FRIDAYOCTOBER 5, 2001
1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
NEWS IN BRIEF
Aggies Can seeks
donations at Kyle
eld Saturday
Hie second annual Aggies
food drive will be held
today at the A&M-Baylor
otball game. Sponsored by
e Student Athletic Advisory
ommittee and Aggie Athletes
ivolved, members will begin
Electing non-perishable food
ferns two hours prior to game
ickoff at nine drop-off stations
round Kyle Field.
Donations will also be
ccepted at the Albertson’s
nd H.E.B. grocery stores in
Wlege Station, and the Sears
t Post Oak Mall through
urday.
items will be donated to
leBrazos Valley Food Bank.
Organizers hope to top last
ear’s total collection of
) cans.
iTexasA&M leaders
announce a new
undraising drive
Texas A&M leaders pub-
y announced plans for a
capital funds campaign
125th anniversary gala
hursday night.
Dubbed “One Spirit. One
tsion." the program will aim to
rwde financial assistance to
raise the University's level of
imminence and quality.
Jon Hagler, Class of
58. said the University has
antial commitments from
seneral alumni.
'Wsis the first vital step
(ward treating momentum
dor is decade." Hagler said.
PUBLIC EYE
opening, Texas
A&M has awarded
more than
265,000
degrees
Page 3
POP
music style
has evolved
throughout the
years and is still
changing today
24 Ags
host Bears
• Gamble, A&M
welcome
improved Baylor
Rec Center
blues
• Women should
have a separate area
for working out
fODAY
10% ,
HIGH
4 Im
83° F
LOW
68° F
tomorrow
It
HIGH
78° F
LOW
G- _y-j
58° F
forecasts courtesy of
^vvw.weathermanted.com
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
SERVING THE TEXAS A&M COMMUNITY SINCE 1893
Volume 108 • Issue 30 College Station, Texas www.thebatt.com
STUART VILLANUEVA • THE BATTALION
Dean of faculty, Janis Stuart (carrying the University Mace, the representatives from 165 universities and learned organizations
symbol of the authority of the University) leads a procession of across campus to the Texas A&M academic convocation.
125 th draws scholars
from across the U.S.
By Eric Ambroso
THE BATTALION
Focusing on projected a
budget shortfall, Texas A&M
President Dr. Ray M. Bowen
said inadequate funding could
derail the University’s efforts
to join the ranks of the nation’s
top public universities.
“I am sure Texas can solve
this problem if they try,”
Bowen said in his State of the
University address.
Bowen delivered the
address Thursday at the
Texas A&M Academic
Convocation 2001, where
delegates from prestigious
universities across the coun
try gathered to celebrate
A&M’s 125th anniversary.
The Academic
Convocation began with del
egates dressed in their aca
demic regalia marching to
Rudder Auditorium.
The convocation’s keynote
speaker, Harold T. Shapiro,
focused on the moral and eth
ical aspect of science that is
often not considered when
new technologies are being
created, in his speech
“Science, Anxiety, and
Meaning.”
Shapiro was president of
Princeton University until
May 2001 when he retired
and took the title president
emeritus. He is also a profes
sor of economics and public
affairs at Princeton.
“Today we are compelled
to science, but lack morals,”
he said
The example Shapiro used
was genetics and cloning in
the field of biomedical sci
ence. Shapiro, a genetics
expert, was appointed by
President Clinton in 1996 to
chair the Bioethics Advisory
Committee that produced the
report “Cloning Human
Beings” the following year.
Shapiro said that altering
genes and cloning people is
changing the future and many
people are anxious about
what will happen. The only
way to calm nerves and be
sure science is mindful of
morals is “if different people
will discuss discoveries and
be willing to change their
minds,” he said.
The theme of Wednesday’s
conference was “Higher
Education In and For a Just
Society” with several speech
es and panel discussions.
Shirley Strum Kenny,
president of State University
of New York at Stony Brook,
said the government should
guarantee a college education
to those who want it.
“A college education
should be our birthright,”
Kenny said. “Anyone who
wants it should be able to get
it. Cost should not be a factor
in getting an education.”
Students
gather
in Aggie
spirit
Music anchors
day’s festivities
By Justin Smith
THE BATTALION
Thousands of students
danced, laughed, yelled, and
ate throughout 12-hour 125th
birthday bash at Simpson Drill
Field Wednesday night and
early Thursday morning.
The celebration began at
4:30 Wednesday afternoon
with a hamburger and fried
chicken picnic at Rudder
Fountain. As the students fin
ished their meal, the party got
under way at 6:00 with the
jazz music of the Karan
Chavis Band.
Ronnie Saenz, chair of the
125th student committee,
along with many other volun
teers began organizing the
party at the end of Spring
2001. The University allocat
ed $30,000 for the party.
Donations and T-shirt sales
also helped shoulder the cost.
With the sun slowly sinking
into the horizon. Johnathan
Fowler look the stage and the
crowd’s attention with his own
brand of acoustic rock. The
crowd, which organizers said
was more than 2,000, listened
as a variety of musical per
formers took the stage, includ
ing alternative rock band Two
Spy.
“It was a real honor to play
for the 125th and with these
bands from all over Texas. It’s
cool getting to play for such a
diverse audience with all these
international students too,”
said Trent Foley, Two Spy
lead guitarist and senior com
puter engineering major.
Adding to the eclectic mix
of performers was country
singer John Ashford Miles,
See Party on page 2.
Student Senate to face railroad problem
By Elizabeth Raines
THE BATTALION ■
Student senators are urging students
to attend an on-campus meeting Oct.
24 to discuss alternative routes for the
railroad tracks that run parallel to
Wellborn Road.
“There are a lot of political pres
sures from a whole lot of sides but
mostly from the people who do not
want the railroad moved” said Kevin
Capps, chairman of the senate’s exter
nal affairs committee and a sophomore
history major. “They are not necessari
ly the majority, but they are the ones
making all the noise.”
Representatives from the Bryan-
College Station Metropolitan
Planning Organization will be in the
John J. Koldus Student Services
Building from 1 1:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to
answer questions and listen to stu
dents’ opinions on moving the rail
road.
Capps said students should be aware
that construction will occur on on the
A&M campus regardless of what route
is chosen, and that students should
speak up to ensure the railroad is
moved.
At Wednesday night’s senate meet
ing, senators also discussed the process
to fill vacant senate seats. Speaker Pro
Tempore Kimberly Schell, a junior bio
medical science major, said senators
are urged to find constituents who
would like to apply.
Vacant seats include three in the
College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, one in the College of
Geosciences, two off-campus positions
and one representing the south side of
campus.
“I was hoping to have fewer vacan
cies at this time,” Shell said. “It is hard
to keep a full senate.”
Shell encourages anyone, including
freshmen, who belong to one of the two
academic colleges that are vacant or
who live off campus or on the south
side to apply.
Student Senate applications are
available in the student government
offices in Koldus and are due Friday
Oct. 12.
Kelly Howard wins
Class ’05 president
Fun run will donate
to NYC relief efforts
By C.E. Walters
THE BATTALION
Kelly Howard was elected
Class of 2005 president
Wednesday night, capping off
the runoff elections for Class
of 2005 officer positions.
Howard received 420 votes,
or 55 percent, against oppo
nent T.J. Waller, who received
346 votes, or 45 percent.
“I think this is an amazing
accomplishment and I think
we both worked equally hard
for this,” Howard said.
Howard said she exhausted
herself by campaigning to the
point of cutting class for two
days to catch up on sleep.
Howard said one of her
objectives is to ensure that
Aggie Bonfire 2002 is a suc
cess.
“I really want to work on
Bonfire,” she said. “It really
means a lot to me. In my
whole life I’ve only missed
four and, one of my friends
See Freshman on page 2.
Marmtiteft wwrttfwl fry Ksvttt SarMtti
elBciton gftntmtttiHHff
CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION
By Tanya Nading
THE BATTALION
Half of the proceeds from
this Saturday’s Run to the
Chicken will benefit the relief
effort in New York City, organ
izers said.
Started by Delta Zeta five
years ago, the run raised more
than $14,000 last year for the
Houston Ear Research
Foundation and Delta Zeta
Foundation, a scholarship pro
gram. The group hopes to raise
$20,000 this year.
“The first year we started
with about 50 runners, the sec
ond year we had several hun
dred and by the third year there
were 1600,” said Katie
McClosky, a member of Delta
Zeta and a Run to the Chicken
organizer.
Nineteen Corps of Cadets
outfits, several fraternities and
other student organizations
will join members of the com
munity in what organizers
hope will be a record turnout.
“We participate because it’s
See Run on page 2.