A A A 1|
T e x o s A (i M University
A
YEAR • ISSUE 47 • 8 PAGES
68
in
TODAY
TOMORROW
COLLEGE STATION • TX
See extended forecast. Page 2.
WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 5 • 1997
lush library tickets
hilable for students
i Joey Jeanette
SCHLUETER
Staff writer
be thousand tickets
: available today at 3
for students and the
1 public to attend the
ation of the George
Presidential Litorary
luseum Thursday.
[free tickets are for stand-
jonly.
othousand tickets for Texas
judentswill be available at
rBox Office. Students are
Jdtopick up one ticket and
ping pass with a valid stu-
e thousand tickets for the
ilpublicwill be at the Con-
nandVisitors Bureau at 715
University Drive East. The public
will be allowed to pick up two tick
ets and one parking pass.
Parking passes are green and
will have instructions about
where to park. The general pub
lic and students should enter
the West Campus area from
Wellborn Road onto John Kim
brough Street.
The dedication of the li
brary, which is by invitation
only or with a ticket, begins at
9:45 a.m. with entertainment,
and the official ceremony will
begin at 11 a.m.
Students and the general
public should arrive early
Thursday morning to make
sure they pass through metal
detectors due to President
Clinton’s attendance to the
dedication.
Metal detectors will open at 8
a.m. Thursday.
Guests by invitation will en
ter the area from Raymond
Stoltzer Parkway or Discovery
Drive.
Students or Bryan-Col-
lege Station residents who
are unable to obtain tickets
to the event will be able to
stand outside a secured
perimeter (fence). Parking
will be available at the inter
section of FM 2818 and
Luther Street for those who
do not obtain tickets.
Parking areas were placed as
close to the library as possible,
but guests to the dedication will
be required to walk several
blocks to the site.
Walk this way
iters approve proposal
r conference center
By Robert Smith
Senior staff writer
kge Station voters approved a proposed Wolf
leek hotel and conference center yesterday,
ilege Station citizens voted by about 300
2,106 to 1,807) for the city to proceed with
motion of the conference center,
fproposed hotel and conference center was ap-
ll-Sbythe College Station City Council in July
: Station Mayor Lynn Mcllhaney made
tiding vote in favor of a Wolf Pen Creek ho-
(iconference center after the city council
tvote in July,
ilieve it (hotel and conference center) is a
ul project for the community,” she said,
ivery pleased with the number of people
dime to come out and vote and have a
fefuture of College Station.”
ifofficials plan to move forward with the Wolf
ieek Development Team, which has proposed
a $ 14 million Sheraton hotel and an $8 million office
center next to the conference center.
“Now that voters have approved the referen
dum, we will be able to sit down and work out a fi
nal agreement with them (Wolf Pen Creek Team)
detailing all of the aspects of the project,” Mcll
haney said.
If negotiations between the city and the Wolf
Pen Creek Team fall through, the city will begin ne
gotiations with the Leddy Company, which has
proposed a hotel and conference center on the
Northgate “mud lot.”
Mcllhaney said she expects construction of
the hotel and conference center to begin in
March of’98.
Under the proposal, the city will fund a $6 mil
lion conference center and the Wolf Pen Creek
Team will fund the hotel and office.
The Wolf Pen Creek proposal, at Dartmouth
Street and Holleman Drive, includes a full service
hotel, office building and a conference center.
ROBERT McKAY/The Battalion
Freshmen Monica Briones, a general studies major, Eric Krupala, a computer science major, Stephanie Whitworth,
an elementary education major, Spencer Somerville, a geology major, and Cori Carlisle, a construction science ma
jor, spread the word across campus as part of Howdy Week. The students represent members of Aggie Fish Club and
Howdy Ags.
J Brothers become first twins elected to class office
DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion
ISchlaffer and Brandon Schlaffer display
[Marine flags in the MSC flagroom.
RvKarif.Ff.ht.fr
Staffwriter
For the first time in Texas A&M history, identical twins
have been elected as Class of ’01 officers.
Brandon Schlaffer, treasurer for the Class of ’01 and a
chemical engineering major, and his brother Brian Schlaf
fer, social secretary for the Class of ’01 and a mechanical en
gineering major, said they are used to making history.
“We went to the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen
for 3 years, and our senior year we were both company
commanders — that was a first at M.M.A.,” Brandon said.
“It was really cool that we could have that honor at a place
that had existed since 1967.”
The Schlaffer twins grew up inTomball, Texas, and were
involved in sports during high school.
The twins said they decided to attend the military academy
because they wanted a better education ,and their parents
thought they needed a more disciplined lifestyle.
“The M.M.A. was just like a little society of its own,” Bri
an said. “We wore Marine Corps uniforms and everything
was really strict—there weren’t many distractions. It’s a re
ally good discipline school, and I really don’t think we’d be
at A&M if it weren’t for the M.M.A.”
Brandon said he and his brother do not try to confuse people,
but sometimes they cover for each other in awkward situations.
“There are people [Brian] knows on campus and there
are people I know on campus and sometimes they think
I’m [Brian],” Brandon said. “I know I don’t know them, but
they think they know me, and I usually just play along when
they ask me where I’m going or what I’m doing.”
