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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1999)
'C> cm I i-r-rT AGGIES R WORST LOSS SINCE 1901, 51-6, TO OKLAHOMA ~ « But Democrats ded®)!, il victory based onia that bill, which pal e day. By 51-47, sena!«[g Mihindingresolutioinkisj e 1973 Supreme Coiij 1 at legalized abortion. Sponsored by Si irkin, D-Iowa,athi[(lia or for whom the lately >n issue caused ost recent re-election in e amendment reads: "It is the sense old it Roe v. Wade was anas cision and secures an® nstitutional right andse. n should notbeoventir- Eight Republicansjoinij ■ chamber’s 45 Detnomi rt of it. The GOP senate ; were Sens. John Chafes: md, Ben NighthorseCcp lorado, Susan Collinsdl nes Jeffords of Vermont il of Maine, Arlenija Quests quiz Thomas, 3ush at informal talk BY MATT LOFTIS The Battalion Former President George Bush invited Supreme Court Jus- Clarence Thomas to College Station Friday for a visit and deliver an informal question-and-answer session. Officials with the Bush Conference Center and public re ions were unaware of the topic or nature of the discussion lor to the event and did not know of any other reasons be nd Thomas’ visit. Jean Becker, a spokesperson for Bush, said guests were insylvania, TedStevensc:® come d to ask Thomas questions about his time and ser- i John Warner of Vip <TC slack unerdhm WASHINGTON (AP) vernment lacks adequ ;ht of funeral industry^.! cording to a congress::- ri made public yestenk- The Federal Trade Ccs m "does nothaveasyst or structured process Msuring funeral homes 1 ; mice” with rules fori atment of consumers, ded the General Aot. ice, the investigate an tigress. The FTC disputed the ,s and said it was sat; t compliance with cons; section riles has impi The GAO report alsofc FTC for not enforcing ■ against funeral homes leteries found vjolatitfa :ier service rules. ce with the Supreme Court. “My time on the court has been much more than anything eever expected,” Thomas said. "It has been a delightful, iightful experience. ” Thomas said he began his court experience with no men- rand a limited time to prepare for the shift. “Everyone is very warm and offers to help you, telling you call them if you need anything, but the reality is you don’t them,” Thomas said. “You are an Article 111 judge and :u are expected to do your own work.” Thomas explained his beliefs in personal liberties and the rights of individuals as it pertained to his job. He also ex plained the scope of his position as Supreme Court Justice, saying justices analytically interpret the law and do not cure all social ills. Affirmative action, Thomas said, was a program better suited to deal with socioeconomic backgrounds and hard ships than race alone. He also said many backers of the prayer-in-school policy pointed to the separation of church and state as justification. The wall of separation between church and state, Thomas said, is a common metaphor, but is not constitutionally supported. He said the only provision made for the separation of church from government was the clause prohibiting the state from establishing a mandatory religion. Thomas said he could not comment on certain issues be cause of pending court cases. “I think the issues that were the imponderable a few years back will be the issues that take us into the next century,” he said. “Genetic altering and cloning are going to make abortion look like a simple issue.” When asked about his background and upbringing, Thomas gladly shared about his schooling, time in seminary, and fam ily. Thomas said his greatest role models are his grandparents. JR BEATO/The Battalion Former President George Bush and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas field questions from the audience at an informal discussion Friday. "1 try to emulate my grandfather and grandmother,” he said. “They didn’t have to raise us, I think they’re the two greatest people in the world.” Thomas invited the audience to consider the odds of a per son with a background of his type growing up to become a jus tice on the Supreme Court. Thomas said he encouraged all peo ple to “defy the odds” and work their hardest. He was never at the top of his class, he said, but he was the person that went home and did his homework every night. Thomas said it is work that overcomes obstacles every day. “You begin to defy the odds today,” he said. “You stand up, do your best, you resist when people try to drag you down into a hole of negative thinking.” Conditioned reaction VH L-HH /ocss sarching for Housing? es and fafion area, Decision making, war subject of discussion Former President speaks on being a military leader CHAD ADAMS Thl Baitauon Alfred Sanchez, senior reactor operator, at the Nuclear Science Research Center, watches over the reactor during a “pulse.” The reactor was pulsed from 300 to 500 million watts, enough watts to power