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Run-off election contested
Method used to determine majority questioned by yell leaders
BY MEREDITH MIGHT &
STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
A change in the way that the Stu-
lection Commission determines the
winners of yell leader elections has
uid a senior agricultural systems ma-
or, to appeal the results of last week’s
senior yell leader elections.
Bailey filed an appeal on behalf of
he Texas A&M yell leaders to the Stu
dent Judicial Board Monday based on
Mack of notification to the yell lead-
rs about the new system to define a
majority vote,” and that the new sys-
em used to define the majority of
otes is inaccurate.
The term “majority” is not defined
n election regulations.
-howm Tf> e matter will come before the
r O Student Judicial Board at 7 p.m. Tues-
day. Once an appeal is tiled with the
Judicial Board, a decision must be
made within 24 hours.
The Student Judicial Board serves
as a mediator when challenges to SGA
rules and regulations arise.
John McFate, a junior biomedical
engineering major, and Ben Cholick, a
junior construction science major, are
in the run-off election, scheduled for
Wednesday and Thursday.
Bailey said he was not aware of the
change in the determination of a majori
ty until a supporter of Cholick pointed out
tliat Cholick had surpassed 16.67 percent,
which would have gave him enough
votes to win the election under the old
system of determining a “majority.”
“We were never included in the de
cision made. The Election Commis
sion provides a service of elections,”
he said. “We entrust them in the whole
voting process to run a fair campaign
with the assumption that they will let
us know what’s going on.”
To determine the number of votes
which constitutes a “majority,” the elec
tion commission decided in 1997 to to
tal the number of votes cast (each voter
is asked to cast three votes for senior yell
leader), divide that total number by
three, and then take 50 percent of the di
vided number. Thfe means a candidate
would need more than 16.67 percent of
the total votes to be named a yell leader.
Doug Keegan, vice president of
technology for SGA and a senior ap
plied mathematics major, said this sys
tem only represents the wishes of the
majority of the student body if each
person casts three votes. The problem,
he said, arises when students cast only
one or tw'o votes.
Casting fewer than three votes
makes the number of votes cast dis-
proportional to the number of people
voting, making it theoretically possi
ble for someone to win with the sup
port of one-sixth of the voters.
“In voting for only one or two can
didates, [under the old system], a vot
er is making it easier for a candidate
with just a plurality of the votes to win
as if he had a majority,” Keegan said.
The system used this year deter
mines the majority by totaling the
number of voters who actually cast
votes in the senior yell leader race and
then taking 50 percent of that total.
This means that a senior yell leader
candidate would actually need more
than half of those voting in the senior
yell leader race to vote for him or her.
Under the old system, 4,671 votes
would have been required to win this
year. Under the new system, 5,031 votes
were required to be named a yell leader.
McFate, who received 3,211 votes,
would not have won the position under
either system. However, Cholick, who
received 5,018 votes, would have
clearly won under the old system, but
not under the new system.
See Run-off on Page 2.
‘I wanna rock and roll all night’
m:u
CODY WAGESAI m Battalion
Paul Stanley (center) along with Gene Simmons (left) and Ace Frehley (right), perform in Houston on Saturday in support of their
Farewell tour. This is their last tour since the band began in the early ’70s
DiTERMININfi THE MAJORITY
==—for Sr. Yell Leader
• Ben Cholick *
• John McFate
• Bubba Moser
• Ricky Wood -
Past
Method
5,018
3,211
8,128
7,962
ote
votes
# of votes to win determined by:
(Total # of Votes) x (50% / 3) + 1
(28,014) x (50% / 3) + 1 = 4671 votes to win
RESULT
New
Method
RUN-RFF NRT REQUIRER
# of votes to win determined by:
9 ((Total # of Voters) / 2 ) + 1
0 ((10,061 voters)/2) + 1 = 5031 votes to win
RESULT -► RUN-RFF REQUIRER
RUBEN DELUNA/Tm: BATTALION
Microsoft Corp.
violated U.S.
antitrust laws
WASFHNGTON (AP) — Humbling'a
proud giant of the computer age, a federal
judge ruled Monday that Microsoft Corp. vi
olated U.S. antitaist laws by keeping “an op
pressive thumb” on competitors during the
race to link Americans to the Internet.
In a sweeping ver
dict against the empire
that Bill Gates built,
U.S. District Judge
Thomas Pen field Jack-
son said Microsoft vio
lated the Sherman Act,
the same law used to
crush monopolies from
Standard Oil to AT&T.
He concluded that
the company was
guilty — as the federal
government, 19 states
and the District of Co
lumbia had alleged in a
case that began in May
1998 —of “unlawful
ly tying its Web brows-
er” to its Windows operating system that dom
inates the computer market worldwide.
“Microsoft placed an oppressive thumb
on the scale of competitive fortune, thereby
effectively guaranteeing its continued dom
inance,” Jackson wrote.
The verdict affirms Jackson’s previous
ruling in November that the software giant
is a monopoly, one that illegally used its
"Microsoft placed an
oppressive thumb on
the scale of competi
tive fortune, thereby
effectively guaran
teeing its continued
dominance."
U.S. District Judge Thomas
Penfield lackson
power to bully competitors and stifle inno
vation, hurting consumers in the process.
