ucs Part-Time Jobs Start Your Future.... UCS has been in the computer and automotive business for 29 years. We are looking for bright individuals with various backgrounds and majors for positions including: • Clerical Staff • PC Support • Hardware Repair • Inventory Control • Purchasing • Customer Service We offer flexible hours between 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. and real world work experience with opportunity for full time after graduation. Training is provid ed. E.O.E. To apply, please call our Personnel headquarters, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. or visit our website. 409-595-2609 www.universalcomputersys.com UCS hires non-tobacco users only, EOE The Battalion s TATE ^ageTj^Tuesda^Segtember^EJ^W Trial to examine fairness of TAAS Advocates claim state-required exit exam discriminates against minori- SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Minority-rights advocates went to federal court yesterday asking the state be banned from requiring students to pass a standardized test before re ceiving a high-school diploma. Telling the judge the lawsuit is for “the dis appeared and the forgotten,” plaintiffs’ attorney Al Kauffman said the exit-level Texas Assess ment of Academic Skills discriminates against black and Hispanic students. The negative impact of the lOth-grade test on those ethnic groups contributes to higher dropout rates and an increased retention of Hispanics and blacks in ninth grade, Kauff man said. “This is, indeed, the ultimate high-stakes test,” Kauffman, regional counsel for the Mexi can American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), said. MALDEF represents the plaintiffs group, which includes the Hispanic education organi zations GI Forum and Image de Tejas and seven Hispanic and black students who completed their school work but failed the TAAS exit test and were denied diplomas. The Texas Education Agency and high-level state education officials are the defendants. 'There is ho other way ... to ensure that students learn the material that the state of Texas considers important..." — Deborah Verbil Texas assistant attorney general U.S. District Judge Ed Prado will decide the case. The trial is expected to last about a month. MALDEF is bringing the lawsuit to trial under federal regulations barring discrimi nation by states receiving federal education money. The plaintiffs also cite their right to due process. In opening statements, attorneys for the state disputed the discrimination claims and defend ed the exit-level TAAS as a valid exam that is screened carefully for any bias. “There is no other way for the state of Texas to ensure that students learn the material that the state of Texas considers important than by an objective test,” assistant attorney general Deborah Verbil said. While there has been a gap between minori ties and whites in passing rates on the exit test, that gap is narrowing, Verbil said. She also argued there is no evidence to prove the TAAS test led to an increase in minority dropouts or in more minorities being held back in ninth grade. Although other versions of the TAAS are giv en to public-school students in lower grades, the lawsuit targets the test students must pass to re ceive their diplomas. fAGES i ht in Ho.: >. I atnj ■nachiiw were esc ut thearj mentw 1 COS! 0:3 nses.1 pparai no I dire: Business Student Council presents FALL BUSINES CAREER FAIR SEPT. 21-23, 1999 wn we'iw dmret funvi ® irobW ded lip vas on? t.” i in fro ill read: esearcb iingnofo ? animal After si ill year,: was Irani ute of F( ering (IF , Dr. Mai the new he build i with tlit to finds t Dairy- liter Bud ? will do: grams ill ipecialbt hd. said floe available lat, DIP lizatiouj as weld nd theft ? to varif- aid he K ? settle funds"'- ild theft: S LLEG0 Receptions September 21st 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hilton Bluebonnet Room Featured In Wehner Tuesday, Sept. 21 oth locati ot ding) C) . i lildin® nt A cti ' ’hey ^ igh ilicat' 0 ' Brie ,: AIM Management Align Solutions Corporation Allstate Insurance Company American National Insurance Company Andersen Consulting LLP Arthur Andersen AT&T Blockbuster Inc. CarMax Chase Bank of Texas CINTAS Corporation Deloitte Consulting, LLC Eddie Bauer El Paso Energy EnFORM Technology Enron Corporation Entercon International, Inc. Entergy Ernst and Young Exxon Federal Express Federal Reserve Bank-Houston Branch Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. Foley’s General Electric Grant Thornton Guaranty Bank Haliburton Hastings Hewitt Associates IBM Global Services Ingram Micro JD Edwards KPMG, LLP Kurt Salmon Associates Mervyn’s California National Instruments Neiman Marcus Northwestern Mutual Life Office Depot » Olde Discount Corporation Payless ShoeSource PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP Prudential-Individual Financial Services Randalls/Tom Thumb Royce Homes, LP Ryan & Company Sewell Shell Oil Company Southwestern Bell (SBC Communications, Inc.) Sprint Standard Register State Farm Human Resources Texas A&M Career Center Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts TXU (Texas Utilities) U.S. General Accounting Office UCS Walgreen Company Zale Corporation Reception tickets are sold in Wehner from 9:00 - 4:00 on September 20 - 22 for $5. If you have any questions, visit our website at http.7/wehner.tamu.edu/bsc Officers indicted in 1998 shooting HOUSTON (AP) — A federal grand jury yesterday indicted fired Houston police Sgt. Darrell Strouse and former patrolman James Willis on civil rights charges in a July 1998 fatal shoot ing during a drug raid. Strouse led the botched raid by six Houston Police Department of ficers on the apartment of Pedro Oregon Navarro. Willis, who helped set up the raid, was acquit ted in March on criminal trespass ing charges. Both are charged with conspir acy to violate Oregon’s civil rights. No search warrant was ob tained for the raid, according to the indictments. Don C. Clark, special agent in charge of the Houston FBI office, said the indictments should not re flect badly upon the police depart ment as a whole. “This is not an indictment against law enforcement,” Clark said. “It’s certainly not an indict ment of the police department, but we as law enforcement officers, the people depend upon us, we’re there to secure rights and to protect these rights.” The indictments said the con spiracy involved finding ways to circumvent a search warrant for the raid on July 12, 1998, by police who entered the apartment of Ore gon’s brother. Police shot Oregon, who they said had a gun and was pointing it at them. No drugs were found in the apartment. The grand jury began hearing evidence seven months ago. The Justice Department began a civil-rights investigation after a state grand jury cleared five of the six officers of wrongdoing. Ad campaign targets Y2K AUSTIN (AP) — It is not quite like the song says, “Don’t worry, be happy.” But when it comes to Year 2000, state officials are rec ommending Texas adopt the slo gan “Y2K: Don’t panic, Be ready.” “Everybody’s done an outstand ing job on a really massive (prob lem),” Shannon Porterfield, the state government’s official coordi nator for the Year 2000 computer problem, said. “But I don’t think anyone working on this project can guarantee 100 percent nothing is go ing to happen.” Porterfield is not panicking. She is taking to heart Readiness 2000, a new state preparedness campaign. The public education effort, by a coalition of state agencies, business es and volunteer groups, begins this week with print, television and ra dio ads by sports figures, astronauts and the cast of “Greater TUna.” They will be urging Texans to adopt the “Don’t panic, be ready” slogan. That is, Texans should be ready for possible disruptions if some computers running major services falter when their internal calendars, set to recognize only the last two digits of a year, are unable to distinguish 2000 from 1900. Not panicking means ignoring schemes such as buying large amounts of gold for a collapse of the money supply or ones in which strangers urge people to transfer bank accounts to them for “safe keeping” in case banks fail. Don’t Forget Us For Lunch & Late Night Pizza by the Slice Value Meals Cheese & Drink *2.25 1 Topping & Drink *2.50 Speciality & Drink *2.75 Add a Slice *1.25 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. M-F at Northgate Location Only 1 Large 1 Topping $ 6.99 . io p.m. - Close College Station 764-7272 Bryan 268-7272 TAMU/Northgate 846-3600 Tkes Nail Station/ “If your nails aren’t becoming to you, you should be coming to us” i $ 5 off i $ 10 off i *35 Fill | Full Set : Pedicured Manicure Exp. 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