WEDNESDAYMARCH 20. 2002
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VOLUME 108
ISSUE 113
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
A&M presidential candidates named
By Emily Peters
THE BATTALION
After a hushed selection process, the Texas A&M presidential
earch advisory committee announced a short list
ffinalists that does not include Sen. Phil Gramm
tid boasts only one candidate with any previous
es to A&M.
Drs. Robert Gates, Richard Herman and Jon
fhitmore were chosen from a list of about 125
pplicants and have been invited to the University
ar interviews.
“I think we have top-notch candidates,” said
hades Sippial, advisory committee member and
AM vice president for administration. “(The candidates) have
one through a rigorous process of off-campus interviews and dis-
ussions. and I think the committee has done an outstanding job pro-
GATES
viding the University with three great candidates
to be presented to the chancellor and to the
board.”
The Board of Regents will make the final deci
sion and is not bound by any of the committee’s
recommendations.
Gates, fonner director of the CIA, was interim
dean for the George Bush School of Government
and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to
2001. A career CIA officer, he served as adviser to
six U.S. presidents.
Gates has lectured at numerous universities, including Harvard,
Yale and Georgetown. He has served on the Board of Visitors of the
University of Oklahoma International Programs Center, and as a
trustee of the endowment fund for the College of William and
Mary, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in history.
He earned a doctorate at Georgetown University in Russian and
Soviet History and holds a master’s degree in history from Indiana
WHITMORE
University.
Whitmore has been provost at the University
of Iowa since 1996, following six years as dean of
the College of Fine Arts at the University of
Texas-Austin.
The Courier-Journal of Loiusville, Kent.,
reported last year that Whitmore raised millions
of dollars for the UT fine arts program to make it
one of the most technologically advanced in the
state. The paper also reported that Whitmore
overhauled the Iowa provost office and tenure system, while helping
to raise the school’s share of minority faculty to nearly 13 percent.
Whitmore was named a candidate for president of the University of
Kentucky last year, but was not offered the position.
Whitmore earned his bachelor of arts and master’s in speech
See Candidates on page 2
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JOHN L1VAS •THE BATTALION
Peyton Burson enjoys a hotdog at the Texas A&M base
ball game against Sam Houston State Tuesday night at
Olsen Field. Aggie baseball sponsored 50-cent hotdog
night at Olsen Field. See game story on page 5.
By Tanya Nading
THE BATTALION
A Texas A&M Corps of Cadets stu
dent remains in stable condition at the
intensive care unit after being admit
ted to Charity Hospital in New
Orleans March 10.
Herman Mauch III, a senior man
agement information system major,
was found unconscious and severely
injured in a park near Jackson Square,
said family members.
Mauch and a small group of friends
were traveling to Florida for spring
break when they stopped for a night in
New Orleans.
Just past midnight on March 10,
Mauch became separated from the
group near Bourbon Street.
“One minute he was there with us
and a few minutes later we turned
around and he wasn’t there anymore,”
said Danny Oglesby, a senior agricul
ture systems major and friend. “We
just figured he was OK at our hotel.
Since he was familiar with Bourbon
Street we didn't worry.”
Mauch was picked up by an ambu
lance after a bystander called 911 at
6:26 a.m., said his father, Herman
Mauch Jr., Class of 1973.
“We don’t really know how long
he was lying there,” his father said.
“He was admitted to the hospital as a
John Doe because he didn’t have any
identification on him. Hospital offi
cials ended up identifying him by his
Aggie Ring.”
Mauch was brought into the hospital
with a ruptured spleen, his jaw broken
in two places, a broken nose, a fractured
bone around his eye, a fractured shoul
der and fractured vertebrae.
“They were able to stop the bleed
ing and his jaw has been wired shut,
and there is no paralysis,” his father
said. “He has undergone two surger
ies, one for his spleen and one for his
spine. Doctors have told us that
Herman was very lucky that it was
cold outside, the weather helped slow
the bleeding.”
A police report has not been filed
yet. Mauch Jr. said the person who
called 91 1 did not wait for authorities
to arrive.
We don’t know what
happened. They (the
police) speculated that
he fell off a balcony, but
he was found in a
park.
