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106 YEARS AT TOCASLA&M UNZV
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 • Issue 65 • 12 Pages
hows of support for victims of tragedy continue
roups to preserve
emorials placed
at Bonfire site
I.
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
11s.
Texas Aggies have shown the world what their spirit is capable of in
I face of adversity, and although they are slowly piecing their lives back
;ether after the Bonfire collapse, Aggies will never forget what hap-
ned in Aggieland on Nov. 18.
For most Aggies, their outlook on life may never be the same, but to
my, the knowledge that something lies deep within the heart of Texas
iM is comfort enough.
Bill Anderson, MSC Council president and a senior mechanical engi-
ering major, was one of many to recognize the need to preserve each
ifact at the Bonfire site and make them available for viewing by gen-
itions of Aggies yet to come.
“When I walked out there, 1 saw the heart of Texas A&M poured out
to Bonfire site, and those things need to be preserved,” he said.
A team at A&M is doing just that. This joint effort between the MSC
uncil, Traditions Council, Department of Anthropology, Physical Plant
d the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs will make sure
ch piece of memorabilia will be collected and preserved.
‘This is a University-wide effort to preserve all of those things,” An-
rson said.
Indeed, all of the items will be preserved. Literally everything, includ-
; flowers, cards, letters, notes, posters, rosary beads and handmade crafts
II be taken from the site for permanent preservation beginning today.
Anderson said he expects items will continue to be placed at the
e for months to come, but every artifact left at the Bonfire site will
entually be kept and preserved. The operation will be an on-going
focess.
“We don’t want to lose anything,” he said.
■ Schuyler Houser, program subchair for the Traditions Council and a
finior industrial engineering major, said Aggies do not need to worry
ajbout seeing their memories of the Bonfire lifted by the hands of others.
I “We know there is going to be a lot of concern,” she said. “We are not
f|rgetting, by any means, but this is our effort for people in the future to
rlinember. ”
I Dr. Sylvia Grider, a folklorist and associate professor of anthropology, said
pie team’s concern is to gather each individual artifact for safe keeping.
ontributions to funds
br injured, tributes to dead
ngoing, surpass $94,000
The Association of Former
Students has established the
Bonfire Relief Fund, the Texas
A&M Foundation has created the
Bonfire Memorial Fund and Bank
One has established the Aggie
Bonfire Fund.
Rose Ann McFadden, manager
of communications for the Texas
A&M Foundation, said the Foun
dation has been affected by the
tragedy because many of their
employees are part of the Aggie
family.
“We’ve been grieving with the
rest of the campus,” McFadden
said. “A lot of our employees, in
cluding myself, are Aggies and
even those who aren’t have been
affected by the situation.”
The money raised by the Texas
A&M Foundation will go to assist
families with expenses resulting
from the accident and will support
permanent recognition, such as en-
BY RICHARD BRAY
The Battalion
Cyril Connoly once wrote in
r book Journal and Memoir that
outh is a period of missed op-
rtunities.” Obviously, the au-
or never met Caitlin Walker.
After hearing about the Bonfire
llapse, the young girl decided to
door to door in her College Sta-
ifm neighborhood to collect mon-
to donate to the families of the
idents killed and injured in the
cident. Tuesday afternoon, Walk-
and her father donated the $332
e collected from her neighbors to
e Bonfire Memorial Fund at the
xas A&M Foundation.
Hundreds of people and orga-
zations throughout the Brazos
Valley have responded to the Bon
fire collapse by creating funds to
honor the students who were
killed or injured.
Counseling services
helps students entering
'moving on y process
CODY WAGES/Thf. Battalion
“We are treating all of the artifacts with a great deal of respect, and as
professional archaeologists and anthropologists,” she said. “We have a
procedure in place for gathering artifacts from a cultural site.”
Anderson said the students involved with this rigorous operation will
receive training in handling delicate artifacts.
Grider said the most critical type of artifact is cloth and paper, espe
cially pieces with poems or letters written on them. She said they will be
temporarily housed in a storage freezer in Cushing Memorial Library un
til the staff there is organized to handle such a large project.
