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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2001)
> «)24,200l Honozln, aiion % ms offol- and eclec- y promoii ship. Ik ; group in wbelievtj Siaies,d id causiij :rs. his yearlo . China u and in Ik itak thou* gramic; >. A Hoe counts I ody. these pc ' said We :ral ion.whoj signatu? overase ief- ee Second Bush library requested by regents By Rolando Garcia The Battalion George W. Bush’s admin istration is only days old, but Texas A&M is already con sidering his legacy as it com petes to house another presi dential library. At its Jan. 16 meeting the Board of Regents adopted a resolution honoring Bush and asking him to consider A&M when selecting the lo cation for his future presi dential library. Right now it’s just a dream on our part, and we’ll have to wait for a response from them,” said A&M Pres ident Dr. Ray M.Bowen. Also, a Board of Regents member pitched A&M’s cause in informal discussions with the Bush team during the inauguration festivities, Bowen said. Baylor University in Waco and Southern Methodist Uni versity (SMU) in Dallas have also expressed interest in hosting the George W. Bush Library. First lady Laura Bush received her undergrad uate degree from SMU. A&M is already home to former President George Bush’s library, which opened in 1997. Having both li braries in the same location would underscore the histor ical significance of the Bush es being only the second fa ther-son pair to occupy the White House, Bowen said. Having the elder Bush’s li brary has been a tremendous boon to the University, Bowen said. In addition to showcasing A&M for thou sands of visitors and scholars, the museum and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, which of- . fers graduate programs in po litical science, have enhanced A&M’s academic prestige. If A&M lands the younger Bush’s library, an academic program will capitalize on the major themes of his presiden cy, Bowen said. “Former President Bush’s emphasis on public service made the Bush School a real ly good fit. This president is very much interested in edu cation, so we might have some kind of school in the College of Education,” Bowen said. “That’s just one possibility, and it would be his (Bush’s) call.” The convenience of hav ing both libraries in one loca tion, the unique father-son connection and the impor tance of putting a public fig ure’s library at a public uni versity are all points in A&M’s favor, Bowen said. The library would likely be located on West Campus near the existing Bush Cen ter, Bowen said. Further planning is on hold until Bush solicits pro posals from interested uni versities. “At that point, we’ll pre sent a detailed plan outlining the basic concepts the library will embody, what kind of programs it would offer, a fund-raising strategy and See Bush on Page 2. Two convicts surrender anhunt ends in peace after five-hour mediation MURPHY — Oner ifthedv fice pie; :aling COLORADO stolecrej; SPRINGS, Colo. Ddies ari [AP) — Ending one of leonewr: Jie nation’s biggest andotlfi nanhunts without uore tlar jloodshed, the last U.S. At wo escaped convicts said. from Texas left a hotel nent,pro& jarechested and in aend tiiai landcuffs Wednesday ths to twc railing against the Texas criminal have lace. us tice system in a TV interview, id a fine: Patrick Murphy Jr., 39, and Donald JNewbury, 38, gave up after each was Jr. Heniy L rante( j a fi ve _ m j nu t e ant shoe telephone interview :ause v : Ivith KKTV. The sur render ended a frantic learch that began ex- , Jctlysix weeks earlier s others broke out of a * Texas prison 800 amHyr™ 168 awa y- ad rece’.i ' “They had their say by telephone and purchase ^ en we had them back out of the room, had(K $hirtless, hands in the air, no weapons on lem,” FBI agent Mark Mershon said. In- ide the room, authorities found 10 hand er morp NEWBURY guns, two shotguns and ammunition. Of the other inmates, four were ar rested peacefully Monday in nearby Woodland Park and a fifth committed suicide as authorities closed in. Police said they had accounted for all 60 guns they believed the convicts had obtained u The system is as cor rupt as we are.” — Donald Newbury Escaped inmate since their Dec. 13 escape. Texas authorities have said they will seek the death penalty against the men for the Christmas Eve slaying of a Dal- las-area policeman during a holdup at a sporting goods store. His loaded gun was recovered from the convicts on Monday. The last two convicts had checked in at the Holiday Inn on Monday evening, paying in cash and showing possibly false identification, hotel officials said. A sus picious employee called authorities. Officers checking out the tip tele phoned one room around 10 p.m. Tues day and Murphy answered. “You got us. I don’t know how you guys did it, but you got us,” Deputy Police Chief Luis Velez quoted Murphy as saying. Lt. Skip Arms added: “I think the of ficers were equally surprised when the individual said you found us.” After five hours of negotiations, the inmates gave up at 3:45 a.m. During the interviews with a KKTV news anchorman, Newbury said the breakout was a statement against the Texas judicial system. “The system is as corrupt as we are. You going to do something about us, well, do something about that system, too,” said Newbury, who was serving a 99-year sentence for armed robbery. Murphy, who was serving 50 years for rape, said he was up for parole but felt he would have been given unfair pa role requirements that would have land ed him back in prison. “Hopefully, like I said, this will open up some people’s eyes that the penal sys tem does have some problems with it,” he said. Mr. Bigglesworth? BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion Runzhi Lai, a microbiology graduate stu- mon, play outside his apartment on dent, lets his neighbor's pet Chihuahua, Si- Wednesday. ATMentors receive gift By Brandie Liffick The Battalion A $25,000 endowment will provide future financial security for the ATMentor program, and the program will continue to pro vide free support services to Texas A&M students. The $25,0000 endowment was set in place by Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs, from the Quali ty of Student Life Program Fund. “We have an endowment fund that money has been donated to by many, including the Association of Former Students,” Southerland said. “It allows me relate to indi vidual student needs at A&M.” Dr. Betty Milburn, associate director at the Student Counseling Center and ATMentors coordina tor, said the money will be invest ed and the annual interest returns will finance the mentor program. Although the ATMentors are not given an allotment in the annu al University budget, they do re ceive support from Student Coun seling Services, Aggie Mothers’ Clubs and an older endowment. Depending on the type of in vestment, the program will re ceive almost $2,000 annually from the new endowment. The money will be used to supply mentors with plaques and guid ance materials. “Each mentor has a plaque outside their door that identifies See Mentor on Page 5. rs Optical mice disappear from computer labs > About 10 Microsoft Intellimice I missing from open-access labs By Eric Dickens The Battalion While the debate continues over whether downloading P3s off Napster should be considered stealing, one type of hi-tech theft is a bit more easily labeled. Over the past jwo semesters, Texas A&M’s Computing and Information ervices (CIS) has reported that several new optical mice ave been stolen from on-campus open access labs. The Microsoft Intellimouse Optical mice retail for between $40 and $60. They use a light-emitting diode LED) laser to follow the mouse’s movement across any teflective surface, as opposed to traditional mice that use a ball to track movement. 1| Richard Spiller, assistant director for student comput- ' ing labs, said mice are not stolen from the labs very often. • He said only about 10 of the roughly 1,300 optical mice in student computer labs have been taken. 11 Thomas Putnam, director of CIS, said the mice are , protected by a tie-down security cable and plastic tie that l^raps around the cords of the mice, keyboard and oth er computer accessories. Putnam said the cable deters most would-be thieves, but said they can be taken by somebody determined to do so. | Spiller said CIS student workers are “definitely on the lookout” for people attempting to steal the mice. CIS installed the optical mice in the labs about a year ago. Spiller said CIS did not purchase the mice individu- it they come as part of the new PC packages that rchases for the labs. Elliot lectures on power of racism Explains her‘Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes, exercise By Elizabeth Raines The Battalion On April 5; 1968, Jane Elliott faced the difficult task of having to explain to her third- grade students at an all-white elementary school in Riceville, Iowa, why Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed. Instead of discussing his death, she showed her students what he died fighting: racism. On that day, her now- famous learning exercise “blue eyes, brown eyes” was performed. In the exercise, she divided her class into brown-eyed students and blue-eyed stu dents. The brown-eyed students were sent to the back of the room and told that they were inferior to the blue-eyed students, who bernardo GARZA/rHEBATTAi.ioN were put at the front of the room. She then Jane Elliot travels around the country lecturing on the myths of white observed how the students reacted to each superiority and racism. She spoke Wednesday night at Texas A&M. other. Within 15 minutes, the students with blue eyes dominated the classroom while the brown-eyed students cowered and played the role of the inferior. “I learned more than I wanted to know about the power of racism,” Elliott said. “I learned by watching my students act that racism was a conditioned trait that could be learned in as little as 15 minutes.” Elliott, who spoke at the George Bush Pres idential Library and Conference Center at Texas A&M Wednesday night, has taken what she learned from her students and traveled around the world. She is trying to prove that racism exists due to the myth of white superi ority that whites and blacks are conditioned to believe. “I came to College Station because I feel that college students are the future in combating See Elliot on Page 4. RHA condemns alcohol-free-campus proposal By Sommer Bunce The Battalion Delegates of the Residence Hall Association (RHA) voted unanimously Wednesday against a proposal to make the Texas A&M campus alcohol- free in the fall. RHA will pass the resolution on to Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president of student affairs, hoping that Southerland will consider the students’ views be fore deciding on the issue. The Student Affairs Sub committee on Alcohol first in troduced the concept of an al- cohoLfree campus this summer, recommending that having a dry campus would re duce the number of alcohol-re lated injuries and deaths near campus. Southerland sought student input through RHA last semester. During Fall 2000, RHA took steps to gauge student response to the proposal. Wednesday night’s resolution represents the conclusion of RHA’s efforts. The alcohol-free resolution originally proposed at the Dec. 6 RHA General Assembly, was tabled until Wednesday’s meet ing. Members brought the reso lution to the floor for discussion and it was met with immediate approval. “Don’t get us wrong by the title of this resolution — we’re pro-alcohol,” said Moore Hall RHA delegate Jeff Bennett, a senior landscape architecture major. “We surveyed students and we all spoke with the res idents in our halls. They said they didn’t want to go dry, and it might just be our responsi bility as hall presidents and delegates to do their will.” A phone survey conducted by RHA members in Novem ber determined that, if the halls were °made alcohol-free, 20 percent of those surveyed would not want to return to campus. Fifty-five percent of residents opposed the effort to eliminate alcohol from the res idence halls. Currently, students age 21 and older may consume alcohol in their rooms on campus. An alcohol-free campus would prohibit all drinking in the halls, even for residents of legal age. Residents of legal drinking age would not be allowed to See RHA on Page 6. ■;
