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.