“We will make sure we gather the paper separately so we can turn that
over to University Archives,” Grider said.
Grider said they were waiting for the spring semester before attempt
ing to make a definitive decision concerning the location of the display
showcases in which the artifacts will be eventually placed.
“What is critical is to gather the material and preserve it for what ever
use is determined in the future,” she said. “It is important to clear the
Bonfire site so that the formal investigation can get underway, and [the
removal] is also part of the University-wide attempt to get the campus
back to normal so that students can turn their attention to final exams
and going home for the holidays.”
rnr
D
UNDS RAISED
so far for victims of the
BONHBFCOITI 1 W
AND THEIR FAMILIES
Over 600 individuals have
donated more than $ 94,000
flip
Southwestern Bell has
donated $ 100,000
■Hi
dowed scholarships, in honor of
those who died in the accident.
As of yesterday afternoon, more
than 600 individuals had given
and pledged more than $94,000.
McFadden said the Texas A&M
Foundation has received some
particularly large donations,
among them a $100,000 donation
from Southwestern Bell and a
$10,000 donation from an anony
mous individual.
Texas A&M Foundation Presi
dent Eddie J. Davis said there has
been a national response to the
funds because people want to do
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
whatever they can to help the
tragic situation.
“The outpouring of sympathy
and concern has been over
whelming,” he said.
“People have sought to give in a
variety of ways, so we’ve created two
Bonfire funds [the Bonfire Memorial
Fund and the Bonfire Relief Fund] to
help focus the many ideas.”
For information on how to con
tribute to any of the memorial
funds, the Association of Former
Students can be reached at 845-
7514. The Texas A&M Foundation
can be reached at 845-8161.
BY AMANDA SMITH
The Battalion
The grieving for the 12 Aggies
who lost their lives as a result of the
Bonfire collapse did not end with the
Thanksgiving holidays or with the
Aggies’ defeat of the Longhorns.
The grieving continues, even as stu
dents have returned to classes, fac
ing the looming deadlines of the se
mester’s end.
While the memory of those lost
continues to burn in the hearts of
those inside and outside of the Texas
A&M community, Wade Birch, di
rector of Student Counseling Service
(SCS), said moving on is an integral
part of the grieving process.
“There is something therapeutic
about [moving on],” he said. “It is
like an anchor and helps us get
through the grieving process. This
whole tragedy has cast a dim light
on the Texas A&M campus. ”
In the two weeks since.the Nov.
18 collapse, SCS has received more
than 285 calls related to the collapse,
compared to the 400 calls SCS re
ceived in a typical year.
The SCS Helpline is operated by
more than 40 graduate and under
graduate students trained to handle
calls from students needing psycho
logical assistance. The students chose
to keep the Helpline open Thanks
giving day, the following Friday and
weekend to field calls from students.
Birch said the 15 SCS counselors,
10 full-time counselors and five ad
ministrative counselors, have made
every effort to comfort students
since the collapse.
Birch said their efforts began with
a call from Dr. J Malon Sutherland
vice president for Student Affairs,
around 3:45 a.m. with word of the
collapse.
“By 5 a.m., an associate director
and I were out at site,” Birch said.
“Our job was to mix and to min
gle with the onlookers to get a sense
of the reaction and to determine
what we needed to do.”
SCS kept four counselors onsite,
three counselors in the MSC Fla-
groom and two counselors in MSC
145, where the parents of those stu
dents killed or injured in the collapse
were told to wait.
see Counseling on Page 2.
Websites posting
grades under fire
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
When Scott Davison was a fresh
man, he found the task of what
classes to register daunting. That
changed when he found a Website
featuring class grade distributions.
SEE RELATED EDfTORIAL ON PAGE 11.
“Grade distributions help a stu
dent decide how different profes
sors grade and how they might
measure up in that professor’s
class,” Davison, a Student Senator
and a senior biomedical science
major, said. “They can be a very
valuable tool when a student is try
ing to find the class they will be
most successful in.”
The Website Davison visited
was maintained by a student who
obtained the distributions from the
Student Counseling Services (SCS)
database, which is open to any stu
dents who wish to seek help in their
academic choices.
The student has since stopped
updating the site, but if a recom
mendation currently under review
by the Faculty Senate Academic Af
fairs Committee (AAC) is ap
proved, a new site boasting even
more grade distribution informa
tion may be enacted.
Davison said the recommenda
tion for the Website originated with
a resolution passed by the Student
Senate last May.
“The Senate felt it is important
for this information to be easily
available to students,” he said.
“This issue needed to be pushed to
the forefront for consideration so
that the service can be easily and
accurately offered.”
Kenn Harding, AAC Chairman
and a professor of chemistry, said
that while the issue will the re
viewed by the AAC during their next
meeting Dec. 17, the committee cur
rently has no stance on the subject.
“We don’t officially have any
opinions on the subject as of
yet,” he said. “But at the next
meeting we will hear a presenta
tion from students and further
discuss the issue. However, there
may or may not be some sort of
recommendation made.”
The AAC previously considered
the recommendation at the Sept. 20
see Websites on Page 2.
Prill
mm
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Vil
■My y Id I Tf?
•Andy Warhol
Famed artist
Jets his ‘15
linutes’ at i
Stark
Galleries.
•Ags look for win against
’Jacks
^&M Men’s Basketball Team
|o face Stephen F. Austin.
Page 7
I
fer<
•Do you accept this fee?
'olumnists debate existence,
jsefulness of ATM fees.
Page 11
Batt Radio
Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
■1:57 p.m. for details on a toy
Id rive.
Thousands participate
in Elephant, E-Walk
BY JULIE ZUCKER
The Battalion
About 3,500 elephants
were seen walking around
campus yesterday as part of
senior Elephant Walk.
Junior E-Walk and senior
Elephant Walk finally took
place yesterday after being
rescheduled three times. More
than 5,500 juniors and seniors
participated in the events.
Amy Todd, E-Walk director
and a junior political science
major, said she was worried
about the turnout after the
postponements.
“We had a great turnout
[from juniors and seniors],”
she said. “We were worried
about who would show up
after all of the confusion
whether [E-Walk and Ele
phant Walk] would happen
or not.”
At Kyle Fiela, 3,500 se
niors listened to Harris Pap
pas, president of the Pappa’s
restaurant chain, before
they began their tour
through campus. Seniors
waded through Fish Pond
on Northside, had their last
yell at the Commons and
ended at Duncan Field for
games and pictures.
Students could have pic
tures taken with live ele
phants, and a velcro wall,
bunjee run, rocky mountain
climb and a gyro were avail
able for students’ enjoyment
at Duncan Field. Juniors had
a fajita lunch at noon.
Katie Dufour, Elephant
Walk director and a senior
health education major, said it
was a good idea to postpone
Elephant Walk.
“Participants seemed to be
in high spirits, and more up
beat than they would have
been if we kept Elephant
Walk last week,” she said.
“The whole event was
more positive, and it was ob
vious because there were lots
of smiles and hugs.”
Katy Lineberger, a junior
journalism major, said she
looked forward to E-Walk and
was happy she had the op
portunity to participate.
“It was a really neat expe
rience to be with people I
haven’t seen since freshman
year,” she said. “There was a
lot of spirit, and we all came
together as upperclassmen to
keep A&M traditions alive. ”
Lineberger said it is the re
sponsibility of the entire se
nior class to keep the respect
and Aggie spirit alive.
“It is up to us as seniors
now, to teach and share our
knowledge of Aggieland to
those who are younger than
us,” she said. “We need to
make sure freshman and
sophomores know A&M
means friends, memories and
great traditions. ”
BRADLEY ATCHISON/Tm Battalion
Above: Texas
A&M’s Class of
2000 marches
in front of the
Academic Build
ing Tuesday as
part of Elephant
Walk.
Right: Students
participating in
Elephant Walk
link arms as they
walk through
campus.
KIMBER HUFF/The Battalion