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Sports: Aggies host Nebraska Saturday • Page 7 Opinion: Polygraph test proves flawed • Page 11
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Volume 109 • Issue 41 • 12 pages
Rain presents
concerns for
4 football game
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
With the chance of rain expected to be between
50and 70 percent during Saturday’s 6 p.m. Texas
A&M vs. University of Nebraska game, the
University is advising students to take the neces
sary precautions for inclement weather.
Margaret Griffith, Health Education Coordinator
aiA.P Beutal Health Center, said people need to
member to wear rain gear to the game.
Umbrellas are a safety hazard and are not
allowed at any games, said Penny King, senior
associate athletic director.
“We let people bring umbrellas a few years ago
and we had many injuries from the points on
umbrellas,” King said.
Umbrellas also block the view of people
behind them. King said.
Kyle Wills, assistant chief of Texas A&M
EMS and a junior general studies major, said as
the weather cools, people still need stay hydrated
during the game.
“People need to drink plenty of water before
die game and bring a water bottle with them to the
game,” Wills said.
Heat-related problems are the most common
ilth problems encountered during games.
King said students can bring up to a quart-sized
bottle of water into the stadium, but if it’s open it
will be checked for alcohol content.
People should not drink alcohol before games,
11s said.
“EMS always discourages drinking alcohol, but
if people are going to drink they at least need to
drink responsibly and also drink water,” Wills said.
Wills said the easiest way to get hold of EMS
in case of emergency during the game is to dial
911. Two ambulances are stationed at Kyle Field
incaseofemergencies, more than what is required
by the Big 12.
Along with the EMS, 60 to 100 certified
[Emergency Care Team members are divided
[among each level at Kyle Field.
Gameclay SEafetzy Tips:
www.thebatt.com
Friday, October 25, 2002
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■Source: Texas A&IVI EIVIB
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
China president visits A&M
W * ' Mm,
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RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
J.P. BEATO III • THE BATTALION
Members of Falun Gong meditate on the lawn of the George Bush Presidential Library in oppo
sition of the China president's visit Thursday.
Protests go
on despite
weather
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
More than 1,500 Falun Gong
practitioners silently meditated
and held signs while nearly
1,000 pro-China demonstrators
waving Chinese flags held ban
ners welcoming President Jiang
Zemin to the the George Bush
Presidential Library Complex
Thursday morning.
The two groups were sepa
rated by 50 feet and confined by
3-foot-high metal barriers while
police looked on during Jiang’s
brief visit to College Station.
Zemin arrived from Houston at
11 a.m. in a large motorcade
and departed around 2 p.m.
The torrential downpour and
lightning overhead did not
affect attendance, though lack
of parking and transportation
prevented some Falun Gong
protestors from arriving, said
Jared Pearman, an informal
Falun Gong organizer and a
student at the University of
Central Florida.
Supporters of the President of the People's Republic of China
gather alongside protesters outside the Bush Library Thursday.
Pearman was one of many
out-of-state protesters. Other
protesters came from as far
away as Boston, Maine,
Vancouver and Poland.
Texas A&M graduate stu
dent Nian Wang came out with
his friends to show support for
China and welcome Jiang to
College Station.
“Before (Falun Gong) was
banned, some members of my
family (in China) practiced it”
Wang said. “But now, I think
Falun Gong is absolutely bad. If
they do believe in it, they will try
to get rid of people who do not.”
Pearman said he participat
ed in a protest in China in
February that let him see
Chinese oppression firsthand.
“The police hate you so
much, it’s hard to keep thinking
straight,” he said. “The Falun
Gong practictioners in China
must be so strong.”
Dr. Charles Hermann, asso
ciate dean of the George Bush
School of Government and
Public Service, said the dedica
tion of the supporters was clear
because of their strong pres
ence, even in the pouring rain.
“It’s very clear that a num
ber of Chinese and Taiwanese
people feel very strongly about
See Protests on page 2
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
China President Jiang Zemin answers ques
tions from a crowd of more than 600 Thursday.
Jiang encourages
U.S. friendship
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
Tensions that often characterize U.S.-China
relations were kept in the background as China
President Jiang Zemin urged closer friendship
between the two countries in his speech
Thursday at Texas A&M.
Addressing an audience of students and
George Bush Presidential Library Complex
donors, Jiang heralded China’s economic
reforms and modernization, and said China and
America would benefit from improved ties.
“The more developed, more open and more
intimately connected with the outside China is,
the greater our need will be for an international
environment of lasting peace and stability,”
Jiang said.
Security was tight and the thousands of
demonstrators who braved the rain to stand out
side the George Bush Presidential Conference
Center to protest Jiang’s human rights abuses
were kept at a distance.
Jiang, who will meet with President Bush
today at his ranch in Crawford, was introduced
by former President George Bush, who praised
Jiang’s leadership and stressed the importance
of U.S.-China ties.
“This is the most important bilateral relation
ship in the entire world when it comes to pro
tecting trade and world peace ” Bush said.
See Jiang on page 2
Faculty can no longer
distribute grades by SSN
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By Jeremy Osborne
THE BATTALION
The U.S. Department of Education found that
rtgof part of a student’s social security number
isplay grades violates the Family Educational
*Pts and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).
