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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1999)
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY MONDAY March 1, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 102 • 8 Pages College Station, Texas m aggielife • International week high lights cultural differences, expands awareness about student environment. PAGE 3 today’s issue Toons 2 Opinion 7 Tuesday’s issue Broke college students are better off in long run. Working for wealth instills good work ethics. sports • Texas A&M baseball comes from behind to sweep Oklahoma in weekend series. PAGES Replant gives 300 tress back lo Bryan/College Station area BY SALLIE TURNER The Battalion I The Bryan-College Station community has 300 nt v trees due to the 2,000 students who partici- p<ited in the 9th annual Replant. I Katie Dufour, associate director of Replant and ljunior community health major, said the tradi- tien of Replant started in 1991 as an effort to give [back to the environment. In the past, Replant has Been held at Lake Somerville, but this year the Re- pl nt committee chose to move it to the Bryan- ftllege Station area in an effort to increase par- tripation and satisfaction of the participants. ■ “Students this year have the satisfaction of go- in;; to the tree they planted and saying 'Hey, I planted that tree,’” she said. I Matthew Robbins, Moses Hall crew chief and apeshman business administration major, said the group from Moses Hall came to replant be- fluse they wanted to give back to the environ ment what is taken out during the building of Spitfire. I “We cut down a lot of trees, and [Replant] is a way to replace what we cut down,” he said. “It’s the only Bonfire-related event this semester.” Dan Houchard, Replant Tfee Team Committee member and a senior horticulture major, said the trees planted by Replant in the past have had a low survival rate. He said the low rate is due to their small size and lack of care after Replant is over. “This year the cities of Bryan and College Sta tion have committed to weekly watering of the trees,” he said. “We are hoping for a survival rate of 80 to 90 percent.” The Replant committee is turning its eyes to ward next year. Saturday’s event potted 500 trees that will be planted at future Replant activities. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs, applauded the efforts of the 2,000 participants. “At 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, there are probably many college students doing something else,” he said. Dufour said another aspect of Replant is beau tifying the neighborhoods, schools and parks in the Bryan-College Station community. Sallie Turner/Thu Battalion Kyle Brown, a sophomore general studies ma jor, plants a tree at Bonham park in Bryan. Brown and 20 other Moses hall residents par ticipated in Replant on Saturday. “In a few years, we will be able to come back and see that we not only went to school here, but that we improved the community,” she said. College Station resident found dead in apartment BY SALLIE TURNER The Battalion Brent Svehalk, a 22-year-old Austin resident visiting a friend at Fox Meadows Apartments in College Station, was found dead in the apart ment Sunday morning. Sergeant Bruce Sims of the Col lege Station Police Department said the police department received a 911 call from the apartment residents at 11:04 a.m. They said Svehalk was uncon scious. His friends performed CPR on him until the paramedics arrived to take over life-saving efforts. He was pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace Ervin Cain. “His friends said they were out partying the night before,” Sims said. “He laid on the couch when they got home. When [his room mates] got up in the morning, they found him unconscious.” The cause of death is still unde termined, but Sims said there is a possibility of alcohol relation. Sve- halk’s body is being sent to San An tonio for an autopsy. The police said there is no foul play suspected in the death. Eugene Zdziarski, assistant di rector of the Department of Student Life and a member of the Depart ment of Student Life Critical Re sponse Team, said when an A&M student is involved in an accident, the University Police Department alerts the Critical Response Team, which goes to the scene of the acci dent and counsels anyone involved. “Every person needs to mourn in their own way, and our job is to guide them in the mourning process,” Zdziarski said. “No one thinks this sort of thing will happen to them or their friends.” Largest step show in Texas awards contestants at Olympiad BY APRIL YOUNG The Battalion carino casas/i hk Battalion Members of the A&M chapter of Omega Psi Phi perform their step routine Saturday night during the 10th annu al Greek Olympiad held in Rudder Auditorium. Over 2,500 students watched Delta Sigma Theta and Phi Beta Sigma (both from Prairie View) win first place. BY APRIL YOUNG The Battalion More than 2,500 students and spectators attended the 10th annu al Greek Olympiad, the largest step show in Texas, Saturday at Rudder Auditorium. The step show consisted of 10 acts, each allotted 10 minutes to per form their routines. First- and second-place fraterni ty honors went to Phi Beta Sigma and Kappa Alpha Psi, both from Prairie View A&M University, re spectively. Delta Sigma Theta from Prairie View A&M and Delta Sigma Theta from Texas A&M won first- and sec ond-place sorority honors, respec tively. First-place winners received $1,500, and the second-place prize was $500. Kim King, step-team chair of Delta Sigma Theta at Texas A&M and a sophomore biomedical sci ence major, said although they would have liked to receive first place, they were pleased with sec ond place. “We were not really surprised to receive second place because basi- Performance Winners Fraternity: 1st - Phi Beta Sigma (Prairie View) 2nd - Kappa Alpha Psi (Prairie View) Sorority: 1 st - Delta Sigma Theta (Prairie View) | 2n^^^elta i Si2ma i Thet^^^MU^ B<| _ cally everyone that performed had just [rushed] this semester,” she said. “So we were pretty happy about second place.” King said since Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit organization, the money won will be used to fund scholarships, programs and com munity-service projects. Franklin Williams, coordinator of Greek Olympiad and president of Kappa Alpha Psi, said the theme of the step show, “Dawn of a Nu Era,” signifies how far the show has come. “When we first started Greek Olympiad in 1989, we had quite a problem getting people to come out,” he said. “For the past 3 years now, we have had a sold-out crowd.” Williams said the best part of the show was special guest, “The Gents,” from Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, who per formed during the score tabulation. “We had a chance to give these high-school students a tour of A&M, and they had a chance to ask ques tions concerning financial aid and see Step Show on Page 2. Ceremony celebrates library opening BY SALLIE TURNER The Battalion I Sterling C. Evans Library Annex formally opened Friday with a rib bon-cutting ceremony in the read- png room of the annex. 1 More than 150 people from the Bryan-College Station community, attended the ceremony. President )r. Ray M. Bowen, Student Body president Laurie Nickel and Gradu ate Student Council President An- aeliese Reinemeyer were among the Jniversity dignitaries in attendance. Fred Heath, dean and director of Sterling C. Evans Library, said the annex was designed around the needs of the students. Tt was meant to be a facility diere students would interact with ane another, with the staff and with Dr. Malon Southerland (left), Student Body President Laurie Nickel, William Krumm, Fred Heath and Robert Walker participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the formal opening of the Sterling C. Evans Annex. the technologies that would enable them to engage in research and pro ject development,” he said. “The student leaders worked closely with the library staff to articulate their con stituency’s priorities and concerns.” Reinemeyer said the library is a memorial to past writers and to the future generation of writers. “Each title, each book, each golden leaf represents a piece of the world,” she said. Nickel recounted her experi ences as a campus-tour guide dur ing her speech at the ceremony. “Students never ask me where the library is, but students soon find they will spend more time at the library than at a football game or at the Rec Center,” she said. Heath said the annex is part of the library expansion goals for Texas A&M. Four library-system ex pansions have occurred in the 1990s. In 1994, the West Campus Library opened; in 1997, the Policy Sciences and Economics Library opened and in 1998, the Cushing Memorial Library reopened after being restored. “The official opening of the an nex to Sterling C. Evans Library is a milestone in library develop ment,” he said. ‘Aggies Up All Night’ raises $5,000 for Children’s Miracle Network BY NONI SRIDHARA The Battalion More than $5,000 was raised for the Children’s Mir acle Network (CMN) of the Brazos Valley by participants of Aggies Up All Night. Sarah Elliott, director of Aggies Up All Night and a se nior accounting major, said 40 participants, known as all- nighters, stood for 24 hours, and 200 volunteers helped monitor rest periods and boost morale during the night. The yell leaders, Aggie Wranglers and Freudian Slip were among the entertainers for the night. She said the participants who stood during night could earn “sitting time” either by winning a game or having friends come in and buy “sitting seconds” for them. Charla Dabney, morale director for Aggies Up All Night and a sophomore psychology major, said the main foci of the event were the children and their families. “We are going through 24 hours of pain standing on our feet, but it is nothing compared to what the children go through,” Dabney said. Elliott said there were various organizations partici pating in the event, but Alpha Phi Omega was strongly represented with 20 all-nighters and 100 volunteers. Some of the all-nighters won door prizes during the course of the event including a stay at the Hilton, a stereo and a $1,000 scholarship donated by Kaplan, a program that aids students in preparation for the LSAT and oth er aptitude tests. Carino Casas/The Battalion Sahitya Gadiraju (left), ‘02 biology major, operates the table as Hugo Cordova (right), ‘01 business man agement major, anticipates the results of the spin. Elliott said the participants were full of heart and spirit, which made getting through the night easier. “When you are working so closely with a group of people, you learn not to give up and not to get dis couraged,” she said. “I have had the opportunity to meet with many of the families, and this is one of the main things that makes me want to help again and again.” The proceeds from the fund raiser will be presented to to CMN during their telethon in May.