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Sports: Cross country confident for meet • Page 1 B
Opinion: What makes a real Aggie? • Page 5B
THE BATTALION
Volume 109 • Issue 20 • 14 pages
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, September 26, 2002
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JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION
Student Body President Zac Coventry, a
senior agricultural development major,
called for more integrity among Aggies.
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
Student Body President Zac
Coventry delivered the State of the
University Address early Wednesday
evening, speaking on issues including
parking. Bonfire and being an Aggie.
Coventry, a senior agricultural
development major, began by defining
the crowd he was addressing, saying
an Aggie embodies the values, tradi
tions and integrity of Texas A&M and
treats others with dignity and respect
“An Aggie tradition is an event,
activity, item or belief that promotes
unity within the Aggie family,” he
said. “Dorm yells that shout obsceni
ties or practices that belittle other
Aggies are not Aggie traditions.”
address University issues
Although Coventry did not discuss
the future of Bonfire in his speech, he
was willing to discuss his viewpoint at
the reception.
“I would like to see the reemer
gence of an on-campus Bonfire, but
only if it can be safe. I am not will
ing to sacrifice another student life,”
he said.
Coventry said PTTS will return to
the hanging parking tags next year
due to problems with this year’s
adhesive ones.
Parking is a long-term problem
which requires a long-term solution,
he said.
“A&M has more parking spots
available than any other major univer
sity, both by percent and by number,
but student government members real
ize this is still a big problem for many
students,” Coventry said.
Coventry said he will be serving on
the provost search committee, and said
that hundreds of students serve on
other planning committees.
“A&M stands head and shoulders
above other universities in its prece
dence of including students on major
university decisions,” Coventry said.
Logan Renfrew, speaker pro
temp of the Student Senate and
sophomore business administration
major, mentioned several issues the
senate voted on Wednesday night
after Coventry’s speech.
The senate will be discussing put
ting a bike air-pump on-campus,
whether to limit grade replacements
and add more Q-drops and whether to
split up the representatives from
Southside and the Corps, Renfrew
said. If the representative bill passes,
Northside will be getting another rep
resentative as well, he said.
“The Senate discusses what stu
dents bring to our attention, and
administrators will tell us what needs
to be fixed,” Renfrew said.
Speaker of the Student Senate and
senior political science major Brooks
Landgraf spoke of two important new
policies introduced by the Executive
Branch and supported by the senators:
the establishment of Fall Activities
Council (FAC) and the student govern
ment’s “Bold Promise to Diversity.”
Another goal, he said, is to cut
budgets and increase efficiency within
jSGA’s] student organizations.
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Filter proposed
By Lecia Baker
THE BATTALION
If Because the Texas A&M computing system receives
an overwhelming amount of viruses each day, Computing
& Information Services (CIS) will soon be implementing
a filtering solution to prevent campus e-mail users from
receiving infected mail.
I: Philip Kizer of the CIS Open Systems Group discussed
the filter’s ability to bounce messages that contain a virus
at the Information Security Forum Wednesday. He said
the filter will initially only scan e-mail that is sent from an
off-campus source into A&M’s system.
I Senders will have to clean away any viruses that their
system contains before sending any additional e-mails to
the A&M computer system, Kizer said.
I Kizer said not every e-mail will be filtered. Some e-
to nab viruses
mails will inevitably pass through, but the system will halt
a majority of the infected e-mails.
Kizer discussed the possibility of filtering out spam and
unwanted e-mail. Spam is associated with a common e-
mail virus that places a user’s e-mail address on multiple
mailing lists and the account will be full of junk mail.
The filtering system will be able to block a large per
centage of unwanted mail from entering A&M’s system.
Once in place, the filter will scan and block viruses sent
from A&M to outside users or other A&M-based users.
Kirk Hausman, computer systems manager in the
Office of the Commandant, said the filtering is a good
idea, though it won’t keep everything out.
“My only complaint about the system is the limitations
on academic freedom,” Hausman said.
The filtering system should be up and running in the
next month, Kizer said.
Ergonomics center comes to A&M
m’si
By Eric "Ambrose
THE BATTALION
I Analyzing the design of computer
keyboards to prevent carpal tunnel
syndrome or examining the stress
caused by using heavy equipment to
lilt objects are research activities in
the field of ergonomics.
I Ergonomics, the study of the
physical and cognitive interface
bet ween people and the jobs that they
do, encompasses biomechanical,
medical, legal and regulatory issues
in the workplace, with an emphasis
on safety issues.
: 1 ;’ • The National Center for Ergonomic
Studies at Texas A&M has moved
from the College of Engineering to the
Department of Environmental and
Occupational Health.
After eight years in the College of
Engineering, the center has joined the
School of Rural Public Health to
become part of the University System
Health Science Center. Dr. Steven
Moore, co-director of the Center for
Ergonomic Studies, said the field is
better suited in the School of Rural
Public Health.
