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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1998)
WEfiTHER la y8,| Today HIGH S LO Tomorrow IlGH INSIDE « p ? rts "• see ^ age f Opimon ... see Page 5 Battalion TOMORROW Opinion: Advertising campaigns should focus on products actual use, not sexist propaganda. TH YEAR • ISSUE 144 • 6 PAGES TEXAS ASM UNIVERSITY ■ COLLEGE STATION. TX MONDAY • JUNE 1 • 1998 Stars and Bars Cadet sues University for Corps’ divisive symbols policy ebas; ipus ction By Amber Benson City Editor A member of the Corps of Cadets filed suit against Texas A&M Univer sity May 15 claiming a Corps policy barring the display of Confederate symbols is unconstitutional. Thomas Chisum Womack, a sophomore agricultural journalism major from Eustace, retained an attor ney after being forced to remove a 3- by-5 inch Confederate battle flag stick er from his footlocker in the fall. Womack was asked to remove the sticker in compliance with Corps pol icy, outlined in the Corps of Cadets manual. The Standard, which bans the display of divisive symbols. Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. M.T. "Ted" Hopgood amended the manual last August to specifically mention the Confederate flag and has stood by the wording despite several attempts by Womack's attorney, Kirk Lyons, to persuade him to remove the specific reference from the manual. Lyons, an attorney with the South ern Legal Resource Center in Mountain, N.C., said the case about the battle flag. "This is a civil rights issue. Black Confederate flag issue," said Lyons, is not "You could substitute any flag you want to, the issue would still be about not a his First Amendment rights." CONFEDERATE A Corps of Cadets spokesperson said the Corps does not comment on pending litigation. Texas A&M University System Chancellor Barry Thompson com mented on the issue last month when he was a featured as an interview sub ject on Texas Monthly's Web site. "Texas A&M's Commandant of Cadets views display of the Confeder ate battle flag within the Corps as divi sive and, therefore, prejudicial to good order and discipline," Thompson said. Thompson said he considered Hopgood's actions to prohibit the flag a proper exercise of the commandant's authority. Some A&M former students, however, have not been supportive of the ban. In a Jan. 12 letter to Hopgood, for mer gubernatorial candidate and dis tinguished alumnus Clayton Williams Jr. argued for an end to the ban, ac cording to reports in the The Bryan-Col- lege Station Eagle. see Lawsuit on Page 2. Aggies for Dixie seeks local support By Amber Benson City Editor Preserving Texas A&M University's "Confederate past" is the main purpose of a new student organization now be ing formed in support of Thomas Chisum Womack's law suit against A&M. Womack's attorney, Kirk Lyons, said the group, which is organizing under the name of Aggies for Dixie, is cur rently looking for support both on campus and within the Bryan-College Station community. Although Aggies for Dixie is not affiliated with any of the numerous self-proclaimed Southern heritage organi zations, it is supported by them. Dr. Michael Hill, president of the League of the South, a Southern heritage organization headquartered in Alaba ma said Aggies for Dixie will be a much-needed voice in the community. "Aggies for Dixie will combat the attitude of General Hopgood and raise support for the traditional Confeder ate history of the University," said Hill. Lyons said Aggies for Dixie hopes to become a univer sity-recognized organization by the fall. infro| dthfl Officials reluctant to make predictions on minority enrollment for the fall By Sarah Goldston Staff Writer I Despite an increase in minority student confirmations for the fall se- Biester, Texas A&M University admissions and records warns against ear ly predictions of increased minority enrollment. I A&M bases the number of minority students who will attend in the fall |on the number of confirmations for the summer conference that is designed as an orientation and registration opportunity. I Gary Engelgau, executive director of admissions and records said A&M is seeing an increase of confirmed acceptance responses of minorities over Ilastyear because the overall number of accepted students has increased. I The increase is due in part to a state law, which grants automatic ac ceptance to all high school seniors graduating in the top ten percent of their llass. Among the students who have been accepted to A&M for the fall, i,600 applicants fall into this category. The total predicted number of stu dents for the fall is around 6,300. I Due to the Hopwood