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Join me 109 • Issue 6 • 14 pages
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.coni
Friday, September 6, 2002
[Task forces look at student access to majors
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
I An administrative task force aimed
It helping more students get into their
itiajor of choice is taking the first step
toward altering admission require-
lients.
Meetings began this week for task
forces focusing on academic limita
tions and student-athlete concerns,
former Provost and Executive Vice
sident Ronald Douglas, along with
»ociate Provost Dr. Mark Weichold.
began looking into the issue this spring
and summer. Weichold said, the idea is
to simplify the process of transferring
students out of the general studies pro
gram and other unwanted majors.
“We want to make the process easi
er.” Weichold said. “We were seeing
more and more students having diffi
culty trying to get into the majors they
wanted and would complain to me or to
the dean of their college.”
An imperative of the University’s
Vision 2020 plan is to improve the
undergraduate experience. Right now.
that imperative is stuck in a holding
pattern the task force wants to help stu
dents get out of, Weichold said.
The academic access task force con
sists of two subcommittees, which are
just beginning their work, Weichold
said. One committee will look at admit
tance barriers for certain colleges, such
as required grade point ratios, number
of hours a student must have to enter a
major and required courses. Another
committee will compile a list of univer
sities in the area to compare A&M’s
policies with. Before A&M can evalu
ate and alter the access its students have
to certain popular majors, this subcom
mittee will find out what other major
universities do in similar situations.
There just aren’t enough seats in
architecture classes to admit every stu
dent who wants to be an architecture
major, said Mardelle Shepley, associate
dean for the College of Architecture.
“When we assign classes we have to
have a place for each student to sit, lit
erally,” Shepley said. “Compared to the
Colleges of Business and Engineering,
we are pretty small.
The number of those who are
accepted changes from semester to
semester.”
Architecture has 140 new freshmen
enrolled this fall. Most of those fresh
men were in the top ten percent of their
high school class and have high scores
on the SAT, Shepley said.
A student wanting to transfer into
architecture from another university
needs to have a GPR above a 3.0, she
See Task Forces on page 2
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By Brian Harrison
THE BATTALION
The Student Senate
pproved a plan this week to
nsure all members of student
overnment are trained in
diversity. Senators say all com
mittee members will be made
aware of the value of every
individual, regardless of race,
religion or place of origin.
Senate Speaker Brooks
Landgraf. a senior political sci
ence major, said training will
involve a four-step program
being integrated into every
committee. The senate has yet
to decide when and exactly
how the training will occur.
Included in the bill is a
requirement for all future SGA
committee applications to
include the “Bold Promise to
Diversity,” which says student
government “recognizes and
values the distinct contribu
tions each person makes.”
Pablo Rodriguez, the sen
ate’s vice president for diversi
ty and a junior speech commu
nications major, said this is an
effective way to introduce the
concept of diversity.
“This is a good, proactive
way to show an organizational
commitment to addressing
diversity,” Rodriguez said.
The bill passed by a margin
of one vote and was not with
out its share of opponents.
Most vocal was John
Mathews, a sophomore general
studies major. He said diversity
training would only put race,
and not qualifications or abili
ties, in the front of people's
minds.
“This is another case of
political correctness gone
amuck,” Matthews said. “They
gave no specific means by
which to accomplish their
goals, and 1 don't know if there
is even any legal way for them
to do it.”
Rodriguez is authoring a
survey to gather data that
describes the demographic
breakdown of student govern
ment.
“Diversity is not about
meeting numbers, but about
respecting each and every per
son in our community,” he
said.
In other business, the
Senate approved a bill support
ing the efforts of the Fall
Activities Council. Fall
Activites Council seeks to pro
mote unity among the student
body and perpetuate traditions
at Texas A&M during the fall
semester, when students used
to be involved in building
Aggie Bonfire.
Also, Elizabeth Sala^kwas
elected Academic Whq^and
Lucy Huerca was elected
Residency Whip.
Student group keeps plans
for bonfire under wraps
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
A group hoping to build an off-campus bon
fire this fall made its public debut Thursday, but
members are keeping the details of their plans
under wraps for now as they try to raise
$100,000 for the project.
About 100 students gathered in the parking
lot outside Hurricane Harry’s to listen to a pres
entation from a group calling itself the Unity
Project, which is not affiliated with Texas A&M.
Luke Cheatham, the organization’s leader and a
senior civil engineering major, said the group
plans to hold a public bonfire that will be open
to all Aggies who want to participate.
“Students are tired of seeing this void every
fall, and we need to fill that void with Bonfire,”
Cheatham said. “We need the leadership and
camraderie that Bonfire helps to build.”
Safety will be the top priority, Cheatham
said, and participants will have to undergo safe
ty training, as well as more extensive training
for students in leadership roles. Professional
safety experts will oversee the project, and med
ical emergency personnel and security will also
be on hand at the work site.
