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0569
3UR AD
NEWS IN BRIEF
Perry to declare
lisaster area in
lee County
BEEVILLE, Texas (AP)
Gov. Rick Perry said
onday he will declare
flooded areas in Bee
ounty disaster areas,
Mowing the area to qual
ify for federal assistance
|hrough the Federal
mergency Management
dministration.
“Paperwork is on its
ay," Perry said in a
tory on the Corpus
hristi Caller-Times
inline edition. “As soon
is we get it, it will be
igned.”
Scores of homes in the
kidmore area were
fooded and schools were
hut down after rains two
f eeks ago dumped more
i foot of water on some
reas of Bee County.
“We’re going to have
these issues addressed
lis quickly as humanly
ipossible,” Perry said.
Skidmore resident Pat
Aguirre, whose home was
ooded, said she is
thankful that Perry
intends to sign the decla
ration.
She’s been living in her
house since the floods
and has been worried
about mold problems.
~ f.Yi.
Number of
freshmen in the
Corps of Cadets
Fall 2001
682
PUBLIC EYE
TODAY
Page 3A
Breakaway
Christian
service and
music
Page 1B
Johnson
‘indefinitely’
• Aggie senior wide
receiver sidelined by
spleen injury
Page 5B
A (very)
bad idea
* Granting amnesty
status to illegal
immigrants
misguided, unfair
WEATHER
TODAY
TOMORROW
HIGH
89° F
LOW
67° F
HIGH
91° F
LOW
64° F
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
IVv
Texas A&M University —
Celebrating 125 Years
SERVING THE TEXAS A&M COMMUNITY SINCE 1893
Volume 108 • Issue 13
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
Smooth hands
CODY WAGES • THE BATTALION
Larissa Levenberger, an employee at University Plus and a senior com- program runs Monday through Thursday from noon to 10 p.m. and
munity health major, throws clay on a pottery wheel. The University Plus Friday and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.
TKE pledge removed
Student Life to investigate possible
sexual orientation discrimination
By BRANDIE LlFFICK
THE BATTALION
A Fall 2001 pledge of social
fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon
(TKE) was removed from the
organization Saturday — only
hours after he had accepted its
“bid" — because other fraterni
ty members learned that he is
gay, the student said. An inves
tigation has been launched by
the Texas A&M Department of
Student Life.
Clay Cunningham was invit
ed to become an associate mem
ber of the fraternity Saturday,
and a group of pledges gathered
at the Dixie Chicken that after
noon. At that time, Cunningham
said, he was confronted about his
sexual orientation and asked to
turn in his pledge jersey and
leave the fraternity.
Cunningham, a junior politi
cal science major, said he was
asked by rush chairman Patrick
Terramiggi if he belonged to Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgendered Aggies (GLBTA),
a campus organization.
“I told him that I was gay,
and he said that if I was a mem
ber of TKE, that it would ruin
their organization,” Cunningham
said. “It would decimate their
pledge class and make them
look bad when compared to the
rest of the fraternities.”
Cunningham said he walked
shirtless out of the bar where the
new pledges had gathered.
Terramiggi could not be
reached for comment.
Thomas Danner, president of
TKE and a senior agricultural eco
nomics major, said Cunningham
was asked to turn in his jersey
because of dishonesty.
“He was not asked to leave the
fraternity,” Danner said, citing a
release from the organization’s
national headquarters. “He was
asked to turn in his jersey because
he misrepresented himself. He
was not forthright about the activ
ities he engaged in,” Danner said.
“TKE does not discriminate
based on sex, race, religion or sex
ual orientation,” Danner added.
Cunningham has filed a com
plaint with the Department of
Student Life and the Office of
Gender Issues.
See TKE on page 2A.
Black woman twice rejected from
all-white Univ. Alabama sorority
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A black woman’s attempt to
join a white sorority at the University of Alabama has been reject
ed for the second straight year.
