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.