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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1998)
Texas A & M University TODAY TOMORROW COLLEGE STATION • TX THURSDAY • FEBRUARY 12 • 1998 (4 th YEAR • ISSUE 89 • 14 PAGES tegents to decide on access fees for colleges IBy Kelly Hackworth Staff writer ne Texas A&M Board of Regents will ider proposed equipment access fees le College of Education and the Mays ige and Graduate School of Business, mlys two colleges at A&M that do not equipment access fees, passed, students will pay the fees be- ing|Fall 1998. ebi Buckley, senior academic business inist rator for the College of Education, these fees are necessary to keep pace the changing world of technology. fhe£e changes include, but are not :ed to, the exploding world of tech- gy for use in teaching methodologies ell as evaluative tools,” she said. “In to struction in our programs increasingly is requiring sophisticated technology and equipment as well as ongoing support of that equipment.” The College of Education fees will ap ply to selected courses in the Depart ments of Educational Curriculum and In struction, Educational Human Resource Development, Educational Psychology, and Health and Kinesiology. Dr. Jack Wilmore, head of the Depart ment of Health and Kinesiology, spoke with students Tuesday night at an Aggie Alliance meeting. “This is the only university I’ve seen where they’ve come and asked the stu dents for their support,” Wilmore said. “Every one of the departments have done that. You all need to have a voice in this.” The Aggie Alliance organization is open to all students interested in health and ki nesiology. Members present approved the proposal of the equipment access fee. Leah Hunt, junior exercise technology major, said she thinks the fee increase is worthwhile. “I think that as long as it’s benefiting my education it’s worth it,” she said. “The more we are able to use technology, we can market ourselves better. It’s better for those students coming up too.” Karyn Link, a sophomore community health major, was undecided. “I don’t see how it’s going to be neces sary,” she said. “If we get it, are we going to be able to use it before we graduate?” The equipment access fee for the health and kinesiology department will provide audiovisual upgrades for ten classrooms in G. Rollie White Coliseum at $10,000 each. The project will be com pleted in 10 years. Technician support for the technology implemented in the class rooms and laboratories will be provided. Treadmills, cycle ergometers, strength testing equipment and gas analyzers for undergraduates will also be bought. “We are in the process of developing undergraduate laboratories for each of our lab-based courses and equipment will be housed in these labs,” Wilmore said. “In order to run programs like we should, we need to take the load off of the faculty and the research grants.” Currently, students and faculty are sharing equipment in the department. “We want to keep research equipment for research and student equipment for students,” Wilmore said. The proposed fee structure for the de partment of Health and Kinesiology will be $20, $40, or $60 per course with a max imum $195 per semester. The $40 fee will be the most common. All Kinesiology 199 classes are exempt from the proposed fee. A departmental committee with three division heads and two students in health and kinesiology will be formed to deal with the equipment access fee. The Mays College and Graduate School of Business is also proposing the fee in crease at the Board of Regents meeting. Please see Regents on Page 12. ivbr the top II fol fit 141: ii L ■ RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion pia^y Daisy, a retriever, jumps over Gigi in an attempt to steal the frisbee during half time at the men’s lisketball game last night. The Aggies lost to Nebraska 75-58, extending their conference losing streak to 11. lorps program teaches freshman become sophomore leaders ■ By Rachel Dawley StaffWriter ■ Freshmen in the Corps of Udets are learning leadership Jillslthrough a series of classes Ts semester. This is the second year for the pshman Leadership Training, Id on Tuesday nights. fTne classes address the direct puence sophomore cadets have j freshman training in the Corps. Jeff Luna, leadership training D jrgeant and a junior accounting ajoj said the classes are de- gned to teach cadets howto han- ! the transition from their fresh- inlo sophomore year. “Through the classes, we are try- to teach freshmen leadership Is,’ Luna said. “They learn things ,|at are applicable to the outside iprld The classes teach them the Jperent styles of leadership.” Each class has 15 to 20 fresh- len .md is designed in a discus- pn format. ^ It Is a student-run program, but pere is a set curriculum, lesson ans and books. There are eight classes, ranging RESHMAN from mentoring freshman to building respect. “Instructors are hand-picked because of their proven leadership traits,” Luna said. “It is an oppor tunity for Corps leaders to pass down their knowledge.” Jason Rocha, platoon sergeant for Company D-2 and a junior po litical science major, teaches a class entitled “Unification —Why Fresh man Join and Leave the Corps.” Rocha said the classes are ben eficial because they show cadets the right and wrong way to be sophomore leaders. “I wouldn’t call us teachers, more facilitators,” Rocha said. “We know only what we have learned from our experiences. We want freshmen to look at themselves and decide how they should act next year as sophomores.” Michael Brunnet, a freshman business administration major, said the courses are organized and informative. “I have found the classes very beneficial,” Brunnet said. “I have learned a lot about my role in the Corps next year. We are learning the proper way to discipline and train freshmen.” Danny Feather, Corps com mander and a senior economics major, said the program has had a positive influence on