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.
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■
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
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