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4 th YEAR • ISSUE 143 • 14 PACES
EWS
COLLEGE STATION • TX
TODAY TOMORROW
FRIDAY • MAY 8 • 1998
•andji
Briefs
Universities try to level admissions field
fwo Aggies in car
iccident, one dies
B anuel David Gonzales, a Texas
University student, died Tues-
ay night in Houston after being in-
olved in a one-car accident,
■jonzales, 19, was a freshman
iqjmedical science major from
louston.
JJeffrey Lee Nash, who was rid-
ling in the car with Gonzales, was
reated for injuries and released
In Grimes St. Joseph Health Cen-
lin Navasota.
Ilash is a freshman microbiology
najor.
Halls of the Year
announced by RHA
■RHA members were awarded for
? Islanding participation in RHA for
11997-98 year at the annual Hall
llhe Year Awards fast week,
llwc Fadden rece'wed Ha\\ of the
Ir for work done to promote pro-
camming in the halls. Lechner was
»lned Co-ed Hall of the Year. Davis-
■rywon Female Hall of the Year and
Rocker earned Male Hall of the Year.
Ibckertook home five awards for the
1997-98 year.
■loan Duong, the incumbent presi-
®lt of Crocker Hall and ajuniorcom-
Duter science major, was recognized
as the Resident of the Year. Duong
/vill serve as the Crocker Hall presi
dent and as the External Affairs di
rector on the RHA board next year,
al Duong said he is looking forward
to improvements in RHA and specifi
cally within Crocker Hall next year.
I "Getting Male Hall of the Year is a
|reat end to an entire year of hard
work by the residents," Duong said.
'7 am really happy with the group of
tall council members that we have
alected for the next year. We are in a
pisition to move ahead.”
Journalism receives
reaccreditation
■ Texas A&M’s Department of Jour-
■ism was unanimously approved for
Accreditation recently by the Accred-
■g Council for Education in Journal
ism and Mass Communication.
■ The department has been ac
credited nationally since 1956. “We
llieve accreditation by the Accred-
Ing Council for Education in Jour
nalism and Mass Communication is
Increte proof to our students, our
|ers and our university that Texas
offers a quality journalism pro-
am,” said Charles C. Self, profes-
Orand head of the department.
J Fewer than one-third of all journal-
■n-mass communication programs
■the United States are accredited.
■Texas, only five of about 30 pro-
pms have been accredited.
By Colleen Kavanagh
Staff writer
Following the lead of smaller
private universities, public univer
sities across the nation are using
new recruiting tactics to keep top
high school students from fleeing
to other schools.
Randy Mills, senior associate di
rector of admissions at the Univer
sity of Kentucky, said admissions
counselors at Kentucky are using a
small-school mentality to recruit
prospective students.
‘‘We are trying to do things the
way smaller schools have always
done by mailing personal letters and
Stacking Up
calling students who have been ad
mitted,” he said. “I came here from a
private liberal arts school, and I
brought a lot of that with me.”
Mills said competition for top
students has increased so it is es
sential for public schools to make
recruiting more personal.
“Big universities used to say
‘Hey you know where our admis
sions office is, so come get an ap
plication,’” he said. “Now we
knock heads with top private
schools, so we have to shower a lot
more attention on students.”
Ric Gonzalez, recruitment coor
dinator at Texas A&M University,
said A&M recruiters have changed
their strategies in order to attract
top Texas students.
“Students are getting smarter
and wheel and deal more, causing
us to do the same,” he said. “Now
we are doing what small, private
universities have always done, by
writing letters and making phone
calls to students.”
A&M students contact admit
ted students to congratulate them,
answer any questions and encour
age them to commit to A&M.
The University of Texas Office of
Admissions has similar recruiting
strategies and also calls admitted
students through the program
SHARE, Students Helping Recruit
ing Efforts. Annie Holand, student
government president and a junior
psychology major, said 300 stu
dents volunteered this year for
SHARE, with the goal of calling
every high school senior who was
accepted.
“This was the first year to do
blanket phone calls, trying to talk to
everyone who was accepted,” she
said. “A lot of campus groups have
gotten lists and made phone calls
too.
“The student volunteers just call
and talk about U.T., and classes,
majors, the campus environment
and what there is to do. I think in
addition to helping recruit stu
dents, SHARE has been beneficial
to our campus as a whole in creat
ing a sense of community.”
Summer Calvin, a high school
senior from McAllen, Texas, re
ceived her first call from a SHARE
volunteer two weeks before her
scholarship application was due in
December.
“I have gotten many calls since
then,” she said. “I decided to visit
after talking to a student about U.T.
who convinced me to visit the cam
pus. My decision was between U.T.
and Stanford, and after visiting the
campus and loving it, I chose U.T.”
Please see Universities on Page 9
1
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ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion
Jason Jones, a civil engineering major, restocks the shelves of a bookstore with used books Thursday.
KKK to make stop in College Station
INSIDE
sMU
David Kersh to
bring the sound
of country to
Breham on the
Wal-Mart music
tour.
See Page 3
mmmmmmmum
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g 12 Commissioner Steve
atchell resigns amid rumors
lat he was forced out.
By Jennifer Wilson
Staff writer
Despite the success of the recent Whoop-
stock Unity Festival, which celebrated the di
versity of people on the Texas A&M campus
and in the community) the Ku Klux Klan
Knights of the White Kamellia will rally in Col
lege Station on May 9 in celebration of their
national holiday.
The Knights of the White Kamellia na
tional headquarters in Vidor, Texas, is
sponsoring the rally, which celebrates the
founding of the Ku Klux Klan on May 6,
1866, and the founding of the Knights of
the White Kamellia on May 22, 1867.
Rev. Darell Flinn, imperial wizard of the
Knights of the White Kamellia, said the rally is
being held to discuss issues such as freedom
of speech, race mixing and white rights.
“We’re hoping to wake some people up,”
Flinn said. “We really need to have a rally in
drat area (Bryan-College Station).”
The Klan plans to meet at Bee Creek Park
in College Station from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday,
he said.
Flinn said their organization has never
been to College Station before and they are
hoping to recruit many new members.
“Every city we have ever been to has ac
cused us of picking on them,” Flinn said. “We
have not been invited to College Station, but
we will exchange ideas on what we stand for
and exercise free speech to reach people in a
legal means.”
Flinn said their organization stands up in all
legal ways possible for white rights and white
history, to legally regain the rights that they be
lieve have been taken from the Aryan race.
“We have a legal means of doing these
things,” Flinn said.
Holly Doughty, public relations director
for Whoopstock and a senior agriculture
development and entomology major, said
Whoopstock was originally created five
years ago when the KKK came to College
Station to hold a rally. Instead of going to
the rally and protesting, people decided to
hold a festival to celebrate diversity.
“It was created so that people would not
go to the rally and protest,” Doughty said.
“We do not want to bring any attention to
the KKK.”
Doughty said she thinks people will be less
likely to protest because of the great success
ofWhoopstock this year.
“People are more accepting now be
cause they see that there is diversity on the
campus, and the majority of people went
to Whoopstock to celebrate unity on cam
pus,” she said.
Please see KKK on Page 9
More road
work on
the way
By Rachel Dawley
Staff writer
Construction has become a part of life for stu
dents at Texas A&M.
Although construction on Texas Avenue is en
tering its final month of activity, officials from the
Texas Department ofTransportation (TxDOT) said
there are several odrer projects planned for the
summer, including pavement repairs on several
major roads and highways.
FM 2818 is currently undergoing pavement re
pair and getting a hot-mix overlay from FM 60 to
just north ofTexas 21. TxDOT officials said the work
should be completed within a week.
TxDOT will build a center left-turn lane and ap
ply a hot-mix overlay on Texas 6 from FM 2154 to
just north of the Navasota River, with a completion
date sometime this summer.
The Texas Avenue widening project, which
began in February 1996, will be completed no
later than May 31, said TxDOT spokesperson
Paul Sturrock.
Construction on the $5 million first phase pro
ject is complete. It expands Texas Avenue from four
lanes to six lanes from University Drive to Dominik
Drive. In addition, left-turn bays and a raised cen
ter median have been added. An 8-foot sound bar
rier now protects residential areas from Gilchrist
Avenue to Kyle Avenue.
Most lane markings are complete in the area.
Street lighting up and down the project length is al
most finished and new sidewalks are complete,
Sturrock said.
Sturrock said one of the biggest remaining
tasks will be cleaning up the project areas.
When TxDOT inspectors are satisfied with the
work, traffic barriers will be removed and the
project officially finished.
