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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2002)
ONDAYMARCH 4. 2002 VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 106 THF RATTAT TO JL LLJLj JLJJnL X X JlTlJLjJLkj jee camps rade rgiveness olicy under review By C.E. Walters THE BATTALION 1^ * H IjMl'Iie Faculty Senate Academic ^^■airs committee is reviewing the jxliting grading policy for students who courses at A&M. | t«lcurrently. University rules allow for L ■ ■ |1 l^Wents who receive a C or below in a litis to repeat and have the grades from H first and second attempt averaged on l densely uateHr transcri P t - new policy would , . t • h l,JJi |nate Q-drops in favor of grade for- 1 102 4 ^jiveness, a system where students could ^^^pke up to three courses and receive aedn for the higher grade. ■Chaired by associate professor and assistant department head of petroleum ^Kineering Dr. Thomas Blasingame, ■ committee is weighing the advan tages and disadvantages of this plan. ^■The ability to forgive grades now lies mpts to witliin the dean’s jurisdiction, but grade the Israeli, fo^iveness, Blasingame said, would some of this power to the student. ■‘It would empower the student to Btrol part of his destiny," he said, ■fhe plan would be relatively easy to execute, Blasingame said. It would need tojbe a compromise between students and faculty that ensures students who >rt should h retake a course show improvement, said. .1 boasted tr. ® See Grades on page 2 ■rs into the.. fa r armored after Saut. native at >\al. the ael in exc territorie ting has iei Sharon ring a maj( epartment s Bush ado defend itsel ut the mo icavy casiu, lata and Jos Palestinffit vas inteixk: r.” speaking on. was targeted ks have been brigades mill .1 to hold a (it Student dies in car accident By Brandie Liffick THE BATTALION from 1)3, rittany Page, a sophomore agri-' ultural development major, was killed Sunday in a car accident on Red in Meric:State Highway 30 in Grimes County. ■Page was attempting to pass in a n inside the /rflojpass zone when an oncoming car ials said on cor entered her lane, according to the scribed the sii Department of Public Safety. She Cubans hadrc.swerved into the right hand lane and collided with a car that was behind idel Castro's f her. officials said. Radio Madia i ■None of the four passengers in the ers to believelar she collided with were harmed, to any Cuba - Page was from Shepherd, Texas. Living history Larry S. Heidbreder, a historical re enactor from Huntsville, is silhouetted against the canvas walls of an authentic Native American tepee at the Lucky B Bison Native American Village in Bryan on Sunday. The Native American village was part of a celebration of Texas and Native American heritage. mmmmm TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Administration strikes top 20 Plan will not be in effect this fall By Sommer Bunce THE BATTALION Qualified graduates in the top 20 percent of 254 economically disad vantaged schools in Texas will not be automatically admitted this fall under a plan Texas A&M officials have debated since October. Officials announced late Friday afternoon that the top 20 plan, which was expected to go before the A&M System Board of Regents for approval this month, will not be pursued for Fall 2002, pending requests for more information from the University’s attorneys. The plan, which would automatically admit students in the top 20 per cent who meet A&M’s admissions standards and SAT requirements, may still be considered for Fall 2003. The top 20 plan raised Hopwood-like questions on the constitutional ity of soliciting students from inner and rural poor districts with large Hispanic and African-American student populations and drew a mixed response from the student body. The 1996 Hopwood decision prohibits public universities from considering race during admissions. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision in 2001. The Student Senate considered a resolution last month condemning the top 20 plan, saying it did not properly address the goals of the University’s Vision 2020, which in part seeks to make A&M more diverse by 2020. “Almost all students are in favor of diversifying the campus,” Student Body President Schuyler Houser said Sunday. “But so many are unsure of that specific plan to do it, of top 20 being the right way to attack it.” The Regents this fall asked University President Dr. Ray M. Bowen to look for ways to diversify admissions to A&M. At an October meeting, Bowen and a group of admissions specialists introduced the top 20 plan, saying 200 more students, who would traditionally have been turned away, would be admitted under the plan. The plan would increase the enrollment cap to extend automatic admission to all those qualifying from the targeted 254 schools. Regent Wendy Gramm expressed doubt at the Oct. 26 meeting, asking if the school would have another Hopwood on its hands. The Regents acknowledged that if any doubts as to the legality of the plan surfaced, they would reconsider implementing it. “We know quite well what we can and cannot do from the Hopwood decision,” Assistant Provost for Enrollment Joe Estrada said