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THF RATTATTON x njja jli/il x x/xx-/XV^i>i In me 109 • I ssue 15 • 16 pages wwvv.thebatt.com Thursday, September 19, 2002 A &M enrollment reaches record high growth Student enrollment at Texas A&M 39288 44618 » 2001 2002 Master’s 2901 -OT) 2000 2001 2002 2000 2001 2002 Total Students So -rce: Office of Institutional Studies and Planning, Assistant Provost for Enrollment I KAVIS SWENSON* THE BATTALION By Sommer Bunce THE BATTALION Enrollment at Texas A&M broke the 45,000 mark this fall, with graduate student growth higher than it has ever been, accord ing to preliminary 12th day class figures. A&M’s student population has grown to a record 45,153 this semester and will likely retain its fifth-ranked status among universi ties nationwide, said Joe Estrada, A&M's assistant provost for enrollment. But A&M is still not growing as quickly as its flagship Texas counterpart, the University of Texas. UT’s record-breaking 52,273 students this year keeps it the largest school in the nation. In the same year that UT grew by 1,657 students, A&M added only 535, a third of UT’s total. Estrada said A&M may not want num bers as high as UT’s. “We need to make sure we’ve got the cor rect balance in graduate and undergradu ates,” Estrada said. “We want growth in our graduate population. (But) we don’t want to grow at the pace the University of Texas is growing. They’re ballooning at UT.” The economy is an important factor in the growth of A&M's graduate programs, which added 344 students this year, said Michael Nelson, an economics lecturer. Though grad uate programs have traditionally kept low numbers at A&M. the economic downturn that hit last fall brought people out of the work force and undergraduate programs and into graduate school. Nelson said. The economic forecast has brightened since then. Nelson said, but unemployment is still high, meaning more people will head back to school until the bad weather passes. “Economic downturns always make it a good time for going back to school,” he said. The University wants to add more stu dents to its graduate programs, but at the same time strict controls need to be placed on undergraduate growth, Estrada said. “The academic departments are attract ing (graduate) students, so they're the answer,” he said. “We’ve grown in the pop ulations that the University wants to be growing in.” The freshman class this year totals 6,980, an increase of 191 students from last fall: Included in that count are 315 students See Growth on page 10A H Dean appointment fhat \ ii. He else.” np a week re causes controversy ■By Sara Szuminski from the University of Illinois at THE BATTALION Urbana-Champaign, in favor of Bennett. the Afghan... | m but it wi. ■'he recent appointment of \ through r, K e ni Bennett as A&M’s new jp and The ft d eai1 lIU * v ' ce chancellor for engi- t wa\ a iof'». neering by administrators has mess other* frustrated faculty members in the could not engineering department along Tuesday nsr w ith members of the search advi- Mled the ir. sor > committee, said a member of a possible the search committee who asked it report. to remain unidentified, ere detainee Despite the committee’s decision not to recommend n.unitcwe- Bennett to the Board of Regents ithafoseai: ant * the engineering faculty’s overwhelming lack of support for him. Chancellor Howard D. Graves and University President Dr| Robert M. Gates bypassed the, input they received from the committee and a faculty vote and listed Bennett as one of the three finalists for the position, the source said. The regents then selected Bennett from among a listmf three candidates including John Junkins from A&M and Daniel Reed from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. ■Graves and Gates dropped the committee’s recommenda tion for Mark Kushner, also “They (Graves and Gates) didn’t listen to us or respect our opinions,” the source said. “They decided on their own that they knew better.” Usually, the appointment of a dean requires the approval of the search committee before a can didate can be hired, according to University rules. But because the position of engineering dean includes administrative posts within the A&M System, it is exempt from the University rules. “We all want A&M to be a great University,” the source said. “That happens by doing the right things, one of which is is to have more democracy — to listen to the people that care.” Graves and Gates asked for the committee’s involvement because they were interested in their thoughts on the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. Graves said. Choosing the three candi dates to recommend to the Board of Regents was the responsibility of Gates and himself, not the committee. Graves said. See Dean, on page 6B Blown away RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Junior general studies major and Aggie Band member Jim Band at the volleyball game Tuesday night at G. Rollie Chesier (right) plays the tuba with the rest of the Aggie White Stadium. Student loan rates at record low point Giacomo captivating By Ruth Ihde THE BATTALION aably neve( >er jjg story ■Students at Texas A&M are taking advantage of the low inter- • pntec est rates on student and parent loans which are at their lowest remv pc* n t in history, said Jack Falks, director of Financial Aid for , y compos T x as A&M fs precisely a rate 3 4^ percent interest for students still attending T. school and 4.06 percent during repayment, many options are avail able to students and parents