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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 2000)
i THE FRIDAY March 31,2000 Volume 106-Issue 119 12 pages 11*1^ *J IWIM =1 rW 1 A&M No. 2 in minority doctorates BY BRANDIE LIFFICK The Battalion According to a study done by the Quality Education for Mi- Inorities (QEM) Network, Texas A&M was ranked second in awarding doctorates to minorities in mathematics, physical sci- | ences and engineering (MPSE). “Our standing as a leader in producing minority Ph.D.s not only j speaks to the quality of our graduate and research programs but also to our success in recruiting the best and brightest students,” | said Ronald G. Douglas, executive vice president and provost. The study examined the 320 universities in the United I States that award MPSE doctorates from 1990 to ’97. A&M awarded 81 MPSE doctorates to minorities. The University of California - Berkeley awarded 89 degrees and ranked first [place nationally. “When you look at our numbers, we’ve done well in compar- “But we all need to be striv ing towards higher levels of minority students in United States graduate programs. ” — Ronald G. Douglas A&M executive vice president and provost ison,” Douglas said. “But we all need to be striving towards high er levels of minority students in United States graduate programs.” According to the QEM Website, www.gemnetwork.org, non-Asian minorities have have historically been under repre sented at the graduate level. “We are always interested in having more graduate students, not just minorities here at Texas A&M,” said Douglas. “But we continue to try to recruit heavily from colleges that have high levels of minority undergraduate students.” According to Frank M. Raushel, graduate adviser for the Department of Chemistry, minority recruiting has been made a higher priority at universities across the nation, especially ! within the past decade. “For example, within the chemistry department, we send I out a lot of materials and make many presentations at colleges [known for their high levels of minority students,” Raushel said. J “We’ve even sent recruiters to foreign countries to show them [what A&M’s graduate schools have to offer. The overall idea [is to increase the number of applications that A&M receives from minority students.” ** »» * ^ , i GUY ROGERS/The Battalion (Above) Corey Rosenbusch (L), a junior agricultural development major, and Forrest Lane (R), a senior political science major, celebrate their runoff victories with fellow students after the announcement of student body president election results Thursday. (Bottom) Students rally after the election announcements were made for student government and yell Leaders. Rosenbusch, Lane in runoff Four yell leaders elected; Cholick y McFate to be decided AeNT BODY ELECTIONS RIE S U L T S rjest Lane 3155 [Cefey Rosentiusch 2921 •Brandon Garrett—943 •Jeff Schiefelbein — 2890 BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion In a record voter turnout, Forrest Lane, a se nior political science major, and Corey Rosen busch, a junior agricultural development major, were the top two finishers in the race for stu dent body president and will meet in a runoff election April 5-6. Lane finished with 3,155 votes, or 31 per- •Kevln Graham •Sam Seidel -6148 5719 •Bubba Moser *Ricky Wood - 1RUN.OFF: •Ben Cholick •John McFate 8128 -7962 5018 3211 Bf RUBEN DELUNAl cent, and Rosenbusch received 2,921 votes, or 29.48 percent. Jeff Schiefelbein, a senior mar keting major, finished a close third with 2,890 votes, or 29.17 percent. Senior international studies major Brandon Garrett got 943 votes, or 9.52 percent. Junior biomedical engineering major John McFate, who received 3,211 and 11.46 percent, and junior construction science major Ben Cholick, who got 5,018 and 18 percent, will square off in the second voting for a senior yell leader position. Bubba Moser, a junior agricultural econom ics major, and Ricky Wood a junior theatre arts major, won the other two senior yell positions. Moser was the top vote getter with 8,128 votes or 29 percent, and Wood received 7,962 votes or 28 percent. The other senior yell candidates were Zach Brewer, who finished with 2,157 or 7.7 per cent, and E. Ray Gard, who got 1,538 votes, or 5.5 percent. The junior yell leader positions went to Kevin Graham, a sophomore business major, and Sam Seidel, a sophomore animal science major. Graham, who received 6,148 votes or 34 percent, and Seidel, who got 5,719 votes or 31.6 percent, far outdistanced rivals sophomore busi ness administration major Josh Ray, 3,048 votes or 17 percent, sophomore general studies major Mike ITarkey, 1,894 votes or 10.5 percent, and sophomore business administration major Troy Miller, 1,275 votes or 7 percent. Ashlea Jenkins, the student elections com missioner and junior political science major, said the 10,391 students who cast ballots were the highest recorded turnout in student body elections at Texas A&M. For the first time this year, students could vote online, and 3,693 stu dents did so, Jenkins said. Lane said he and his campaign staff were ready for the challenge of the runoff election. “It’s different now because you’ve got to get a majority, but we’re just going to continue working hard and doing what got us here,” Lane said. Rosenbusch said he would have a strategy meeting with his campaign volunteers Friday and use the next few days to appeal to students who did not vote for him in the first round. “Our group worked so hard, and I’m grate ful for the all the support. Now, we’re just go ing to cross our fingers and continue to get out See Elections on Page 2. Senate fails to constitutionally protect American flag WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate attempt ' to give the American flag constitutional protec tions again fell short, with supporters failing to [ move dug-in opponents who said the measure [ would undercut basic free speech rights. The 63-37 vote Wednesday was four short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Con stitution and almost identical to the 63-36 vote when the Senate defeated the amendment in 1995. The author of the amendment. Senate Judi ciary Committee Chairperson Orrin Hatch, R- Utah, vowed that he would try again: “We are not going to quit until we win.” He said a large majority of Americans want Congress to be able to punish those who dese crate the flag and that “this place is filled with elitism among those who are voting against the amendment.” But those in opposition, including four Re publicans, argued that attacks on the flag are rare and do not justify what they said would be the first time in the nation’s history that the Con stitution is changed to qualify First Amendment free speech rights. “A desecrated flag is replaceable. Desecrated rights are lost forever to those who experience the loss,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. He noted that among the nations that ban flag desecration are Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea. The amendment consisted of one sentence, "A desecrated flag is replaceable. Dese crated rights are lost forever to those who experience the loss/' —John Kerry Senator, D-Mass. that “Congress shall have the power to prohib it the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” Hatch and others argued that the amendment was needed because the Supreme Court in 1989 struck down a Texas state flag desecration law and the next year a law passed by Congress, both times on the grounds that they infringed on First Amendment rights. Both votes were 5-4. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the high court had made a mistake. “In my opinion flag-burning is not speech, it is conduct of the most offensive kind.” But in a setback for supporters, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., one of 14 Democrats to vote for the amendment in 1995 and a leading constitu tional scholar, on Tuesday announced to the American Legion, primary backers of the amend ment, that he was changing his vote. “I shrink from the possibility of providing a tiny minority of rabble-rousers with the ammu nition to fire upon the most important and beloved document in the country,” he said. The House has approved flag desecration amendments three times since 1995, the last by a 305-124 vote last year. Constitutional amendments also must be ratified by three-fourths of state leg islature, which would have been a near certainty in this case because 49 states have passed resolutions urging Congress to send them a flag amendment. SBSLC receives award Students to clean up community for campus leadership annua ^ Big Event service project to help local residents INSIDE BY KEVIN BURNS The Battalion This spring, stars such as Tavis Smi ley, political commentator for Black Entertainment Television (BET), Hasani Pettiford and Bertice Berry, talk show hostess and comedian, headlined the Southwestern Black Student Lead ership Conference (SBSLC). SBSLC drew a crowd of one thousand people from across the nation, and earned the conference “Outstanding Achievement in Community Outreach Award,” an award from the Leadership Reception Committee (LRC) at the 2000 Aggie Leadership Invitational (ALI). Anitra Bigler, director of the LRC, labeled'SBSLC as an “exceptional” performance. The 20 ALI members reviewed stu dent conferences and voted the SBSLC number one for excellence in commu nity outreach. This year’s 12th annual conference was planned by 25 students. Karisha Hearns, chairperson for the SBSLC of2001 and a junior industrial distribution major, described SBSLC as “impacting the campus community.” “Most people notice what a profes sional conference we [SBSLC] are [is],” Hearns said. SBSLC is the largest self and cor porately-funded student-run organiza tion in the nation. The ALI was coop eratively sponsored by the Association of Fonner Students and by Texas A&M’s Class Councils. The ALI was constructed because, “recognition of groups...is lacking on campus,” said Peggy Holzweiss, a stu dent development specialist. “This program is designed to recog nize and say thank you to the students for their commitment to excellence,” said Patrick Williams, director of cam pus programs for the Association of For mer Students of the invitational. “Students do put so much work into their organizations, and this was our way to say thank you,” he said. Williams said “[The Association] hosted [the invitational] as an effort to let our resources benefit the students. When a former student gives an award, it carries weight.” The SBSLC is currently filling po sitions for executives, hosts/hostesses and two student positions for partici pants. For application information, stop by 138 Memorial Student Center BY BROOKE HODGES The Battalion Robbie Clark, an 80-year old College Station resident, has trouble with some of the odd jobs that need to be done around her house, so she is seeking assistance from student volun teers this weekend. Clark is just one of the 547 Bryan-College Station residents who are asking for a little help this Saturday from student vol unteers during The Big Event. “I enjoy those children around me,” Clark said. “They are so nice, and I wish I was able to do something for them.” In past years, Clark has had volunteers clean her garage. This year, Clark is asking for help with cleaning her garage and JR BEATO/The Battalion Each year Texas A&M students help the community with The Big Event service project. a shed, along with painting the overhangs of her home, said Adam Evans, a subchair for The Big Event and a junior civil engineering major. The Big Event, which began in 1982, started with six stu dents cleaning out a cemetery. The event has grown over the years to become the largest one-day, student-run service project in the country, with over 5,000 participants. The Big Event is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for its number of participants. “We are doing this for the entire community. We take so much from the community,” said Bowie Hogg, The Big Event student involvement executive and a junior management ma jor. “We crowd the streets and restaurants. This is our one day to say ‘thank you’ to the B-CS community.” The event will begin Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with registration in front of the Jack K. Williams Administration Building. The event’s kick-off will be at 9 a.m. with introductions. M. L. “Red” Cashion, retired National Football League ref eree and Class of’53, will be the speaker during The Big Event kick-off’. He was voted Citizen of the Year in 1994 by the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce and is famous for his “First Down” call. After Cashion’s speech, there will be a yell practice followed by a cannon firing by the Parson’s Mounted Calvary, Hogg said. “After that, students will head to their job sites and start [working] approximately at 10 a.m.,” he said. “The jobs are es timated to last until 2 p.m.” Most of the volunteer work consists of outside work. “We do a lot of raking, tons of painting houses and clean ing gutters,” he said. “We help older people get their gardens started for spring.” The event gives people the chance to see what college stu dents are really like, Hogg said. Many job recipients have stu dents come to do a job for them just to have a chance to talk to students. • Check out The Battalion's April fools edition. age 3 • Aggies look for a sec ond top five upset Tennis team faces Pepperdine - Page 3 • Check out the special daily strips. Page 10 • Usten to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on "A Midsummer Night's Dream." •Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu.