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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2002)
^olume 108 • Issue 166 • 6 pages 108 Years Serving Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Monday, July 15, 2002 Despite rain and bad weather, Texas A&M alumni Dr. Marshall Gramm and his wife, Teresa Gramm, take their dachshund, Daschle, for a walk on the Texas RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION A&M golf course Sunday afternoon. The rain and thunderstorms are predicted to last until the middle of this week. ormer student studies circus tigers By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION 9 Heath Nevill spent the past two summers digging through tiger feces irhile traveling with the circus around ■ew York, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas ■nd California after graduating in May from the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M with his mas ter’s degree. I Nevill studied how the captive situ ation of tigers affected their behavior while on location and in transport. 1 Because tigers can sometimes be put in a cage as small as six feet by three feet, they often will pace for up to an hour, oblivious to everything around them, he said. While this does not adversely affect their health, Nevill said it is not ideal. He found the more area covered in an exercise room, the less time they spent pacing. “There is an inverse correlation [between the two],” he said. Some good ways of allowing tigers to expend energy are putting them in groups for social interaction through play or allowing them to play in a tub of water. “If you look at it from a human perspective, you can easily under stand how such activities might decrease anxiety,” Nevill said. Nevill and his group also studied the transport environment for circus tigers. “We used battery-sized data loggers which we fed to the tigers,” Nevill said. “(The data loggers] recorded the tiger’s body temperature every five minutes. After we recovered each device from the feces and cleaned it, we could then plug it in and review the data.” Nevill’s team also recorded the See Tigers on page 2 inging Cadets to perform at pageant By Christina Hoffman THE BATTALION I The Texas A&M Singing Cadets will be on Monday’s telecast of the 2003 Miss Texas USA Pageant singing and serving as on-stage escorts for more than 100 contestants. I This is the seventh consecutive year the group has partic ipated in the pageant. I The Miss Texas USA Pageant is held in Lubbock and serves as the qualifier for the Miss USA Pageant later in the year. This is the same pageant that senior journalism major Kandace Krueger won in 2001. She later won the Miss USA Pageant. I Clint Pasche, Singing Cadets president and a graduate "Student studying sports management, said this is the last ■ Show the group performs at this summer and it looks forward to the event every year. The fun, relaxed atmosphere acts as a reward for the group’s rigorous yearly schedule. “We work hard all year long and being in this atmosphere is really fun,” he said. “This is something we definitely look forward to every summer,” said Justin Estes, a member of the Singing Cadets and a sophomore English major. As the Miss Texas USA contestants compete for the 2003 crown, the Singing Cadets will be on and off stage with the contestants, escorting them during the evening gown compe tition, the swimsuit competition and during the announce ments of the top 12 and top five finalists, Estes said. See Cadets on page 2 Executive dean of science named By Molly McCullough THE BATTALION Texas A&M College of Science Dean H. Joseph Newton appointed Michael B. Hall, professor of chemistry, to work as his right-hand man as executive associ ate dean, effective Sept. 1. Newton selected Hall after consult ing with the other College of Science associate deans for approval. Newton said he named Hall to the position because of his extensive knowledge and experience. “He is an eminent researcher and has a great deal of knowledge of the college and university,” Newton said. Hall, who could not be reached for comment, became a member of the A&M faculty in 1975 and headed the chemistry department from 1986 to 1994. Hall has also served as the College of Science’s associate dean for information technology and research since 1997. In addition, he is the direc tor of A&M’s Laboratory for Molecular Simulation and is a mentor for the University Undergraduate Research Fellows program. Hall is also a member of the editorial advisory boards for two scientific jour nals, Organometallics and Theoretical Chemistry Accounts. Hall’s primary role as executive asso ciate dean will be to facilitate research in the college as well as represent Newton in meetings when he is unavailable. “Dr. Hall’s main job is to work with me, our departments, and in fact with other colleges to enhance our basic anti interdisciplinary research activities,’* Newton said. “We are the scientific core of A&M, and our job will be to ensure this role gets even more prominent.” Newton also said Hall will be helping the College of Science reach its goals as mandated by Vision 2020. These goals are to enhance the facul ty and graduate programs through increased national and international visi bility from improved scholarly activities. Hall will also continue to act as the college’s primary research contact, Newton said. A native of Philadelphia, Hall earned a bachelor of science in chemistry from Juniata College and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After earning his doctorate degree. Hall was an Associated Electric Industries Research Fellow at the University of Manchester for two years. Hall then returned to the University of Wisconsin to serve as a research associ ate from 1973-1974. Dewhurst speaks to A&M students By Kevin Espenlaub THE BATTALION Republican candidate for lieutenant governor David Dewhurst explained his plans to eliminate the state’s $5 billion deficit through smart management without cutting education funding or raising taxes to a group of supporters at the Memorial Student Center Flag Room on Thursday. The lieutenant governor of Texas, one of the most powerful positions of its kind in the nation, serves as the pres ident of Texas’ 32-member Senate and is responsible for most of the day-to- day responsibilities associated with governing the state. Dewhurst touted his record of increasing revenues for local schools and benefits for veterans in the state without extending any new costs to tax payers while he served as land commis sioner of Texas. “Texans need a conservative leader who will do what he says he will do,” Dewhurst said. “We need a more effi cient government and I can help give the citizens of Texas the government they deserve at a cost they can afford. “We can spur the economy and erase our deficit without raising taxes, and as part of that, we need to get government out of the way of business so it can expand and create a better economic future for our state.” The millionaire businessman from Houston diverted his talk of policy briefly during his speech to discuss his opponent, Democratic candidate John Sharp. He said the only thing that can put Sharp in office is complacency among Republican voters and encouraged everyone to share his message and help get their friends to the polls in November. “My opponent claims to be a conser vative,” Dewhurst said. “But when we were supporting George W. Bush, he was supporting Bill Bradley and A1 Gore. On November 5, the only thing that can beat us is if our voters get com placent and stay at home instead of going out to the polls.” In the aftermath of the Sept. 1 1 ter rorist attacks, Dewhurst was asked by Governor Rick Perry to chair the Governor’s Task Force on Homeland Security. After holding public hearings and working with experts from around the country, Dewhurst’s committee made 44 recommendations to help increase the security of Texas. “The people of Texas can be proud that through Governor Perry’s leader ship, our work on the task force and the sacrifices of tens of thousands of police officers and firefighters working almost 24-7, we’ve been able to keep the state of Texas safe,” Dewhurst said. “But we must keep in mind that this is a journey and not a destination. We cannot relax for a moment. If we can get every one of the 20 million citizens of this static to be vigilant, then we will win this fight against terrorism.” Dewhurst encouraged voters not only to support his campaign, but to support the reelection of Gov. Perry and the Senate bid of John Cornyn, who is See Dewhurst on page 2 A&M named as having best freshman housing By Kelln Zimmer THE BATTALION i Sasse, the director of mce Life at Texas A&M, id a pleasant surprise for his ment earlier this month while ng through USA Today when ' that A&M had been named the sity with the best freshman g by Kaplan’s “The Unofficial, sed Insider’s Guide to the 320 nteresting Colleges.” iat was the first I had heard of istinction,” Sasse said. “The g was totally unsolicited.” i 2003 edition of “The cial. Unbiased Insider’s Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges” is the inaugural edition of Kaplan’s guide and relied on surveys from over 400 high school counselors to form the list. The guide, written by Trent Anderson and Seppy Basili, deter mined the 320 most interesting col leges in the nation, highlighting great est strengths. The criteria for selection to the most interesting list included the level of selectivity, unique programs and academic strengths. In addition, a scientific survey was conducted to obtain data from guid ance counselors and students, asking for recommendations of colleges with specific characteristics. Enrollment figures and current events on campus were also considered to form the col lege profiles. Sasse said being ranked in the guide is positive for residence life and the University community. He said most importantly, the ranking serves as a reinforcement for incoming students and their parents. “People like to feel a pride in their school and the decisions that they make,” he said. “Being listed in this guide is a reinforcement of the deci sion to attend Texas A&M and to live on campus.” Sasse said he also sees how important the student body is in this distinction. “As administrators, we can only do so much; we can’t take the credit for all of this,” he said. “It is the students at Texas A&M who create the spirit and energy that gets noticed. It is a good feeling, because we all benefit from something like this.” According to the Department of Residence Life, as of July 12, there will be 4,799 freshmen housed on campus in the fall and 306 incoming freshmen on waiting lists. The total occupancy in the fall will be 10,413, with more than 8,000 See Housing on page 2 A&M ranks high in Kaplan's 2003 edition of "The Unofficial, Unbiased insider's Guide to the 320 Most interesting Coileges" #1 Best Freshman Housing #2 Best Career Services #3 Best Academic Facilities * In top 20 for Highest Academic Standards • In Top 40 for Best Value RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALIOI