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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1998)
A2322 5 S 8 : Sept. - OF MENT ihana marks a newal, start of \> Year. E, PAGE 3 CHECK OUT THE BATTALION FRIDAY September 18, 1998 Issue 16 • 8 pages A&M Foundation builds new home freshman class of 7,355 ;h retention rate of upper f>, a total of 43,399 are at- &M. m thcMs: irollrlent figures indicate ise in the number of His- African-American students year, as well as a jump of k _ -73 transfer students. vl^ 6 hi 6 her registrations of nerican and Hispanic stu- lim ^ ^ welcome, A&M officials 5 figures are still below the r : ,,. 290 African-American stu- l994 and 891 Hispanic stu- rolled in 1995 before the 1 decision barred race-relat- ;sions and financial aid. n reed couple « i s over tickets ' l, ' i irmer Texas A&M students ' ved that a messy divorce onlv pi could affect getting a seat tup football games. I jto mi 92, an unidentified couple work 3d Texas A&M with a tutioiu ) endowment and in turn re- \ win our Aggie football season ms pres or life, HolYWiatt, directofoT ' his par' and the University Police mJ 0 lent, said. nired in said the couple divorced in nship .i nd the divorce decree men- ithing about the tickets; there- tickets remained a joint claim the man and the woman. •f f nan, who now lives in Bren- | t/]pressed a desire to acquire J- ^ seats this season. Wiatt >rder for that to happen, he a inazi ; h er have a court order or a ind fur gned by his ex-wife, a resi- ivers re Houston, saying she does H'irglt t the tickets, is nows er, supposedly from the ex- , physiu s sent, but she later called nd. TT i Man Foundation and said Line ere not write the letter. ■r its pi; and the University Police ; the coi nent are investigating as to :learance - or not the case is one of ding. However, he said the case is gators • £h priority to the department 10 conclLme because the case is still Initarel nvestigation, and the out- ossibilitj as not yet been determined, m relate not a high priority because ctrical w lot been awarded by the 12th undation the tickets,” Wiatt 'he only significance is that ■ —^er would constitute forgery.” Oh a Phi Alpha ^.sfs Alphapalooza ia Phi Alpha and MSC Town il sponsor Alphapalooza ’98 a rYl( ayat7:36 P' 171 ' a1: Rucicler Au - ill'Ti. The concert will feature DeBarge and an after party imnlfQW at G. Rollie White Colise- le cost is $15 in advance, at the door. BY LESLIE STEBBINS The Battalion The Class of 2002 class council and senate election meeting was held last night to address campaign issues and regulations. The election commission in formed the freshman on how to run a campaign without receiv ing a fine or being removed from the ballot. Student Body President Laurie Nickel delivered a welcome speech in which she encouraged all of the potential candidates to have a good time while campaigning. “This is a chance to prove your self as an individual,” Nickel said, “and it is not about the position you get elected to, but the relations you made along the way. ” Candidates were informed of the budgetary restrictions, rules, fines and campaign procedures. The freshman class president candidates are allowed a maxi mum budget of $250 and the can didates for the other positions can spend up to $100. Every expenditure is to be pfoperfy recorded according to Engineers develop pigs with less fat BY AMY CURTIS The Battalion New genetic research presents the possibility of pigs with more muscle and less fat. Jorge Piedrahita, associate profes sor of veterinary medicine, said the genetically engineered pigs will have 15 to 20 percent more muscle with less fat in it. Pigs with the genetic alteration will require the same amount of feed as they eat now, but will grow more muscle. This will result in a lower choles terol pork which will be beneficial to both consumers and farmers be cause the pigs will produce more meat with the same amount of feed. Piedrahita said the protein that regulates muscle growth, GDF8, has been isolated to a certain gene. With the removal of that gene, the pigs grow more muscle on the same amount of feed and care. Piedrahita said the project with GDF8 started four years ago at Johns Hopkins University. Re searchers at Johns Hopkins devel oped technology to discover new types of genes. see Pigs on Page 2. the election commission guide lines. If a candidate exceeds the budget he or she will be removed from the ballot. Some changes were made from last semester’s regulations by the Student Senate. The use of sandwich boards is no longer allowed and no off-cam pus campaigning is permitted. Alice Gonzalez, director of pro grams for the election commission and a senior agriculture develop ment major, said people might steal the sandwich boards and can didates would lose the investments they made in the sandwich boards. Oh campus door-to-door cam paigning will be allowed, but each hall will be open to candidates for only one night from 7-9 p.m. Each hall has a designated evening when candidates can legally campaign. Candidates will be fined if they are caught campaigning in a resi dence hall after the designated date and time. Candidates have until midnight of Sept. 28 to campaign, and the elections will be held on Sept. 29 and 30from 9 a.ffirt»*5*p ! .m<' ” BY AMY CURTIS The Battalion Construction on a new Texas A&M Foundation building, the Jon L. Hagler Center, is underway and should be completed by fall 1999. The building will be located at the corner of Houston Street and George Bush Drive, across the street from the Clayton Williams Alumni Center. Rose Ann Thomas, manager of communications for the Texas A&M Foundation, said the building is being constructed to accommo date the growing number of staff and fund-raising functions of the Foundation. “We need a facility that can ac commodate the higher level of fundraising at Texas A&M,” Thomas said. Thomas said the construction, which began in April, is ahead of schedule and is expected to be fin ished in early fall of 1999. The building is being funded by private donors and endowments. Thomas said fundraising took a major step forward between 1990 and 1996, when the Foundation re ceived more than $637 million in gifts and