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2000 will it:
:ra.Thedoon’ African-American Texas A&M
n at 8p.m. graduates will gather on campus
in advance; this weekend for the sixth Former
Slack Students Reunion.
B'elicia Scott, interim director for
• '.he Department of Multicultural
iscariftmces. said the main purposes
of the conference are to reignite
apared to 2: friendships formed in college and
ikers. xyio get the participants more in
terviews, onl\ solved in University issues,
nen who mi;: Robert Bisor, campus liaison to
p cocaine,ani ; he president’s former student ad-
nitted smi - committee on black issues,
researchers 3a ^ participants will attend
0 fj S0 | at|I1 p t presentations concerning current
. . 0 tlni\ ersity issues,
nd cocaine e n “
FRIDAY
Februray 5, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 86 • 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
aggielife
• Recent boom in the use
of natural herbs raises
questions as to proper use
and effectiveness.
RAGE 3
today’s issue
Toons 2
Opinion 7
Monday’s issue
Is the Texas Legislature aware of
the problem's with the 170-hour
cap rule instituted last summer?
sports
• Aggie softball and
baseball teams kick off
their respective seasons
in weekend matches.
PAGES
Black student
reunion
tc
campus
BY NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
gisor said Bill Perry, executive
associate provost, will discuss the
Hopwood ruling along with proce-
Jantes Mills,i
ute of Child Hi
velopment. j ures f or students to obtain Uni
link between </ ei |ity scholarships during one of
scarriage wjs the workshops,
ive. Mills wroi|w/alter Wendler, executive as-
lying editorial sjsfant to the president will discuss
he '/ision 2020.
git is our notion that former
Ifrit an-American students are just
scemcerned with present Univer-
ity issues as the current stu-
lents,” he said.
|f Wendler said he wants to up-
late the participants on the Vision
;020 plans.
* I We want to review the findings
/ tep by step that are important to
r late for Vision 2020,” he said.
Bvendler said part of his pre-
entation will focus on diversity.
■^Diversity is such an important
|l|ssle to this campus,” he said.
liWe do not only want to focus on
diversity from the race and ethnic-
tylaspect; we need to also focus
n aspects, such as population dis-
iribution, because we really need
o have better representation.”
Sonia Ellis Taylor, Class of ’79
nd vice president of Inroads Mid-
tlantic, will be the keynote speak-
at a banquet Saturday.
Leslie Montgomery, Class of ’94
aid the reunion will celebrate the
0th anniversary of the Black
.wareness Committee.
Miss Greek accepts crown
MIKE FUENTES//The Battalion
Karen Petty(left), a junior biomedical engineering major representing Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, was crowned Miss
Greek A&M at last night’s pageant sponsored by Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.
Representatives from 12 sororities competed in the ceremony, emceed by Jimmie “JJ” Walker from the television
show “Good Times.” Pageant contestants were judged based on a formal wear competition and a question-and-an-
swer session.
Laurie Nickel, student body president, Tase Bailey, corps commandant and Stephanie Presley, a former model who
participated in the Miss Texas 1983 pageant, judged the contestants.
Prison chaplain
denounces
death penalty
BY SAMEH FAHMY
The Battalion
A former chaplain for the
Huntsville prison who
counseled inmates in their
final hours of life, said in a
speech the death penalty is
a form of revenge that does
not deter crime or provide
closure to victims’ families.
The Rev. Carol Pickett
spoke to 70 people Thurs
day night at Friends Con
gregational Church as part
of an awareness-promoting
forum sponsored by the
Just Peace Institute.
Pickett said an alterna
tive to the death penalty is
life in prison without pa
role.
The Rev. John Gallagher,
professor of moral theology
at the University of St.
Thomas in Houston, said
the death penalty symbol
izes the cheapening of life
and takes away the oppor
tunity to reform the con
demned.
Dr. Daniel B. McGee, pro
fessor of religion at Baylor
University, said citizens
need to learn how to over
come their need for revenge
and bring about restorative
justice.
McGee said nothing is
gained by executing people
who cannot be reformed.
“I think there are so
ciopaths and psychopaths
that must be put away,” he
said, “but I don’t think
we’re making any headway
by killing them.”
Pickett said he favored
the death penalty after two
of his congregation mem
bers were murdered, but he
changed his mind when he
witnessed an execution.
“These are people, hu
man beings like you and
me,” he said, “except they
might have made a mis
take. ”
ALOT freshmen utilize leadership skills, host SLOT conference
•College Freshmen
prepare high school
seniors for leadership
environment at college
BY JASON SCHNEIDER
The Battalion
High school seniors will be in
troduced to a college leadership
environment this weekend in a
conference sponsored by Aggie
Leaders of Tomorrow (ALOT).
Valarie Glassel, director of
ALOT and a senior speech com
munications major, said the Stu
dent Leaders of Tomorrow
(SLOT) conference will be led by
trained A&M freshmen.
“This conference is not just
for the [high school] seniors,”
Glassel said. “The freshmen
spent the last semester learning
leadership skills, and now is their
chance to utilize those skills.
“This is an awesome opportu
nity for high school seniors to
come on campus and interact
with freshmen who were recent
ly in their position.”
Jeremy Hawpe, SLOT external
promotions director and a sopho
more political science major, said
150 high school seniors from
throughout Texas will arrive at
A&M today.
They will tour the campus, vis
it the George Bush Presidential
Library, eat at Hullabaloo! Food
Court and experience dorm life.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice
president for student affairs, will
welcome the participants.
A series of round-table discus
sions covering time manage
ment, goal setting and group
communication will follow his
introduction.
There will be three tables,
“Grooving with the Group,”
“Racing the Clock” and “Making
Choices,” facilitated by two
freshman ALOT members.
“Grooving with the Group” will
focus on communication tactics
and dealing with diversity.
“Racing the Clock” will ad
dress time management and
“Making Choices” poses ques
tions to students concerning dat
ing, cheating, lying and others.
Other speakers will include
Dr. John Hoyle, a professor in the
Department of Education, and a
keynote address by Lynn Hickey,
associate athletic director.
“This program is unique be
cause we bring students here to
allow them to get the feel of
A&M,” Kevin Jackson, senior as
sistant director of the MSC, said.
“Students leave with a good un
derstanding of what makes Texas
A&M University a special place.”
“The main objective for SLOT
is to focus on the seniors and be
a positive representation,” Am
ber Whatley, an ALOT member
and a freshman business major,
said. “I am honored to be a part
of something that reflects the
University. ”
Last year 260 seniors visited
A&M from the conference and
150 high school students will take
part in this weekend’s program.
AMAC conference
encourages awareness
/oufl
;eim.
RBOO
/EEN
BY NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
Latino high school and college dele-
;ates will discuss their future during a
:onference over the weekend sponsored
)y the Committee for the Awareness of
Mexican-American Cultures (CAMAC).
■ The 12th Annual Southwest Student
Conference, will attract 400 students to its
vorkshops and sessions.
’ Workshops and presentation topics at
he conference include bilingual educa-
ion, Latino members of Greek letter or-
;anizations and White House policies.
D.J. Flores, conference director for CA-
MAC and a senior accounting major, said
me of the main goals of the conference is
o spread knowledge about Latinos.
“We want to educate the community at
arge about issues facing Latinos,” he
;aid.
Flores said many people do not realize
he shift in demographics will cause Lati-
ios to be the largest minority in the coun
ty in the next millennium.
( “One of the things, which we are try-
ng to cover, in this conference is this shift
n demographics and how it is going to af-
ect all facets of society,” he said.
: ’’Angle Castro, advisor to CAMAC, said
mother goal of the conference is to show
teople A&M is a friendly and accepting
campus.
“Many of the students who are in high
school or are college students planning to
transfer will sometimes be a little appre
hensive about coming to A&M because
they don’t see a large minority popula
tion, so we just want to put A&M in a pos
itive light,” she said.
Flores said new topics are being intro
duced at this year’s conference.
“We wanted to put a new twist on
things because we thought topics like af
firmative action and Hopwood are getting
old,” he said.
One of the new topics, “Latinos: Is
There a Common Ground,” will be pre
sented by Dr. Maria-Cristina Garcia, a for
mer history professor at A&M.
Javier Valdes, speaker coordinator for
the conference and a senior environmen
tal design/international studies major,
said the issue focuses on the social and
political differences between Latinos due
to different backgrounds.
“Dr. Garcia will speak about how we
need to find some common ground be
tween us so we can all fight together as
one collective Latino community,” he
said.
The conference will open with keynote
speaker Lt. Col. (Ret) Consuelo Castillo-
Kickbush, the highest-ranking female in
the U.S. Army and in the military.
Conference m
Workshops
>NAFTA:Future projectio
•Bilingual education
►Washington & Latinos
►Shifting demographics
►Art of marketing onesel
►Higher education
►Machismo
»Pocho
In conjunction with the conference,
the six Latino Greek organizations will
hold a Unity Jam Blowout in Bryan to
raise money for the Twin City Mission.
Albert Mares, corresponding secretary
for Omega Delta Phi, said he expects to
raise $3,000.
“We really don’t want to focus that
much on the party, but more on the as
pect of Latinos giving back to the com
munity,” he said.
Students who have not yet registered
to attend the conference may register on
site.
Animal Rights Debate looks
philosophically at ethics issues
BY EMILY R. SNOOKS
The Battalion
Dr. Tom Regan, a philosophy profes
sor at North Carolina University, will ad
dress animal rights from a philosophical
point of view today at 2 p.m. in Blocker
114.
The Texas A&M Department of Phi
losophy and the Center for Science and
Technology Policy and Ethics are co
sponsoring “Animal Rights Debate.”
Dr. Tom Regan, a pioneer of philo
sophical reflection on the moral status of
animals, was among the first to be pub
lished on this topic in professional phi
losophy journals.
Regan said he wants students to
know about the moral aspects of non
human animal rights, a viewpoint they
do not hear about often.
“Having rights means different things
to different people,” he said. “1 plan to
discuss three major philosophical posi
tions of the moral distinction between
humans and other things. First, do only
humans matter morally? Second, do
only beings having sensation ability
matter morally and then a combination
of the two asking if animals have these
rights?” he said.
Dr. Gary Varner, associate professor
of philosophy who specializes in envi
ronmental ethics and animal rights, said
Regan was not asked to speak as an ad
vocate of animal rights at the presenta
tion.
“He is not here to drum up support
for the troops in the streets,” he said.
“He is coming to give a talk on the
philosophical issues of animal rights; it
will be more exploratory than advoca
cy.”
Varner said Regan will discuss the
philosophical side of animal rights is
sues as a topic new to A&M.
“I’m glad to have Regan coming to
campus because I’ve been concerned
that some of the talks on this subject that
I’ve seen here have been generally dis
missive of the underlying philosophical
issues,” he said.
Dr. Susanna Priest, journalism pro
fessor and a faculty member from the
Center for Science and Technology Pol
icy and Ethics, said the center has no
definite stance on the animal rights is
sue, but a common belief is that every
one in science should be familiar with
all sides of the issue.
“Our central mission is to remind the
scientific community that there are a lot
of issues in research that have a great
social impact,” she said. “Whether sci
entists are in genetic engineering, cos
mology or agriculture it is their obliga
tion to consider public opinion on issues
like animal rights.”