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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1998)
Texas A & M University ' J & ' \ m i * Dir v"- m ~ '-•"vwki •w*. 83 ;66 TODAY TOMORROW I th YEAR • ISSUE 128 • 12 PAGES COLLEGE STATION • TX THURSDAY • APRIL 16 • 1998 HA approves 24-hour weekend visitation By Amanda Smith Staff writer lie Residence Hall Association J) approved a resolution last |t to allow 24-hour visitation in Ridence halls on the weekends. Resolution must be approved |s|aff council and the Depart- R of Residence Life to go into ef- t for Fall 1998. Binifer Propst, a Neely Hall del- |tft and a sophomore German and Jiational studies major, said ex- IdinK visitation in residence halls Ibrnefit the residents. “I support extended visitation be cause it is an attraction for students,” Propst said. “It is only fair that resi dents have the opportunity to have extended visitation because they pay rent. This is a perfect example of how you can better live in the resi dence halls and not spend money.” Only co-educational halls cur rently permit 24-hour visitation. Northside co-ed halls include Clements, the FHK complex and Lechner. Southside co-ed halls in clude Eppright and Wells. Visitation hours are currently 9 a.m. to 2 a.m in single-sex dorms. On-campus residents must ap prove the change by a 90 percent vote for extending visitation hours before the resolution is approved. RickTurnbough, a south area co ordinator for the Department of Residence Life, said the resolution is feasible within the residence halls. “I think it’s something the stu dents will like,” Turnbough said. “Students would like to see extend ed visitation in the residence halls and this is a step in that direction.” Heather Lindner, the RHA vice president of operations and a senior physics major, said they must wait for the decision from Residence Life. “I am anxious to see what Resi dence Life will do,” Lindner said. The extended visitation ad hoc committee was organized in the fall to study possibilities for extended hour proposals. The committee re ceived surveys from over 2,500 on- campus residents, gathered infor mation from residence hall councils and solicited feedback in the resi dence hall publication, In other business, RHA support ed a constitutional amendment to reduce the number of the RHA ju dicial board from 10 members to four members. Angie Fischer, the author of the amendment, said the judicial board has not been able to meet with a large board this year. “It’s real hard to get that many people together,” Fischer said. “The Judicial Board would be a lot more accessible to the students.” The four-member judicial board would be headed by the RHA pres ident, who would serve as the chair. RHA supported a bill to organize an 11 - member committee to merge RHA and staff council, which in cludes the graduate hall directors and the residence advisors. Michael Hanghey, the vice pres ident of programs and co-author of the bill, said the committee would consider the benefits for RHA and staff council. “That 11-person committee will make a presentation to the general assembly,” Haughey said. “Finances are only part of the reason for the consideration of the merger but this is not a fiscal merger.” The Department of Residence Life voted to approve RHA’s propos al to allow resident advisors to par ticipate in RHA. rtai nty of life Ms,.;' I kL wk ,M<a m m MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion tL. Killgore of College Station hands his tax return form to postal employee Lucy Grinaldo Monday afternoon. The national deadline for mailing tax turns was yesterday. Study shows cancer false alarms occur Mammograms can show false positive BOSTON (AP) —A woman who receives mammograms every year for a decade runs a 50-50 chance of a breast cancer false alarm, a study found. The finding that mammograms result in lots of unnecessary anxiety is unlikely to be news to the millions of women who have already gone through these stomach-churning episodes, only to learn that nothing is wrong. But the study is the first to show how the risk of these frights adds up over time. Researchers said that while mammograms clearly save lives, doctors should prepare their pa tients better for the possibility of er roneous results. “If women understand the chances of having to come back for further tests, they might not get so scared and anxious when that hap pens,” said Dr. Mary B. Barton of Har vard Pilgrim Health Care, a Boston- area "health maintenance organization. “As doctors, we should convey that information to patients.” The study, conducted by Barton and others, looked at how often women undergoing routine mam mograms and breast exams get called back for further mammograms, ul trasound scans, doctor visits and biopsies, even though they turn out in the end to be free of cancer. These er roneous cancer warnings are what doctors call false positives. The study found that a woman who undergoes annual mammo grams after age 40 — as major health organizations recommend — faces a 50 percent chance of hav ing at least one of these false posi tives over 10 years. And she has a 19 percent chance of undergoing an unnecessary biopsy. For the 32 million American women between ages 40 and 79, this could add up to 16 million false positives during 10 years of annual mammograms. Barton said the study does not mean that mammograms are a bad idea, but it does highlight the need to find more precise screen ing technology. Dr. Daniel Kopans, head of breast imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, cautioned that the study may overestimate the number of callbacks women re ceive. He agreed they are common and said radiologists are cautious because they do not want to miss cancer. JT requests Hopwood appeal 11 ST IN (AP) — University of is System Chancellor William ftiiingham has asked Attorney eneral Dan Morales to appeal a Ipg in the landmark Hopwood ^ that could reopen the whole is- I of affirmative action in state iege admissions. n appeal, which must be filed iMonday, would allow the full lYen-member 5th U.S. Circuit lirt of Appeals to review the ear- Jdecision against affirmative ac- tin by a three-judge panel. T vice chancellor and general nsel Ray Farabee said Cunning- INSIDE ham on Tuesday asked Morales to pursue the matter. “We remain concerned that we do not have a level playing field” in Texas college admissions, Farabee said. Assistant Attorney General lay Aguilar, who defended UT in the original case, said a decision on an appeal would come soon. “We’ve been talking to UT, and we’ve obviously been looking at it,” Aguilar said. “It’s inappropriate for me to comment except to say we will be making a decision soon.” U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled March 20 that the University of Texas must pay $776,760 to the lawyers who represented Cheryl Hopwood and three other white ap plicants to the UT Law School. The four claimed they had been denied admission in 1992 because of their race. Sparks also issued an injunction barring UT from using “racial pref erences in the selection of those in dividuals” who are admitted. It was the first injunction in the case, and that opened the door to an appeal of the sweeping Hop- wood ruling, UT lawyers say. Springtime weather brings a wave of allergy attacks for the unsuspecting udent under the sun. See Page 3 jinior duo of Scheschuk and ard are stepping up to the fete for Aggie baseball. See Page 7- Internet traffic doubles every 100 days, study finds opinion allaway: Northgate parking arage promises to prove eneficial for students, citizens. See Page 11 (ttp: / / battalion. tamu. edu ook up with state and na- onal news through The /ire, AP’s 24-hour online lews service. WASHINGTON (AP) — Informa tion technology, including business on the Internet, is growing twice as fast as the overall economy, the Commerce Department said today. In the latest look at the impact of advances in telecommunications and computing, the Commerce re port, “The Emerging Digital Econo my,” also found that the industry employs 7.4 million workers, some of whom earn among the nation’s highest average salaries. Traffic on the Internet has dou bled every 100 days and Internet commerce among business will likely surpass $300 billion by 2002, the report concluded. Other findings: —The Internet is growing faster than all other technologies that have preceded it. Radio existed for 38 years before it had 50 million lis teners, and television took 13 years to reach that mark. The Internet crossed the line in just four years. —In 1994, a mere 3 million peo ple were connected to the Internet. By the end of last year, more than 100 million were using it. —Without information technol ogy, inflation in 1997 would have been 3.1 percent, more than a full percentage point higher than the 2 Internet boom The information technology industry is growing twice as fast as the overall economy with business Internet use growing the fastest. Some statistics: 16% 15.8 14.7% Internet industry 3.2 1991 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96* '97* '98* *Estimated Source: Department of Commerce AP percent it was. —^Workers in the information technology industry earn an aver age of almost $46,000 annually, compared to an average of $28,000 for the private sector overall. “Information technology is tru ly driving the U.S. economy — more than previous estimates had revealed,” said Rhett Dawson, pres ident of the Information Technolo gy Industry Council. Printing Presses New Aggieland and Battalion editors in chief plan to bring diverse coverage to A&M community through publications By Amanda Smith Staff writer T he faces behind the pages of the Summer and Fall 1998 semesters for the two largest student publications on campus were approved by Provost Ronald Douglas Monday. Mandy Cater, a se nior psychology major, will serve as the new editor in chief of The Battalion for fall 1998. James Francis, a junior English major, will serve as the editor in chief of The Battalion for summer 1998. Trisha Morelock, a junior journalism major, will serve as the editor in chief ofThe Aggieland for fall 1998. The Student Publications Board nominated the editors in chief last week. The board consists of the chair, three faculty members, one staff member, three students appointed by the provost, the general man ager of Student Publications and a representative of the office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Charles Self, head of the journalism depart ment and chair of the Student Publications Board, said five students applied for the fall semester and two applied for the summer semester. Morelock is the only student who applied for editor in chief of The Aggieland. “We usually have at least two applicants per po sition,” Dr. Self said. “We had a wonderful group of students applying this time. All the students were well-qualified.” Cater said she was surprised to be selected among a competitive pool for editor in chief but is looking X BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion James Ftancis, a junior English major, and Mandy Cater, a senior psychology major, will serve as the summer and fall editors of The Battalion respectively. BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion Trisha Morelock, a junior journalism, will serve as the editor in chief of The Aggieland. forward to the opportunity. “I want to make sure that we really cover the cam pus and cover what is important to the faculty and the students,” Cater said. “Our community is Texas A&M. We are the university’s newspaper, and we should cover what impacts our students.” Cater is the Opinion editor for The Battalion this semester and will attend graduate school at A&M in the fall with an interest in publishing. Francis said his experience at The Battalion prompted his decision to apply for editor in chief. He serves as Aggielife editor this semester and was the Opinion editor during the Fall 1997 semester. “I have been here for a while,” Francis said. “With the experience that I have gained, I needed to move on. I have learned how a professional newspaper is run from experience gained through watching others in the newsroom.” Francis said he hopes to improve communication among the staff members, increase the diversity of news coverage and staff members, and make a few design changes. Morelock is currently a designer and section edi tor for the The Aggieland. She said she applied to The Aggieland because she wants to gain leadership and journalistic skills. “I love working with people and have a real inter est in publishing,” Morelock said. “It offers a chance for me to improve. It is going to be a great challenge.