Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1998)
Weather Today I Ml C* ■ 5"% 1H I Kir Sports ... see Page 3 Opinion ... see Page 5 [HIGH IW Tomorrow HIGH i C(i|]i#"TH )4 YEAR • ISSUE 168 • 6 PAGES f Adnjij id thej ndatios auro,; he i /e ju^ii ie licei TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY - COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS Tomorrow Aggielife: Students utilize non-conventional resources to locate housing. MONDAY • JULY 13 • 1998 ilver anniversary \exfcm American culture committee members reflect on 25 years of ethnic awareness By Chris Martin Aggielife Editor Hlvventy-five years ago a group of 15 concerned students came together to form [ e f ai the Committee for the Awareness of Mex- Val- American Culture (CAMAC), an or- ivin gapization dedicated to the needs and ^^^■icerns of Hispanic students. The group , set forth to create an environment of n ,, b areness and appreciation for Mexican- pnerican culture on campus, benefiting th( lives of present members who were not yet born. H Saturday reunited past and present members of CAMAC in celebration of the Iwanization's silver anniversary. 1^Angie Castro, CAMAC faculty advisor, " said this year's former-student reception 'tdl :'i s Jbeing held in special preparation for 19 g 9, the 25th anniversary of CAMAC. :as(lH "Today we want to renew relationships om; Bth our former students and bring them utti' up to date with what's been going on in ce CAMAC," Castro said. 'PfilniB Castro said the organization is built on he f la network of su pport and encouragement n ofiMrough the interpersonal relationships of ■ fltt members. oidB "We are a support net for Mexican- utfeBmerican students, but we are an open ■mm it tee for anyone interested," Castro en-lsaid. "We host cultural events to celebrate ■h iiLir heritage, we encourage our members re s: I rwait to take leadership positions, as well as be role models for younger students to help them adjust to life here." Saturday's reunion was a way for pre sent CAMAC members to show their ap preciation for the legacy and assistance of CAMAC's founders. "Everyone struggles with the college transition," Castro said. "A lot of us went from predominately Mexican-American high schools to being a minority on this campus, so that adds to the struggle. [CA MAC] helps get them through that, and achieve not only academic but social suc cess. Some students even get a stronger ap preciation of their culture than they've ever had from the cultural events we host." Castro said she is very proud of the ac complishments CAMAC has made over the past 25 years. "Next year will be our 12th annual Southwest Student Conference on Latin Affairs, which has grown from a one-day lecture to a full two-day regional conven tion," Castro said. "What has been con sistent with CAMAC throughout the years is support, helping our members build a social network to help them adjust to being a minority on campus." DJ. Flores, CAMAC's conference di rector and a senior accounting major, said that although the times have changed since the founding of CAMAC, many of the is sues minority groups face are the same. "Today is about pride and a celebration of accomplishment," Flores said. "The former students laid the foundations for what we are still building on today. They faced some of the same issues we are still dealing with. They got the ball rolling." We let them [Hispanic students] know there is a Hispanic presence on campus. ... [We] get them interested in Texas A&M, so we do our part for the University.” — DJ. Flores CAMAC conference director and senior accounting major Flores said he is proud of the work CA MAC does to help Hispanic students feel at home at the University. "We let them know that there is a His panic presence on campus," Flores said. 'We get students in here with the conference and get them interested in Texas A&M, so we do our part for the University. I hope to see the conference expanding and growing when I come back to this reunion." Flores said creating relationships with for mer students is an invaluable tool for stu dents in school and for when they graduate. "We want input from our alumni on what we need to do — they've been here before, so it's good to find out how they addressed certain issues or raised mon ey," Flores said. "We're trying to build an alumni database. It's good to keep in con tact with people who have some kind of pull when you leave school. It's the same sense of pride that we have as Aggies." Olivia Cortez, CAMAC chair and a ju nior psychology major, said the reunion gives former CAMAC members an op portunity to come back and catch up with their old friends. "The ones who were with CAMAC at the beginning haven't seen how things have progressed, so this is a chance for them to see how we've changed and ex panded," Cortez said. "They get to see the effects of what they started." Delinda Chapa, class of '92 and '92 CA MAC chair, said she was interested in know ing how the school's Hispanic organizations have changed since her graduation. "Now there are more specialized Hispanic organizations, such as jour nalism and engineering, not just gener alized," Chapa said. "I hope CAMAC is the center, with other organizations branching out." Chapa said being a minority on cam pus never has been easy, but organiza tions such as CAMAC make the college transition smoother. "I don't know if it would be harder or easier to be a minority student now, but the culture shock is the same," Chapa said. "I'm glad [with CAMAC] I had a place to go." Chapa said her time at A&M revolved around CAMAC. "It's where I found roommates, usual ly hanging around at the Student Pro grams Office," Chapa said. "The upper classmen always took care of us, taking us to eat. If I didn't have it, I don't know what I would have done." Georgette Lodez-Aguado, class of '92 and '91 CAMAC chair, agreed with Chapa. "It was our total support system when we were freshmen, and all I knew was CAMAC," Lodez-Aguado said. "It was everything to me. All my study buddies came from CAMAC; it's who we all went out with. It was a real feeling of family." Chapa said she hopes all the present stu dents give back to the organization and their community the way CAMAC gave to them. See CfiMfiC on Page 2. 556'' laid |pes (r pier. "Me \o Tag, you! r« it MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion Chris Dieckert, a 14-year-old resident of College Station, stands ready for action during a game of laser tag Sunday. Coordinating Board considers A&M, South Texas affiliation HOUSTON (AP) — State education offi cials this week may try to quash Texas A&M University's alliance with a private Houston law school. The dispute could wind up in the state Legislature. The two schools show every indication of fighting to the finish, the Houston Chron icle reported. The South Texas College of Law hired lob byist A1 Luna to press its case with the Legis lature, and he already has visited some law makers in recent weeks. Officials of both A&M and South Texas also plan to carry out many terms of their af filiation — with or without approval of state higher-education regulators. "We don't have anything to lose," law school dean Tom Read said. "We have not yet developed a legislati ve strategy, but we have to look out for ourselves. If that means that we ought to get some legislation sponsored to protect the affiliation, we might do that." This week, the Coordinating Board is scheduled to consider A&M's request to add legal studies to its curriculum. But some board members already have indicated their opposition. And A&M officials say the Coor dinating Board is likely to reject the request. If so, A&M officials plan to petition the board again next year. "We're not going to fold our tent," A&M President Ray Bowen told the Houston Chronicle. "This is still on our agenda long-term. The Coordinating Board will eventually do the right thing." The squabble stems from an agreement signed by A&M and law school officials ear ly this year. The affiliation gave A&M a long- desired law school without buying one. It left the law school private and in downtown Houston while giving it national recognition with the A&M name. Founded 75 years ago as part of a network of YMCA law schools. South Texas now en rolls about 1,200 students and charges $14,700 a year in tuition. It gains national hon ors in moot court contests. For years, A&M has been one of its top feeder schools. A&M officials have tried to add a law school for years, contending that every top flight university has one. But it never secured public funding in a state that already has four public and five private law schools, includ ing South Texas. Twice since the late 1960s, A&M officials have asked the Coordinating Board to ap prove a South Texas merger and been thwarted because of worries about shrink ing state appropriations. The current affiliation was signed and an nounced in January, prompting an immedi ate protest from the University of Houston, which has a law school a few miles from South Texas. South Texas has backed down slightly from its earlier proclamations of being the "Texas A&M Law Center." Its sign now reads, "South Texas College of Law affiliated with Texas A&M University." I Brazos Valley citizens given chance to voice opinions online By James Francis Editor in Chief Members of the Brazos Valley now have a chance :o voice their opinions, questions and concerns ||j hrough a new online service aimed at creating a discussion forum for the betterment of communities md individuals. Officer Jerry Moore, a crime prevention officer for the Bryan Police Department, is the list owner and on line developer of Brazos-L. Moore said the online forum came from the desire Ffto see members of different communities unite and hare thoughts on important issues. "I hope for good community dialogue on issues, current problems and incoming problems," he said. What started out as an idea targeted for the Bryan community has turned into a multiple-community are na for networking. In his specified area of law enforcement, Moore said •t was important to include all members of the Brazos Valley and not just single out the city of Bryan because you may want the whole community to know some thing about crime prevention." Brazos-L (which operates from list server software) To subscribe to Brazos-L, send an email to 'istserv@listserv.tamu.edu and in the body of the message type SUBSCRIBE BRAZOS-L, First name, Last f The listservet will send a subscriber a response in which he or she replies ling OK" at the bottom of the respo To post to Brazos-L. sene iisiserv.tamu.edu and the O mail message will be distributed to the Brazos-L. membership, To unsubscribe from Brazos-L, send an email to iistserv@iistserv.tamu.edu and in the body of the message type UNSUB BRAZOS-L works when a subscriber posts a message to the mem bership list. The message then is sent to the listserver, which delivers the e-mail to all subscribers of the list. From this, parties can check their e-mail and respond to the topic(s) of interest. The Brazos-L Web site has been up and running for two weeks, and officers of the College Station Police Department and Texas A&M University al ready have joined the membership list in order to provide crime prevention information to their per spective jurisdictions. Although the forum is open to any topic that im pacts the lives of Brazos Valley community members, a press release for Brazos-L details certain rules and regulations that apply to using the Web site correctly: (1) Subscribers are limited to two posts a day, in an attempt to manage the volume of e-mail and to ensure no one person monopolizes the list. (2) Public announcements such as job openings, benefit garage sales, carnivals and new businesses will be limited to once every two weeks per sub scriber or organization. (3) Political announcements, such as those for indi viduals running for public offices, will be limited to once every two weeks per subscriber or organization. These announcements must be positive, outlining the qualifications of the individual running for office, not commenting on the faults of a competitor. The Web site also gives explanations as to what are considered unacceptable acts on Brazos-L, such as the use of profanity, posting commercial adver tisements and sending attached files to the mem bership list that may carry viruses or cause other such computer problems. In this day and age, the use of computers for on line discussions is ever-growing, but Moore said hav ing the forum online only broadens the audience it intends to reach. "It's something we're going to see a lot of in the fu ture," he said. See Brazos-L on Page 2.