The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 15, 1998, Image 1

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THE BATTALION
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THURSDAY
October 15, 1998
Volume 105 • Issue 35 • 12 Pages
- ''
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
9isa incident leads to grode reexamination Heritage Month wraps
up with unity raliv
BY AMANDA STIRPE
The Battalion
ker a Sbisa Dining Hall inci-
Ihat ended in property dam-
md prompted numerous Food
Ices Department meetings to
fnine the future of “grode
the Residence Hall Associa-
fcresented a bill Wednesday
[topromote “responsible and
tte use of grode yells on and
Impus.”
lode yells are yells created by
residence hall to promote uni-
[hin the residence hall.
Friday, Oct. 9, approxi-
pey 300 people attempted to
I Sbisa and hold a sponta-
;yell practice. Sbisa officials
refused to allow the group to en
ter. A University Police Depart
ment report stated that four pot
ted plants outside the facility were
destroyed in retaliation.
ovo
Caton Brown, vice president
for programs and presenter of the
bill, said grode yells do not pro
mote unity.
orthgate issue inspires
ans for forum, vigil
BY JOE SCHUMACHER
The Battalion
comi^erseveral meetings about the
Its in Northgate, the External
s Committee of the Student
themdiscussed plans for action to
the violence.
ns- ?meeting, held Thesday, was
ced. Bled by various Student Gov-
dadd»nt Association officials, the
DaytoBiistration, international clubs
; Bos'«ie community.
) potcJorufn to give students the op-
pity to share their experiences
rthgate is tentatively planned
ie end of the month,
aliese Reinemeyer, president of
paduate Student Council and a
alscience graduate student, said
i : %um will require understanding
[the speakers and the audience,
he students that speak will
| to have courage to tell their
s, and the listeners will have
Jve the courage to listen and not
|efensive,” Reinemeyer said,
ficer Paul Price of the College
Police Department told the
(littee improved sidewalks and
ng, new bike lanes and
ed streets are all on the Col-
itation City Council’s agenda,
vid Kessler, a member of the
nt Action Committee and a
rhistory major, said there is a
lelight vigil scheduled for next
■shay in the Northgate area. He
'een working with various s.tu-
organizations to coordinate
jvent.
iVe feel strongly that this (the re-
[assaults) should not happen,”
ersaid. “We are trying to make
l m , K
jynor f; p
1
the community aware of this issue,
and that it will not be tolerated.”
Another plan of action is an out
reach program being organized by
the International Student Associa
tion. The plan would introduce the
students’ cultures to the community
by going into schools and business
es and presenting information about
their cultures in a show-and-tell style.
“The goal of the outreach pro
gram is to educate the community
and students about international cul
tures by bringing the cultures to
them,” Tatsuki Ohashi, president of
the ISA and a senior international
studies and history major, said. “This
will create a mutual understanding
between different cultures. ”
Ben Armenta, vice president of
Minority Affairs and a sophomore
elementary education major, said
he plans to work with ISA to coor
dinate events throughout the cam
pus and the community.
• “To be culturally competent,
one must be culturally aware, and
that starts with education,” he said.
Another issue mentioned was
friction between merchants and stu
dents. Ohashi, Reinemeyer and
Amy Magee, speaker of the Student
Senate and a senior psychology ma
jor, met with members of the com
munity as well as business owners
Tuesday to gain a better under
standing of each other’s viewpoints.
“Most of the problems stem from
miscommunication,” Reinemeyer
said. “This created a misunderstand
ing where both parties went away
mad when neither meant offense.”
see Northgate on Page 2.
“Grode yells have the ability to
divide and ostracize,” Brown
said. “We’re not here to tell you
to do anything, just discuss it
with your halls.”
The bill states, “Grode yells do
promote unity within the halls,
but not within the entire Aggie
community, nor do they present a
positive representation of Texas
A&M University.”
The Aggie Bonfire redpots sent a
letter asking halls to minimize the
use of profanity. If profanity is used
in a yell, it could result in a loss of
Bonfire privileges for the hall.
In other business, Amanda
Allbritton, vice president for oper
ations, said the cable TV commit
tee will host a cookout Friday, Oct.
16 at 5 p.m. at the sand volleyball
courts behind FHK complex to dis
cuss the proposal and gather in
formation from attendants about
what kind of programming stu
dents are interested in broadcast
ing on the channel.
Campus Relations will host a
winter food and clothing drive be
ginning midnight Sunday, Nov. 15
and ending midnight Monday, Nov.
16. The drive will gather donations
at Sbisa, the Commons, MSC,
Wehner Building and the Reed
Building. The event will be marked
with the lighting of the trees for the
Winter in Aggieland program,
which was inaugurated last year.
see RHA on Page 2.
An axe to grind
ERIC NEWNAMAThe Battalion
Bruce Unger, a Moore Hall “Frick Pot” and a sophomore psy
chology major, sharpens an axe in preparation for Bonfire cut.
NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
The Unity Rally and March will
be held today to mark the conclu
sion of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Ta Mere, an Austin-based band
which performs a variety of music,
ranging from salsa to samba, will kick
off the event in the Rudder Fountain
area at 4:30 p.m. The march will be
gin at 4:45 p.m. at the comer of Hous
ton Street and George Bush Drive and
end at Rudder Fountain.
Yvette Urteaga, president of the
Hispanic Presidents’ Council, said
many of the Hispanic organizations
will participate, but the event is
open to all.
At 5:30 p.m., Maria Antoinetta
Berriozabal will give a speech “Cul
ture: The Soul of Leadership.”
Berriozabal is a founding member
of the National Hispana Leadership
Institute in Washington, D.C. Fol
lowing the speech, there will be a
performance by Ballet Fplklorico
Celestial and another performance
by Ta Mere.
Urteaga said Hispanic Her
itage Month’s goals to promote
awareness and cultural unity
were achieved.
“This year, we had a great
turnout to all the events,” Urtea
ga said. “I feel that one of the best
parts of it were Fiesta Week, and
the Fiesta Buffet at the conclusion
of Fiesta Week because we really
got our name out there by pass
ing out buttons about Hispanic
Heritage Month and just being
very visible.”
Jason Santos, vice president of
the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity
and a sophomore aerospace engi
neering major, said the march and
rally will be an opportunity to
bring people from different back
grounds together and to reflect on
the meaning and the events of His
panic Heritage Month.
“Through the unity rally and
march it will be neat to see the
hearts that have been touched and
the number of lives that have been
reached through Hispanic Heritage
Month,” Santos said.
Urteaga said each year the num
bers participating in Hispanic Her
itage Month grows, and they want
to see that number keep growing at
all events.
Brown bag lunch tackles
issue of campus violence
BY JOE SCHUMACHER
The Battalion
Kristin Harper, associate director
of the Department of Student Life,
will be speaking about violence on
campus at a brown bag lunch fo
rum today in 306 YMCA Building.
Issues to be addressed include
sexual assault, relationship vio
lence, domestic violence and vic
tims’ rights. The forum will con
clude with a discussion and a
question-and-answer session.
Isai Gopalakrishman, president of
Aggies Working for A Rape-Free En
vironment and a junior biology ma
jor, said topics such as domestic and
relationship violence do not receive
much coverage because they can
make people feel uncomfortable, and
this forum is a chance for students to
express their feelings on the subject.
“By attending, students are be
coming aware of this issue,”
Gopalakrishman said. “In addition,
it is a chance for students to voice
concerns that they have. ”
Harper said the brown bag
lunch forum is relaxed and is not
something people have to sign up
for ahead of time.
Nancy Tubbs of Gender Issues
Education Services (GIES) said she
hopes the forum will be eye-open
ing to students.
“Students who come will in
crease their awareness of the kind
of sexual violence that occurs,” she
said.
Ttibbs said students who attend
the forum will set the agenda and de
termine the topic of discussion.
The brown bag lunch program
is coordinated by GIES and
Women’s Studies.
bnference brings women engineers Hate mail applauds attack on Wyoming man
nnual Women
engineering
nference offers
on how to
e the transition
m the classroom
he workplace.
BY AMY CURTIS
The Battalion
e Fourth Annual Women
gineering Conference will
[■eld Friday and Saturday,
panelists and speak-
■epresenting 65 engineer-
corporations offering ad-
;to students.
tiday’s events begin with
finer at 6 p.m. on the sec-
floor of Rudder Tower;
'day’s events begin at 9
and end at 4 p.m.
an Rinehart, associate di-
tor of Student Engineering
Programs, said the focus of Fri
day night’s dinner is mentor
ing. Cindy Creeden will speak
at the dinner about mentoring
relationships.
Rinehart said the conference
is about professional develop
ment for both men and women.
She said the panelists and
speakers bring real-world in
sight to the conference. Rine
hart said some of the panelist
discussions will be about cor
porate culture, the transition
from college to corporate life
and graduate degrees.
Rinehart said the confer
ence will match female engi
neering students with female
corporate engineers as part of
the Mentors for Aggie Proteges
program. She said 75 mentors
will be present.
“We have working engi
neers coming back to campus
to share experiences and in
formation about being an en
gineer with the students,”
Rinehart said.
She said 100 engineers will
be present, 80 of whom are
former students.
Rinehart said students inter
ested in the conference can reg
ister at the dinner Friday. She
said the nine companies spon
soring the conference are Brown
& Root & Halliburton, Boeing,
Compaq, Dupont/Conoco, En
tergy, Schlumberger, Texaco,
Union Carbide and Vastar.
Jaime Folkert, a member of
the planning committee, said
the conference is a venue
where female engineers can
form relationships with corpo
rate representatives. Students
can learn things about the
businesses through the work
shops offered, including one
titled, “Things I Wish People
had Told Me. ”
Folkert said the conference
is open to all students. Regis
tration is $10.
Folkert said although the
conference is designed for
women, men also can benefit
from the workshop.
“There are a lot of things a
male can get out of it, too,”
Folkert said.
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Even as
outrage grows over the fatal beating of
gay student Matthew Shepard, author
ities are wrestling with new hate mes
sages aimed at homosexuals. One such
missive even applauded his death.
Shepard was found a week ago and
died Monday at a hospital in Fort
Collins, Colo., where police were in-,
vestigating both an offensive parade
float and a violently worded e-mail mes
sage sent to two gay groups after his
death. It closed with the words, “I hope
it happens more often.”
The message was discovered by
Brenda Hervey, executive director of the
Rainbow Chorus, a choir made up of
gay and heterosexual performers. Mem
bers of the Lambda Community Center
received the same e-mail.
Hervey initially thought the e-mail
was intended to inform her of Shep
ard’s death.
‘‘When I clicked to open the message
and began reading, I was just sickened,”
she said Tuesday.
Shepard was pistol-whipped and
lashed to a fence post outside Laramie
for 18 hours in near-freezing tempera
tures, authorities say. The 21-year-old
University of Wyoming student died af
ter five days in a coma.
Police say robbery was the main mo
tive, but Shepard’s attackers apparent
ly chose him partly because he was gay.
His assailants, apparently lured him
from a campus bar, attacked him and
left him hanging like a scarecrow.
“When I clicked to
open the message
and began reading, I
was just sickened/'
— Brenda Hervey
Executive director, Rainbow Chorus
Charges against Russell Arthur Hen
derson, 21, and Aaron James McKinney,
22, include first-degree murder, aggravat
ed robbery and kidnapping with intent to
inflict bodily injury or terrorize the victim.
Prosecutors haven’t said whether they
will seek the death penalty.
The killing has drawn nationwide at
tention, including President Clinton’s
call for Congress to pass legislation
making it easier for federal prosecution
of hate crimes.
Albany County sheriff’s Lt. Rob De-
Bree, lead investigator in the case, said he
and other local officers have no legal guid
ance on what constitutes a hate crime.
“I wish somebody could give us a
true definition of what they consider to
be a hate crime,” DeBree said.
The push for hate crimes laws fol
lowing Shepard’s killing is likely to
draw out people with strong anti-gay
feelings, experts say.
‘‘No one will say, T hate these peo
ple,’ but it serves to confirm homopho
bic sentiments (exist),” said Valerie Jen-
ness, professor of sociology at University
of California, Irvine, and author of the
book Hate Crimes: New Social Move
ments and the Politics of Violence.
Fort Collins police were trying to find
out how a scarecrow mocking homo
sexuals appeared in a Colorado State
University homecoming parade float
Saturday. The university said 11 students
were scheduled for disciplinary hearings
next week.
Wyoming officials were bracing for the
arrival of members of a Topeka, Kan.,
church who plan to carry anti-gay pickets
at Shepard’s funeral in Casper on Friday.