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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1998)
lay 4,; Texas A & M University i Chrisfe' |of Cadet |in the V pm 108 etails. i Fello» |jdies i at 847h erdetai! "till V • m i04 TH YEAR‘ISSUE 141 *14 PAGES 93 65 93 65 TODAY TOMORROW COLLEGE STATION • TX TUESDAY‘MAY 5‘1998 EWS Briefs Student scores up with minority teachers i M |study, t ism! J 0 P asakis requests Ipferendum recount A College Station restaurant mer announced Monday he Ians to submit a petition to the |handsii t Y that rec l uests a recount of Sat- .inwday’s referendum in which citi- IwainP: zipns narrowly decided tQ support |ie construction of a Northgate pr, ceJLrkjng garage. George Sopasakis, owner of □s oft- Itryii I: I p.e-. : pm ■urger Boy, said he expects to lers ti n in the petition before the end the week. oiiege* Sopasakis, who has criticized ie iwtlie garage plan openly, said the usteftry close vote prompted him to ■tart a petition. I “We just have to be responsi- ■e to the people who supported Bs," he said. “We want to make lire the count is right. If the vote Bad gone the other way, the peo- todesBe who support it would do the Ha me thing-” Citizens, by a 1,947 to 1,894 te, defeated an ordinance limit- gthe city council from extend- using, lending or granting [inds for the development or con duction of a public parking rage at Northgate. The proposed four-story, 752- Bace garage would be located on *1.65 acres between College Main ^Jnd Second Street that the city r %ould acquire. (esearch updates available online I The oceanography department las launched a new web site that |ill allow students and teachers lo follow Texas A&M scientists as fiey cruise the world’s seas. I As researchers embark on dif- lerent cruises, the department I/ill post background information In the trip as well as the objec- pves the researchers hope to ac- i omplish. Visitors to the site can register lo receive e-mail updates as the Iruise progresses or e-mail ques- lons to participating scientists. | Found at I http://gulftour.tamu.edu>, the Reefs of the Gulf” web site is urrently set up to follow oceanog- aphers Ian MacDonald and Will ager as they map the wreck of ■he USS Monitor off Cape Hat- leras, N.C., and survey the Gulf of llexico’s hydrocarbon seeps us- [ingthe Navy’s NR-1 submarine. The cruise will run through lost of May with the two scien- sts posting descriptions and pic- ures of their research as it’s con- lucted. INSIDE axgleUfe — Texas A&M ^ student proves 1^ the pen is truly mightier than he sword by garnering a iterary award. See Page 3 sports exas A&M prepares to hake bid for NCAA Regional iaseball Tournament. See Page 7 opinion iuffines: Columnist offers he naked truth about A&M’s %ney for world-class status. See Page 13 online http://battalion.tamu.edu took up with state and na- ional news through The htire, AP’s 24-hour online ^ws service. By Amanda Smith Stciffwriter Researchers from Texas A&M Uni versity and the University of Texas- Pan American found that minority and Anglo students score higher on standardized tests when attending schools with an increased number of minority teachers. Kenneth Meier, co-director of the study and the Charles Puryear Pro fessor of Liberal Arts at A&M, said he did not expect Anglo students to show improved standardized test scores in environments with in creased minority teachers. Feel the chill “I was very surprised by the re sults,” Meier said. “We had found that minority teachers generally helped (performance of) minority students. But we were surprised to find that Anglo students benefited as well.” The study was conducted as part of the Texas Educational Excellence Project and examined the 350 largest multiracial school districts in Texas from 1991 to 1996. Meier said he began his study at the University of Wisconsin in Mil waukee using a database from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The data compared minority and Anglo students in school dis tricts having a higher percentage of minority teachers to those hav ing a lower percentage of minority teachers. TAAS scores were used to measure student performance in the study. The experiment con trolled for other factors influential on test performances such as poverty levels, expenditures and teacher qualifications. Meier, who arrived at A&M in Jan uary, said he hopes to continue more studies in an area that he began re searching in 1984. “This study grows out of a re search agenda with an emphasis on ■iFML '4a - ■ "A m- ■ ^ -H 1 • i c ** fM ffSSS ... . mm MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion Harold Baustian, a delivery driver for Sunbelt Distributors, unloads frozen treats for the Commons Mon day afternoon. Few dancing bears in Waco Lack of participation surprises Baylor administration WACO (AP) — They are not ex actly two-stepping the night away at Baylor University. A little over two years ago, uni versity officials captured national headlines by lifting an unwritten 151-year ban on dancing. But after all the ado, the Baptist school has hardly become Waco’s version of Studio 54. Only five organized on-campus dances have occurred since Baylor President Robert Sloan Jr. opened an outdoor dance dubbed “A Mir acle on 5th Avenue.” And one of those was alumni- only. ‘T guess they haven’t been as popular as (administrators) thought they would be,” senior Anne Beggs, who attended the April 1996 dance, told the Waco Tribune-Herald. Baylor officials agree there have been fewer dances than they had anticipated. But they also believe the change was positive for the campus and for students — a move more sym bolic than anything else. “Students really wanted to be able to dance on campus, but they didn’t really want to dance on cam pus,” said Dub Oliver, the school’s director of student activities. The school policy on dancing has several stipulations. Dances must be open to all students, and they may be held only four times a year — at homecoming, a spring celebration, fall orientation week and spring commencement. New cancer drug stock soars BOSTON (AP) — The stock of a company developing a new cancer treatment leaped from $12 to $85 at one point Monday, even while doc tors cautioned against getting too ex cited over something that has been tested only on mice. Cancer experts warned that while the approach is promising, treatments that look spectacular in lab animals almost never work so well in people. “It’s a very exciting observation in animals,” said Dr. Bruce Cheson of the National Cancer Institute. “That’s a long step from curing cancer in people.” The treatment involves two new ly developed drugs, called angio- statin and endostatin, that are de signed to choke off tumors’ blood supply. Scientists watched mice with huge tumors respond dramatically to these injections. Their tumors shrank and then went away entirely, and it seemed to work for all sorts of cancer. The drugs were created by Dr. Judah Folkman at Children’s Hos pital in Boston, whose team pio neered the concept of attacking cancer by blocking its ability to grow new blood vessels. While his results have been writ ten about frequently and are widely known to cancer specialists, an arti cle about the work in Sunday’s New York Times triggered a new round of enthusiasm. “I am real skeptical that Folk- man will be curing patients with these drugs,” said Dr. Mark Ratain of the University of Chicago. “It would be wonderful if that hap pens. Oncologists will be looking for jobs if it’s that simple.” minority education,” Meier said. “This will probably keep us busy for the next year.” Meier said past studies indicate that there there is a link between teachers and student performance on a national level. He said he decid ed to use information from Texas schools because the state makes the information more available than most others. “My interest started out nation wide,” Meier said. “However, we are somewhat data driven in this type of research.” Meier said he co-directed the ex periment with Bob Wrinkle, a profes sor of political science at the Univer sity of Texas-Pan American. Wrinkle said he was surprised by the results. “We have documented that both Anglo and non-Anglo stu dents benefit from the presence of minority teachers,” Meier said. “There is no trade-off. No one has to give up success for one group in order to benefit another.” In the future, Meier said he plans to examine why some school districts perform better than oth ers and to further address the ed ucational relationships among ed ucators and students. Students honor Cinco de Mayo By Jennifer Wilson Staff writer Cinco de Mayo, a celebration of cultures symbolizing the strength and determination of Hispanics.is celebrated today with local festivities which include dancing, food and special events. Cinco de Mayo marks the victory of the Mexican Army over French forces at the Battle of Pueblo on May 5, 1862. Armando Elonzo, a history pro fessor at A&M, said Cinco de Mayo is one of the two most important holi days in Mexican culture. “Cinco de Mayo is important because it commemorates the de feat of French troops by well- armed and well-trained Mexican troops,” Elonzo said. Elonzo said that during the 1850s and 60s, Mexico had a series of civil wars against the French. During the Battle of Pueblo on May 5, 1862, General Isacio Zaragosa and his men forced the withdrawal of French troops. “Cinco de Mayo allows the Mexi- can-American people to reconnect with their past history and with their culture,” Elonzo said. Elonzo said in the 1800s ranch communities would form a plaza to celebrate a victory with food and dancing, and it has evolved into the present holiday. “Cinco de Mayo is important be cause it allows Mexican-Americans an opportunity to stay in touch with their own heritage and cultural roots,” Elonzo said. Angelica Castro, advisor for the Committee of Mexican-American Culture, said Cinco de Mayo is usual ly celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico, similar to the Irish’s St. Patrick’s Day. “The holiday is the official inde pendence day celebrating Mexican independence from Napoleon’s dominadon,” Castro said. Janie Guajardo, coordinator of the City of College Station Parks and Recreation Cinco de Mayo Festival, and the festival aims to educate the community about the unity of the Hispanic culture. Guajardo said that while growing up in in the Bryan-College Station community, she never fully under stood what the holiday was about. “We are trying to reach the kids in the community and educate them on the culture so they can be proud of who they are and be proud of their culture,” she said. “We are trying to set role models for the other kids.” Guajardo said the festival cele brates the battle in which the His panic people united, and the holiday celebrates this unity Elonzo said the commercializa tion of the holiday sometimes takes away from its meaning. Shipwrecked A&M archeologists to study sunken ship By Kelly Hackworth Staff writer Archeologists from the Insti tute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M will begin trips Thurs day to the remains of the Den bigh, the second most successful blockade runner of the Confeder acy, located in December of last year outside Galveston Bay. The 182-foot converted mer chant ship made runs from Ha vana, Cuba to Mobile, Al. and Galveston during the Civil War. The Denbigh made more than 26 trips at a time when most runners averaged only four. The ship ran aground on the night of May 23, 1865 and was destroyed by blockading Union ships while try ing to enter Galveston Bay. The shipwreck is located off Bolivar Peninsula, close to the North Jetty and not far off the beach of Boli var Peninsula. Barto Arnold, director of Texas operations for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, said his toric shipwrecks are property of the state of Texas and anything found in or around the shipwreck will go to a museum following in spection. Objects will be cleaned, cataloged, studied and published in articles, magazines and possi bly a book, Arnold said. “This is good for both tourism and educational reasons,” he said. “It also deals with the ro mance of the sea and the excite ment of discovery." Arnold and his team have used a side-scan sonar, provided by Survey Equipment Services and EdgeTech of Houston, to identify wreckage sticking out of the sandy bottom. Their survey determined that the paddle wheel, some of its machinery and the boiler are ex posed with the rest of the wreck buried beneath the sand. Andy Hall, research grant writer for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, is conducting the historical research on the shipwreck. Hall said the Denbigh remains have produced good reference material in maritime history “Historical nautical archaeolo gy is interesting because it makes it possible to tie in analysis of physical remains with historical articles and documents,” he said. “The traditional history com bined with the physical analysis gives a greater idea of the ship.” Dr. Tom Iliffe, professor of ma rine biology at Texas A&M Galve ston and diving officer for the uni versity, said students taking his scientific diving course will be participating in the project with graduate students from Texas A&M in College Station. Their first survey will include studying what is sticking up out of the low-visibility water and any thing else sticking above the sandy bottom. I'he group will then map them out and probe the sand to find buried remains. The scientific diving class is also working with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Johnson Space Center and the Texas Parks and Wildlife, Iliffe said. The scientific diving course is looking for experienced divers interested in scientific diving certification. A class begins May 17 and runs through May 31. Those interested may contact Dr. Tom Iliffe at (409) 740-4454 for more information.