SAVE ON LONG DISTANCE Dorms, Residences, and Businesses ALL 50 STATES, ANYTIME Synergy Long Distance Services www.synergylds.com LD (800) 460-1847 Q. Do you wonder what your future holds? A. Come talk to UCS and discover the answers. UCS has been in computer and automotive business for twenty-nine years. We are looking for many different majors and backgrounds for entry level positions including sales, programming, customer service, marketing, pur chasing, consulting, and technical support for our Houston, College Station and other regional offices. For more information, please stop by and visit with our department representatives: Business Career Fair September 22 - September 23, 1999 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Wehner Building If you are unable to attend, but would still like to apply, please call or visit our website. Universal Computer Systems, Inc. Attn ad #2947 6700 Hollister, Houston, TX 77040 409-595-2609 Fax(713) 718-1401 www.universalcomputersys.com UCS hires non-tobacco users only. EOE Casa Ole * Grapevine * Casa OI£ * Grapevine * Casa Ole * Grapevine Department of Student Activities Volunteer Services Center Volunteer Opportunities Fair September 22-23 (Wednesday and Thursday) 10am-2pm at the Bonfire Field near Aggie Habitat’s On-Campus house! ■fil W? GivEm, Aggies! i Volunteer djervices Center t of V/tudent Activities TOMORROW! Department < serve@tamu.edu . . pfiOl® Virtual Volunteer Services Center!! http://wsc.tamu.edu/ Lori Salter lori-s@tamu.edu 845.1133 168 Koldus Sharis Smith sharis@stuact.tamu.edu 862.1491 158 Koldus Casa Ole * Grapevine * Casa Ole * Grapevine * Casa 016 * Grapevine iation OF FORMER STUDENTS AGGIE RING ORDERS CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 21, 1999 Undergraduate Student Requirements: You must be a degree seeking student and have completed all of the following requirements to order an Aggie ring: 1. 25 cumulative undergraduate credit hours reflected on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System degree audit. (A course passed with a grade letter of D or better, which is repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours unless the catalog states the course may be repeated for cred it. The lowest grade is the repeated course.) 2. 69 undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you attended prior to 1994 and do not qualify under the successful semester requirement defined in the following paragraph. The 60 credit hour requirement will be waived if your degree is conferred with less than 60 A&M credit hours. The waiver will not be granted until after your degree is posted to screens #123 & #136 of the Student Information Management System. 30 undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, providing that prior to lantiarv 1, 1994, you were enrolled at Texas A&M University and successfully completed either a fail/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (A full time student is defined in the university catalog as one that completes 12 credit hours with a 2.0 GPR in a spring or fall semester; or 4 credit hours with a 2.0 GPR in a 10 week session.) Please remember that you will lose resident credits if you pass a course at A&M with a D or better and retake it at another institution and make a higher grade. The lowest grade is always deducted by the university as a repeated class. 3. 2.0 cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University. 4. Be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. Graduate Student Requirements: If you are a December 1999 degree candidate and do not have an Aggie ring from a prior degree, you may place an order after you meer the following requirements: Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System; and 2. You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. However, if you have completed all of your course work prior to this semester and have been cleared by the the sis clerk, you may request a “letter of completion” from the Office of Graduate Studies (providing it is not past their deadline). The original letter of completion, with the seal, may be presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted. Procedure to order a ring: 1. If you meet all of the above requirements and you wish to receive your ring on November 18,1999, you must visit the Ring Office no later than Tuesday, September 21, 1999 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. to complete the application for eligibility verification. It is recommended that you do not wait until September 21 to apply for your ring audit. Should there be a problem with your academic record, or if you are blocked, you may not have sufficient time to resolve these matters before the order closes our on September 23. Return no later than September 23, 1999 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. to check on the sta tus of your audit and if qualified, pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Discover, Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted). Men’s 10K Women’s 10K $312.00 $197.00 14K - $410.00 14K - $217.00 * Add $8.00 for Class of‘98 or before and $15.00 if ring needs to be shipped out-of-town. The ring delivery date is November 18. 