Tlie judge’s ruling can be appealed, delaying
its impact for years, and Gates said the com
pany would pursue that avenue.
While Microsoft “did everything we
could to settle this
case, we believe we
have a strong case on
appeal,” Gates said.
“... This ruling turns
on its head the reality
that consumers know:
that our software has
helped make PCs ac
cessible and more af
fordable to millions
of Americans.”
Microsoft didn’t
lose all of the case:
Jackson ruled that the
government failed to
prove that Microsoft’s
exclusive marketing
arrangements with
other companies “constituted unlawful, exclu
sive dealing” under federal antitrust law.
Jackson’s verdict opens the door for the
federal government to seek drastic penalties
against Microsoft.
The options range from breaking up the
company that made Gates a billionaire to
forcing it to share its proprietary software
code with competitors.
Female faculty
llacking at A&M
IT
BY CYRA GATLING
The Battalion
Despite efforts made by the University,
there is still a considerable lack of female
faculty and gender equality on the Texas
A&M campus according to a Texas A&M
University study.
Katie Kendall, a sociology graduate stu
dent who conducted the study, said the av
erage of women faculty at Texas A&M lags
behind national averages, with women fac
ulty comprising only 5 percent of the full
professor rank, compared to 12 percent na
tionally. Of the tenured faculty, 11.5 percent
are women and, of the tenure-track posi
tions, 16 percent are women.
According to the study, not only are the
[numbers of female faculty low, but the job
itles held by the females are usually less
restigious and have less chance of ad-
ancement than their male counterparts.
Compared to men, fewer women faculty
[are hired, and once hired even fewer come in
at tenured positions, according to Kendall’s
research. Women are selected for promotion
[at a lesser rate proportionally then men.
There is still more room for improve-
Iment, said Dr. Nancy Self in the College of
ducation Student Teaching Office.
“The College of Education has a faif
number of women, but I know that may not
be the case with others,” she said.
A&M has made an effort to hire more
women; however the percentage of assis
tant professors continues to greatly exceed
the number of actual professors, said Self.
The goal of the College of Education is
to have an equal staff of half male and half
female, said Dr. Jane Conoley, dean of the
College of Education.
There is currently only 35 percent of
women that make up the college; however
80 percent of the new hires are women.
While there is an increase of female new
hires, the number of female professors con
tinues to lag behind male professors.
In the College of Education, 14 percent
of the faculty are professors, 40 percent are
associate professors and 80 percent are as
sistant professors, said Conoley.'
“Diversity is our top goal,” said Conoley.
“and the general attitude is very positive.”
Women professors are in high demand
now, but without the right resources A&M’s
campus may suffer despite the efforts.
Funding to hire female faculty in the com
petitive market may also be a factor in the
See Faculty on Page 2.
Greek Week2000 leaders
promote positive image
BY ANNA BISHOP
The Battalion
Due to rain, the Greek Week
“Kick Off’ was canceled Satur
day, but that has not stopped
Greek organizations from unit
ing on campus this week.
Greek Week, dedicated to
the unification of the Texas
A&M Greek system and raising
money for charity, will continue
through Thursday.
With Saturday’s annual The
Big Event and Songfest, and
Monday’s start of Penny Wars,
Greek Week 2000 has moved
into ftill effect.
The Multicultural Greek
Council and the Pan-Hellenic
Council are among the organi
zations working to make this
year’s Greek Week a success.
Greek Week Promotions
Coordinator and junior recre
ation, parks and tourism sci
ences major Taylor Young, said
the aim of Greek Week 2000 is
not only to raise money for charity,
but to promote Greek affiliates in a
positive manner across the Texas
A&M campus and Bryan-College
Station community.
"Gaining support from
other students through
their personal involve
ment in events such as
Songfest and the Pen
ny Wars will hopefully
bring about a greater
sense of awareness of
how the Greek System
is changing for the bet
terment of the sur
rounding community. ”
— Taylor Young
Greek Week Promotions Coordinator
“Gaining support from other stu
dents through their personal in
volvement in events such as
Songfest and the Penny Wars will
hopefully bring about a greater sense
of awareness of how the Greek
System is changing for the bet
terment of the surrounding
community,” Young said.
The Penny Wars, outside
the Memorial Student Center,
will continue through
Wednesday. From 10 a.m. un
til 2 p.m., students are en
couraged to donate pennies to
the participating organiza
tions. The Penny Wars is a
competition between partici
pating sororities and fraterni
ties to raise money to benefit
Mothers Against Drunk Dri
ving (MADD).
Keeping with this theme,
an alcohol awareness lun
cheon was held Monday.
Winners of the Penny Wars
and additional weekly events
will be recognized in Thursday
niglit’s Awards Ceremony, clos
ing out Greek Week 2000.
Stompfest, featuring a vari
ety of organizations, will be held
Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Rudder
Auditorium.
w I •Aboard the Vomit
Comet
Zero-g experi
ment tests
movement in
space.
Page 7
►MSU downs Florida,
89-76, to win title.
Page 9
•Napster
Disaster
Censorship
and use of
MP3 pro
gram debated.
Page
•Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details on a
speech by a father of a
Columbine victim.
•Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu