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)lume 103 • Issue 78 • 10 Pages
The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu
Friday, january 24, 1997
IHA rejects leadership bill
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
The Residence Hall Associa-
ashot down a bill Wednesday
e Zone Iht which would allow Resi
le divers have lit Assistants to serve as direc-
NCAAZone.w of established committees in
d in College St organization,
nior JodiJanss Contesters of the bill said al-
lenniferSpycti hng RAs to have leadership
ty to what look dtions in RHA would deprive
etition. neone else of the opportunity,
ijoyedasmw I 05 * 1 Duncan, RHA delegate
iningtheone Aston Hall and a sophomore
rd competition iera * stu dies major, said Texas
tationalin hJ m is trying to promote inclu-
nr-irm in Gncss, and the bill would have
dLlll^ III lilcKH i i • .
me- and three- agamSt ^ n0t, ° n -
The reason I was against it
RAs will not be allowed to
serve as committee directors
ds at theTeXfil
■cember.
ired verymucj
:ame here,”
has improved!!
rol through the
ning program,
:irk ethic. 1 ’
also come on
ond place on
ird place on
gboard in
id if both girlsai
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well in the
nd qualifyingfo
il Champi-
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rs up 48-17 wit!;
if. A running I!
ive New Jersey a
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tot 51 percent
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New Jersey^
that we want to afford the op-
irtunity for everyone to get in-
|lved,” he said. "RAs are al-
idy in established leadership
positions. Let us give everyone
a chance.”
Jason Evans, RHA director of
Casino, proposed the bill.
Evans, a junior accounting
major, said he was surprised the
bill did not pass.
"Everyone pretty much
thought it was a good idea,” he
said. “This is the fourth time it
was read to this group, and no
one really debated about until
now. I thought everything was
going to go smoothly, but you
never can tell.”
Vicki Pons, RHA treasurer and
a freshman business administra
tion major, said being a director
of RHA demands too much time ♦
for an RA’s schedules.
“RAs are too busy to be able to
do both jobs well and still go to
school,” she said.
Jesse Czelusta, president of
RHA and a senior agricultural
economics major, said he was
pleased by the equal pros and
cons expressed in the discussion.
“I was impressed by the de
bate,” he said. "It was very fair.
But it was disappointing that the
vote was so close.”
The final vote was 26 for and
24 against the bill. The bill did
not receive the two-thirds vote
needed to be amended into the
constitution.
Czelusta said the RHA
Tunm
spring semester calendar was
full. Activities such asAdopt-a-
Highway and Replant will keep
members busy.
See RHA, Page 6
Yell leader makes
apology to GLBA
By Matt Weber
The Battalion
Texas A&M head yell leader Chris
Torn apologized Thursday at a meeting
of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Aggies for
derogatory remarks made by yell leaders
last semester.
The remarks were made at a yell
practice in Austin before the football
game between Texas A&M and the Uni
versity of Texas. Three A&M yell lead
ers were reported as making anti-ho
mosexual remarks in reference to the
Texas football players.
Bradley, president of GLBA and a
senior political science major, said
yell leaders verbally abused gays at
the yell practice.
“The yell leaders turned it into a ver
bal gay-bashing by referring to the U.T.
football team as ‘faggots’ and ‘queers’
and what they were going to do to them
the next day,” Bradley said.
The remarks were reported to Spe
cial Student Services, a division of the
Department of Student Life dealing
with the concerns of gay and lesbian
students. The remarks came to the at
tention of Jeff Anderson, a graduate
student with Special Student Services.
Anderson sent a letter to the yell lead
ers, their advisers and Dr. J. Malon
Southerland, vice president of student
affairs, asking for a response or apolo
gy from the yell leaders.
See Apology, Page 6
/re
SISTAS focuses on common goals
Toss It Up
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Keith Taylor, a student worker from Navasota, prepares a grilled
chicken salad for customer Jennifer Ford, a freshman biomedical
science major, at Alonti Deli in the Underground Food Court.
By JoAnne Whittemore
The Battalion
Striving In Society To Achieve Sister
hood (SISTAS) unites African-American
women at Texas A&M University by giv
ing them the opportunity to discover
common interests.
Evita Castine, vice-chair of SISTAS
and a junior English major, said the or
ganization provides support for
African-American
women and keeps
them abreast of con
temporary issues.
“We talk about
issues facing
women today on
the campus, off the
campus, and in the
outside communi
ty,” she said.
Octevia Evange
lista, chair of SISTAS
and a senior political science major,
said while the organization mainly tar
gets African-American females on cam
pus, SISTAS is open to any African-
American, undergraduate or graduate
at the University including people in
terested in issues regarding African-
American goals.
“We all have something in common,”
she said. “We’re all African-American.”
“We're trying to
target every aspect
of becoming a
successful person.”
Octevia Evangelista
Chair, SISTAS
Evangelista said SISTAS focuses on
physical, emotional, and spiritual well
being. She said the organization runs
programs on social awareness, educa
tional awareness, public relations and
mental outreach. Evangelista said the
programs are designed to cover all ar
eas of growth.
“We’re trying to target every aspect
of becoming a successful person,” she
said. “If we work on those aspects of our
lives, it can help us bet
ter succeed in our daily
endeavors and help us
form better bonds be
tween our people.”
The mental outreach
program, “Sista to Sista,”
provides mentors for
students from kinder
garten through 12 th
grade in the Bryan-Col-
lege Station community.
Raechelle Champion,
“Sista to Sista” co-chair and a junior
health major, said the program allows
members of SISTAS to help the younger
students make choices that will benefit
them throughout their lives.
“Life is all about choices,” she said.
“We are hoping to help the students
make wise decisions.”
Champion said the mentor program
is designed for African-American fe
males, but the mentors will help others
who ask for it.
The organization runs programs on
dating among the African-American
community and health and fitness, to
help maintain its focus. It also has a liter
ature group which reads books and dis
cusses themes by different African-
American authors.
Castine said the programs have
helped her discover new interests she
never had been aware of.
“I felt that it has been a success over
all,” she said. “I’ve been opened up to a
number of different issues that I nor
mally wouldn’t have been exposed to.”
Evangelista said SISTAS joins with
other organizations to help each other
grow and learn from experiences.
“It strengthens the bond amongst
African-American women throughout
campus and then serves as a bridge to
African-American women throughout
the community,” she said.
UT scientists find way to starve tumors
WASHINGTON (AP) —
University of Texas scientists
are destroying cancerous tu-'
mors in mice by engineering
blood clots that starve the tu
mors to death, an advance
that could be tested in peo
ple within two years.
The therapy, much like
killing a plant by cutting its
roots, caused rapid cancer
cell death within 24 hours,
Dr. Philip Thorpe of UT’s
Southwestern Medical Cen
ter reports Friday in the jour
nal Science.
Two weeks later, tumors
had disappeared in 38 per
cent of the mice and had
shrunk by more than half in
another 24 percent.
Much work is needed to
prove the treatment could
work in people, but it could
one day offer doctors a less-
toxic alternative to
chemotherapy for breast, lung,
ovarian and other cancers.
“It would be wonderful,”
said Dr. James Pluda, a Na
tional Cancer Institute se
nior drug investigator.
“What this paper demon
strates is proof of the con
cept that... this kind of ther
apy can be effective.”
Solid tumors, which rep
resent most major cancers,
depend on blood for oxygen
and nutrients. Blood vessels
grow rampantly through
the cancer mass, often
making surgery difficult be
cause of heavy bleeding.
The vessels eventually
snake into other organs and
spread the malignancy.
Thorpe theorized that
clogging vessels deep in
side a tumor would make it
die from the inside out.
The question was how to
avoid life-threatening
blood clots in arteries
throughout the body.
To create an intravenous
drug, Thorpe used a human
protein called tissue factor,
or TF, that is vital in helping
blood clot. So the TF in this
drug dose wouldn’t coagu
late on its way through the
bloodstream to the tumor,
he removed the molecule
that would allow it to latch
onto normal cells.
Then Thorpe attached a
homing device, an antibody
that recognizes a substance
found only inside the tu
mor’s blood vessels. Once
that substance hooks TF to
these tumor vessels, the TF
starts creating blood clots in
side the tumor.
Clogged vessels ap
peared throughout mice tu
mors in 30 minutes and
caused rapid cancer-cell
death within 24 hours.
Conference reaches out to youth
Peer advisers, work
shops will encourage
[Texas high school
{students to pursue
\higher education
\this weekend.
By Marissa Alanis
The Battalion
Minority high school students
m all over Texas will be encour-
ed to pursue a post- secondary
ucation this weekend at the
hth annual Minority Enrich-
ent and Development through
ademic and Leadership Skills
flHDALS) Conference.
Over 850 students, parents and
Unselors are expected to attend
e conference, whose focus is on
nowledge... Don’t Stop Until You
t Enough.”
Lorinda Beekmann, an adviser
r MEDALS and A&M Multicul-
ral Special Projects coordinator,
id the theme helps students re-
^ze learning does not stop once
ey graduate from high school.
“The only way you’re going to
stop is if you set barriers for your
self,” Beekmann said.
She said MEDALS is not an
honors program, but is geared
towards the students
who are uncertain and
need that extra boost
to go to college.
“It’s easy to find
those (scholarly)
people,” Beekmann
said. “Most already
know what they’re
going to do.”
With the aid of 140
peer advisers, the students
will attend informational
workshops on Saturday.
The workshops, pre
sented by U-ACT, the
Princeton Review, the
Career Center and RHA president
Jesse Czelusta, will take place in
the MSC.
A new approach to the confer
ence is the Higher Education
Summit, which starts during reg
istration at 10 a.m. in the Rudder
Exhibition Hall today. Represen
tatives from different colleges on
campus, junior colleges, techni
cal schools and institutions such
as Texas Tech and Prairie View
A&M will help students gather re
sources for their post-secondary
education.
Shantera Woodley, director
of programs for MEDALS
and a junior business
analysis major, said
with all the different
programs and work
shops available to the
participants, she wants
students to consider
everything they hear
to make a wise decision
about their future.
“I want them to listen and
pretty much understand you
never stop trying to learn
more,” Woodley said.
Beekmann said former
conference participants
now constitute around 50 percent
of the MEDALS executive staff
and peer advisers, indicating the
degree of influence the event has
on individuals.
“We have, over the years, had
students come to A&M because
they had exposure to A&M
through the conference,” Beek-
man said.
See Conference, Page 6
Students saddle up for rodeo parade
Cavalry members to perform in downtown Houston
By Benjamin Cheng
The Battalion
Texas A&M students are prepar
ing to head to Houston to perform
in the 65th Annual Houston Live
stock Show and Rodeo Kickoff Pa
rade Feb. 8.
A total of 52 cavalry members
will participate in the parade. The
mounted seniors and juniors will
parade through downtown Hous
ton, trailed by sophomores, known
as the “scooper crew”.
Jim Boles, cavalry commander
and a senior agricultural develop
ment major, said the cavalry is lim
ited in the parade due to the con
fining streets of downtown
Houston. The horses are kept at a
distance from the spectators for
safety reasons, Boles said.
“What I don’t want is some horse
getting loose and kicking some kid,”
Boles said.
Boles said he hopes cavalry
members enjoy the experience.
“I most enjoy waving to the small
children in the stands,” he said. “We’re
generally there to have a good time.
Some guys take it too seriously.”
Paul Simone, Cavalry first
sergeant and a junior agricultural
systems management major, will
ride in the parade for the first time.
“Road trips are a lot of fun,” Si
mone said. “It’s what everybody
lives for.”
The cavalry’s next performance
is in Laredo at the Washington Day
Celebration Parade Feb.22.
The Catalena Cowgirls, a local
precision horseback drill team,
will ride in the Rodeo Kickoff Pa
rade and open every rodeo perfor
mance in the Astrodome. The
team is a diverse group ranging
from 19- to 37 year-olds, consist
ing of A&M students, housewives
and working women.
Robbie Oates, Class of‘96 and a
third-year member, will carry the
American flag leading the kickoff
parade and the grand entry into
the Astrodome.
“It’s overwhelming and really ex
citing,” Oates said. “You go down
the ramp to the floor and you look
up. You have to tilt your head up to
the stands. It’s just huge.”
Pete Catalena, co-sponsor and
trainer, said the cowgirls' horse
manship requires more than just
being able to ride a horse.
“It’s highly demanding,” Catale
na said. “You’re controlling 1,500
pound horses, holding a flag and
thinking about what you’re going to
do next.”
The team’s operation is based
in College Station. Oates said
members practice up to four hours
a day on weekends.
The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
BLUES-EY: The Blues
Other Brothers are
out to make blues as
energetic as possible.
Aggielife, Page 3
Sports
Opinion
What's Up
Page?
Page 9
Page 10