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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1999)
AGGIE RING ORDERS :iation' OF FORMER STUDENTS ATTENTION: UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE STUDENTS Students who will eidier complete all of the following requirements after the Fall ‘99 semester final grades are posted, or after commencement, may order their rings beginning approximately January 18, 2000 for April 2000 delivery. Please visit the Aggie Ring Office in the Clayton Williams Alumni Center beginning December 13 to complete an audit request and to receive older information. In the event you will not be in the College Station area between January 18 and February 11 to place your order in person, please pick up a mail order form and be sized for your ring between December 13 & 21. Any student or former student who completed all the requirements as of summer ‘99, must visit the Aggie Ring Office to complete a ring audit no later than December 8 to order their ring by the December 10 deadline for March 2, 2000 delivery. ' :iation OF FORMER STUDENTS AGGIE RING ORDERS CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER DEADLINE: DECEMBERS, 1999 Undergraduate Student Requirements: You must be a degree seeking student and have completed all of the following require ments to order an Aggie ring: 95 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 credit. The lowest grade is the repeated course.) 2. 60 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 suc cessful 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 post ed 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 January 1, 1994, you were enrolled at Texas A&M University and successfully completed either a fall/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 meet the following requirements: 1. 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 tran script 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 thesis 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 March 2, 2000, you must visit the Ring Office no later than Wednesday, December 8, 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 December 8 to apply for your ring audit. Should there be a problem with your academic record, or i( you are blocked, you may not have sufficient time to resolve these matters before the order closes out on December 10. 2. Return no later than December 10, 1999 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. to check on the status of your audit and if qualified, pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Discove r , Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted). Men’s 10K - $332.00 14K - $438.00 Women’s 10K - $204.00 14K - $227.00 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 March 2, 2000. . Page 12 • Wednesday, December 1, 1999 w ORLD — Officials recruit, arms forces while on tour of Chechen city Chechen rebels regroup to defend Grozr, Russian forces attack Chechen rebel strongholdsrf the capital as Chechen fighters flock to its defense Russian airstrike or artillery shelling Rebels retaliate by staging ambushes, firing at Russian jets ACHKOI-MARTAN, Russia (AP) — The con victed embezzler tried to help the Moscow-backe d government in Chechnya collect and arm re cruits for a paramilitary force during a tour yes terday of a Russian-held Chechen city. Meanwhile, Moscow shrugged off mount ing international pressure yesterday for a diplo matic solution to the fighting, showering bombs on the last rebel-held route to Grozny in the on going battle for the Chechen capital. The rebels retaliated by staging ambushes in s mall groups and firing at Russian jets with large-c aliber machine guns and shoulder-held rock ets. The militants have been resisting tenacious ly on several fronts in recent days. In a new move yesterday, Russian comman ders gave Kalashnikov rifles and uniforms to a pr o-Moscow militia composed of Chechens who sai d they will fight alongside federal troops. The group is led by Bislan Gantamirov, a for mer mayor of Grozny who was serVing a prison t erm for embezzlement before Russian Presi dent Boris Yeltsin pardoned him earlier this mont h and chose him to lead a Moscow-backed Chech en government. Gantamirov said he would encourage rebel fighters to defect to his group, but did not say exactly what military role the force would play . Gantamirov led a previous, Moscow-backed militia in 1994 that was defeated by sepa ratist fighters. His group of about 200 men looked di sheveled. Some were unshaven. Some wore leath er jackets and others military fatigues. They stood in a line in a muddy, snowy field for inspec tion by Russian regional commander Col. Gen. Vi ktor Kazantsev. Meanwhile, the Russians are attempting to sur round Grozny and cut off militants from their bas es in the mountains. Yesterday’s fighting was con centrated around Urus-Martan, a city about 12 mi les southwest of the capital. With sunny weather increasing visibility, the Russians sent barrages of rockets and artillery she 11s slamming into Urus-Martan. During lulls in the bombing, the rattle of au tomatic weapons fire could also be heard as Ru ssian troops tried to advance on the city from t he west. The Russian military command said 50 rebels were killed in yesterday’s fighting around Urus-M artan, Grozny and other Chechen towns. Cheche n officials claimed significant Russian losses, but neither claim could be independently confirmed. The Russians have showed no sign of eas ing up despite international pressure for a nego tiated solution to the conflict. Alvaro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe’s hu man rights