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Texas AW :.',
College fe ;
77T
WEDNESDAY
February 24 y 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 99 • 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
sports
• After slow start, Aggie
baseball team battles to
a 7-3 victory over the
Sam Houston Bearcats.
PAGE 4
today’s issue
Toons 2
Texas Film Festival 4
Thursday’s issue
Controversy surrounding purple
teletubbie reflects society s views
on homosexuality.
opinion
• Garfish: Evangelical
Christians and footed’
evolutionsists battle it out
on the road.
PAGE 13
feduate Student Council
ipports bill to waive tuition
I BY SAMEH FAHMY
II The Battalion
Texa A&M Graduate Student
ima has given its support to a
as Bouse of Representatives bill
ign^l io give graduate students
h assistantships tuition waivers
:e tley have completed their
jseu ork.
-loule Rill 315, authored by Rep.
nMaxey, is being considered by
House Committee on Higher
icatlon.
To qualify for an assistantship,
wh|rh graduate students get
d for teaching or research, stu-
its luist be enrolled in nine
irs curing fall and spring se-
sters and six hours in summer
lestps. After they complete
ir coursework, they typically
rk on a thesis or dissertation,
ichpoes not involve structured
irsework.
Anneliese Reinemeyer, presi
dent of Graduate Student Council,
said the existing system places an
unfair burden on students.
“Once you get to the end of your
coursework, you’re paying for class
es you’re not taking,” she said.
“We’re paying tuition so that we can
be employed by the University.”
Reinemeyer said the waiver is es
sential if Texas universities plan to
attract talented graduate students.
Reinemeyer said many universi
ties, including the University of
California at Berkeley, the Univer
sity of Michigan at Ann Arbor and
the University of Wisconsin at
Madison, waive tuition and are
more attractive to prospective grad
uate students.
“Texas universities are just not
competitive,” she said. “They can
not get the best students to come.”
Opponents of the bill have ar
gued that offering tuition waivers
see Graduate on Page 8.
hosts off campus
lousing Fair today
Harrys
gh*
;e discount'
, (6 p’ 111 '" 9 ^
a,,-2:30^'
p.m.)
iw. $^5
46-6H 7
k Eyed PeiO
earlf'
Cd<
BY RACHEL HOLLAND
The Battalion
students will be offered an op-
tunity to get started on next
r’s off-campus housing search
<ay ffom 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in
M$C at the 15th Annual
psinig Fair.
Representatives from 80 apart-
nt complexes in the commu-
' will take part in the Housing
Off-Campus Student Services,
Department of Student Life
I Off-Campus Aggies, all spon-
iSof the Housing Fair, will also
'e information tables.
" acey Forman, assistant coor
ator for Adult, Graduate &
Campus Student Services,
the fair is a convenient way
students to obtain informa-
about off-campus housing
ions
‘The thing that will really ben-
students is that in one stop
can get information on over
ymposium
rovides
iformation
n medical
chool options
BY LISA K. HILL
The Battalion
The! ninth annual Health Profes-
s Symposium provided infonna-
i on medical school acceptance
I medical school options to 800 stu-
1 its Tiiesday.
Simon Harrison, director of ad-
Issiohs at Texas Tech University
alth Science Center School of Phar-
lyjrMd A&M students are at the
of her list for recruiting.
“We find that A&M students are
II prepared for health careers,” she
d. “Last year, among the 66 stu-
its we accepted in our pharmacy
loolj 10 were Aggies.”
Harrison provided students with
armption on the school’s require-
■nts and various entry-level doctor-
jrograms.
K Anne Blum, Executive Council
alth Organizations (ECHO) advis-
said she was pleased with student
80 apartment complexes,” she
said. “They can show up to one
place and compare and contrast
the prices and amenities for all of
the apartments.”
The 1999 Texas A&M Univer
sity Off Campus Living Survival
Manual and information on
roommate referral services will
be available from Off-Campus
Student Services.
“The manual explains how to
go through the housing search,”
Forman said. “It details ameni
ties, like if an apartment is on the
shuttle-bus route, and prices.”
Forman said the manuals will
be available for the first time to
day, but students not attending
the fair can still obtain them
through the the Off Campus Stu
dent Services office.
Kelly Taylor-Cone, leasing
consultant at College Park-The
Enclave, said students should be
gin their housing search early.
see Housing on Page 8.
Bird on the Brain
CARINO CASAS/The Battalion
Di Fontenot, director of the A&M Childern’s Center and Class of ‘88, worked in her office for sev
eral hours with a parakeet on her head. The parakeet was found when it landed on a child’s head
in the playground at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Fontenot said the center will keep the bird as a pet if no
one claims it.
REACH
sponsors
awareness
panel at MSC
BY PING-YA HSU
The Battalion
As part of National Eating Dis
orders Awareness Week, an infor
mation panel and video to inform
students about prevention of eating
disorders will be held tonight at
8:30 in MSC 206.
The panel will include Dr. Mary
Anne Moore, psychologist with the
student counseling services. Dr.
Ann Reed, associate director and
head of clinical services at A.P.
Beutel Health Center, Dr. Jane Co
hen, health education coordinator
and nutrition specialist at the De
partment of Student Health Ser
vices, and a student recovering
from an eating disorder.
“Mirror, Mirror — The Tbuth Be
hind Eating Disorders” is spon
sored by Student Health Services,
Student Counseling Service, Aggie
Representatives Educating About
College Health (REACH) and Stu
dent Dietetic Association.
“There is a deeper underlying
cause of the problem,” Cohen said.
“We want to outreach our students
and educate them that there is a
team approach to treatment. Any de
viant way of using food to compen
sate for any psychological condition
can be considered an eating disorder
if it is harmful to the individual.”
Cohen said the two most com
mon eating disorders are anorexia
and bulimia, and 25 percent of col
lege women are affected by bulim
ia. One to two of every 100 teenage
girls is anorexic.
“An important first step in over
coming an eating disorder is to ac
knowledge to yourself that you
have a problem and are in need of
outside help,” Cohen said.
A.P. Beutel Health Center has
physicians who provide physical as
sessment of students suffering from
eating disorders. Other organiza
tions on campus who help students
with eating disorders are the A&M
Mentor Program and Aggie REACH.
Cohen said she hopes the panel
will provide more information
about eating disorders and increase
student awareness.
Student Senate gathers opinions
concerning proposed legislation
Terry Roberson/Thk Battalion
Elizabeth Neugart, a Class of ‘97 medical student, talks to Lyndon
Kurtz, the associate director of Biomedical Science, in the MSC
Flagroom at the ECHO Health Symposuium yesterday.
turnout at the symposium. Sixty-five
medical schools were represented this
year.
“We had a steady flow of students
all day,” she said. “Students were ex
cited at the number of schools and the
amount of information we made
available to them. ”
Blum said among the participants,
several former students attended to
advise students. Fourteen former
Texas A&M students represented the
University of Texas at San Antonio-
Medical School and answered ques
tions.
Murali Mamidi, UT medical stu
dent and member of the Class of ‘97,
tried to ease students’ tension.
“I remember how intimidating it
was to come and talk to the deans,”
he said. “It’s a lot easier to talk to for
mer students who have experience
and have been in their position.”
Mamidi said he and the other stu
dents from San Antonio aimed to
make the symposium a comfortable
atmosphere for the students.
Dentistry, pharmacy, pediatrics
and other medical fields were repre
sented at the fair.
Amy Todd, a sophomore biology
major, attended the symposium pur
suing advice on pediatric schools.
“The fair was beneficial,” she said.
“There are options out there that I did
n’t know about and, as a sophomore,
BY MEGAN E. WRIGHT
The Battalion
Students who wish to voice concerns about var
ious issues on campus will have an opportunity
throughout today.
Student Senate is sponsoring Constituency Day
today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with senators at six lo
cations throughout campus.
Amy Magee,Speaker of the Student Senate and
a senior psychology major, said the main focus of
today’s effort will be gathering opinions concern
ing the proposed West Campus parking garage to
assist the senators while they are deliberating a
bill to voice the opinion of the campus.
“Because it is such a pressing issue, we want
the students’ opinions about this because the pro
posed bill is going for the final reading at the next
Student Senate meeting,” Magee said. “We will
take all of the comments we gather into considera
tion, and when we finally present it to the admin
istration, we’ll give them the reactions as well.”
Magee said the event occurs twice a year and
solicits student responses to issues affecting them.
“The purpose of Constituency Day is to reach
out to the constituents and students at A&M,”
Magee said. “In a way it helps educate people, and
we take their opinions down and relay them to the
administration.”
Magee said Constituency Day is typically held
once per semester, but the Senate is trying to
schedule at least two for this semester.
Magee said the format for Constituency Day
was changed last semester to include more loca
tions for better access.
“I think these days are an excellent success,”
Magee said. “We recently moved the format from
one location to six, and we have received a lot bet
ter feedback.”
Senators will be available at:
• MSC
• Richardson Petroleum Engineering
• Zachry Building
• Commons Lobby Area
• Sbisa Dining Hall
• Kleberg Animal & Food Sciences
• Wehner Building
i