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Mlume 108 • Issue 177 • 8 pages
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Thursday, August 1, 2002
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108 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
A New Era
obert Gates assumes role as Texas A8dVTs 22nd president
Students want to have
input during Gates' term
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By True Brown
THE BATTALION
Following through with
Vision 2020 should be the
biggest concern for incoming
University President Dr. Robert
M. Gates upon taking office,
said Barry Hammond, Memorial
Student Center president and a
senior economics major.
“I’m a big believer in Vision
2020,” Hammond said. “[Gates]
has to make a road map of Vision
2020 that (outgoing President
Dr.) Ray Bowen and others have
laid down. It will be his job to
follow through with it.”
Vision 2020, unveiled under
Bowen’s tenure, is aimed at
making A&M a top-10 universi
ty by the year 2020, including
increasing racial diversity and
A&M’s academic standing com
pared to other universities.
To do this, Gates will have to
rely on large amounts of student
input, said Zac Coventry, A&M
student body president.
See related editorial on
Page 7
“Regardless of his positions
on Vision 2020 or Bonfire, it is
important that he get out and talk
to students as much as possible,”
said Coventry, a senior agricul
tural development major. “He
has to connect on a personal
level with the student body. He
has to show that the values he
holds and practices are aligned
with our values as Aggies.”
In addition to Vision 2020,
the fate of Bonfire will be one of
Gates’ biggest challenges during
his presidency. The 90-year-old
See Students on page 2
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Dr. Robert M. Gates will begin his tenure as president of Texas A&M on Thursday. Gates is replacing Dr. Ray M. Bowen, who left office Wednesday.
Gates takes familiar ride down road of new obstacles
55
es.
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
Vith a head full of ideas and itching to
:e over the reigns of Texas A&M Thursday,
sident Dr. Robert M. Gates could not help
notice that Monday’s road trip from
chita, Kan. to Texas was familiar.
“My wife and I were joking on the ride
wn here the other day that the trip was
y similar to one we took back in October
56,” Gates said. “At the end of that trip to
n Antonio for Air Force officer training, I
vq her a ring and asked her to marry me. I
t think she was too excited to accept, but
did.”
| After meeting on a blind date, Gates took
■ly three months to propose to his wife
Becky. Gates and the first lady have two
own children and Gates has tried to model
s family after his childhood in Kansas.
“We had a middle-class family,” Gates
aid. ‘My dad had a small business selling
olesale auto parts, and we went to public
ools growing up. We were a very close
oily and our lives revolved around family,
|hool, church and Boy Scouts.”
When Gates debated where to go to col-
he decided to look east for an education
gat would allow him to become a college
Professor.
He chose William and Mary in Virginia
f received his bachelor’s degree in 1965.
However, his goal of becoming a teacher
panned out after he transferred to
|diana University to work on his master’s
, a . nd doctorate at the height of the Vietnam
War.
My draft board in Kansas said they only
ranted deferments through two degrees
d I had already gotten my bachelor’s and
as ter s degrees,” Gates said. “I chose then
to join the CIA, but I couldn’t get a defer
ment for that either, so I joined the Air
Force and spent some time working intelli
gence for them.”
Gates’ career in the CIA continued for 27
years and he became the only person in CIA
history to work up from an entry-level job to
Director.
He served on the National Security
Council under four Presidents and served as
the Director of the CIA from 1991-1993. He
then began speaking across the nation about
his experiences, before receiving an offer to
serve as interim Dean at the George Bush
School of Government and Public Service.
£lf
The real challenge is to
increase the academic process
of A&M with the
Vision 2020plan.
n
Dr. Robert M. Gates
A&M president
lit the
plans
style
for
University bombing kills 7
n
“I had been speaking a lot around the
nation and I got a call from the former
President (George Bush),” Gates said. “I’ve
always thought that if you are lucky, there
will be two or three people in your life
besides family that you would do anything
they asked you to do. I did not want to take
the job at the Bush School because I lived in
the Midwest and was very busy speaking and
everything else, but the former President was
one of those people for me, and the fact he
wanted me to do it led me to accept the job.”
Gates served as the interim dean from
1999-2001, which helped his name in the
consideration for A&M’s new president after
Dr. Ray M. Bowen announced he would step
down.
“I decided to put it in the hands of the
regents,” Gates said. “I had been offered jobs
to be president of other universities, and
wasn’t interested at all in doing that. In fact,
at first I wasn’t interested in being a presi
dent here. But as I became more accustomed
to the tradition and the culture that A&M has
to offer, I began to become more interested
in the position. There is a great community
here of faculty and students that is unique to
A&M and is nothing like any other
University in the nation.”
Gates is pleased with where Bowen
brought the University and is ready to focus
on maintaining the quality of education
A&M provides. He is also ready to prove
A&M can become one of the top 10 schools
in the nation while still preserving its tradi
tions and culture.
“There are not many problems left to be
solved here at A&M as Ray Bowen is leav
ing,” Gates said. “We want to keep all of that
going and keep the University running
smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
“The real challenge is to increase the aca
demic progress of A&M with the Vision
2020 plan. We want to preserve that which
makes A&M unique, it’s culture and tradi
tion, while at the same time improving it’s
academic standing. I think that can be done.”
However, Gates also sees A&M as a place
of opportunity and will direct his efforts in
reaching the goals of Vision 2020 while still
providing citizens of Texas an affordable
place to attend.
“One of the things that impresses me the
See Gates on page 2
Gates' years leading to A&M
1965
1966
. Joined
1967 * Married his
1 974 • Doctorate from Georgetown
1991-93 . IMiiiiiiilil
1 999-01 . Interim Dean of Bu;
August 1 - ? • University President
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Alumni, administration
react to Gates' new agenda
By Christina Hoffman
THE BATTALION
Administrators and alumni
alike have met with Dr. Robert
M. Gates and said he will bring
excellence to all aspects of
Texas A&M.
Miles Marks, executive
director and CEO of the 12th
Man Foundation said Gates is
naming excellent people to
serve with him in office.
When the 12th Man
Foundation met with Gates after
he was named president, he
chose to join the organization.
Miles said. The foundation fully
supports Gates and is excited to
work with him.
“We expect he will hit the
ground running,” Marks said. “I
think he will listen to the needs
and challenges that will put ath
letics [and academic programs] at
the same level as our opponents.”
Rodney P. McClendon, assis
tant provost and recently
appointed chief of staff by Gates,
said students and the University
can expect Gates to continue
building unifying goals.
“I think that Gates is an indi
vidual of keen vision and strong
integrity,” McClendon said. “He
has wholeheartedly embraced
Vision 2020.”
Despite the Board of Regents
not voting unanimously for
Gates, a consensus among
administration and former stu
dents names Gates as the best
man for the presidency.
At the Board of Regents
meeting in May, minutes before
Gates was named the sole final
ist, the 12th Man Foundation
and the Association of Former
Students endorsed Sen. Phil
See Reaction on page 2
(JERUSALEM (AP) — A bomb
* den in a bag ripped through a busy
eteria at Hebrew University
e nesday, killing seven people,
c uding three Americans, in an
; a ck that shattered the peace in one
, ^ dew places where young Jews
Tenths still mixed freely.
ore than 80 people were also
unded in the second bombing to
^nisalem in two days.
v re P orts said two of the dead
i e Srae lis and the others were for-
eu, natdon als. The injured included
. s and Arabs, but no overall break-
was available.
taifo 66 ^ rner i cans were killed in
) e ast an H four were injured. State
: ar , tmen t spokeswoman Lynn
U Sa iH in Washington. Their
'atj„ S ^ ere withheld pending notifi-
P 1 ® Of their families
Hamas claimed responsibility for
the bombing and said it was revenge
for Israel’s air raid last week on Gaza
City that killed the organization's
military chief, Salah Shehadeh, and
14 civilians, including nine children.
Israel has tried to end Palestinian
attacks by sending troops to impose a
curfew in most West Bank cities and
towns for the past six weeks. After a
lull, there’s been an outbreak of
shootings and bombings in the past
Israel’s Security Cabinet, meeting
after Wednesday’s blast, decided Israel
would retaliate within hours, Israel
Radio said. The report could not be
independently confirmed.
President Bush condemned the
bombing “in the strongest possible
terms,” and said it was perpetrated by
“killers who hate the thought of peace."
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School of Rural Public Health
adds new certificate program
SOURCES-
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By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M University Health Science
Center School of Rural Public Health (SRPH)
will offer courses this fall for a Rural Public
Health Certificate.
Dr. Alicia M. Dorsey, administrator of aca
demic programs and acting assistant for student
affairs of SRPH, said the certificate will offer an
introduction to the core functions of rural pub
lic health and provide students with the funda
mental tools to address the needs of smaller
communities.
“This program is designed for two types of
students,” Dorsey said. “For those individuals
who are not interested in graduate work but do
want additional public health expertise, and for
those who are interested but for one reason or
another are unable to make the time commit
ment.”
“If a student is interested in completing a
degree [after taking the fifth graduate-level core
courses], they can apply those courses toward a
Master’s or a Ph.D. when accepted in to the
program,” she said.
Dr. Giro V. Sumaya, dean of the SRPH, said
the certificate will benefit many students and is
a great opportunity to earn a useful degree.
“The certificate program is a great opportu
nity for two reasons,” he said. “First, it can
reach individuals that want to obtain a public
health degree at a slower pace (because they
have full-time jobs); second, it can reach indi
viduals that desire additional public health edu
cation but not necessarily a full degree.”
See Certificate on page 2