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[Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Bryan awards pay
raise to police
training officers
Bryan Police Chief Ken
Burton said field training offi
cers have a difficult job with
in the police force and now
the City of Bryan is listening
to Burton.
The city agreed on a 100
percent raise for the training
officers last week that will
bring their pay to $20 per
hour of training.
Burton said the department
d a report on the wages of
field training officers through
out Texas and found that
Bryan was significantly under
paying its officials.
Architects begin
planning for new
exposition center
Planning for the Brazos
County Exposition Center is
underway.
The $18.5 million facility
was narrowly approved by
Brazos County voters last
November. Brazos County
Commissioners will hold a
public hearing to determine
what facilities would best serve
the communities involved.
The architect for the cen
ter has already included a
6,000-seat arena, livestock
stables and facilities for
automobile shows.
“People will be able to
talk with our architect
about what they would like
to see us accommodate in
lire new facility,” said
County Judge Al Jones.
PUBLIC EYE
ImJ
West Campus
Parking Garage
and passageway
project estimate
.9 million
TODAY
Make
room for
Mayer
John Mayer
talks about
his new release
A&M
survives
again, 24-21
• Farmer helps
Aggies squeak by
Cyclones
Speeding
toward a
bad policy
* City of Houston
should not lower
speed limit to 55
WEATHER
TODAY
' v -j
TOMORROW
vj.
’•/
HIGH
75° F
LOW
45° F
HIGH
77° F
LOW
49° F
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
Top 10 percent may become top 25 for some
Regents consider extending automatic admission to more incoming freshmen
By Sommer Bunge
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M officials are considering
automatic admission for the top 25 per
cent of students from economically dis
advantaged high schools.
The plan, which was presented to the
A&M Board of Regents Friday, could
potentially increase minority enrollment
without violating the mandate of the
1996 Hopwood decision, which pro
hibits public universities from consider
ing race during admissions. The 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
decision earlier this year.
In a previous meeting, the Board
asked A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen to explore ways to increase eth
nic diversity at A&M.
The Texas Education Agency
(TEA) identified 253 economically
disadvantaged schools, mostly in rural
and inner-city areas of the state, that
A&M considers target schools, said
Joe Estrada, assistant provost for
enrollment.
“They need our attention,” Estrada
said. “Applications for admission from
those target schools have been small or
have been none at all.”
The retention rate for students from
target schools, despite concerns that
such students may not be as academical
ly prepared, has proven to be higher than
those from non-target schools, Estrada
said. In a preliminary study, Estrada
found that overall retention from fresh
man to sophomore years was 90 percent
for students from target schools, com
pared to 89 percent of non-target stu
dents. The trend continued in ethnic
breakdowns, Estrada said, with higher
retention for students from the TEA-
identified areas.
“What this says is that if we get the
students here on campus, they’re going to
stay,” Estrada said. “If we were worrying
See Regents on page 2.
RANK ■ INSTITUTION
BAYLOR $13,304
MISSOURI I $4,88/
TAMU (if fee approved for incoming students) $4,622
Ut AUSTIN ■ $3,766
NEBRASKA 1
Source: Office of the President
CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION
Stabbed
Christopher Hall, singer for alternative band
Stabbing Westward, performs at Reed Arena
Sunday. The act was the final performance of a
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
six-band fundraiser concert for designated-driv-
er program Caring Aggies R Protecting Over Our
Lives (CARPOOL).
United Airlines CEO resigns
CHICAGO (AP) —- United Airlines
chief executive James Goodwin resigned
Sunday, saying it was time “for a new
leader to guide the organization” which has
struggled financially and laid off a fifth of
its workforce since Sept. 1 1.
The company’s board of directors unani
mously elected John W. Creighton as
Goodwin's replacement.
Creighton, who has been a member of
UAL’s board of directors since 1998, he
served as president and chief executive offi
cer of Weyerhaeuser Company from 1991
through 1997.
“Our immediate goal is to restore
United's financial stability,” Creighton said
in a statement. “We intend to work hand-in-
hand with our employees and unions to
accomplish this task.”
Goodwin’s resignation came two weeks ago
after a letter he wrote to employees was made
public. In it, he predicted the troubled airline
could perish unless its fortunes were reversed.
Two unions representing United employ
ees have called for Goodwin’s resignation.
Union leaders accused Goodwin of pan
icking customers and workers unjustifiably
with the letter. They claimed his remarks
were made to get contracted employees to
agree to lower wages, gain negotiating
leverage or get more government assistance.
In a statement released Sunday,
Goodwin said he was “proud to have con
tributed to the tremendous growth of United
during my 34 years. ... United is a great
company and it is the right time for a new
leader to guide the organization through the
challenges that lie ahead.”
United already was in deep trouble before
Sept. 1 1, suffering severely from the down
turn in business travel, which it depends on
more heavily than other airlines. Adding to its
woes were the highest costs of any major U.S.
carrier, including steep labor expenses.
The airline has laid off about 20,000 of its
100,000 employees since the attacks caused a
dropoff in air travel. It also is trimming its
daily schedule to 1,654 flights as of Oct. 31,
down about 30 percent since the attacks.
The Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline
lost more than $700 million in the first half of
the year— including as much as $116 million
from the failed merger with US Airways
which Goodwin proposed last year.
United was surpassed by American
Airlines this year as the biggest U.S. airline.
Like father, like son
Baker: Bush faces his father’s problems
By Rob Phillips
THE BATTALION
ith “America embroiled in a
military conflict and attempt
ing to stitch together an inter
national coalition that
includes Arab nations,
President George W. Bush
faces many of the same chal
lenges his father confronted
in the Gulf War crisis, former
Secretary of State James
Baker said in a speech at
Texas A&M Friday.
“In an ironic twisrof his
tory, President George W.
Bush has done what his father
did — assemble an interna
tional coalition to fight a
common enemy, this time ter
rorism,” Baker said.
Baker’s speech, titled
“Diplomacy and Coalition
Building in the Gulf War —
Lessons Learned,” discussed
the United States’ military and
diplomatic success under the
leadership of former President
George Bush and Baker’s
duties as secretary of state
during that period. Baker cited
similarities between father and
son in their response to
America’s two most recent
foreign policy crises.
Similar to America’s war
on terrorism, Baker said the
Gulf War was a fight against a
foreign enemy posing a threat
to the world and a war in
which an international coali
tion was needed to be suc
cessful. In response to Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait,
America’s two diplomatic
goals were to avoid further
war if possible and to prepare
for war if necessary. Former
President Bush called for
complete withdrawal of Iraqi
troops from Kuwait but saw
force as a last resort.
“If we had prepared for war
without trying first to avoid
that war, we would never have
been able to build a strong
coalition that we ultimately
were able to form,” Baker said.
Much like President
George W. Bush’s efforts to
deal with the Taliban, Baker
said the elder Bush believed
support from the United
Nations was necessary to “iso
late Saddam Hussein as a
rogue standing against the
entire civilized world and not
just against the United States.”
Baker said he began travel
ling across the world “with a
tin cup in hand,” enlisting the
help of other countries and
closing deals the president had
negotiated. Hussein was nego
tiating with Arab countries as
well, offering bribes and call
ing the conflict a holy war
between Islam and the West.
The United States is now
experiencing the same diffi
culty from Osama bin Laden
and al-Qalda, Baker said.
“It’s a lot easier to generate
support against the West or
the United States of America
if we’re out there without hav
ing a broad-based coalition
that ended up containing Arab
countries,” Baker said. “That
task was made easy by the
rightness of our cause.”
Baker said the United States
made a mistake by not clamp
ing down on Hussein after the
war, but he was emphatic in
stating that “we absolutely did
not” end the war prematurely.
“Measured by its own
terms, our Gulf War diplo
macy was a success,” Baker
said. “It created the coalition
that in turn won the war and
achieved the objectives that
President Bush first outlined
only seven months before.”
Baker said he sees
President George W. Bush’s
task as easier than his father’s
in one sense, but possibly
more difficult in another.
Unlike the Gulf War,
President Bush has wide
spread domestic support at
the moment, but keeping the
coalition together over a
longer period than the seven-
month Gulf crisis may be dif
ficult, Baker said.
Baker also said that in the
Gulf War, the United States
had a clear enemy and objec
tive: expulsion of Iraq from
Kuwait. The war on terror
ism involves a system of elu
sive international terrorists
spread across dozens of
countries. Baker said.
“Today, like his father, our
current president. Number
43, knows what to do and he
is doing it,” Baker said.
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
James Baker III, 61st secretary of state, spoke Friday at the George Bush
Presidential Library Complex. Baker served as Bush’s secretary of state.