1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
WONDAYSEPTEMBER 1
0. 2001
NEWS IN BRIEF
: amily relationship
iymposium slated
For Sept. 15
Texas A&M will host a
ymposium Sept. 15 that
ill focus on cultural con-
tructions of the family and
amily relationships.
The symposium is titled,
The Ties That Bind, The Ties
hat Blind."
It will feature two keynote
peakers followed by a moder-
ted faculty discussion.
The keynote speakers will
ddress the topics of "social
elancholy and psychic
pace” and “queer norms."
The symposium is free and
■lunch is included. It will take
■place in Rudder 501.
Police investigate
Dallas baby’s death
I DALLAS (AP) - Police are
investigating the death of a
jbaby who was shot while rid
ing in a car with his parents
(early Sunday morning.
The baby, Miguel Angel
Martinez, who was about 9
months old, was shot in the
head. His father, Miguel Angel
Martinez Sr., 19, had two gun
shot wounds in the arm.
I Police said the elder
Martinez returned fire and
then sped to the hospital.
About 10:30 am. Sunday
police found a vehicle they
believe may have been
involved in the shooting.
PUBLIC EYE
dW
If.Y.I.
Proposed budget
for Fiscal Year
2001-2002
for the city of
College Station
Operations:
$119,176,064
Capital projects:
$35,659,858
TODAY
AGGIELIFE
Page 3
y/ Planes,
trains and
automobiles
• Students have
several options
for traveling
around campus
SPORTS
Page 5
Cardinal
owns Aggies
to win title
• Stanford hands
A&M first loss
A&M should
keep cloning
• Helps to inform
society about pros
and cons of cloning
WEATHER
HIGH
87° F
TOMORROW
LOW
68° F
HIGH
90° F
LOW
65° F
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
THE BATTALION
SERVING
THE
TEXAS A&M COMMON
1 T Y
S 1
1 N C E
18 9 3
Volume 108 • Issue 12
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
U.S. News: A&M ranks 48
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M University has
joined the ranks of America’s
best universities in the 2002 edi
tion of America's Best Colleges,
published by U.S. News &
World Report magazine.
The publication, which will
be on newsstands today, shows
A&M tied with the University
of Texas-Austin (UT) and three
other institutions at 48th among
the 50 schools in the maga
zine’s top tier of universities.
A&M and UT tied for No. 15,
along with the University of
California at Santa Barbara,
among the best public universi
ties. Last year, A&M was ranked
17th and UT 16th. A&M was
also listed in the magazine's
“best values” category.
The overall national list is
headed by Princeton. The only
other Texas institution to be
included on the list is Rice
University, which is ranked 12th.
A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen said the rankings are
another indication that the quali
ty of the University’s students
and faculty, and programs are
being more widely recognized
nationally and internationally.
“We are obviously pleased to
be included among the very best
universities in this annual rank
ing that attracts considerable
public interest,” Bowen said.
The rankings indicate A&M
is progressing with its Vision
2020 plan to propel the
University into the ranks of the
top 10 public universities by the
year 2020, Bowen said.
U.S. News also evaluated
schools in specific areas of study,
and A&M’s Dwight Look College
of Engineering tied with
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
and the University of Minnesota
as 17th best in undergraduate
engineering programs. A&M
ranked first in petroleum engi
neering, fourth in nuclear engi
neering, seventh in industrial
engineering, 10th in civil engi
neering, 17th in computer science,
19th in chemical engineering,
20th in mechanical engineering
and 21st in electrical engineering.
A&M’s Lowry Mays College
of Business tied with Arizona
State, Case Western Reserve and
Georgetown University as 26th
among the nation’s best business
programs.
HXAS A&M
!N US. NEWS RANKINGS
CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION
Got kolaches?
STUART VILLANUEVA • THE BATTALION
Spectators watch as Caitlin Johnson. 11, and Amanda Reynolds, 8, of Caldwell, stuff their mouths with kolaches at the Caldwell
Kolache Festival in downtown Caldwell Saturday. Participants competed against each other and the clock to finish their kolaches.
Trophies were awarded in divisions.
Bryan Municipal Court grants amnesty
By Daniel Bagwell
THE BATTALION
The Bryan Municipal Court has granted
an amnesty period for all outstanding war
rants beginning today. If citizens with out
standing warrants pay their fines in full
before Sept. 21 they will avoid paying a
$50-per-case warrant fee.
After Sept. 21, all citizens that have not
paid their fines will be arrested as part of a
“warrant roundup,” city officials said.
There are currently 6,513 outstanding
warrants which total more than $1.67 mil
lion, Court Administrator Hilda Phariss said.
$50 warrant fee waived
if fines are paid in full
Citizens with outstanding warrants were sent
letters on Aug. 29 informing them of the
amnesty period.
“Some of these cases date as far back as
1995,” Phariss said. “These warrants don’t
just go away. They’re good for life.”
The amnesty period is being used to
reduce backlog cases for misdemeanor
crimes, said Bryan Police Chief Ken Burton.
“A lot of cities take this approach,” Burton
said. “The court knows that sometimes peo
ple don’t have the money. So they are trying
to be as understanding as possible.”
When a citizen receives a citation he or
she has 10 working days to pay the fine or to
contest it in court. If the citizen makes no
contact with the municipal court during this
period, the citizen is given a Class C warrant
status, which means that if the citizen is
stopped by a patrolman, he will be subject to
arrest and must pay a $50 warrant fee in
addition to his fine.
If the citizen cannot pay the fine or cannot
Amnesty on page 10.
Hurricane Erin passes close to Bermuda
HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP)
— Hurricane Erin roared toward
Bermuda on Sunday, forcing the
government to set up shelters
and prepare for the worst on this
wealthy island of posh resorts
and sturdy homes.
But the first named hurricane
of Ihe 2001 Atlantic season was
expected to pass 75 miles north
east of Bermuda late Sunday
afternoon.
Eric Blake, a forecaster with
the U.S. National Hurricane
Center in Miami, said Bermuda
would likely be spared heavy
rains and hurricane force winds,
but might have large swells on
the northeastern coast.
“Most of the rain will stay
offshore. They'll get some but
it won’t be in the extreme,”
Blake said.
Forecasters said Erin was
strengthening and could become
a Category 3 of major hurricane
later Sunday. They projected
earlier Erin would come within
15 miles of Bermuda, but its
track shifted slightly.
It would likely spin out to
sea, although the storm might
pose a threat to Canadian
waters in a few days, said
Richard Pasch. a hurricane
specialist with the National
Hurricane Center.
At 1 1 a.m. EDT, Erin’s
maximum sustained winds had
reached nearly 105 mph. The
hurricane was located about
125 miles east of Bermuda and
was moving northwest at about
14 mph. Hurricane-force winds
extended up to 45 miles from
the storm’s center, and tropical
storm force winds extended
outward up to 175 miles.
Buses and ferries were can
celed for Sunday and Bermuda’s
60,000 people were warned to
stay off the roads to avoid being
hit by debris and to allow emer
gency vehicles to pass.
Authorities also called out a
See ERIN on page 10.
Hurricane Erin
Position: 29.0 N, 60.1 W
Moving: NNW 16 mph
Sustained winds: 75 mph
Wind gusts: 90 mph
As of 5 p.m. EDT
. -" v -" C ■ 0
250 mi
UNITED
STATES
0
250 km
w'
Atlantic
40"
Ocean
Bermuda-i
Possible window of
movement
^ 30°
BAHAMAS
▼
70“
60°
SOURCES: AccuWeather; ESRI
AP
Lib Arts
debuts
2 new
degrees
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
The College of Liberal Arts
debuted degree programs in
music and telecommunications
this semester.
The bachelor of arts in music
offers an interdisciplinary
approach to the study of music
with courses in composition,eth-
nomusicology, music history,
music theory, music technology
and performance.
The program in telecommuni
cation and media studies, which
offers a bachelor of arts and a
bachelor of science, is designed
to help students understand the
social, historical, and conceptual
impact of public communication
based on electronic and digital
communication systems and pre
pares undergraduates for careers
in telecommunication and infor
mation industries.
“The initiative to add a music
major was mainly driven from
Vision 2020 and efforts to make
the department of performing arts
stronger,” said Peter Lieuwen,
interim head of the department of
performing studies.
In the past, students have had
the opportunity to take music
courses and obtain a music minor.
The effort to make a music
degree available at A&M started
four years ago, Lieuwen said.
Currently, 10 students are
classified as music majors for
the fall. A projected 100 stu
dents are expected to be enrolled
by 2006 with 60 enrolled in the
bachelor of arts and 40 enrolled
in the bachelor of science.
Six students are majoring in
telecommunication and media
studies for the fall.
One rapidly growing area of
telecommunication technology
jobs in Texas is education. The
1998 Texas Public School
Technology Survey found that
in the public school system
alone, technology jobs have
outstripped the number of qual
ified applicants. The rapidly
expanding Internet provides
many commercial telecommu
nication job opportunities.
“Having read the proposal, 1
agree that it is an important
degree for the University. Given
the burgeoning of the Internet and
e-commerce, there will be a host
of jobs that will call for students
to have a substantive knowledge
base regarding communication
See Majors on page 2.