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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1999)
T-AMU ld TUESDAY March 9, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 108 • 8 Pages College Station, Texas 105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY sports • Texas A&M Baseball, ranked No. 3 nationally, travels to Houston to face the Cougars. PAGES today’s issue CD Reviews 4 DiMaggio remembered 5 Battalion Radio Brazos Valley narcotics agents and Texas Department of Public Safety execute drug search. opinion • Boston College profes sor takes a hypocritical stance by not allowing males in the classroom. PAGE 7 ushes hold informal talk r NCA- be fighi Tiship. nuance a the 12 rica Co al prep ips anc BY EMILY R. SNOOKS The Battalion Former President George ■sh and former first lady ■rbara Bush gave a intimate ini irview last night about tht ir 53 years together thus B at the George Bush Presi- ■ntial Conference Center as Irt of the Distinguished Lec- fte Series. ■ The Bushes, greeted with a handing ovation, were ac- cdmpanied by long-time ■end and former press sdokesperson, Peter Roussel, who served as an informal in- tei 'iewer. ■ The Bushes chose a casu al atmosphere for the discus sion, including living room furniture and their springer spaniel Sadie. They recalled events in cluding their life in Midland in the oil business and George Bush’s 30 years in politics. The Bushes advised stu dents interested in politics to first hold a job in the com munity to gather background in a field outside the political arena. George Bush said he hopes current political conditions and the intrusiveness of the press do not discourage stu dents from getting involved. “Politics is still a noble see Bush on Page 2. MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion George and Barbara Bush speak at an informal discussion Monday night at the George Bush Presidential Library Complex. tOUIMI ointed s | ) runscj d. "Wd win th*- it we j Bush’s home focus of exhibit 'isplay features former president’s Kennebunkport domain Sallie Turner/The Battalion Holmes of Tomball tours the new exhibit at the orge Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Ima BY SALLIE TURNER The Battalion An exhibit featuring former President George Bush’s summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, opened yesterday at the George Bush Presidential Library and Mu seum. The exhibit, assembled in con junction with The Brick Store Mu seum in Kennebunk, will be here through August. Brian Blake, public relations representative for the Bush Presi dential Library and Museum, said the exhibit, “An Anchor to Wind ward: The Maine Connection,” profiles Kennebunkport’s history and the Bush family’s vacation history there. “We wanted to show the vari ety of activities that occurred at Kennebunkport,” he said. “We wanted to show things from state visits to wrestling with the grand- kids on the kitchen floor.” The exhibit is divided into three separate sections. The section in the entry way of the exhibit focus es on the artist community. It in cludes works from Robert Payne, see Exhibit on Page 2. Faculty Senate OKs 60-60-60 Q-drop bill BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion Texas A&M students may be a step closer to receiving an extension on the Q-drop dead line and an additional Q-drop, after the Facul ty Senate voted Monday to support the Stu dent Senate’s 60-60-60 Bill. The 60-60-60 Bill, approved in Fall 1998 by Student Senate, would allow students to drop two classes during their first 60 credit hours at A&M and an additional two classes during their second 60 hours at the University. A second part of the proposal passed by the Faculty Senate, with the support of the Stu dent Senate, would move the Q-drop deadline from the 50th class day to the 60th class day. Aaron Bigbee, a student senator and a ju nior mathematics major, said the 60-60-60 pol icy would give students time to make thought ful academic decisions. He said he hopes for implementation following approval by the ad ministration. “It seems this would make the Q-drop de cision a more informed one for students,” Big bee said. “On the 50th class day, roughly half of a student’s grade is calculated. On the 60th class day, the majority is calculated. I think it’s reasonable to allow students time to deter mine the status of the course.” Prior to the Faculty Senate’s vote to support the 60-60-60 policy, Thomas Strganac, a sen ator for College of Engineering, introduced an amendment allowing one Q-drop during the first 60 hours and another during the second 60 hours. Strganac said reducing the number of al lowed Q-drops from three to two would prompt students to select courses more care fully and take classes more seriously. “It worries me we are allowing students to Q-drop within their first semester,” Strganac said. “The numbers I have seen suggest let’s move these students through more quickly and raise the academic standards for the stu dents.” Opponents of the 60-60-60 proposal argued that increasing the number of Q-drops and ex tending the deadline disadvantages students who cannot afford to take the classes a sec ond time, wastes seats in the classrooms and enhances grade inflation for students repeat ing the course. “The grade replacement policy of other schools is more lenient than that of Texas A&M University/' — Aaron Bigbee Student senator Amy Magee, speaker of the Student Senate and a senior psychology major, said students must use grades to monitor performance in the classroom, and a Q-drop extension could enhance students’ academic performance. “Grades do factor into how we are doing in the classroom,” Magee said. Bigbee said the 60-60-60 proposal gives stu dents who change their majors or experiment