in October. See Top 20 on page 2 A&M drives local economy during recession xiles in Miami, 1 talk shows and: See Page on page 2 By Anna Chaloupka THE BATTALION In an economic recession that has left many throughout the state and nation drowning in downsiz ing, layoffs and doubts, Texas A&M has kept the Bryan-College Station area riding the top of the wave. A&M impacted the local economy with more than $2 billion in spending this year, according to an in- house study A&M officials released last week. Unemployment rates have remained consistent ly lower than other metropolitan areas and the statewide and national averages: 1.7 for the Bryan- College Station area in January compared to Texas’ 5.7 rate. The payroll for the 20,993 employees of the A&M System was $547.4 million for 2001, the study indi cated, an increase of $23.4 million from last year. A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen said employees and their families directly affect the local economy by spending their salaries on purchases in the com munity as well as depositing money in local banks. The study showed the local economic impact of the University’s students for 2001 was $208.6 mil lion, an increase of $8.5 million from 2000. The typ ical A&M student spent $4,678 last year on expendi tures such as food and housing, clothing, school sup plies and recreation. Dr. Bill Krumm, A&M’s vice president for finances, said A&M’s economic impact on Bryan- College Station is tremendous because of the thou sands of employees and students who cycle their money in the community. Aggies spend their dollars on renting apartments and eating at local restaurants, he said, and in turn the businesses they support spend their money on other commodities, putting those dollars back to work in the local economy. “The community is important to the University,” Krumm said, “and the University is important to the community.” The study also found that although attendance at BATTALION athletic and entertainment events and graduation cer emonies was down from 2000, visitors to A&M still rake in money for the local economy. Visitors, including prospective students and their families, spent $57 million last year in the area on athletic ticket sales, food, lodging, gasoline and other services. veek, Castanet— s saying “the do: island are open' # 'E AFTERNOON adio News ie newsroom! lATTAII md community 1:57 p.m. ay through Friday IMU-FM 90.S ege Station / Bryan Construction extends to 1999 Bonfire collapse site, families upset By Sommer Bunce THE BATTALION Twelve wooden crosses and a whitewashed Bonfire pot on a stake adorn the site where the Aggie Bonfire center pole once stood, now part of a mound of dirt on the perimeter of construction on the Polo Fields. The University is constructing a retaining pool with the help of the city of College Station on the Polo Fields where Bonfire once stood and in 1999 fell, killing 12 Aggies and injuring 27 others Nov. 18. Family members of the victims journeyed to the site Sunday, upset to see the site where their sons and daugh ters died desecrated in a pile of dirt that functions as a road on the perimeter of the construction, said Will Clark, a A&M student who was part of Keep The Fire Burning, a 1999 and 2000 effort to build an off-campus bonfire. Since Bonfire fell, Clark has become close with most of the victims’ families. One family contacted Clark last week, ask ing him what the site looked like and telling him the University had assured them construc tion would not disturb the $ite, Clark said. He declined to say which family had been in con tact, but when he told them “it was all torn up,” they contacted other victims’ family members and came to the center pole site to put up the crosses Sunday. “They’re telling me, ‘Our children died out there, this is the ultimate disrespect,”’ Clark said. A&M Vice President for Administration Dr. Charles A. Sippial said the construction was not supposed to extend to the center pole site. The construction is part of ongoing campus construction to eliminate landscape flooding See Bonfire on page 2 Twelve white crosses and a white Bonfire pot stand at the site where the Aggie Bonfire center pole once stood. Program educates men By Tanya Nading THE BATTALION Men can create helpful environ ments in the home and serve as allies to other men, women and children who have been victimized by violence at the hands of men, according to the message a new program at Texas A&M hopes to send to all men on campus. Created in collaboration by the Interfraternity Council, Greek Life, Gender Issues Education Service and several other organiza tions, Men-to-Men is a program for and by men, meant to create a helpful environment for develop ment and growth and discuss top ics such as “Reconstructing Masculinity.” “Since the Interfraternity Council represents the largest all male group on campus I felt we had a responsibility to provide education to men on campus,” said John Stewart, Interfraternity Council president and junior geography major. Iports Pg. 7 1 Stephenson helps 1 Ags to victory I over Tech Senior right fielder’s double I pushes No. 17 A&M to first series sweep of Red See Men on page 5