C j j m °nth, the Texas A&M registrar’s office
new* a merno to faculty members stating the
P° ,ic y- The memo said faculty members are
sid 1 j! te d from leaving graded assignments out-
e ° their offices for student pick up.
rele CCOrc *' n 8 to FERPA, universities cannot
socM 6 P ersona * student information such as a
eend Se r cur ' t y number, citizenship, grades and
-1 er ' FERPA is administered by the Family
Ucati 0m Pli ance ^ > ^ lce * n fr e Department of
secu 3011 * 1 ^ rnerr| Bers are allowed to use social
f 0rni nt y nur nbers when students sign a consent
trarv^ 11 ^ mern t)ers may assign random, arbi-
fipac nUrn ^ ers to students for purposes of identi-
FFr'h ° ne course -
RPA is not a law that’s set in concrete,”
wa "j 1 y an Harper, associate registrar. “The
re gular b • ^ ature twea ks it and changes it on a
nj he )y ar ning to A&M faculty comes after
Torkwfr' 0 ^ 6 ^ 6 t ^ ie City University of New
tj Ce §‘ Ve n two weeks to end the posting prac-
l^tfoi ^ emove 3,1 public grade postings by the
withr^ F c . ’§' ts °f student’s social security numbers
In V heirconsem -
(Jni . a y> an A&M student showed the
deat s > Slt ^ site s that displayed A&M stu-
)8 ^ r ^ es By social security number from
Sinr t ‘ le P resen t, Harper said,
attend tlen ’ University officials have been
Nm n t0 rernove the information.
ot an of them (the Web sites) were identi
fied by instructor. We had to look up the class as
long as we knew what term it was,” Harper said.
“Some were password protected so we couldn’t
get in there to clean them up.”
A&M has not been contacted by the Department
of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office,
Harper said.
“This is preventative,” Harper said. “It’s a
good faith effort to say we are trying to instruct
our faculty that posting grades by any part of a
student’s social security number violates
FERPA.”
The penalty for violating FERPA is the
University’s loss of federal funds administered
by the Department of Education. These funds
include financial aid.
“I am able to go to school here because of
financial aid,” said Jenifer Lack, a junior history
major. “I’d rather wait a little longer to get my
grade than not be able to go to school here.”
Some students are upset over the delay this is
causing.
“I think that it’s very inconvenient that we
have to wait,” said Lindsey Grimes, a sophomore
psychology major. “I think social security num
bers are private enough, and using those numbers
is good enough as a code.”
Faculty members also expressed concerns.
“Grades should be private, but we need to
work out a satisfactory system to deliver grades
to students,” said Dr. Robert Strawser, account
ing professor and speaker of the Faculty Senate.
Strawser currently uses a program titled
Grade Viewer that allows students to view only
their grades by entering the last five digits of
their social security numbers.
“The question becomes, ‘Can I continue using
this?’ because it does employ the last five digits
of students’ social security numbers,” Strawser
See FERPA on page 2
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) —
One of America’s most extraor
dinary manhunts culminated
Thursday in the arrests of an
Army veteran and a teenager,
asleep at a roadside rest stop —
perpetrators, authorities believed,
of a bloody, three-week sniping
spree that left 10 people dead and
multitudes paralyzed by fear.
John Allen Muhammad, 41,
and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo
were not immediately charged,
but law-enforcement sources
told The Associated Press inves
tigators were certain they were
the culprits.
One such source, speaking
on condition of anonymity,
said a gun found in the sus
pects’ car appeared to use .223-
calber bullets — the fatal call
ing card in a series of sniper
attacks that began Oct. 2, with
the killing of James D. Martin
in a grocery store parking lot in
Wheaton, Md.
Police also found a scope and
a tripod in the car, the official
said.
The suspects, it seems, might
have been tripped up by their
own arrogance; authorities said
they received a call on the task
force tip line taking responsibil
ity for the sniper attacks and for
something in “Montgomery.”
Evidence from a Sept. 21
liquor store heist in Montgomery,
Ala., which left one employee
dead and another injured, then led
police to Malvo and Muhammad.
But who were these two, and
why might they have unleashed
Two men arrested in sniper case
Two men were arrested early
Thursday off 1-70 in Frederick
County, Md., about 50 miles
northwest of Washington, D C.
John Alien Muhammad, 41
► Also goes
by the name
John Allen
Williams
► News
paper
reports said
he was
stationed at
Fort Lewis
outside Muhammad in a
Tacoma, 1995 mug shot
Wash., in the 1980s, served
in the Gulf War and was later
stationed at Fort Ord, Calif.
John Lee Malvo, 17
► Jamaican citizen believed to be
Muhammad’s stepson
► Attended high school last year
in Bellingham, Wash., about 90
miles north of Seattle, where he
raised a flag
with local
police when he
arrived without
transcripts or
other papers.
► His
fingerprint was
reportedly
found at the
scene of a Malvo
Sept. 21 liquor store robbery in
Montgomery, Ala., in which two
employees were shot, one fatally.
SOURCE: Associated Press
teiTor on Maryland, Virginia and
the District of Columbia?
According to The Seattle
Times, Muhammad is a veteran
of the Gulf War who converted to
Islam. Malvo, described in some
media reports as his stepson, is a
citizen of Jamaica. The Times
quoted federal sources as saying
the two had been known to speak
sympathetically about the hijack
ers who attacked the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.
But there was no indication,
authorities said, that they were
linked to al-Qaida or any ter
rorist group.
The two were arrested with
out incident by members of the
AP
sniper task force at a rest stop in
Frederick County, 50 miles
northwest of Washington. The
time was 3:19 a.m.
Three hours earlier,
Montgomery County Police
Chief Charles Moose had
announced that Muhammad and
Malvo were being sought and
issued a nationwide alert for a
blue, 1990 Chevrolet Caprice
with New Jersey plates. A
motorist and an attendant spot
ted the car and called police.
All told, 13 people were shot
in the serial snipings. Three sur
vived, among them a 13-year-
old boy, gunned down as he
arrived at school.