FRIDAY
May 5, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 141
16 pages
Wednesd
ay, May,
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Stress relief
mer University professors slal
ing was premature and intspof
s set the tone for suspicion,^#
■sc statements were irresponsi;
rresponsibly.”
nobody says, ‘the crane hit the#
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that crane and they were inia
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n point lingers and lay blame■
irgoon said. I
redpots did agree that they WJ
niversity in correcting the protli
ire and ensuring it was a safes
Gary Spence, former redpot
78, said he was supportive off '
es to allow bonfire to continue
re is a way we can help bonfire
STUART VILLANUEVA/Tiih Bai i auon
Wlatt Kemper, a freshman business major, works off some pre-exam stress by bashing a
car outside Walton Hall Wednesday. The event, “Up in Here 2000” is designed to help stu
dents re/ax during finals week and was sponsored by Walton Hall. It featured the carbash,
a slip and slide and Jell-0 wrestling.
«
Students discuss fate
of bonfire at forum
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
Bonfire must go on no matter what it
takes, said students who attended an open fo
rum held by Vice President of Student Af
fairs Dr. J. Malon Southerland.
Through tear-choked emotion and a col
lective plea for understanding. Aggies came
together Thursday to express support for the
tradition to continue.
“We would be willing to do whatever it
takes... as long as we can build it and as long
safe way, in a responsible way
I LOVE YOU’ virus hits,
auses computer panic
as we can bum it in November,” one student
said. “Tell us what to do and we will do it be
cause we want to see it burn.”
A large part of the discussion was sparred
by the rhention of alcohol and hazing as re
lated to bonfire, yet some students felt the
spotlight exclusively on bonfire hazing and
use of alcohol was unfair. They cited the al
leged hazing that takes place in the Corps of
Cadets, Greek life and other organizations
on campus.
“1 don’t know many people who have
been kicked out of bonfire for hazing,” one
student rebutted. “I know a whole lot of
people who have been kicked out of the
Corps, kicked out of their outfits ... 1 am a
member of an organization that |was| put
on three years probation for what we
thought was good fun.”
“If bonfire can stop the hazing, other tra
ditions can follow,” one student said.
Another student questioned the students
on their willingness to do anything to con
tinue bonfire. He asked if the students were
willing to give up alcohol and hazing and act
like adults.
During the press conference following the
Special Commission on the 1999 Aggie Bon
fire Final Report, Texas A&M President Dr.
Ray M. Bowen said that in his experience “stu
dents are quite sensible’’ in regard to bonfire.
“Students do, in fact, want to do the right
thing,” Bowen said.
Bowen was questioned about the “sensi
bility” of alcohol and
hazing as students
prepare for a possible
Bonfire 2000.
“There’s insane
drinking and physical
abuse,” a source said,
on terms of anonymi
ty in a May 2 article in
The Battalion. “The
universal method of
receiving physical
hazing in bonfire is
getting licked [struck]
by an ax handle.
Sometimes it’s once.
Sometimes it’s twice.
Sometimes it’s hun
dreds of times in a
night or semester.”
The commission’s report confirmed that
hazing does, in fact, take place in the bonfire
culture.
“We found considerable evidence of irre
sponsible behavior in bonfire,” said com
mission member Veronica Callaghan during
the report.
“Alcohol use was substantial, although
student leaders reportedly prohibit alcohol or
obviously impaired workers from working on
stack. There was also evidence that hazing
and harassment by student workers and stu
dent leaders, as well as unnecessary horse
play and fighting, are significant despite Uni
versity efforts to control it,” she said.
During the report, Callaghan described a
“cultural bias” that limits A&M from initiat
ing necessary changes and thinking outside
of the box.
“This tunnel vision in decision-making is
due, in the commission’s view, to a cultural
bias in which legitimate courses of action
outside past experience or contrary to the
University’s predisposition are often not con
sidered,” Callaghan said Tuesday.
In Wednesday’s forum, students ad
dressed the need for students to take respon
sibility in linking the changes for the better
ment of A&M and the Aggie Bonfire culture.
“The only way we can truly be proactive
and make a change is we make a change and
;lp,” he said.
(AP) — A new software virus
lead quickly around the world to-
av. swamping U.S. computer net-
Jrks with e-mails entitled
ILOVEYOU” after crippling gov-
ment and business computers in
Isiaand Europe. The FBI opened
criminal investigation.
jExperts said they were stunned
the speed and wide reach of the
s — which struck members of
. Congress and British parlia-
nt — and warned computer
rs not to open the “LOVELET-
■R” attachment that comes with
1 contaminated e-mail.
■“It appears to be the same sort
■lass of virus as Melissa,” the e-
Jil virus that overwhelmed corn-
liter systems around the world
ut a year ago, said Bill Pollack,
kesman for the CERT Coordi-
|ion Center in Pittsburgh, a gov-
Iment-chartered computer secu-
team.
But the new virus, which uses
ffe Outlook e-mail program from
|ierosoft to spread, also may in-
other types of files stored on
desktop computers and network
servers, CERT reported on its tele
phone hotline. According to other
reports, the virus may rename or
damage those files.
In Washington, FBI spokesper
son Debbie Weierman said that the
bureau has opened a criminal in-
“It seems to be
the same sort of
class of virus as
Melissa. 7 '
— Bill Pollack
CERT Coordination Center
spokesperson
vestigalion of the virus attack and
is assessing its impact domestical
ly and internationally. She would
not say which field office is leading
the investigation.
By midafternoon Eastern time,
a virus scanning system provided
on the Internet by the Trend Micro
computer security company had al
ready detected almost 1.2 million
infected computer files around the
world, including more than
900,000 in the United States.
In Britain, about 30 percent of
company e-mail systems were
brought down by the virus, accord
ing to Network Associates, another
computer security company. In
Sweden, the tally was 80 percent.
Much like Melissa, the “love
bug” spreads by, infiltrating a com
puter user’s address book and send
ing copies of itself to that person’s
contacts. However, the new virus
also seemed to be using instant
messaging or “Internet chat” sys
tems such as ICQ to spread, Com
puter Associates reported.
The virus appeared in Hong
Kong late in the afternoon, spread
ing throughout email systems once a
user opened one of the contaminated
messages. It later moved into Euro
pean parliamentary houses and
See Virus on Page 2.
Memorial funds
created for victims
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
Hours after the 1999 Aggie Bonfire col
lapse, former students, individual donors
and corporations flooded the University
with donations.
Two funds were established to aid with
immediate needs, preserve the memory of
the victims and celebrate the lives of those
that were lost.
The Bonfire Relief Fund is still provid
ing families of the deceased and injured
with funds.
“We told the families to use the money
as they needed it. [There was] no set rule,”
said Barbara Kasper, fundraising director
for the Association of Fonner Students.
She said the money was used for
everything from covering minor injuries
to paying for long hospital stays for bon
fire victims.
Kasper said the Association of Former
Students advanced money to the Bonfire
Relief Fund so that families would not
have to wait for money to accumulate in
the account.
The Bonfire Relief Fund has received
$355,000 from individual donors, A&M
Clubs and A&M Mother’s Clubs across the
country; the Bonfire Benefit Concert and
the High Meadow Ranch GolfTournament.
The University is still in contact with
the families and a need-based decision is
made on the amount each family receives,
Kasper said.
The Bonfire Memorial Fund was set up
to fund the structure that will be erected in
memory of the bonfire victims. The Texas
A&M Foundation serves as the collection
agency for the funds donated toward the
memorial.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president
for student affairs, said the plans for a bon
fire memorial are not finalized and the Of
fice of Student Affairs would wait until the
commission’s report was released to make
a decision.
In a February interview with The Bat
talion, Southerland told reporters that a
committee would be formed to decide the
form a permanent monument to the victims
would take.
“We’re going to develop the criteria for
JP BEATO/The Battalion
Outside Reed Arena Tuesday, many students signed a pe
tition to keep the bonfire tradition alive. The petition has
been signed by hundreds of students.
we, as students, say no and look at someone
hazing and say ‘No, what you are doing is
not right,' ” said Catherine Green, a sopho
more accounting major. “The University can
come out with policies, rules and procedures
all they want, but the only way there can be
a change is if we are proactive and make the
change ourselves.”
Students commented on how difficult it
was to change tradition and why some as
pects of the Aggie Bonfire culture should be
preserved in the name of tradition. Yet, oth
ers talked about the way the hazing and al
cohol continued simply because no one had
the temerity to stand up and say it was wrong.
“We, 3s students, have to prove to the
administration that we can regulate our
selves,” one student said. “We need to regain
their confidence in us that we can do it, but
we have to ask ourselves ‘Are we ready to
regulate ourselves?’ ”
Rusty Adams, class of’96, said although
he is pro-bonfire, he was frustrated with
some of the students’ inability to accept the
criticism of the bonfire organizational fail
ures in the commission’s report.
“I have had visitors in town that 1 was
embarrassed to take to bonfire site because
of some of the things l knew were going on
out there,” Adams said. “If we’re going to
blow our horns — as many of us do —
about how much class we have, then we
need to have it.”
Adams told an account of working on the
second stack one night in 1994 with one of
his buddies.
“We got in a yelling match over whether
we needed more logs,” Adajus said. “We said
we weren’t going to take them any faster than
we can wire them in and wire them in well.”
Adams said they were working a shift
from 12 a.m. until almost 6 a.m.; they had to
leave because they had band drill at 6 a.m. to
prepare for their halftime show that week.
“When we were leaving, we looked back
at the stack and said ‘Does that look like it’s
leaning to you?’ and we decided it was proba
bly just an illusion,” Adams said. “On the way
back to the dorm, we said ‘What do you think
would have happened if we had gone back and
said that bonfire looks like it’s leaning to us?’ ”
See Memorial on Page 2.
See Forum on Page 2.
Cool Films for^
the Hot Summe
Summer movies show
excitement, diversity
• Run for the Roses
Lukas confident, ready for 126th
running of Kentucky Derby
SALLIE TURNER/The BATi|
I Arena to hear the Sped
)se.
tudents prepare for summer-time packing, moving
BY ANNA BISHOP
The Battalion
IFor many Texas A&M stu-
rtnniHh their college years will en-
PPOlL OT OOnTI"onipass more moves than the rest
. The group walked aciwheir adult lives, so it may come
own Olsen Boulevard, 3 rSIlosur P ri se that students have a
A rena eu suggestions about making a
, ^ eove as easy as possible.
o U pofstudentsapproack|. simpli -: jtv ' is the key , 0
ives from the new orgarf king things g0 smooth i y
the Fire Burning" were lien moving,” said Andrew
ive students sign petitit^cholas, a sophomore econom-
the continuation of bonf' cs ma .i or - Throw out the things
, x ^ , r .'on will not use again, or won’t
p of students entered becal|se jllst ge ,
rook seats to hear the % way later.”
ommission’s findings. I While most tips could be con-
idered simply common sense.
college students are capable of
providing both creative and ver
satile ideas when it comes to pack
ing up.
Chris Horan, a mechanical en
gineering graduate student, said
he relied on company perks to
help fray the cost of renting a
moving truck.
“I recommend students who
work to ask their companies —
particularly larger companies —
if they offer a corporate discount
to cut down moving expenses. I
was able to rent a 16-foot truck at
a very reasonable rate,” Horan
said. “If you are going to use a
moving truck, 1 strongly recom
mend using moving blankets to
protect your furniture.”
While some students experi
ence difficulties finding boxes,
John Ickes, a junior finance ma
jor, said he knows an easy way
to find boxes that are just the
right size.
“Go to Wal-Mart, or any gro
cery store for that matter, and
ask for their empty boxes. This
is a lot cheaper than having to
buy them,” Ickes said. “Find out
when the stores are restocking
their shelves and then you can
follow behind them and pick
them right up.”
While some students try to
find ways to cut down on moving
expense, others look for ways to
simplify the process.
“I’ve learned to leave belong
ings in the desk drawers and to fill
small boxes instead of larger ones,
which makes it easier to handle,”
said Kara Dooley, a structural en
gineering graduate student.
Enrique Barcenas, a senior
civil engineering major, said he
routinely makes a list before start
ing the physical move.
“Making a list lets you know-
in advance what you need to
move in first or last, and ensures
an ease of moving. Small things
typically will go in last,” Barce
nas said.
In addition to student ideas,
Websites like offer services such
as low-cost truck rentals to help
students during the moving
process.
TIPS
FOR
MOVING OUT
•Use small boxes
instead of large
•Throw things
away you won’t
use again
•Use empty
boxes from
grocery stores
or superstores
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
Page 11
• A lesson
learned
Missed deadlines
present chance for
redemption
Page 15
•Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details on the ar
rest of a local credit card thief.
•Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu