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