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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
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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