The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 24, 1997, Image 1

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    04 th YEAR • ISSUE 18 • 10 PACES COLLEGE STATION • TX
r
■
TOMORROW
76
65
TODAY
See extended forecast. Page 2.
WEDNESDAY* SEPTEMBER 24 • 1997
>t
Icome.
liable
on
only
ssistant professor
iceives award
Dr. Karen Butler, an A&M assistant
ifessor of electrical engineering,
s recognized by the National Techni-
Association as a Top Minority
iman in Science and Engineering.
Butler has been at A&M since
94 and is the assistant director
the Power Systems Automation
boratory in the electrical engi-
ering department.
When choosing minority women to
lor, the NTA considers professional
lievements and awards as well as
nmunity service and leadership.
mfessors honored
>r research papers
The American Institute of Chemi-
Engineers (AlChe) South Texas
ction awarded two Texas A&M
ifessors with best paper awards.
Rayford G. Anthony, senior fellow
the Texas Engineering Experi-
int Station and head of the chem-
engineering department, won
Best Fundamental Paper Award.
Dr. D.B. Bukur, professor of
emical engineering, won the Best
plied Paper Award.
Anthony’s paper was co-authored
hSuracha Udomsak, a former
ctoral candidate at A&M.
Bukur’s co-authors were J.G. Daly,
urmer doctoral candidate, and S.A.
:el, a former postdoctoral fellow.
iday yell practice
be at Billy Bob’s
Midnight yell practice will be at Billy
)'s Texas on Main Street near the
t Worth Stockyards Friday night.
The football game between
.as A&M and the University of
rth Texas will be at 2:35 p.m.
urday at Texas Stadium.
ag order possible
tobacco lawsuit
AUSTIN (AP) — A federal judge
exarkana is considering whether
jrohibit tobacco industry officials
I the Texas attorney general’s of-
ifrom talking publicly about their
:oming $14 billion court fight.
Attorney General Dan Morales
Tuesday released a two-page
posed order to gag state and in-
itry officials from talking with the
vs media and public about the
suit or any other litigation involv-
the tobacco industry.
Inti-DWI activists
ush for standard
DALLAS (AP) — Anti-drunken dri-
activists say they will press
igress to act where the Texas
jslature did not: to tighten the
ndards for legal intoxication.
Bills pending in both houses of
igress would set a national stan-
d for driving intoxication at .08 per-
t of alcohol in the bloodstream,
it would be 20 percent more strin-
itthan the .10 now used by many
;es, including Texas.
lifestyles
Student tells
horror sto
ries of learn
ing to use a
computer.
aments
See Page 3
sports
nior left guard Steve
Kinney has stepped up
a team leader for A&M.
See Page 7
opinion
e)
1
Iter: Marv Albert should
■ treated as any other
Ison would be under law.
See Page 9
L5
■ online ————
PF
ihtt p:// b a f-vv e b. t a m u. e d u
885.00) j i
Sok up with state and
s
[tional news through The
re,AP’s 24-hour online
Ws service.
Author defends book against ban
By Rachel George
Staff writer
Author Leslea Newman said her
children’s book Heather Has Two
Mommies should not be banned be
cause children of homosexual couples
need to be represented in literature.
Newman said last night at Rudder-
Theater that censorship still exists in
the United States.
“It is important to realize that cen
sorship is happening all over the coun
try, all the time,” she said. “We can’t
take for granted the freedom of ex
pression.”
The MSG Literary Arts committee
sponsored the forum as part of Banned
Books Week.
Peggy Philpot, MSG Literary Arts
committee adviser, said the goal of the
forum was to educate A&M students
about banned books.
“We want to help the campus ad
dress the issue of challenging books,
not stir up contreversy,” she said. “We
want the students to come and hear
the information and then form their
“We want to help the campus
address the issue of
challenging books, not stir up
controversy. ,,
PEGGY PHILPOT
MSC LITERARY ARTS
COMMITTEE ADVISER
own opinions. We are striving to create
a very neutral view.”
Newman’s book is about a girl who
1 ives with her mother and her mother’s
lesbian companion. The book adress-
es the issue of children raised in ho
mosexual households.
Newman, a lesbian, said the book tries
to teach the important thing about a fam
ily is the love in it.
Newman wrote the book in re
sponse to a woman in Massachusetts
who stopped her one day on the street.
The woman said a book should be
written about lesbian couples raising
children together.
Newman said she decided to write
the book because as a child, her fam
ily’s beliefs were not represented in
books.
“I never read a book about a Jewish
family in New York,” she said. “I was se
duced by the media to believe that my
family was different because we did
not celebrate Christmas and Easter, so,
I knew how it felt to never see myself
represented in a story.”
Please see Author on Page 2.
RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
Author Leslea Newman addresses issues surrounding the banning
of books. Her book, Heather Has Two Mommies, was banned be
cause of its promotion of homosexual themes.
Under cover
DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion
Students attempt to keep dry as they leave the Chemistry building during one of Tuesday’s showers.
Speaker
addresses
role model
mythology
By Mandy Cater
Staff writer
Women in higher education facedifficul-
ties because of the practice of heroine wor
ship, an A&M professor said during the Fal
lon-Marshall lecture last night at the Clayton
Williams Alumni Center.
Pam Matthews, director of Texas A&M’s
Wdnten Studies program, said women in
American institutions of higher education are
having difficulty in academia due to empha
sis on the excep tionality of successful women
and mythological female figures.
