Sports. Oklahoma visiting Aggies at Kyle Field • Page 7 Opinion: Determining who goes pro • Page 11
THF RATTAT TOM
A J>/\ A A /VL,A WIN
Volume 109 • Issue 51 • 12 pages
www.thebatt.com
Friday, November 8, 2002
'reposed resolute,
3frame for inspect
)ons
8 roust
• report 60 da^
e- after starting wjtt
9 the Security Com*:
Theiastdaytofep,,;
18 Fe ft- 21,2003
Pet 21,a
'eiving the inspectors
Security Council
ly convene to consid?
'n and the need fortt
3 m order to restore
al peace and secunt(
ling pemianenic®
Russia, Fit
d China—befoitv.
w text with iheoiiitr
embers.
Ambassador „
te said he wanted an
’s end."
>ecretarv-Gend
who
tv’s council mesa
hope that the
ak “with one t
which opposes.»
said it has "tof
Norway, Cotes
ria indicated die; i
ie resolution, te
>ore said
ct to their capitaiilt!
aneat
A&M researchers no longer cloning pets
Uiccinlirilu PvAiont CiniffifllHlHi , r ^ Sr , t
Ur Started three years ago with $ 4 million
I" grant from Drizona businessman
‘ He wanted his mixed-breed dog, missy,
cloned
‘^The project produced the world’s first cloned
"cat,‘'CC” in December
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
By Rob Phillips
THE BATTALION
The cloning project at Texas
A&M’s College of Veterinary
Medicine, which produced the world’s
first cloned cat, has come to an end.
Arizona businessman John
Sperling and the company he created
more than three years ago to clone his
pet dog, a mixed breed named Missy,
have withdrawn their funding from
the A&M “Missiplicity” project after
it tailed to produce a clone of his dog.
That’s a loss of $3.7 million for
the program and an end, for now, to
the controversial cloning of domesti
cated pets at the A&M lab that was
made famous in the race to clone the
most species.
Genetic Savings and Clone, the
biotechnology company founded by
Sperling, will seek an industrial
partnership in the hopes of obtaining
better technology, said Ben Carlson,
vice president of communications
for the company.
In the meantime, A&M’s lab is left
looking for funding through more tra
ditional sources.
“We will seek other sources of
funding and continue our work
through the National Institutes of
Health, the United States Department
of Agriculture or other private
investors,” said Dr. Mark Westhusin,
Missiplicity team member and A&M
associate professor of veterinary
physiology and pharmacology.
The Missiplicity research team
See Cloning on page 2
.JHUKk
FILE PHOTO
CC. is the last domestic pet the
A&M Missiplicity project
researchers cloned.
Senate
considers
mid-term
evaluations
By Eric Ambrose
THE BATTALION
i weapons
>. officials anno;;
g alleged plots:-!
rchasesfoiOsar
on and a Ce"
a plot by four#
to trade $25
cache of weapei
If-Defense
100-member paut
ials in Spanish
ople are charged**
ish to buy four sW
missiles for to
t.)
The Student Senate present
ed a bill on Wednesday that
would have professors receive
mid-semester evaluations to
strengthen their classes, hope
fully reducing the number of Q-
drops used.
Senators pushed for two mid
semester evaluations to be given
to students voluntarily along with
the end-of-semester evaluation.
The current policy mandates that
; each Texas A&M instructor con
duct an evaluation of the class at
the end of each semester. The
_policv introduced by the senate
would encourage professors to
conduct additional evaluations
after the 20th day of class and
before the 30th day of class.
“Students in the class (which
•s) being evaluated do not bene
fit while in that class from the
end-of-semester evaluations,”
said Natasha Eubanks,
Academic Affairs Committee
chair. “Usually, evaluations are
just venting tools. Additional
evaluations would improve
communications between
instructors and students.”
According to the bill,
instructors will make their own
assessment forms. Each profes
sor would then submit the infor
mation to the department head.
Mid-semester evaluations
will be compared to the end-of-
semester evaluation to show any
progress made in the class,
Eubanks said. This policy could
reduce the amount of Q-drops
and better utilize academic
resources.
Instructors, as well as stu
dents, need to be held account
able for their performance
throughout the semester,”
Eubanks said. “This accounta-
mlity cannot be well-established
by using a single evaluation at
the end of the semester.”
The bill will be considered at
the senate’s next meeting Nov. 20.
In emergency legislation, the
senate unanimously passed a
See Senate on page 2
Ouch!
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Senior marketing major Stephanie Mullins gets a
free flu shot from Veronica Shannon, a licensed
vocational nurse, in the lobby of the Student
Recreation Center Tuesday afternoon. Maxim Health
Care Company, based out of Houston, sponsored the
free flu shots given out at various campus locations.
U.N. set to vote on Iraq resolution
France makes critical agreement, Bush confident
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte vote, calling Saddam “a real threat
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The
United States reached a critical agree
ment with France on a tough Iraq res
olution, paving the way for a vote
Friday which President Bush
expressed confidence in winning.
The U.N. Security Council set the
vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United
States and its cosponsor Britain, at
French urging, changed the wording
in a key provision that would declare
Iraq in “material breach” of its U.N.
obligations.
The change addresses concerns by
France, Russia, Syria and others that
the original text would have let the
United States determine on its own
whether Iraq had committed an infrac
tion. They feared that such a determi
nation, would have triggered an attack
on Saddam.
The new wording requires U.N.
weapons inspectors to make an assess
ment of any Iraqi violations.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte
said there was “broad support” for the
resolution, which would toughen
weapons inspections and threaten Iraq
with “severe consequences” if it
doesn’t comply.
Russian Ambassador Sergey
Lavrov wouldn’t say how his govern
ment will vote. But a U.S. administra
tion official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said Russian President
Vladimir Putin conveyed a “positive”
message during a conversation with
Bush on Thursday, assuring him that
the resolution would pass without say
ing whether Russia would vote “yes”
or abstain.
“We have heard the latest amend
ments,” Lavrov said. “We got expla
nations that neither of the cosponsors
interprets the language as containing
automatic use of force, and we will be
reporting this to our capitals.”
Bush had pushed for a Friday
vote, calling Saddam “a real threat”
and declaring that “it’s now time for
the world to come together and dis
arm him.”
The president was clearly prepared
for victory.
Twice during a wide-ranging news
conference at the White House, he
referred to passage as an issue of
“when,” rather than “if.”
“When this resolution passes, I will
be able to say that the United Nations
has recognized the threat and now
we’re going to work together to disarm
him,” Bush said. “And he must be
cooperative in the disarmament.”
Language in another key para
graph was also changed to account
for Russian concerns of a second
hidden trigger.
The world body’s chief weapons
inspector, Hans Blix, said he’s confi
dent his team will be back in Iraq
soon, after a nearly four-year absence.
$5 million
grant goes to
Kingsville
By Lecia Baker
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M University at Kingsville
(TAMUK) will receive a $5 million grant from the
National Science Foundation over the next five
years to provide Ph.D. programs for Hispanic stu
dents in the environmental engineering field.
TAMUK currently offers the only engineering
doctoral program in South Texas, said Dr. Andrew
Ernest, principal investigator for the newly creat
ed Center for Research Excellence in Science and
Technology-Research on the Environmental
Sustainability for Semi-Arid Coastal Areas. The
doctoral program began in January 2002. The
grant was given to use Kingsville as a springboard
to increase research capacity in environmental
engineering, he said.
Ernest said the National Science Foundation
donates grants to strong programs to conduct cut
ting edge research. He*said the goal is to make the
program nationally competitive in five to 10 years.
“It takes a vision and an influx of money to
take us from a productive university to a national
ly known university,” Ernest said.
Ernest said he expects the environmental
research program to become more competitive and
similar to programs at A&M in College Station.
The grant will be split up among several types
of students. The $1 million per year will give about
10 Ph.D. students $20,000 a year and give several
graduate students $12,000 a year. The grant will
also be used to pay for equipment, conferences,
and facilitate faculty exchange, Ernest said.
“The key focus is that we get as many Ph.D.
students through as possible,” Ernest said.
Dr. Kuruvilla John, associate professor in the
Department of Environmental Engineering, said
the grant has been divided up into three broad
research areas: environmental informatics, envi
ronmental systems modeling and living laborato
ries for academics and research.
John said TAMUK has partnered with many
See Grant on page 2
exas A&M Kingsville
targets Hispanic Pli.D.s
Texas A&M Kingsville is trying to build
a competitive engineering program
using af
$ 5 million grant
The money mriit support
10 Ph.D. students
The goal Is to bring more educational
opportunities to South Texas
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
ahead
3 new
f new
a d i n g
n day
ou in
call
Campaigning for Democratic leadership
Rep. Richard Gephardt announced plans Thursday to step aside
es House Democratic leader, opening up a race for the job
between the second and third ranking Democrats in the House,
Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Martin Frost.
Rep. Nancy
Pelosi
Born - March 26,
1940.
Education - Trinity
College, 1962.
Experience —
Elected
emocratic whip in October 2001.
Eight-term congresswoman from
California's 8th District, which
includes most of San Francisco,
serves on the Appropriations and
^elect Intelligence committees.
Chairwoman of the California
Democratic Party, 1983-84;
Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee, 1984-86.
Family — Married to Paul Pelosi; five
children
Rep. Martin
Frost
Born - Jan. 1,
1942
Education - B.A
and B.J., University
of Missouri, 1964;
J.D., Georgetown
University Law Center, 1970
Experience — House Democratic
Caucus Chair for past two terms;
Twelve-term Congressman from
Texas’ 24th District, which includes
parts of Dallas; U.S.Army reservist,
1966-1972; lawyer in private
practice; journalist.
Family - Married to Maj. Gen. Kathy
George Frost; three children; two
grandchildren
^CUKut: Associated
Press
AP
Democrats divided over new House leader
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two House
veterans, Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Martin
Frost, jumped into a race for Democratic
leader on Thursday, and the jabbing began at
once over the future of a party reeling from
midterm election losses.
“I think that her politics are to the left,
and I think that the party, to be successful,
must speak to the broad center of the coun
try,” said Frost, a Texan whose rival repre
sents most of San Francisco.
Pelosi, judged by party officials to be the
front-runner in the race, sidestepped the
attack and turned her fire on the GOP
instead. “We must draw clear distinctions
between our vision of the future and the
extreme policies put forward by the
Republicans,” she said in a statement. “We
cannot allow Republicans to pretend they
share our values and then legislate against
those values without consequence.”
The two began their race as the party’s
leader, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri,
told members of the rank-and-file he would
not seek another term in the job he has held
for eight years.
Democrats “need a leader for the next
two years who can devote his or her undi
vided attention to putting our party back in
the majority,” Gephardt said.
“It’s time for me personally to take a dif
ferent direction ... and take on this president
and the Republican Party from a different
vantage point,” he added in remarks point
ing toward a possible campaign for the
White House in 2004.
Later, in an interview in the Capitol
office he soon will vacate, the Missouri
Democrat said he intends to take the oath of
office for a new term next month and has no
firm plans beyond that. “I’ll look at running
for president,” he said, “I’ve done it before
and I know a lot about it.”
While Pelosi, 62, and Frost, 60, have
served side by side for years, they have
charted different courses in the House, and
have taken different positions on recent
high-profile issues.
Pelosi, who is her party’s senior member
on the intelligence committee, voted against
legislation that authorized President Bush to
use force against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Frost supported it.
Frost, a former party campaign chair
man, was a late, reluctant recruit to the bat
tle for legislation to reduce the role of
money in politics, expressing concern about
the impact of the law on the party’s ability to
compete for funds with Republicans. One of
Pelosi’s first successes as party whip was to
round up enough votes to pass the measure.
On another key issue this year, though,
the leadership rivals both voted against leg
islation strengthening Bush’s ability to
negotiate international trade deals.
Several party aides said Pelosi, who
won an eighth term from her California
district this week, begins the leadership
race as the favorite.