Wednesday, Febna
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February 10, 20(K)
Volume 106 - Issue 88
14 pages
* Vl*'i =f:1 * i Vi li
gs put an end to eight-game losing streak
slSTl I), England (A?)
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night, fleeing the Al
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Polk
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negotiations with p.
plane continue "said
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r. negotiators wanted!
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tiring the day Tuesdav;
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j John Broughton, an hi
ant chief constable."'
:em here is the safeti
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ms of the hi jackers,
ns. remained unclear
ed from an elaborate
asylum to a bid um|
smaiI Khan, a forme;
in Af ghanistan detain
the country's rulin;
n of the set on, improving their record
BY REECE FLOOD
The Battalion
Two teams entered Reed Arena last night, each
ing to bring an end to their losing streaks.
But the Texas A&M women’s basketball team
sthe one that left the arena with a smile on its
e after defeating Baylor University 76-65.
The two teams met earlier in the season, a
ne in which A&M managed to squeak by with
2-59 victory, giving them their first Big 12 Con-
ence win of the season.
Both A&M and Baylor were unable to earn a
tory since that meeting.
Last night, the Aggies ended an eight-game
ing streak and earned their second conference
la-
1,2-8 in the Big 12.
After losing its 10th game in a row, Baylor fell
5-15,0-10 in the Big 12.
The victory did not come easy for the Aggies,
ith 2:37 left in the game, A&M was clinging to
hree-point lead.
Senior forward Prissy Sharpe found junior for-
jrd Jaynetta Saunders under the basket for a
ick layup, giving A&M some momentum.
Sharpe said the pass was exactly the w ay the
ohad been practicing it.
‘'It was just how it w as supposed to be,’’ Sharpe
id. “We just ran it to perfection.”
With 1:21 left on the clock. Baylor women’s
sketball coach Sonja Hogg received a technical
ul, sending Sharpe to the line.
Hogg was not sure w hy she received the tech-
Jical, but did not contest it.
“I probably should have gotten it earlier.”
■ogg said.
about a potential I A&M made six of its last eight free throws and
n said: “In talking.:' pne more basket from the field to cap a 10-2 run
a are a lot of thing':; po end the game.
s elaborate, saying® ■ Leading the way for the Aggies was Sharpe.
w ho controlled (hep
\irport 25 miles non; f
nade no "formal denis|
of the negotiatii
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e Ariana airlinesptae L
e done e very thing If
ondilions on thearalw
J Edwards. ‘'We'relaiIf !
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who scored more then 20 points for the 19th time
in her career. She ended up with 24 points and nine
rebounds on the night.
Saunders chipped in with 17 points of her own.
Baylor’s Danielle Crockrom was a major fac
tor in the game, earning 25 points and seven re
bounds for the Lady Bears.
The first half saw a hard fought battle between
two impressive offenses. Both Baylor and A&M
were on lire in the first half, shooting 53.1 percent
and 56.3 percent, respectively.
“I felt like in the first half, we were shoot
ing like blazes,” Hogg said. “Of course, they
were too.”
The Aggies scored the opening basket and
managed to hold on to the lead most of the game,
never getting behind by more then three points.
But at halftime, A&M made adjustments and
came out with a more intense defense.
“I just told them it's going to come down to de
fense,” A&M women’s basketball coach Peggie
Gillom said. “I thought it was going to come dmvn
to defense and who wanted it more.”
A&M managed to hold Baylor to a 26.5 shoot
ing percentage in the second half, helping give the
Aggies the victory.
The w in marks the first Big 12 victory for the
Aggies in Reed Arena.
clockwise from top left:
A&M sophomore forward Celeria
Washington, junior guard Tina Jones
and freshman center Lynn Classen cel
ebrate the win against Baylor.
A&M freshman forward Meg Banahan
puts up a shot against the bears.
A&M junior guard Brandy Jones defends
against Baylor guard Nicole Collins.
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
Hackers attack LiT Sis program violates federal law
popular Websites
neing 727
.tii A fghan cits Wa
m the At'gliun capital!
is seized early Stindayl
icandering journey sc!
i iet Union, stopping'I
akstan and Russia,
ling to some of lhe.. „
red before the planet!
arly Monday, the hij
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nd daggers. Edwards!
res that authorities li
id there were I
NEW YORK (AP) Hackers
| stepped up a three-day electronic as
sault Wednesday against some of the
most popular sites on the Web, incon-
'eniencing millions of Internet users
land unnerving Wall Street.
The apparently coordinated at
tacks spread to ETrade, ZDNet and
[other major sites Wednesday.