with classes increased flexibility. “It’s not entirely uncommon for students to change their majors,” Bigbee said. “The policy is designed to protect students when they get in over their heads. I think we can remain a top university if we open up the policy,” he said. “The grade replacement pol icy of other schools is more lenient than that of Texas A&M University. ” see Faculty on Page 2. ealth, nutrition Imphasis of month 40 m BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion fhe benefits of a well-balanced tet potential dangers of fad diet- Pjg.iiid tips on exercise are among pie lopics the Texas A&M health JlF nJ fitness community will address ^Bng March, nationally recog- izt 1 as Nutrition Month. ^)r. Jane Cohen, assistant health iucation coordina- Mjat A.P. Beutel iellth Center, said hopes students .'atii ways to im- fove eating and ex- ■se habits. ■It is important ) leat quickly as patients, but you ai| still eat tasty,” en said. “It does some plan- but you can ays stick an ap- or a canned bev- ;e in your back- [k.” he Mideast s Dietetic Asso- lion and the Student Dietetic Association have information tables nesday between 10 a.m. and 1 to answer nutrition questions quiz students on nutrition s. Cohen said the table will pro information on nutrition tips, icularly those applicable to ty during spring break, ohen said people can take Ithier alternatives when eating food, like choosing a grilled ken sandwich instead of a Wesebureer. n addition to eating healthier, en said it is important to exer- regularly. “We can lose weight without be ing so restrictive and by being ac tive,” Cohen said. “We can lose weight gradually and enjoy it, and we should enjoy exercise.” Walk Across Texas, sponsored by the Agricultural Extension Ser vice and the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, encourages people to stay fit by walking, jog ging or biking with friends and co workers. Participants in Walk Across Texas form teams of eight people who record mileage for an eight- week period. More than 1,000 partici pants are signed up for this year’s event, which will span March and April. Cohen said dieting, like ex ercise, must be jp beato/thk battalion done in moder ation. She said people tend to abuse dieting, losing weight in a short pe riod of time thereby increasing the chance they will gain the weight back. “If it’s fast weight loss, it’s more likely to be water loss,” Cohen said. “Water aids in digestion and is need ed by the body to function. You may be missing some of the food groups when you lose weight quickly.” Prescription diet drugs, accord ing to the American Dietetic Asso ciation, may suppress appetite for as long as a year but provide no long-term benefits like a balanced diet and regular exercise do. Walk the line GUY ROGERS/The Battalion Melanie Harwood, a junior marketing major, attempts to walk along a line with night vision drunk goggles on with the assistance of Jes sica Lundry, a senior biomedical sciences major, Monday in front of Rudder Fountain. The interactive exhibit is part of Peer 1 Educators’ Safe Spring Break Campaign, which will have more exhibits set up Wednesday at Rudder Fountain. Feminist to address changes in movement BY MEREDITH HIGHT The Battalion Sheila Tobias, a renowned fem inist author and speaker, will ad dress the ignorance and indiffer ence of the younger generation toward the women’s movement in her speech today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the MSC Forsyth Center. “The Future of Feminism: Lessons from our Past” will be based on her 1997 book Faces of Feminism: An Activist’s Reflec tions on the Women’s Movement. Tobias will spend this week at Texas A&M lecturing and meeting with faculty, and today’s speech will be the major event of the se ries. “I’m a feminist from the ’60s, and I’ve been concerned about younger women not being willing to identify themselves as femi nists,” she said. “I tried to analyze why that is.” Tobias will outline four reasons explaining the younger genera tion’s indifference to the women’s movement. “First, they don’t know how bad things used to be,” she said. “They don’t know what it was like when discrimination was le gal and salaries were lower.” She said the second is that members of the generation do not seem to be aware of women’s movement achievements. Third, she said they do not understand the value of the women who have led the women’s movement. “The media depicted us as weird, but we were attractive women with a lot of choices,” she said. She said the fourth reason is that the younger generation does not realize how much re- Sheila Tobias' speeches open to the public: Tuesday • 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 301 Engineering/Physics • 3:30-5 p.m. Forsyth Center Wednesday •10-11:30 a.m. 225 MSC Thursday •11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 203 MSC •3-5 p.m. 457 Blocker mains unaccomplished. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” she said. “There are women in poverty and women in other countries being bought and sold.” Tobias said the book is a lively way to tell a story of the women’s movement in a way that everyone can understand. She included op posing viewpoints in the book. “I do not shrink from those who are opposed to the move ment,” she said. “It’s a balanced story. ” Tobias said if the Movement, referring to the organized move ment, does not attract the young generation, it might not survive. “But movement [generally speaking] is unstoppable,” she said. “There are women governors, a woman Secretary of State. I go to bed at night smiling because all of the FBI has to report to Janet Reno.” Tobias will sign and sell books at a reception coordinated by the Texas A&M University Bookstore following her speech.