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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2000)
THE O A nprwi a tt 13 J r\.x Friday April 28,2000 Volume 106 ~ Issue 138 14 pages I =fJ ii i MlVTlW i\ liJJ! i T i =1; W i epartmeiit ivoids major ownsizing JART VIUANUEV* mps the steps in nesday. McDade ig since junior liif m Fexas Ave. ge Station and Texas Ave. Bryan sept checks. • Chicken BY RICHARD BRAY The Battalion Despite a proposal to cut the quired number of kinesiology edits from four to two, the epartment of Health and Ki- [esiology does not expect to re any employees. Frank Thomas, the chair of e physical education activity rogram, said the earliest the roposal would go into effect ould be Fall 2001. Dr. Jack Wilmore, professor |nd head of the Department of ealth and Kinesiology, said udents already enrolled will ave the choice of staying with le current curriculum or adopt- ngthc new requirements. “All students that are here llready will have the option If staying w ith the present Hequirement or they can go ]o the new requirement. We trongly suspect that there be many students who llectto stay with the present |equirements,” he said. Wilmore said he does not xpect the Department of Kirre- iology to be affected by the jroposal for another four years. “In the meantime we’re loping that we can build sup- )ort for an elective program ivhere there would he a seam- ess transition without a large drop in student credit hours,” ne said. Thomas said until that time lomes, they hope to decrease mployment solely through ittrition. Wilmore said the depart ment will do everything possi- )le to keep all of the faculty mployed. Our commitment is to maintaining our faculty and lot laying off anybody,” he aid. “We have an excellent e Station Dinner iv/coupon, Sat. 5:30-10 ;3 0 g at $4.95 m s 6 95 CE 000. r week 02 LiveO'F faculty, and they have been very faithful to the department. Our goal is to keep these peo ple employed.” Thomas said they would try to maintain student enrollment in kinesiology courses Jby of fering more sections of popu lar classes. “We’re going to try and of fer activities that w ill entice the students to take more than the required two,” he said. “We’re going to be looking at a lot of our most popular classes and try to keep the number of sec tions fairly large.” Thomas said that in the event of a downsizing, graduate assistants would be the first to be fired. “We have a staff of about 30 full-time lecturers and about 27 graduate assistants,” he said. “We will lower the number of graduate assistants first, and then, if we have to, reduce the faculty beyond that.” Julie Barber, a Department of Health and Kinesiology lec turer, said she received a memo from the department allaying fears about job security. “From what we’ve heard, it’s not going to affect people’s jobs,” she said. Wilmore said other depart ments have faced the same challenge in the past. “There have been other pro grams that have gone through this, and there’s a little bit of a dip in student credit hour gen erations for the first three or four years, and then it starts go ing up again,” he said. Wilmore said the depart ment will continue to offer quality courses. “Our goal is to try to contin ue to stay on the cutting edge of what’s going on,” he said. "I think if you were to compare the variety of cours es we have here with any other institution, you would find that we would he far ahead. Our intent is to maintain that unique distinction between us and oth er programs.” Wilmore said he understands why there is a need to de crease course re quirements in cer tain departments. “We realize that what has happened is that with the knowledge explo sion. There has been a tremendous in crease in the number of courses required for students to grad- BRADLEY ATCHISONS BATTALION , S ° thal Ca ,'’ (Front) Dustin Ralp, a senior applied kee P U P vvil11 w,nal s mathematics major, takes advice going on in the world, from Brian Wigiey, lecturer in the They’re adding cours- health and kinesiology, during a Golf es, but nobody wants class at Penberty on Tuesday. to delete courses.” THE Will publish next week on the following dates: > Tuesday May 2,2000 > Wednesday May 3,2000 ’’Special Commission on 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse” > Friday May 5.2000 Kujawa left College Station to moot "Kelly" a person he met online and planned to meet in San Antonio Murder suspect arrested Lockwood charged in the death of Kerry Kujawa Kulawa’s hody found shot in the back of the head and left on a ranch outside of Austin Tfh •Suspect Kenny Wayne 1 took wood arrested •Lockwood gives Hays County Sheriff's Department a full confession and admits to posing as "Kelly" ■IflflUVi.M'.M RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion BY MEREDITH HIGH! The Battalion Kenny Wayne Lockwood, a 31-year-old San Antonio man, was arrested Thursday in the death of Texas A&M student Kerry Kujawa. Kujawa, a junior mechanical engineering major, was found dead on a ranch outside of Austin shot in the back of the head, last Wednesday, April 19 after being reported missing April 17. Authorities said they believe Kujawa was killed shortly after he left College Station on April 7 to meet a girl named “Kelly” from San Antonio, whom he had met over the Internet. Lockwood admitted to po lice that he had been posing as Kelly in Internet chatrooms and in email correspondence with Kujawa. Kujawa told friends he would return to College Station on April 10. After days had passed and he failed to return, Kujawa’s parents received email messages purportedly from him. The emails usually ended with: “I’ll be back in a few days, everything is okay. Don’t worry, I’m still taking care of Kelly.” Authorities said the emails to Kujawa’s parents were sent af ter he was killed. “Kelly’s” email address was used to send the email messages to Kujawa’s parents and friends, officials said. Authorities said tracing the emails from Lockwood were key in cracking the case. Bob Wiatt, director of the University Police Department (UPD), said Lockwood has used the email address to corre spond with at least one other A&M student. According to the Associated See Lockwood on Page 2. Pie ’R squared STUART VILLANUEVA/Ti it- Baitai ion Senior biomedical science major Kathryn Potter smashes a pie in the face of Ken Gassiot, the Lechner Hall Director, in front of the Memorial Student Center on Thursday. The pieing was a part of Honors Week festivities. University to improve campus safety BY KIMBERLY OLSON The Battalion Hollie Scott, a sophomore environmental design major, is reluctant to walk back to her on-campus residence hall late at night. “Certain spots of the campus are dark,” she said. “I get scared after leaving the li brary after dark.” Texas A&M’s Security Awareness Com mittee held a Campus Lighting Tour in order to alleviate this problem. Gene Stewart, the Superintendent of Fa cility Maintenance, believes there is always room for improvement. “There are some areas on campus that could use additional lighting, and there are some areas that do not,” he said. According to Elmer E. Schneider, chair of the security awareness committee and associate director of the Texas A&M Uni versity Police Department, the tour suc ceeded in identifying specific areas which need enhancement. Schneider said lighting becomes a problem in the spring because the increase in foliage can interfere with the intensity of the brightness emitted. “A lollipop light set in the midst of tree limbs can make the level of light too low, or a tree’s canopy can lower the level of light,” Schneider said. In addition to campus lighting, the committee also discussed issues involv ing student safety awareness regarding the security of residence halls. Schneider advised residents not to prop open front doors or allow people to “tail gate” them inside the hall because this de feats the purpose of the security system. “Everyone needs to be security con scious and aware of his or her surround ings,” he said. As a result of student input, 16 addi tional phones.will be installed around campus. The phones will be for emergencies but will also be accessible for everyday use. Faculty Senate, SGA support online format of rule book RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion BY MATT LOFTIS The Battalion In Fall 2000, students may be getting fewer forms at their freshman orientation. The Faculty Senate and the Student Govern ment Association support a plan to discon tinue the mass-printing of student rule books for distribution at the beginning of each year. Texas A&M students seem apathetic about the new circulation method, though. Courtney Ferguson, a freshman biomedical science major, said that if the new plan saved money and trees then it is a good idea, she was not sure that a lot of students paid atten tion to the rules at all, anyway. “I think it’s a good idea,” said Fergu son. “Does anybody read those things in the first place?” The proposal would drastically reduce the amount of rule books printed each year and would focus efforts on advertising the Website where the rules can be found, said Dr. Tom Wehrly, speaker for the Faculty Sen ate. Rule books would still be available upon request from certain places but they would not be routinely passed out. “Looking at something on a screen is a lot different than looking at something in your hands,” said Wehrly, a professor in the sta tistics department. Dr. Brent Paterson, chair of the rules and regulations committee and dean of Student Life, said the rule books are printed through University Relations and that the idea of changing the way the books are printed has been considered for a few years. He said that "I think being on the Web is a for mat that is easier and, in some cases, more accessible than going some where to get [stu dent rule books]." — Dr. Brent Paterson Chair of the rules and regulations committee and dean of Student Life with a Web version, students could search for the specific sections they needed and graduate and undergraduate rules could be easily separated. “I think being on the Web is a fonnat that is easier and, in some cases, more accessible than going somewhere to get one,” said Paterson. Forrest Lane, student body president and a senior political science major, said that it was expensive to print enough copies for every student and that, provided the decision is implemented, there will be publicity to en sure all students are aware of the change and where they can find the rules. At the moment. Lane said information is being gathered about where books should be located on campus and how many should be there. Lane said he is in favor of the plan, as long as it is made accessible to all students. Most students, however, seem uncon cerned about the possible changes for the rules books. Freshman business major Robert Stevener said that he was in favor of the idea because of all the wasted paper and extra mon ey it usually takes to distribute the rules. “I think it would be a good idea because most students don’t care to go through it anyway,” said Stevener. “Now the students w ho actually care can just get them.” Other students do not care at all about how the school circulates the student rules. Freshman geography major Erin Volny said that she had never even read the rules and probably will not in the future. “It doesn’t even matter to me,” said Vol ny. “I don’t even think I ever read my school rules book. I just put it on my shelf.” • Conversations? with the Batt: Carmen Electra Pa 9 e3 r/ Wm • Lone Star Showdown Aggies face Longhorns in pivotal Big 12 series Page 9 Hump it, Ags! MTV's 'Love- line' brings awareness, humor to A&M Page 13 •Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details the cost of living in Bryan- College Station •Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu