Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2002)
HURSDAYAPRIL 4. 2002 VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 123 TI-IIh nAHT'TAT Tf\ 1 JlIJc, JjAI 1 ALriU TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY ates supports tradition and change GATES By Emily Peters THE BATTALION Texas A&M presidential hopeful Dr. Robert Gates said Wednesday that Aggie history and traditions can coexist with the inevitable changes the University needs to make to achieve Vision 2020. Gates, former director of the one of the five interviewed by a search committee tasked with mending a replacement for CIA is faculty recoin- A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen, who will step down June 30. As interim head of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service from 1999 to 2001, Gates said he gained a deep respect for Aggie traditions and sense of family, especially in the midst of the Bonfire tragedy. He said his support for Vision 2020 will not undermine A&M’s uniqueness. “1 have sensed an undercurrent that Vision 2020 may threaten to undermine the Aggie spirit,” he said after two days of meeting with A&M administrators and stu dent leaders. “I see no conflict with that. As far as I’m concerned, A&M is already No. 1 in culture and spirit, and there is no reason to sacrifice that.” Gates said his presidency, which he said would last at least 5 years, would advocate change. “If you want to maintain status quo, I am not the right man,” he said. Gates opened his address apologizing to the search committee for not getting his paperwork in properly and being difficult to contact. He never planned to be a university president, he said. “I’m a little surprised to be here,” he said. “This was not in my retirement plan.” Gates said he turned down offers from other universities for president positions See Gates on page 2A istrict 31 opefuls start mudslinging Reading marathon By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION The District 31 Republican runoff between Peter Wareing and John Carter has turned into a political slugfest, with each can didate spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fill the television airwaves and resi dents'mailboxes with advertise ments blasting his opponent. On Tuesday, Carter challenged Wareing, a Houston businessman who moved to the district to run for Congress, to pledge to live in Wpian permanently whether or not he wins the April 9 runoff. “To truly represent the peo ple, you have to live with them and not just have moved in to buy a congressional seat,” said James Harris, Carter’s campaign manager. Wareing, who is currently renting an apartment in Bryan, said win or lose, he plans to buy a home and settle in the area and dismissed the challenge as just another ploy in Carter’s negative campaign. See Campaign on page 2A d&M involved tn SAT overhaul STUART VILLANUEVA * THE BATTALION Allison Hunt reads John Milton's Paradise Lost in front of the Academic Building on Wednesday. A marathon public reading of the novel was conducted by volunteers on behalf of the Barbara Bush Literacy Corps, an organization promoting literacy. Ihc By Emily Peters THE BATTALION ' The SAT, which is used tonally in college admission visions, is under revision, and man in charge of Texas &M admissions has been given owerto influence the change. The proposed revisions to F SAT would be the test’s | ar gest overhaul since 1993, n dA&M Assistant Provost Joe strada sits on the national | ev ision committee. got a request to sit on the oaimittee, and I determined that 15 was a wonderful invitation and something I wanted to get involved with,” he said. “It is an enormous responsibility because it changes the nature of the exam for future students.” Proposed changes may add a writing section, exclude analo gies and toughen math problems in an attempt to better discern a student’s possibility of success in college. Estrada said he and the other committee members are reviewing details of each test question for clarity and any See SAT on page 2A Bomb threat leaves MSC empty By Sommer Bunce THE BATTALION More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the Memorial Student Center and the Rudder Tower Complex just before 9 p.m. Wednesday night after police said a caller left a bomb threat for the adjoining buildings. Building proctors received a call in Rudder Tower that threatened an explo sion in the buildings at 9:30 p.m., said University Police Department Lt. Lynn Sechelski. Evacuation was taken as a safety precaution, Sechelski said. “It took 30 to 45 minutes to get all these people out of the building,” Sechelski said. “We always treat it as serious.” Students crowded onto Simpson Drill Field and just beyond Rudder Fountain, some still holding interrupted meetings, others well-dressed in long skirts, ties and jackets, waiting to be readmitted to the buildings. UPD does not have the capability to sweep such large buildings for a bomb or other explosive devices, Sechelski said. With such a large area and small staff, he said, the main concern was clearing the area. Shortly before 9:30 p.m., police could be seen ushering groups of running stu dents across the breezeway connecting Rudder and the MSC. Sechelski said it would take a large See MSC on page 2A ay of Silence addresses discrimination tudentSy faculty and staff to participate in peaceful protest By Tanya Nading THE BATTALION One hundred or more students, faculty i 1 staff will participate in the second lexas A&M Day of Silence Thursday, a | r °test to echo the silence that is caused p harassment and discrimination. The original Day of Silence began as a fPOnwide movement for youth who felt I £nced by their gay, lesbian, bisexual nd transgendered life. lift ^ were constantly I ln 8 w ho they are as people,” said Beatriz Arnillas, coordinator of the Gender Issues and Education Services office. “People who identify themselves as GLBT feel they cannot mention who their significant other is during conversa tions because of a fear of being oppressed.” Many students face discrimination everyday, and for some students on campus, it is more visible than others. One student, who asked not to have his name published, suffered from discrim ination at Texas A&M. “The one time that sticks out most in my mind was back during my freshman year,” he said. “I was living in an all male suite-style hall, and my roommate found out that I was gay by looking through some stuff on my computer.” His roommate told several people in their residence hall, and the student said word of his homosexuality spread. People would tape notes and signs on his door to harass him, he said. “It was hard because people who I was friends with stopped talking to me,” he said. “I think the only reason I got through that semester was because I had a really cool hall director, and he helped me out. I didn’t move out until the end of the school year. I stayed because I had made friends in the dorm.” Just Wednesday, the student said, a friend told him she had been harassed and “called a pervert” when she kissed her girlfriend goodbye. The A&M Day of Silence is intend ed to recognize students who feel they have been a victim of oppression and discrimination. See Silence on page 6A ilUDENT BODY ELECTIONS le last di vote in runoff elections Contested seats include s. yell leader, jr. yell leader and class officers | Vote online atvote.tamu.edu * Vote at campus locations in the MSC, the Commons, Evans, Blocker and the Rec Center Source: The Election Commission CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION Author recalls experience of war with Rudder’s Rangers By Brittany Hooten THE BATTALION It was the height of World War II, and Robert Edlin was eager for front-line action, so he sought a transfer to Lt. James Earl Rudder’s elite 2nd Ranger Battalion. When Rudder asked him why he wanted to be a ranger, Edlin said he wanted to be with somebody who “will fight all the way through.” Rudder followed that question and asked Edlin what he would do if he was leading a company of rangers on a hill and was surrounded and far outnumberd by German soldiers. Edlin said he would surrender and then try to escape . “[Rudder] said, ‘You’re the first S.O.B. that came in here and surrendered,’ ” Edlin said. “That’s how I wound up in the rangers.” Edlin, whose experiences are detailed in the newly published book The Fool Lieutenant, spoke at a book signing Wednesday night at Barnes & Noble See Ranger on page 6A Sports Pg. 1B Texas freshmen shine as Horns down Ags TODAY HIGH 68° F LOW 47° F FRIDAY HIGH 72° F LOW 53° F FORECASTS COURTESY OF www.collegeweather.com