HURSDAYSEPTEMBER 20, 2001
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
2 SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
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NEWS IN BRIEF
1'aiuan IAP
storm Nan d« W ellborn Road
nn on areas pron .
indslides onTuei Will bG ClOSGd
part of Sunday
Wellborn Road at the
ntersection of Joe Routt
nd John Kimbrough
Boulevards will be closed
soaked fumiiir;
_*P chocolate to
ater subsided "
main streets,
amount of raitn
e. breaking any
tfall record”
began ker-
i 1930, said forej
o-cheng.
tl cities record?:
lies of rain in 2;
l*-third of thea\n
in fall. Lu said.
.a ( hang Chu:-':
:red a S64 nu;
id for hard-hi: :i
m inundated W
i of rice paddnjsi
ps. causing *®
million in daiii
ultore Councils
people to evac,
homes by wj
waist-deep
ath toll rose toi:
flooding the u;.
and other noro
n Mondav. 1
toward west-ca !0 throu g h traff,c P art of
On Tuesday ; *he day Sunday. Sept. 23,
ccording to a joint
test city, Taichuii announcement by the
storms Department of Parking,
frequently hit T» r ra ffj c anc j Transportation
e summer, but! ^
services (PTTS), the
Texas Department of
Transportation and the
ity of College Station.
The purpose of the clo
sure is the removal of the
edestrian walkway— the
rainbow bridge” — that is
onstructed over Wellborn
weep over the
. Slow-moving'
to become
tsting tropical a
ed Taiwan histor
?s. schools and
change were 6:
ond day. giving
to clear away
h mud from
homes. They ?BRoad and the Union Pacific
Railroad track at the inter
section. The removal is
part of the construction of
an underground passage
way that will replace the
walkway when completed.
Both Wellborn Road and
the Union Pacific track will
be closed from George Bush
Drive to Old Main Drive at
about 11:30 a.m. and will
remain closed for an esti
mated four hours to accom
modate the walkway
removal. Officials encour
age individuals traveling in
this vicinity to avoid
Wellborn Road.
PUBLIC EYE
i<r
1 F.Y.I.
Percent of Texas
population under
18 years old for
2000
28.2
TODAY
AGGIELIFE
Page 1B
Know
how to
- safely
Tips on how to be
safe when out in
College Station
Ags open fall
slate Saturday
Softball to participate
in Spring-Klein
College Classic
Page 7B
Mother
nature or a
lother’s nature?
• Pro-Con: Senator’s
decision to
adopt a child
WEATHER
HIGH
94° F
LOW
73° F
TOMORROW
^ HIGH
(jP^ 93° F
LOW
73° F
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
SERVING THE T E XAS A&M COMMUNI TY SINCE 1893
Volume 108 • Issue 20
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
Attacks impact A&M-OSU game
T-shirts pulled from store racks,
all benefits to aid tragedy victims
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
Competition for the dollars of
patriotic Aggies dissipated
Wednesday as local clothing
retailers deferred to the on-cam
pus Red. White and Blue volun
teers, even as the group tem
porarily ran out of its ‘Standing
for America’ T-shirts.
A group of students are urg
ing fans to wear red, white and
blue T-shirts to the football game
Saturday, with the proceeds of
the T-shirt sales going to help the
families of firefighters and
policemen killed during last
week's terrorist attacks in New
Reserves
called
to action
By Sommer Bunce
THE BATTALION
Several Texas A&M students
have been called to duty in the
U.S. armed forces, and more are
expected to be placed on active
duty in the wake of last week's ter
rorist attacks on New York City
and Washington. D.C.
A “handful” of Corps of Cadets
members belong to the armed
forces special and reserve services,
said Corps public relations officer
Trevor Voelkel, a senior finance
major. Some of those student
reservists have been called to
active duty, Voelkel said.
Junior biomedical sciences
major Kevin Nail was placed on
active standby last week and spent
the weekend at his post at the Port of
Houston United States Coast Guard.
On Tuesday, Nail received orders to
check out of college and report for
active duty, his mother, Sandy, said.
“All we know is that he is
defending the coast,” Sandy Nail
said. .“When he enlisted, he told
me, ‘Oh mom, a war won't break
out,’ but you just can't predict
when troops will be needed.”
Sandy Nail believes her son
was the first to withdraw from
classes on Tuesday. She said he
was sent to the registrar's office,
and then to the dean of his college,
and back and forth again before he
was able to withdraw and receive
promise of a partial refund.
“It was like they hadn't had to
deal with someone being called to
duty before,” Sandy Nail said.
“Being called has really put a
kink in his plans, but we hope he
can go back at mid-semester.”
Mark Weichold, associate
provost for undergraduate programs,
sent an email to faculty members
telling them where to direct students
called to duty. Students should with
draw through their department’s
dean’s office, Weichold said, opting
for either a “no-record drop” with a
refund of tuition or opting to receive
incompletes in each of their classes,
allowing students to finish course-
work the next semester they return to
campus.
Both options allow for a certain
amount of the optional fees such as
residence hall rent, meal plans and
football tickets to be returned to
the student, depending on how
long they attended classes or used
their options during the semester,
Weichold said.
“This call-up has already affect
ed our campus with a number of
our students having received their
order to report for active duty,” said
a memorandum emailed by
Director of Administrative Services
Nancy Sawtelle. “This call-up will
likely affect students at all ranks ...
undergraduate, graduate and pro
fessional.”
