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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.
■;