105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY MONDAY July 19, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 171 • 6 Pages College Station, Texas sports • Don Nelson’s draft moves illustrate the troubles facing the Dallas Mavericks. PAGE 3 today's issue Nation 2 Battalion Radio Tune in to 90.9 KAMU-FM at 1:57 p.m. for more details on an assault at a College Station apartment complex Saturday. opinion • Liddy Dole must capitalize on talents to overtake George W. Bush for the nomination. PAGES stin 3 ^ ■ Center to expand intern, co EB by STUART HUTSON The Battalion 3Skop; ■ Beginning this fall, the Career ‘CnA»M nter s Cooperative Education Department will be renamed the Experiential Education Depart- ®nt, which will supply students ■th both cooperative (co-op) ed- v St# ucational and internship opportu- reed tr njties in one location, ed inteBJennifer Humphries, assistant s and Ri S^ector for the cooperative educa- KLAat.»n department, said that in the naataniMst, students who wanted work ■ Silva, Bperience prior to graduation had number■ go to several offices to find all le available opportunities, h KFOR* Humphries said she often en- nedc counters students who are looking • areab foi work experience prior to grad- is.”ltsi»tion but are not aware of exactly 1 region what type of experience they want. I “We will be able to let these stu- rbs \u: jfpnts know about many of the pos sible opportunities as well as help them decide which program, whether co-op or internship, will best suit what they want to do,” she said. Humphries said co-op opportu nities and internships both offer their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. Cooperative education is an academic program that allows students to work with a company for a minimum of two semesters. Students receive co-op pay and have full-time student status. The student’s academic credit for the term is determined by a Universi ty co-op adviser, comments from the student’s respective employ er and a technical report filed by the student. Internships generally offer the students one semester of work ex perience that may or may not pro vide students pay, academic credit or full-time student status; but of ten offer a more diverse selection of opportunities that do not require a two-semester commitment. Humphries said along with the integration of co-op and internship opportunities, the department will also be receiving a computer up grade, which will allow students easier Internet access and more in formation about work experience opportunities than the current data operating system. “For example, employer’s now only have six lines of text to give vi tal information like job descrip tions and contact information,” she said. “With the new system, they will have almost unlimited space.” Martha W. Boerema, associate director of cooperative education, said the department will also be focusing on developing new in ternational connections and pro grams such as one currently in volving seven construction sci ence students in Moscow. These students are working with the H.B. Zachry Company to revamp the U.S. Embassy there. Humphries said these programs will help give the students a “glob al perspective” that will aid them later if they enter into a multina tional company. She said this will force the students to deal with peo ple of other cultures on a profes sional level. Boerema said the department is attempting to obtain a wider vari ety of employment opportunities that will include more positions for non-technical majors such as liber al arts. “We always have a good num ber of positions for engineering and science majors,” she said. “But we feel it is also important to open the door of opportunity as widely for the non-technical majors.” op programs CHANGES TO THE CAREER CENTER FOR FALL 1999 • The Career Center’s Cooperative Education Department will be renamed the Experiential Education Department •The department will also be focusing on developing new international connections and programs. •The department is attempting to obtain a wider variety of employment opportunities that will include more positions for non-technical majors. •The department will receive a computer upgrade GABRIEL RUENES/Tuk B.vmi ion ithen®' 1 then# I edited f 1180® t U.S. St; tai pun- " idez a:- ; prosea 1 scene i 1 ' ‘ is admit- fficial f : I pearanu set bail a I He was I in MexicJ rrenders | El Paso: I i deal U p why he I does ni| id does: untries death p fexas D >ty spol Resends y hunt d beeiu Mature can th; icialsw m. Lex' : Barna: the cast gets th f 1 Barnai jcky.” z is thoi pping ns wet; gtigatoo ^a wha: tic nntradt -ear’s X -s ands tied tea weal 1 lough I 1 ubjects :e cred' : in the -k and rams I' nod tentd’ nision Bobt Asset) “Itisfj iterafl- Gotta sing BRADLEY ATCHISONAThf. Battalion Harold Presley (foreground), of College Station, sings the song One More Angel in Heaven while rehearsing Sunday for “The Broadway Cabaret.” Theater groups to present revue BY MEGAN E. WRIGHT The Battalion Residents of the Brazos Valley will have the opportunity to experience various musical performances this week at the Brazos Valley TROUPE and MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society’s presentation of “The Broad way Cabaret,” a musical revue. The selections to be performed were taken from musicals and shows that are scheduled for the upcoming 1999-2000 OPAS season. Selections have been taken from musicals such as Annie and The King and I. The Brazos Valley TROUPE, a the atrical organization composed of lo cal children and community mem bers, held auditions earlier in the summer for performers. The group has been in rehearsal arid making preparations for the event over the past three weeks. Jeremy Byrd, OPAS chair and a se nior psychology major, said this week’s performances will highlight not only the musicals but the local talent. “This is an opportunity for people in the area to see some great per formers and to preview some of the great shows that OPAS has lined up for this season,” Byrd said. Byrd said a number of A&M stu dents tried out. “There are quite a few Aggies who will be performing in the Cabaret this year,” he said. He said “The Broadway Cabaret” is in its third year and will continue to be a tradition in the Brazos Val ley. Available seating is limited; tickets can be purchased though the MSC Box Office at a cost of $5 for students and $7 for non-students. Performances will run on Tuesday, Wednesday .and Thursday at 7:30 at the College Station Conference Center . OPAS Schedule 1999-2000 •Don Cossacks of Rostov (Sept. 30) •Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Oct. 29) •The King and I (Nov. 7) • The Nutcracker (Dec. 3, 4) •The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Jan. 22, 23) •Romeo and Juliet (Feb. 25-27) •Spirit of the Dance (March 4) •The Barber of Seville (March 21,22) •Annie (April 11,12) Searchers zero in on distress signal JFK Jr., passengers still unaccounted for AQUINNAH, Mass. (AP) — Searchers looking for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane ze roed in on a spot at the bottom of the sea after picking up an automatic emergency signal yesterday, while Americans griev ed over the almost certain deaths of Kennedy, his wife and her sister. A sonar-equipped ship was sent to the spot off Martha’s Vineyard where debris from the plane was found earlier. The Kennedy family spent a second anguished day awaiting word along with the rest of the nation, as federal au thorities set up a top-level command center to oversee the search. The glamorous, 38-year-old Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and her older sister Lauren Bessette were feared dead after the single-engine plane he was piloting went down in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard on Friday night en route to his cousin Rory’s wed ding. The Saturday wedding was post poned, and the family held Mass to pray for the missing. In Washington, President Clinton offered the prayers of a nation, saying the Kennedys “have suffered much and given more”' as a family over the past 40 years. “At this difficult moment, we hope the families of these three fine young people will feel the strength of God, the love of their friends and the prayers of their fellow citizens,” Clinton said. More than 300 people, including Coast Guardsmen and members of the Air Force and National Guard, concen trated on a 600-square-mile area off Gay Head, on the southwestern edge of Martha’s Vineyard, using ships, heli copters, planes and all-terrain vehicles. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard M. Larrabee said searchers heard an under water signal yesterday from an emer gency locator transmitter near where de bris from the plane was found. It was not certain whether the signal — detected by an Air Force plane — came from Kennedy’s aircraft, the Coast Guard said. “I would caution you that this was only one transmission,” Larrabee said. A sonar-equipped National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship, the Rude (pronounced “Rudy”), was dis patched to the place where the beacon was heard about 4 1/2 miles southwest of Gay Head, in about 80 to 100 feet of water, Lt. Gary Jones, a Coast Guard spokesperson, said. see JFK on Page 6. The numbers game Officials consider changes to student IDs BY CARRIE BENNETT The Battalion The possibility of changing Texas A&M students’ identification numbers from their Social Security Numbers to a random number generated by a com puter may become a reality. A committee composed of members of several departments on campus, in cluding Payroll Services and the Fi nance Department, has been organized to determine the feasibility of making the change, which is being examined because of safety and confidentiality concerns. Dr. Rick Floyd, chair of the commit tee and associate vice president for fi nance, said the question of privacy as sociated with the use of Social Security Numbers has always been present. Steven Pace, a member of the com mittee and Aggie Card administrator, said the committee is still discussing the manner in which the number on the stu dent ID cards will be changed. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GUY ROGERS/The Battalion “It might be difficult if the entire campus changed all at once, but if we started with incoming students and moved throughout the rest of the cam pus it might not be as difficult,” Pace said. “We are still at the planning stages, and these issues will be dis cussed.” see Cards on Page 2.