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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2001)
o Sharon eaj imentcank !o\ernors.” Women and the Corps negotiate' jt he said Id Minkin An:- r-v , •, • 4 • mespite integration violence Sit W * ^ ibylsng MommerBunce shot and u .■ TbiBatta/ion )fasix-coni . lompany G-l cadet Rebecca Barron sees anktoJori thetorps of Cadets as a task she started and eand l \ one she will finish. ingAbdulli; Barron, a junior general studies major, clear unde began as a freshman in her unit with five oth- mass destine fi r women cadets and watched each of them en routet(" leave. For her, the decision to continue in the i what thel Corps was simply one to “stick it out.” ve answer “1 would feed off [it] when they quit, and Abdul-IM k made me stronger,” Barron said. “I’m the ndealingr only one left.” tenting U.N ‘ F 01 rnost of the 120 female cadets, the de- jconsiderati ti 8 ’ 011 to stay in the Corps may be similar, said asthedii Maj- Becky Ray, the commandant’s assistant for gender issues. On average, 50 percent of ptionofjx freshman women leave the Corps after their Jinn that Pi ^ lrst y ear - But once a woman remains in the in April, eel as he lah, a caree; ghters to an, :opter and o Corps beyond her first year, the retention rate is high, Ray said. “There is a whole different situation be tween men and women,” she said. “For a woman to come into the Corps and to remain or net to is a personal choice.... It comes down to how many women really want to do this all four years. Women drop out who could really do this. “But then, it’s different for a young lady to date a guy in uniform than for a young man to date a lady in uniform.” On the first day of Fall 2000 classes, 163 women were in the Corps, and 69 were fresh men. This semester, the number has fallen to 37 freshman and 120 women in total. Ray attributes the drop in numbers to sev eral factors: Some freshmen do not return at all, some are ineligible because of grades, some leave for medical reasons and some sim ply change their minds. Most women continue in the Corps be cause of contracts for military service and be cause they are satisfied with their social lives, Ray said. But Barron said women must go the extra mile to get the same credit as their male coun terparts. A woman must prove that she is just as tough and physically capable as her male buddies before she can gain acceptance into the male-dominated Corps culture, she said. “I won my male buddies over,” Barron said. “A lot of times females think they’re going to be treated differently within the Corps because they’re female. When they don’t get that same respect we usually get from the outside world, [they] go into female mode and start crying. It gives all of us a bad name after so many women have done things like that.” Some women’s classmates try to con vince them to leave, but that starts with bad See Women on Page 2A. BUSH hat does it ean to you? M diploma has various were disputes Taiz.andfol :d m cross'd 3rs of the ™ r -j . -j ~ isiaKr Agrees of worth in workforce leople have nee Tuesda i and refeiei I reform. \ttaf, heado] ions Commij e been onl sis the lirsi of a Ihree- l series on Hie value i Texas AhM degree. 1 !o< us of Pat I II will the Aggie Network I Pail III will be on ilary reputation, to S locus is AAi M's in inhou.il present e. to Castillo fiattalion te steady rise of Texas ’s academic reputa- ■has increased the value p A&M diploma, ac- irding to many former stu- nts and employers. Al- |gh no precise price tag Ibe placed on an A&M Intemation- lly, there are lot of [A&M duates] in engineering, igriculture and vet medicine.’’ |— Ray Hannigan Class of '61 loma, graduates are en- Hhg the workforce with ■ly marketable skills and Brtise. Consulting firms and en- leering companies recruit |yily at A&M, said Paul usky, assistant director ■ormer student career I pees. Aggies have a reputation jtister ‘.oda’ fbeing personable,” he ■ “The [Aggie] Code of ^ 5-Februawr is also well known. 19-Februaryployers trust that Aggies 19-Februah iecp stuff in confidence.” ary 26-MaAgineering firms also rch 26—ApW>ut A&M graduates for .arch 26-Ap f fr practical knowledge, arch 26-Ap f ! s ky said, arch 26-#; *sing date. §t- flyer /c/#j sgistration (ft “Employers have said that Aggies have a taste for what’s real,” he said. Faculty, staff and former students agree that while employers have a generally favorable view of A&M graduates, Aggies are often handicapped by a narrow worldview in an increas ingly international work place. However, A&M gradu ates are gaining a reputation for being unwilling to leave Texas and live abroad. Ray Hannigan, Class of ’61 and recently retired CEO of Kinetic Concepts, worked 19 years abroad and lived in nine different countries. Many Aggies work abroad, but he said in general, there is a reluc tance to leave the United States. “There is a lot of resis tance, a ‘why should I do this’ attitude,” Hannigan said. The number of Aggies living and working abroad is rising, but the majority of the jobs are concentrated in a few fields. “Internationally, there are a lot of [A&M graduates] in petroleum engineering, agri culture and vet medicine,” Hannigan said. The number of Aggies in international corporations include international stu dents who studied at A&M and returned to their home countries. .However, some A&M graduates are not prepared for international situations. “It depends on the indus try and discipline,” Hanni gan said. “Business and lib eral arts are not necessarily as common abroad.” A&M’s core curriculum currently does not require any international courses, See Diploma on Page 6A. Medieval motion Ashley Richards, a member of the Society of Cre ative Anachronism, dances across the floor of the STUART VILLANUEVA/The BArrAi.ioN MSC Flagroom. The group, which specializes in Me dieval arts, performed a dance at the MSC Monday. Tax-free season may be extended By Elizabeth Raines The Battalion Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Ry- lander has proposed expanding the tax- free season from three to five days, saving Texas taxpayers an estimated $46 million more in sales tax during the back-to- school shopping season this summer. “The sales-tax holiday is a tremen dous help to hard-working Tgxas fami lies,” Rylander said. “By expanding the holiday from three days to five and adding [more tax-exempt] items, JHl the sales-tax holiday will be less ' of a traffic jam and save Texans more of their hard-earned dollars for their families.” “Whether the tax-holiday