V
i
THURSDAY
February 15, 2001
Volume 107 ~ Issue 95
Section A - 10 pages
Section B - 8 pages
ittalion News Radio: 1:57 p.m. KAMU 90.9
Mki A i aKfil-'WiWi’i Iilk'U’J ^ :Wt*V
www, thebatl.com
ggie Bonfire 2002 planning in works
indents’ opinions wanted on ||||||((] Taskforces deadline in Spring2001
eadership and design plans
B' Sommer Bunce
, |7’/ e Battalion
j Members of the Bonfire Steering
Committee and its six task forces will
■>st an open forum today to seek student
I winions about plans for Bonfire 2002.
■ The forum, to be held in 292 Memo-
ri; Student Center (MSC) from 2 p.m.
■ 3:30 p.m., will seek input on models
fo student leadership, safety plans, stu-
■nt training and the amount of student
ivolvement in future Bonfires.
The meeting will be recorded and
[■inutes will be shared with each task
fo e to “incoiporate students’ thinking
[■to their thinking,” said Dr. Bryan Cole,
■eering Committee facilitator and assis-
Uit vice president for quality leadership.
II “We need to have a good sense of
[nat students are telling us,” Cole
■id. “We all recognize that this is not
the administration, the faculty or the
staff’s Bonfire. This is the students’
Bonfire, and we don’t want to have a
Bonfire and have nobody show up.”
A representative from each task force
will explain the steps the task force has
taken this semester toward building
Bonfire 2002. Task forces are working
toward creating a safety and training
manual, a risk management plan and a
new structure of student leadership.
The Design & Construction Task
Force is seeking qualifications from engi
neering firms interested in designing Bon
fire. By March, the task force will narrow
the search to three to five firms that will
gather ideas from students in April and
present designs this summer. Students will
be able to give their feedback to the task
force. Designs will also be posted on the
Website for student comment.
See Forum on Page 2A.
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RUBEN DELUNA/ I m: Battalion
By Sommer Bunce
The Battalion
Although the flames of Ag
gie Bonfire 2002 are more than
20 months away, a group of
people at Texas A&M is be
ginning to see a vision of how
it will appear. Now they are
looking for student input to
help mold the shape the flames
will fit into.
Ninety-nine people — near
ly half of whom are students
closely linked to past Bonfires
— are determining the future
of Bonfire.
The Bonfire Steering Com
mittee and its six task forces,
were created in Fall 2000 to a
plan future Bonfires within
A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen’s parameters. The Bon
fire Steering Committee is
charged with preserving the pos
itive aspects of past Bonfires
while adhering to the guidelines
set forth for a new one. The task
forces are currently in the deci
sion-making stage of a process
that will lead to Bonfire 2002.
By the end of Spring 2001,
the task forces will submit their
final reports and recommenda
tions, to Bowen. The work of
the Design. & Construction
Task Force, which will not de
cide on a Bonfire design until
the summer’s end, is key to the
coordination efforts of all oth
er task forces.
Turning a list of parameters
into an idea that will appeal to the
A&M student body is a compli
cated task, said Steering Com
mittee co-chairman Forrest
Lane, student body president and
a senior political science major.
“We’ve suffered a lot of
changes on this campus, and
there are a lot of things which
have had to evolve,” Lane said.
“The fact is that [Bowen’s] pa
rameters are not going to
change, and it’s time to start
looking towards the future and
making things work inside that.”
For the Bonfire tradition to
continue, it must let students ex
perience something similar to
the Bonfire that some of them
remember. Lane said.
. The set forth guidelines, pre
sented by Bowen in June 2000,
include a construction time lim
ited to two weeks, a single-tier
teepee stack designed by li
censed professionals and the re
placement of a student-run
“cut” with logs delivered by
professionals.
Most students think Bonfire
See Bonfire on Page 8A.
It’s outta here
ANDY HANCOCK/Thf: B attalion
Phillip Gregory and Mike Christensen
work on setting up the electrical system
for the new scoreboard at Olsen Field.
The new scoreboard will be operational
for the next home game on Feb. 24
against Baylor University.
Reveille to hang up stars
By Courtney Stelzel * .
The Battalion
Texas A&M will witness the changing of the guard as
Reveille VII prepares to relieve Reveille VI of duty as the of
ficial mascot of Aggieland.
The famous collie will begin a new chapter in her life as
she spends the next few months preparing to retire and help
ing her successor adjust to A&M life at.
“We originally started talking about this [Reveille VI re
tirement] almost a year and a half ago,” said Craig Serold, mas
cot corporal in 1998-99 and a senior computer engineering
major. “We wanted to go through a very detailed process of
finding the next mascot.”
Serold said Reveille VI is retiring due to her health, but “not
necessarily her epilepsy,” he said.
“Re,v hasn’t had an epileptic seizure in quite a few months,”
Serold said. “Epilepsy has really become a ndn-issue.”
Serold mentioned other health concerns, such as deterio
rating hips, which he said is common among big-boned dogs.
“She’s coming up on 8 years old in September and tradi
tionally [former mascots] have been retired when they’re
about 9 years old,” he said.
Kevin Graham, mascot corporal in 1999-00 and a junior
marketing major, said Reveille has a very busy schedule —
perhaps too busy.
“The general feeling of the outfit is that Reveilles do so
much now, are so involved — more than just going to football
games and living in a dorm,” he said. “She does a whole lot,
of stuff with the University and even in the community. So,
because of that, we wanted her to have a little early retirement
so she could get muddy and play around, because she has def
initely put her time in.”
Reveille VI will have a formal retirement ceremony some
time in Spring 2001, but Serold said the date has not been set.
See Reveille on Page 6A.
RUTHANN HALPRIN/I in B vn u ion
Reveille VI has served as Texas A&M's mascot since 1993.
She will be retiring soon and Reveille VII will take her place.
New information center
opens for prospective Ags
By Elizabeth Raines
The Battalion
Texas A&M officials opehed
Wednesday the Prospective Student
Center, a vision of Admissions Coun
seling at A&M for many years.
“The Prospective Student Center is a
one-stop shop,” said Joseph Estrada, di
rector of admissions and assistant
provost for enrollment. “It is a collabo
rative effort between all of the admis
sions offices on campus and is here for
prospective students to obtain all kinds
of admissions information.”
Estrada said the University will use
the new Prospective Student Center in
conjunction with the Appelt Visitor Cen
ter in Rudder Tower. The visitor center
will continue to do all of the on-campus
tours for prospective students. He said
that after the tours are given, visitors will
be sent to the Prospective Student Cen
ter to receive application and admissions
information.
The Corps of Cadets, the Office of
Financial Aid, the Office of Honors
Programs & Academic Scholarships,
graduate studies. Residence Life and all
of the undergraduate departments
played a part in planning the student
center, Estrada said. The center’s staff
will be trained to answer questions re
garding all of these offices.
It took one year to convert the 12th
Man Foundation’s former offices into
the Prospective Student Center. Funding
for the center was included in budgets of
the Office of Admissions and Records
and the Office of the Provost last year.
“The Prospective Student Center
was completed in response to the real
problem that we have had on campus,”
said Ronald Douglas, executive vice
president and provost. “Mainly, [A&M]
See Center on Page 8A.
iA&M to generate more energy
|1yJesse Stephenson
if be Battalion
‘1 With the rising cost of natural gas,
Texas A&M is seeking to reduce costs
iy producing more of its own energy.
1 A $2.7 million upgrade to the
rgest on-campus turbine is in its final
ages and is expected to increase effi-
fency 15 to 20 percent, said Thomas
lagge, Physical Plant associate direc-
jjorof utilities.
1 The project, which started when stu
nts left for the winter break, is almost
mpleted and the turbine is now being
assembled, Hagge said
“Texas A&M generates approxi-
ately 60 percent of its own energy, and
i|e rest is bought from natural gas sup-
iers,” he said. “After the overhaul is
mplete, we will be able to create more
ergy and have to buy less.”
On a peak day, the University has to
buy half of its energy.
Because the price of natural gas has
more than doubled, the University pre
dicts an energy budget shortfall of $ 18
million this year. The energy budget at
A&M is approximately $ 15.5 million,
but the University is expecting a bill
of $33.5 million. A&M President Dr.
Ray M. Bowen issued a mandate
stressing the need to conserve energy
on campus.
As part of the upgrade to increase
A&M’s energy generating capabilities,
the largest on-campus turbine, the only
combustion turbine, received new com
pression blades.
Hagge compared the overhaul to re
pairing an old car.
“You have to know when to repair the
engine or when to replace the engine,”
he said.
The other three turbines on campus
are steam powered.
Improving the turbine was the first
part of a two-phase plan, and Physical
Plant expects to begin work on the gen
erator, a complementary part to the tur
bine, at the end of Fall 2001. Hagge
said the generator is about 40 years old.
The project was started after the
Physical Plant determined the most ef
ficient way to run the University’s util
ities.
The Physical Plant has to know how
much energy to generate and how much
to buy, Hagge said.
“We worked together to analyze var
ious operating scenarios, and chose the
cheapest combination of making and
buying,” Hagge said.
Hagge said generators have other
uses besides producing energy.
“Another reason for owning your
own generator is that excess air can be
made into steam, which in turn can be
used for heating, or converted into wa
ter,” Hagge said.
See Energy on Page 2A.
Lane trades places for a day
Sophomore gets chance to be student body president
By Shannon Galary
The Battalion
Paige Smith, a sophomore
agricultural development ma
jor, walked the corridors of
power and huddled with the
University’s top decision mak
ers during her one-day stint
Tuesday as Texas A&M’s stu
dent body president.
Smith won a raffle sponsored
by the Student Government As
sociation (SGA) that allowed her
to trade places with Student Body
President Forrest Lane, a senior
political science major. Smith as
sumed Lane’s role and attended
meetings and official functions,
while Lane attended her classes.
Smith spent the day meeting
with A&M administrators, in
cluding President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen, Vice President for Stu
dent Affairs Dr. J. Malon
Southerland, Associate Vice
President for Administration
Mary Miller, Director of Stu
dent Activities Kevin Jackson,
and officials from Parking, Traf
fic and Transportation Services.
Smith said the administrators
treated her well. Instead of just
sitting back and observing, she
was invited to actively partici
pate in the meetings, she said.
“I feel that it’s a once-in-a-
lifetime opportunity that I will re
member as one of my best mem
ories from A&M,” Smith said.
She said trading places with
Lane was a learning experience.
Although she is not involved in
student government, she said, it
was a good opportunity to get
her feet wet.
“I’ve always had an interest
in it, I just haven’t gotten in
volved yet because I haven’t
found the right way to get in
volved with student govern
ment, and I hope this will open
some doors for me,” Smith said.
In her meeting with Bowen,
the two joked about raising the
price of parking tickets and oth
er student concerns. They also
speculated how Lane was faring
in Smith’s classes and discussed
Bowen’s own experiences
See SBP on Page 6A.