Melody Twilley, a 3.87 grade-point-average student who sings
first soprano in the campus choir, was notified Sunday that she
was not being invited to join any of the 15 all-white sororities.
Twilley also was rejected for membership last fall, when she
hoped to become the first black to be accepted into one of the
school’s 37 white fraternities and sororities. A woman who
described herself as being half-black, Christina Houston, said last
week that she broke the color barrier at Alabama last year by join
ing a previously all-white sorority. Gamma Phi Beta.
Twilley, 18, was the only black to seek membership in a white
See Sororities on page 6A.
Senate
opposes
new fee
increase
By Justin Smith
THE BATTALION
The Faculty Senate recom
mended adding new courses to
the Texas A&M curriculum
Monday, and senators
expressed their objection to
A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen’s proposed “excel
lence fee.”
Bowen spoke with faculty
senators about the $30-per-
semester-hour excellence fee
that has been proposed to the
A&M System Board of Regents
in response to a lack of state
funding.
The proposed fee would be
levied on all incoming under
graduate, graduate and trans
fer students beginning Fall
2002. An alternative would be
to add a $10 fee to all current
and future students’ tuition,
Bowen said.
Bowen explained that the
University will lose more than
$6 million this year and will
continue to if this fee increase
does not pass. The state did not
appropriate enough funds to
A&M. he said.
“The belief is that we are
rich, so we are not given as
much money as we need,”
Bowen said. “There also is not
enough money to go around to
all the universities in the
state.”
Budget cuts may be a last
resort for the University next
fiscal year, Bowen said.
Though undefined, budget cuts
could include dropping parts of
Bowen’s Vision 2020 plan.
The $30 fee increase could
bring in more than $9 million in
2002. Many faculty senators
were opposed to making gradu
ate students pay the fee.
Adding additional fees to
graduate students’ fees would
only make the problem worse,
faculty senators said. Some
senators said students would
rather go to other universities
where they would not have to
pay and could still get a quality
education.
In other business, several new
courses were approved to be
added to the curriculum. New
See Senate on page 6A.
MPO railroad route study to be completed June 2002
Mumford
Bryan
M. 12-2
Alignment
Nodes
Name
|/f. 10-2
Exstlng Track (No Build)
Wellborn
SH 47 Route
A, B, F, H, CC. GG, BB, R
Burleson County Route
10-2 - East
A, CC, GG, BB, R
Hail Alignment
Alternatives
May 2001
Proposed Alignments
Legend
SOURCE: WWW.BCSMPO.ORG
By Elizabeth Raines
THE BATTALION
A study conducted by the
Metropolitan Planning Organization
(MPO) determining possible alterna
tive routes for the railroad that runs
through the Texas A&M campus will
not be completed until June 2002.
The Local Rail Economic
Feasibility and Relocation Study was
expected by Sept. 30. The change of
date follows new guidelines from the
Federal Highway Administration that
require the MPO to conduct more
extensive environmental studies on the
proposed routes.
The study began in February 1998
to locate the best rail route for Brazos
County. Over the course of the study,
the MPO narrowed the 23 alternative
rail routes to four possible routes,
which include one that follows
Highway 47 and one that runs through
Burleson county.
MPO Director Michael Parks said
that although the study should be com
pleted by January 2002, he wanted to
give the MPO and the contractors.
Carter and Burgess Inc., enough time
to deal with any unexpected situations.
“Whenever we reach a milestone in
the project there are new questions,”
Parks said. “We have to be prepared
for the unexpected.”
The federal government requires
three separate levels of environmental
assessments before a project can
receive federal funding. Parks said.
The size of the project determines
the level of assessment the government
requires.
The Highway Administration
requires an Environmental Impact
Statement for a project the size of the
rail plan. For each proposed route, the
MPO must assess the environmental
situation, record possible problems
and create a plan to repair any envi
ronmental damage the new routes
could cause. Parks said.
See MPO on page 2A.