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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1999)
Volume 106 • Issue 24 • 16 Pages 106 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY lursday • September 30, 1999 College Station, Texas [AACP selects B-CS r convention site larpton, Cochran to attend; A&M to host dinner BY RICHARD BRAY The Battalion Bhe National Association for the Advance- Ht of Colored People (NAACP) will hold their mial state convention in College Station be- Bing today and continuing through Saturday. B&xas A&M will honor the groups arrival by opting a dinner for 300 people participating in nfjNAACP meeting and will present the orga- Btion with a plaque. Bhe NAACP convention patrons will include Hier O.J. Simpson defense attorney, Johnny jphran and the Rev. Al Sharpton. The reception le NAACP will be tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. lary Russar, the coordinator for special pro- is for the associate provost of the graduate tjfcrams and academic services, said this is the irst time the NAACP has chosen the Bryan-Col- egt Station area for a meeting. “What we’re trying to do is honor the fact that, the NAACP has selected the Brazos Valley to host their state convention,” she said. She said this is a historic moment for A&M because this is a function of national stature. “This is the first time that A&M has hosted a major state meeting of this kind,” she said. “We will have people from not only the na tional office but regional board members and regional directors from the NAACP.” Russar said that at the reception, A&M will give NAACP delegates a commemorative brochure featuring A&M African-American stu dents, leaders and faculty. “We have a history of African-Americans here at Texas A&M that we are very proud of,” she said. “The brochure will highlight the first [African-American] students admitted to the University in 1963, the first African-American yell leader, the first [African-American] stu- JEFF SMITH/The Battalion dent body president and the first African- American faculty member.” The gesture on the part of A&M is one of the many unheralded activities that the Universi ty participates in to improve race relations. Maco Faniel, a sophomore speech commu nication major and vice president of commu nity improvement for Student Government As sociation, said the convention will hopefully shed a positive light on College Station in re gards to past attitudes on minorities. “In the past and even now, Texas A&M Uni versity has gotten a negative reputation [for its attitude toward minorities],” he said. “We only hear about the negative things. We nev er hear about the good things that Texas A&M is doing.” RHA discusses garage parking BY BROOKE HODGES The Battalion Students with reserved parking in the Southside Parking Garage may have to compete for parking spots in the future, according to a Parking, Traffic and Transporta tion Services (PTTS) proposal pre sented and discussed at last night’s Residence Hall Associa tion General Assembly. Sherry Wine, executive associ ate director of PTTS, said they are looking into changing the re served parking of the Southside Garage to unnumbered, unre served spots. She said this change will allow University’s parking re sources to be better allocated. Wine said the 1,976 available spots in the Southside garage are rarely full and electronic counts conducted during the first three weeks of school showed an average of around 1,600 occupied spaces. She said the unreserved park ing will also be convient when residents move in and out of the halls at the beginning and end of each semester. Wine said some other issues being evaluated this semester are the impact of football games and other largely-attended events on parking situations and providing options for faculty and staff who are required to be at work during inconvenient hours. Wine said the garage will re quire some maintenance before it changes to unnumbered parking. Presently, the painted arrows directing traffic on the first floor see RHA on Page 2. HICKEY iady Aggies’ :ader leaves r UTS A BY JEANETTE SIMPSON J The Battalion ■Texas A&M Athletics will say ■odbye and good luck to Lynn ■ckey the senior ■sociate athletic ■rector of the Ithletic Depart- iient at the recep tion today from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. w MSC 206 in recognition of the Mrs she has lit at A&M as a h and athletic administrator, r. Tina Cheatham, assistant etic director for women’s Jits, who worked closely with |key, said in her 15 years as a |ch and administrator of ten’s athletics, Hickey helped g women’s athletics to a new at A&M. IShe genuinely cared, and she ad a strong commitment in Jting the Lady Aggies on the aap,” Cheatham said, mickey is leaving A&M to ac- |)i the position of athletic direc- or at the University of Texas-San litonio. idickey coached the Kansas tlte basketball team for five sea- ons where she led her team to 25 vis and the NCAA postseason ournament each year, before join- tig the A&M coaching and admin- stration staff in 1984 as assistant letic director for women. [She was promoted in 1991 to as- iate athletic director for women. As head coach of the women’s ketball team she shared many tories with the players. see Hickey on Page 2. INSIDE B I Sports •Continuing the tradition junior linebacker Jason felenn discusses family] life, football. Page 11 j Aggielife Close the door, I’m in here haring a dorm room or ipartment leads to awkward Situations, lack of privacy. Page 3 Opinion Alienable Rights Recent court cases that high- school students are not endowed with the same rights as others. Page 15 Batt Radio Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for information on new investment firm. Here’s the kicker ANTHONY DISALVO/Thh Battalion Travis Baldwin, (left) a sophomore aerospace engineering major, and Jeremy Wilson, (right) a junior electrical engineering major, practice their daily Muay Thai exercises at their apartment complex Wednesday. Error on ballot halts elections BY CARRIE BENNETT The Battalion Freshman elections were temporarily disrupted yes terday when a typographical error was caught on ballots at the Blocker Building. Ashlea Jenkins, election commissioner and a junior political science major, said the numbers and the corre sponding names were mis aligned, which might have thrown off voters. She said the error was caught at 1:45 p.m. yesterday and the booth closed. Jenkins said that within five minutes, the error was fixed and the booth reopened until 3 p.m. when the booth was closed for the day. “We decided to close two hours early to prevent mass confusion,” she said. Melissa Tripp, an election commission member of the and a senior management of informational operations major, said every effort was made to call everyone who voted at the Blocker Building yesterday and tell them to vote again today. She said the election commission was unable to reach everyone be cause some people do not have their phone numbers listed in the A&M system. “We strongly encourage everyone who voted at the Blocker location to vote again at any of the locations so their vote counts,” she said. Jenkins said that if some one votes and their ballot was cast without error yes terday, the computer will catch it by checking the stu dent identification number and will then throw out the second ballot cast. She said only a small number of bal lots were affected by the er ror and it will not affect the outcome of the election. “This is not going to throw the results off,” she said. “[The error] will not sway the opinion of the election.” Students can vote at Sbisa Dining Hall, Blocker Building, Sterling C. Evans Library, Duncan Dining Center, Zachry Engineering Building, the MSC and the Commons Lobby. Program aids Aggies, children BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion To help pay for college, Mary Ham mond, a senior marketing major, tutors struggling school children, but she says her job involves more than just teach ing kids to read. “You’re kind of a role model that these kids can look up to,” she said. Hammond is one of 120 Texas A&M students participating in America Reads, a federal program that encour ages college students to tutor elemen tary school children for their financial aid work-study jobs. Patricia Lynch, the program coordi nator and a senior lecturer with the De partment of Educational Psychology, said the program, which includes 16 el ementary schools in the Bryan-College Station area, benefits both the tutors and the students who participate. “It’s a great way to help children who need one-on-one help and for A&M students to see the value of help ing in public schools,” Lynch said. Tutors work approximately 10 hours a week and work with students indi vidually or in small groups to help them with reading and math skills. Hammond said the children look for ward to the tutoring sessions and that the extra academic help makes a difference. -120 Texas A&M students participate -16 elementary schools in the Bryan-College Station area participate -tutors spend 10 hours a week and work with students individually or in small groups -tutors help with reading and math skills ROBERT HYNECEK/Tiii: Battalion “You can definitely see the kids’ progress,” she said. “They’re more con fident in their schoolwork, and they’re not afraid to speak up or raise their hand when they don’t understand something.” Mary Ellen Linder, an assistant prin cipal at Fannin Elementary in Bryan, said the tutors also play the role of men tor to the at-risk children they tutor. “One of the biggest benefits is that the children bond with the tutor,” Lin der said. “The attachment that forms not only helps the students learn to read, it helps build their self-esteem.” Melissa Ramer, an America Reads tutor and a junior management infor mation systems major, said encourag ing children to feel good about them selves is an integral part of being a tutor. “I think that if all we ever did was give a child confidence that they didn’t have before, then we would have made our mark,” Ramer said. “But we don’t stop there, we make them excellent readers.” Ramer, who works at an after-school reading program, said what many of her students need is just an extra positive push to get back on track with their school work. “It’s an extremely rewarding job,” she said. “You can really make a difference in these kids’ lives, and its a lot more meaningful than filing papers.” University Committees select student advisers for officials BY ERIKA DOERR The Battalion Final decisions have been made for 1999-2000 student rep resentatives which will gather input and advise various coordi nating officials on campus. Student Body President Will Hurd, a senior computer science major, said these committees are instrumental to the University and the representatives were chosen through an application process. “The bulk of most Universi ty-wide decisions are made within these University Com mittees,” he said. “Carrie Garcia, the University Committees chair for student government and the University Committee executive team, helped choose these stu dent representatives. ” Hurd said examples of com mittees include Academic Ap peals, Bus Operations Advisory Board, Financial Aid Student Advisory, President’s Advisory Committee on Art Policy (PACAP), Parking Traffic and Transportation Services (PTTS) Advisory and University Lecture Committees. Hurd said each committee re ports back to their respective student government vice presi dent and approximately 45 Uni versity Committees report to fac ulty and staff members such as, A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen, Dr. Jerry Gaston, vice president for administration, and Dr. Ronald Douglas, execu tive vice president and provost of the faculty senate. “/ want to help deal with the issues and controversies....” — Jack Long PTTS advisory member “I want to see these student representatives take a more ac tive role within their commit tees,” he said. “If a student has a concern, I want the appropri ate University Committee to in ject student input in their policy making.” Jack Long, a PTTS advisory committee member and a sophomore political science ma jor, said an applicant can only serve on three committees but was able to apply for a total of five positions. “I was very excited to have been chosen to be on the PTTS advisory committee,” he said. “I want to help deal with the issues and controversies of parking on campus. I feel that being on this committee will allow me to offer a chance to input ideas about ways to help make improve ments aoout campus parking and regulations.” Long said the PTTS advisory committee reviews PTTS poli cies and procedures and offers new ideas about parking. “The PTTS committee was one out my five choices of com mittees to apply for, and all the information is done on the In ternet now,” Long said. “We are required to go to our respective meetings, take notes, and submit these notes to Carrie Garcia. ” Sarah Steinhorst, a Who’s Who Committee member and a junior biomedical engineering major, said she also found out about the University Committee applications through an adver tisement in The Battalion. “Being on this committee is a great opportunity to make deci sions for A&M and to give back to the A&M community, through these decisions,” she said. “Applicants were allowed to apply for five positions and were chosen on the basis of their top priority choices matching with their interests.” Hurd said student represen tatives input ideas and help form decisions alongside their com mittee chairs.