the city of Austin. BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion The presidency is not the “loneliest job in the world,” former President George Bush said, but when confronted with issues of war and peace, the decision-making burden rests squarely on the commander-in-chief. “The toughest decision a president makes is when he de cides to send somebody else’s son or daughter into harm’s way,” Bush said. The former president spoke at the conference on presiden tial decision-making and U.S. military intervention at the Presidential Conference Center Saturday. During his speech. Bush discussed the three major military deployments he un dertook during his administration in Panama, Kuwait and Somalia. America’s vital national interests are key in de ciding when to use military force, and the most important national interest is the protection of American lives, he said. In 1989, American forces invaded Panama and captured dictator Manuel Noriega to protect Unit ed States servicemen in Panama, install a democ- “/ have a clear conscience r we did give peace a chance” ratically elected government, and to bring Norie ga, a convicted drug trafficker, to justice. “The overriding concern was the moral right eousness of our cause,” he said. In the weeks and months following Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, there was a vigorous debate over if and when America should use force against Saddam Hussein. But Bush said that in addition to the national interests at stake, he found the moral case for inter vention overwhelming. “I look at today’s crisis as one of good versus evil,” Bush said. “Yes, it is that clear,” reading aloud from a letter he wrote to his children 16 days before the start of Operation Desert Storm. He added that economic sanctions were given plenty of time to work, but Hussein’s stubbornness made military force the only option. “I have a clear conscience, we did give peace a chance,” he said. “But I don’t think Saddam thought we would actually use force. He mistook vigorous debate in a free society for lack of resolve.” Somalia, unlike previous United States’ mili tary interventions, had a more humanitarian than see Decision on Page 2. — George Bush Former U.S. president Northgate police office helps area, officials say BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion Local officials conclude that having police presence at North- gate has had continued success in keeping violence, parking viola tion and theft incidents down. The community police station opened last spring in Northgate, located at 105 College Main just off University Drive. Mayor Lynn Mcllhaney of Col lege Station said the community police station has been well re- ceive-d by residents, retailers and visitors to the Northgate area. “I spoke with a couple of police officers patrolling the area, having an opportunity to meet with some visitors and residents in North- gate,” Mcllhaney said. “The feed back I have gotten so far has been very positive.” Liza Phillips, an officer with the College Station Police Depart ment, said the Northgate area tra ditionally has many cars, pedes trians and bicyclists. “There is a lot of traffic in the Northgate area,” Phillips said. “We are so much more approachable than we are in our patrol cars.” Phillips said many students have come by and filed reports, mainly concerning bicycle thefts, since the police station opened. “We have everything here [in the station] to file a report,” Phillips said. “We also like people to come in here and ask questions about anything, about parking tickets or about bicycle registration.” Phillips said she encourages students to register their bicycles in order to increase the likelyhood of recovery, in case of theft. The community police station in Northgate is equipped with mate rials for engraving the bicycles, in cluding specific parts like tire rims which are sometimes stolen. Phillips said emergency blue phones similar to those on cam pus, will be erected soon but they are still in the planning stages. The community police station in Northgate additionally provides in formation on alcohol and drug use, family violence and home security. In the first few months of oper ation, the community police sta tion sent out an officer on bike to see Police on Page 2. INSIDE : OPENING NIGHT! nnialMm RTS; etober 22 > PM is A&M ig, Room 111 >t Mondays and Thursdays tmber 20, 1999 Filiation: riath.tamu.etl' 1 5-5122 .series • All seats art FREE Designed lor busy people • Come as you are (I by tin 1 tian Fellowship Aggielife A&M history on display ushing LibraryJ-iouses priceless pieces of A&M’s history. Page 3 Sports 'Defense leads volleyball team to four-game win over Colorado Team now tied with Nebraska for third in Big 12 Conference. Page •Rewriting the drug laws Legalizing drugs allows for a more regulated, safer system. Page 11 Bait Radio Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on a report of a sexual assault on a child. Representatives visit Galveston BY DIANE XAVIER The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Government Associ ation teamed up with officers from the student senate at Texas A&M at Galveston this weekend in Galveston to exchange ideas and offer advice for each other’s campuses. This was the first exchange program between both A&M and A&M-Galveston — a school which focuses on maritime studies. Erin Blaney, director of public relations for the Texas A&M Student Government Association and a junior political science major, said their Student Senate offered advice to A&M-Galveston’s in im proving student involvement with campus events. “The main problem they have is that the same people are involved in everything there,” Blaney said. “It’s hard for them to get more people in volved and we offered them some suggestions and ideas to help with this problem.” A&M-Galveston gave a tour of their campus to Texas A&M’s Student Government Association and both schools had a round table discussion on various issues. Blaney said both schools hope to spend more time with each other and have more contacts. see SGA on Page 2. Get with the program MSC Conversations to focus on teaching Aggies about international current events BY ERIKA DOERR The Battalion Intellectual stimulation, dis cussions on current events, free food, professors, students and a relaxed setting are the key in gredients to the MSC Conversa tions student program. Bill Anderson, MSC presi dent and a senior mechanical engineering major, said the MSC Conversations student program helps stimulate and improve the intellectual cli mate at Texas A&M through small group discussions. It also will develop students’ awareness of national issues. “The MSC Conversations program offers students and professors the opportunity to gain intellectual development through discussions over so cial, cultural and international topics in a relaxed setting,” he said. “Academically, socially and through student involve ment, Texas A&M has excelled, yet the other piece of this puz zle is lacking, that of intellec tual development.” Seth Horne, chair of MSC Conversations student pro gram and a senior chemistry major, said each of the groups will be composed of six stu dents and one professor. “Students must be commit ted to these discussions,” he said. “There will be an orien tation meeting on Nov. 4. The first discussion meeting will be on Sunday, Nov. 14 and will include a free dinner. The sec ond will be on Sunday, Dec. 5 and will include free snacks.” Horne said stu dents will at tend two small group discus sions held at a MSC© COiEiBAIiONSOr Get to know your professors over a meal. professor’s home during the semester. “The committee officially started this semester,” Horne said. “MSC Conversations is a way for students and profes sors to engage in intellectual and entertaining discussions on chosen topics.” He said each mandatory meeting will begin around 6:30 see MSC on Page 2. University Teaching Academy strives to improve professor, student relations BY STASIA RAINES The Battalion The University Teaching Academy aims to reduce students’ feeling of anonymity in large classes by offering the “Take Your Professor to Lunch Challenge,” which is an opportuni ty for a group of five students to invite their professor to lunch. Amy Knorr, a student member of the University Teaching Academy and a senior English major, said the purpose of the challenge is to make large classes seem smaller by introduc ing students to their peers and the professor. “It is not uncommon for first and second year students to have classes with a hundred students or more,” she said. “Because of this, interaction between the student and professor is limited.” Knorr said the lunch provides an opportu nity for professors and students to learn and share their hopes, fears and expectations about the course. Nancy Simpson, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, said improving the con- TAKEYOI PROFESSOR TO LUNCH GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion nection between teacher and student is crucial. “Teaching and learning are essentially based on relationships, and this is often disconnected in large classrooms,” she said. Marty Gunn, a member of the University Teaching Acade my and a biochemistry professor, said the project is concerned with improving the quality of learning in the classrooms. “We want to look at professors who are really good at teaching large classes and see what they do to motivate stu dents to learn,” Gunn said. Knorr said the ultimate goal of the University Teaching Academy is to recognize students as individuals. “Our biggest goal is that students will not just be a num ber in their classes,” she said.“The ‘Take Your Teacher to Lunch Challenge’ should help further that goal.”