Matthews, who also is an associate Eng
lish professor, said women who succeed in
academia are seen as exceptions to the rule
and role models for women which often are
impossible to emulate.
Matthews used Texas A&M’s man-to-
woman faculty ratios to illustrate the dispro
portion of genders in academics.
Fall 1995 figures show 20 percent of in
structional faculty at A&M are women, and 4
percent of full professors are women.
Please see Heroism on Page 2.
UPD ranks theft
top campus crime
By Karie Fehler
Staff writer
The University Police Depart
ment reported theft is the most
widespread crime at Texas A&M,
with thousands of dollars in prop
erty stolen each year.
Sgt. Allan Baron of the UPD
Crime Prevention Unit said some
A&M students’ items are stolen
because the students are too
trusting.
“A big part of the problem is
that students are not locking up
their stuff — they leave their hous
es unlocked and their backpacks,
keys and wallets laying around,”
he said. “These are all great targets
for thieves.”
During the 1995-1996 fiscal
year, more than $400,000 in stu
dent and University property was
reported stolen. More than 30
percent of the property was re
covered.
UPD reported a decline in
property loss and an increase in
the recovery rate forthel996-1997
fiscal year.
The Student Recreation Center
reported losses of $349,000 in stu
dent and University property. 40
percent of the stolen property was
recovered.
From October 1996 to Septem
ber 1997, 48 cases of theft, worth
$7,400, have been reported.
Rick Hall, associate director of
Rec Sports, said the Student Recre
ation Center has made improve
ments to help curtail theft.
“We’ve really focused on edu
cating students that theft is real
and that everyone needs to secure
their stuff,” he said. “We posted
signs in the locker rooms and re
designed the free locker system
meticulously.”
Hall said the Rec Center hopes
students will not continue to
abuse the free locker system by
storing belongings indefinitely.
“These lockers are free,” he
said. “Students need to realize
these lockers are provided for
them to lock their things up. If
everyone plays by the rules, theft
can be reduced.”
Lt. Bert Kretzschmar, supervi
sor of the Crime Prevention Unit at
UPD, said most on-campus theft is
opportunity theft.
“Students will leave their back
packs sitting on the ground, walk
away for an hour and expect their
stuff to be there when they get
back,” he said. “Many times that’s
not the case.”
Kretzschmar also said Texas
A&M is an open campus, which
contributes to theft because any
one can enter orleave campus at
.any time.
He said students and faculty
must stay alert during the day.
“Most people think theft hap
pens during the night, but the ma
jority of theft occurs in broad day
light,” Kretzschmar said. “A person
wanting to steal something can
come onto campus and blend in
very inconspicuously with the
40,000 others.”
Baron said students can help
to deter theft by participating in a
UPD program called “Operation
ID.”
Please see Theft on Page 2.
Early edition
Costumed cadets deliver The Battalion to upperclassmen
DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion
Disguised freshman cadets from Company L-l capture Battalions from
the enemy for upperclassmen. They have adopted their own version of
“Battfish,” dressing up in leotards and tutus.
By Colleen Kavanagh
Staff writer
D espite performances by
Michael Keaton, Val
Kilmer and George
Clooney as Batman, Texas A&M
has created its own version of the
caped crusader.
Freshman members of the
Corps of Cadets dress up as “Bat
tfish” and his sidekick Robin to
deliver copies of The Battalion to
upperclassman cadets.
Battfish and Robin run through
the Quadrangle singing the theme
from ’60s Batman TV show while
collecting newspapers.
Ross Bown, a junior finance
major in Company L-l, said al
though Corps outfits have differ
ent versions of Battfish, it is a
freshman duty to deliver The Bat
talion to upperclassmen.
“Our Battfish has nothing to do
with Batman,” he said. “When we
were fish, our upperclassmen
bought a bunch of stuff, like span-
dex and masks, for us to wear.”
Will Weardon, a freshman me
chanical engineering major in L-
1, said the freshmen in his outfit
look like drag queens in their Bat
tfish costumes.
“Dressing up in tutus and leo
tards to nan down the Quad makes
you look stupid,” he said, “but it
definitely builds character.”
Jennie Whitman, a junior his
tory major, said she remembers
seeing Battfish and Robin when
she lived in Spence Hall.
“I’d see them running up and
down the Quad singing the Batman
theme, and they were hilarious,” she
said. “The most creative one I saw
had a freshman in a shopping cart.”
Freshmen in Squadron 8 con
verted a shopping cart into the
Battmobile last year.
Corey Crowder, a junior busi
ness analysis major in Squadron
8, said the freshmen add to the
tradition of Battfish every year.
“Our Battmobile was painted
black with a pull-down top, head
lights and fins on the side,” he said.
“But each year the next freshman
class improves it, and our fish are
planning Battfish right now.”
Former Battfish said dressing
up helped make the freshman
duty more enjoyable.
Brian McDavid, a junior indus
trial distribution major in Squadron
1, said when he was a freshman,
Battfish were given permission to
dress up however they wanted.
“The duty of delivering The
Battalion every morning was an
noying, but dressing up and
singing made it fun,” he said.
Company F-2 has disco Bat
tfish. Matt Blackwell, a freshman
business management major in
F-2, said the disco-style costumes
provide A&M students with early-
morning entertainment.
“I’ve seen people smile and
laugh when they see us coming,”
he said. “If we can add some en
ergy and spirit to their day, Bat
tfish is worth it.”