Brian said the personal and social connections he shares with
his brother are some of the advantages of being a twin.
“It’s nice that we can meet so many people through each
other’s connections and friends,” he said. “It’s also nice to
know that someone who really understands you is always
there. Brandon and I rely on each other and have become
really close in the last few years.”
Each of the twins decided to run for a class officer posi
tion separately and both for different reasons.
Brandon, who is in Company H-1, said he wanted to run
for class officer to banish stereotypes of the Corps of Cadets
and to help bring students together on campus.
“Being in the Corps, I’ve met a lot of people who have
bad perceptions of the Corps,” he said. “I wanted to get in
volved to show people what the Corps stands for and to
help bring everyone together to have a good time because
that’s part of the reason we’re here.”
Brian, who is in Company C-2, said he ran for class office
to become more involved in the civilian side of campus life.
“I wanted to be in an organization that was affiliated more
with the non-reg side of things to meet more people and let
1936 - 1966
them know what the Corps is all about,” he said. “Neither of us
knew the other was going to run for officer, either — we just
saw each other at the general meeting and were surprised!”
Brandon said the Class of ’01 is setting up committees
for fund raisers and organization.
“We really want to focus on the Fish Ball this year,” he
said. “It has seemed to fade over the past years, and we want
it to really be a unifying experience this year.”
Peggy Philpot, the adviser to the class councils, said the
twins are professional people with a taste for fun.
“They are really nice and polite young men, but they have
a bit of a fun streak,” she said. “They like to pull ‘switch-a-roos’
on us sometimes and they are very hard to tell apart.”
Philpot said the Schlaffers participate well as team
members and their relationship as twin brothers seems to
help them as leaders.
“Their relationship really seems to help them because
they always have someone special to turn to,” she said. “It
helps that they have each other in new territory.”
LeaAnne Heath, secretary for the Class of ’01 and a bio
medical science major, said Brian and Brandon’s brother
ly bond helps to bring together the team of class officers.
“It really helped to pull us together as officers because
Brandon and Brian already knew each other,” she said.
“There was a bond between them already and they helped
to create an instant bond between all of us.”
10 years playing together,
Members of Jackopierce
ways with a final show.
See Page 3
■pamgMHMgi
maaSBBhI
tesota native Amber
■sey has made her mark
le A&M volleyball team.
See Page 5
1 battaIion.tamu.edu
up with state and
^al news through The
AP’s 24-hour online
'Service.
Texas A&M perseveres through Great Depression, World War II
By Colleen Kavanagh
Staffwriter
Texas Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege experienced an era of change from 1936
to 1966. The changes began with the Great
Depression and World War II and continued
through General J. Earl Rudder’s presidency.
The Great Depression affected all as
pects of the country, including the college,
according to A Centennial History of Texas
A&M University, by Henry C. Dethloff, a
Texas A&M history professor.
Many students could not afford the cost
of college, so fees were lowered and the Texas
A&M program became the first college-
sanctioned cooperative student-housing or
ganization in the United States. By 1937,
more than 700 students lived in co-ops on
and off campus, and the idea spread to other
universities, including the University ofTexas.
The college had football fever when the
Texas Aggie football team won 11 regular
season games and advanced to the first
Sugar Bowl. The team defeated Tulane 14-
13, giving the college its first and only na
tional championship.
In 1941, according to We Are the Aggies,
by John A. Adams Jr., Class of ’73, most Ag
gies were at the campus theater when a film
was interrupted for the announcement of
' r A O "A .fLfyf
a h istokiocu persjpective?
.
Third in a four-part series detailing significant
events in the growth of the University.
the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Aggies fought and died on every battle
field of World War II. Duke Hobbs, class
agent for the Class of ’47, said the war com
pletely changed campus life.
“The 1,200 students here [at A&M] dur
ing the war were itching to become a part
of it themselves,” he said. “Many upper
classmen left to fight, and our outfit officers
in the Corps of Cadets were all juniors.
There are no senior boots in old pictures for
two reasons: leather was rationed and there
weren’t any seniors to wear them.”
Hobbs said that instead of two semesters,
the school year at the college was divided into
trimesters so students could graduate before
they turned eighteen and were drafted.
“The Class of’47 was made up of fresh
men, sophomores and juniors, depending
on when they began school,” he said. “I
started in the fall of ’43, and those who had
started in January were almost juniors when
I finished my first trimester.”
Hobbs said the Corps lived on the north-
side of campus because the Quadrangle
was being used by Army and Navy-Marine
Corps who were training for the war.
Please see Perseveres on Page 2.
1876
to
1906
1906
to
1936
• A&M CMrtegc c-jtablLhied.
•Old .Main destnjvvd by fire.
•The hatialiofl, Aggriv BawJ. Musdw,
Siivtn-T«p^ a»>d Re»s* Volunteers* foirmet
• Lawrence Sulltvun Ross serves
as A&M president
• Student strike occurs
• Cushing keeps A&M open.
• ROTC pmgnmt and liadikions of Bonfire.
Twelfth Man. Aggie War Hymn and
Reveille establisiied.
♦A&M enrollment limited to men.
1966
to
1997
Thursday
QUATRO OAKLEY/The Battalion