Students will cut the logs and burn the stack,
but the logs will be piled with machinery.
There will be zero tolerance for alcohol,
Cheatham added.
Planning is underway and land has been
selected, Cheatham said. He declined to release
any details.
Following a brief sales pitch, the group made
an urgent plea for money and said it needs 2,000
Aggies to donate $50 each to have sufficient
funds for the project. Cheatham said the goal is
to raise the money in a week, but that no dead
line for deciding whether to move forward has
been set.
Students at the rally said they want a bonfire
this fall, and are willing to give the Unity Project
a chance.
“Bonfire represents the best of the Aggie
spirit, and we want to see it burn,” said Patrick
Vinas, a sophomore computer science major.
While eager to participate in building a bon
fire, Vinas said he was not quite sure about kick
ing in $50.
William Benson, a senior accounting major,
said he supported building an off-campus bon
fire, but also was not sure if he would donate
$50 to make the make the project a reality.
“Its a great thing what they’re trying to do,
but I'll have to take some time and think about
it,” Benson said.
Former A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen
cancelled plans for a 2002 Bonfire, citing lia
bility and cost issues.
Cheatham said the Unity Project has taken
care of liability issues, but would not elaborate.
He added that the group had already secured
some funding and support, but was not yet
ready to release that information or tell the
number of students participating in the group.
The group is considering becoming a limited
liability corporation.
Cheatham expressed concern that the
University would try to intimidate and discour-
See Unity Project on page 2
Sophomore horticulture major Joanne Barker
cleans up a group of pink Perennial Hibiscus
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
flowers in the Cashion area of the horticul
ture gardens in College Station.
Memorial open for anniversary
By Jeremy Osborne
THE BATTALION
A monument memorializing the students who
were killed and injured in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire
Collapse should be open by Nov. 18, 2004, the fifth
anniversary of the collapse.
“I’m glad we will finally have something that
celebrates the memory of those who spent so much
of their time and effort on Bonfire,”
said Lindsay Leach, a senior interna
tional studies major. “Many Aggies
have held their personal memorials,
but now we will have something to
share.”
The A&M System Board of
Regents appropriated $550,000 for
costs of developing the Bonfire
Memorial. The total cost of the proj
ect sits around $5 million, said Dr.
Wynn Rosser, assistant vice president
of student affairs.
The design concept phase began
with the College of Architecture’s competition for
designs and concluded with the Bonfire Memorial
Committee selecting the finalist, Robert L.
Shemwell. Philip E. Rolling, College of
Architecture communication specialist, said the col
lege is now effectively out of the process.
The preliminary design features 12 stone portals,
See Bonfire on page 2
Bonfire Memorial
Total cost near $5 million
$550,000 comes from A&M
Construction should begin Fall 2003
Memorial expected to open by
November 18, 2004
Institute for Applied Creativity offers a chance for innovation
By Sarah Darr
THE BATTALION
A new director and staff
have been named to the
Institute for Applied Creativity,
A&M’s newest outlet for cre
ative thinking.
The institute will offer cours
es dealing with creativity in all
areas of education and will be a
place where students can find
information about creativity
courses and the professors who
teach these courses.
“Students will interact with
experts and scholars known for
their research and applications
of creative thinking in real-life
settings,” said Jane Close
Conoley, dean of the College of
Education. “The institute will
expand the current core of
loosely aligned creativity cours
es into an undergraduate and
graduate curriculum allowing
Texas A&M students to become
the creators and innovators of
tomorrow.”
Now that the director staff is in
place, partnerships will eventually
be formed to give students the
opportunity to
work with
local schools,
governments,
non-profit
organizations,
and business
es, Conoley
said
Franz B.
Ehrhardt is executive director,
and Rodney Hill of the
Department of Architecture was
HILL
named director of University
partnerships. Dr. Joyce Juntune
of the Department of
Educational Psychology will
serve on the director staff also,
as director of educational part
nerships.
Ehrhardt will serve on a pro
bono basis during the beginning
stages of the institute, Conoley
said. Ehrhardt will be in charge
of developing external partner
ships and securing long-term
funding for the Institute for
Applied Creativity.
Ehrhardt is a Distinguished
Lecturer in the Department of
Educational Psychology, and he
is a member of the Board of
Directors for the International
Research Exchange (IREX) as
well as a past director of the
American Creativity
Association.
“We can put A&M on the
map in a dominant position as
far as supporting applied cre
ativity with this institute,”
Ehrhardt said. “I am looking
forward to getting directly
involved with the institute, help
get it rolling, and making it a
real-life institute.”
Hill will coordinate and
expand undergraduate and grad
uate courses in creativity and
innovation. He will also be
responsible for enlisting partici
pation from all colleges in the
institute’s activities, including
the A&M System agencies.
The institute, which will be
part of the College of Education,
See Creativity on page 2