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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
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TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
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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.
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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 <J human rights groups call it s
locution without judicial process.
The two passengers of the IV
sedan saw the Israeli helicopters overhead
and managed to flee the vehicle before it
was hit, witnesses said.
“Suddenly I saw a Mercedes driving fast
down the road and it was hit by flames com
ing from the sky,” said Amina Daalasa 55,
who lives nearby. Two missiles hit the car and
one missed, hitting the road, Daalasa said.
The air strike came after two Palestinians
were killed Saturday night as Israeli tanks
and troops entered the northern Gaza town
of Beit Lahiya and demolished three homes.
One of the Palestinians, a 70-year-old man,
unable to leave a home before Israeli bull
dozers began toppling it, was buried under
the rubble, witnesses said.
An army spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal,
said soldiers routinely call on residents to
evacuate buildings and troops search the
premises before structures are destroyed.
The forces demolished three homes
belonging to militants of the Islamic Jihad
group who were responsible for attacks that
killed 24 Israelis, the army said.
One Palestinian bystander who was
watching from his balcony was shot dead
during an intense exchange of gunfire,
Palestinian witnesses said. The army said
soldiers shot at and hit armed Palestinians.
Security alerts disrupted life in Israel
Sunday. Citing warnings of terror attacks,
police canceled a soccer game in Jerusalem,
then relented and allowed it to be played.
Also Sunday, police stopped buses from
traveling for several hours on a main road in
Israel’s north where suicide bombers have
See Bombing on page 2
Football player
remembered
by hundreds
Staff & Wire
THE BATTALION
EULESS, Texas — Texas A&M University football player
Brandon Fails was remembered by hundreds Saturday as a big-
hearted player who was quick with a smile and at times seemed too
nice to be a defensive lineman.
More than 1,600 college and high school teammates, family
members and friends gathered for the funeral of the 18-year-old
freshman, who died Monday after collapsing while getting ready to
go eat breakfast.
“He had a love for others that’d just, it’d just embrace you like
one of his big ol’ hugs,” Fails’ Colleyville Heritage High School
coach Chris Cunningham said, speaking before rows of former
teammates wearing Colleyville Heritage jerseys.
Texas A&M head football coach R.C. Slocum said Fails was so
friendly he had trouble putting on the “meanest of mean” faces
A&M linemen like to wear in team pictures.
“Brandon had no chance,” Slocum said. “He couldn’t do it.”
Fails had that same nice quality as a star at Colleyville Heritage,
assistant coach John Furin safd, recalling how Fails would always
apologize and offer a hand to each player he tackled.
“Brandon was a winner in the game of football. He was a win
ner in the game of life,” Furin said.
The school said Fails’ No. 89 would be retired. His A&M jersey
was laid in his coffin.
Preliminary autopsy reports showed Fails died from a blood clot
that formed as a result of a leg injury and traveled to his lungs, where
it became trapped in arteries and restricted the flow of blood to his
lungs. Fails had hurt his right knee in practice and had surgery Oct. 22.
He had complained of problems breathing and died about an
hour after collapsing.
Slocum said Fails had been a likely candidate for A&M’s start
ing lineup next fall.
“He likely would have started for us next year, and possibly
would have been starting right now if not for the knee surgery,”
Slocum said.
The Aggies honored Fails in Friday’s loss to the archrival
University of Texas by wearing stickers with his Aggie No. 89 on
their helmets. Texas canceled Monday night’s hex rally, an annual
pregame ritual.
“Our hearts go out to the family and to the Texas A&M staff and
players,” UT head coach Mack Brown said in a statement. “There is
nothing anybody can say. We understand their pain.”
A starting prospect for next season, the 6-foot-1, 307-pound Fails
played only four games this season before being sidelined by his
knee injury. In his limited playing time he was in on two tackles
against Louisiana Tech.
Fails, who grew up in Grapevine, had 36 tackles, five sacks and
three forced fumbles in his senior year.
He was voted Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year by
Associated Press Sports Editors last season and was a first-team All-
State selection by the APSE and the Texas Sports Writers
Association.
Fails is survived by his parents, Charles and Valerie Fails of
Euless; a brother, Jodfrey Fails; and sisters Tameka Vaughn, and
Kimpell Jerrells.
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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.