commissioner, traveled to Russian-co htrolled parts of Chechnya on TUesday to in spect living conditions, Russian news reports said French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and G erman Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer criti cized Russia for not setting a date for a visit to Ch echnya by Organization for Security and Coop eration in Europe chairman Knut Vollebaek. Vedrine and Fischer called on Russia to al low humanitarian aid into the region and said the y were “shocked by the consequences of the re pression on the civilian population.” Some 233,000 refugees — almost a third of Ch echnya’s population — have fled the fighting. U.S. State Department spokesman James Ru bin said that Secretary of State Madeleine Al- .a, Judenw f , Grozny*^ A'S'J" t the war is “causing humanitarii lems, damaging Russia’s internatioi tion and complicating the achievemei litical solution.” Russia said the military campaign: ternal matter, and that it does notinta gotiate with the Chechens until the mi roundly defeated. Russia also blames tants for apartment bombings that kills bright had spoken by phone with Rnw 0 thers Ag, eign Minister Igor Ivanov on Monda ttDD) is hos Albright stressed that the United! (Jllelight vigil not believe “a purely military solution lo have lost th flict is possible,” Rubin said. She told jured in alcof y at 6 p.m. he holii ird for t ive lost alcoho ople in several Russian cities inSepteir. Support within Russia remains pcidenti campaign, which has caused massive tion in Chechnya, a territory already® ed by a 1994-96 war in which Chechny facto independence. Remarks from wife of Palestinian leader cause upro Chrisi MAC RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — It has been a turbulent month for Soha Arafat. First, the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat publicly re nounced her mother for meddling in her life. Then she caused an inter national uproar by accusing Israel of intentionally poisoning Palestinians with gas, deeply embarrassing first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. All the while, she insists her mar riage to Arafat, a man twice her age, is sound — even while acknowl edging she almost never sees him. Mrs. Arafat’s remarks have un expectedly trained the spotlight on the Palestinians’ first family, espe cially on the 36-year-old Mrs. Arafat. They have also embar rassed the Palestinian Authority which has been under U.S. pres sure to distance itself from her. Mrs. Arafat’s mother, Raymonda Tawil, said her daughter is simply trying to assert her independence. Arafat “understands [Soha’s] quest for freedom,” Tawil, 59, long an influential force herself in the Palestinian community, especially in the ’70s and ’80s, when she owned a Palestinian news agency and her home was frequently a gathering point for resistance against Israeli occupation, said. During her 10 years of marriage to Arafat, Mrs. Arafat has spoken out on a num- ber of issues, in cluding corrup tion in the Palestinian Au thority and the peace talks with Israel. Her public role has been rel atively modest. She has tended to a few chari ties, including Arafat’s sudden declaration that she was severing ties. Claiming that Israeli agents were trying to destabilize the Palestinians, Mrs. Arafat last week told the French weekly Paris Match that “my moth- er, herself, had let “Soha [Arafat] is like a bird. When it wants to leave the nest, it kicks the mother” — Raymonda Tawil Soha Arafat’s mother herself get caught up in [the Is raelis’] machina tions.” Mrs. Tawil ac knowledged that being pushed away by her daughter was painful. "This was very tough for me as a moth er,” she said in an hristianne m advocati i people aff Id accidents The holida; } have lost 1 |ated] accid Dty place at said. “We h by bringin embering t way. ” he event v ames of the n injured in idents. wIADD rec tion of und Han Tuscani Sever services for handicapped children, but has rarely accompanied her hus band on his many trips abroad. There have been long stretches of seclusion in a Paris apartment, where she stayed with her 4-year- old daughter, Zahwa, while Arafat remained in Gaza City. For a long time, Mrs. Arafat and her mother were considered close. Then, in October, came Mrs. interview in her home in the West Bank town of Ramallah. “Soha is like a bird. When it wants to leave the nest, it kicks the mother.” Mrs. Arafat, bojrn into a wealthy Christian family, grew up in the West Bank. Taught by nuns, she completed her education at the Sorbonne. She worked in the Palestinian Liberation Oreanization headouarters in TUnis in the late ’80s when si Arafat’s attention. Rumors abound thatil riage has been shaky lot The Palestinian leader oil! before his 1989 weddingilj married to the Palestine and many believe his have not really changi Arafat is no as poplar astj band and has endured criti her affluent lifestyle Mrs. Arafat painted a picture of her related the Palestinian leadMtop s,on s, ‘ 1t j| n stays in the office hours of the night. “My husband and I at®; type to display our sentiniew b T ‘ >I yan Arafat told Paris Match. to ec ' L1 love, but we are not demon.® 16 P UI P 0S( In the magazine inten® uscano sai Arafat described a starkk® ‘ 10t * ,ne CI marriage ceremony in y^’D to help bunker, without a white«® 1(lera 8 e e ' 1 dress or reception. Shew Most peop since then, she has never- actlon8 , ol entire day alone with Aral: pmunity to “I must make do witht l nt .-, 0 ^ s we c despite these constraints f 116 *- ,. r . formed a very nice family" Schudel H^nphter ” she said r A §8 ies K sne saici. 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