106 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
ursday* September 2, 1999
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 • Issue 4*12 Pages
usic, theatre arts merge
iberal Arts creates Department of Performance Studies
acc
:rai
ETIE
I
99
: pkc
BY ERIKA DOERR
The Battalion
Today marks the the first
d|y for the Department of Per-
foi mance Studies, a collabora-
tiln of the theater arts pro
gram and the music program.
■ Paul Parrish, the Depart
ment of Performance Studies
development coordinator and
Elglish professor, said the Col
lege of Liberal Arts will con-
tinue to offer courses in music
and theater as in the past but
now with greater visibility.
■ The music department will
continuely develop additional
courses and a new music de
gree plan is being proposed.
(Parrish said the Texas A&M
University College of Liberal
Arts proposal said music and
theater are rather recent addi
tions at Texas A&M, unlike
other major land grant univer
sities where music and theater
arts are historically an active
part of the school’s mission
and curriculum.
She said it is important to
have art programs because it
attracts a wider variety of stu
dents.
“There is an absolute need
for programs of this sort in the
arts, if Texas A&M is serious
about its desire to be regarded
as a top-10 public university —
the basic goal set out in Vision
2020,” she said. “The Depart
ment of Performance Studies
will attract quality students
who are looking for an arts ed
ucation, and the imminent cre
ation of a music degree will al
low us to attract future music
majors who have in the past
had to go elsewhere.”
Jeanette Phariss, assistant
provost, said this is the first
new department created at
A&M in a long time.
“Theater had been with
speech communications, two
different things,” she said.
“We’ve always had a small
program in music, even
though we didn’t have a de
gree. Now these two depart
ments are combined,” Phariss
said.
The official proposal also
said a separate department
will create a more streamlined
and efficient management of
all three departments — the
Department of Philosophy and
Humanities, the Department
of Speech Communication and
the proposed Department of
Performance Studies — and
provide an environment for
the continued growth of the
developing music and theater
arts program.
Phariss said this is the first
academic department dedicat
ed solely to the arts.
“Eventually, there will be a
proposal for obtaining an offi
cial Bachelor of Arts degree of
music. The current music pro
gram offers a minor but not a
major,” she said. “With this
proposed change, we antici
pate that the number of stu
dents enrolling in music cours
es and minoring in music to
increase at a steady pace.”
Overassignments
await housing
BY RACHEL HOLLAND
The Battalion
Every year 30 to 40 students are
overassigned to residence halls in or
der to compensate for students who
cancel or do not show up, which forces
students to live in study rooms or oth
er places equipped to house students.
There are currently 35 male stu
dents, are living in the study rooms of
residence halls waiting for vacancies
as a result of hall overassignments.
Mack Thomas, assistant director of
the Department of Residence Life, said
there are vacancies in the women’s
halls and in the men’s non-air condi
tioned halls. The 35 men are waiting for
vacancies in the air-conditioned halls.
“Students are given priority dates
based on when they apply for housing
and assigned to rooms in that order,”
he said. “These 35 men were the Ust
35 to apply for housing.”
Thomas said it is impossible to
predict if rooms will open up because
it depends on many factors, and stu
dents will have to stay where they are
the entire semester if nothing opens
up.
Greg Woodard, Aston Hall resident,
where 22 residents are overassigned,
said residents who are assigned to
rooms are doing their best to help
those living in the study rooms.
“Of course, they do complain and
are inconvenienced,” the sophomore
engineering major said. “It is difficult
to spend the beginning of a semester
in an uncomfortable place.”
Woodard said one problem facing
the men living in the study room is the
see Overassignment on Page 2.
oore
•^named
to post
] 11
ENUF
BY CARRIE BENNETT
The Battalion
i Rodrick Moore, Class of ’95, has
been appointed to the position of
student retention
coordinator in the
Department of
Multicultural Ser
vices, which
helps students
through school
gradua
te
MOORE
)
i\
and
tion.
m Moore is replacing Rodney Mc
Clendon who will now serve as as
sistant provost in the office of the
executive vice president.
H Moore said as coordinator of stu
dent Retention, his main duty will be
coordinating the ExCEL Conference
for freshmen, which is held before
school begins in the fall and helps
minority students adapt to new so
cial and academic experiences at
A&M. Moore will also coordinate a
student success seminar class for
freshman, which will help students
learn how to succeed at A&M.
“.NVacrce ‘saad Yve \s exoXeA atoowv
Y\e\pYtYg 'sYatewYa SyxYYW \Y\Y\\ ypjvYi,
of graduation.
|| “I want to be able to help stu
dents as I have been helped,”
Moore said.
B Moore said one of his goals is to
design and implement innovative
programs and strategies to enhance
retention efforts.
B “1 will be developing outreach
initiatives to enhance the number
see Moore on Page 2.
INSIDE
aggielife
• Through adversity
Students with
disabilities adjust to
college life at Texas
A&M.
sports
• A&M Cross Country set
for start of 1999 season
Women’s coach seeks to
qualify for NCAA championship.
Page 7
Page 3
opinion
Student athletes
should be praised
for balancing
classes with sport.
Page 11
reminder
Today is the last day to drop
classes.
Bicycle safety
AMANDA SMIERS/The Battalion
Det. Alan Baron carves a student’s drivers license number onto a bicycle at Rudder fountain. The Bi
cycle Registration program ensures the bicycle’s recovery if it stolen.
Answering the call
Student volunteers handle campus emergencies
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
For the past five years, the Stu
dent Counseling Service (SCS)
HelpLine and the Emergency
Medical Service (EMS) handle
the psychological and medical
emergencies at Texas A&M.
Volunteers at the SCS answer
calls and assess situations as if all
were life threatening. They then
use training the SCS has provided
to determine whether callers need
assistance from a psychologist or
EMS.
EMS has two ambulances
housed at A.P. Beutal Health Cen
ter, which are available to handle
medical emergencies on campus.
“We staff Mobile Intensive
Care ambulances [and] can do
everything an [Emergency]
[Room] can do in the first 10 min
utes of a call,” Richard Mogab,
paramedic and unit manager of
EMS, said. “We can handle every
life-threatening situation.”
Jeremy Hyde, EMT and train
ing coordinator for EMS, said the
EMS team consists of eight para
medics, 21 Emergency Medical
Technicians and 17 dispatchers,
all of which are volunteers.
Mogab said that when calling
the EMS for help, which can be
done on campus by dialing 9-911,
one should remember to remain
calm and answer the dispatcher’s
questions clearly.
“When you call, stay calm and
know your location, phone num
ber and the nature of the emer
gency,” Mogab said. “Stay on the
line and answer any questions the
dispatcher has.”
The EMS is present at events
where organizers feel an ambu
lance might be needed.
“We do event standbys at foot
ball games. Bonfire and any oth
er event they need an ambu
lance,” Mogab said.
Along with reacting to the SCS
HelpLine calls, the EMS also pro
vides 24-hour service 365 days a
year.
Dr. Kerry Hope, associate di
rector of counseling, said the
HelpLine handles calls dealing
with informational questions and
psychological crisis.
The Helpline is managed by
approximately 45 students with
majors ranging from psychology
to business.
Hope said the numerous
deaths that plagued campus last
year has had a slight affect on
both the number of volunteers
who decide to take action and
join the HelpLine and the number
see EMS on Page 2.
Yell leaders prepare for upcoming football season
BY JULIE ZUCKER
The Battalion
Yell Leaders, an old and stand
ing tradition at Texas A&M, are try
ing some to new methods to raise
spirit and get students involved —
such as this week’s All U-Walk and
the new activities at First Yell being
prime examples.
In 1907, a group of freshman
raided the janitor’s closets for uni
forms and cheered and joked
around on the track to originally
entertain upperclassmen’s bored
dates at football games.
Jeff Bailey, head yell leader and
senior agricultural systems man
agement major, said that after
traveling over 10,000 miles this
summer, he and the other four,
yell leaders are ready to start the
year at A&M and can’t wait until
the football season starts.
Dusty Batsell, senior yell leader
and a construction science major,
said yell leaders are more than
just football supporters.
“Yell leaders evolved into
[A&M athlete] supporters,” he
said. “But our number one prior
ity is to be a representative to the
12th Man and the entire student
body.”
He said that although yell lead
ers are most synonymous with
football games, their duties go far
beyond Kyle Field.
“We are a strong group,” he
said. “We are unified, and our
goal is to unite the whole campus.
We are not role models; we lead
by example.”
Ricky Wood, junior yell leader
and a theater arts major, said the
group has a lot of responsibility,
and their role as yell leaders are to
be servants to the student body.
“I honestly don’t know every-
“We are unified,
and our goal is to
unite the whole
campus”
—Dusty Batsell
Senior yell leader
thing we have to do,” he said.
“We are community leaders and
are completely devoted to A&M.
We need to lead the student body
in supporting all of our great
teams and traditions.”
This year, the yell leaders are
going to start new programs, be
ginning with the new “First Yell”
on Sept. 17 and 18.
“We have been living, eating
and breathing ‘First Yell,’” Bat
sell said. “It is going to be great.
It will be as Aggie as an Aggie
can be.”
John Bloss, senior Yell Leader
and an agricultural economics
major, said he is looking forward
to the basketball season.
“With the new coaches, our
teams are going to go far,” he said.
Clint “Bubba” Moser, junior
yell leader and an agricultural eco
nomics major, said there will be
no greater atmosphere than The
Zone for the 1999 football season.
“A&M now has the greatest en
vironment for football, Saturday
will be the first of many wins for
us,” he said. “Support wins
games.”
Batsell said the group will
strive to protect the honor of be
ing a yell leader.
“Our motivation and drive to
do our best comes from the peo
ple who put us here,” he said.
“The student body needs to
have faith in us, and we will work
to live up to the student body’s
standards. ”
Bailey said he serves as the li
aison for the yell leaders. He
speaks for all of them when he
says A&M needs support for its
teams.
“As far as athletics are con
cerned,” he said, “we can’t win
without the stands being full. I
want, and I know I can speak for
the other guys, when I say we
want full stands.”
‘First Families’ exhibit shows private lives
BY RYAN WEST
The Battalion
From President Gerald Ford picking flowers with his
granddaughters to President Ronald Reagan and his wife,
Nancy, twirling on the dance floor, “First Families: Inti
mate Portraits from the Kennedys to the Clintons,” pro
vides a glimpse into the personal lives of the first families
from renowned photographer Harry Benson.
The exhibit, a 72,000 square-foot traveling “Newseum”
created by funds from The Freedom Forum in Washington,
D.C., is on display at the George Bush Presidential Library
and Museum until Oct. 17. A grant from the Bush Library
Foundation paid for the display.
The “Newseum” features over 60 of Benson’s pho
tographs displaying the private lives of the “First Families”
— some of which appeared in publications such as Vani
ty Fair, Life Magazine, People Magazine and Vogue.
George Bush Library spokesperson Brian Blake, said it
is the first time the library has displayed Benson’s work.
“I’ve heard a lot of positive comments about the pho
to of Ronald and Nancy Reagan dancing,” Blake said.
“Many people recognize it because it was a Vanity Fair
cover photo.”
Underneath each of the pictures is a brief description
of where and when the shot was taken; some of them also
include Benson’s personal observations in taking the pho
tographs.
Chris Bradford, Class of ’95, and wife, Lorna, Class of
’97, drove from Wylie, Texas, to visit the Bush Library and
.to see the new exhibit on Tliesday.
“I enjoyed that the pictures were of presidents from
when I was growing up,” Lorna Bradford said. “It’s in
triguing to see what it’s like to be in office on a more per
sonal level, like in the picture of Reagan outside in shorts,
driving a stake into the ground.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GEORGE BUSH MUSEUM
This photo of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his sister Caroline is
part of the “First Families" exhibit at the George Bush Library.
“We always see their lives on a professional level,”
Chris Bradford said “But [Benson’s photographs] show
what it’s like with their families and in their homes.”