Come join us for dinner! Meet new friends!
Have fun learning about resources just for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered people on the
TAMU campus and in the community!
O Camp
&
Students with Alternative Views! Come to Open Camp:
September 21, 2003, 5-7pm Register: http://studcntlile.tamu.edii/gies
(For Information call, 845-1107)
Department of Student I.tie,
Am Gender Issues Education Servicex-Sbisa-East Wing
QUANTUM COW: 260-COWS
In the Sparks Building, Northgate
LAB
SOLUTIONS
MANUALS
Chemistry/Physics/Biology/Orsanic
and Blinn Chemistry 1401
quantumcow.com
Are you Interested
in
Career Paths in
ENGLISH
Dr. Claude Gibson will discuss
career paths in this exciting major.
Henderson Hall, Room 114
Wednesday, September 17th
6:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m.
Call (979) 845-4470 x 125
Sponsored by
Student Counseling Service
7 STUDENT
GOVERNMENT
! ASSOCIATION
Ti:x|\S AtCVl I'NIVEKSITY
Election
Commission
WflCOMF ro
CUSS OF
E ssmmui/ m/m /x T0PArt
To run for a Class Council or Student Senate
position, you M/57'first file with the Election
Commission!
Look for the Election Commission Filing table
located in the MSC Foyer from
September 15 th - 1T* 1 from 10AM to 3PM.
If you have questions, call 862-2606
Tuesday
Buy Regular or Large Sandwich
Get 22oz. drink and chips
FREE
Dine-ln and take out only.
Check out our new menu
Sandwiches starting
at $ 1.99!
110 College Main • 846-7000
Mon.-Sat. 10:30am-10:00pm Sun. I 1:00am-10pm
This store not affiliated with Texas Avenue location.
6B
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
NATH)
THE BATTALij
Seeking expressions of faitl
Muslim youth get in touch with their faith, cultu
By Geneive Abdo
KRT CAMPUS
Wajeeha Shuttari, 18, left, Lena Abuelroos, 18, center and Ifra Ali, 19, admire a scarf at oneor
booths at the Islamic Society of North America's convention in Chicago on Aug. 31.
CHICAGO — As an 18-year-old
Palestinian, Lena Abuelroos appeared to
have bought into all the trappings of
American life: She was an aspiring model, a
clotheshorse and top saleswoman at an
Armani Exchange in Troy, Mich.
So one July morning, when she showed
up for work wearing hijab, her long, black
curls out of sight beneath the folds of her
veil, her co-workers were so alarmed they
stopped speaking to her.
For Abuelroos, putting on hijab, or mod
est Islamic attire, was her way of getting in
touch with the Muslim identity her family of
Arab immigrants often downplayed. Her
transformation mirrors that of many of the
2,000 young Muslim women and men who
gathered recently for a weekend in Chicago
as part of the 40th annual convention of the
Islamic Society of North America, which
organizers say drew tens of thousands of lay
activists.
In the basement of McCormick Place, a
Chicago convention center, away from the
glitz of the adult convention upstairs, young
Muslims from hundreds of universities
vowed to create a more pronounced Islamic
identity in the United States through their
Muslim students associations. Not only do
they plan to become more devout than their
parents, whom they described as cultural —
not religious — Muslims, but they also are
on a mission to change the negative images
of Islam in America.
“The media say Muslims are this or
that, and it’s not true,” Abuelroos said.
“We have to show that we are not afraid to
reveal our Muslim identity. Now I have
convinced my father to go to the mosque,
and my mother has also become more reli
gious, though she will never wear hijab
because she’s a beautician.”
The Muslim students said they feel under
siege since the terrorist attacks in New York
and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, and want
to take a stand. But even before Sept. 11,
many attended Islamic youth camps and
Islamic Sunday schools to learn more about
their faith.
“Our parents, who were immigrants to
this country, were consumed with just mak
ing a living,” said Atif Jaleel, 23, a Chicago
native whose family came from Pakistan.
“I am more religious than my father
because I have the luxury of thinking
about my faith. I discovered Islam when I
became involved in the campus mosque at
the University of Illinois in Champaign,”
said Jaleel, who organized the weekend’s
student conference. “Our new awareness is
also a reaction to the treatment of Muslims
in this country. After Sept. 11, the older
generation who ran the show thought it
was best to lie low.
“As that happened, the younger genera
tion was uncomfortable with this, especially
at colleges and universities. We decided we
must become active.”
Muslim leaders say a revival is afoot in
the United States, not only for youth but
also for the entire Islamic community, esti
mated at 6 million. Attendance is rising at
the 1,300 mosques and 300 to 400 Islamic
schools nationwide.
The number of Friday prayer services
has increased to accommodate the influx of
worshipers, and plans are under way!
build more Islamic schools.
For Muslim students, the best straie:
for establishing a future free of hatecriE
and discrimination is to educate theirchl
mates. Muslim student associations spocl
Islamic Awareness Week each year, vt i
teaches the principles of Islam. Stud®
also encourage non-Muslims to fast
them during the holy month of Ramadan
By creating Islamic organizations a
their campuses, many Muslim students^;
they are developing a support networtl
keep them from drifting into an Ameria
lifestyle filled with temptations thatvid*
their religious beliefs, such as dating,drill
ing alcohol or wearing heavy makeup,
“Let’s face it, everyone is attracted®
ally,” said Abuelroos, her dark eyelaste
touched with mascara. “But you can’ll*
because it leads to sex. The first socialw|
tact we have with boys is when we are re®
to get engaged. You’re supposed to dll
nicely, but not in a sexual way. And beiri
model is definitely out because lsJ : ]
revolves around modesty.”
States differ on ordering divorced
parents to pay college costs, tuition
By David Crary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
Alexander Duran was delighted
when his daughter earned admis
sion to two of New England’s top
private colleges. He was furious
when a judge ordered him to help
pay tuition at the school offering
far less financial aid.
A married parent would never
be subjected to such an order. But
New Hampshire, where both
Duran and his ex-wife live, is one
of a growing minority of states
allowing courts to force divorced
parents to pay for their children’s
college costs.
“It’s not so much the money
— it’s having no input in the deci
sion,” said Duran, 48, whose
daughter and ex-wife preferred
Brown University despite a better
aid offer from Brandeis. Duran
said the court order means he
must pay more than $6,000 per
year for college expenses instead
of $3,000.
The issue is generating
debate nationwide as lawyers,
legislators and parents argue
over whether the children of
divorce — in an era of skyrock
eting tuition — deserve legal
protections different from the
children of intact marriages.
Last year, Connecticut —
through a law passed by the
Legislature — became the 17th
state to allow such court
orders, according to family law
specialist Laura Morgan of
Charlottesville, Va.
This year, due partly to impas
sioned lobbying by divorced,
noncustodial fathers like Duran,
New Hampshire lawmakers took
a step in the opposite direction.
The House of Representatives
voted to prohibit courts from
ordering a divorced parent to pay
college expenses of a child 18 or
older; the bill is expected to be
considered by the state Senate
next year.
“States are all over the place
on this issue,” said Sandra
Morris, president of the American
Academy of
Matrimonial
Lawyers. “In
many situations,
it’s very tragic —
the divorced par
ents don’t do what
they would have
done if they had
stayed together,
and the children
are pretty much
cut off (from any
support).”
Kate
Haakonsen, an
attorney who
helped draft
Connecticut’s
year-old law, said a majority of
her state’s lawmakers felt it was
appropriate to treat divorced par
ents differently from married
couples when it came to college
support.
“Children of divorced parents
are less likely to go to college,
less likely to go to prestigious
schools, and generally are less
economically successful than
their parents,” she said. “As a
matter of public policy, we have
to decide if that’s what we want.”
In the states with laws like
Connecticut’s, courts have repeat
edly upheld that rationale. The
exception is Pennsylvania, where
the state Supreme Court ruled in
1995 that there is no basis for dis
tinguishing between divorced and
non-divorced parents in regard to
paying for college.
Jean-Claude Sakellarios, a
New Hampshire attorney,
believes a former client might
still be alive if his state’s judges
shared the view of
Pennsylvania’s
high court.
The client,
Luke Hovland,
committed suicide
June 3, eight
months after
spending 43 days
in the Strafford
County jail for
failing to pay
more than
$16,000 to his ex-
wife to cover half
of their daughter’s
tuition at Tufts
University.
Hovland — a
forester-turned-
salesman — made about $55,000
yearly and had struggled to keep
up with child support payments
while earning enough for his new
wife and young daughter,
Sakellarios said. The lawyer said
the court-ordered tuition payment
deepened the 50-year-old
Hovland’s despair.
“You get more and more con
vinced they’re going to chase you
forever,” Sakellarios said at his
office in Manchester. “There was
a sense of hopelessness.”
The divorced
parents don’t do
what they would
have done if they
had stayed together,
and the children
are pretty much
cutoff. n
— Sandra Morris
matrimony lawyer
NEWS IN BRIEF
White House nam<
cybersecurity chief
WASHINGTON (AP)-Ti
White House on Moni
selected Amit Yoran, a st
ware executive from Symari
Corp., as the nation’s pi
cybersecurity chief for f
Department of Homela f
Security.
Yoran, who is hardly
household name but »f
known within the cybersecuf
community, will be the gover
ment’s evangelist for person
ing Americans to improve tin
computer defenses agaifi
hackers, disgruntled emplc
ees, commercial rivals andfo
eign governments.
“He’s been one of the lead!
in this area in the privates!
tor,” said Howard Schmidt, fc
mer deputy special assistant
President Bush for cyberset
rity issues. “He’ll do quite we
Yoran, a Symantec vice pie
ident, also will be respond
for carrying out dozens of ie
ommendations in the adn#
tration’s “National Strategy
Secure Cyberspace,” a set
proposals to better prote
computer networks.
“There are a number of cM
lenges, but I wouldn’t point 1
any one in particular ande
it’s the most difficult to otf
come,” Yoran said in an ir*
view with The Associate
Press. “There’s definitely a‘ :
of work ahead of us.”
The Department 1
Homeland Security annount*
Yoran’s selection Monday 1
industry executives and otN
government officials. Yore 1
who was not at the annou^
ment, said he expects to rape'
for work within a few weeks
AMERICAN BUSINESS WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION
First Meeting Tonight!!
7:30 p.m. in Wehner Rm. 113
“From the Kitchen to Wall Street”
- A progression of the woman -
^Featuring Dr. Sara Alpern from the Woman Studies Department
Fall 2003 In-line Hockey League
8 Game Season, plus Double Elimination Tournament
Games are scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday Nights
Registration, Sept. 10-21, 2003
600 N. Randolph, Bryan
Cost: $200. 00 per team
For more info call the Neal Recreation Center at 209-5210
pm
*
Volume 11<
Bla<
By Laure
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