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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1997)
Paj ■y • January 27 ( DrofessorintheC at the Univer sak at 8:30p.m Dre informationct 398. -i: National Ai ■ounting Society Drmational mi _28 Wehnerto for this semesl The Battalion olurne 10-J • Issue 80 • 12 Pages The Ball Online: http:// bat-web.tanmi.edu Tuesday, January 28, 1997 oters head to polls 'rTheBeSSlto^ f or state senator and state Representative are up for grabs 3 i Associationtoday's special election. All majors are w:i rst general meeT 33 Wehner. By Jackie Vratil The Battalion iega: The G will meet in I Voters in the 5th senatorial district and house dis- T14 will go to the polls today to vote in a special ction for their state senator and representative. ■ When Jim Turner was elected to the U.S. Imgress in November, he left a vacancy in the s a Battalionftte Senate. Steve Ogden resigned as state rep its non-profit isentative to pursue the Senate seat, leaving jlty events amis seat in the House open, terns should I Republican Steve Ogden and Democrat Mary o later thantli oore are the Senate candidates, and Republi- nce of thedes Application notices are will not be rt: If you have please call 845-3313. cans Richard Smith and Dr. William Roman are the House candidates. Ruby Freeman, a judge from Precinct 10, said there are 83 precincts within Brazos County and each one has its respective polling place. Free man helped run early voting booths in the MSC the week before the special election. “We have had a fairly good turnout,” she said. “Quite a few have been students.” Janet Matthews, a registered voter in Brazos County, has followed the special election. “I think there has been more activity in this election than you would normally see in an elec tion of this kind,” she said. “Republicans really want that extra seat, whereas the Democrats do not want to give it up.” Jenny Russell, a freshman general studies ma jor from the Bryan-College Station area, said she only knew about the elections through the mailouts she received. “I definitely think student voter turnout will be low,” she said, “because students do not pay much attention to these kinds of elections.” Jenny Bellow, a junior political science major, said special elections always pro duce lower numbers than events such as the presidential election. “It is a given that there will be low numbers,” she said. “It’s just like a run-off election or some thing comparable to that.” Christyn Russell, a junior psychology major, said students may not know much about the election, but the community has an idea of who they want to represent them. “Because all the candidates are not strangers to the area,” she said, “the community has really followed the campaign and the election.” Polling Locations for Today's Special Election Precinct Polling Place Address 8 South Knoll School 1220 Boswell, CS 9 College Station Conference Center 1300 George Bush, CS 10 Municipal Court Building 2611-B Texas Ave S, CS 11 Crockett Elementary School 401 Elm St.,CS 12 Manor East Mall Villa Maria @ Texas, Bryan 13 Henderson School 801 Matous, Bryan 20 Memorial Student Center Room 146 21 A&M United Methodist Church 471 University Dr, CS 23 Johnson School 3800 Oak Hill Dr, Bryan 24 College Hills Elementary 1101 Williams St, CS 31 A&M Consolidated High School 701 FM 2818, CS 32 Friends Congregational Church 2200 Southwood Dr, CS 33 Lincoln Center 1000 Eleanor, CS 34 College Station City Hall 1101 Texas Ave S, CS 35 College Station ISD Admin Bldg 1812 Welsh St, CS 36 Fellowship Freewill Baptist Church 1228 W. Villa Maria Rd, Bryan 37 College Heights Assembly of God 4100 Old College Rd, Bryan 39 Rock Prairie Elementary School 3400 Welsh St, CS 40 Aldersgate Methodist Church 6501 East Bypass, CS 61 A&M Presbyterian Church 301 Church St, CS 63 Brazos Center 3232 Briarcrest Dr, Bryan Officials restrict Cain Hall computer labs to athletes m Page 1 plaints about confused,” he ig‘tain2000,'tl]( iters forconvei , Cato said. The ; used by CIS or, Apocalypse tution forSdeni ued a group of tii le seven deadlysi a popularsciera iral televis/oas/ii i. Cato is3hoi Tiles." is when We: Ryan Rogers, The Battalion jlhe computer lab in Cain Hall has ^een reserved for athletes only. By Brandon Hausenfluck The Battalion Officials of Cain Hall and the Texas A&M Athletic Department have closed the computer lab in the residence hall making it avail able for athletes only and upset ting the 50 percent of Cain Hall residents who are not athletes. Cain Hall is owned by the A&M Athletic Department and therefore is considered a separate entity from the other halls on campus. The computers were installed several years ago and have been ac cessible by all Cain Hall residents until this semester. The athletes’ increasing demand for the computers caused the Athletic De partment to make the 20 computers in the lab exclusive to the athletes. Wally Groff, Texas A&M athletic direc tor, said the non-athlete residents should or purcha iyou want Student Senate to )n health insurance Kevin Cummings The Battalion Texas A&M students have the option to purchase ealth insurance from the University, but that could ange as early as Fall 1997 if the proposal for a manda- E ry student health insurance plan is approved by the ident Senate and the University. The proposal, to be presented to the Student Senate Feb. 10, includesmandatory accident-only insurance Jerall A&M students. An estimated 80 percent of students Ia&M are insured, but the unprotected minority of the luclent population worries some. m Dennis Corrington, director of the Department of Recre ational Sports, supports mandatory student insurance. "That unprotected 20 percent is a big risk,” he said. Ve hate to see students end up spending their life sav- gs on medical care when that money was targeted for ollege education.” This coverage plan would be financed by additional [udent fees. Cost for this student insurance would be nsiderably less expensive than usual because of what nates to a huge group discount. Corrington said the ex- cted fee should be quite reasonable for students. "If every student in the system is covered, that not be bothered by the restrictions. “The computers are [athletes’] computers, not Cain Hall comput ers,” Groff said. “[The lab] was de signed to help our athletes... the lab was never advertised as available to all students. We have simply out grown it... And we’re sorry, but we didn’t have any choice.” The lab, which is furnished with 10 Macintosh and 10 IBM comput ers, is now manned by two student room monitors. The athletes were given a special logon code and password to use the computers. The sudden change caused some inconvenience to the non athlete residents. Ryan Carpenter, Cain Hall vice president and a sophomore math ematics major, said the change was unexpected. See Cain, Page 5 decide proposal would decrease the cost for everybody,” he said. “It’s hard to say before a bid is made, but the fee could be as low as $5.” Foreign exchange students are the only students cur rently required to have comprehensive health care in surance, because they are not eligible for indigent care in the United States. Optional insurance is available to all other A&M students at a lower rate. In the process of forming the current policy, several different companies and prices were reviewed by the Uni versity, and an optional student policy was formed with Beachstreet, a nationwide insurance network. Under the A&M endorsed policy, students are eligible to receive an affordable insurance rate. Corrington is working to make affordable health cov erage available to students. “Many students are coming off their parents’ medical insurance and don’t have insurance of their own,” he said. “This plan is really a lot cheaper for parents buying in surance for their kids.” The current plan offers a maximum of $50,000 of cov erage with a $100-per-year deductible, and pays 80 per cent of reasonable customary charges. An optional acci dent-only plan is also available as a supplement to this coverage for an additional $31.50 per year. roups claim college rankings re misleading, inaccurate By Marissa Alanis The Battalion nationwide college move- ServicM~ ni is evolvin g to protest the ■inual university rankings com- w. 27 pj| ec j by U.S.News and World Re- ggs Port magazine. . V * U.S. News and World Report gath- rW » s statistical data from universities computes the information into a iTwP theRecCe 'ffi st: °f rar >kings for its survey. ^^^^^■The magazine has faced in tense criticism this year from of- S Bcials of universities all over the ■ountry who say the methods ■sed to calculate the rankings are liisleading and inaccurate. 1 In an attempt to make U.S. lews and World Report eliminate Its composite rankings from its survey, the Forget U.S. News Coali tion (FUNC) was established last fall at Stanford University. 1 Nick Thompson, a coordinator of FlJNC, said two types of resolutions Ian be implemented by universities. 307 Read. i Bowling owl. am pus Institutions can stop submitting data to the magazine or condemn the rankings in a public letter from a uni versity official. Thompson, a senior environmen tal economics and political science major at Stanford, said the represen tatives from U.S. News and World Re port were unresponsive when he met with them to discuss the issue a few weeks ago. “We’re not going to be able to impact them with persuasion," Thompson said. So far, the coalition has re ceived support from over 70 uni versities across the country in cluding Yale University, which was ranked the number one school by the survey. Rice University and Texas A&M, which were sixteenth and forty-eighth respectively, were the only institutions from Texas to be ranked in the top 50. See Rankings, Page 5 S. News Top Schools 1. Yale 2. Princeton 3. Harvard I 4. Duke 5. M.i.T. 6. Stanford 7. Dartmo 16. Rice 48. Texas ASM Tier 2 Schools Baylor S. M.tl. T. C.U. U. T. Austin Little Details Ryan Rogers, The Battalion Josh Philipps, a freshman electrical engineering major, Jason Lozano, a freshman general studies major, August Nehring, a freshman computer science major, and John Johnson, a sopho more electrical engineering major, fold a flag in front of the Acad emic Building Monday afternoon. Professional school hopefuls face long application process By Jackie Vratil The Battalion For many students, spring se mester starts the year-round process of applying to profession al schools at Texas A&M and across the nation. Professional schools include, among others, medical schools, law schools and dental schools. The process of applying for a professional school starts with an entrance exam, includes appli cant interviews and ends with an acceptance or rejection letter. Law school is the only professional school where interviewing is not part of the process. Mark Camber, a senior biomed ical science major, said grade con sistency is a key factor in obtaining an interview for medical school. “Being consistent every se mester with grades has been the hardest part of getting this far,” he said. “You really cannot have a bad semester.” Elizabeth Neugart, a senior biomedical science major, has been through the entire process of applying for professional school said working daily for high grades was the most challenging part of the procedure. “You never take a semester off,” she said, “even when every body around you is wondering why you are putting so much ef fort into your grades.” Michael Perez, a senior politi cal science major, said being unique can also help ensure ac ceptance. Perez said working closely with a professor on cam pus will prove to be beneficial. “I’m doing an independent study with a professor on cam pus,” he said. “Law school requires writing in great detail, and this in dependent study will help.” Dr. Anne Blum, coordinator of the Office of Professional School Ad vising, said competition is growing. “The competition is steep,” she said. “It is amazing.” Blum attributes the competi tion to the growing number of ap plicants. The number of students contacting her office has in creased by 62 percent since the 1993-1994 school year, she said. See Applicants, Page 5 The Battalion IN SI DETODAY NEW BLOOD: New quarterbacks coach Ray Dorr brings 30 years of experience to A&M. Sports, Page 7 Aggielife What's Up Opinion Page3 Page 6 Page 11