The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 15, 1997, Image 1
Slick roads prompt closings Arctic cold front brings dangerous conditions to B-CS ► University officials canceled classes to ensure the safety of students and i faculty. ! By Laura Oliveira The Battalion Icy roads and slippery side- i walks kept Texas A&M Univer- | sity students out of classrooms for the first two days of the spring semester. I University officials made the I decision Sunday afternoon after an Arctic cold front blasted through Texas, bringing messy and dangerous conditions to roads. Dr. Jerry C. Gaston, vice president for administration, said class time takes a backseat to the safety of the students. “Because the health and safety of the students, faculty and staff are our foremost con cern,” he said, “we decided to go with the closing.” Slick areas on campus led the maintenance department to se cure campus residents’ safety. Dick Williams, associate direc tor for maintenance and modifi cation, said his staff has tried to remedy all icy trouble areas. “What we try and do is sand as many places as we can get “Because the health and safety of the students, faculty and staff are our foremost concern, we decided to go with the closing.” Dr. Jerry C. Gaston Vice president, administration to,” he said. “The priorities are given to the main roads and sidewalks. The handicapped ramps are included in those places. We are doing our best.” Mary Jo Powell, associate di rector for University Relations, said no decisions have been made as to how the two missed days will be dealt with. “All those decisions will be made when everyone returns tomorrow,” she said. “I imag ine they will consider a num ber of options.” Gaston said professors will assist in the decision after eval uating the effect of the missed days on their classes. “They (the professors) will have an important role on how the spring academic semester will go,” he said. “They will have a say in what will be decided.” University provosts and aca demic leaders will consider var ious options. Jan. 20, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, however, will not be considered as a possible make-up day. Gaston said he is pleased with how the situation was dealt with. “We are delighted that things have turned out reasonably well,” he said. "We think we have mini mized the number of accidents.” Ryan Rogers, The Baitai.ion Ryan Griffith, a sophomore history and Eng lish major, moves into Moore Hall Saturday. Students did not find out about the campus closure until Sunday afternoon. I Margaret Keneflick and Stephanie Billings, both juniors at A&M Consolidated High School, slide II down Mt. Aggie Monday afternoon. An arctic cold front caused most central Texas schools to close. Brief break annoys students • • 1990-91 Dec. 13 - Jan. 13 32 days 1991-92 Dec.19 - Jan. 21 34 days 1992-93 Dec. 17 - Jan. 19 34 days 1993-94 Dec. 16 - Jan. 16 32 days 1994-95 Dec. 15 - Jan. 16 33 days 1995-96 Dec. 14 - Jan. 15 33 days 1996-97 Dec. 19 - Jan. 12 25 days *With inclement weather 27 days Source: TAMU Class Schedule By Melissa Nunnery The Battalion As Texas A&M students prepared for the spring semester, they may have noticed the semester break was shorter than it has been in the past. Registrar Don Carter said it just happened that the break was short er this year. “[There is] no specific reason,” Carter said. “It’s the way the calen dar rotates.” He said that when the calendar is made each year, administrators try to start the spring semester around Jan. 15 and to have classes start on a Monday. The first summer session usually starts close to June 1, Carter said. The fall semester starts as close to Sep. 1 as possible and ends by Dec. 20. The Registrar’s office initiates the proposed calendar for each acade mic year. From there it goes to the Academic Operations and Graduate Operations committees for their ap proval. Then the Faculty Senate, the provost and A&M President Ray Bowen approve the calendar before it goes back to the registrar. Carter said that when putting to gether a calendar, it is best to stick with what has worked in the past. “I recommend what has been traditionally done and what has tra ditionally worked,” Carter said. Sarah Schroeder, a junior account ing major, said the shorter break this year was an inconvenience. “It meant one less week I could work and less time to see my friends at home during Christmas holi days,” Schroeder said. Ben Howard, a junior chemical engineering major, said the calen dar should be changed to make the semester break longer. “I think they should change it back,” Howard said. “Anything to make the break longer.” Company B-2 disbanded By Melissa Nunnery The Battalion Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Company B-2 was disbanded Friday for violating University and Corps policies on hazing and alcohol at an off-campus gathering on Dec. 13. Corps Commandant Major General M.T. “Ted” Hopgood said the freshmen, sopho mores and juniors of B-2 were allowed to transfer into a new unit, Company C-l, under new leadership. Hopgood expressed his disappointment in a press release. “There is absolutely no Corps unit will transfer under new leadership place in our Corps of Cadets for violations of long-estab lished, clearly stated rules of conduct,” he said. “As Com mandant, I am personally distressed that the leader ship of this unit did not ex ercise proper judgment in this instance.” Jason Arriaga, a senior marketing major and former commanding officer of B-2, attended the Dec. 13 party and said the hazing incident involved a senior who was no longer in the Corps and a B-2 freshman. “He did it without our knowledge,” Arriaga said. “Nobody saw him do it.” Arriaga said that, in retro spect, the company leaders should have stopped the un derage cadets from drinking. Hopgood said outfits have been disbanded in the past for disciplinary violations, poor grades and poor retention rates, although none had been removed this school year. Hopgood said the Corps and C-1 are looking forward to the spring semester. “We are confident that this new unit and the rest of the Corps of Cadets will strive to achieve our goal of building exceptional leaders of character and competence for the state and nation,” Hopgood said in a press re lease. “We expect, and will accept, nothing less.” ' Arriaga said the outfit is not gone because most of the members are still together. “With the exception of the seniors, it’s exactly the same people,” he said, “but a differ ent name.” ► Texas Tuition Assistance Grant Committee seeks funding for TTAG * Legislative Relations Committee works to increase financial support for college-bound high school students. By Erica Roy The Battalion The Texas State Legislature began the 1997 session yesterday as the Legislative Relations Committee for student govern ment prepared to support more funding for the Texas Tuition Assistance Grant. Nicki Obenhaus, chair of the Legisla tive Relations Committee and a senior chemical engineering major, said secur ing more funding for the TTAG program is the primary goal of the Legislative Re lations Committee. “TTAG is going to be our biggest push,” she said. Obenhaus said the program has $98,000 of funding for 1997, but for the program to work correctly, it needs about $23 million. "It’s already funded in Texas,” she said, “but not to the extent it needs to be to work.” TTAG grants Texas high school stu dents money to attend college after they graduate. Obenhaus said additional funding will enable more Texas residents to attend college. “What we want to do is make college more accessi ble to everyone,” she said. Texas A&M is working to gether with other Texas schools, such as the Univer sity of Texas in Austin, the University of Houston, Texas Tech University, A&M system schools and other smaller schools, to support more funding for TTAG. "We’re working together as a group,” Obenhaus said, “so that way we’re working for students all across the state.” The Legislative Relations Committee will also react to other bills that affect Texas A&M students. The flexible tuition bill would give the Board of Regents the power to set tuitions relative to tuitions at peer uni versities. The committee wants this power left in the hands of the legisla ture, Obenhaus said. The Legislative Relations Committee also opposes a proposal by State Repre sentative Steve Ogden that would divide fee statements in Texas into three, uni form categories for all state colleges. These cat egories would be the state-set tuition, a stu dent services fee from the Board of Regents and a discretionary stu dent fee to be voted on by students. Ogden said the discre tionary student fee will cover fees which do not go directly to a student’s academics, but rather their “quality of life.” The bill would give students more input into the fee in creases, he said, and make it easier to understand how much it costs to go to a certain university. The current fee statements are com plicated, Ogden said, and simpler fees would benefit students, parents and pol icy makers. The bill is still being drafted. “What we want to do is make college more accessible to everyone.” Nicki Obenhaus Chair, Legislative Relations Committee ► Textbook Exchange System Students swap online By Shikonya Cureton The Battalion More than 50 Texas col leges and universities are part of a nationwide electronic Textbook Exchange System. The Textbook Exchange System makes an electronic connection between local sellers and buyers of college textbooks, allowing the stu dent selling the book to post information about the book in the database. When anoth er person searches the data base for a specific book, they are presented with a list meet ing their requirements. If a match is not made im mediately, the system remem bers the search criteria and notifies the searcher via e-mail when a new post is made that does meet the criteria. The service’s two goals are to provide a means for students to avoid problems associated with many text book buy-back programs, and an opportunity for cam pus related non-profit orga nizations to raise money. Texas A&M has its own bookswap service called Texas A&M Bookswap Fo rum. Texas A&M’s bookswap works the same way as the Textbook Exchange Service except the money goes to the person selling the book in stead of an organization. Natasha Sammons, a freshman psychology major, said Textbook Exchange Sys tem has both advantages and disadvantages. “The system will save a person time and is benefi cial to an organization,” Sammons said, “but the in dividual seller will not re ceive any sort of financial compensation.” The Texas A&M Book- swap web page shows the buyer the books being sold either through the title or the course number and then it shows the book title, edition, author, price and whom to contact. Philip Beard, University Bookstore’s general manag er, said he believes students have been using book ex change programs for some time on and off the web. However, Beard warns that books bought over the web could be outdated. Students exchange books nationwide through the uni versities and by placing ad vertisements on the Internet to sell thier books at their lo cal colleges. Loupot’s employee Micah Hovda, a junior construction science major, said the Inter net service could be compe tition for local bookstores. “I think it would hurt bookstore sales,” he said, “but the exchange will eventually be sold back to the bookstore.” The Texas A&M Bookswap Forum is available at www.tamu.edu/bookswap/ The Textbook Exchange Sys tem is available at www.tbes.com/info.htm The Battalion INSIDETODAY Aggielife Opinion World Pages 3-4 Page 15 Page 5 A&M BASKETBALL Both the men’s and women’s teams endured Christmas skids over the break but both hope to rebound against Texas tonight. Sports, Pages 8-9