lllllilllii
MONDAY
April 26, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 136 • 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
aggielife
• Traditional domino,
“bones,” games create
strong sense of
competitiveness.
PAGE 6
today’s issue
Toons 2
Opinion 11
sports
Battalion Radio
Bryan named All-American
City finalist. Find out more at
1:57 p. m on 90.9 KAMU-FM.
• Texas A&M Baseball
Team sweeps weekend
series with Kansas
Jayhawks.
PAGE 7
Dinner
oms
t ha;
of Ho
inths
unique
iultures
BY ANDREA BROCKMAN
The Battalion
haretkvB
lies. With every turn of a kaleido-
ikl mul; ope, a unique combination of
kestudf dors and shapes appear. Jaime
iiversin aughter, president of Delta Xi Nu
icampii idb senior ocean engineering
nvonei ajor, said society is similar to a
g lawn tlefcioscope.
senotafeBrhere are so many different
le. Intfe ikijues, and every time you look
will be'| someone, it’s like looking
oliseun rough a kaleidoscope,” she said,
s free, bu never see the same thing
once" dee. "
At the sorority’s second annual
nity Dinner Friday, Joyce Bricso,
keynote speaker, carried the
iie “A Kaleidoscope of Cul-
one step further to a “Ta-
of Diversity. ”
co, a speech communication
icfier and a founder of a multicul-
■club in Austin, said in order to
Rrstand and respect other cul-
^ ies, people must understand and
ppride in their cultures. She quot-
i author and poet Maya Angelou,
ft. id said the only way to understand
B cultures is through education.
§ “It is time for parents to teach
■g people early on that there is
auty and there is strength. We all
pdd know that diversity makes for
thesygipi tapestry, and we must under-
thesir w mucu unuci-
—all threads are equal in value
• matter their color,” she quoted.
'"Rena Kharbat, Unity Dinner
l ^Bwoman and a junior interna-
>nal studies major, said 100 stu-
fets, faculty and staff attended
"e dinner.
^ “There were many representa-
r es from student organizations,
id a staff member even brought
-y children,” she said.
.. rM(A foLring dinner, Apotheosis, an
^ appella group comprised of
■ students sang, and Los Flo-
pESK citas, a group of children from
jyan and Hearne, danced a ballet
Iklorico.
Delta Xi Nu is a multicultural
Ibrity whose aim is to educate the
Hi campus on cultural diversity
DESK p s P rea d cultural awareness.
Whoopstock
unites campus
PHOTOS BY SALLIE TURNER
Students celebrate diversity, enjoy international cuisine
BY EMILY R. SNOOKS
The Battalion
Attendees of Whoopstock sampled inter
national cuisine, sunny weather and a variety
of music Saturday on O.R. Simpson Drill
Field.
Students, faculty and staff celebrated di
versity at the 7th annual Whoopstock Uni
ty Festival presented by the Department of
Multicultural Services.
Visitors enjoyed tropical drinks from the
Puerto Rican Student Association, green tea
ice cream from the Japanese Student Asso
ciation and fajitas from Minorities in Agri
culture, Natural Resources and Related Sci
ences (M.A.N.R.R.S.).
The day’s festivities had a carnival atmos
phere, including cotton candy and a space
walk. Entertainment was provided by
D.R.U.M., a reggae band; the Aggie Wran
glers; Invisible Cindy, a 1960s-type band;
DDK, a rap group; children from ’Magination
Station; and youth members of the Bahai
faith.
Brandt Martin, a wax master from Beau
mont, said college functions, like Whoop
stock are his biggest venues.
“The most popular wax impression peo
ple made was the gig ’em sign,” he said.
Santhi Thotakura, member of the Hindu
Students Council and a sophomore biology
major, said the groups booth had a consis
tently long line of students wanting the tra
ditional Hindu body paint, called henna.
Holly Doughty, a chair of Whoopstock
and a senior agricultural development and
entomology major, said attendance at the
festival grows every year.
“What is great about the attendance this
year is that everyone who came stayed,” she
said. “We are all really pleased that a vari
ety of people came out and stayed to enjoy
the festivities.”
Doughty’s family participated in Whoop
stock, and her father took first place in the
cricket-spitting contest.
Becky Petitt, an adviser for the Depart
ment of Multicultural Services, organized a
unity circle toward the end of the festival.
Petitt said gathering the visitors, vendors
and performers in the circle celebrated the
purpose of the festival — unity.
OPSTOC
TEXAS a x m vyrnnsm
Top Left: Bindu Joesph, a
senior accounting major,
paints a henna drawing as
part of the Hindu Students
Council.
Above: D.R.U.M., a reggae
band, performs Saturday af
ternoon as part of Whoop
stock. The festival included
bands and poetry celebrat
ing cultural diversity.
Left: Helen Dadfar (I) and
Norma Islan have their
hands waxed together by the
Waxmaster, Brandt Martin.
Right: Sunshine Hanze 8
Paints the face of Linda
Mathews, 6, both of College
Satu?day atWh0 ° PStock
ier
Ring Dance ’99 takes
seniors on world tour
BY ANDREA BROCKMAN
The Battalion
2 At Texas A&M’s largest Ring
'ance ever, members of the
,j nc | U (jfH s of ’99 stepped through a
^ iait replica of the Aggie Ring
H turned their rings to face
Hvorld.
Hing Dance’s theme.
Bund the World in 99
. i a tte#B/’ allowed students to en-
Hfood and music of seven
Hid cities in one night.
Bhe seven cities featured
pm^We Nashville, Tenn.; Paris,
gplfif mice; Manhattan, N.Y.; New
Iy Bans, La.; Rio de Janeiro,
m
! il; Monte Carlo, Monaco;
Tokyo, Japan. Each guest
ved a keepsake passport to
tamped at every city and a
plementary picture frame.
Ring Dance attendees two-
stepped and jitterbugged at
Nashville Nights, swing-
danced at Big Easy Swing,
danced latino-style at Ren
dezvous in Rio and grooved to
top 40 and R&B at Midnight in
Manhattan.
For those seniors with two
left feet, there were other op
tions at Monte Carlo Magic,
Times in Tokyo and the
Parisian Cafe. They tried their
luck at the casino, sang along
at the piano and karaoke bars
and relaxed with friends at the
Parisian coffeehouse.
Michelle Tillery, event coor
dinator, said among the most
popular attractions were the pi
ano bar, where Bill Ingram
made a special appearance,
and the karaoke bar.
“He played the piano and
took requests,” she said. “The
room was packed. So was Ru
mours Deli, where there was
karaoke.
Tillery said this year’s was
the biggest Ring Dance in A&M
history.
“The Class of ’99 surpassed
last year’s attendance record of
3,005 students,” she said. “It
was very successful.”
Marissa Alanis, head of
public relations for Ring Dance
and a senior marketing major,
said the types of music offered
at Ring Dance are usually the
same each year, but a differ
ence from last year was the ad
dition of swing.
“ [The Big Easy Swing] was
popular because of this year’s
swing revival,” she said.
Harris Lectureship brings
MIT atmospheric chemist
SAMEH FAHMY
The Battalion
SALLIE TURNER/The Battalion
Patrick Hutson of Freeman
Photography poses Ryan Ther-
rell, a senior construction sci
ence major, and Emily Curtis,
a junior finance major, Satur
day night at Ring Dance.
Nobel Prize winnpr n
Mano Molina said Fridav tw
ban reS “ rCh ’ 2 w 0 h -h,ed y S a j
chemicals, wasTn^ P ' eting
mental success™ o^T'
ma ny challenges but
be addressed. 8 need to
Molina, an
chemist at the Mnl m0 l pheric
Institute of t a u Chusett s
spoke as part of^? 11 ? lo§y ’
Lectureship 0 f the rnU Harris
Geosciences Ho C ° e § e °I
bri ng speakers to Te 8ned to
io share their kno,^ Xas
experience knOWled 8^ and
Pollution! depleho 30 f Water
a 1 resources and 0r u° f ^Ur
ibe chemical comn han§es in
composition of
the atmosphere are major en
vironmental challenges for
the 21st century.
He said these environ-
mental problems stem from
human overpopulation.
The capacity of the plan
et to regenerate itself is not
large enough to support the
human population we have,”
he said.
Molina said cooperation
among scientists, policy
makers and the chemical in
dustry made the United Na-
tons accord banning
ozone-depleting chemicals
possible.
He advocated a similar ap
proach for solving environ
mental problems in the fu
ture.
It is no longer appropri
ate to look at issues in isola
tion,” he said. “We really
have to take an integrated
look.”
Following the speech,
Molina answered questions
from the audience and com
mented on possible ways to
repair the ozone hole, such
as transporting ground-level
ozone, a pollutant, to the
stratosphere.
Molina serves on Presi
dent Clinton’s Committee of
Advisers on Science and
Technology.
In addition to the Nobel
Prize, Molina has received
the NASA Medal for Excep
tional Scientific Achieve
ment.
He holds a doctorate in
physical chemistry from the
University of California at
Berkeley.