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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2004)
Nati at h ^ ■ ^ ^ Friday, March 26, 2004 The Battalion olumc IIS* Issue 110 • 12 pu^es A lexiis INI Tradition Since 1893 OPINION: Unfair drug law Page 11 YvwAv.t hebatt.com PAGE DESIGN BY: ALICIA SVETLIK g Jtudents express concerns Ur. 5 )ver proposed tuition hike m. lem, the By Rhiannon Meyers THE BATTALION Several students spoke out ainst the proposed fall tuition tease at a public hearing dur- the Texas A&M University ard of Regents meeting ursday afternoon. ■ An estimated 15 students I [dressed the regents with their jmcems that the $19.50 tuition "crease for the fall was too large urged regents not to pass the tease in the meeting tomorrow. Student Body President Matt isefy, a senior accounting ajor, told regents that the tease will greatly impact stu nts, and he encouraged the gents to represent students’ :ds and concerns. “1 come to you representing ,000 students, many of whom ^ghly resent the proposed ^crease and the effects it will ] ave on them,” Josefy said. iVour vote represents the trust I f the students.” Josefy said that students want affordability and predictability, so that they will be aware of the true costs of college. “Students want accountabili ty to know that our money goes directly to fund our education,” Josefy said. “But most of all, the students of Texas A&M want to know that this will continue to be an institution of the people, centered on its students.” A&M President Robert M. Gates said that because of underfunding by the state, the tuition increase is necessary to hire 447 new faculty to reduce class size. “No parent and no student want to see an increase in stu dent cost,” Gates said. “Frankly, I don't like it myself. But the increase in tuition is an unwel come necessity.” Gates said A&M's tuition increases have been small in comparison to other universi ties’ increases such as the University of Texas and Texas Tech. Gates said A&M has been responsible with student money and was one of the few universities that cut its own budget. Gates said he has held three open forums in the past nine months regarding tuition increases and that most students asked questions related to the use of student money. “Most student opposition has been experienced outside of the public hearing process,” Gates said. Matt Maddox, president of Young Conservatives of Texas and a senior management major, said the fall increase is too large and that the regents need to be more accountable. “We don't believe this is a deregulation issue, but more of a financial accountability issue,” Maddox said. “Students are going to go into debt over this increase.” See Tuition on page 2 Art Wright • THE BATTALION Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates listens to open- Thursday afternoon in MSC 292. If approved, tuition floor discussion of proposed A&M tuition increases will have increased 33 percent since last fall. ibing a j STUDENT FEE SERVICE FORUM | Friday th zinc, 1 'on. cooki n A. these w!- ing effec: es. ever : Before voting on the issue . inthestudent referendum! y . in April, students can attend ■versdiM the forum to learn more | fivBtos about student service fees. aid. A defi 3 more [ mar, pres r* ESHa "JSCRagRoom »e of vita 1 !5-30 pr disease. ssay ave sparati Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION Source : MYRECORD.TAMU.EDU SSFAB to hold open forum on tuition By Brian Cain THE BATTALION The Student Service Fee Advisory Board (SSFAB) is holding an open forum Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the MSC Flag Room regarding the ref erendum to increase the student service fee. The referendum has become a contested issue on campus. “Currently, the student service fee is $11.86 per credit hour, not to exceed 12 hours. A student cannot be charged more than $150, no matter how many hours that student takes, so right now there is a $150 cap on the student service fee,” said Jim Carlson, chairman of SSFAB. “State law mandates that if the student service fee increases over the $150 cap, a student referen dum is necessary to implement the increase,” Carlson said. If passed, the referendum will increase the student service fee by 65 cents, from $11.86 to $12.51, and establish a new cap of $250. Joey Wood, vice president of the Student Government Association Watch, opposes the new ref erendum and its fee increase. “Even though this forum is operating under the guise of being educational and informative, it is an obvious attempt to convince students to vote for this unnecessary fee increase,” Wood said. “As far as I’m aware, nobody opposing the referen dum has been invited to speak. I know of several people in my organization who would be willing to speak out against this fee increase” he said. Wood said he is con cerned that the new student service fee will allow unchecked increases up to the new $250 cap. “The only reason that the SSFAB is recommending a fee above the $150 cap is so administration can raise the fee without a student vote in the future,” Wood said. Carlson said this is not the case. “Once the cap is passed the fee cannot be increased by more than 10 percent per year,” Carlson said. “Over the last 10 years, the fee has only increased by 4.4 percent per year.” Student Body President Matt Josefy, a senior accounting major, said the referendum was proposed for the right reasons. “The student service fee benefits every student in some way,” Josefy said. “There will always be some students who will question expenditures that do not directly benefit them.” “The reality is, the fee provides fund ing for programs like Aggie Muster, The Big Event and CARPOOL,” he said. “Aggie Band receives funding from the student service fee, and if the referendum does not pass, departments will still have state mandated salary increases, and this money will have to come from cutbacks in other programs.” Josefy said students have a responsibility and a choice in the decision. “Their responsibility is to come and learn why the referendum has been proposed, and their choice is whether or not they will support this increase,” Josefy said. The student service fee benefits every stu dent in some way. — Matt Josefy Student body president pe icientific 1 /may to Dn lliatcs 5 tO ancestor mailer, w , bigger tulo ed ey coito muscles gee i to thef change* d to brain csp ournal Ns ;ists, but 