VOTE YES
FOR
M-
In the Student Body Elections there will be a
Referendum to raise the International Education
Fee to $4.00. With this tee, $2.50 will be given
immediately to students in study abroad scholar
ships and the other $1 .50 will go to establish an
endowment, allowing the fee to be self-sufficient
by the year 2020. Finally a fee that will eventu
ally end, instead of eontinually increasing!
Students f felping Students.
s/kyte Yes for I EES
NATION
Page 8
THE BATTALION
Wednesday. Ma
Consumer confidence drops again in Mart
(nesday. Mar
Mobil
Aggieland Alternator Auto 8 Mobil Service
NEW YORK (AP) — Consumer con
fidence dropped in March for the second
straight month, suggesting that oil prices
and rising interest rates may cool off
Americans’ spending.
The Conference Board said Tuesday
that its Consumer Confidence Index
dropped more sharply than expected in
March to 136.7 from 140.8 in February
and a record 144.7 in January. Wall
Street analysts had expected a March
reading of 139.8.
The consumer confidence figures
are closely watched because consumer
spending accounts for two-thirds of
economic activity and has been the en
gine of the booming U.S. economy,
which has been expanding for a record
nine years.
The Federal Reserve, concerned
that too-rapid growth could spark in
flation, raised interest rates last week
for the fifth time since June to try to
Cool things down.
“Analysts are wailing to see if a fur
ther erosion in confidence triggers a slow
down in consumer spending,” said Lynn
Franco, director of research at the Con
ference Board, a business-tiinded research
organization. “As for now, a moderate
cutback in consumer spending is unlike
ly to stifle still-strong economic growth.”
On Wall Street, stocks fell as influen
tial market strategist Abby Joseph Cohen
at Goldman Sachs recommended that
clients reallocate some of their holdings
from stock to cash. Long-term interest
rates slipped as prices rose in the inflation-
sensitive government bond market.
Mark Vitner, an economist at First
Union Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., said that
Americans have had the confidence to
spend a lot because jobs remain plentiful
and incomes are rising. He wanted that the
summer driving season is coming.
“Higher gas prices will take more out
of consumers’ pockets, so they’ll have less
to spend on everything else,” Vitner said.
“The volume of goods could fall off.”
Most analysts expect the economy to
show signs of slowing this quarter in re
sponse to the Fed’s interest rate increases.
There is some softness in home buying
because of higher mortgage interest rates.
Anthony Chan, chief economist at
Banc One Investment Advisors in Colum
bus, Ohio, said a stronger consumer con
fidence reading in March could have put
pressure on the Fed to raise rates.
“Consumers are maybe not running
for the hills but could be pulling back a
bit,” Chan said. “Ifthat’s the case, the Fed
won’t have to do so much.”
Confidence drops
Here is a look at thee
confidence index from aa
of 5,000 U.S. households, j
Seasonally adjusted
i®
150
130
110 Current 136,?^
One month ago 140,1 fl
One year ago 134.01
I
1
1985:1
M t I
°M AMJ J ASONDjtl
1999
Source: The Conference Board
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Casual dress causes confusion at work
Dressing casual at work was sup-
NEW YORK (AP) -
posed to make life easier.
But now, confusion is rampant across corporate America,
with some stodgy types thinking casual means taking off your
suit jacket, and others showing up at the office in ratty T-shirts
or with bare midriffs.
The situation has gotten so bad that some businesses are hir
ing consultants to help people figure
out what is appropriate for work.
One law firm has even teamed
up with Polo Ralph Lauren and Es
quire magazine to hold a “business
casual” seminar for its attorneys
next week.
“There is a lot of casual confu
sion out there, people showing up at
work in outfits that they wash their
cars or walk their dogs in,” said
Sherry Maysonave, aulltor of “Ca
sual Power: I low to Power Up Your
Nonverbal Communication and
Dress Down for Success.” “Com
panies are realizing that it is not so
“One company asked me to
try to help them with a lit
tle problem: One girl was
wearing a thong underwear
and... everyone knew”
easy to go casual. In fact, it can cause some headaches.”
Casual dress has long been the norm for those working at
high-tech companies. It began creeping into the rest of corpo
rate America in the early 1990s.