pledges. Thomas said with the increas ing enrollment, the Foundation needs to have the facilities to aci__ *■' ;a#nmodate the growing nu’mj^gr JAKE SCHRICKLING/The Battalion The Jon L. Hagler Center, new home of the Texas A&M Foundation, is expected to be completed in Fall, 1999. of students, faculty and donors. Thomas said the architect of the building, HKS Inc. of Dallas, took into account two things when planning the building: the place ment of the trees at the site and cre ating a reflection of the Clayton Williams Alumni Center located across the street from the site. Thomas said the building is named in honor of Foundation trustee Jon Hagler, Class of ’58 and co-chair of Vision 2020. Thomas said the building is de signed with a curving entry hall called the. Donor Hall where names of donprg and University associates — including corporations, individ uals and organizations — that have given at least $100,000 will have his name engraved on the wall. The curving hall is lined with 74 pillars. Any individual or group giving more than $50,000 to the construction will have their name carved onto a pillar. Thomas said the Foundation staff themselves are funding a pillar. Suzy Keller, assistant to the ex ecutive director of the Associa tion of Former Students, said the construction has not created more traffic than usual on George Bush Drive. Lord of the rings JAKE SCHRICKLING/The Battalion Nathan Foreman, a senior sports management major, picks up his Aggie ring at the Clayton Williams Alumni Center Thursday morning. Today is the last day to order Aggie rings. Hughes med program denies grant renewal BY AMY CURTIS The Battalion The Howard Hughes Medical Institute program at A&M will con tinue despite the lack of external funding. The HHMI is a philanthropic foundation designed to help im prove the quality and pool of stu dents that will go into graduate studies in the medical sciences. Edward Funkhouser, professor of biochemistry and biophysics and the associate director of the Office of Honors Programs and Academic Scholarships, said the institute is a nationwide foundation that gives grants to universities across the country. A&M applied for and received a four-year grant from the HHMI in 1994. “Each two years they invite about 100 to 110 universities to ap ply,” Funkhouser said. Funkhouser said A&M applied for a grant renewal in the spring and received an answer to its ap plication after it was prepared for the fall. Funds saved from the previous grant were set aside to finance the Fall 1998 semester and 33 more freshmen were invited into the program. Funkhouser does not know why A&M’s application for another grant was rejected because the HHMI does not release that information. A&M will reapply if invited by the HHMI in 2000. Dr. Susanna Finnell, executive director of the Office of Honors Pro grams and Academic Scholarships, said students that were in the pro gram last term and those in it this term are encouraged to continue those studies. She said although the funding has stopped, there is still access to labs and materials, so students can continue their research experience. Finnell said there will not be funds to pay the student workers in the program or provide research funding after this semester. Funkhouser said the program is a research program for undergrad uates. It includes two sets of ac credited courses. For the freshmen and sopho mores, the classes comprise the the ories of research. For juniors and se niors, there are research courses. The grant money also was used for improving teaching labs and providing summer research op portunities, as well as funding ju nior and senior researchers and freshmen and sophomore student workers. ckel wants to be recognized for leadership skills, not just for being a woman -formal nan Aft 1 = miles' 11 J)r. to"!" DO at lli (l under ^ restaiilF -esentA! Aggies c “' ■d siblitj <r, of pi^ m (HkoW BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion Nickel, a senior business analysis ma- s/intoi"serving as student body president at ■@ 8-L' A&M. I @ f- BY MEREDITH RIGHT The Battalion When Laurie Nickel, student body president, was giving a tour of campus her sophomore year, she was asked for the first time about the potential for women to succeed at Texas A&M. “The woman said, T want my daughter to be a leader. I don’t know if that oppor tunity exists here at Texas A&M.’ When she asked that, it blew my mind,” Nickel said. As a tour guide, she was trained to an swer the question in a way that repre sented all of campus. “I really think I’ve had an exceptional experience. When I was a freshman, Brooke Leslie was student body presi dent. I was in the Fish Aides program, so I was able to work with her through stu dent government. Immediately my per ception was men and women are treated the same,” ‘she said. “My parents had three daughters and a son. They treated us all the same. A&M was the same type of experience,” she said. Over the past four years at A&M, Nick el has been a Fish Camp Co-Chair, an Ag gie Wrangler and director of the Fall Lead ership Conference. She also was vice-president of student government, an assistant to the student body president and served on the Student Government Association Executive Coun cil for three years. She also was the chair of the Student Leader Advisory Board. Her role as student body president is one of great responsibility. “I want to do a good job so people can see that a woman can successfully fill a leadership role,” she said. There are already candidates for next year’s student body president, and some are female. “Vote for the best candidate. All of them have worked hard and worked steadily,” Nickel said. Nickel said she has seen men and women apply for positions in organiza tions, and and the best person is usual ly appointed. She said that in her position as student body president, she often walks into meetings where she is the only female. “They are gentlemen, and treat me like a lady. They also treat me as a student body president, not as a woman student body president,” she said. As far as what she would like to see im proved, Nickel said she hopes that it is al ways the point of the leader and what they stand for, not their sex.