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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1997)
uster resolution awaits approval The bill calls for university excused absences on the afternoon of Muster By Erica Roy The Battalion Missing class after 3:35 p.m. on April 21 attend Muster will not be considered a diversity excused absence this year. The Student Senate and Faculty Senate lassed Muster resolutions this year that nade missing class after 3:35 p.m. on the layof Muster a University excused absence, Parent's Weekend but the resolutions have not been approved by Texas A&M President Ray Bowen. Dr. Bill Peny, dean of faculties, an asso ciate provost and a mathematics professor, said the administration is not opposed to the resolution, but there was not enough time to enact the resolution this year. “There's no resistance to it (the resolu tion),” Perry said. "It’s just a matter of going through all the administrative hoops.” Perry said the administration wants to enact the resolution because they realize how important Muster is to A&M students. “I understand the importance of Muster as part of the uniqueness of A&M,” Perry said. “I am supportive of the Muster resolution.” Dr. Sallie Sheppard, an associate provost, said this type of resolution needs to go through the proper channels before it can be enacted, and that a committee should be formed to work on enacting the resolution. “I would anticipate there will be an im plementation committee formed shortly," Sheppard said. Perry said there will be more time next year to enact the Muster resolution. Alice Gonzalez, speaker of the Student Senate and a sophomore agricultural de velopment major, said the Senate wants to work with the administration this summer to enact the resolution. “In the future, it looks like this will be something that will happen," Gonzalez said. She said the resolution will likely be ap proved because of the support the faculty has given the Senate. “I know how much support we had from the Faculty Senate and the Academic Oper ations Council,” she said. }/Veekend festivities include asino Night, Variety Show WThe Parents of the Year will be announced hunday at the All-University Awards j Ceremony on Sunday. — By Laura Oliveira The Battalion j The invasion begins today as parents will be greeted on rrival with over 50 activities that will fill the 78th annual bents’Weekend calendar. J Among the many activities are the traditional Residence pall Association Casino Night and MSG Variety Show. [See Parent's Weekend Schedule, Pace 7 H Katie Groff, MSC Variety Show chair and a junior ele- ■ehtary education major, said this year’s show will of- jframix of talent. “Itcontains acts that are diverse and will be appealing lallages,” she said. “Everyone from the little brothers kdsisters to the students and their parents will enjoy it.” The show begins Friday night at 7:30. Tickets are $8 and fill be available until show time at the MSC Box Office. , J Following the Variety Show will be a midnight yell prac- licefeaturing "Two-Gun Herman from Sherman,” who |Wedthe tradition in 1932. jBrian Myers, marketing subchair for Parents’ Weekend Id a senior business analysis major, said the event will fngabout 15 to 20 old army yell leaders. [’You always hear the story about how midnight yell Irted and how they were not supposed to be out at that pe,” he said. “This is the guy that this story [is about] and we will be able to see him.” Saturday’s highlights include the Bevo Burn barbecue on Deware Field at 11 a.m. Marcie Ahrens, barbecue subchair for Parents’ Week end and a senior biomedical science major, said there will be 10 varieties of award-winning brisket from which to choose. “I think it will give you a time just to kick back with your parents,” she said. “My parents laugh at me and say, ‘How hard is it to organize a barbecue?’ But I have been work ing on this since September ... but we are very ready and very excited.” The Parents of the Year Award will be announced at the All-University Awards Ceremony on Sunday morning in Rudder Auditorium. Nominations are taken throughout the year and a student committee chooses the winners with an emphasis on community service. Myers said the award is a token of appreciation for all the work the parents have done for Texas A&M and their communities. “The people who win the Parents’ Award are the type of people that we want to be when we get out of college,” he said. “And [the award] coming from the students shows that we value the special things they do.” About 15,000 parents are expected to visit the cam pus and finding lodging in Bryan-College Station will be a problem. Victoria Krisanits, Fairfield Inn manager, said reserva tions are made a year in advance for Parents’ Weekend. “Parents get really frustrated because they can’t find a room,” she said. “It is really unbelievable, but I know it is hard for freshmen parents who do not knowhow crazy it gets.” See Parents, Page 7 Survivor recounts Holocaust ixperience to history class Faxberg was in the camp portrayed in Schindler's List By Joey Jeanette Schlueter The Battalion The story of one man’s experience in a World War II icentration camp was presented to a Texas A&M his- class Thursday morning. Sol Waxberg recounted his life experiences in Germany 1 Poland during the war. ver 90 percent of the Jewish population in Poland, ire than 6 million Jews, was killed in the Holocaust. \rnold Krammer, a history professor at A&M, invited ixberg to speak with his History of the United States ■story 106) class because he said he wanted students to Qw how the Jews were treated. think it is important for students to touch history,” hnmer said. “Waxberg will let them do just that.” [Waxberg, who is of Polish descent, began by recount- his experiences and survival through the Holocaust. German planes bombarded us and machine fined our town,” Waxberg said. “After that, life pged. We didn’t go to school anymore. We didn’t do at we used to do.” pVaxberg was relocated to a German concentration [tip where he unloaded trucks and performed stren- ■is tasks. The living conditions Waxberg faced were horrible, said. There was no heating, and we only had the clothes we e wearing,” Waxberg said. “The food was bread and er, and at night, we were served spinach leaves.” Waxberg said the spinach leaves were actually sugar leaves that were cooked and served to them. [he most tolerable time in the camp, Waxberg said, was when the camp was quarantined and no prison ers had to work. He said he was fed well and had time to relax. At one time, Waxberg lived in a two-story building crowded with 8,000 people. There were no sanitary sinks for bathing and only one latrine. “Some never made it through the night,” he said. “It sometimes was the lice that killed peo ple. You could take your hand and put it [under your arm] or [between your legs] and you could pull out hundreds of lice.” Waxberg was placed in the same con centration camp which was portrayed in the movie Schindler’s List. He said the hatred of the soldiers in the camp grew out of Hitler’s anger. “Jews were stacked up in trucks like sardines and cov ered with a tent,” he said. “Then the soldiers would con nect a hose to the exhaust pipe and drive around for an hour or two until all of the people were dead.” Waxberg was liberated just after the end of the war in 1945. He came to the United States in 1949 and moved to Houston in 1952. “I am one of the fortunate ones to survive,” he said. “German planes bombarded us and machine gunned our town. After that, life changed. We didn’t do what we used to do.” Sol Waxberg Holocaust survivor 11® II t&s? m i He : Daredevil Derek Demere, The Battalion Mike Wilmington, a senior computer engineering major, rides his motorcycle outside the MSC Thursday. The Texas A&M Mo torcycle Club had around 30 bikes on display outside the MSC. Teleconference focuses on role of Web in education Software to conduct courses over the Web is being developed. By Beniamin Cheng The Battalion The reality of students attending a course by just clicking on hypertext on the World Wide Web was addressed in an international tele conference yesterday at Rudder Tower. Texas A&M, along with 293 other univer sities in the United States, Mexico and Cana da, linked up with the teleconference that originated from Florida Community College in Jacksonville. A five-member panel in Jack sonville discussed topics related to the role of the Web in education. Dr. Bernard Robin, a professor at the Uni versity of Houston, maintains a Web site that of fers course material to his students. Robin said the Web site reduces printing costs and creates an electronic archive of information. Students in his courses can go back to past classes by clicking on the hypertext. “The students like this because if they miss class, they can get the information,” Robin said. Dr. Linda Harasim, a professor at Simon Fraser University, is developing a software called Virtual U that is a course conducted en tirely over the Web. Harasim said students be come more active learners in such a class. “Learning is no longer what’s happening in a three-hour period,” Harasim said. The Web site allows role-playing and debate sessions. Harasim said students participate more and the environment is more balanced among students and teachers. Stephen Gilbert, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said professors should consider whether it is nec essary to conduct a course on the Web. See Web, Page 7 Ihe Battalion INSIDETODAY PEW SKIPPER: UT’s ^ugie Garrido discusses Ihe storied past of the Longhorn baseball ttogram. Sports, Page 9 leather Page 2 ^ggielife Page 3 Pinion Page 13 Yell Leader Run-off Bill interprets referendum's wording The Student Senate bill clarified the meaning of the 'decreased proportionally' section of the referendum passed this spring. By Erica Roy The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Senate referred the Yell Leader Run-off Bill to the Rules and Regulations Committee and elected commit tee chairs Wednesday night. The Yell Leader Run-off Bill interpreted the wording in the referendum passed by the stu dent body in March. The original referendum stated that if one of the yell leader candidates won the majority of the votes, then “the num ber of run-off candidates will be decreased proportionally.” Drew Howard, an off-campus senator and a senior mathematics major, said Wednes day’s bill does not address whether there should be run-off elections but clarifies the interpretation. “All this (the bill) is doing is clarifying the phrase ‘decreased proportionally,”’ Howard said. It is the responsibility of the student body pres ident to interpret the meanings of referendums. Carl Baggett, the former student body president and a senior accounting major, in terpreted the referendum to mean if one can didate received the majority, then the num ber of run-off candidates should be reduced proportionally to four candidates. The Student Government Judicial Board ruled in April that the referendum was inter preted incorrectly and the Student Senate should interpret the meaning of the “decreased proportionally” section of the referendum. The interpretation bill states that if one ju nior yell leader candidate won the majority of the votes, then the candidate wins the posi tion and the two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will proceed to the run-off election. If one senior yell leader candidate receives the majority of the vote, then the candidate wins and the four candi dates with the next highest number of votes will proceed to a run-off for the remaining two positions. If two candidates receive the majority of the vote, they win and the two candidates receiving the next highest num ber of votes will be in the run-off for the re maining position. See Referendum, Page 7