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The Ball Online: http:// hat web.tamu.edu
Monday March 24. 1997
ro-choice advocates rally on campus
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
I'Feminism seems to be the new f-
d,’’ Patricia Ireland said at a pro
ice rally at Texas A&M Saturday. Ire-
|d is the president of the National
anization for Women, which spon-
:d the rally along with Planned Parent-
id of Houston.
[he afternoon rally at Rudder Fountain
met with opposition from pro-life ac-
sts, who prayed and chanted behind
crowd surrounding Ireland.
The pro-choice advocates marched
ough campus chanting, “Against abor-
i?Don’t have one” and “Women have a
lice." They were followed by pro-life
porters who prayed aloud calling
m “murderers.”
Ireland said the purpose of NOW is to
educate people about issues facing
women today including ,
rape, sexual assault and
discrimination.
“Coming up on this
year’s 24th anniversary of
Roe v. Wade, we were met
with escalated attacks on
women’s rights,” Ireland
said. “There were cases of
bombing abortion clinics,
and domestic violence is
on the rise.”
Ireland talked about
having an illegal abortion
when she was in college.
Having the child would
have impacted her life in a negative way,
she said. Ireland also touched on the po
litical arena and recent abortion-related
legislation introduced in Congress.
Sarah Suniga, secre
tary of the A&M chapter
of NOW and a junior
psychology major, said
the rally was a big step
because College Station
is so conservative.
“The rally is actually
happening regardless of
the opposition we
faced,” Suniga said.
“Someone has been
tearing down our fliers
and erasing our sidewalk
chalk ads and putting
‘murderer’ over them.”
Suniga said the pro-life presence at the
rally was not in opposition to other NOW
“Coming up on this
year's 24th anniver
sary of Roe v. Wade }
we were met with
escalated attacks
on women's rights.”
Patricia Ireland
NOW president
issues presented at the rally.
“They have a right to be here as long as
they don’t make any aggressions against
us,” she said.
DerekVeazy, a wildlife and fisheries sci
ence graduate student, said he came out
with people from St. Mary’s Catholic
Church to protest the rally.
“I believe in the sanctity of all life,”
Veazy said, “and I don’t believe that pro-
choice is about a choice, because it is not
a choice for that child.”
Amanda McKnight, a freshman micro
biology major, said she visited the event
to be more educated about the issues.
“I am going to join the TAMU NOW
chapter,” McKnight said, “because I feel it
is a good cause and [it] shows women
have a right to do what they want with
their bodies.”
Amy Dunlap, The Battaijon
Karen Dorris, vice president of the Texas
chapter of NOW, rallies in front of the MSC
Saturday afternoon.
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Amy Dunlap, The Battalion
Matt Montgomery, John Hardcastle, Scott Wellman and
Greg Escobar, all freshmen in the Corps, take part in a bonfire
building contest at the Fish Olympics Saturday afternoon.
Armstrong looks forward
o serving as A&M regent
By Jackie Vratil
The Battalion
An Aggie by marriage, a former U.S. ambas-
dor to Great Britain, a former counselor to Pres-
Part one in a series of four.
mts Nixon and Ford, and a recipient of the Pres-
mtial Medal of Freedom can all be included on
resume of one of the Texas A&M University
tern's new regents, Anne Armstrong.
Armstrong said she will enjoy working with
ung people again.
"I used to give lectures at different universi-
is,” she said. “I am really looking forward to
imersing myself in the educational process.”
T. Michael O’Connor, vice chairman of the
Armstrong
The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
FIRST DOWN!: Former NFL
referee Red Cashion discusses
life after football.
Sports, Page 5
Weather
Aggielife
Toons
Campus
Page 2
PageS
Page 4
Page 10
Resurrection Week
Activities focus on outreach
By Jackie Vratil
The Battalion
Easter weekend is approaching and
Resurrection Week, a week that com
memorates the crucifixion and resur
rection of Jesus Christ, is here.
Resurrection Week kicked off yesterday
with a free barbecue at the Grove and will
come to a close Thursday with a produc
tion of the “Crucifixion Scene.”
During the week there will be guest
speakers and a concert put on by Big
Tent Revival.
Patrick Williams, a media communi
cations specialist with University Rela
tions for Resurrection Week, said the
celebration began about seven years
ago because of an idea from Bobby
Dean who was the Corps chaplain at
the time.
“He (Dean) wanted to bring togeth
er all Christian organizations on cam
pus,” he said.
Williams said the goal of Resurrec
tion Week is to reach people on the
A&M campus.
“We want to have as many opportu
nities as possible to reach people with
the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said. “It
also serves as a pre-Easter celebration.”
Lexi Wilbur, chair of the Discipleship
committee and a sophomore business
major, said God put all the Christians on
this campus to bring unity from within.
“This year I feel God really did bring
unity,” she said, “because we are really
trying to focus on outreach this year.”
Wilbur said trying to reach out to
students of all beliefs, instead of focus
ing on the Christian groups, has been a
focus for this year’s Resurrection Week.
“We are not having worship before
each event because we want everybody
to attend,” she said. “Even the concert,
Big Tent Revival, is appealing to all col
lege students. We want everybody to
[know] that it is OK to talk about Jesus,
and that there will be people that stand
behind you if you do.”
The “Crucifixion Scene” will be per
formed at Rudder Fountain Thursday
at 12:30 p.m. by the Resurrection Week
committee.
