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OPINION, PAGE 15
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THURSDAY
September 3, 1998
11.1X111
O N D J F Ki
1998
vans Library
• - DCWU
j — »ceives rare
ook collection
advanced 0.4
record high.C
a mounted to:
te of $650.4p.
i„g N al 6 W S > S PrObabfy 0116
the largest gifts of
•' Tue5da, l! "oo#(s the library has
jWeather
ver received/'
— Charlene Clark
Public relations officer for
University Relations
BY AARON MEIER
The Battalion
rriCc C. Evans Library will officially acquire a rare
00 volume collection of Slavic literature today.
:harlene Clark, public relations officer for Evans Li-
miss y, said the acquisition of the George Sabo Slavonic
k Cbllection is historic for Evans Library.
•wfj^This is probably one of the largest gifts of books the
- ary has received,” Clark said.
he Collection contains works of Russian, Polish and
:h origin.
Chester Dunning, a professor of Russian history, played
p/ role in the acquisition of the Sabo collection, and said
ropical storm
jptains works of historical as well as literary value.
The collection should include typically things like en-
apedias, historical works, monographs, critical editions,
y codes, works of fiction by famous authors whose works
are then sub
ject to many
works of criti
cism,” Dun
ning said. ‘‘But
we don’t even
know the exact
contents of the
collection.”
The collec
tion was be
queathed to
the University
he George Sabo estate and George Sabo’s heirs,
■ph Corcoran, and Irene Corcoran, Sabo’s daughter,
v nationwide search was conducted before A&M
selected as the site to house the books.
Junning said A&M beat out the University of
If . >ming, Notre Dame and the University of North Car-
’ 1 ^ * a at Durham for the Sabo collection.
One of the reasons the collection was selected to
lie here was we have so many excellent Slavic schol-
ere,” Dunning said.
arolyn Smith, the head of the gift department of
is,-will be heading up the unloading of the collec-
this morning.
uniting said the works in the collection focus pri-
jily on Russian history and literature between the
s and 1980s.
he Sabo Collection is part of an initiative by Evans
ary to build up the collection Slavic and Latin
?rican research materials.
tunning said Fred Heath, dean of the general li-
ies at Texas A&M, will hire an additional two as-
ints to help catalog the extensive collection.
UP SeleCil have requested that once the library has received them
books) that they be placed on display so Slavic schol-
nf f Ufl :an wa k through the collection and tag the works they
ore of more value,” Dunning said.
_ ^ndunning said the earliest he expects the collection
PaCC'^ e made available is next spring.
inflatabl
jrmtu^assing the buck
ipppcSOll
, interested in using Aggie
Bucks and what other fi
nancial services they
could offer students
through Aggie Bucks.
Pace said students can
now use Aggie Bucks in
more places off campus
and the number is grow
ing. Freebirds, Applebee’s,
Honeybee Farms and Copy
Corner all now accept Ag
gie Bucks.
Charles Hood, the
manager of Freebirds on
Texas Avenue, said they
started accepting Aggie
Bucks only a few weeks
ago, and already the ma
jority of the students that
come in are using them.
Aggie Bucks are now
used by students that
come to Freebirds more
than checks and credit
cards combined.
Hood said Freebirds
decided to start accepting
Aggie Bucks for customer
convenience.
“It is a positive thing.
It’s about the conve
nience for our cus
tomers.” Hood said.
Check
liversity expands
ie Bucks program
nclude more
inesses.
$204y AMY CURTIS
The Battalion
$12J
’ggie Bucks are now
widely accepted out-
of campus, and more
$ Blesses are planning to
$20 t ^ em t ^ ie near ^ u "
allow more busi-
^ ’ es to accept Aggie
ts on and off cam-
Texas A&M has
2d contracts with
est Bank, Aggieland
it Union and MBNA
rica.
even Pace, the Aggie
administrator, said
a A&M had total con-
over Aggie Bucks,
on-campus mer-
ttp://tamu.bkst0i f ts and merchants re-
to the campus could
brs:8a.m.-^hem.
.,Sat: 1996 they took note
hat businesses were
Student Center
Station, TX
Repairs on University Drive warrant
police monitoring for motorists’ safety.
Road work
on University
Drive causes
traffic back-up
Wednesday
afternoon.
Police were on
hand to
ensure
motorists
and
pedestrians
were safe.
Under
BY JOE SCHUMACHER
The Battalion
University Drive from Well
born Road to Texas Avenue is
currently undergoing heavy
construction. A seal coat and a
hot-mix overlay are being ap
plied to the road. Plans are’for
the project to be completed by
mid to late September.
Catherine Hejl, assistant area
engineer of Brazos County, said
the seal coat will take five to six
working days to complete and
the hot-mix will take another five
to six working days.
Traffic heading east is heavily
congested from Wellborn to
Bizzell. College Station Police of
ficers were directing traffic at
every intersection from Texas Av
enue to Old College Road.
Tfaffic is narrowed down to
one lane in either direction dur
ing construction hours.
Hejl said the project was slat
ed to be completed in August.
However, there were several de
lays in construction.
The primary contractor,
Jones G. Einke, Inc. of Sealy,
sub-contracted the repairs on
University Drive repairs to a
smaller company. However,
upon viewing the condition of
University Drive, the company
backed out of the contract. .
The contractors have request
ed police assistance to ensure the
safety of motorists and students.
Lt. Mike Mathews of the
College Station Police Depart
ment said there will he officers
on University Drive during
construction.
He also advises motorists to
use alternate routes if possible.
Otherwise, motorists should plan
accordingly for delays.
A press release from the Texas
Department of Transportation
said most work on University
Drive will begin at 7 a.m.
Meteorology sees
jump in fall
student enrollment
BY PATRICK PEABODY
The Battalion
There has been an in
crease in the amount of me
teorology majors this fall.
The meteorology depart
ment enrolled twice
as many students ,
this fall than they
were expecting. ^
There were 70
new enrollments
which is twice the
number that the de
partment usually gets.
James McGuirk,
assistant head of me
teorology, said the
department expected
a large number of in
coming freshmen,
but they had not ex
pected as many trans
fer students.
“We had 45 fresh
men enroll, which is 15
more than we usually
get,” he said.
“We received about
10 more transfer stu
dents than usual, and
most of them trans
ferred in August, which
we were not expecting.”
McGuirk also said the
meteorology department is
a little understaffed but is
adjusting to handle it.
“We were going to offer
a Meteorology 151 class,”
McGuirk said, “for anyone
in the University that want
ed to take it, but we’ve had
to cancel that and add two
more sections for our
$\ undergraduates.
Also, we had to
add a new [Meteo
rology] 201 introduc
tion class, to get all of
the students in.”
Meteorology 151 will
be opened to everyone
in the spring.
The meteorology de
partment does not ex
pect the enrollment
rates to keep increasing,
but they do not expect
them to decrease.
Also, like so many
other things, the in
creased enrollment can
be blamed on El Nino.
“There are three
things that we believe
caused this increase,”
McGuirk said.
“El Nino has brought
attention to the profes
sion, as have movies like
Tivister, and increasing
awareness of global warm
ing.”
see Enrollment on Page 6.
Fish Pond crossover now closed to thru traffic
BY LESLIE STEBBINS
The Battalion
No longer will students or
buses be able to cut through
Fish Pond on their way
through campus.
The driving path was closed
in August for safety reasons.
Prior to 1984 the path was
closed off to drivers, but with
the installation of the bus sys
tem it was opened to buses
only, said Douglas Williams,
associate director for the De
partment of Parking, Traffic
and Transportation Services.
Over the years it has be
come increasingly difficult to
limit the traffic flow to buses
only, and now PTTS has closed
the path off.
“Bollards [concrete barri
ers) have been ordered and
will be installed to make sure
no automobiles are able to dri
ve through,” said Williams.
Gary Jackson, bus opera
tions manager, said the bus
es will still run as scheduled
and pick up on both sides of
Fish Pond.
The Rudder and Traditions
routes will run approximately
five minutes longer, while
Howdy and Gig ’em will not be
affected by the change.
There will be bus opera
tions employees at the stops to
assist students.
“We have instructors and
senior bus drivers to help stu
dents get on the right bus,”
Jackson said.
Some students are upset that
they can no longer cut across
campus through Fish Pond.
“It is frustrating because
there is no way to get from one
side of the campus to the oth
er without going out on the
busy main roads,” said Craig
Funk, a sophomore business
major.
Traffic has become a prob
lem around Fish Pond, and
PTTS and bus operations were
afraid someone was going to
get hurt.
“We have been very lucky
no one has gotten hurt,” Jack-
son said.
“There were too many
cars other than buses and
University vehicles driving
through for it to remain safe
for the pedestrians.”
Williams adds that they
have plans to build bus shel
ters similar to those on West
Jake Schrickling/The Battalion
The Texas A&M Marching Band’s Bugle
Rank stands at attention during the open
ing of yell practice
All University Night
A&M athletes, leaders enjoy
festivities, band performance
BY MEGAN WRIGHT
The Battalion
All University Night, held last night at
7:30 at Kyle Field, kicked off the 1998 fall
semester with approximately 10,000 peo
ple in attendance.
The introduction of freshmen to Ag
gie spirit, tradition, student leaders, and
fall sports teams was hosted by head
Yell Leader Brandon Neff.
Among those to welcome the Class
Of 2002 was Student Body President
Laurie Nickel.
“It is so wonderful to finally have fresh
men on campus again,” Nickel said.
“I know that you’ve probably heard it
100 times that you are a large class. I hope
you never feel like a number. You are not
a number, you are an Aggie.”
Other speakers included Dr. Ray
Bowen, president of Texas A&M Univer
sity; Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice pres
ident for student affairs; Lynn Hickey, se
nior associate athletic director and Head
Football Coach R.C. Slocum.
Two additional guest speakers in
cluded football team members Dat
Nguyen and Chad Frantzen.
The Aggie Band performed for the
first time on Kyle Field during the
night’s festivities, performing the same
drill performed during Monday night’s
Kickoff Classic in New Jersey against
Florida State.
Neff said he felt the night was a sucess
in bringing together different parts of the
university.
“It made you proud to be an Aggie,”
Neff said. “You saw everybody working
together, doing the yells.
“You saw all these people, from dif
ferent factions of campus from dorms
to the Corps to sororites, come out
and support one thing, and that is
Texas A&M.”
Josh Pinter, a senior industrial distri
bution major and member of the Corps
of Cadets, said All-U Night was succes-
ful for the freshmen in his outfit.
“It is all about giving the freshmen
class a sense of unity and a place at
A&M,” Pinter said.
All-U Night also brought to light a
Jake Schrickling/The Battalion
Senior yell leaders Sam Bluntzer and
Pat Patillo and junior yell leaders John
Bloss and Jeff Bailey listen to Laurie
Nickel’s speech at All University Night.
new tradition for Aggieland.
This year for the Nebraska game. Ag
gies will be participating in the first an
nual “Maroon Out” on October 11.
“Normally, when Nebraska comes
to A&M, they bring a lot of support
with them and you see a lot of red
shirts in the stands,” Neff said.
“This year we want to get a lot of
support and have a sea of maroon
shirts in the student section.”
Additional information and t-shirts
will be made available soon by the
Class Councils.