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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2002)
I Sports: Aggies looking for payback • Page 5 OPINION: Administrators make too much money • Page 11 'TTY I. ri Volume 109 • Issue 26 • 12 pages www.thebatt.com Friday, October 4, 2002 * Gates officially installed JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION Former President George Bush and Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates march to Rudder Auditorium before Gates' presidential inauguration Thursday. The ceremoni al march began in front of Cushing Library and ended at Rudder Auditorium. Faculty, administration celebrate convocation, inaugurate Gates JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION President Robert M. Gates gives the pres idential address in Rudder Auditorium at the 2002 Academic Convocation. By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION Dr. Robert M.Gates said his highest pri ority as president of Texas A&M is to make significant progress towards achieving the imperatives of Vision 2020. Gates was officially installed as the 22nd President of A&M Thursday at the Academic Convocation in Rudder Auditorium. “There are many obstacles in our path,” Gates said. “But there have always been tough challenges for Texas A&M and they have always been overcome. They have been overcome because of the Aggie Spirit, it is what makes this University truly unique.” Gates said all universities need to empha size the negative consequences of lying, stealing and cheating to graduating students. For A&M. this emphasis is consistent with past traditions, spirit and the Aggie Code of Honor, which must be made the core value of the University, Gates said. “It is a tradition we must strengthen and is a fire we must rekindle in our own hearts,” he said. Former President George Bush spoke highly of Gates, with whom he worked when Gates was director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1990s. Bush said he was proud to call him a friend. “Today Dean Gates officially becomes President Gates as he becomes the 22nd individual to lead what I am absolutely, totally convinced is one of the greatest institutes of higher learning in the entire world,” Bush said. Bush said the campus will see Gates as a man of great skill and integrity who can be counted on to do the right thing when it matters most. “You have the right man in the right job at the right moment in this school's hal lowed history,” Bush said. “The best days for this institution are still ahead of us.” Faculty Senate Speaker and accounting professor Robert Strawser said A&M’s facil ities are among the best and the University is actively pursuing a vision of excellence. “With the leadership of Bob Gates 1 am confident that we will succeed,” Strawser said. Strawser said he thinks of Gates as a partner and colleague although his title is president. “Bob has described himself as an agent of change, that is not entirely true. Bob is change,” he said. Chancellor of the Texas A&M System Howard D. Graves presented Gates with the presidential medallion. See Convocation on pagt? 2 Jones elected freshman class president ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION Venton C. Jones, a freshman biomedical science major, is congratu lated after learning he is the new freshman class president. By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Venton C. Jones won the office of freshman class presi dent in a landslide victory Thursday night. Jones, a biomedical sciences Major, garnered 55 percent of the vote, or 189 votes. Jones was ecstatic after the winners were announced. “What’s important more than anything is that I represent My class,” Jones said. Communicating with upper classmen, the administration and the community around me ) s going to be a big part of my job now, but I always want to stay in tune with my class.” The offices of vice presi dent, social secretary and histo rian will be decided in a run-off election on Wednesday, Oct. 9 and Thursday, Oct. 10. Students can vote at on-campus polling s,tes and online at v ote.tamu.edu. In these three e ections, no candidate received a majority of the vote. Results . 1 Be announced Thursday Mght at 10 p.m. at the Sul Ross statue in the Academic Plaza. Cinnamon Hodges and Ben Steed are the remaining candi dates competing for the office of vice president. Hodges, a history major, received 46 percent of the vote, or 261 votes. Steed, a general studies major, received 22 per cent of the vote, or 127 votes. Hodges said she envisions herself as a dedicated leader on a new adventure if she wins. “This is a fresh start for our class,” she said. “We're all in it together.” Until the elections next week, Hodges said she intends to continue campaigning 100 percent. Steed said if he gains office, uniting the class will be a primary goal. “I want to learn what’s expected and fulfill that role,’ Steed said. “Marketing will be an important aspect. I’m ready to get involved.” Steed said he plans to switch the focus of his campaign in the next week and design new flyers. “I’m going to campaign the hell,” he said. Melodic Jordan, a journalism major, and Joey Boggs, a gener al studies major, are running for the office of historian. Joshua Wagner, a general studies major, and Lear Bowling, also a gener al studies major, will be compet ing for social secretary. Jimmy Miller, a business major, is the new freshman class treasurer. Miller said he will be busy during the next year making sure class money is spent wisely and that the class views are heard. “The election was pretty See Elections on page 2 Lili downgraded, Texas Task Force returns home Lili makes landfall Hurricane Lili weakened off shore early hursday before .hitting the Louisiana coast with 100 mph winds and heavy rains. TEXAS C 2 ARK. Tropical storm _ — ~~ force winds, up LA. to 73 mph. ^Hurricane force, winds, 74 mp and abov Lafayette WP r i || liii | i ; Current as of 5 p.m. EOT Thursday Memphis Scale varies with perspective S °URCES: Associated Press; NOAA; USGS AP By Jeremy Osborne THE BATTALION Texas A&M Galveston stu dents and members of Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) will be returning home after Tropical Storm Lili’s landfall in Louisiana left the Texas coast out of harm’s way on Thursday. Lili was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mile-per-hour winds to a Category 2, with 92 mph winds, shortly before hitting the Louisiana coast at Marsh Island Thursday morning. As the storm moved further inland throughout the day, it lost power and speed and was expected to dwindle down to a 39 mph tropical storm by Friday morning. The TX-TFl’s Flood Rescue Strike Team, part of A&M’s Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), was dispatched to sites at Houston and Beaumont Wednesday in anticipation of damage from the storm reach ing into Texas. But Thursday afternoon. Gov. Rick Perry ordered the task force and other assembled rescue crews to stand down. Louisiana’s state forces will not need extra help, said Marilyn Martell, TEEX spokeswoman. Nine students arrived in College Station Wednesday evening. Classes at Galveston will not resume until Monday at 8 a.m. The students are not attending classes and have no duties during their stay in College Station, said Kate See Lili on page 2 American values threaten Islam, policy analyst says By Sarah Szuminski THE BATTALION Many Islamic critics of the United States believe that AmeYica prospers at the expense of citizens of other countries, said Dinesh D’Souza, former White House domestic policy analyst. D’Souza, who worked under former President Ronald Reagan, spoke at Blinn College Thursday night on perceptions of the United States in a speech, “Why They Hate Us: America and Its Enemies.” “Other countries and cultures benefit from and appreciate some of America’s develop ments such as technology and economic solutions,” D’Souza said. “But they reject other aspects, especially American society and morals,” he said. One Islamic view is that characteristics of America can not be “selectively imported,” and American society entering the Islamic world would ruin it, he said. “This is a country where we are the architects of our own destiny,” D’Souza said. “This, to me, is the great appeal of America.” D’Souza said that many peo ple immigrate to the United States in search of a better life because America provides a higher standard of living for the common man. It also provides citizens with the freedom to make decisions concerning their lives, he said. The American ideal of being true to yourself, or choosing your own destiny, is a threaten ing idea to Islam, D’Souza said. “A self-directed life says to the wife or son, ‘you don’t have to listen to the male head of the household,”' he said. Islamic citizens view them selves as superior because their culture is based on virtue, and they believe morality is more important than freedom, he said. The problem with this view, D’Souza said, is that freedom is necessary for virtue. Without the freedom to choose a moral way of life, there is no virtue, he said. D’Souza pointed to the example of Islamic women cov ering their faces not out of mod esty, but because they are ordered to. “Freedom give£ Americans the liberty to secure the ‘good life,”’ D’Souza said, “but also pursue a life that is good.” Five slain in suburb of nation’s capital SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Five people were gunned down one by one in the Washington suburbs in less than 16 hours, and authorities said Thursday they were looking for a “skilled shoot er” suspected of felling each victim with a single bullet. While cautioning that the slayings had not definitely been linked, police said it was a strong possibility. “We do have someone that so far has been very accurate in what they are attempting to do,” Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said. More than 24 hours after the murders began, officers called in on overtime were patrolling the streets of the affluent county as a state police helicopter flew overhead. Officers were posted at malls in nearby Rockville, where the city’s afternoon and evening recreation programs were canceled. The victims were killed in Maryland suburbs north of the nation’s capital between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday. One was shot as he mowed a lawn, another while cleaning her car at a gas station, a third outside a post office. Investigators said they had found no indication the victims were related or had any conflicts. None appeared to have been robbed. Police also said race did not appear to be a motive, noting the victims included two white men, a white woman, a Hispanic woman and a man from India. “We’re across the board in genders and ethnic backgrounds,” police spokeswoman Nancy Demme said. The ages of the victims ranged from to 25 to 55. Nearly 150 state troopers and federal authorities, including the FBI and Secret Service, were involved in the case. Police said they had no'eyewitnesses, though one person reported seeing a white van with two occupants speed away from one of the slayings. Police said they were search ing for a white cargo van with black lettering, possibly with damage to the lift in the back. White vans across the region were still being pulled over by authorities Thursday night. Officers were also collecting security camera videos from var ious businesses near the shooting scenes. Police set up a tip hotline and offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to arrests and indictments. “The phone lines are full,” said Capt. Nancy Demme, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman. The shootings occurred in one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, with a median household income of nearly $71,000. A quarter of all resi dents are foreign-born. Police urged residents to stay calm and asked parents not to rush to schools to get their kids. Moose said he would not impose a curfew. “To the people who are out and about, we’re all concerned. We’re all fearful at this point. But we must continue with life,” Moose said. Shooting spree Within 16 hours, five people were shot and killed in public places in Montgomery County, Md. Th, .reHo* MARYLAND Thursday, -8:37 a.m. Thursday, Thursday, 7:41a.m. ,8:12 a * <§) Montgomery Wed ^ Co. 6:04 Thursday 9:58 a.m. 0 2 mi o Detail SOURCE: Associate Press; ESRI AP