1999. Continued from Page 1 Strickland said Brewer’s words prove he “is a future threat to black people in the future.” The defense said the letter referred to a sexual act. Strickland agreed that letters may be interpreted differently according to the interpreter. Brewer’s family was not available for questioning following the verdict. Tuesday Aggie Lutherans: A gathering for fun and fellowship will take place at 7 p.m. at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. TAMU Men’s Rugby: Open practice will be held from 7 to 8:45 p.m. in the Rugby field behind the Zachry Parking Lot. No experience neces sary. For more information, contact Lucas at 691-8363. National Society of Black Engi neers: There will be a general meet ing at 7:30 p.m. in Rich 101. Churches Continued from Page 1 He said the churches have prayer ministers available in case the Byrd family members have spe cific requests or need counseling. “It’s been a cooperative effort; [members of both churches] have really stepped up to the challenge,” Hall said. Reverend Bobby Hudson, the reverend of Goodwill Baptist Church in Jasper when the murder occurred, said pastors and minis ters held a prayer vigil outside the courthouse in Jasper, making sure they remained visible for the fami ly and the community. “We walked around the [Jasper] community to show our support and sympathy and to keep unity,” he said. Hudson said, that although he has retired as the reverend of Good will Baptist Church, he is still a member of Ministeria Alliance, and leads a Bible study with Shawn Berry, the third man accused in the Byrd case. Credit card debt plagues studei BY JULIE ZUCKER The Battalion CARPOOL Continued from Page 1 “It was amazing to see the amount of drivers giving up their time to make sure Aggies have a safe ride home,” he said. Shiefelbein said even with the ini tial success of the program, miscon ceptions still exist. He said one myth of the program is that drivers are going to preach to the riders about the evils of drinking, he said. Shiefelbein said the applicants knew they could not lecture to the riders when they applied. He said another misconception is that the program keeps records 6f the calls in order to turn them into the police for drinking violations, es pecially minors. Shiefelbein said they take names to find the person who called when they get to the bar or party, not so they can report the names to the po lice. He said this information can also be used to report the number of rides given for program sponsors. The third myth is that the pro gram is against drinking and the group consists completely of non drinkers. Shiefelbein said it is a student’s choice to drink, and they are old enough to make that decision. He said one-third of the students who used the service over the weekend were sober. “Some people lost their keys, had a flat tire or wanted to leave the club before the rest of their group,” he said. Shiefelbein said the group of stu dent volunteers consists of students who drink and those who do not. He said as a program they are not con cerned with drinking, they are con cerned with getting people home safely who have been drinking. Shiefelbein said some students who used the service called back or saw the drivers on campus and thanked them for the safe ride home. Average credit card debt for col lege students has risen 5 percent in the last year, which can eventually make large purchases in the future difficult, if not impossible. Lawrence W. O’Toole, president of Nellie Mae, a national student loan provider, said the increase calls for more education about credit card use. “With the average credit card debt nearing$2,000 [perstudent], it is clear that we must continue to ed ucate students about credit card use,” he said. Carolyn Shanley, senior writer for Nellie Mae, said students are easy targets for credit card companies. “The booths are all over cam puses,” she said. “Most companies think if you don’t pay, mom and dad will.” Debra LaGrone, assistant direc tor of tl)e Department of Financial Aid, said a lot of students do not think about the future when they are spending in the present. “Many students with credit card debt get another card to replace the one they cannot charge with,” La Grone said. “They don’t realize the debt will still be there.” Credit card companies increase the interest rates after a month grace period which makes any amount due more than the