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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1999)
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY June 17, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 154 • 6 Pages College Station, Texas aggielife • The Texas Music Festival brings classical tunes to the Texas A&M campus. PAGE 3 99 Hostel oncludes ith dance BY KRISTIN STOCKTON The Battalion Former A&M students attended Ring Dance last night as Aggie Hostel Week comes to a dose. Former student^ over the age of 65 have teen staying at A&M this week for the 12th [Annual Aggie Hostel, hosted by the Associa- ion of Former Students. Bill Rountree, Class of ’41, attended Aggie [Hostel Week for the first time this year. He 11 [said he especially enjoyed his student hosts, [who were assigned to him and attended ■events with him all week. “These girls (student hosts) are the tops,” he ro I*' Bsaid. “They have been taking good care of us.” Rountree said he also enjoyed the night- [time activities. ‘I’ve enjoyed it all so much, but for the [night life, we have really had a ball,” Roun dtree said. “We went to the Dixie Chicken one | night.” Wood Boulder, Class of ’54, is attending I Aggie Hostel Week for the first time. “I really enjoyed talking to the student leaders and the yell leaders,” Boulder said. today’s issue Toons 2 News 6 Battalion Radio For more about the Lamp Light Theater’s Once Upon a Mattress, tune in to 90.9 KAMU-FM at 1:57 p.m. opinion • Today’s cartoons now offer mindless humor in place of effective social commentary. PAGES JP BEATO/The Battalion Aggie Host LeAnn Wilkey, a senior accounting major, dances with Hank Vornkahl, Class of ’50 at Wednesday night’s Ring Dance as part of Aggie Hostel Week. “They told us all about how the Corps is now and how they have integrated women.” The former students also had an opportu nity to attend the yell practice for the New Student Conference. “Ar that yell practice the other night, 1 got into the spirit all over again,” Rountree said. “Once you have the Aggie spirit, you never lose it.” Throughout the week the former students have attended classes on environmental agri culture and Vision 2020 at the John Koldus Building. Although this was the first Aggie Hostel for Rountree, he said he plans to return next year. “As long as I am walking, I will be here,” he said. Microsoft gives computer grant for student lab BY CARRIE BENNETT The Battalion Microsoft Research University Programs has given a grant of more than $150,000 in the form of 22 workstations and software licenses to the Texas A&M University computer science department. The equipment will be used to set up a laboratory, which will teach students the latest trends in computer technology. The Microsoft Windows NT Instructional Laboratory will be in the H.R. Bright Building and will serve undergraduates, hosting mostly freshman and sophomore computer science classes. Willis Marti, director of departmental computing services for the computer science department, said the software will teach students how to write large computer programs. “It’s one thing to write a 10-line program on your PC [personal com puter] and it’s another thing to write flight control software for a 747 or social security,” Marti said. “The software will teach students to build large pieces of software in teams.” Susanne Peterson, manager of Microsoft Research University Pro grams, said A&M was chosen for the grant because of its strong com puter science department. “We are providing support for computer science programs around the country,” Peterson said. “Our goal is to provide current technolo gy to students.” Marti said Microsoft chose A&M because A&M is a well-known uni versity. “A&M puts out a lot of graduates,” Marti said. “And it is advanta geous for companies to hire graduates that are familiar with the soft- Crunch time JP BEATO/The Battalion Senior political science major Tania Fongemie does crunches as part of her circuit workout during her step aerobics class Wednesday morning at the Student Recreation Center. Community to mark Juneteenth BY KRISTIN STOCKTON The Battalion The first African-American Aggie yell leader and Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald, Class of ’93, will speak as part of the events in observance of Juneteenth, June 19, sponsored by the city of College Station. The MSC Black Awareness Com mittee, the Department of Multicul tural Services and the National Pan- Hellenic Council will also host events in recognition of Juneteenth. The origin of Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger led Union troops into Galveston and announced the Texas’ slaves were free. The message came more than two and a half years after president Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official. According to the Juneteenth Web site, there are several theories on the delay, but no definitive reason has been found for the stall. “Juneteenth is symbolic because it expresses unity in all people, not just African-Americans” — Stephenie Rhodes Black Awareness Committee Adviser Juneteenth, also called African- American Emancipation Day, is an of ficial state holiday observed June 19, but events are held throughout the world in remembrance of the eman cipation of the slaves in Texas, ac cording the the Juneteenth Website. Stephenie Rhodes, Black Awareness Committee (BAG) adviser and student development specialist in the MSC Pro grams Office, is facilitating the event. “Juneteenth is symbolic because it expresses unity in all people, not just African-Americans,” Rhodes said. “We have people of all races coming togeth er to celebrate freedom and equality. ” The celebration will include a his tory of Juneteenth, poetry and cul tural dances. A boutique will also be available offering cultural books, jew elry and other items. College Station’s Lincoln Recreation Center is also hosting its annual June teenth Celebration of Freedom on Friday evening. The celebration will begin at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Center, located at 1000 Eleanor Street. The celebration will include a speech by McDonald, Gospel enter tainment, skits and special perfor mances. Aggie racers ready to hit the track SALLIE TURNER/Tm Battalion Formula SAE team member Greg Suiter shows off Texas A&M University’s entry in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Race. BY STUART HUTSON The Battalion Two A&M automotive teams have geared up to compete in nationwide competitions not only pit them against teams from other universities but also challenge them to deal with budget constraints and the actual construc tion of the car. A&M’s solar car racing team will compete Sunday against universities from around the globe in the 1999 Sunrayce, a 10-day biannual race of student-designed ,solar-powered vehi cles that starts in Washington, D.C., and ends in Orlando, Fla. For A&M’s car, “Papillion,” to win, the car must make the 1,350-mile jour ney powered only by seven 40-pound batteries charged by solar cells that con vert sunlight directly into electricity. The team is hoping to improve on its fourth place finish in the 1997 race. The team also won the Technical In novation Award in that competition. Earlier this year, another A&M rac ing team took 14th place for its first en try in the Formula Society of Automo tive Engineers (SAE) Race. To compete, students build smaller, one- driver versions of formula race cars that are judged on endurance and technical design. The team also won the rookies of the year award in the competition. Dr. Make McDermott, a faculty ad viser for the Formula SAE team, said these teams must face stiff competi tion from universities around the world, but the biggest challenges come from managing the entire see Race on Page 2.