Kim Kruger, a sophomore business
major, said the production is some
thing all students should see.
“I’m sure everybody has seen the
guy walking around campus carrying
the crucifix,” she said. “But everybody
has to come out and watch the ‘Cruci
fixion Scene,’ it is absolutely amazing.”
Williams said Resurrection Week T-
shirts were originally meant to be worn
on one specific day of the week.
“It (wearing the shirts) would show
the strength of God’s Army on campus,”
he said.
People of all kinds come out and
participate in Resurrection Week. At
least 12 Christian organizations and
churches throughout the community
are involved in the week’s activities.
See Activities, Page 10
Workshop encourages girls to
pursue math, science careers
^gjlgll^ Board, has known Arm-
strong all his life and said
Jm % fi| she is a great role model for
^ W young people.
“She is a very dynamic
woman,” he said.
“She will bring to the
Board a wide array of re
sources and her experiences
have been so diverse.”
Regent John H. Lindsey
said Armstrong’s track
record can only enhance her work as a regent.
“All her new ideas can help bring a lot of intel
ligence and prestige to the Board,” he said.
O’Connor said Armstrong’s qualifications
make her an excellent choice for the position.
“She possesses leadership qualities, inde
pendent thinking and objectivity in her ap
proaches,” he said. “She is low key, very worthy
of detail and patient to maintain objectivity,
which are all important because of the wide re
sponsibility of the job.”
Armstrong said she wants to build on the
University’s outstanding academic excellence.
“I want this University to grow for the good
of the state,” she said. “We need to come to
gether instead of engrossing ourselves in pet
ty battles.”
Armstrong said her mission statement would
be to combine excellence with accessibility.
“I want to see it (A&M) in the top 10 of
schools without losing the strong morale, the
loyalty or the feeling of family,” she said.
See Armstrong, Page 1 0
By Kathleen Strickland
The Battalion
Sixth-grade girls in the Brazos Valley
had an opportunity to learn more about
careers in science and mathematics Sat
urday, as they attended workshops with
topics ranging from robots to reptiles.
The experiences were all part of the fifth
annual “Expanding Your Horizons” ca
reer exploration conference.
The conference is part of a nation
wide program designed to encourage
girls to consider professional careers in
mathematical, scientific or technical ar
eas. The girls met women in engineering
and science-related careers and attend
ed interactive workshops where they
could experience activities related to cer
tain job fields.
Jan Rinehart is the director ofWomen
in Engineering, Science, and Technology
program, which is one of the organiza
tions sponsoring the event.
“Women comprise only 15 percent of
the people in engineering, chemistry,
physics and math careers,” Rinehart said.
“At this age, we are just encouraging the
girls to take the high school classes that
will enable them to succeed in the college
courses, which are necessary to earn a de
gree in math and science fields.”
Dr. Karen Butler, assistant professor of
electrical engineering, told the students
about her job and what she learned from
"'If#
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Jennifer Haney and Jacque Jeter, 6th graders at Willow Branch, examine a
red-eared slider at the "Expanding Your Horizons" career exploration conference.
her high school and college experiences.
“You don’t have to love all of the math
and all of the science that you take to be
come an engineer,” Butler said. “Engineer
ing is so broad, hopefully you will find the
part that you enjoy the most during college.
“Also, you don’t have to be the very
best student in the class to become a ca
pable engineer.”
Invitations were extended to all sixth-
grade girls attending schools within a 30
mile radius of Texas A&M. From those
schools, which included Navasota,
Hearne, Snook, Rockdale, Bryan and
College Station, 126 students attended
the conference.
See Workshop, Page 10
► College of Veterinary Medicine
Open house features exhibits, tours
By Graham Harvey
The Battalion
Thousands of visitors attended the
College of Veterinary Medicine’s day
long open house Saturday.
Several attractions headlined the
seven-hour event, from visitor-partic
ipation mock surgery at the Veterinary
Teaching Hospital to the display of
Owen’s Country Sausage Company’s
miniature horses.
Gene Charleton, senior media
communications specialist for the Of
fice of University Relations, said the
open house was organized by the Col
lege of Veterinary Medicine’s third-
year students.
“Exhibits and lectures [included] in
formation on anatomy, nutrition,
pathology and microbiology,” Charleton
said. “Also featured [were] continuing
demonstrations of spaying and neuter
ing, displays of current College ofVeteri-
nary Medicine research and a question-
and-answer session on admission into
veterinary school.”
Janet Huey, founder of Racers Re
cycled Inc., manned one of the
booths at the open house. She said
her organization, a non-profit group
based in Houston, has participated in
the vet school’s open house for the
past four years.
“Racers Recycled finds homes for re
tired greyhounds when they are [fin
ished] racing,” Huey said. “We are strong
supporters of the veterinary school.”
Huey said she values the open house
as effective publicity for her group. In the
past 10 years, she has overseen the adop
tion of nearly 700 dogs.
The vet school event also included
such attractions as exotic animal ex
hibits, tours of the veterinary intensive
care unit and demonstrations of med
ical procedures in the Small and Large
Animal Clinics.
Open house visitors also could see
exhibitions of dog obedience and agili
ty, hunting dogs and drug-sniffing dogs,
and Peruvian Paso riding horses.
Amy Mendel, a freshman biomed
ical science major, worked as an open
house greeter at the large animal
surgery-recovery facility.
“The attendance has been great to
day,” Mendel said.
“[We were] expecting about 10,000
visitors to come out.”