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.