ONDAYMARCH 4. 2002
VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 106
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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.
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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.
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'E AFTERNOON
adio News
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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