All of them were crippled by a bar-
Irage of mes-
denial-of-service attack.”
Microsoft’s MSN.com, another
highly visited site, said it was indi
rectly affected because of disruptions
to several Internet service providers
carrying its traffic.
A small proportion of users were
unable to reach Web pages and others
may have been unable to log on, said
Microsoft spokesperson Tom Pi I la.
Major
between!
W'
FLORIDA!
"We are
committed
to in every
way possible
to tracking
those who
are responsible.
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|ed by hackers.
The grow
ing anxiety
[about the In-
Itemet’s vul
nerability con-
[tributed to a
|258.44 point-
Islide in the
[Dow Jones
[average and
[halted three
[straight
[record-high
[closings for the Nasdaq Composite
[index, which is heavy w ith high-tech
[stocks.
The attacks also prompted top
[federal officials to reassure Ameri-
[cans that authorities are doing every-
jthing they can to fight the online
[vandalism.
“We are committed to in every
[way possible to tracking those who
[are responsible,” Attorney General
[Janet Reno said in Washington.
She said the motives of the van-
[dals are not known, “but they ap
pear to be intended to interfere with
[and disrupt legitimate electronic
[commerce.”
The hacker technique, called a
[“denial of service attack,” involves di
recting a flood of messages to com-
[puters that run Web sites.
The effect is comparable to erect-
ling human barricades to block shop-
[pers from entering a mall or unleash-
[ing a wave of calls to tie up a city’s
[phone lines.
In the latest attacks, the ETrade ori-
jline brokerage’s Web site was hit, but
“customer accounts were never com-
jpromised,” spokesperson Patrick Di
[Chiro said.
Less than one-fifth of its cus-
Itomers were affected by the
clogged traffic for about 90 min
iates before the company blunted
[the attack, he said.
ZDNet.Com, a popular news site
[that covers technology, said its Web
site was shut down for two hours and
“appeared to have been the target of a
RENO
sites that
came under
attack Tues
day included
eBay, Ama
zon, CNN
and
Buy.Com, all
in unusually
aggressive
assaults simi
lar to one that
overwhelmed
Yahoo! a day
earlier.
Some security experts noted that
the attacks occurred around a three-
day meeting of Internet service
providers in San Jose, Calif., that end
ed Tuesday.
The keynote speech at the meeting
focused on denial of service attacks
and was given Monday.
I lackers sometimes try to get pub
licity by timing attacks around certain
events.
Federal officials urged businesses
to install protective software and take
other security precautions.
Sensitive government systems
were being secured against attacks.
“Right now there is no surefire de
fense, but we are trying to take some
steps,” Commerce Secretary William
Daley said.
“First we are taking special action
to ensure that all federal systems, in
cluding civilian agency systems, and
those of the Defense Department, are
clean of these infections, which make
some systems th unwitting partner in
these attacks.”
Some security experts said the
publicity could merely encourage
pranksters.
“It’s what these guys go after—to
be known as the person or group of
people who’ve pulled these attacks
off,” said Simon Perry, security busi
ness manager at Computer Associates
International, a maker of business
software.
“Instead of graffiti on the subway
wall, they’ve climbed up to the 40th
floor of the Empire State Building and
put their messages there.”
BY MAUREEN KANE
The Battalion
Being a “LiT Sis” — a college woman who can par-
ticipate in- a-Hratemity’s activities may be one way to
get involved in Greek Life at Texas A&M.
I lowever, that does not mean it is a legal way to get
involved.
An exemption in federal legislation allows fraternities
and sororities to remain single sex organizations without
being subject to anti-discrimination laws.
I lowever, “LiF Sis” programs were abolished in 1990
by the national Interfratemity Council (IFC) because the
program violates the exemption by allowing women to
participate in Rush activities for pledges.
Rush is an event held by IFC fraternities every se
mester to recruit new members; helping with Rush
and recruiting men for fraternities is part of the job
for a “LiF Sis”.
According to an anonymous source, a “LiF Sis” ap
plicant cannot currently be dating a fraternity member, be
cause they are expected to date multiple members of the
fraternity they are associated with.
The source also said “Lil Sis’s” are essentially “PR for
frat guys” and “groupies.”
After the applications are reviewed, the source said,
the active members (actives) of the fraternity and the “LiF
Sis’s” vote on the applicant.
The source said it is fun to be a ”LiF Sis” because it
provides a “family environment where we grow close,
guys talk to us about [their] girlfriends and get girls' per
spectives and opinions. My real brother is part of the or
ganization and I get to spend time w ith him and his friends
in a social scene.”
Besides the social aspect, the program also serves as
a test of how rushees act around women.
“The actives want to set standards to respect wpmen
See Lil’ sis on Page 2.
Replant registration open until Feb. 18
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
Each year, hundreds of Texas A&M
students, parents, and youth in the
Bryan-College Station community unite
to plant hundreds of trees at Replant.
“Thousands of students have the
opportunity to help the environment.
They can get out there and make a dif-
ference,” said Dana Arriens, Replant
Committee publicity chair and a senior
civil engineering major. “Our goal was
to increase participation and give back
more to the Bryan-College Station
community.”
Replant participants will plant 214
trees at the Bryan Regional Athletic
Complex (BRAC) and pot 500
seedlings at Lake Somerville at the ninth
annual Replant
March 4.
The Replant
Committee
plants seedlings
in pots so they
can grow in a
protected nursery
for five years be
fore being plant
ed permanently.
The Replant
KMPIANT 2000
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by the Replant Committee, with the
help of the Army Corps of Engineers
in Somerville. The survival rate of
those trees is 95
percent.
In the past,
the Replant
Committee used
15-gal Ion trees
that were only
two years old.
However, Re
plant Committee
began potting
seedlings in
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JEFF SMITH/The Battalion
Committee planted 300 five-year-old
trees in 1999, all of which were grown
News in Brief
1993 because of a better survival rate for
planting older trees. They now plant 25-
gallon five-year-old trees — all of which
have been grown from seedlings in Re
plant’s nursery.
If the trees planted this year get off
to a good start and are properly cared
for, their lifespan could range between
300 and 500 years, said Lanny Driesen,
an associate head of the Forestry Sci
ence Department and a forestry science
specialist for the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service.
Arriens said the committee wanted to
bring the trees to Bryan-College Station
so the community could see their efforts.
They planted the trees in various public
See Replant on Page 2.
Student Research Week
deadline approaches
The third annual Student Research Week is
scheduled for March 20-24 at the Rudder Tower ex
hibit hall.
Students will present their research to judges and
compete for scholarship money.
Criteria for judgement includes: the ability to com
municate ideas in verbal and/or graphic form
through lay language, clear, concise, well-written
summaries and presentation, the ability to.field
questions from within the discipline and the gener
al public and demonstration of the research’s con
tribution to the body of knowledge in that field.
First, second and third place winners will be cho
sen by Tuesday, March 2.
The amount awarded to winners this year has not
been decided, but more than $11,000 was awarded
last year.
Roughly 200 students participated in Research
Week in 1999.
Undergraduate and graduate students interested
in registering can fill out a form and submit an ab
stract of the research at www.tamu.edu/re-
searchandgradstudies/GraduateStudies/RESWEEK
/resweek.
The deadline is Monday, Feb. 14 at 5:00 p.m.
Silent auction to raise
money for Film Festival
Film Society will sponso" a silent auction today
from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the MSC Flag Roomto
benefit the 7th Annual Texas Film Festival.
Items being auctioned include the “Ally McBeal”
pilot script (with original signatures from the cast)
and autographed pictures and memorabilia from
celebrities like Troy Aikman, Sarah Michelle Gellar
and Bill Cosby.
Gift certificates to local stores and restaurants
will also be auctioned.
Cash and checks will be accepted at the auction.
The film festival will run Feb. 15-19 and will fea
ture workshops, screenings and guest speaker
Robert Rodriguez, director of From Dusk till Dawn.
The film festival is the largest-run student film fes
tival in the world.
Sandra Bullock will not be in attendance, as pre
viously reported in The Bryan-College Station Eagle.
Nubian Awards honor
local African-Americans
The achievements of local African-American stu
dents and businessmen will be recognized by Texas
A&M’s Black Awareness Committee (BAG) today.
The “Nubian Awards” will be held from 3-5
p.m. at the J. Wayne Stark University Center
Galleries.
The African-American businesspeople to be hon
ored are chosen for their dedication to the Bryan-Coi-
lege Station community.
African-American student recipients of the
award are selected on the basis of leadership,
community service academic and/ or athletic
achievements.
The BAG’S mission is “Uplift the lives of African-
Americans, enrich the minds of all.”
INSIDE
•Senior Residnet
Discount
Upperclassmen
reap on-cam
pus benefits*
Page 13
•AroundThe World
Students choose summer
destinations
. Page 3
•Scents & Sen
sibility
Do pheremones
have an affect
upon humans
Page 7
W
•Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details about a
San Francisco artist.
•Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu