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.