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STUART VILLANUEVA/I hi Baitaijo
Malcolm Duncan, and other members of Warrior Company, a group of army contract cadets, practice throw
ing dummy grenades on campus Wednesday.
Student Senate OKs
‘Web-Based voting’
BY JEANETTE SIMPSON
The Battalion
An emergency resolution giving the Student
Government Association’s (SGA) Election Com
missioner the power to implement online voting
passed at Wednesday’s Student Senate meeting.
The “Web-Based Voting” resolution states that
a Web-based polling system for the student body
elections be included as a polling site at the discre
tion ofthe Election Commissioner, Ashlea Jenkins,
a junior political science major.
Student Services
Other orders of business included passage of a
resolution addressing the Athletic Department’s de
cision to close “Aggie Alley.”
The resolution protests the Athletic De
partment’s failure to gather student input on
the decision.
“The Athletic Department should hold student
input in high regard,” Spencer said.
“The Student Senate passed the resolution to ex
press its disappointment that our input was not con
sidered,” he said.
Hurd agreed w ith the resolution.
“I think it is impor-
chair Justin Strickland,
a junior political sci
ence major. Acade
mics Affairs chair
Brent Spencer, a se
nior microbiology ma
jor, and two other sen
ators introduced the
resolution as emer
gency legislation.
“The passage of this
bill is vital to the the im
plementation of a web
based voting system,”
Jenkins said. “If it is
possible to have Web-
“Web voting is a great
step in the right direc
tion for A&M. . . preserv
ing the integrity ofthe
election process will be
of most importance.”
— Will Hurd
Texas A&M student body president and
a computer science major
taut whenever a deci
sion impacts students
that everyone consult
this group [Student
Senate] which offers a
voice for the 42,000
plus students on this
campus,” Hurd said.
Not all ofthe stu
dent senators support
ed the resolution. Sev
eral senators expressed
concern about the res
olution’s effect on the
Senate’s relationship
with the University.
“I am against this
based voting for the spring elections, this legisla
tion ensures that it will be implemented.”
Strickland said if the Web-based voting is put
into action, it is hoped that it will increase voter
turnout, making the elected student officials more
representative of the student body.
“Web voting is a great step in the right direction
for A&M,” Will Hurd, student body president and
senior computer science major, said.
“Throughout the development of Web voting,
preserving the integrity ofthe election process will
be of most importance,” he said.
resolution because [Student Senate] work continu
ously to build relations w'ith departments through
out this campus,” said Peter Schulte, student sen
ator and a senior management information systems
major.
“Resolutions like these tear those relations
down,” he said.
David Kessler, student senator and senior Eng
lish major, also opposed the resolution.
“1 feel that when interacting: with administra-
See Senate on Page 2.
stria has i
iment since me “W"
tan elections
r’s pt
ofthe People’s
niversity Online Resnet, Unix available to off-
Web used for admissions
BY SARA PROFFITT
The Battalion
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
Texas-Austin,
said.
= Stones said
42,600 online
applications
have been de
livered this
year, com
pared to only
tributed to the students’ and universi
ties' grow ing familiarity with the com
mon form.
“It seems to be working very well,”
said Sharon Cobb, assistant commis
sioner for Student Services for the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating
board. “But 1 think that is because every
university in Texas is doing it.”
Kathy Heffner, a clerk in the coun
selor’s office at A&M Consolidated
High School,
High School Online Applicants for Texas Universities said some
high school
students are
experiencing
trouble with
the online ap
plications be
cause they do
Robert hynecek/thk battauon n0 { realize
p The months of anxious waiting for
college acceptance letters to anive in
the mailbox may be a thing ofthe past.
■! The number of high school students
applying online to public Texas uni
versities this year more than doubled
since last year, Dave Stones, manager
of Student Information Systems at the
University of
I ’T'
17,000 ttudentt
~r
I >#mm:
Si
1
thousands of students
1|7,000 at this time last year.
1 lie said students who apply on
line get their responses about three
w eeks earlier than students who ap
ply on paper.
1 The Texas State Legislature created
a common college application, allow
ing students to have a uniform, consis
tent method of applying for admission
to public four-year universities in
Texas. This method included an online
application form.
I Stones said the rise in the number of
online applications can be partially at-
they still have to pay fees and send in
documents such as transcripts and
test scores.
“A lot of kids hit send and didn’t re
alize they had to get a transcript,”
Heffner said. “They didn’t realize the
things you had to [do] physically —
without the computer.”
Heffner said that regardless of po
tential problems, her office strongly en
courages students to apply online.
Heffner estimated that 80 percent of
the A&M Consolidated students apply
ing to public universities in Texas use
the online application.
Off-campus students may now enjoy the same
high-speed computer access to online resources such
as Resnet, Unix and library databases previously
only available to resident hall students and via com
puter labs.
The Virtual Private Network
(VPN) is a new computer pro-
VPN may be downloaded from:
ner Hall resident and junior molecular and cell biol
ogy major. “I miss being able to download music,
class notes and pretty much anything that 1 ever real
ly wanted. All 1 had to do was look around at what
other people had shared on their computers.”
Mitchell said off campus access to the Resnet is
not promoted by Computing and Information Ser
vices (CIS), “but as far as we know it will work.”
-itt—-^-rr-sTi Thomas Putnam,
campus users
A < <N •>
gram that allows off-campus | h ttp://www.net.tamu.edu/network/vpn.html t
students and faculty uninter
rupted access to the on-campus
1 network through use of a high-speed cable modem,
said Ellen Mitchell, a Texas A&M network analyst.
Previously, such a connection was not available
because of a University “firewall” program which
prohibited any off-campus computer from tapping
into the A&M system.
VPN allows users to bypass this firewall program
and be recognized as an on-campus user.
