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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2002)
( FHE b attalio X • THE BATTALION in along with ed during the starting at 1 ncan ences or Understand dedicated to p' Islam in Amer.. ries the ads hi boards becau on in those coe i board, ly to put out a 6? is talking to abeit Aggielife. When the game's away • Page 3 Opinion: Failing to make the grade • Page 9 THF RATTAT TO A 11 -L. O/vJ. A jiJL*A Volume 109 • Issue 46 • 10 pages www.thebatt.com Friday, November 1, 2002 Professor asked to j oin diversity committee By Sarah Darr THE BATTALION A Texas A&M dean is part of a national effort to increase the number ofAmerican Indians attending gradu- : school. The American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) in Albuquerque, N.M. invited Professor Dr. Rick Giardino, ihedean of Graduate Studies, to join the advisory committee of the Consortium for American Indian Graduate Education. The committee will help schools around the nation with ideas to increase their number of American Indian graduate students, Giardino said. American Indian students, let alone those in graduate school, are few and far between, he said. Only 22 of the 8,308 graduate and professional students at A&M this fall are American Indian by ethnicity. Of the 36,775 undergraduates, 189 are American Indian. “I think it will help the A&M cam pus, but it’s not just for A&M” Giardino said. American Indians are the least rep resented of all minority groups in the country in fields requiring advanced degrees, said Molly Tovar, chief oper ating officer at the AIGC. The AIGC, a non-profit organiza tion, was established in 1969. The goal of the organization is to assist American Indian college graduates to advance their education, Tovar said. The focus committee on graduate students is the first of its kind, com posed of 15 members who are com mitted to diversity, Tovar said. The goal of the advisory committee is to help universities and deans across the country get American Indians involved in higher education. The committee will meet to discuss chal lenges American Indian students face, the presence of racism, and programs to assist these problems, Tovar said. One such problem Tovar believes will be useful is the Gates Mills Program, which encourages American Indians to go to college. “What better way to get Natives involved in graduate programs than to get them started at the undergraduate See Diversity on page 2 American Indians at A&M •Only 213 students of the 45,083 this fall are native Undergraduate: Masters: PhD: Professionals: Source: Office of Institutional Studies and Planning at Texas A&M 189 (of 36,775) 11 (of 4,822) 9 (of 1,898) 2(of 493) TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION Trick or Treat lly go out and ip ; wanted it, wit* anted to hear on : broadcast by tl« network, whid Boucher said is under no i®' cide bombers b) nited States wi A EK! tatio" ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION One-year-old Clint Forman, left, and Christian Johnson, right, excit edly wait for more candy in their wagon while trick-or-treating at the Chi Omega house on sorority row Thursday night. The Halloween activities were part of Greek Week, a week to unify Greek Aggies. Texas governor candidates spend millions SAN ANTONIO (AP) - The top expenditures of Can didates for Texas governor have s Pent $89 million in the campaign, eno ugh money to hire 1,348 new Pence officers and put them on the streets in 1,348 sparkling, new Patrol cars. . a l so enough money to hire ■ 20 classroom teachers. Or pay tor a four-year col ie education for 2,000 Texas high sctl °ol students "at state universities. According to a tnursday article in J 6 San Antonio Express-News 2 million could PERRY Pay for day care for 13,000 children or two years. Tll e record-setting campaign Democrat Tony Sanchez and Republican Rick Perry could top $100 million by next week’s general election. When the winner takes office in January, he’ll face a state revenue shortfall of at least $5 billion. “For us, it’s just painfully ironic when one of the major topics, for whoever wins office next week, is going to be the state of the budget and what services we are and aren’t going to be able to pay for, said Patrick Bresette, associate director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. “The amount of money they’re spend ing, compared to what we need, is eye-opening.” “It can’t put enough police on the streets,” Craig McDonald of Texas For Public Justice, a campaign wryly, in the finance reform group, said but “it can put one person governor’s office.” “Obviously, this is an obscene misdirection of (money),” said Tom Smith of Public Citizen, an Austin- based consumer’s organization. “We have far greater uses for these monies, such as taking care of law enforcement, mental health, medical care, and environmen tal protection.” Perry wants to expand acces sibility to online learning for col lege students, offered in major Texas cities, $89 million would buy a desktop computer and four years of SANCHEZ Based on prices broadband Internet service for nearly 28,000 college students. Sanchez has said that health care reform is a major concern for Texans. That $89 million would pick up the two-year tab for Medicaid for 19,000 Texans, according to Eva De Luna, who works with Bresette. Reggie James of Consumers Union pointed out that campaign money consists of private donations, not state revenue that’s used to oper ate the government. Student appointed chair of VP search committee By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Unive a . er sity President Dr. Robert M. Gates has ^Pointed a Texas A&M student to co-chair the mem cornrn ittee searching for a replace- Mal t0 o Vlce Pres ident of Student Affairs Dr. J. ^^Q^therland, whose retirement is effective kf tUc j® n ts have served on search committees •e but never as a co-chair. Gates said. St Hill, executive vice president of the Cll lt en j Gcwernment Association and senior agri- in al business major, will head the committee the ° 0 p erat i ori with Jane Close Conoley, dean of D eve i^ lege of Education and Human tee ° Ur ot b er students will serve on the commit- preJj Misery capacities: Darren J. Pierson, Ham ent °* t ^ le G ra duate Student Council; Barry C ent mond > President of the Memorial Student m a j 6r dVT$C) Council and senior economics r > Gabriela Oroza, chair of the Student Services Fee Advisory Board and senior psychol ogy major; and Travis Nichols, deputy command er of the Corps of Cadets, Cadet Colonel and sen ior animal science major. “Student affairs so directly affects students that 1 thought it would be appropriate to appoint a student leader to this position,” Gates said. Students will help to frame candidate ques tions, Conoley said. “They will have particular insights about the kind of person we are looking for,” she said. “Especially in the interview process, they will know who students will want and who they won’t.” Conoley said many students may not realize how far-reaching the effects of the vice president for Student Affairs’ office might be: Student Affairs involves the MSC, Fish Camp, and stu dent organizations. The committee will host several open forums and invite different groups to attend and give input, Conoley said. The committee will meet within the next two weeks, hosting Gates at its first meeting. Gates said he will let the committee have some parameters for the search, but he would like to see a certain type of person fill the job. “I will let them know how I see the position, and then it’s their job to write a detailed job description and complete the search,” he said. This level of a search should take three to four months to find a candidate, Gates said. Conoley said she hopes to have the candidates make campus visits as soon as February. “Each committee member is charged with developing a list of nominations,” she said. “We are moving as fast as we can.” Conoley has served as chair of several search committees, most recently the presidential search committee that chose Gates this spring. Conoley said the typical dynamics at A&M during such a process includes a voice for having a former stu dent take the position. But an external applicant may bring a new perspective along with new experience, she said. Southerland has served for nine years in this position. Greek Week finishes with finale parade By Rob Phillips THE BATTALION The Texas A&M University Greek communi ty hopes to promote Aggie unity by inviting stu dent organizations to participate in Saturday’s Aggieland Parade, the final event of Aggie Greek Week. “It’s a celebration of Greeks being on campus for 30 years, but we’re one big Aggie family,” said Tammie Preston-Cunningham, A&M Greek Life adviser. Thirty student and community organizations will march down John Kimbrough Boulevard, starting at the George Bush Presidential Library Complex and concluding at the tennis courts near Reed Arena. Groups may build a float, ride in a vehicle or simply walk the parade route. Judges will be on hand to award a group with Best Float, said Stephanie Hascal, Greek Week co-chair. A squadron representing the Corps of Cadets will march through West Campus, Hascal said. Float staging is at 9:30 a.m. The parade begins at 11 a.m. A barbecue and satellite tailgate party for the A&M-Oklahoma State football game will begin at the tennis court parking lot following the parade. The barbecue is free and open to the public. Spectators are encouraged to park at Reed Arena, Preston-Cunningham said. The parade is sponsored by the A&M Office of Greek Life and the Greek Week Committee. Proceeds from the parade will benefit the Bryan- College Station Parks and Recreation Department. Hascal said the Aggieland Parade route is rel atively short because this is the first year for the parade. She said the parade should increase in size next year and become a permanent fixture of Aggie Greek Week. Aggie Greek Week is actually a month-long event involving A&M sororities and fraternities. Organizations from different cultures and back grounds were paired together to encourage unity and embody Greek Week’s theme of “Individually Unique, Together Complete,” Hascal said. “We feel the theme applies to all of Texas A&M because no matter what organization you belong to, we’re all Aggies first,” said Melissa Williams, Greek Week co-chair. Teams of students embarked on a city-wide park clean-up project Wednesday. Other events included Halloween trick-or-treat on Sorority Row and the Philanthropy Showcase, an oppor tunity for Greek organizations to provide infor mation about their community service projects. Aggieland Parade Starts 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2