HURSDAYAPRIL 4. 2002
VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 123
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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
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FRIDAY
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53° F
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