— Herman Mauch Jr.
victim’s father
“We don't know what happened.
They (the police) speculated that he
fell off a balcony, but he was found
in a park,” he said. “Doctors have
told us that his injuries are not con
sistent with a fall, so we believe that
he was mugged.”
Mauch Jr. visited the area where
his son was found and said it was “a
nice looking place, better than
Bourbon Street.”
Mauch remains in intensive care
See Injured on page 8
MSA clears Islam misconceptions
By Elizabeth Kline
THE BATTALION
Despite the widespread belief that
islini women are oppressed, Islam
teaches that men and women are to be
treated as equals, Fatima Begum said
Tuesday.
Begum, who works in the counseling
department at Blinn College, said Muslim
"omen have the same rights as men, but
Recalled by Allah to different duties.
“Never in Islam does the question
arise ‘Are men better than women?”’
she said. “For example, is bread better
than meat? No. You cannot compare the
worth of two different entities.”
The Muslim Student’s Association
(MSA) presented “Women in Islam” as
part of “Islam 101,” a series that educates
Texas A&M students on the religion and
promotes discussion and debate.
Begum said the three main duties of
Muslim women are those of mother,
wife and society member. A woman is
called to teach religion to her children
and strive for emotional well-being and
spiritual harmony in her marriage.
She said women are encouraged to
pursue an education and a career if
they promote the worship of Allah, the
ultimate goal of Islam. They are
required to cover their bodies outside
the home to show modesty in front of
foreign men.
“The bare minimum requirement is
to cover everything but the hands and
face,” she said. “Anything more is better,
but it is an individual choice.”
MSA adviser Faisal Chaudhry said
most Islamic countries do not com
pletely abide by the laws of Islam in
their treatment of women.
“Most societies are distant from
Islam,” he said. “They are not guiding
Muslims as they should be and, as a
result, we have problems.”
Mike Martin, a MSA member, said
the issue cannot be viewed as complete
ly religious in nature.
“You have to look at the treatment of
women as a whole,” he said. “Even in
this country, women didn’t have the
right to vote until the 1920s, and big
business still views them as a minority.
Bush aims to bolster border patrol agency
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, respond
ing to the Sept. 1 1 terrorist attacks, is expected to ask
Congress to remove the Customs Service from the
Treasury Department and create a new agency in
* charge of securing America’s porous borders.
His domestic security team recommended in a
Meeting Tuesday that Bush seek to merge the Customs
Sendee and the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, which includes the Border Patrol, according
to senior administration officials.
The Justice Department would oversee the new
agency, which would take over enforcement activities
from the embattled INS.
In a sign that Bush is likely to endorse the plan,
White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer defended the
incept of merging border security agencies.
“There is a school of thought that you can have
better controls and more effective ways of welcoming
people to this country, welcoming trade to this coun
try, while keeping people out who would do us harm
as a result of consolidation,” Fleischer said.
Though he said Bush has not decided whether to
accept the recommendation, other aides said the presi
dent is likely to do so. It is the first major overhaul plan
presented by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.
The plan would require congressional approval.
Bush’s lobbying team began consulting with Congress
Tuesday, a step that aides said Bush wanted taken
before he signed off on the plan.
Praising the proposal. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-
Texas, said, “Terrorists are not playing by the old
rules and neither should we.”
The suicide hijackings over Washington, New York
and Pennsylvania pointed out holes in the nation’s
border security procedures.
The government has acknowledged that four of the
Sept. 11 hijackers had overstayed their visas, and a
recent Justice Department review suggested the system
has remained lax since then. That review found that
even after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. immigration offi
cials have been failing to consistently check terrorist
watch lists when approving foreign visitors entering the
United States without visas.
In addition, Bush was embarrassed by last week’s dis
closure that the INS issued paperwork relating to student
visas for two of the hijackers six months after the attacks.
Tuesday’s recommendation came as lawmakers
considered trying to compel Ridge to testify about
security issues. Bush has rejected the request for
Ridge testimony, saying presidential advisers tradi
tionally do not testify before Congress.
DE
Mr
Sports Pg. 5
Aggies fight
back to beat
Bearkats
Schindewolfs home run
boosts No. 17 Ags past
Sam Houston State
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