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THURSDAYAPRIL 11, 2002
VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 128
THE BATTALION
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Israel refuses to pull back offensive
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Israeli crime scene investigators look at the scene of an
exploded bus near the city of Haifa, Israel, on Wednesday.
JENIN, West Bank (AP) —
From a West Bank army base
overlooking the scene of the
deadliest fighting in Israel’s 13-
day-old offensive. Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon on Wednesday
delivered a blunt message: Israel
will not pull back until
Palestinian militias are crushed.
Despite his pledge to continue
the offensive in the face of
intense U.S. and international
pressure to call it off, Sharon’s
defense ministry announced late
Wednesday troops were pulling
out of West Bank villages of
Yalta, Qabatya and Samua.
Yalta and Samua are near the
southern city of Hebron, and
Qabatya is near the northern city of
Jenin, where some of the most
fierce fighting has been reported.
Sharon’s statement earlier
Wednesday defied increasingly
impatient U.S. demands for a
withdrawal from Palestinian towns
to be delivered in person Friday by
Secretary of State Colin Powell
and came hours after an Islamic
militant blew himself up on a bus
in northern Israel, killing himself
and eight passengers.
Speaking to cheering soldiers at
a post overlooking the battered
Jenin refugee camp, Sharon said he
explained to President Bush that
“we are in the middle of a battle”
which, if abandoned prematurely,
would only require another round
of fighting later on.
“Once we finish, we are not
going to stay here,” the former
general said. “But first we have to
accomplish our mission.” He
added that unless Israel crushed
the militants, the phenomenon of
suicide bombings “could spread
like a plague around the world.”
Earlier in the day, Israel’s
Security Cabinet affirmed the deci
sion to continue the offensive. By
nightfall, resistance was subdued in
the Jenin camp — where fighting
has raged for days and where 13
Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday
in a sophisticated Palestinian
ambush — and in the old town of
Nablus, the largest West bank city.
Powell insisted his peacekeep
ing mission was not threatened
by Sharon’s refusal to halt the
incursions. “My mission is not in
the least in jeopardy,” he told
reporters in Spain.
Powell, who arrives in
Jerusalem late Thursday, said he
intends to meet both Sharon and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Sharon said Powell would be
making a “tragic mistake” in
See Israel on page 7 A
Students protest
war on terrorism
Tour d’ A&M
By Christina Hoffman
THE BATTALION
Even in Aggieland there are
pockets of opposition to America’s
war on terrorism, and two students
will travel to Washington, D.C., on
April 20 to participate in a nation
ally-organized protest against
President Bush's foreign policy.
“Our goal is to promote full
democracy. We need to put power
back into the hands of the people,”
said Chris Young, president of
Students for a Civil Society and a
sophomore political science major.
| “There are voices of dissent to this
W Abt everyone is complacent.”
Voung and Joy De, a junior
v eterinarian medicine major, will
participate in a march demanding
anend to racial profiling, military
recruitment, the imprisonment of
immigrants and to demanding a
foreign policy based on social and
economic justice.
The protest aims to bring an end
to racial profiling and military
recruitment targeting minority and
working-class youth and to end the
degrading and secret imprisonment
of immigrants. Young said.
Young said he is opposed to the
war because he does not believe vio
lence should be used to combat vio
lence. Also, Young said, terrorists
are merely responding to America’s
“exploitation of the Third World and
imperialist policies.”
“We believe [the Bush adminis
tration! should solve the root prob
lems with a peaceful end,” Young
said. “There are reasons why people
See Protest on page 2A
Beutel promotes
STI awareness
STUART VIIT.ANUKVA • THE BATTALION
By Sarah Darr
THE BATTALION
April is Sexually Transmitted
Infections Awareness month and the
A.P. Beutel Health Center is taking
opportunity to promote testing
a nd education for all students.
There will be an information
'able set up at the Rudder Fountain
are a, from 1 1 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Students will have the chance to
talk with professionals and ask
tiuestions about sexually transmit
ted infections and diseases, said
b> ea lth Education Coordinator
Margaret Griffith.
A program titled “Don’t Let the
Bed Bugs Bite” will be held for
jjtudents Monday in Rudder 510
r °m 4 p.rn. to 5 p.m. The program
w dl heighten students’ awareness
°f the importance of getting tested,
aaid John Prochaska, chair of
is'e Representatives Educating
About College Health (Aggie
REACH) and a senior biomedical
sciences major.
“Most STI’s are asymptomatic,
and the only way to know if you or
your partner has one is to get test
ed,” Prochaska said. He added it is a
good idea for anyone who has ever
had unprotected sex to get tested.
Anonymous, free HIV testing
is provided by AIDS Services
every Thursday from noon to 4
p.m. Urine testing for chlamydia
and gonorrhea are available at
Beutel for $25. Griffith said it is
important to get tested for these
infections because they are cur
able with certain antibiotics. Also,
Griffith said approximately 80
percent of women and 50 percent
of men do not experience any
symptoms of these particular
infections.
See Infections on page 2A
Junior business major Dana Weber and other members stationary platforms to raise money for the Lance
of the Texas A&M Cycling Team pedal in front of Rudder Armstrong Foundation, a cancer awareness organization.
Fountain on Wednesday. The team rode their bikes on
Marketing student dies from cancer
By Marianne Hudson
THE BATTALION
Joseph Wayne Colchin, 23, a junior
marketing major from Houston, died
April 1 from cancer.
Colchin was diagnosed with brain can
cer in June 2000 when he went to the doc
tor for a headache. He had a stroke a little
over a year ago, leaving his right side par
alyzed. His mother, Sharon Colchin, said
he continued to be upbeat and positive
throughout his illness.
She said he had inten
tions to return to Texas
A&M after taking this
semester off because of
complications.
“He was like the
Energizer bunny,” she
said. “His quality of
life never changed. He
always had hope. He always believed he
would get better until the end.”
COLCHIN
Colchin went into a coma the evening
of March 30. He was carried to the ceme
tery in a pick-up truck, friends said,
because he had requested not to ride in the
back of a hearse. At his funeral, friends
wore Hawaiian shirts and dressed color
fully, instead of wearing the traditional
black garb.
Steven Farnsworth, a lifelong friend of
See Student on page 2A
Corps searches for new commandant
STI'S IN BRAZOS COUNTY
• hiv/aids
• Chlymydia
• Gonorrhea
101 cases
520 cases per 100,000
361 cases per 100,000
Source: Texas Department of Health
chad MALLAM • THE BATTALION
By Marianne Hudson
THE BATTALION
The Corps of Cadets will have a new commandant by next
fall. University officials said.
Dr. Wynn Rosser, assistant vice president for the Department
of Student Affairs, said seven applicants sent in resumes by the
April 8 deadline. But the search advisory committee will continue
to accept applications until the position is filled.
Rosser said half of the applicants are former students. They
represent the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. No women
have applied yet.
Gen. M.T. Hopgood, the current commandant, will retire in
May after 14 years at Texas A&M. The committee will begin
interviews this semester and have the new commandant
installed by next fall.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, the committee chair and vice
president of student affairs, will appoint an interim comman
dant for the summer if the position is vacant at that time.
The search committee began advertising for the position in
March. They sent letters to all former students with general or
See Commandant on page 7A
Landgraf elected Senate speaker
By C. E. Walters
THE BATTALION
Brooks Landgraf, a junior politi-
a science major and former Rules
an d Regulations Committee chair
<, as Reeled speaker of the Student
e nate unanimously in the first meet-
n 8 of the 55th Senate on Wednesday.
Landgraf, who ran unopposed.
joined the Senate in Octobei 2000.
He said his goals for the semester
include fighting for the interest of the
Student Senate and helping new sen
ators in their roles.
“[I want to help! the growth and
development of other people,”
Landgraf said.
Landgraf said it is important to fos
ter professionalism and decorum in
the Senate and make sure all Aggies
are represented.
In the contest for speaker pro tem
pore, Logan Renfrow, a freshman
business administration major, won
against Natasha Eubanks, a sopho
more biomedical sciences major,
with 24 votes to Eubanks’ 16. There
See Senate on page 7A
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