“Ergonomics never had a comfort
able home in the College of
Engineering,” Moore said. “While the
field incorporates engineering princi
ples, it is more health-related. Being
in the Health Science Center makes
our program more consistent with
other programs around the country.”
An increase in the number of
work-related injuries reported in
recent years has fueled the study of
ergonomics around the country. Dr.
Gordon Vos, the associate director of
ergonomic studies at A&M, said
many injuries and illnesses can be
attributed to poorly designed job
tasks or equipment.
The large work force in agricul
ture makes the Texas-Mexico border
region especially important, Vos said.
“Ergonomics is the science of
studying the way that humans inter-
See Ergonomics on page 2A
Local bars campaign
for responsibility
By Sarah Darr
THE BATTALION
The Dixie Chicken, Inc, which includes
Shadow Canyon and Dry Bean Saloon, is
one of the first of a growing list of bars,
stores and organizations to join the
Coalition on Alcohol Responsibility and
Education (CARE), a group devoted to
promoting responsible alcohol consump
tion in the community.
CARE was formed by a group of
Bryan and College Station community
leaders including local business owners,
the College Station Police Department,
the Texas A&M Department of Student
Life and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission.
The organization hopes to get support
from more local bars and restaurants, said
J.J. Ruffino, president of CARE and owner
of J.J.’s Package Stores.
CARE is in the beginning stages, and
is still working on funding for certain
programs, but members have already set
to work at their goal, Ruffino said.
CARE members are meeting with
local bar owners and asking them to get
involved with the program, said Jennifer
Ford, programming coordinator of
Alcohol & Drug Education and the secre
tary of CARE. The program hopes to get
bar advertisements to focus more on the
entertainment offered by the bar, rather
than just the drink specials. Ford said.
More meetings are planned in hopes to
get grocery stores, convenience stores and
liquor stores involved. Ford said.
“CARE is made up of so many differ
ent organizations, we are able to benefit
several different departments,” said
Becky Hagen, police assistant and the
vice president of CARE.
Organizations that are members of
CARE were asked to sign an honor
agreement pledging to advertise non
alcoholic specials such as food, post the
numbers of CARPOOL and taxi services
and include statements in advertisements
promoting responsible alcohol consump
tion, Ford said.
“We are not out to get people, we’re
all working together to educate students
and members of the community,” Ford
said.
The Department of Student Life is
involved with CARE to show that A&M
is committed to providing a safe envi
ronment in Brazos Valley, Ford said.
Ruffino has been in the alcohol busi
ness for 30 years, which helps when
speaking with bar owners because lie
knows most of them personally, he said.
Many bar owners want to become
involved because the group is focused on
the whole community, Ruffino said.
“The business is not about selling
alcohol at anyjjost, but to sell responsibly
and with integrity,” Ruffino said.
College Station businesses and com
munity leaders have been very supportive
of CARE because they are aware that
underage and binge drinking is an impor
tant problem, Hagen said.
“There are specific officers on duly
during game weekends, on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday nights, that deal
specifically with alcohol related problems
and noise complaints,” Hagen said.
CARE is working with Brazos Valley
Counsel on Alcohol and Substance
Abuse, which offers training to local
bartenders and servers to help them
make educated decisions about serving
alcohol, Hagen said.
Because College Station has so many
minors alcohol servers need to know how
to identify an underage person, spot an
invalid ID and when to cut someone’s
alcohol supply off, Hagen said.
Hagen said CARE is an organization
available for members of the community
to voice their ideas, problems, and con
cerns and actually find an answer.
“We want to be one big group that
people in neighborhoods can approach
with ideas to get something started,”
Hagen said.
Law enforcement officials
provide safety training
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
The most important thing parents can
teach their children is safety, regardless
of the child’s age, said Leslie Malinak,
detective for the Bryan Police
Department (BPD) at a training session
for prevention of child abductions.
“It doesn’t matter if they are young or
old, you have to develop the mentality to
suit that age,” Malinak said. “As a parent
you have to listen to your children and
make safety your number one concern.”
Parents and their children from around
the community gathered Tuesday night at
the Brazos Center to hear tips on staying
away from strangers and Internet safety
from law enforcement officials of The
College Station Police Department
(CSPD), BPD, University Police
Department (UPD) and the Brazos
County Sheriff’s Office.
Malinak said she finds the best place
to talk to her children is in the car, and
emphasized that there is no reason for an
adult to ask a child a question about any
thing, such as finding a pet or directions
to the post office.
“If you were a hungry shark, where
would you go? Where little fish swim,’*
she said.
Sgt. Chuck Fleeger of the CSPD said
the definition of a stranger is different to
an adult than to a child, and communica
tion is a big key to understanding.
See Safety on page 2A
1. Personal safety is best taught by parents
2. listen to your children
1 3. Teach children it is ok to say NO and
to trust their instincs
4. Get involved
5. Practice safety skiits with your children
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION