THURSDAY
April 15, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 128 • 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
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First Aggieland Stompfest features all-Greek cast
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BY SALLIE TURNER
The Battalion
The pounding of combat boots on the stage
in Rudder Theater highlighted the perfor
mances by sororities and a fraternity during the
first ever Aggieland Stompfest last night.
Members of Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Delta Pi,
Kappa Delta Chi and Chi Omega sororities per
formed routines that combined traditional
stomp steps with dance routines. A student
leader team of D.J. Flores, president of Multi
cultural Services Council; Laurie Nickel, stu
dent body president; Kendall Kelly, Class of
1999 president; Michael Haughey, president of
the Resident Hall Association; Jeff Hilliard,
president of the Interfraternity Council; Kristen
Kirby, former president of the Panhellenic
Council; and Suzanne Tate, president of the
Panhellenic Council, performed a comical rou
tine to begin the evening’s events.
The first- and second-place winners of the
competition were Alpha Delta Pi and Kappa
Delta Chi, respectively.
Participating sororities were paired with
members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council,
who choreographed the stomp routines.
Donti Twine, choreographer for Alpha Delta
Pi and a senior computer science major, said
they practiced the stomp routine, which incor
porated a military theme, three days per week
for one month.
“ [The members of Alpha Delta Pi] were great
to work with,” he said. “This event was really
an incredible time of bringing together differ
ent groups of people.”
The one fraternity that participated. Kappa
Alpha Psi, performed a more advanced routine.
In their routine, a fraternity member yelled
out, “We came to turn this mother...’’Then the
members performed an intricate stomp routine
involving canes and then yelled “loose.”
Tiffany Grant, co-master of ceremonies and a
junior journalism major, said the tradition of
stomping dates back to tribal times when stomp
ing was a nonviolent way of settling differences.
“Stomping today among the African-Ameri-
-can culture has evolved into a friendly compe
tition,” she said.
Adrian Leday, co-master of ceremonies and
a senior biology major, said part of the proceeds
from tonight’s show will go toward a proposed
statue to honor Matthew Gaines.
“Matthew Gaines is responsible for the birth
of Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M,” he said.
Stompfest was organized by the National
Pan-Hellenic Council and the Panhellenic Coun
cil to bring together different Greek organiza
tions on campus.
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Photos by Mike Fuentes and Terry Roberson
Left to Right; Members of Kappa Alpha Psi
perform at Wednesday night’s Aggieland
Stompfest.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s intricate performance fea
tured canes.
A member of Chi Omega sorority performs.
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Student leaders
Tite activism
r4s key to future
BY AMANDA PALM
The Battalion
jt# ; jTexas A&M student leaders pre-
>ented ideas for publicizing alter-
Tatives to drug and alcohol use
md for encouraging students to
ike an active part in educating
)thers about drug and alcohol
ibuse on campus yesterday.
SStudent leaders also focused on
he recent Faculty Senate pro-
Josed changes to the Student
hiles and Regulations regarding
ilcohol involvement in University
organizations’ events.
vJ The students were divided into
10^ our groups and introduced meth-
a re‘ ! ods to improve student education
on major issues, such as drug and
alcohol abuse and how to distrib
ute information to students.
Some ideas for improving drug
and alcohol education to the stu
dent body were to implement
more peer counseling and to cre
ate programs to be presented to in
coming freshmen at New Student
Conferences.
Ricky Wood, junior yell leader
for the 1999-2000 school year and
a sophomore business major, said
many students think there is noth
ing to do in town but drink.
Wood said a possible solution
would be to have a “24-hour
stand-out” which would be simi
lar to National Smoke Out Day.
Bike-rack relocation
under consideration
TERRY ROBERSON/The Battalion
(L to R): Jenny Acklam, of Peer 1 Educators, Ricky Wood, a junior yell
leader, and Shaun Travers, coordinator of Student Judicial Services dis
cuss campus issues at Wednesday’s luncheon.
Wood said Aggies participating in
the program would refrain from
drinking for 24 hours the night be
fore each football game.
Lorna Breault, coordinator of
first-year student alcohol educa
tion, said drugs are a problem at
A&M, but the problem with alco
hol overshadows it.
“We do have problems with
marijuana and other drugs, but
not to the extent that other uni
versities do nationwide,” she said.
“The drug abuse is still happen
ing; it’s just that here, alcohol is
socially acceptable, so it’s more
widespread.”
Breault said first-year students
are most impacted by alcohol
abuse because they are easily in
fluenced and because they can in
corporate new ideas into college
practices.
“They are most at-risk for binge
drinking and alcohol poisoning,
and they are the ones who can
see Leaders on Page 2.
BY RACHEL HOLLAND
The Battalion
The Department of Residence
Life will consider a plan recom
mended last night by the Resi
dence Hall Association (RHA) to
reduce bike-rack overcrowding by
relocating unused racks to over
crowded areas.
The plan calls for relocating
unused bike racks from the east
side of Krueger Hall, the north
side of the Band Practice Drill
Field and the west side of the FHK
Complex to the main entrance of
the Commons Lobby, the east side
of the FHK Complex and the west
side of Lechner Hall.
One bike rack consisting of 10
spaces would remain at each of
the unused areas.
Ron Sasse, director of the De
partment of Residence Life, said
the decision will be based on avail
able funding and on recommenda
tions from Physical Plant.
Chris Baumbach, co-chair of
the Bike Racks Ad-Hoc Commit
tee and a sophomore biomedical
science major, said areas are
overcrowded because of an in
creasing number of bicycle users,
and that he hopes the plan will
be implemented by the summer
semester.
“The Bike Racks Ad-Hoc Com
mittee met for six weeks, collect
ing input from residence hall
members and determining the lo
cations of unused and overcrowd
ed bike racks,” he said.
Nathan Mills, an RHA member
and a sophomore electrical engi
neering major, said a problem that
results from overcrowding is bicy
cle theft.
He said when bike racks are
overcrowded, students are forced
to leave their bikes unsecured.
Then, he said, the bikes are often
stolen.