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1-lot tint. i.-9 p.m.i, 30 p.m.) EACH e., Suite D shbangers) ion 1103 lAgement % : F of lotion bers on F /isits. 3 ition. TX ires 1 l-29-i t the ice. Rotation ispectionj □nment s 59. a 49. 9J ivings 3575 ic Kours e* 10/15/02 Tlmrsdav^ Math 365 ^ Physics 202 _ Math HI , Physics 201 Acgielife: Students prepare for LSAT • Page 4 Opinion: Students should explore dating options • Page 9 THE BATTALION Volume 109 • Issue 24 • 10 pages www.thebatt.coni Wednesday, October 2, 2002 Everybody was kung-fu fighting Junior civil engineering major and black belt fighter on the Texas A&M Judo Team Roy Camiato throws junior international business major and black belt Judo fighter Alex Arredondo during a practice RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION in G. Rollie White. The A&M Judo team won the state championships for the past ten years and has been top five in the national champi onship as well. Search goes on Officials expected to announce candidates for new Provost, VP By Lauren Smith THE BATTALION The Search Advisory Committee for the Executive Vice President and Provost will hold its second meeting today to start identifying can didates. University President Dr. Robert M. Gates attended the first committee meeting on Sept. 12 to give the group its charge. “Dr. Gates has asked the committee to conduct a nation al search, review candidates, and provide a short list of the committee’s recommendations to him for consideration,” said Dr. Herbert Richardson, asso ciate vice chancellor of engi neering and search commitee head. The University needed a seasoned administrator with experience in leading at the department head and dean lev els, Richardson said. The committee announced the qualifications for the posi tion, which include an earned doctorate degree in the candi date’s field of study and the highest standards of personal and professional integrity and ethics. “Dr. Gates also indicated his intent that the incumbent oversee all. University func tions and serve in effect as his deputy,” Richardson said. Following Dr. Gates’ com ments, the committee dis cussed drafts of advertising, the position description and a flyer that will be used in con tacting candidates, Richardson said. The committee encourages nominations and applications from University faculty and staff. Following the first meeting, the committee set a target appointment date for Feb. 1, 2003; however, the search will continue until the position is filled. The process for seeking additional candidates will be specifically discussed at today’s meeting. capons inspection agreement may be reached VIENNA. Austria (AP) — U.N. [inspectors reached agreement with the > Tuesday on logistics for a new mission to reassess Saddam Hussein’s j arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. flraq said it expected an advance party in [Baghdad in two weeks. The Iraqi representatives said “that jthey accept all the rights of inspections llhat are laid down" in previous U.N. res- jolutions. said Hans Blix, the chief Inspector. The negotiations resulted in “assur ances from the Iraqis that we will have unconditional access to all sites.” except |lie so-called presidential sites, said lohamed ElBaradei, director general of pne Vienna-based Atomic Energy Agency, the site of the talks. That apparently was an Iraqi conces- pon, in that Baghdad had put a number P other sites off limits to surprise visits. Including the headquarters of the epublic Guard and Defense Ministry. I The United States demands that all [ ltes b e °P e n to surprise inspections and yants the United Nations to adopt a Jl ews inspections resolution outlining I at stance as well as the threat of mili- | ar y action if Saddam does not comply. The Iraqi chief negotiator, Gen. Amir A1 Sadi, said the issue of surprise inspections of Saddam’s palaces and other presidential sites was “not a sub ject on the agenda.” “Quite honestly I don’t understand why it is so critical,” A1 Sadi said. Immediately after the Vienna agree ment was announced, the State Department said any inspections should be deferred until a new resolution out lining the mission is approved by the U.N. Security Council. However, spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration had no objection to inspectors making arrangements in advance. As promised, the Iraqis handed over four CDs containing a backlog of moni toring reports for suspect sites and items, spanning June 1998 to July 2002, Blix said. Although that information was not yet analyzed, it would provide important clues about