Mitchell said one benefit of the connection is the
ability to access the Resnet, a network of student com
puters through which students may exchange digital
music, video clips and other computer programs.
“What I miss the most about moving off campus
is the Resnet,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, a former Lech-
ROBERT HYNECEK/Thi: Battalion
director of CIS, said
the firewall is neces
sary to protect the
campus’ computers
from hackers who may wish to damage programs and
stored information.
Putnam said VPN keeps information safe from
hackers by coding, or “encrypting,” data being sent
from off-campus to on-campus computers, so that
only computers with the proper encryption codes may
read the coded messages.
“VPN is a good way for people on cable modems
... to get full access to on-campus resources safely,”
Putnam said.
The function of VPN may be explained by analo
gy to airport security.
See Computer on Page 2.
BRADLEY ATCHISON/Tm. Battalion
Jared Hayes, a senior computer science ma
jor, surfs the Web Wednesday. Now, off-cam-
pus students may use on-campus computer
resources.
Disabled students share challenges
BY MAUREEN KANE
The Battalion
Amber Preston, a sophomore agricul
tural joumalism major, lost her hearing due
to complications she suffered after frac
turing her skull in a car accident.
Because she does not have a visible
physical disability and speaks perfectly.
News in brief
Forum for abolition Volunteers showed
of death penalty interest at fair
Y TO
book
ifThe Just Peace Institute will pre
sent “Beyond ‘An Eye for an Eye,’ ” a
public forum about the abolition of
the death penalty tonight. The pur
pose of the forum is to empower ac
tivists and unify the anti-death penal
ty movement. The forum will feature
a panel of speakers from organiza
tions advocating the abolition of cap
ital punishment in Texas.
[V One speaker, Ron Carlson of Mur
der Victims’ Families for Reconcilia
tion, is the brother of a victim of Kar-
a Faye Tucker, who was put to death
n tearly 1997. Carlson met and be
came friends with his sister’s killer
and was present at Tucker’s execu-
:ion on her behalf.
The forum will be held at 7:30
‘d.iti. at Friends Congregational
Jhurch in College Station. A re
ception will be held after the pan-
al discussion.
The Volunteer Opportunity Fair,
sponsored by the Volunteer Services
Center (VSC), featured 20 agencies
seeking student volunteers Tuesday
and Wednesday. “The agencies said
that they got a lot of people on their
sign-up lists. They also said that they
were real impressed with the quality
ofthe students,” Lori Salter, staff co
ordinator for the fair, said.
So many interested students
stopped by the AIDS Services
booth, they ran out of applications
and had to go and make more
copies, Salter said. Most booths
gave away brochures, but Planned
Parenthood gave out condoms and
a senior citizens’ home had stu
dents make St. Valentine’s Day
cards for their residents.
“There are no dates set for next
semester’s fair until the All-Universi
ty Calendar is set,” Salter said.
Preston said one of her biggest challenges
is people’s disbelief when she tells them
about her disability.
Preston was a speaker Wednesday at
Services for Students with Disabilities’
(SSD) panel discussion for Disability
Awareness Day. The panel of three stu
dents and three faculty/sta If members be
gan with a description of each panelist’s
disability and the challenges those dis
abilities pose in their lives.
Preston said some activities that
non-disabled students take for grant
ed, like going dancing, are chal
lenges for her. Preston has learned to
follow her dancing partner’s lead
closely, instead of depending only on
the beat ofthe music.
Preston said it is always a chal
lenge “learning how to do things in
your own unique way.”
The panelists also discussed the
role of professors and other faculty in
accommodating students with dis
abilities, the progress made in build
ing accommodations since the pas
sage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as the
general attitude toward students with
disabilities at Texas A&M.
Reinhard Stebner, a panelist and a
junior computer science major, said at
A&M, if a student with a disability
needs assistance, people are always
stuart villanueva/i hi: Battalion rea( jy t 0 ] ie |p^ whereas “in the average
Shaunna Redfield, a junior education city, help would be hard to find.’
major, and Rebecca Jackson, a se- He also commented on the atti-
nior English major, play basketball as tude of professors toward students
part of Disability Awareness Day. with disabilities.
“I have not had a teacher who’s not
willing to bend over backwards to help
me,” Stebner said.
Following the panel discussion, non
disabled students had the opportunity to
take part in Access Challenge, a pro
gram simulating different disabilities.
Speech impairments were simulated by
students holding lollipops to the roofs
of their mouths and attempting to read
or take part in a job interview. Drawing
symbols as they appeared in a mirror al
lowed students to see what dyslexic stu
dents see, and reading while someone
whispers into the reader’s ear simulat
ed Attention Deficit Disorder.
The most popular station of the Ac
cess Challenge simulated mobility dis
abilities by providing students with
the opportunity to try walking with
crutches or by pushing themselves
around in a wheelchair.
Catherine Harris, a non-disabled par
ticipant and a freshman psychology major,
said the Access Challenge helped her ap
preciate the daily challenges people with
disabilities face.
“It helped me realize people with dis
abilities have a lot of trouble doing things
that come so naturally to us,” Harris said.
Carlos Guerra, a non-disabled par
ticipant and a senior recreation, parks
and tourism major, also attended Access
Challenge.
“It gave me the opportunity to see life
from the perspective of someone who
uses a wheelchair. This is a perspective a
lot of students don’t know much about,”
Guerra said.
• Ags fall to
Bears at home,
81-75
Page 12
• Lone Star Attitude
Cory Morrow returns to Col
lege Station.
Page 3
• Fashion
Victims
New ad
campaign
focuses on
sales.
Page 1 3
• Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9
at 1:57 p.m. for fate of
Houston's Westheimer Party.
• Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu.
* 4
t ■ • [: