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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1998)
THURSDAY November 12, 1998 Volume 105 • Issue 55 • 12 Pages A clone named Missy Scientist in cloning project addresses students n genetic methods. BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion The lead scientist on the Missyplicity project said Wednesday cloning is im portant to improve methods of milk pro duction, pharmaceutical development and reducing animal populations. Dr. Mark Westhusin, a professor of vet erinary physiology and pharmacology, is leading the group of Texas A&M scientists and researchers in a $2.3 million effort to clone Missy, the dog whose DNA will be used to produce the initial offspring. I Westhusin talked to students from TYi ill lift thesaipBeta National Biological Honor Society ed on its sad ilf War. MCKAY/THE Br Demere.CIa arbu Archite jectt rshif about the history of cloning, the new methods and the potential benefits of cloning livestock and other animals. Westhusin said cloning the sheep Dol ly caught the attention of the world and reinvigorated attention to cloning efforts. “It set into motion a tremendous amount of discussion and excitement,” Westhusin said. “It brought (cloning) into the limelight. More people know about Dolly than any other species around the world. Some people thought we would never be able to clone animals, and the story was picked up by every newspaper and station around the world.” Dolly was not the first successful ef fort at cloning, Westhusin said. Westhusin described the first efforts at nuclear transfer in 1938 and experi ments with frogs, mice, sheep and cattle. Westhusin said the most recent advances in nuclear transfer and cloning projects involve genetic engineering. “Genetic engineering is driving cloning,” Westhusin said. “It is why Dol ly is here. We still have a lot of work to do. ” Westhusin is currently working on the Survey: Women faculty experience discrimination Eric Newnam/The Battalion Dr. Mark Westhusin answers ques tions after delivering his lecture on the . cloning of animals Wednesday evening. Missyplicity project with fellow Texas A&M researchers Dr. Duane Kraemer and Dr. Robert Burghardt. “I do not have a lot to say about the Missyplicity project,” Westhusin said. “We are just getting started with the project.” see Cloning on Page 2. ?d British i Biair md. ' Benjaminl iss the sitMj House t. 5 might hea art said, He exact timelit ight makei Iraq biitsai' g process s.” ie White B ecretary ght; Natioiii andy Berge y Shelton, f t Chiefs a/, the Joint C Thomas RHA passes legislation to support Senate plan Sawing logs BY AMANDA STIRPE The Battalion The Residence Hall Association >n Clark, diti passed emergency legislation to ng at a Hth Singap •, Tony Tan to hastet ? USS Entei d a groupo to the regii States ch( support Student Senate as they lobby for the installation of on- lligence fejlcampus washers and driers which can be operated with Aggie Bucks. The machines have been purchased but not installed. Residence Life will test the use of Aggie Bucks for washers and dri ers in certain machine locations un til the program is fully instituted. Substance-free housing com mittee meetings to discuss the cur rent situation will be Wednesday, airstrikes ^fNov. 18 in 707 Rudder from 5 to 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 20 in 507 Rud der from 3 to 5 p.m.; and Monday Nov. 30 in 707 Rudder from 5 to 7 p.m. The committee has had about 900 substance-free housing sur veys returned. Chris Baumbach, chair of facili ties and operations for RHA, said no residence hall holiday lighting will be seen on campus because the lights would not be put up until Dec. 1, giving only 16 days for students to view them until winter break. id the goalt Iraq, in th lections, wi weaponry, r the possi s capabili he weapot or the me; f posing a! : would be on of hisc adding ot be nece KATHY STEM PI EN Arm Battalion Jeremy Frampton, a senior psychology major, helps David Yeates, a junior management major, top-off first level of stack Wednesday afternoon. BY MEREDITH HIGHT The Battalion Fifty-nine percent of white female faculty sur veyed for a campus-climate study of Texas A&M report ed they experienced some form of discrimination. The study, “Perspec tives on the Climate for Di versity: Findings and Rec ommendations for the Texas A&M University Campus Community” was conducted by the Univer sity of Michigan at the re quest of A&M. The discrimination in cidents were broken down into three categories: ha rassment or actual reports of threats because race/ethnicity or gender; general reports of discrim ination; and reports of ei ther of these incidents to a University authority. Those who reported be- mg discriminated against said 41 percent of discrim ination comes from other faculty, 35 percent from students and 22 percent from residents of Bryan and College Station. Dr. Barbara Finlay, di rector of Women’s Stud ies, said the results indi cate a problem. “That seems very seri ous,” she said. “It’s a sig nificant number that should be investigated fur ther to see what the nature of the problem is. It does indicate that there may be a real problem.” Dr. Janis Stout, dean of Faculties, associate provost and the highest-ranking fe male administrator at A&M, said the number is reflective of society and not cause for concern. “It shows that we are like our society in gener al,” she said. “The Univer sity has worked very hard to create an equal-oppor tunity workplace. Every year, we get a statistical study of faculty salaries comparing male and fe male, ethnic majority and ethnic minority. We do not see any systematic dispar ity now.” Sherry Yennello, chair of the Women’s Faculty Network, said the Uni versity has made progress but has room for improvement. “I feel the Women’s Faculty Network can play a part in terms of provid ing networking and com munity,” she said. “The University has the re sponsibility to hire women and to empower them. That will help change the culture.” see Women on Page 2. NEWS IN BRIEF Student assaulted at Bonfire site A female student was physical ly assaulted at the Bonfire site on Oct. 31. According to a University Police Department report, the victim was holding the Centerpole line when several individuals from another outfit began pushing and pulling her in an attempt to make her break her grip. The victim released her grip when her belt broke, and the subjects then carried her a few feet before dropping her on her back. Later, when she was standing away from the line, “two individu als tackled her and began punch ing her with closed fists. Two oth er individuals came to her aid and pulled the assailants off of her,” the police report said. The investigation is currently in progress. Series to discuss non-traditional Ags Gender Issues Education Ser vices is hosting a brown-bag lunch forum today at 11 a.m. to discuss the status and role of non-traditional students at Texas A&M. Non-traditional students are students who are older than aver age-age students. These students may have families or other differ ences than traditional students. The discussion may include how non-traditional students adapt to college life. The brown-bag lunch forum is an informal discussion held by GIES. They hold a brown-bag fo rum every Thursday to discuss campus issues. Fatherhood lecture looks to stars -^Tibetan monk to discuss Buddhism Lessons of the past Amistad descendant speaks on history, love Free Activ* *Accesso( 'Calling C» 3Co phones so 1 - TT To Sell, Remef talion Jan Do It 0569 BY KRISTIN STOCKTON The Battalion Dr. Douglas Brooks, assis tant professor of English, gave a lecture entitled “Star- gate: The Crisis of Father hood in the Age of Hyper text” last night at a meeting of the English Language and Literature Society. Brooks showed clips from the movie Stargate, starring Kurt Russell, and associated them with his theory that fa therhood changes whenever a new technology is intro duced. Brooks.’ theory is that the goal of male human his tory is to be able to reproduce without a maternal figure. Brooks said every time writing technology has moved forward, fatherhood has un dergone a drastic change. Brooks gave several examples to explain his theory. In one example he uses Ra, the sun god from Egypt ian mythology. Ra produced his son, the first son in Egypt ian mythology, without a ma ternal figure. Ra was also the inventor of hieroglyphics, the first form of writing. Another example of Brooks’ comes from Greek mythology. Cadmus is a god who produced the sun as well as the first son (his own son). Cadmus killed a moth er dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. The teeth grew into two things: soldiers and the letters of the Greek alphabet, a form of writing technology. Another example comes from current-day experi ences. In the age of comput ers, the newest writing tech nology, the idea of cloning has been introduced. Brooks said man may soon be able to reproduce without the help of a maternal figure. “We are about to enter an age in which the prime goal of male human history is about to be realized,” Brooks said. Brooks said there are three see Stargate on Page 2. BY ANDREA BROCKMAN The Battalion The Lama K. T. Shedrup Gyapso, a Buddhist monk and the director of the San Jose Ti betan Temple, will visit Texas A&M this week to lecture on Buddhism and meditation. The lectures are sponsored by theTAMU Buddhist Association. The Lama was born and raised in Southern California was an or dained Christian minister and served in the U.S. military. After meeting a Buddhist teacher, he converted to Bud dhism and several years later Was ordained as a monk, Then he spent six years in Asia. Nathaniel Rich, president of the TAMU Buddhist Association and a sophomore philosophy major, said while in Asia, the lama traveled with some of the greatest living Buddhist teachers, such as the Dalai Lama. Rich said it is a rare opportu nity to have a Buddhist monk visit Texas A&M. “We are excited and hope people of all religions or no reli gion come out to the lectures,” he said. ^Mostpeople do not realize Buddha lived and taught 500years before Christ and his public ministry in North India lasted 45 years.” - NATHANIEL RICH PRESIDENT, TAMU BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION The first lecture tonight is an introduction to basic Tibetan Buddhism. Rich said he hopes the second lecture Sunday will attract more people because it is the most general and will deal with basic world views the Buddha taught. “Buddha’s teachings re mained the same for 2500 years,” he said. “Most people do not re alize Buddha lived and taught 500 years before Christ, and his public ministry in North India lasted 45 years.” Rich said Buddhism is one of the world’s oldest organized reli gious communities and there are now about 350 million Buddhists in the world. The third lecture on Monday night will deal with meditation. Rich said meditation has noth ing to do with religious belief. “Anyone can do it,” he said. “It is simply about calming and cultivating the mind.” The Lama will speak tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. in 502 Rudder, Sun day at 7 p.m. in 502 Rudder and Monday at 7 p.m. in 504 Rudder. BY MELISSA JORDAN The Battalion Samuel Pieh, great-great grand son of Joseph Cinque, leader of the Amistad ship revolt, issued the chal lenge to A&M students to take more responsibility for keeping justice pre sent in society. Pieh spoke on the historical legacy of the Amistad trial and said he want ed to give a human face to the event. “For me, as a direct descendent of Amistad, I want to share the human element of the event,” he said, “so that we can understand the relation ships not only of our past, but also of our present and future.” Pieh said love is the cause of a great many things, including Amistad. “Love itself can be directed to dif ferent things, different places and different people,” he said. Pieh said many forms love exist: the love for knowledge, love for freedom, love for inclusion and love for money. “The Amistad is about people who had love for material things,” he said. Pieh said the people involved in the slave trade were so consumed by their love for money and material things they had lost their consciences. “Their spiritual foundation was completely destabilized,” Pieh said. Pieh said the spiritual foundation was the most important thing that upheld Joseph Cinque and John Adams, who fought for justice in the Amistad case. “It doesn’t matter whether you have blond hair or African hair,” Pieh said. “There is a spiritual foun dation in all of us at all times.” Pieh said teamwork is vital to promoting civil society in our di verse world. Jake Schrickling/Thi: Battalion Samuel Pieh, the great, great grandson of the man who lead the Amistad revolt speaks Wednesday. “Within this diverse world, there is unity that is presented in all or ganisms,” Pieh said. “If love is the reason Amistad came to be, could love also be the reason we should not let Amistad come to be again in our society?” see Amistad on Page 2.