who would normally not be able to ^vo breath- cover the cost of attending a university. this iThe U.S. Department of Education predicts 15.5 million students U? 5 ^ fa wil1 be enrolled in universities this fall, according to Erin Love of rhanceo the Sallie Mae Company. the same J| 'There will be about a 10 percent increase in enrollment this year . at [Texas A&M and nationally,” Falks said. ■ Options for students or parents include long-term loans through the icket and university, state or private institutions such as a bank or lender. Usually, IE To take lojig-tenu loans can be paid off in seven to 10 years, and most students choose to repay the loans after graduation, Falks said. I “This is usually because of two reasons,” he said. “Some people take out a very little amount, and others choose to prepay early in order to shorten (he repayment time.” || A popular loan among students is the Federal Stafford loan. There are two types of long-term loans offered by the Stafford loan. A | subsidized loan, which is need-based and must be applied for, Just bring PICE today, ted on the r Tower. e possible See Loans on page 2A —Xoan Rates. ling Art* * Stafford loan for students attending school * Kiraa) Stafford loan rate during repayment period Sallie Mae pa r « nt l 0iU1 TRAVIS SWENSEN • THE BATTALION Aggie R-r-ring surveys students By Sarah Darr THE BATTALION Aggie R-r-ring, the new pro gram on campus that will survey students over the phone, began Wednesday with a campus cli mate survey, said Assessment Coordinator of Student Life Studies Peggy Holzweiss. The Campus Climate Survey will be a follow-up survey to one taken at A&M five years ago by a group from the University of Michigan, Holzweiss said. It will be a con densed version of the one taken in 1998, with approximately 13 questions, and will cover topics such as students’ feelings about faculty and campus life. The updated survey will then be compared to the one taken pre viously, and the progress on these topics can be evaluated, Holzweiss said. “We want the surveys to reflect and represent the whole student body,” Holzweiss said. Students will be randomly selected through MARS (Measurement and Research Services) and contacted by telephone to participate in the five- to 10-minute surveys. Associate Director of MARS, Mark Troy said. MARS receives a list of demographics needed for each survey including gender, race and ethnic background, Troy said. From there a random sam ple of students is drawn, so that a non-biased group of students gets surveyed, Troy said. A new survey will be taken around the middle of each month, and will take about four weeks to complete, Holzweiss said. The first three topics for surveys have already been selected, and the rest will be decided on by an advisory team See R-r-ring on page 6B Former A&M student executed HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Texas A&M student who had been consider ing pharmacy school or a Baptist seminary after graduation was executed Wednesday for gunning down another Aggie during a burglary at her home eight years ago. Ron Shamburger. confessed to the fatal shooting of Lori Baker, 20, within hours of the attack, which climaxed a series of bur glaries he’d been committing in College Station, many of them at homes he’d broken into numerous times. As Shamburger was strapped to the gur ney, he uttered several quotes from the Bible. He then looked at the victim’s family and said, “I am really sorry for the pain and sorrow I caused you. I really do not know what to say, but I am sorry ... forgive me.” He sang an old religious hymn as the lethal drugs were administered. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CDT, six minutes after receiving the lethal injection. Evidence showed Shamburger used a credit card stolen from Baker’s home a few days before the fatal attack to buy the mur der weapon, a 9 mm pistol. Shamburger’s lawyers went to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to halt the punishment, but the court denied his petition and appli cation for stay of execution. Similar efforts failed Tuesday in the state courts. Shamburger, from Longview, was a 22- year-old fifth-year senior nearing a degree in biomedical science when authorities say he became obsessed with burglaries in whicli See Execution on page 2A Bush library to display Ground Zero flag By Lauren Bauml THE BATTALION The lone American flag that was buried under rubble and debris for three days following the Sept. 1 i attacks at the World Trade Center, common ly known as the Ground Zero flag, will make its way to College Station next month. The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum will house the flag Oct. 4-14 before its departure from the state of Texas. The flag will be displayed in conjunction with the “Freedom's Journey” exhibit, which will remain at the museum through the end of December. The “Freedom's Journey” exhibit includes copies of instrumental historical docu ments, such as the Declaration of Independence, as well as original artwork by artists from various areas throughout the United States. The Ground Zero flag, which spans 8 feet by 12 feet, was the only flag flying in the World Trade Center Plaza the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. It was buried under piles of rubble and fallen debris for three days following the collapse of the towers. Once removed, two clearly visible tears along the flag’s stripes caused many to push for a cere monial destruction by Ihe National Guard. See Flag on page 10A