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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.
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nty of life
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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.