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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2000)
V XHE TUESDAY March 7, 2000 Volume 106 ~ Issue 107 12 pages » Kiwi 1* ;^Wx\ * i i T i IIJ Cl =U« k increase to support dy abroad program BY DANA JAMUS The Battalion Texas A&M’s Vision 2020 mission itatement declares the University’s de- re to diversify and globalize the Texas ,&M community in order to allow its aduates to be adequately prepared not y academically, but also culturally. According to A&M’s Vision 2020 itatement, “[The University should] toe 100 percent access to international education for all students.” A $3 increase in the International Education Fee (IEF) has been approved by the Student Sen ate and now awaits the approval of the itudent body during the Spring 2000 stu dent body elections. This proposed fee increase would raise the IEF fee to $4 per student to pro vide scholarships for A&M students to studs abroad. Robert Stovall, student senator and ajunior biomedical science major, said the growing globalization of the econ omy presents “the need for a truly slobal education.” “If this referen dum can pass, it will help to en hance the educa tion of A&M's students as well as increase their marketability to prospective employers. ” — Robert Stovall student senator and a junior biomedical science major “If this referendum can pass, it will help to enhance the education of A&M’s students as well as increase their mar ketability to prospective employers,” Stovall said. According to a nation-wide study on collegiate international exchange pro grams titled “Open Doors,” A&M does not rank within the top 25 colleges who offer international exchange programs. St. Olaf College came first with 94.3 percent of its students studying abroad while University of Texas-Austin came in 24th with 12 percent, said Leana Di vine, vice president of academic affairs for the Student Government Association and ajunior international studies and his tory major. She said less than 2 percent of A&M students currently study abroad. Divine said that if the hill is ap proved, it will go into effect Fall 2002. The bill states that the $1 IEF origi nally proposed by Student Senate in Fall 1991 and approved by the student body in Spring 1992 is no longer enough mon ey because of inflation and an increased demand for these scholarships. Stovall said that in 1998, the study abroad office reported that 17,400 students See Fee on Page 2. SGA offers online voting Students can use internet for Spring2000 elections BY JEANETTE SIMPSON The Battalion Doug Keegan’s only real interests in life are computers and math, but for months he has worked endlessly to make online voting, a “virtual reality” for Texas A&M students. Keegan, vice president for technology for the Student Government Association (SGA) and a senior applied mathe matics major, was one of many SGA representatives who worked for almost a year to make online voting possible for jfie A<£M campus. Ashlea Jenkins, student body election Commissioner and a junior political science major, approved online voting for the Spring 2000 elections Monday. This means be ginning March 29 at 9a.m., students wall be able to cast their 24 hours a day via the Internet by accessing http://vote.tamu.edu. The site will stop ac cepting votes at 5 m. on March 30, the same time that the on-campus polls will close. Only those students connected through the A&M net work will be able to access the Web page to register their vote, said Keegan. “This means that students outside the firewall (the secu rity program of the campus network), for instance those stu dents who are connected through cable or DSL (Digital Sub scriber Line) modems, will need to cast their vote cither on campus or through the VPN (Virtual Private Network) serv er,” Keegan said. Jenkins said the on-line voting will also involve more stu dents in the election process, making the students who are elected more representative of the student body. r- “The goal of this election commission was to get more stu dents to participate in the elections,” she said. “According to the research I have done, online voting will do this.” “In implementing online voting, it is hoped that voter turnout in student elections will increase, because voting will be easier for the students and more efficient,” Jenkins said. “When we looked at how voter turnout increased in other schools after they implemented online voting, we saw that they had anywhere from a 30 to 40 percent increase.” Many measures were taken by Keegan and the election commission to guarantee the security of the site and the vot ing process. “We have had experts from CIS (Computer Information ^ n Services) and other places test this sys tem,” Jenkins said. “And they will con tinue to test the system for the next month.” In order to verify the identity of the individual who is voting from the Website, students must receive a password via email before they can cast their votes. “We wanted to make this process as secure as possible. One way that we did this is through e-mail verification,” Keegan said. “The student will first register at the site through their CIS log-in ID — they will select either an Unix, ACS, Labs, or POP email account — the password will be emailed to the student instantaneously,” he said. “Within 30 minutes of registering, the student must return to the site and cast their vote. If the student does not return to the site within 30 minutes of registering, they must reregister and receive a new password.” Say ‘Ahhh!’ STUART VILLANUEVA/Thh Baitalion Lechner Hall director, Ken Gassiot gets a dunking outside of the Memorial Student Center Mon day afternoon. The dunking booth was set up as part of “Safe Spring Break” presented by the Al cohol and Drug Education Program to promote responsible behavior during the holiday. GOP awaits ‘Super Tuesday* ROBERT HYNECEK/Tm: Battalion SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A feisty John McCain labeled Republican rival George W. Bush “so Clinton-esque it’s scary,” while a subdued Bill Bradley said he must “win a cou ple of states” as both underdogs looked to revive their presi dential campaigns in a Super Tues- day showdown. In the more competitive race of the two, both Bush and McCain were making a final push Monday in Cal ifornia, where 162 delegates to the GOP nominating convention were the biggest prize of the day. Bush had the inside track on those delegates, but McCain hoped for a symbolic victory in the nonbinding popular vote. “My response is the indepen dents and re publicans are going to nomi nate me/' “There has not been a primary yet that has met expectations. It’s just too volatile,” McCain said at a rally in Santa Clara, claiming the momentum was his. At a San Diego park, a confident-sounding Bush urged sup porters to send a message “that this party and this philosophy needs a leader that can bring people together.” Bradley aides were quietly making plans for an exit if Vice President A1 Gore does as well as polls suggest in Tuesday’s voting for the Democratic nomination. “1 don’t think there’s any magic number, but 1 do think we have to win a couple of states,” Bradley said Monday on CBS’ “Early Show,” hold ing out hope for Connecticut, Rhode Is land, Maine, Maryland or Missouri. Both Gore and Bradley were devot ing the day to New York. Gore courted New York’s Jewish activists this morn ing, saying in a Gore administration, the United States would be “a good and helpful and loyal friend to Israel.” Bradley greeted commuters at the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Man hattan at 7:30 a.m. “Rest is for another day,” he said. McCain told reporters that Bush “handed us back the reform issue” thanks to a $2.5 million series of attack ads he said are financed by Bush’s forces. BUSH See Primaries on Page 2. Fall 2000 sees record application numbers BY ANN LOISEL The Battalion It is getting tougher to become an Aggie these days. A record number of people are ap plying to Texas A&M for admission in the Fall 2000 semester, but as those numbers go up, the number of students admitted in — at least since last year — is going down said Joseph Estrada, A&M’s director of admissions.. ‘We’ve had a considerable increase in the number of submissions,” he said. “[But] we’re actually going to offer fewer admits than we did last year.” Estrada said the Office of Admis sions and Records will send out ap proximately 10,000 acceptance letters inApril and anticipate a freshman class size of 6,300 to 6,500 next fall. “We’re under an enrollment con trol plan to keep the total enrollment of the University at a manageable size,” he said. Laura Davis, a senior at Kingwood High School in Kingwood, Texas, ap- j to A&M this year and found out in January she was accepted. “I never applied anywhere else, so I Was really excited to get in,” she said. A&M applications for Fall g il applications for Fall 2000: I 184211 | tt | ■ 1 Ad Freshman class size: 1 6TQ0,to'6,5l ROBERT HYNECEK/Tm. Battalion Davis said many of her friends also wanted to go to A&M, but have not re ceived letters of acceptance yet. Estrada said approximately 2,000 more applications were submitted this year than the year before. “I think | it’s because] we have a well-coordinated recruitment effort,” he said. “There’s a great appeal to come to A&M and be an Aggie.” The total number of applications for the fall was 18,421, but the num ber of completed applications — with out errors or missing information — was 16,45 1. “That’s a University record,” Estra da said. “We’ve never reached that lev el of submissions.” More transfer students are also ap plying to A&M this year, but those numbers are not final until after the April application deadline. Higgs family donates son’s Aggie ring BY BROOKE HODGES The Battalion Arend Gabro “Bo” Higgs, an agriculture systems major, died on June 28,1999, in a wa ter-skiing accident. Before his death, Higgs had completed the credit hours needed to order his Aggie ring. His family has now donat ed his Aggie ring to the Class of2000 spot in the Association of Former Students’ Memorial Ring Case. Higgs’ friends decided to order the ring and in his mem ory. They also paid for the ring out of their own pockets. “Bo had it all planned out CODY WAGES/The Battalion Carolyn Swanzy, director cjf the Aggie Ring Office. “We normally don’t order a ring for a deceased stu dent,” Swanzy said. “But, because [Higgs] had com pleted the qualifications for a ring, friends petitioned to order the ring and present it to the family.” The provision against or dering rings for a deceased student who has not quali fied is, designed to protect the integrity of the ring, said Patrick Williams, director of campus programs and Class of’92. “The ring symbolizes the thing[s] that make up a Texas Aggie, and when you get that to order his ring,” said Jeff The Association of Former Students’ Memorial Ring Bailev a friend of Hiess and a Cas ® 15 h, 0 .^ ', n the Clayton Wilhams Alumni Cen- rin g you are part of the net uaiiey, a menu oi mggs ana a ter ^ renc | Higgs ring was donated to represent the senior agriculture systems ma- c | ass 0 f 2000. jor. “He had turned in the pa perwork needed to order it the week before [the accident].” The Association of Former Stu dents hosted a ceremony on October 30, 1999 to present Higgs’ ring to his family. The Association talked about how Higgs had completed all the neces sary requirements and how he stood for everything the ring represented, Bailey said. The ring was presented to Higgs’ fa ther, Lt. Col. Stephan Higgs, Class of ’73. He and Higgs’ brother, Stephan D. Higgs Jr., Class of’97, placed the ring in the memorial box. “Lt. Higgs put the ring in the case and everyone got to walk by and see Bo’s ring,” Bailey said. “Bo was always on the ball, he always knew what he was do ing. He was a great guy. He always had a good time and he was always there for his friends.” The rings that go into the memorial case are donated by family members af ter a student has passed away, but Hig gs’ ring was ordered after his death, said work,” he said. The 100-year-old tradition of taking one ring from each class and placing it in a collection started as an idea of J.B. “Josh” Sterns, Class of 1899. Until 1965, the Stems Collection was made up of rings that former stu dents would donate. After 1965, the rings included in the collection were required to be memorial rings, Swanzy said. The Stems Collection is located in the Glitsch Library in the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center, in a case do nated by the Class of ’62. INSIDE [M women start Big 12 tourney First round begins Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. Page 7 • The future of film Insight on independent films found in new technology and old resources. Page 3^ • A war of words Alternative publica tions lack journalistic professionalism and misinform their readers. Page 11 • Usten to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details Houston march on equal funding. • Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu I