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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2001)
lion New* Radio: 1:57 p.m. KAMU 90.9 (i)A'i 4A * i ft'Jk'l k*i ^: W i IV www.thc'balt .corn hancellor announces cancer diagnosis wraves will continue with most responsibilities during treatment iCH iteD ngersl 03 only. ' visit «ady Grim eWiattalion Btxas A&M University System Chan- lor Gen. Howard D. Graves an- leed Tuesday that he has been diag- iptl with soft-tissue sarcoma cancer, laics plans to delegate much of the stem's management to his team of ■chancellors as he begins treat- nt for what doctors are calling a T>le disease. ■he long-term expectation of the ^ |>r is that this will be a cure,” lies said. “This is not something t v ould just extend my life by a few ^nths. They would be able to take it tftnd excise it, and that would be it. len I could get back to full health p get back to work.” Braves, 61, has been chancellor ice August 1999, when the posi- as left vacant by the System’s ’ hancellor. Dr. Barry Thomp- Tie chancellor oversees all uni- irsities and agencies in of the Sys- m, including Texas A&M. Braves’ sarcoma is a soft-tissue ass located on his renal vein, above s left kidney. It surrounds approxi ately 3 inches of his aorta. Approxi mately one-half of 1 percent of all can cer cases are sarcomas. cember. Graves visited his family doc tor, whose examination eventually led to a Jan. 15 CT scan, which revealed the ©assa© MM / v.hmh facultt) and statt members <>11,11 ito students \ I .it billion iHidnet mwa 'St ch h. T1 Prairie View A&M y University Tarieton State University Texas A&M International University Texas A&M University Texas A&M University- Commerce Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi Texas A&M University- Kingsville Texas A£M University- Texarkana West Texas A&M University • Texas Agricultural Experiment Station • Texas Agricultural Extension Service • Texas Engineering Experiment Station 1 Texas Engineering Extension Service «Texas Forest Service • Texas Transportation Institute • Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory • Texas Wildlife Damage Management Service RUBEN DELUNA/Tm; Battalion Graves said the first symptoms were thought to be-indigestion pains in De- 11 cancerous mass. Graves said he was given a worst- case scenario by his doctor: often-fatal pancreatic cancer. Then his doctor recommended Graves see a specialist, at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Robert S. Benjamin, chairman of the M.D. Anderson Department of Sar coma Medical Oncology, is the surgeon who diagnosed Graves’ sarcoma last week and dismissed the possibility of pancreatic cancer. Graves said Benjamin was optimistic that he would have a full recovery. “I felt good when he said ‘I’ve shrunk sarcomas a lot bigger than yours,”’ Graves said with a laugh. “When he said that, it was uplifting and confidence-building.” Benjamin was unavailable for com ment, but Valerie Stiener, a nurse on Ben jamin’s staff, said Benjamin’s optimism is always a good sign for his patients. Graves said that once he is healed, he in tends fb return to work. “I would like to continue to serve Texas and Texans,” he said. GASTON TO LEAD SYSTEM During the next 12 months, Graves’ work schedule will be hit-and-miss as he receives treatment and continues to manage the System through his team of vice chancellors. “There will obviously be some draw down in my ability to work day by day,” Graves said. “But I’ve got a team that I am incredibly proud of that I can dele gate the leadership to.” Graves said he mentioned retirement to the Board of Regents, which wanted him to remain in his position. Graves said the regents urged him to take time for himself. “I will stay as involved as possible, but the regents have said my first prior ity is to get well,” Graves said. “I expect the proficiency of this organization to .continue.” During the past 15 months, Graves said, he has been working with Dr. Jer ry Gaston, deputy chancellor, in agree ment that Gaston has full authority of the System if Graves is unavailable. Graves said he has no reservations about dele gating authority to his team. STUART VILLANUEVA /The Battalion Chancellor Graves announces, in an informal press confer ence on Tuesday morning, that he was been diagnosed See Graves on Page 8. with sarcoma cancer. Hard hitting PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion Simon Canavess, a sophomore general studies major, works out on the punching bag. Cavaness has been using the bag for four years to improve his arm muscles. KTFB will disband By Sommer Bunce The Battalion '1 Smoking ban nearing approval 'JSrk: Dickens 1 CAR ^kattalion fi In a joint meeting with the Bryan City j >ui cil Tuesday, the College Station Council unanimously approved ■ing smoking in public restaurants im 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. |Hhe Bryan City Council, which had s 03/31 jijfchtly different version of the pro- ^sal. voted to review College Sta n’s ordinance at its next two meet- S before voting. College Station will riot officially adopt the new ordinance unless Bryan does because both councils had previ ously agreed that neither would adopt the ordinance without the other. During the discussion, Bryan Coun cilman Mike Beal pointed out what he called a “gaping loophole” in the pro posed ordinance. Bryan’s draft of the proposal exempted “bar areas” in restau rants from the new ordinance. Beal pro posed that smoking in bar areas be pro hibited and that the ordinance also pro hibit smoking in bars. College Station’s version of the ordi nance already prohibited smoking in restaurant bar areas; Bryan’s did not. College Station Councilman Den nis Maloney opposed extending the ban to bars. “I have a problem with telling people that they ought not to be smoking in bars because I see the smoking ordinances as See Smoking on Page 2. Facing mounting bills, lack of v$upport and a few regrets. Keep the Fire Burning (KTFB) will dis band at its next meeting in March, said board member Joe Dyson. The group, which canceled its plans to build an off-campus bonfire last fall, has returned do nations to contributors, will close out its bank account and will re move itself from the state’s list of nonprofit organizations. “We’re trying to end this qui etly — hopefully no damage was done,” said Dyson, a junior ge ology major. KTFB was originally formed in defiance of the two-year hiatus imposed on Bonfire after the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. The or ganization claimed the support of thousands of students and alumni in its effort to build an off-campus bonfire against the wishes of the Texas A&M administration. However, a-lack of funding for safety insurance ended the plan. “People have a big miscon ception that we had money,” Dyson said. “In reality, there wasn’t enough interest to have enough money. What we proba bly should have done is called for an end — the stack we saw be fore it fell in ’99 was the last Bonfire we’re going to see.” Since the beginning, when founding member Will Clark purchased KTFB T-shirts from a supplier with personal funds, the financial situation of the non profit organization seemed doubtful, Dyson said. The first T-shirts were given away for donations. The approx imately $1,000 the group raised from the sales was used for a new order of T-shirts, which were sold for $10. KTFB’s only other major fund-raiser came from selling 1,000 pens for $1 each. Two hundred unsold shirts re main stacked in Dyson’s garage. Dyson estimates that KTFB is/ $500 in debt. v “And that doesn’t include our bills,” he said, including cell phones and travel expenses. Dyson returned all equipment donated to KTFB, from new. steel chainsaws to axes, files and other building supplies. The only donation the group kept was a $ 1,000 check from James Fuqua, a former redpot and cattleman in Quanah. Fuqua’s donation was used to pay bills last semester, Dyson said. Fuqua said he was satisfied that his donation was used properly. “[KTFB] had the best oppor tunity at keeping the traditions I’m familiar with,” Fuqua said. He and other former redpots guided the board members in their plans to build a bonfire. “They did their jobs, and they did them well,” he said. “But there just wasn’t enough money and probably not enough support from the student body. We told them to pull the plug just when they were deciding they’d need to.” All other money donated to KTFB was returned to donors, said board member Will Clark., No money was used for person al expenses, he said. KTFB’s goal was the main tenance of the Bonfire tradi tion, Clark said. When people donated money to KTFB, they knew they were giving to more than just a bonfire-building ef fort, he said. However, because the organization is nonprofit and the plans for ah off-campus bonfire fell through, Clark re turned the money. “We never said, ‘Give us money, and we’ll build you the biggest bonfire we can,”’ he said. “In truth, there was no way we could foresee that we wouldn’t be able to do that. We were just going till we couldn’t go any more. And God knows we want ed to build this thing.” In retrospect, Dyson said, KTFB’s efforts may have been misguided. “A lot of people don’t have a clue what it takes to do some thing like this,” he said. “Other than it being a good learning ex perience, I don’t know that I would have tried this. Hopeful ly we did something positive, but it was a good time to end it and to start enjoying the memo ries of Bonfire and the people we lost.” FILE PHOTO/Thh Battalion T-shirt and pen sales were the only fund-raisers held by KTFB. The group will disband due to financial problems. &M chosen as test college for half-price tuition pilot program Sarah Goedston '^Battalion A bill under consideration by the Xas Legislature would substantially nee tuition for summer classes at ite universities. Sponsored by state Rep. Fred ow n, R-College Station, the bill is ended to help students earn under- aduate degrees in less time by halv- githe state minimum tuition for ■Tier classes. |The problem is the average full- de ish a four-year degree,” Brown said. “And two-thirds of the students statewide are not taking summer school and not us ing the facilities available. You have to air-condi tion a building whether there are 30 or 300 students in a classroom. We want students to be able to take BROWN ne student takds 5 1/2 years to fin- advantage of the resources.” Brown said, if students took six to nine hours during summer school, they could finish on time and make room at state universities for new stu dents and transfer students. “UT cut back 50 percent on ac cepting transfer students in the fall and was not able to admit any transfer stu dents in the spring,” Brown said. “Par ents that are Aggies are calling me and telling me their students can’t attend Texas A&M, and I’ve found it’s not be cause the student is not qualified, but because there is no classroom space.” Ron Douglas, A&M executive vice president and provost, said the University shares Brown’s goals and is working with him. “We want to encourage students to take summer school so they can finish their degree on time,” Douglas said. “We are able to admit a reason able number of students to Texas A&M, but we can admit more stu dents to the more populated schools of business, architecture and engi neering if more students were able to finish school on time.” Kris Reyes, Brown’s legislative director, said that the bill would also help students reduce the debt they ac cumulate, if they complete their de grees on time. Brown said the program would help offset the cost to the state, which already subsidizes tuition. “If we are able to send more stu dents into the workforce, they will become taxpayers and less of a fi nancial burden on their parents and the state,” he said. Brown said Rob Junell, chairman of the House Appropriations Com mittee, supports the idea and will al locate $5 million for a two-year pilot program at A&M and A&M- Kingsville. Brown chose A&M as a site for the pilot program, and A&M- Kingsville was chosen by Higher Ed ucation Committee Chairwoman Irma Rangel, D-Kingsville. A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen wrote in a Jan. 3 letter to See Tuition on Page 8.