Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2000)
December 4,2000 Volume 107 ~ Issue 70 12 pages k ViMi * i :ik’i 4; W i i’ me inAsit 'Crts are pi Ukraine, iark Worldi capital, e schools tatherins onfire victims’ parents consider lawsuits tndofGi irity” car drive i a the ci :et team t Goodi )S inao )slo, Nor illbeliel; icchanne ■chard Bray 'battalion ■ore than a year after the 1999 Aggie Bon- .'elollapse, the families of the students who ere killed or injured say they are having dif- ailly receiving money from the University help pay for funeral and medical expenses. ks Heard, father of Christopher Heard, a eshman Corps of Cadets member who died jtfu collapse, said he sent a'letter to Dr. J. la^n Southerland, vice president of student jkii v The letter requested $50,000 to help lylfor funeral costs, and it was denied. Heard said. “Vice President Southerland sent out a letter to all the families asking if there was any financial help needed, and we responded to that letter and stated our needs,” said Heard. “In the letter, Southerland said money would come from the Bonfire Relief Fund and that he was the chairman of the committee that would review all requests, and it will be acted on appropriately. The letter we sent to Souther- HEARD land requesting money was returned to us on the next day’s postmark with our original let ter mailed back to us and a statement saying that this Bonfire Fund was to help everyone and that he was sure that the fund would be used up.” Southerland was unavailable for comment. Cynthia Lawson, executive director of University Relations, said the Bonfire Relief Fund is not running low and that the fund, which contained more than $650,000, has used roughly half its capital. Heard, who has already received $10,000 from the University’s Bonfire insurance poli cy, said he wonders whether Southerland ever showed the letter to the rest of the committee. “He didn’t honor up to what he had said, saying that his committee would make a deci sion on it,” he said. “It’s awful surprising that a committee received our letter, met and then deliberated all in the speed of one day, and he miraculously returned our letter the day after he received it with a denial. So my question is: Did the committee even see our letter, or did Southerland take it upon himself?” Lawson told The Bryan-College Station Eagle that every request has been forwarded to the Bonfire Relief Fund. “Texas A&M has consistently fought to respond to the needs of the families,” she said. “We will continue to be supportive of the families within our capabilities.” Heard said he requested the $50,000 to pay for the funeral and for transportation for family members. “Out of my pocket, I reimbursed my fam ily members, who aren’t well off; to come to his funeral from as far away as England,” he See Families on Page 6. tying A k mentan iy SlIK: tobea'; ill alou:l GA promotes arene" tin. indui; nd rod with nif' a cademic honor ited will), lid actor Cl OS, the® nd melt) ith campaign kJBryan Blanton ^Battalion ■ake, a Texas A&M student whose -istpame is not included, admitted that. - 'he had never cheated on any of his ex- ms. lie probably would not be here to- Jty. Although many students have er Jtonitoliveby the Aggie Code of Hon- and i animal r; that an Aggie does not lie, cheat or teal, nor tolerate those who do — some Indents fall short of this code when they sals0 *I final exams. lu< *T« ()re than 75 percent of students na- 111 ° ,! ; .ionwide have admitted to acts of acad- / ■ . mie dishonesty, either by cheating off ltive c ‘ dfceone else or permitting someone to heat off them, according to the Nation- fCampaign for Academic Integrity, ■he A&M Student Government As- ociation is promoting academic integri- Iwith the “Know the Code” campaign. |oie than 35 student organizations, nidi as the Corps of Cadets and the A |emorial Student Center Council, will p; the Aggie Code of Honor to new ex- femes this year. ■Students participating in the Know N BCode campaign will wear T-shirts IflO ^’h the Aggie Code of Honor printed l-llt'Dn them. Campaign workers will dis- pens, pencils and scantrons with ie pute i stud kwaus smaenis ■han promote the ropes 1 ! ACADEMIC INTEGRITY 1 t\s\i for clarification on unclear questions identify your ualues Attend class Hsk questions Participate in discussions iter, we Report other students u»ho commit acts of academic dishonesty the Aggie Code of Honor printed on them. The scantrons are stamped with the code so that students can glance at it while taking their exams. “The Aggie Code of Honor is some thing that we commit ourselves to live by when we decide to attend this Uni versity,” said Kyle Baden, Corps judge advocate general and a senior chemi cal engineering major. “Integrity can carry one a long way in life. What bet ter way to begin applying it than through student organizations who are committed to instilling the code* throughout the University?” According to the National Cam paign on Academic Integrity, cheating can become a chronic behavior. The packet states that one in every four stu dents commits an act of academic dis honesty each day. Academic integrity is a commit ment, even in the face of adversity, to five core values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility, said Chris tine Adamson, spokeswoman for the Know the Code campaign and a junior accounting major. “The whole campaign is a visibility campaign to increase the students and faculty’s awareness of academic dis honesty,” Adamson said. The National Campaign lists six ways students can promote academic in tegrity: Ask for clarification of unclear questions, identify their values, attend class, ask questions, participate in dis cussions and report other students who commit acts of academic dishonesty. “All we are trying to do is promote academic integrity throughout the Uni versity,” Adamson said. “We will con tinue this campaign next semester in or der to increase its effectiveness because it has become a real problem on college campuses worldwide.” Adamson said she learned many of the ideas for the campaign when she at tended a national conference on acade mic integrity. Next year, A&M will host the conference. Faculty members are also sharing the responsibility of academic integrity be cause they are aware that students’ eyes wander while they take exams. Howev er, many faculty members said they can not take action based on speculation. “You cannot prove what you cannot see,” said a faculty member who wished to remain anonymous. Ten ways faculty members can pro mote academic integrity are also pro vided by the national campaign: write down your policy, say it out loud, get to Fly chicks CODY WAGES/The Battalion Dixie Chicks Emily Robison (top left), Natalie Maines (bot tom left) and Martie Seidel (right) perform at Reed Arena Saturday night in their highly anticipated Fly Tour. The tour be gan in June, and College Station was the next to the last stop. Florida judge promises ruling Gore’s, Bush’s lawyers still in court; Cheney asks Gore to concede RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion See Code on Page 2. (AP) — Lawyers for A1 Gore and George W. Bush slogged through a second day of testimo ny about chads, voting machines and the vice president’s pleas for a recount, while GOP run ning mate Dick Cheney said Sunday it is time for Gore to concede. Gore said he knows Amer ica is weary of the long election ordeal but coun seled the country: “It won’t last forever.” As Democrats talked about the possibility of a gracious exit from the presidential contest, a circuit judge presided over a nearly 13-hour hearing Sunday on Gore’s historic election protest and listened to closing arguments into the night. Judge N. Sanders Sauls said he would deliver his ruling this morning. The vice president braced for the next round of legal action and attended church, where he heard a sermon titled, “A Time for Waiting.” It was an apt metaphor for the longest, clos est presidential contest in 124 years. Gore, test- 6 6 If George Bush is sworn in as president, he'll be my president. He'll be America's president” — Al Gore U.S. vice president ing Americans’ willingness to wait as he ex hausts his legal options, conducted an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” as part of a public re lations blitz. “At the end of the day, when all processes have taken place, if George Bush is sworn in as president he’ll be my president. He’ll be Amer ica’s president,” Gore said in the interview. He talked of the ordeal of uncertainty the en tire country has gone through. “The public, I think, has shown a remark able amount of patience,” Gore said. “This is n’t easy for any of us in this country. I know the Bush family, as well as my family, is want ing this to be over. The American family wants it to be over.” He also said: “It won’t last forever. I’m ex pecting it will be over within the next two weeks.” See Election on Page 2. PD motorcycle officer dies after collision Mariano Castillo he Battalion Bryan police officer Mark D. Hiatt ias killed Saturday morning in a col- Ision at the intersection of East 29th Street and Hutchins Street. I At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Hiatt was heading eastbound on East 29th to an issignment when his police Kawasaki notorcycle was hit by a 2000 GMC iierra. According to police reports, the >ickup was driving westbound on East 19th when it attempted to turn left onto Jutchins. The front left side of the pickup col- ided with the motorcycle. Hiatt was taken to St. Joseph Re gional Health Center and died a few minutes later from injuries sustained, the report stated. The driver of the Sierra, Thomas Hilliard, 36, and the two passengers in his truck were not injured. An investigation is underway, and the Bryan Police Department (BPD) has requested assistance from the College Station Police Department (CSPD), the Brazos County Sher iff’s Office; the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Alco holic Beverage Commission. College Station police Sgt. Chuck Fleeger said CSPD was called to help reconstruct the accident for the investigation. CSPD was called for accident re construction “due to the fact that the in dividuals at the Bryan Police Depart ment who would conduct that part of the investigation were [Hiatt’s] closest ’ co-workers,” Fleeger said. “It would be very emotional for them.” The accident reconstruction investi gation will attempt to determine factors such as speed, driver impairment and vis ibility. It will also examine skid marks. CSPD has gathered data, measure ments, photographs and witness statements. Fleeger said the report will not be coipplete until the police departments consolidate their information. He said it is unclear when the report will be completed and released. There is currently nothing to indi cate that alcohol or other controlled substances were a factor, Fleeger said; however, Hilliard is undergoing tests. Results are not yet available. BPD spokespersons were not avail able for comment on the investigation Sunday. Hiatt had been with BPD since 1994 and joined the department ’^"’mo torcycle squad last year. He is survived by his wife and two children. MSC series explores U.S. military roles By Noel Freeman The Battalion The number of military operations conducted by the United States around the world has increased over the past 10 years. The next U.S. president will be faced with the task of assessing and redefining the military intervention for at least the next four years. The Memorial Student Center Wiley Lecture Series hosted a conference Thursday and Friday at the Bush Presidential Conference Center to explore military inter vention in the next presidential administration. Several panels discussed when intervention should occur and how See Military on Page 6.