Phase two of the Texas Avenue widening pro
ject is scheduled to begin in 2001. Phase two, esti
mated to cost $5.7 million, will create three-lane
roadways from Dominik Drive south to F M 2818.
There are also several construction projects on
the Texas A&M campus.
Joe Estill, manager of A&M’s facilities construc
tion division, said his office is working on the Cush
ing Library expansion project and parking garage
and the Kyle Field expansion.
The library construction project began in April
of 1996 and is scheduled for completion in June.
Please see Work on Page 14
A&M to honor four
alumni at graduation
See Page 7
opinion
ollett: Being a Yankee in
ttas requires some time for
djustment.
See Page 13
ittp://battalion .tamu. edu
ook up with state and na-
onal news through The
fire, AP’s 24-hour online
ews service.
By Katy Lineberger
Stoffwriter
Four Texas A&M former students
will receive Distinguished Alumni
Awards at commencement cere
monies next week. The awards, giv
en annually by the Association of
Former Students, recognize out
standing contributions to the hon-
orees’ professions and communities.
This year’s recipients are W. Mike
Baggett of Dallas, Robert E. Bolen of
Fort Worth, Raymond E. Galvin of
Houston and Ronald L. Skaggs of
Dallas.
Randy Matson, executive director
of the Association of Former Stu
dents, said the honorees were chosen
from nominations by a committee of
four faculty members and four for
mer students.
“This is one of the greatest honors
that a former student can receive,” he
said. “When you consider there are
200,000 former students and we
choose four a year, this is a pretty ex
clusive group. The recipients are all
very distinguished.”
Matson said it is fortunate that the
awards, started in 1962, are present
ed at the commencement cere
monies.
“It’s inspirational to seniors,” he
said. “They can say, ‘Hey, I could do
that someday’ It also brings recogni
tion to the University for the accom
plishments of its graduates.”
Mary Jo Powell, associate director
of University Relations, said the list of
former honorees includes some im
pressive names.
“This year’s recipients continue to
reflect favorably upon Texas A&M’s
former students,” she said. “They are
outstanding individuals who have
made real contributions.”
Baggett, Class of’68, is chair, pres
ident and CEO of the law firm Win
stead, Sechrest & Minick. He is chair
of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Associa
tion and a member of the Texas High
er Education Coordinating Board
Please see Alumni on Page 9
Class of ’98 to give A&M Silver
Taps memorial, Mount Aggie
By Kelly Hackworth
Stoffwriter
As members of the Class of ’98 become the first
class to graduate in the new Reed Arena next Friday
and Saturday, they will also leave their mark on Texas
A&M through the class gifts they have chosen.
Brandon Meche, a senior industrial distribution
major, a senior yell leader and a class agent, said the
gifts chosen include a memorial for the 100th an
niversary of Silver Taps and endorsement of tire new
Mount Aggie effort.
“Silver Taps is a real treasured and respected tradi
tion,” Meche said. “This is our class’ way of honoring
the tradition and the University.”
Laurie Nickel, 1998-99 student body president and
a senior business analysis major, said she was im
pressed with the wide range of class gift options.
“I think we had some excellent choices,” she said.
“It’s great money spent.”
The six class gift options for the Class of ’98 includ
ed, in addition to the two chosen, an Aggie Bonfire en
dowment, which took third place, a statue of Matthew
Gaines, senator from Washington county who helped
enable the founding ofTexas A&M, an electronic mar
quis outside the Memorial Student Center and a Class
of’98 scholarship.
Alex Cabanas, senior finance major and a Class of
’98 class agent, said the money left after the Silver Taps
memorial will go toward the Mount Aggie effort.
“I think that Mount Aggie is neat because everyone
is sad that it was torn down and now our class can be
a part of the new one,” he said.
Bradley Angell, Class of ’98 gift chair and a senior
agricultural development major, said the class raised
its money from Elephant Walk and Ring Dance sales.
The estimated cost for the Silver Taps memorial is
$25,000. The memorial will consist of a floral arrange
ment in the academic plaza with a plaque explaining
how 1998 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
ceremony. The project should be completed in about
six months, Angell said.
Frank Thomas, physical education activity program
chair, said the new Mount Aggie wifi be located at the
southwest corner of the new varsity tennis court.
Thomas said the bids went out May 3 and bid selec
tion will be made May 21. The estimated cost is
$300,000, and the architect is Jim Holster and associ
ates. Estimated completion date is September 1, de
pending on the weather, Thomas said.