cadets. “The purpose is to educate freshmen on how to become bet ter leaders in general,” Feather said. “More specifically, we focus on their roles as sophomores next year. Please see Corps on Page 12. Conference to discuss effects of Hopwood decision on minorities By Jennifer Wilson Staffwriter Participants from major businesses, universities and organizations will attend the Second Annual Con ference on Minorities and Policy Issues at The George Bush Presidential Conference 1 Center today to discuss implica tions of the Hopwood decision. The two-day conference, host ed by the Race and Ethnic Stud ies Institute (RESI) and Texas A&M, will focus on the problems, prospects and impact on minori ties in higher education due to the Hopwood decision, banning race-based preferences in admis sions and scholarships at public universities in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Nancy Lugo, program coordi nator and research assistant for RESI, said the conference will at tract chancellors and adminis trators from universities across the United States. “One goal of the conference is to promote partnerships and collaboration among higher education institutions in dealing with the Hopwood decision,” Lugo said. Lugo said the conference will also explore strate gies for recruiting culturally diverse groups in higher education and assist in the future of higher education opportunities in the United States. The conference will provide a forum for discussing the decision, including topics such as the impact on students, universities and corporations, and will host ‘The Hopwood decision inhibits socioeconomic achievement for minorities, and this be comes a problem for all Texas in the future of the economy/’ Steve H. Murdock Director of the Texas Data Center round table discussions by university presidents and student leaders. Steve H. Murdock, director of the Texas Data Cen ter and head of the Department of Rural Sociology, will speak at the conference. Murdock said he will discuss how demographic changes will place Texas minori ties as the largest population group in the state. “The Hopwood decision in hibits socioeconomic achieve ment for minorities, and this be comes a problem for all Texans in the future of the economy,” Murdock said. Murdock said the conference will also discuss the challenges fac ing A&M. He said one of these chal lenges is ensuring that minorities are given the opportunity to be come more competitive in society. Eduardo Urbina, chair of the Task Force on Hispanic studies and professor of Spanish at A&M, will give a presentation on the effect of the decision on His panic minorities. Urbina said A&M does not have a good representation of Hispanics based on the demo graphics of the state. Urbina said he hopes that addressing this problem will help in finding solutions to make A&M a more re ceptive environment for recruiting and retaining mi nority students and faculty. Lugo said A&M students are welcome and en couraged to attend the conference. The conference is $25 for students. Tennis center could allow A&M to host NCAA tournament By Stacey Becks Staffwriter A new tennis facility, on the west side of Reed Arena, will open this summer, allowing Texas A&M the capacity to host national ten nis competitions. Tim Cass, the men’s tennis coach, said A&M will host the Big 12 tennis championships next fall and may host the final NCAA Championship. “Next year we’ll host the Big 12 men’s and women’s champi onships,” he said. “But what we’re looking at is putting a bid in for the final sight of the NCAA Champi onship.” Cass said the new tennis com plex is designed like Florida State’s complex, where the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship was held in the spring of 1996. The facility will increase the number of courts from eight, now at Omar Smith Tennis Center, to 12. It was designed with a center aisle in the middle and six courts on each side. Steve Miller, the assistant Lottery to offer trucks as prizes AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Lottery Commission is having a slight prob lem doing what everyone else in the state can easily do: purchase pick up trucks. The lottery last year announced plans for a new instant-ticket game in which 50 top prize-winners would receive a custom truck. sports information director, said the new tennis facility is arranged so that men’s and women’s matches can be held at the same time, one on each side of the center spine. He said the tennis complex will be one of the top five tennis facilities in the country. The facility will increase seating capacity to 1,100, with stadium seating behind each court. The ground level will have public re strooms, office space, locker rooms and lounge areas. A press conference area will be on the sec ond level. Cass said he thinks the new tennis complex will add to the players performance and help the tennis program gain recruits. “It’s a top-notch facility,” he said. “It will help our current play ers to feel special that they’re play ing on a first-class facility and it will help recruiting.” The $3,450,000 construction contract for the tennis facility was awarded to Acklam Construction Co. of Bryan. But after four companies notified the agency they were interested in bidding for the right to design the trucks and sell them to the lottery, only one submitted a formal bid. And that bidder, Texas Stage coach Conversion Co. in Houston, misunderstood part of the bid re quest, the lottery said Wednesday. This time dealers will be invited to compete to sell the trucks to the lottery based almost com pletely on cost. aggitlife Student filmmakers try their hands at fame with The Paper Boy. See Page 3 sports Aggie Baseball season stays perfect with 9-4 victory over Tarleton State. See Page 7 opinion Mireles: Oprah Winfrey’s portrayal of Texans reinforces old stereotypes See Pagel3 online http: / /battalion.tamu.edu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.