At first, companies allowed employees to ditch their suits
and ties on Fridays during the summer. That was soon extend
ed to Fridays throughout the year, and eventually was permit
ted every day during the summer.
Now, lots of big companies — including most Wall Street
powerhouses such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter - are dress
ing down year-round.
Many want to keep pace w ith the casual dot-com companies
that they do business with.
Fifty-one percent of companies with more than 5,000 em
ployees arc casual five days a week, according to the Society
for Human Resource Management Companies arc* learning that
everyone interprets casual differently.
At Development Counsellors International, a New York-
based marketing firm with 25 em
ployees that went casual year-
round in 1998. some came to
work braless and in gym clothes.
The company now has a de
tailed list of what workers can or
cannot w ear. Button-down shirts
and dress sandals are in; bare
midriffs and beach attire are out.
“It took more time to come up
with this policy than anyone
would have thought,” said Rob
DeRocker, DC I executive vice
president. “W'e never thought it
would be so complicated.”
That is why many companies
Killer bees
elderly worm
^gg
— Myra McElhaney
president of McElhaney & Associates
BY
fli
are hiring consultants to develop casual dress codes, hold sem
inars on proper wear and trouble-shoot.
“One company asked me to try to help them with a little
problem: One girl was wearing thong underwear and for some
reason everyone knew” because her clothes were so tight, said
Myra McElhaney, president of the Atlanta-based consulting fmn
McElhaney & Associates.
Instead of talking to the young woman individually, McEl
haney held a group discussion on appropriate work attire.
“I reminded them that they didn’t‘want to be remembered
by their co-workers for their underwear,” she said.
senior s
!I 1 Aggies 6
LAS VEGAS (AP)—A77
woman lay in critical conditioilj
after being stung more than.'
by a sw arm of killer bees.
The woman, whose namew;
leased, was attacked while t ^
along a street a few blocks fe jQ t Jj ^
Vegas home, Fire Dcz
spokesman Tim Szymanskisai
He said they may have bed
to something in a bag shewasa
Firefighters wearing specif
doused the woman with waten
about 200 bees off her. Twopol
cers were stung trying to resend
Hospital personnel usedffi
and duct tape to pull the stingers
her body.
The state Agriculture Depi"
confirmed the bees involved
Africanized bees, commonlyl®
k i I ler bees because of the wayiMkhes in hand
tack in large swarms. E )SS at the Van
The attack was the secondin'® "^ 1 ' 5 " in ft
Vegas area since January. OnFii urn ' )r Shuon h
79-year-old man was stung afpi ran ked i
times. He survived. r° l ' x ' tter than
Africanized bees have killed I - '.
mated 1,000 people as they llom ^
grated northward from Brazil
in 1957. The first swarm reportl
United States was in Texas in
The Texas /
several opt
The 13th-ra
on Saturd
lor, look a
instNo.4 Pc
current o]
iversity of A
The Aggies c
h an intensit 1
cMofte Pneafuituuf CentetdL
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2008 S. Texas Ave.
College Station
Next to Hastings
Memorial Student Center
Black Awareness Committee
presents...
_ 'At. tat*
A celebration of Poivet Strength and Survival
1
Thursday
March 30, 2000
o
8 pm
".f'A'T*’ - 'A’ : ' .
Rudder Theatre
■v ’ ' rTY V
$3 Student
$5 Non-Student
Ticketv .i\ ill iMr
MSG Box Office
To i-ifor -i u.« of your special needs or
for more mfiptiention ofopectO §454$t5 ;
The Original
Unplugged
Join MSC OPAS and the inaugural season of
Intimate Gatherings for a concert featuring works
by great American composers including, Aaron
Copland, Samuel Barber and Stephen Foster.
The American Radio
Chamber Orchestra
at the Bush Presidential Conference Center
Thursday, March 30 at 8:00 PM
With Intimate Gatherings, musicians host an
Open discussion with audience members
immediately following the performance.
Discussion to be moderated by Peter Lieuwen,
Interim Head of the Texas A&M University
Department of Performance Studies.
WT
CLA
For tickets, call 845-1234 or order
on-line at opas.tamu.edu.
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