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