Sports. Regular season ends with loss at UT • Page 7 Opinion: Florida's new law too harsh • Page 11 jg]< e in a for obesity, e equivalent ie put on uju !t tho Ritzy viarkably pr^ considering lc * activities® says, ■eve ttiat?So : , two ho tin, that oo'rc cam 6 and disce of being a I studies in A TTP AI -TL JL JL ear to inti® > the body's sa If you've pat ;ing it ear' Volume 109 • Issue 65 • 12 pages www.thebatt.com Monday, December 2, 2002 Students study abroad despite 9-11 concerns By Lecia Baker THE BATTALION The number of Texas A&M itudents interested in study ibroad is the same as in years iast, despite concerns that post- lept. 11 travel warnings and ears would deter student travel, \&M officials say. Students see international ducation as increasingly more mportant, said Brian Lancaster, irogram coordinator of A&M’s itudy Abroad Office. One of the biggest lessons of the terrorist attacks is exactly how much Americans don’t know about foreign cultures, he said. “Although there is much con cern involving international travel and safety following the Sept. 1 1 attacks, there also seems to be a counter-balance taking place as to the impor tance of international relations and cultural intercommunica tion,” Lancaster said. A&M students typically visit European areas, primarily west ern European countries such as Italy, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain, Lancaster said. Mexico, Costa Rica and Australia are close sec onds in popularity, and Asian countries are increasingly becom ing popular, Lancaster said. Students and parents worry about world events, but not enough to drastically impact study abroad and foreign travel for students, said Cathy Schutt, assistant director of the Study Abroad Program Office. “For Texas A&M programs, checks are in place to ensure the safety and security of our stu dents studying abroad,” she said. The primary concerns stu dents face in choosing to study abroad include finding sources of funding, dealing with the length of time they’ll be away from campus and finding the time to fit in a study abroad experience with most students’ rigorous degree plans, Schutt said. See Study on page 2 A&M Student Travel A wli tftc? fr i H ft «7fi Ktt ^ WIWIA SlUWIVVl* WHIT ^ iHflfMHMI CWMtrtot tttcfc 1« France and Spain ♦ Mtnfcft, Costa Rka mi Australia rank tacaad * Asian coiiotrhis ore also becofniaa Source:'A&M’s Study Abroad Officenn TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION s signab i said. If tve the o rr v * stin r eep ’ISM0II{ ties most mei le Allioi-fe isteroffrancf nationals and i already ta 'esligaw-a ingclwd-[ irovidf W V i ;e.WW‘ e nundto® u: in Pans ^1 nergencyland I )ui was W an advanci* It wasn’t me After yell practice in Austin Thursday night before the A&M- up at the capital shouting obscenities, the altercation that UT annual football game, an Aggie fan is asked to leave by followed was broken up by Texas State Troopers. No arrests surrounding police officers. When few hundred fans showed were made. terror® -1 /-* E- Palestinians jump out of car before md na^ ^ 2 Israeli missiles hit near Gaza City Palestine ni an invest 995 into o* /ears ling canf > once ik Algerian P ) attack " icdral duriny tions. ;n on se. ccordin? s, Kbalfc ntacts he ^ JERUSALEM (AP) — rtucsi oar near Gaza City Sunday n escaped an Israeli helicopter missil on their vehicle, blasted into a heap dering metal seconds after they jum witnesses said. The attack was an apparent atl Rill Palestinian militants belonging Islamic Jihad group, Israeli media r The Israeli army would not commei During two years of Palestinia violence, Israel has killed dozens Pected militants in what it calls “ attacks,” claiming that it is preventii strikes. Palestinians charge that the amounts to assassination of their an e Ll ' also les. U.N. inspectors start search in Iraq KHAN BANI SA’AD, Iraq (AP) TJ.N. disarmament teams 'Hjectcd a shabby, seldom-used ‘■■■field in corn country north of pghdad on Sunday, a place where ! rac li Aperts engineered devices for embarding an enemy from the air w >th sprays of killer microbes. fne U.N. inspectors checked on f^jProent sealed and tagged by •N’ teams in the 1990s, and pored 0 y^ r P a P er ar| d computer files, the air neld’s director said. But they a PParently found none of the a v anced spray systems, unac- c °umed for since the Gulf War. We showed them everything,” p the director, Montadhar K afeef Mohammed. Hie inspectors, as usual, kept i eir findings confidential, pending ater formal reports. In their first week of inspections, e U.N. monitors paid unannounced ■sits to a dozen Iraqi sites with a fn 1 e v ariety of specialties and links Wea Pons programs in the 1980s. Those ranged from an animal vaccine plant that brewed lethal tox ins for bombs, to an industrial com plex planned to house hundreds of gas centrifuges producing enriched uranium for Iraqi nuclear weapons. In both those cases, and dozens of others, the earlier inspectors destroyed the critical equipment, and put other gear under seal, video surveillance or other forms of con trol. They also destroyed many tons of chemical and biological agents for weapons. That inspection regime col lapsed in 1998, however, as the Baghdad government and U.N. officials clashed over access to Iraqi sites and the alleged presence of U.S. spies in the U.N. operation. Those inspectors believed they never found all of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. The inspections have resumed under a U.N. Security Council mandate for Iraq, 1 1 years after its Gulf War defeat, to finally give up any remaining chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs, or face “serious consequences.” The United States threatens war against Iraq, with or without U.N. support, if the new inspections don’t strip Baghdad of such weapons. The U.S. threats have touched off anti-war protests worldwide. In the latest round, thousands rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday to demand that their government not assist a U.S. war against their southern neighbor Iraq. “We will not be America’s soldiers!” demon strators chanted. More than 18,000 anti-war pro testers also demonstrated in Australian cities over the weekend. Iraqi-U.S. tensions exploded again Sunday in the no-fly zone declared by Washington in southern Iraq to protect Shiite Muslims. Iraqi officials said three U.S.- British airstrikes left four civilians See Inspections on page 2 Floating classroom provides students marine education By Esther Robards-Forbes THE BATTALION Texas A&M has established a marine education program for Texas school chil dren. Fourth through 12th-graders will learn about coastal systems from the deck of the M/V Karma, a schooner owned by the University. The program is made possible by coop eration between the Texas Sea Grant College Program and the Texas Cooperative Extension. The Marine Advisory Service, which operates the pro gram year round, six days a week, is head quartered in Matagorda. The program was formed to increase awareness about the environmental, ecological and economic factors affecting the Texas coast. “Kids will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of how these factors affect their daily lives,” said William Younger of the Texas Cooperative Extension office. The curriculum of the program focuses on many factors affecting the coastal sys tem, including environmental factors such as the biology and ecology of the region and natural resources. Younger said. Geology, hydrology and the natural fea tures of the coast are also discussed. Students aboard the Karma will observe microscopic life forms fresh from the water with microscopes located on the ship. They will also have the opportunity to observe a mud sample taken from the channel floor and hold sea creatures pulled up with nets before throwing them back. The program is open to local students. Middle school and high school students as well groups such as 4-H and scouts have been invited to participate.