Lynsey Smith, a fourth-year zoological medicine student, checks a ball python at the College of Veterinary Medicine Tuesday.

Last Saturday, Memorial Student Center (MSC) Council members voted to decentralize the MSC Film Society, MSC Insights and MSC Literary Arts Committee. Luke Altendorf, interim director of the MSC, said the committees are being dismantled because of staffing problems.

The Texas A&M Faculty Club closed its doors July 1 for renovations and won't be opening back up until the beginning of the spring semester, said Joe Powell, associate vice president for business affairs. Powell said the Faculty Club has been in the red for the past four years, with losses ranging from $128,000 to $153,000.

Some Texas A&M students are willing to go a long way to find a creative outlet. Through classes at the Student Recreation Center, gyms and the Texas A&M University Belly Dance Association, students are finding that outlet. "We'd been dancing with a group called the Brazos Valley Belly Dance Association," said Cristalle Martin, a third-year student in the College of Veterinary Medicine and president of the association.

When Harvey Castro was in medical school, his father died of a heart attack. It was at that point in his academic career that he decided to make an impact on the medical community by finding alternatives to heart health, including a new vitamin. Castro, Class of 1997, and his colleagues, Dennis Passante and Lucho Tejada, have developed a new vitamin called Active Heart, which is designed to lower cholesterol and homocysteine levels and promote healthier hearts.