extension will be effective depends on the Legis lature,” said Will Flolford, press secre tary for the comptroller’s office. “If it is approved by the Legislature, we hope that it will be effective immediately for this 2001 tax holiday.” State Sen. Rodney Ellis and state Since the tax exemption pro- \ \ gram began in 1999, Texas tax payers have saved $69.6 million. Rylander’s office is hoping the legislation will pass this session so taxpayers can reap the benefits during the 2001 tax holiday, which is scheduled for the first weekend of August. Proposec to be exterceG from three to f’ve cays in August State sales tax would be exempt for: clothing items school supplies child-safety seats bicycle helmets sewing items RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion' Rep. Renee Ahlaveda are sponsoring the bill in the Texas Senate and House of Representatives. The comptroller’s office has added items to the tax exemption list including school supplies; child-safety equipment, such as safety seats and bicycle helmets, and any sewing item that can be turned into clothing. Holford said Rylander is placing heavy emphasis on exempting child- safety seats. Last year, local taxing entities could choose whether to waive the local sales tax during the tax holiday. All but one community, Sunset Valley, waived the local tax for the weekend. It is not known yet whether all local en tities will waive the local tax ex emption for all five days if the ex pansion of the tax holiday passes through legislation. Kelley Cole, director of marketing See Tax on Page 2A. WASHING- TON(AP)— Presi dent Bush goes be fore the nation tonight with his first major challenge: sell a program of tax cuts that Ameri cans are lukewarm about and spending cuts that many will not like. It would be a tough assignment for any president, but this new leader has hurdles all his own. Elected without a clear mandate, Bush gets only mid dling marks for his public speaking, has yet to build enough support in Con gress and has had to make his argu ments heard in the midst of the din over the Clinton pardons, a spy scandal, a White House shooting and an airstrike against Iraq. “Hopefully, all the focus on the past is over with,” the president said at a Cabinet meeting Monday. “It’s time to move forward and (tonight’s) speech is part of moving forward.” The cornerstone of the joint address to Congress, which aides said would last about 45 minutes, will be Bush’s pitch for a $ 1.6 trillion tax cut over 10 years. He is buffeted on all sides — from Democratic partisans who say it’s too big, GOP activists who say it’s too small and voters who put a higher pri ority on debt reduction and certain spending programs. A poll released by the Pew~R§'search Center last week indicated that voters narrowly support Bush’s tax plan — 43 percent in favor, 34 percent opposed — with voters in favor of shoring up So cial Security or paying for domestic programs rather than tax cuts. Bush must convince voters they can have it all: lower taxes, lower pub lic debt and bigger budgets for educa tion, environment and other popular programs. “With a $5.6 trillion surplus, we do have room for a lot of options,” White Hopefully, all the focus on the past is over with. It's time to move forward and (tonight's) speech is part of moving forward. ” — President Bush House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Monday. Bush rarely stressed debt reduc tion on the campaign trail, in part be cause his massive tax-cut package didn’t leave room for reducing red ink under economic conditions at the time. But surplus projections have bal looned. And the Congressional Bud get Office estimates that up to $800 billion of the $3.4 trillion in publicly held debt cannot be retired in the . next decade because it is in savings bonds or treasury bills that do not come due soon or are held by foreign governments. Bush will be able to promise the fastest, largest debt reduction in histo ry: $2 trillion over 10 years, aides said Monday. edia appeals for access to ecords in Dartmouth case M^rchWoNTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Ma'lp organizations took their case =ses held Mfpmont’s highest court Monday is designeeffr a judge refused to open ■tic safety. -Ords that might explain why au- ■ities have charged two teen- ers with killing two Dartmouth ^JJ^jg/ljege professors. -’’^KPwhe Associated Press, the Times s p or If# the Rutland Herald, WCAX- nd WPTZ-TV appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court to reverse the lower court ruling. “Once they’re judicial records, we say we should have a right to them,” said AP lawyer Philip White. It was not known when the Supreme Court would hear the case. The sealed records include affidavits for search warrants and a request for physical evidence from the suspects. See Dartmouth on Page 6A. Texas defensive end dies in car accident AUSTIN (AP) — University of Texas-Austin defensive end Cole Pittman was found dead Monday at the scene of a one-car accident. State troopers dis covered Pittman’s pickup truck on the side of U.S. Route 79 near Easterly, Pittman, a sophomore who had played in 23 games in his two sea sons at Texas, was returning to school from his family’s home in Shreveport, La. Longhorns coach Mack Brown told the team Monday afternoon at a meeting that had been scheduled to prepare for spring practice. The workouts were supposed to begin Tuesday but have been postponed. No new date has been given. “This is the hardest thing I have faced in 29 years of coaching,” Brown said. “We’ve lost a mem ber of our family, and it really hurts. Every member of our team is like a son, and you can never prepare yourself for something like this. I don’t even know how to begin.” Before receiving the devastating news. Brown met with the media to discuss his plans for the spring, and he immediately put to rest any spec ulation about his quarterback plans: Chris Simms is a firm No. 1 and Major Applewhite is the backup. “They will be competing, but there’s no quastion Chris is the starter,” Brown said. “We don’t feel the need to alternate guys like we did the first of last year.” The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Pittr^an played defensive tackle as a freshman, then moved to end this past season. He started the first three games in 2000. He had 30 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss, five quarterback pressures and caused one fumble in his career. Pittman enrolled at UT in the spring of 1999 after helping See UT on Page 2A.