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VENGEANCE A PISH BEST SERVED iN THE CONVO ¦ SPORTS, PAGE 9
PAi^AHO
Octobers, 1996
Volume 19, NMmber 20
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Food service provider offers increased selection, prices
By Scott Heskew
Contributing Writer
Joe Alcala, Aramark UTSA divi¬ sion manager, has promised that this year, thc Uni versity "stood service pro¬ vider will be emphasizing greater vari¬ ety, healthier food and customer satis¬ faction.
Alcala. a 19-year employee of Aramark, replaces former director of
food .serviceJon Everett, who was pro- moled to an Aramark location in Iowa.
Alcala slated that while "we (Aramark and the university) try very, very hard" to keep prices down, in¬ creases in cost, due to the new higher minimum wage, may cause a small price hike this semester.
According tb Powell Trotti, the di¬ rector of general services, Aramark has filed a request for a price increa.se
Jary Wrighl/The Paisano
Burger King remains a staple In the John Peace Library cafeteria, though new menu items have been added. Some new food items include a variety of salads, deli foods, and low-fat selections.
with Ihe university, and it is currently under consideration.
Trotti .said that Aramark'scontract, which began Aug. I, 1992, and runs until July 31,2004, allows the corpora¬ tion to request price increa.ses at the end of each fi.scal year, or during the rest of the year if it can cite exceptional circumstances such as the minumum wage increase.
Aramark's contract gives the uni¬ versity control over price, sanitation standards and operating hours. The contract al.so places Aramark under the supervision ofthe Contracted Ser¬ vices committee, an organizalion of students, faculty and staff members who perform evaluations on all private companies contracted with the univer¬ sity.
Trotti was positive about Aramark's performance, noting that it works hard lo provide what customers want, add¬ ing that Aramark consistently performs above the national averages.
In the University Cenier, Aramark now sells Starhuck's coffee as well as a variety of grilled items and "Light and Easy" choices, such as chicken salad and sandwiches.
The UC location aLso has a section that offers different types of food on a rotating basis. Some of these se¬ lections include Chinese food, barbe-
Learning Assistance serves growing number of students
By Carios Durand
Contributing Writer
The Learning Assistance Center has significantly increased in size from .serving 92 students in the spring 1992 to 803 students in spring 1996. 'The Learning Assistance Center has been operating since 1992, and keeps grow¬ ing each semester, mainly because of the very demanding schedules that students face," said Amy Birtchet, supplemental instruction coordinator ofthe cenier.
Birtchet said the center has been gaining a good repu¬ tation by helping students to handle the difficulties ofthe hardest core
courses. She added that studenis have overcome thc myth that only bad stu¬ dents are the ones soliciting services to thc center. Birtchet said that many stu¬ dents seek help be¬ cause they are inter¬ ested wilh scoring Ihe best grades they can and increasing their GPAs to fur¬ ther their career goals.
"There are times where even the good siudents need some help wilh some par¬ ticular subjects and that is what the Learning Assis¬ tance cenier is de¬ signed for," said Leticia Duncan as¬ sistant direcior for 	
the cenier.
The center is divided in Iwo main areas: tutoring and supplemental in¬ struction.
Tutoring involves working with a student on a one-on-one basis, where students work to solve specific prob¬
lems in a class with another student who has already passed that particular class.
Supplemental instruction works on a .study group basis, where a small group of students meets five times a week for one hour to solve classroom problems. The study group is directed by students who have successfully com¬ pleted the course. Supplemental in¬ struction deals mainly with subjects averaging 45 percent or higher of the student population who score a D. F, orW,
Demographic Breakdown for Students Attending Learning Assistance Spring 19%
Unknown 7%
Frashman 38%
Sophomore 22%
Undeclared 10'
Non-Majors 2%
Duncan said these kind of programs have had great success in other schools in the country, and UTSA is not thc exception, with the cenier almost dou¬ bling their tutoring student population every semester.    The tutoring and
supplemental instruction services are free to siudents. A limited reserve of textbooks is available in addition to the tutoring and supplemental instruc¬ tion services.
TTie center has five study rooms reserved in the JPL library, four com¬ puters loaded with special learning software, a full range of a.ssistancc videos, and 20 classrooms all over cainpus scheduled at different times. The center also has classrooms re¬ served in the downtown campus to pi ivide .services. The center offers complete confiden¬ tiality to studenis who use its ser¬ vices. "The whole idea of the cenier is to help studenis to achieve the best scores they can. and the cenier has the neces.sary tools for il. actually for some particular subjects even the professors give extra tools to the center." said Duncan.
"Even while the center has severe budgetary    con¬ straints we are ex¬ pecting lo exceed 2000 overall stu¬ dents .served this se¬ mester,"    added Birtchet. The cen¬ ter mainly is avail¬ able to help under¬ graduate siudents, especially  fresh¬ men who need   lo overcome the dif¬ ferences between the   high-school _   system   and   the UTSA     system. However, assistance is provided in math and written English to students who need to improve TASP scores. The center is locaied in SB 3.02.07 bul plans to move into the UC exten¬ sion later in the fall semester.
Humein ities 28%
CS/Engineer 11%
cue and Mexican food. Al the JPL cafeteria, new menus emphasize sal¬ ads, deli foods and a variety of low-fat selections.
Olhernew food services are a wider variety of choices al the Chisholm Hall csfeteria, and plans arc being made to open a bistro in the new Business Build¬ ing in November. Alcala said the bis¬ tro will feature salads.dcii-style sand¬ wiches and pi/zas.
