” he said. “This just shows our appreciation.” Saddler said students in the dorm collect money each year to buy their custodial workers gift certificates. Steven Foster, Corps commander and a senior political science major, said the Corps of Cadets does not have a group collection, but some outfits collect money to give their custodi al workers. “We don’t do it as a whole, but I know some outfits that “They work hard all year long, and a lot of people don’t appreciate it.” Mike Saddler Moses Hall president do it on their own,” he said. “It’s a goodwill gesture.” Kenny Robertson, com manding officer of company G-2 and a senior mechanical engineering major, said the cadets in his company col lect money to give to a cus todial worker who cleans the whole residence hall. He said the worker puts up with the darkness the cadets like in the hallways, sometimes cleaning by the light of a flashlight. Robertson said all G-2 cadets make small contribu tions, which add up. “If somebody gives, then everybody gives,” he said. “When the whole floor is giv ing money, it adds up to something sufficient.” Aaron Johnson, com manding officer of compa ny K-2 and a senior indus trial distribution major, said his company plans to col lect money. Companies G-2 and K-2 are both in Resi dence Hall 7. He said it is fairly easy to get the cadets to contribute because many of them know their worker on a friendly basis. “Generally, everybody’s all for it,” he said. “A lot of us know John (custodial work er) on a personal level, so it’s kind of like helping out a friend or giving a friend a Christmas present.” Jesse Czelusta, Residence Hall Association president and a senior agricultural economics major, said RHA does not have a group effort with all the residence halls to raise money, but he thinks the project is a good idea and is trying to learn more from halls that get involved. Chad Henke, president of second floor in Moore Hall and a sophomore general studies major, said his hall is currently involved with other Christmas projects but may also raise money for its custo dial workers. He said the con tributions would be a good way to show appreciation. “I think it’s a really good idea,” he said. “The custodi ans are always very courte ous. I think the residents would be willing to chip in a few bucks in order to show appreciation for what the custodial staff does.” FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE FfxjD A Y Classes mee'Hng 7:30