The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 07, 2004, Image 1

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z Bresciani: Students need to be more involved
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Dean L. Bresciani said he began working in
tudent affairs in upper-level education after a
ummer job as an orientation leader convinced
im to, literally, stay in school.
“I thought, this this is great, 1 get paid and I
;etto stay at college all summer,” Bresciani said.
I told the dean of students, ‘This is really fun.
(| Na; Vouldn’t it be great to do this for a job?’ She said,
What do you think I do?”’
Bresciani, a candidate for the vice president for
tudent affairs position, addressed a crowd of
ipproximately 40 people as part of an open forum
details
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Tuesday morning.
The forum gave the Texas A&M campus a
chance to meet the candidate and ask questions.
Bresciani said the most important thing he
would like to bring to A&M from his current posi
tion as vice chancellor for student affairs at the
University of North Carolina is including students
in all campus decisions. He said students at North
Carolina were involved in hiring the first faculty at
the school, and have developed a tradition of
involvement in administration.
“I sometimes say that students are graduating
with a degree as legislators,” Bresciani said.
He said students are instrumental in creating
change in universities, but if chosen he will do
what the students want.
“Sometimes students and administration will
have different agendas,” Bresciani said. “I found
that if (the administration) can’t defend (its) position
to a student, then that is a sign we need to rethink it.”
Angela Ross, a sophomore agriculture devel
opment major in attendance at the forum, said she
liked Bresciani’s idea of more student involve
ment in the administration’s decisions.
“I like the idea of having (the students and
administration) work together because ultimately
all students are affected by the administration's
decisions,” Ross said.
Bresciani said he wants to come to A&M
because, unlike some schools that strive to be the
best in the nation, A&M has the resources to
achieve that goal.
He said most schools excel in either academ
ics or student activities, while A&M is strong in
both with the added strength of support from for
mer students.
Student Body President Matt Josefy said the
vice president for student affairs position is one of
the most important positions on campus. Josefy
said the position is the No. 1 advocate for students
in administrative positions.
“Where student leadership cycles through
every one year or four years, this person is there
See Candidate on page 2
Education for life
Health education faces roadblocks
By Kyle Ross
THE BATTALION
For the future of health education to be
ffective, it needs to amount to more than
ust a transfer of knowledge, said Noreen
lark, dean of the University of Michigan
School of Public Health.
Clark, the featured speaker for the 2(X)4
’onder Lecture given Tuesday afternoon,
ipoke to a crowd of Texas A&M students
and professors about the various issues fac-
ng public health practice and education.
“Public health education is a turbulent
Id to get into,” Clark said. “It never sits
11, and the challenge is to figure out
tow to sway these turbulent forces in
your direction.”
Parallel to a growing world popula-
n, these “turbulent forces,” such as
national security threats, newfound dis
eases, a deteriorating environment and
overall poor lifestyles, are compounded
by possibly the biggest challenge facing
health educators—convincing societies to
change their ways, Clark said.
Leonard Ponder, the namesake of
Tuesday’s lecture, served as head of the
Department of Health and Kinesiology at
A&M for 13 years and was awarded an
Association of Former Students
Distinguished Teaching Award. He said
Clark was right on target with her views
on the future of public health education.
“It does no good to just educate people
on health issues if you haven’t figured out
a creative way to help them change their
behaviors based on that education,” Ponder
said. “What you will get might be really
intelligent people, but those intelligent
people will still be dying of heart attacks.”
Clark said health educators need to
develop partnerships with the people they
wish to help. Through partnerships, edu
cators can learn individual and social
motivations and teach them to become
their own health educators.
“People are experts in their own lives,”
Clark said. “Every person needs to become
a health educator in their own right. It’s the
only way we can truly see effects of a
changed behavior. It’s (those in the med
ical profession’s job to coach them.”
Ponder said many undergraduate stu
dents in attendance are presently study
ing allied health and the lecture gave
them plenty to think about as they pre
pare for graduation.
“It was good to hear about the differ-
See Clark on page 2
Inside looking out
Randal Ford • THE BATTALION
During a downpour Tuesday morning, students walk to class rain lasted all morning before clearing up in the mid-afternoon
near Sterling C. Evans Library and Evans Library Annex. The with patches of moderate sunshine.
E-Z Ticket Payment
|The city of Bryan began offering a
| service that allows citizens to pay
feitations online.
1 There will be no surcharge
• The online ticket payment option
not offered to juveniles or offenses
that involve alcohol or tobacco
1 To pay a ticket online, log on to
www.bryantx.gov/courts
1 Phone payments can be made by calling
S09-5250 X9990
Bryan offers online ticket payments
Gracie Arenas •
Source
THE BATTALION
CITY OF BRYAN
By Michael Player
THE BATTALION
The city of Bryan began
offering an e-payment system,
where people who have been
issued citations in Bryan can
pay them on the city’s Web site.
The service is offered in a few
cities in the state, and city officials
said they hope people will take
advantage of the new service.
“This started as a directive
from city managers to move
closer to e-government,” said
Hilda Phariss, municipal court
administrator for Bryan.
Phariss said the convenience
of handling a ticket online
should ease the congestion at the
court office and save time for the
people who receive tickets.
“Many people who are
issued tickets are from out of
town, so this will be extremely
beneficial for those people,”
Phariss said.
Bryan is one of only five
cities in the state to implement
this service.
Seventeen months ago, the
city of Irving began to offer the
online ticket payment plan.
Bill Maitland, court opera
tions manager for Irving, said
the service has been well-
received, although it has not
increased revenue for the city.
“The city of Irving writes
about 100,000 tickets per year
and about 1,800 of those tickets
were handled over the Internet,”
Maitland said.
Phariss said she cannot be
sure that the new service will
bring in revenue for Bryan.
See Ticket on page 2
Fee supporters: Issues remain
despite defeat of referendums
By Aerin Toussaint
THE BATTALION
Supporters of the recently denied student
[service fee referendum and the Memorial
Student Center president referendum said these
Issues will continue to aggravate students in the
pure until they are passed.
Jim Carlson, chair of the Student Service Fee
Advisory Board, said he is disap
pointed that the referendum to raise
he cap on student service fees was
voted down by students last week.
“Students will be faced with this
[issue again in the future until it is
passed,” Carlson said. “We will con-
[tinue to fight to find new solutions for
[the betterment of student services.”
Jack Hooper, a sophomore
nechanical engineering major and
|member of the SSFAB, said the pro
posed fee increase was for the mini-
Imum amount needed to maintain and
(expand service levels.
“No one wants to pay more fees,
(but no one wants bad service
(either,” Hooper said. “It’s frustrat
ing being called financially irresponsible when
we’re working to get a balance.”
Carlson and Hooper cited bad timing as one of the
possible reasons for the failure of the referendum.
“It was unfortunate that all the tuition stuff
Was going on all at the same time,” Hooper said.
“I think it may have scared a lot of students into
voting against the referendum.”
Carlson said that student life studies, under
the Department of Student Affairs, is currently
conducting a study to find out why the referen
dum did not pass.
“We did our very best to educate as many stu
dents as possible on what the student service fee
is and how it affects students,” Carlson said. “I’m
not sure if the tuition increase is the reason why
it didn’t pass.”
Andy Liddell, a sophomore
mechanical engineering major
and executive director of devel
opment on the MSC Council,
said he thinks people were
uninformed as to how much the
fee actually supports.
“The student services fee
supports many organizations
that can’t support themselves
without these fees,” Liddell said.
Liddell said that in the future,
the SSFAB should work harder
at informing students.
Some students protested
loudly against the fee increase.
Mark McCaig, a junior mar
keting major, said he believes in the idea of
financial responsibility.
“(The SSFAB) needs to make sure that money
that is already being spent is being spent well,
instead of working on ways to extort more
See Referendums on page 10
People will
continue to call for
a change and I
anticipate it being
on the ballot again
next year.
— Matthew Wilkins
speaker of Student Senate
MSC Hospitality to host auction
of various lost and found items
By Jason Hanselka
THE BATTALION
People wondering where
their lost belongings ended up
may need to look no further than
the Memorial Student Center
Flag Room today.
MSC Hospitality will host
a lost and found auction from
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the MSC
Flag Room.
Molly Sullivan, financial
development executive for
Hospitality and a senior account
ing major, said the auction is one
of the biggest fund-raising events
of the year for Hospitality.
Sullivan said Hospitality
raised about $1,500 at the last
auction. The auctions are held
once every semester.
“The high-price items were
TI-86 calculators and cell
phones, and those only sold for
about $15 or $20,” Sullivan said
“The proceeds from the auction
goes toward Hospitality pro
grams and whatever is left over,
that we don’t sell, we give to
Twin City Mission.”
Sullivan said the items slated
for auction are collected from
the MSC, the Student
Recreation Center and various
SOLD!
MSC Hospitality is sponsoring a
lost and found auction to give people
a chance to buy back lost possessions.
Wednesday
MSC Flag Room
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
Source : MOLLY SULLIVAN, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE
FOfy MSC HOSPITALITY
other places around campus.
The MSC lost and found is
located at the main desk on the
northwest corner of the MSC
and is the base lost and found
for the entire campus.
James Tisius, MSC main desk
employee and a senior biology
major, said the biggest issue with
the lost and found is that most
people are unaware it exists.
“Umbrellas are the most com
mon things turned in,” Tisius
said. “When it rains, the next day
we get about 30 of them.”
Tisius said that if the items
are not claimed after about three
months, they are sent to a room
at the MSC Hotel where they
await sorting for the lost and
found auction.
See Auction on page 2