Some studenis had mixed feelings about Aramark. Senior Heidi Will¬ iams, an education inajor. said thequal¬ ity and variety of food was adequate, but complained aboul the prices, say¬ ing that "you can go to Burger King and gel a Whopper for 99 cenls. hut here you've got to pay two or three bucks for a Whopper."
Sophomore James Rippeloe. a po¬ litical .science major, also complained about high prices. "I know for a fact that thc Subway on campus charges ... on average aboul 50 cents higher than the olher Subways do. " Rippeloe said.
Alcala stated thai he believes very strongly in making sure that Aramark offers something for everyone. "My philosophy has always been |thul) we're here lo lake care ol Ihc customer . . . my door is always open."
Gary Wrighl/Thc Paisano Between classes, Brandon and JoEllen Moore take a break for brunch with their toddler, Nathanial. The Moores must bring Nathanial with them to school because of limited day care options. "We do whatever we can," said Brandon Moore. "There aren't any other day care options -1 work full time. I babysit while my wife is in class and vice-versa." Moore welcomes the idea of a UTSA daycare. "It [UTSA daycare] would help out a lot," he said.
VMI enrolls women cadets; says exact same rules apply
By Colleen BeBaise
College Press Sen iie
LEXINGTON. Va.—Male cadels al the Virginia Miliiary Institute live in bleak barracks, rise before the sun and march single-llle on thc academy's parade grounds.
For 157 years, that's been the rou¬ tine at the state-supported military col¬ lege. And .school officials say they're not about to change the routine now that women cadels will bc"^^ioining their ranks.
OnSept.2l. VMI'sgoverningbody voted 9-8 to admit female cadets in compliance with a June 26 U.S. Su¬ preme Court ruling that it must allow women or become private
VMI was the lasl stale-supported miliiary college for men only.
Bul school otlicials insist thc same
fitness tests are scored differently to take into account the physical differ¬ ences between men and women. For example, women are given two min¬ utes limger locomplele a two-mile run. Women also are allowed to have their hairaboui two inches longer than men.
But not at VMI, where thc only planned changes so far are a separate shower and bathroom for the women and dorm vvindow curtains. Like thc men, women will not have locks on their doors.
"There's been no schcwl that has ever given women crewcuts," said Johnson, a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the Persian Gulf War. "This has not been the tradition for women. They're digre.ssing from the standard."
NOW and lhe American Civil Lib¬ erties Union have stated that VMI must be closely nionilored as it begins ils
When asked if he expected further litigation as a result of VMI's decision to have the same requirements for all cadets, regardless of their sex. he re¬ plied "I do."
Lawsuits are nothing new to VMI. In fact, the decision lo admit women followed seven years of legal wran¬ gling. In 1990. the Justice Department sued VMI alter a woman, who has never been identified, complained about the admissions policy.
In June, the Supreme Court held in a 7-to-l ruling that the Constitution's equal protection guarantee precludes VMI from offering the unique educa¬ tion it affords to men only. TTie ruling d(x:s not apply lo single-sex private colleges.
The Citadel, lhe nation's only other state-supported military school, an¬ nounced It would admit women two days afler the Court's ruling and en-
But school officials insist the same tough standards that now apply to male cadets will also apply to women.  They will be required to get the same crewcuts, live in the same dorms and meet the same physical r'equirements as men.
tough standards that now apply to male cadets will apply to women. They will be required to gel the same crewcuts. live in the same dorms and meet the same physical requirements as men.
"Female cadels will bc treated pre¬ cisely as we treat male cadets." said Gen. Josiah Bunting, VMI superinten¬ dent, in a news conference. "Fully qualified women would themselves feel demeaned by any relaxation in the standards."
This decision has prompted some women's and civil-rights groups to argue that VMI is creating a hostile environment for female cadets.
"'You're not welcome here,'" said Karen Johnson, vice president ol mem¬ bership for National Organization of Women (NOW). "Thai's very clearly the message they're sending out."
At the Citadel, as well as West Point and olher military academies, women's
integration ol women.
"I know it's hard for them to accept these changes," Johnson said. "Ifyou serve in the military .. .you're going to have to get used to having women in the workforce."
A federal district judge will oversee lhe school's compliance with the Court's order, which will include ham¬ mering out the issues of appearance and the physical lest.
School officials said they hope their planned approach will preserve lhe essence ofthe institution. Al a Sept. 21 news conference, VMI superintendent Bunting said the academy teaches what are called the'vigorous virtues"—self reliance, self-control and courage.
"This is achieved Ihrough Ihe appli¬ calion of mental stress, physical rigor, minute regulation of behavior, pres¬ sures, hazards and psychological bond¬ ing," he said.
rolled lour female cadels this August.
But VMI had put off its decision, weighing whether alumni could raise enough money to buy the academy from the state and preserve its all-male tradition.
"This is not a decision we made easily, but we shall welcome the women who come here ready to meet the rigor¬ ous challenges that produce the nation's finest citizen soldiers," said William Berry, president of the Board of Visi¬ tors that govems VMI.
He added that the board used its head and not its heart in making the decision. If VMI went private, a mini¬ mum endowment of $200 million to generate $ 10 million in annual operat¬ ing funds would have been necessary. "There is no question the sentiment of the board—100 perceni is that we
Continued on page 3.