Iraqi weapons activity, he said. Blix was asked if the results of the two-day meeting were a rebuff to the United States and its close British ally. The chief inspector said he would not be so “presumptuous,” as to rebuff anyone and that he would report in “all humility” to the Security Council Thursday. Blix further said restriction on access to the eight so-called presidential sites — encompassing about 12 square miles — remained in effect. The restriction on inspecting presi dential sites would have to be lifted by the Security Council, something U.N. representatives in Vienna had empha sized throughout the two days of talks. Blix said the Iraqis were serious about allowing the return of his team, saying: “There is a willingness to accept inspections that has not existed before.” Before the inspections resume, the Americans are. expected to push the Security Council for a new resolution to include the threat of military action if inspections fail. But Russia, China and France oppose issuing threats before inspectors can test Iraq’s sincerity. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Monday that France was still interested in a first resolution demanding a return to inspections, fol lowed by a second resolution threaten ing military action if Iraq fails to com ply. British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a strong statement Tuesday back ing the United States. “Let us lay down the ultimatum. Let Saddam comply with the will of the U.N.,” Blair said in a tough speech to a convention of his governing Labor Party. “If we lose our collective will to deal with it. we will lose the authority not of the United States or of Britain, but of the United Nations,” Blair said. At a regular weekly Cabinet meeting led by Saddam in Baghdad, senior Iraqi officials discussed the American efforts toward a new resolution. “If those evil people think that the war drums that are beating can force Iraq to give up its national rights, its rights according to the U.N. charter and to the (past) Security Council resolu tions, they are under an illusion,” Iraqi TV quoted the unidentified spokesman as saying after the meeting. In Ankara, Turkey, meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said the delegation in Vienna had been under instructions to cooperate fully. “Iraqis will totally assist U.N. inspectors,” Aziz said. “That way, those inspectors will be able to fulfill their mission and uncover the fact that there are no weapons of mass destruc tion in Iraq.” Aziz was in Turkey trying to per suade Ankara not to take part in any U.S.-led military action against Baghdad, as Turkey did in the Gulf War. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the full success of Blix’s mission would await Security Council comes up with new guidance or additional resolutions that might require him to modify his plan. “I’m pleased that he is in that state of readiness and we'll have to see how things develop over the next couple of weeks with respect to a resolution with new requirements,” Powell said in a television interview with PBS Monday night. Nearly four years ago, inspectors withdrew from Iraq on the eve of U.S.-British airstrikes amid allega tions that Baghdad was not cooperat ing with the teams. By the end of the 1991 Gulf War, IAEA assessments indicated Saddam was six months away from building an atomic bomb. Inspectors discovered the oil-rich nation had imported thousands of pounds of uranium, some of which was already refined for weapons use, and had considered two types of nuclear delivery systems. qual access to tax dollars needed Hurricane Lili gains strength for equal education, Sen. Ogden says By Eric Ambrose THE BATTALION quality in education for students can be ensured L|P rov ' din 8 all students with equal access to tax L a !?’ sa * ( l State Sen. Steve Ogden (R), co-chair- ; H n ort he legislature’s Joint Interim Committee on Ration Funding. tsn sa '^ wa nts to simplify the system, ItateTn t * le n ? et B°d of finance. The percentage of L n i* c '§ et going toward public education is drop- f n | Ogden said. c 0 °1 districts are relying more on local proper- j g . ax reve nues and less on income tax revenues, (he r* u aid ^ ea Bh care costs are “eating us alive.” j' v r °*‘ e ge Station School System does not quali- lent r f SUr T* us federal aid because less than 28 per- f “W ,tS stu dents do not receive free lunches, that C need to k e more creative with the money jov e We * lave ’ Ogden said. “The Federal leK lnni ^ nt clearly discriminates against states that first n a ■ ^ er sa l es tax instead of income tax. My Pnan^ 10 ' 1 ^ ' s to '"oaiotain a constitutional public » eSystem w hich means that all school children ave access to equal amounts of revenue and ln ^ar tax systems.” Ogden said he believes that all children can learn. [ntrri(| ),net,mes at different rates. Ogden plans to jiavs n( CC a k’" that will continue the customary 180 Qavst , 00 h hut will give school boards 15 extra I In h 0eC r ate c hildren that need more help. Pcad * • an ’ pnly students that do not meet certain Purine th Iet l u ' remen ts will have to come to school | i* 1686 15 days. § cn said this will give the schools more flexi bility in order to help students in need and create a fair learning environment. “One of the problems with the current system is that it doesn’t reward efficiency,” Ogden said. “I want to work on some sort of program to reward teachers that do a good job. Also, we need to use new money to hire new teachers and improve the teachers that we have.” Several members of the audience thanked Ogden for sharing his knowledge and discussing issues with them. “Enonnous progress has been made in the last ten years,” Ogden said. “Texas has become a model and leader for the nation as far as evaluation and accountability of its public schools. Fourth-graders are scoring the highest in the nation and public school spending has almost doubled in the last ten years. Spending in College Station is up about 50 percent.” Ogden represents 110 school districts, 10 percent of the districts in Texas. Public Education Spending; Around $29 billion in Texas t Spending in College Station is up 511% • Public school spending has almost doubled in the last 10 years • Percentage of state budget devoted to public education: 43% and dropping Ogden represents 110 school districts or 10% of the districts in Texas mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ruben Deluna • THE BATTALION Texas (AP) Texas officials were preparing for what could become a hurricane with winds around 115 mph as Lili churned its way toward the Gulf Coast, with landfall possi ble Thursday. “It’s a little bit early to tell that but I think areas there in the northwestern Gulf, say from Houston to New Orleans, should be monitoring the progress of the storm very care fully,” said Frank Lepore of the National Hurricane Center. The Texas Division of Emergency Management raised its alert status to Level Two on Tuesday morning. Only Level One is a higher state of alert on the four-level system. “We move our level of readiness up according to the threat to the state,” said Jack Colley, state coordinator for emergency management. A hurricane watch was declared for the northern U.S. Gulf Coast in Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, meaning hurri cane conditions were possible within 36 hours. A tropical storm watch was in effect from the Mississippi River to Pascagoula, Miss. At 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday, the eye of the storm was 560 miles southeast of New Orleans, moving toward the northwest near 15 mph, a general motion that was expected to continue for the next 24 hours, taking the center farther away from western Cuba and into the open Gulf of Mexico. Maximum sustained winds were near 105 mph, with high er gusts, making Lili a Category Two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Winds were expected to strengthen during the next 24 hours. The scale ranges from Category One to Category Five. A Category One hurri cane has winds from 74 to 95 mph, and a Category Five hur ricane has winds over 155 mph. The National Hurricane Center prediction puts the land fall of Lili in south Louisiana, around New Iberia, about Thursday afternoon. Lepore noted that the aver age prediction error is 150 miles on either side of the hur ricane’s projected path. “The hurricane is very much like a pinball being moved around between the large bumpers of clockwise and counterclockwise rotating air, so it depends in the high and low pressure systems,” he said. In Galveston, officials were Lili now a Category 2 hurricane Position: 22.7 N, 85.0 W Sustained winds: 105 mph Movement: NW 15 mph Hurricane warning Hurricane watch Tropical storm watch As of 5 p.m. EDI Tuesday 95" 0 200 n f 0 - 200 kr ' 85" SOURCES: National Weather i Service; ESRI urging residents to prepare fo a possible evacuation. Tony Myers, chief operatinj officer of East Texas Medica Center in Tyler, said his hospi tal was sending eight ambu lances to Beaumont Tuesda 1 night to evacuate nursing homi and medical facility patients They will be brought to Tyle about nqon Wednesday, h< said.