1 md plasft the ChM ohia. yoked s* out the ^umallO |, : declah f idameub 1 another iation :s ;; 6:0011* lunday, Magi< Aggies to give back to community Saturday By Kyle Ross THE BATTALION It is that time of year again when thousands of Texas A&M stu dents, armed with shovels and paintbrushes, devote a day out of the year to blanket the Bryan-College Station area in a united effort to tell their community, “Thank you.” The Big Event kicks off Saturday at 8:45 a.m. Students will convene on the Simpson Drill field for a yell practice and eat breakfast before scattering across the surrounding region to per form various jobs, ranging from garden work to building fences to painting houses. “It’s an opportunity for the entire student body of Texas A&M to give back to the area for being such a supportive and unique colle giate community,” said Jessy Hersman, director of The Big Event. “It’s the largest one-day student-run service in the nation.” Now in its 22nd year, some 8,000 students will complete more m 750 jobs in this area alone, while 71 other Big Events will occur at universities across the nation, said Andy Bugbee, assistant director ofThe Big Event. “In 1982, a group of students led by Joe Nussbaum, vice president of the Student Government Association, decided to clean up a local cemetery,” Hersman said. “They wanted a way to give back and say thank you to the community.” Since Nussbaum’s idea in 1982, the project has grown and changed, Hersman said. “We have established an endowment to fund future Big Events at '■sjOj A&M, and ultimately we hope to establish a national Big Event day,’ Hersman said. Many students will be participating as members of the organiza- lions they are involved with. More than 400 student organizations 11 be represented this year. Pamela Knoller, a sophomore mechanical engineer, will be partic ipating for the first time. Her sorority will team up with the One Army organization to perform the day’s tasks. “Our sorority encourages community service, and The Big Event seemed like a great one to be involved with,” Knoller said. “It will be exciting because we will be helping the community and getting to meet new people in the process.” Though The Big Event has grown into the largest one-day student j, service project in the nation and promises to keep growing, Bugbee (ING$ said the message will always remain the same. a : “We simply just want to say ‘thank you,”’ he said. A&M encourages taking summer classes By Joaquin Salcedo THE BATTALION Taking summer school is a good way to catch up with degree requirements as well as to stay or get ahead of schedule to grad uate, said Mark Weichold, dean of Undergraduate Programs and associate provost for Academic Services. “(In promoting summer school), we (A&M) want to make sure that all students are aware of the opportunities being offered to take courses in the summer, such as courses that may be difficult to get into in a long semester or that are not offered at a community college,” Weichold said. “Every summer, we provide faculty, classrooms and labs for summer courses and occasionally, the classes are not filled to capacity.” Weichold said the University’s promo tion of summer school is not due to student over-enrollment, but rather to help lighten the load for student workers and the gener al student population. A significant increase in financial aid for this summer is also being offered. The University is anticipating as much as a $3 million in grant funding for students, as compared to the $1.4 million offered last summer. Loans and college work-study will be available as well. Director of Student Financial Aid Joseph Pettibon said there are two primary reasons for the increased availability of financial aid this summer. “First, it is necessary to provide addi tional grant funding to offset increases in tuition,” he said. “Second, additional financial aid will encourage more students to attend summer school, and thus increase their ability to graduate on time. Every additional semester in school is likely to increase the amount of aid borrowed to a obtain a degree.” The grant funding is mainly from man dated financial aid set-asides in tuition required by the state of Texas. In addition, there were also small increases in the amount of funding from state, federal and private sources, Pettibon said. The Financial Aid Department said that although the significant increase in Summer scliooi Pre-registration dates and times for summer school will be sent to students’ e-mail accounts on April 3. Two summer school sessions are: June 1 to July 2 J July 6 to Aug. 8 Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION Source : JOSH PESCHEL aid offered this summer is not expected to occur again next summer, it hopes to continue to increase financial aid in future summers. Sophomore general studies major Ashford Taylor is among many students who See Summer on page 2 A&M student named Intern of the Year By Jason Hanselka THE BATTALION When senior marketing major Adrienne Fleming began her internship, she never expected her boss to walk up to her the sec ond week on the job and tell her she was going to receive $1,000 extra just for showing up. Fleming was surprised one day in the communications office of National Instruments when she learned that she had been nom inated to compete against five other students in the state for the James W. Hart Student Intern of the Year award of which she received $1,000 just for being nominated. “My supervisor was talking to me and said, ‘Oh by the way, we nominated you for this award,”’ Fleming said. “Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise.” The award, sponsored by the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA), was recently awarded to Fleming at its annual conference. Texas A&M was also represented at the TPRA conference by the Real Estate Center in the Mays Business School, which received an silver award for its magazine, Tierra Grande, and a bronze award in special publications for its annual report. David Jones, senior editor for all Real Estate Center publications, said winning the award for their annual report was very special. “Our annual report was unique because if s a 2004 calendar with pretty pictures of Texas landscapes,” Jones said. “Most peo ple look at an annual report and throw it away, so hopefully ours would be one that would be kept all year long.” See Intern on page 2