decision, A&M cannot use ethnicity as selection Iriteria for admission. Engelgau said A&M is putting forth more effort to lecruit underrepresented students. I Engelgau said he does not expect the number of minority students to drop, but he wants potential students to know that A&M is a school for all yalified applicants. Engelgau said after the last round of regular admissions, applications re reviewed and acceptance letters are sent. 1 "About 50 percent of the students receiving letters accepted our offer last year, but this year we are seeing a 63 percent response from the entire applicant pool. As of now there will be no more admission offers for next |ear and there will be no wait list acceptance," said Engelgau. I Although A&M cannot target minorities directly, an effort is being made :osend more information to high schools that have not sentstudents to A&M n recent years. A&M is also trying to geographically cover Texas to aim at 'ecruiting students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. see Enrollment on Page 2. College Station plans to erect barricade at Munson Avenue and Dominik Drive OVERALL 7269 CONFIRMATIONS as of May 98 5573 fall 97 fall 98 © By Amber Benson City Editor The College Station City Council voted 3-2 Thursday to close Munson Avenue at Do minik Drive on a trial basis. see Related Editorial on Page 5. City Manager Skip Noe said barricades could be in place within a few days. The decision to close the road is the second attempt by the council to lessen the amount of traffic on Munson Avenue, a res idential road used as an alterna tive to Texas Avenue. The first attempt to decrease traffic, which began in January, involved installing stop signs and speed bumps from Lincoln to Dominik Drives. While reducing traffic vol umes on Munson Avenue from 8,000 vehicles per day to 3,250, traffic counts on neighboring Ashburn Avenue tripled. Members of the College Hills- Woodlands Neighborhood Asso ciation presented a petition of 41 signatures urging the council to close the street citing a need to "preserve their neighborhood's character as a small town" and to save the street from "destructive levels of non-neighborhood through traffic." Neighborhood association president Gary Halter, who worked to open Munson Avenue Photo Bv Kvan Rogers/The Battalion Dustin Aldridge, a senior industrial design major and a resident of Munson Ave., watches traffic as he anticipates the tentative street closing. Last week Aldridge’s dog was injured when it was struck by a car on Munson. when he was mayor of College Station from 1981-1985, said he had changed his mind and en couraged the council to "correct a mistake I made." Opposition from, accessed through the Department of Stu dent Financial Aid's Web site (http: / /faid.tamu.edu), the clos ing came from area residents and College Station Fire Marshal Jon Mies who said closing the street could increase fire and emer gency vehicles response times. see Munson on Page 2. Employment database found on Internet WHITE INTERNATIONAL BLACK OTHER ASIAN HISPANIC 1997 By Amber Benson City Editor Information about student employment op portunities is now available exclusively on the Internet. A Web-accessible database replaced the job boards formerly located on the second floor of the Pavilion. This database database can be accessed through the Department of Student Financial Aid's Web site (http: / /faid.tamu.edu). The database allows students to create a re sume, search job listings and apply for positions online. Both on- and off-campus employers can post available positions, as well as search for quali fied students. Assistant Director of Student Financial Aid Bob Lawson said posting information online is simply better customer service. "Students shouldn't be relegated to search ing for jobs during my office hours," said Law- son. "This system allows students to find em ployment on their own time." Some employers are concerned about a de crease in applications since the listings went on line. "It's a good system," said Adam Davidson, director of human resources at the Texas A&M Ocean Drilling Program, who cited a drop-off in the number of applications he has received. "I just don't think many people know about it." Lawson said there are currently 850 students and 431 employers who have filed information into the database, but he looks for those num bers to increase dramatically in the fall semes ter. "With the job boards, a student looking at five different jobs would have to prepare five applications, with the Web site you only have to prepare one application for those five jobs," said Lawson. "It's a tremendous timesaver."