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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2001)
Students dropped for non-payment Financial services enforces existing fee policy By Sommer Bunce & Elizabeth Raines The Battalion ■ When Student Financial Ser vices (SFS) payment offices in the Pavilion opened at 8 a.m. iiesday, more than 1,600 stu- lents were waiting to find out hy they had been dropped from heir classes. The students, many of whom tided classes or fee options after FS sent out billing statements in ecember, were dropped for non-payment according to a Uni- ersity policy that mandates that my student who has hot paid 100 rcent of tuition and fees before !he first day of classes will be anceled from classes and as- essed a $ 100 late fee. The policy, which has always ;en in the books, was loosely en forced in previous semesters, said SFS director Bob Piwonka. Be cause of some anticipated changes in state auditing services, SFS chose to enforce the policy beginning this semester, he said. We used to allow the wiggle room, until students took too much ad vantage of it.” — Bob Piwonka SFS director “The language has always been there, and students have al ways been expected to pay before the first day,’* Piwonka said. “We used to allow the wiggle room, until students took too much ad vantage of it. A lot of people as sumed they could just pay some of the fees and have their classes still held for them. But now we want to get the point across that if you don’t pay your fees, count on standing in a long line.” When statements were sent out, the due date was erroneous ly listed as Jan. 12. However, the due date was actually Jan. 5. The error in the statements gave stu dents a week longer to pay, Pi wonka said. But because of the later due date, students had less time to be notified of any prob lems with their payments before the SFS policy was enforced. The last day payments were accepted without a late fee was Friday. Piwonka’s staff posted payments received on or before Friday. The due date is also a postmark date; any payments in the mail by Jan. 12 will be ac cepted, Piwonka said. No business or mail was processed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth day, a University and govern ment holiday. Students who discovered that SFS failed to receive their pay ment or that'they owed SFS more had no recourse until 8 a.m the first day of classes. In addition, mail postmarked Friday may still be in the postal system, Piwonka said, and will be accepted as pay ment when received. Regardless, any student for whom SFS had not received a full See Financial on Page 4. ANDY HANCOCK/The Battalion Students crammed into the Pavilion to lines filled the downstairs lobby, lined make payments and add meal plans. The the stairways and went outside. A year in the making... Sbisa reopens after a year of renovations to mixed reviews Top: Aggies filled the new and improved Sbisa Dining Center on the north side of campus. Sbisa, which has been closed since late 1999, reopened on Tuesday. Right: Members of the Fish Camp 2001 staff sit with friends during lunch at the newly refurbished Sbisa Dining Center. By Brandie Liffick The Battalion After Sbisa Dining Center had been closed for more than a year, the words “pick it up” once again echoed off its walls when the reno vated hall reopened Tuesday. Students eating in Sbisa for the first time in more than a year had mixed responses to the facility’s facelift. “At first glance, it [Sbisa] looks nice,” said Monica Ramirez, a junior zoology major. “But the amount of seating has really been reduced; 1 don’t like the setup. While it looks better cosmetically now, it was bet ter for actual use before.” Rebecca Flannery, a junior com puter science major, complimented the building, but said there was not a significant change in the menu. “A lot of the food choices are the same, but the building itself is real ly nice. Everything is so nice and new,” she said. Karen Carter, manager of Sbisa, said the first day was an overall suc cess, but meal “counts are really high” —unusually high. Carter did not have final numbers, but estimated almost 5,000 meals were served Tuesday. Students found long lines Tues- battalion' day when they dined in Sbisa, but Carter said she expects everything to level out within the week when stu dents become acclimated to the lay out of the building. Sbisa closed on Dec. 15, 1999, with a projected reopening date in August 2000 — just in time for Fall 2000. Because of unexpected plumbing and electrical.concerns, the completion date was pushed back. Ron Beard, director of Food Ser vices, said the renovations covered everything from the wooden floors to refinishing the furniture to repair ing the roof. “All of the furniture was sent to the TDC (Texas Department of Cor rections), where it was stripped and then refinished,” Beard said. “The roof was completely redone, and the hardwood floors were expanded to bring back a little nostalgia — to the way it was from the last renovation in the 1970s.” The building was not the only thing updated. The menu and food selection were revamped also. A new section of Sbisa offers world cuisine. Food choices include Italian strom- boli and hamburgers. The world cui sine section changes food each week. See Sbisa on Page 4. ’ech fire caused by experiment gan to flow out and then caught fire, Sommermeyer said. Alter a fire extinguisher he grabbed proved too small for the blaze, the stu dent left and returned with a larger one, Sommermeyer said. * - But by that time, the fire had grown too large to handle and the student yelled for help, Sommermeyer said. David Birney. an assistant professor, heard the yells and came to try to help, Sommermeyer Mid. When Bimey saw that the fire was out of his control, he closed the door and called the fire de partment, Sommermeyer said. Few people were in the building be cause of the Martin Luther King Jr. hol iday but all were evacuated safely. The floor and a hood vent used in ex periments were damaged. There is no sprinkler system in the chemistry building because some chem icals used in experiments could spread if water is used on them, Birney said. Meningitis cases confirmed in area I LUBBOCK (AP) — When a Texas (Tech graduate student’s experiment with solvents went bad, it caused thou- pds of dollars in damage to the uni- rsity’s chemistry building. No one was injured in the blaze lanuarv vionday afternoon. l anUa %| sl:LI( J ent was sitting across the l anLialA zoom from his experiment when he ianuary JJL rd a popping sound, said Tech Februai jp<)k esman Michael Sommermeyer. L e bruaa jqyjjg f rom t]-, e student’s test tubes be- February' , yOU lOW i ce to mW paid trai ,v ncU!*| room# # Disease takes life of Montgomery County teen; two others infected r kiosks HOUSTON (AP)—Spinal contracted the disease and word from the Atlanta-based is like everything else in * tion ‘Angitis has claimed the life two more may have it, said Centers for Disease Control public education: People go one Montgomery County Rick Cowan, superintendent HBdent and at least two others of the New Caney Indepen- suffering from the illness, dent School District. One of the confirmed cases is a female high school student and the oth er a male elementary school student, he said. “The bottom line is it’s scary because not as much is known about the infectious bacteria and the less you know, the more it creates panic,” Cowan said. Cowan was awaiting date. f!) § ffv ■ one Montgomery County Ident and at least two others ft suffering from the illness, pflicials in two county school districts said Tuesday. ■ A seventh-grade boy from Vlagnolia, about 35 miles Northwest of Houston, died Outdw 1 .Monday, John Paul Watson , of the f issistant superintendent of »tadf 15 ' 1 he Magnolia Independent School District, said. Rec At the same time, two slu- Joits in New Caney, 30 miles ^ 0 northeast of Houston, have and Prevention on whether the other two students with bacterial infections also have meningitis. If enough cases are con firmed in the county, a mass vaccination program will be started, he said. Both districts were prepar ing letters to parents. “Some parents aren’t tak ing it seriously enough and some are getting squirrely and pulling their children out of school,” Watson said. “It to extremes. Meningitis is a severe bac terial infection of tissue cov ering the brain and spinal cord and can result in blind ness, deafness, amputations and permanent brain damage. Meningococcal meningitis, the cause of the Magnolia stu dent’s death, is particularly severe, according to the Texas Department of Health, with 10 to 20 percent of those infected dying, often within hours of onset. Two inmates possibly seen Report unconfirmed by FBI IRVING, Te\u.s 1 \P) -—With the seven escaped con victs from a South Texas prison having eluded authorities for more than a month, the reward for information leading to their arrests and convictions has risen to M -IO.OOO Two of the fugitives were reportedly spotted north of Houston on Monday. The sightings could not immediate ly be confirmed by state officials, although Initial FBI re view of the store’s surveillance video showed promise. Nava sofa Police Chief Bill Lucas said his investigators are reviewing surveillance photos with state corrections and Texas Department of Public Safety officers. The chief said employees of an FA von station near Texas 6 reported seeing two men in a red and white flatbed pickup truck who tit the descriptions of Donald Keith Newbufv. 38. and Randy Ethan Halprin. 28 The two men purchased beverages and tried on sun glasses at the store, then requested directions to Conroe. The men were last: seen heading east on Texas lri\ |ea\ - mg Navasota in the direction of Montgomery County Lu cas said police in Navasota. about 60 miles north of Hous ton. notified law officers in that area. Montgomery County sheriff’s officers began searching Conroe streets for the fugitives. Halprin and Newbury escaped with five others from the Connallv Unit: near Kcnedv.Texas., on Dec. I v The fugitives face capital murder charges in the shooting death of police- officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas eve robbery of an Oshrnan’s Super Sports US X in Irving a Dallas suburb To activatel^ae^ccounts, students should follow the instructions online at www.neo.tamu.edu. or visit the Student Computing Center (SCC) on campus. For technical help using the phohebook, contact Help Desk Central at 845-8300, or he I pdesk@tam u.edu, or go to the Website at http://cis.tamu.ed u/help/hdc. SELSO GARCIA/Tiie Battalion Online phonebook gets update By Emily Hendrickson The Battalion To allow for a faster, more respon sive directory system, Texas A&M’s electronic phonebook, which lists the phone numbers and email addresses of students, faculty and staff, was inte grated with the Neo system on Jan. 2. The original phonebook listed a stu dent’s phone number, physical address, email address, Website and classifica tion, and required students to update their personal information. In the past, many students rarely updated their in formation, making phonebook entries inaccurate. It was not unusual for a se nior to have his or her freshman phone number listed. “The old* unsupported directory was designed by the University of Illi nois and only allowed for about 10,000 entries,” said Thomas Putnam, director of Computing and Information Ser vices (CIS). The Neo system is an email system developed by CIS and is configured like an ordinary email service, with 10 megabytes of storage. Neo forwards email to any account and is accessible through any browser. Official email from the University is sent to the Neo account, but students may choose to have their email forwarded to othej; email services such as Hotmail. To en* sure delivery of official email from the University, the email is sent to the NeO account, and a notification of the sent email is then delivered to the student’s chosen email service. Since the phonebook has been intef grated with Neo, the only information available is the student’s forwarding email address, phone number, major and classification. Most of a student’s information is automatically updated and can be changed at the Office of Ad missions and Records, leaving students little to update. Students who have forgotten their passwords may reset them at an open access lab or desk central. Students should access their accounts to update their information for the phonebook. Students who wish to publicize infor mation no longer available through the See Neo on Page 2.