cost of the original item purchased. LaGrone said companies can raise the line of credit, but that is not always a positive thing for stu dents with debt. “Raising the level just makes the student want to spend more,” she said. “Students have the right to ask “Students need to use their cards, but for emergencies and to build [credit] history. — Debra LaGrone assistant director for the Department of Financial Aid the company to lower their credit line, lessening the chance of over spending. ” LaGrone said students also need to know that frequent flier miles and free minutes for phone com panies are not always a bonus, “There is a premium each month that is added to the bill, that people pay for the ‘free’ additions, so they are not really free at all,” she said. Shanley said learning to budget money is a necessary skill for fu ture purchases. “There is a trend that students are [taking outj loansm card debts in their hani said. “If they cannot learr get their money, they will?: down from realtors and a men in the future.” Students can go to fins offices to make monthlyi and learn to use their more Shanley said there are lenders and loan offices: to students. Robyn Gel man, a sop business major, said shew the Pavilion for a creditci pany, which asked studen: up for credit cards. She said students car. ferent credit cards to par which helps students to ; nancial responsibility. Creating a solid credits important, but the biggestprj students who cannot i a need and a want, saidl “Students need to cards, but for emergencies build [credit] history,’ said. “Before pullingouif ask yourself, ‘Do I reallyr or do I just want it?” Gel man said students: pay off their credit card: soon as possible so have an outstanding ba the company. “Students don’t undenti need to pay it off because;^ keeps building, theworsnl^ student is to keep buyinga his or her debt,” Gelmans Sc Fish Hev Bike Cop; bib you 5E£ who caeoTE ai£ th/s PaMmo Ticket r XT IS MY JoB Jb PROTECT The Campos fan Azov AM> A)LL- gRYccE Relate 5 crime ;r / U)HY You ^ Lflu6HlA>6 rAE !? WHY bo£S En/EKY0/0E L/U6H BY R. DEU Is XT TH£ UcytLE !>> Tour. SHoRTT ARE STUCK 0/U TOUR Bike -“XT THE PHOENIX BOX BY E. AN DRAGS 2% Stew By Dr, I what i How A&M Architects decide a new building on campus should be. There’s no chance for appeal. Take the LSAT and do it right the first time. Take Kaplan. Class starts October 5 in Aggieland! Enroll today! 1 -800-KAP-TEST kaptest.com AOL keyword: kaplan *LSAT is the registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council. Kaplan gets you in. The Sallie Turner, Editor in Chief Marium Mohiuddin, Managing Editor Matt Weber, Executive Editor Scott Harris, Aggielife Editor Stephen Wells, Aggielife Editor Al Lazarus, Sports Editor Doug Shilling, Sports Editor Veronica Serrano, Night News Editor Staff Guy Rogers, Photo Editor Robert Hynecek, Graphics E(M| Mark McPherson, Graphics! Caleb McDaniel, Opinion Editor j Carrie Bennett, City Editor Emily R. Snooks, Campus EditoJ Jeremy Brown. Web Editor Kyle Whitacre, Radio Producer Members City - Amanda Smith, Meredith Might, April Young, Rachel Holland, Stasia Raines, Suzanne Braebeck, Stuart Hutson & Julie Zucker. Sports - Reece Flood, Travis Harsch, Bree Holz, Beth Miller, Blaine Dionne & Jason Lincoln. Aggielife - Heather Brandy, Mariano Castillo, Brian Fleming, Jacob Huval, Jeff Kempf, Matt McCormick, Susan Overcash, Amanda Palm, Emily Ruder, Melissa Pantano, Jennifer Spurlock, Noni Sridhara & Jeff Wolfshohl. Opinion - Assistant: Beverly Mireles; John Baker, Mariano Castillo, Jessica Crutcher, Eric Dickens, Stephanie Dube, Marc Grether, Ann Weaver Hart, Chris Huffines, Elizabeth Kohl, David lee, Passwaters, Caesar Ricci, Jeff Webb & M Wright. Photo - JP Beato, Bradley Atchison, Kerri Kimber Huff, Chad Adams, Cody Wages S Disaivo. Graphics - Gabriel Ruenes, Ruben Detail & Jeffrey Smith. Cartoonists - Ruben Deluna. Copy Editors - Kasie Byers, Amy Daugherty If Miller, Jamie Morris, Deidra Hall. BobbieEJi« Jeff Kempf. Page Designers- Jaime Morris & Kyle Write; News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publicaii«.iK l | Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax IMS-Kh batt@tamvml.tamu.edu; Website: http://battalion.tamu.edu Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and natas* 1 tising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hows aieSrf | Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of Trie Battalion. Ffi#K | tional copies 254. Mail subscripbons are $60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester and $17.50 for the summer. Wap J card, call 845-2611. The Battauon (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Mondaythmt()il| ingthe summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University. 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