See Reserves on page 8A.
York City and Washington, D.C.
Fadi Kalouze, owner of
Aggieland Outfitters and
Inspirations, said he pulled his
red, white and blue T-shirts from
his store racks Wednesday to
avoid competing with the Red,
White and Blue Out effort. He
also offered to let the student
volunteers sell their shirts from
his businesses, which are located
in Post Oak Mall.
“As soon as I found out there
was a student organization that
was pushing this to raise money
for charity, I stopped selling the
T-shirts,” Kalouze said.
Eric Bethea, a Red, White
See T-SHIRTS on page 6A. adria^5ixane^^he]3attalion
INCREASED SECURITY
AT Qsy GAME _
Ibapilltalieil
‘Sales open 2 Ins Me
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HWlllIillIKillilil!
‘fxtra police officers on patrol
UPD will increase officers,
security at Kyle Field Saturday
By Amanda Smith
THE BATTALION
The terrorist attacks on America
last week have led officials nation
wide to improve security, even at
Saturday’s football game against
Oklahoma State University,
according to University Police
Department (UPD) officials.
Bob Wiatt, the director of
UPD, said there will be increased
security measures taken at
Saturday’s game.
“We will have increased uni
formed police and security offi
cers,” Wiatt said. “We are all on
the lookout for any suspicious
activity, although we anticipate
Change for relief
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STUART VIM.ANUEVA • THE BATTALION
Katie Serice, a freshman industrial studies major, drops change into collection buckets set up by the All-
University League to raise money for the New York Relief Fund, in front of the Academic Building Wednesday.
things will continue to run
smoothly. Like all events
throughout the country, there is
that speculation and concern and
so we are beefing up security.”
Wiatt said he could not
release the number of uniformed
officers at the game, but said the
increase will be measurable,
with officers from UPD and
Bryan and College Station
police departments.
Game attendees will be
allowed to carry in backpacks,
but the contents of all bags car
ried in to the stadium will be
checked. Coolers will not be
allowed in the stadium.
See Security on page 2A.
Sikhism
a target
of anger
Blamed on
mistaken identity
By Maureen Kane
THE BATTALION
Images of Osama bin Laden
have become a familiar sight to
many people around the world
since last week’s terrorist attacks
on the United States.
Photographed wearing a turban
and long beard, bin Laden has
come to symbolize terrorism for
many people in the United
States — but according to Dr.
Chenan Singh, head of the elec
trical engineering department,
this conception is wrong.
Singh said that men who are
part of an Indian religion called
Sikhism are becoming targets of
retaliation for the attacks because
they wear turbans and long
beards that resemble those of bin
Laden and other Muslims.
Sikhism is very different
from Islam, and Sikhs disagree
with the actions of bin Laden,
he said.
“The ironic thing is that if you
see (someone) wearing a turban
or having a beard in the U.S.A.
or western countries, he is
almost for sure going to be a
Sikh and not a Muslim,” Singh
said. “Muslims don’t wear a tur
ban outside of their native coun
tries. Only Sikhs do because it is
part of their religion.”
Although he has not experi
enced any problems, Singh said
he is aware that the threat of
violence from individuals who
are unaware of the difference
between Sikhs and Muslims.
See Sikhs on page 8A.
Aggieland highlights, focuses on life after tragedy
By Giselle Wallace
THE BATTALION
The wait is over for those who ordered
the 2001-2002 Aggieland, Texas A&M’s
yearbook, which will be available Friday.
“Horizons” is the inspiring theme for
this year’s Aggieland, highlighting life
and hope for the future even after tragedy
has taken place, said Jon Niven, the
book’s editor in chief and a senior jour
nalism major.
“There will be a two-page layout distrib
uted to the Bonfire anniversary and the
Memorial Student Center’s (MSC) anniver
sary,” Niven said.
The Aggieland is the second-largest year
book in the nation (the yearbook of the
Naval Academy is the largest). In 1976,'
Aggieland was the largest yearbook in print
history, containing 896 pages and weighing
10 pounds. That year, the Aggieland cele
brated a century of A&M history.
“This is Texas A&M University's 99th
edition of the Aggieland,” said Tamara
Adams, a junior economics major and editor
in chief of the Aggieland. “The alumni of
the school take great pride in purchasing the
Aggieland every year.”
The Aggieland portrays life at A&M in
all its aspects by recording events that took
place on and off campus for the year and by
reporting incidents whether they were joy
ous or horrendous, Adams said.
“As a photographer, 1 take pride in cap
turing the images throughout the year of
Aggie life, and it includes Greek life,
sports, academics. Corps of Cadets and
events such as concerts,” said Carin
Vadala, photo editor for the Aggieland and
a senior wildlife and fisheries major.
The Aggieland is diverse in its nature.
covering every event that surfaces for the
year; therefore, it takes numerous members
to contribute to the yearbook with dedica
tion and commitment, Niven said.
“It was a very trying year, but with the
support of a great staff with fresh ideas and
different perspectives about A&M, it has
made the experience working on the
Aggieland a good one,” Niven said.
The Aggieland was nominated this year
for the Pacemaker Award, the most presti
gious yearbook honor in the nation.
“The overall appearance and layout of
the book, including designs, photographs,
etc. are reviewed to determine how good our
yearbook is,” Vadala said.
Aggieland yearbooks will be distributed
starting Friday, Sept. 21, 2001, at the Reed
McDonald Building from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tables will be displayed near room 015 in