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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2002)
1 HE B«Ull Acgielife: Working hard for the money • Page 3 Opinion: Coke building should be renamed • Page 11 THE BATTALIO olume 109 • Issue 53 • 12 pages www.thebatt.com Tuesday, November 12, 2002 IValton president appeals censure By Richard Bray THE BATTALION The president of Walton Hall is appealing his [pulsion from campus as punishment for allowing I lalton residents to shout inappropriate yells at a ifll practice earlier this year. I If Walton President Justin “Chuck” Faith is licked off campus, he will no longer be a lesidence Hall Association (RHA) member and ■ill no longer represent Walton in the RHA |leneral Assembly, said RHA President John lasares. I Faith’s appeal is going through Student Conflict Jesolution Services. Since University President Dr. Robert M. Gates’ [rival, Gates has stressed the importance of main lining the University's reputation and ensuring a [mily-friendly, positive atmosphere at all Texas events, said Craig Rotter, the coordinator for :adership development in the Department of Residence Life and the RHA adviser. At one of the first yell practices this semester, Walton Hall residents shouted obscenities as part of their hall yells. After the first inappropriate yell, police began to congregate near the Walton resi dents, Faith said. The second yell, Walton’s grode yell, attracted the attention of several University officials, including Rotter. Two Walton residents were escorted out of Kyle Field, Faith said. Faith, already on conduct probation with Student Lite, was about to leave the stadium, but changed his mind when Rotter asked him to stop the Walton residents from continuing their yells. He stopped the obscene yells, but after he left, Walton residents shouted, “Beat the hell outta Craig Rotter,” Faith said. He received no warnings that he might be pun ished tor Walton residents’ behavior. Faith said. Faith is appealing his expulsion because he does not believe he should be responsible for the actions of Walton residents after he left Kyle Field, he said. The first yell practice was an issue for the University due to the behavior of several groups, said Assistant Director for the Department of Student Life Michael Collins, who oversees Student Conflict Resolution Services. Collins said every student who has a hearing has a right to appeal the decision. Any sanction that is deferred suspension or above goes to the University Appeals Panel. Students are only allowed one appeal. A&M officials spoke with several Walton resi dents following the incident, Walton Hall Director Shannon Ensom said. Another Walton resident was also punished in the incident, but he won his appeal and remains housed in the hall. Rotter said behavior at yell practices has been better than in recent years. “Our students are expected to uphold themselves as Aggies,” Rotter said. “This year has had the best yell practices I’ve seen at A&M since the early 1990s. It’s been good to see the current student body uphold A&M’s values.” DURING YEL.L. PRACTICE, WALTON RESIDENTS USED OBSCENTITIES IN THEIR HALL YELLS ONE RESIDENT AND THE HALL PRESIDENT WERE TOLD THEY WOULD HAVE TO MOVE OUT OF WALTON AS PUNISHMENT THE RESIDENT WON HIS CASE ON APPEAL; HALL PRESIDENT CHUCK FAITH IS STILL APPEALING THE DEC I SION A rowdy howdy THE BATTAliO pitalisrrS said Si©* if their y Congress ;rsist in Wfl /stem in»' : ip is then* /an, ministi pment Plff'i aid at a «t»! did say, tM npanieslMj made as ient as p JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION Freshmen business administration majors Grant Nicolaev basketball players in Reed Arena Monday Longmire (left), Ian Rudebusch (center), and the night. The Aggies opened up the exhibition season rest of the Reed Rowdies, heckle Ukraine's MBC with a 86-73 victory in front of 2,831 fans. i m u i n ■ i MANDY ROUQUETTE • THE BATTALION Iraqis reject dishonest inspection resolution HUSSEIN BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi law makers denounced a tough, new U.N. resolution on weapons inspections Monday as dishonest, provocative and worthy of rejection — despite the risk of war. But parliament said it ultimately will trust whatever President Saddam Hussein decides. One after the other, senior lawmakers rejected the resolu tion, the latest in a long effort to ensure Iraq scraps its weapons of mass destruction. This time, however, the United States and Britain have made clear they will attack Iraq ff it does not fully comply. Parliament speaker Saadoun Hamadi said the resolution was stacked with “ill intentions”, “falsehood”, “lies” and “dishonesty.” Salim al-Koubaisi, head of parliament’s foreign relations committee, recommended rejecting the resolution but also advised deferring to the “wise Iraqi leadership” to act as it sees fit to defend Iraq’s people and dignity. “The committee advises ... the rejec tion of Security Council Resolution 1441, and to not agree to it in response to the opinions of our people, who put their trust in us,” al-Koubaisi told fellow law makers. Saddam has used parliament’s action as cover for difficult decisions in the past, and harsh rhetoric does not necessarily mean parliament will reject the proposal. Saddam ordered parliament to recom mend a formal response, and lawmakers were expected to vote on recommenda tions for the Iraqi leadership Tuesday. According to the resolution, Iraq has until Friday to accept or reject the resolu tion, approved unanimously last week by the U.N. Security Council. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said there are numerous interpretations for the deadline — the minute the resolution was adopted, the minute Iraq was notified, the end of business Friday, or midnight on Friday. It is up to the Security Council to interpret its own resolution, Eckhard said. Anne Power, a spokeswoman with the British mission at the United Nations, said Britain intepreted the deadline to be seven 24-hour periods from the minute the resolution was adopted. That would mean that Iraq has until 10:17 a.m. EST Friday, Nov. 15 to respond. Other Security Council members could have different interpretations however. Chinese deputy ambassador Zhang Yishan, the current council president, said he was checking on the exact dead line. If Saddam fails to follow through, a Pentagon plan calls for more than 200,000 troops to invade Iraq. Parliament’s advice on the new U.N. resolution, which demands Iraq cooper ate with U.N. weapons inspectors or face “serious consequences,” will go to the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq’s ruling body headed by Saddam. Should parliament recommend acceptance, it would allow Saddam to claim the decision was the will of the Iraqi people and more smoothly retreat from previous objections to any new res olution governing weapons inspections. In Washington, President Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, rejected the legitimacy of the par liament debate. “One has to be a bit skeptical of the independence of the Iraqi parliament from Saddam Hussein,” she said. “I don’t think anyone believes this is any thing but an absolute dictatorship and this decision is up to Saddam Hussein.” She also said Iraq has no right to accept See Iraq on page 2 n! Class dismissal on Labor Day discussed at Senate meeting By Sarah Darr the battalion L proposed academic calendar °rthe 2003-2004 school year cap- w ate d most of the attention during Tday’s Faculty Senate meeting. Most of the discussion revolved ar °und the request for no classes 0,1 Labor Day. Sen. Mike Greenwald from the 0| lege of Liberal Arts brought Pthe topic while the Senate was j ,s cussing the proposed academ- £ calendar. Greenwald suggested at another holiday on the calen- aar be substituted for Labor Day, lr >ce state law requires a certain u mber of days that students mus t attend class. Greenwald said he feels that a or Day is a “rite of passage” ^ the last day of summer. He gued that there are many events at occur around the community nh at dial students and facul- y do not get to attend. to K Ubor Da y ' s a day that needs e set aside to honor the work ing men and women of America,” Greenwald said. Sen. and chemistry professor Kenn Harding expressed concern about amending the calendar because it would mess up the redefined days. Harding said that having a day off would cost him a week of lab classes and would cause a problem with trying to have an equal number of days in the fall and spring semesters. “This is not a simple solution of changing one day,” Harding said. A vote to have the semester begin on Friday, Aug. 29, 2003 instead of Monday, Sept. 1 to allow Labor Day a vacation day was taken by the Senate, but failed. Because the day has to be substituted for another holiday, the Senate took a vote to reevaluate the calendar and find a day to sub stitute so that classes would not be held on Sept. 1. This vote passed 26-25, and the proposed calendar will be reevaluated. In other business, the Personnel and Welfare Committee requested that changes be made to the rules for faculty participation in the selec tion, evaluation and retention of deans in order to have more faculty voice in the process. The faculty will be asked to rank the candidates and make known any candidates See Senate on page 2A Proposed Curriculum Changes •MHdsfeCT laegreCpi^Eam^ -i— BLas^^ lmybeSTffir¥d~'T.T ruAvis Swenson • THE BATTALION Attorney: Court should bar John Malvo’s confession McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for the sniper suspects criticized the police interro gation of 17-year-old John Lee Malvo and said they would seek to bar his alleged con fession from court. Malvo reportedly confessed to being the triggerman in several of the Washington-area sniper shootings, including the Virginia slay ing in which his alleged accomplice, 41- year-old John Allen Muhammad, is charged with murder. Malvo’s lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police for questioning Malvo without his court-appointed guardian or attorney and for leaking the alleged confession to The Washington Post. “The police are flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own para phrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an unconstitutional interrogation,” Arif said. He said the leak “suggests an insecurity on the part of the commonwealth with the admissibility of these statements.” Malvo talked to investigators for seven hours after he and Muhammad were handed over to Virginia authorities Thursday for prosecution on death-penalty murder charges. Sources told the Post that Malvo was talkative and even bragged in some of his responses, but kept quiet about Muhammad. ✓ For a murder conviction, prosecutors must show that the defendant was the triggerman. However, under the state’s post-Sept. 11 anti terrorism law, Muhammad could face the death penalty even if he is not found to be the gunman. A Fairfax County police spokesman declined to comment on the interrogation, and Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. did not return calls. One of the shootings for which Malvo reportedly took responsibility is the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. Fairfax County prosecutors charged Malvo with capital murder in that killing. Muhammad is being prosecuted in Prince William County for the Oct. 9 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers. It is unclear how Malvo’s alleged confession to that crime might affect Muhammad’s case. Muhammad’s attorney, Peter Greenspun, declined to comment on the case directly, but See Sniper on page 2A