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
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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.