Sports: Right choice, wrong way • Page 5 Opinion: Driving the divine • Page 9
THE R ATT AT IfT
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Volume 109 • Issue 66 • 10 pages
www.thebatt.com
Tuesday, December 3, 2002
Texas A&M President Dr.
Robert M. Gates asked R.C.
Slocum to step down as head
football coach on Monday, end
ing speculation about the future
of the coach who suffered
through only the second season
in his 14-year tenure without a
winning record.
The Aggies finished the regu
lar season Friday with a 50-20
loss to the University of Texas in
Austin, ending the season with a
6-6 record.
Slocum reportedly asked
about his status in the program
Monday in a conversation with
Gates and was told of the presi
dent’s decision.
“I think (Gates) simply got
into a conversation with the
coach today and I think R.C.
wanted to know where he
stood,” Texas A&M Board of
Regents Chairman Earl Nye told
The Associated Press (AP).
“Bob Gates is too honorable a
person not to tell the truth.”
Gates released a statement
Nov. 6 saying he supported
Slocum, and that a new athletic
director who is yet to be hired
“will make decisions with
respect to the programs and
coaches under his or her
purview.” The athletic director
position remains unfilled after
outgoing director Wally Groff
announced his resignation,
effective Dec. 31.
Groff said he had no informa
tion regarding Slocum’s dis
missal.
“I am not in the loop on this,”
Groff said in a phone conversa
tion from his home late Monday.
An athletic director search
committee consisting of A&M
faculty and coaches, including
head volleyball coach Laurie
Corbelli, was formed and mem
bers have yet to make a recom
mendation to Gates regarding
the position.
“I really respect Dr. Gates for
taking that off the hands of the
new AD,” Corbelli said.
“Hopefully the changes going
on right now will help the pro
gram to flourish.”
Slocum has coached at A&M
for all but one year since 1972,
when he was named the offen
sive ends coach under head
See Slocum on page 2
Slocum’s reassignment draws
reactions from students, staff
S@pt.1: Athletic Director
Wally Groff announces
his retirement,
effective Dec. 31
Dec, 2; Gates asks Slocum
to step down m head coach
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
The biggest sports question
on campus was answered
Monday afternoon when Texas
A&M President Dr. Robert M.
Gates dismissed head football
coach R.C. Slocum.
The decision was met with
the mixed reviews Slocum has
heard all season: some Aggies
applauded the move; others
mourned the end of a 30-season
career that carried A&M to a Big
12 Championship and back.
The announcement came
after A&M finished its regular
season with a 6-6 record and on
the heels of a 50-20 defeat at the
hands of the University of Texas
on Friday.
“I will be sorry to see him
go,” said history professor
Harold Livesay. “It was proba
bly inevitable when the team
continues to lose to Texas, but it
will be difficult to replace him
with a new coach that can do as
much for the academics of his
players and this University as
Slocum has done.”
Slocum was also popular with
his fellow coaches on campus.
“I really respect Coach
Slocum,” said A&M head volley
ball coach Laurie Corbelli.
“When I had recruits in, he was
always the first one to talk to
them and introduce himself and
let them know that they are
See Reaction on page 2
R.C. Slocum congratulates University of Texas head coach Mack
Brown after the Longhorns’ 50-20 win over the Aggies (top).
Slocum and the Aggie football team wait to take the field prior to
the first quarter at Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin (middle).
Aggie fans hold up a sign on third deck at Kyle Field during the
Oklahoma Sooners game (bottom).
PHOTOS BY JOHN C. LIVAS, GRAPHICS BY
RUBEN DEI.UN A AND TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
&M architecture students Supreme Court hears race case
reveal nursing home design
By Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
third
their
Students in professor George Mann’s
lyear architectural design studio unveiled
r e as Monday for a five-acre park and apartment
addition to a Brenham nursing home,
j The Kruse Memorial Lutheran Village is one
j 0 ' the largest continuous care facilities in the
st ate. With little more than a month to design and
atodel their plans, Mann’s 17 students analyzed
Jnat was missing from the community and used
es igns that maximized Kruse’s available five
acres.
, We wanted to create a living environment for
ae citizens of the Brenham area that eases the
ansition into a retirement living situation while
Maintaining the celebration of life,” Mann said.
Among the models on display Monday night.
Miniature trees were placed between auditoriums,
•TV . • •
COURTESY OF THE COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE
general stores, covered parking and cottage-style
homes. The project, titled the “Independent
Living Addition,” focused on providing living
space for newly retired residents.
“We wanted to remind (the residents) of their
old neighborhood but give them the security of
the retirement community, ’ said junior architec
ture major Laura Langford.
Though the Kruse community has no current
plans to develop the five-acre tract, Mann said the
project’s object was to give students experience
and offer development plans to the Brenham
facility. Students submitted floor plans, three
dimensional models and cost estimates,
researched the needs of the elderly and intei -
viewed nursing home residents.
“I drove the class very hard, but they learned
teamwork and communication,” Mann said. “This
is what architects do. If they can do this, they can
do the real thing.”
Ken Johnson, a junior architecture major, said
he found that interaction between residents in a
retirement community is an important factor most
senior citizens.
“Studies have shown that the more active (the
residents) are physically and socially the healthi
er they stay,” Johnson said.
DyAnn Lauzon, executive director for the
Memorial Village, asked students to consider the
options for the community’s five acres in mid-
October. , i
“Each group treated us like we were their real
clients. If this is the caliber of students that A&M
is producing, then we are in good shape. We are
in good hands for the future,” Lauzon said.
See Design on page 2
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Supreme Court re-entered
the debate over affirmative
action Monday, agreeing to
decide if minorities can be given
a boost to get into universities.
The court will decide by next
June if race can be used in col
lege admissions, an issue that the
justices have dealt with only
once before, in a cloudy 1978
ruling that led to more confusion.
The justices will consider
whether white applicants to the
University of Michigan and its
law school were unconstitu
tionally turned down because
of their race.
The cases give the court an
opportunity to ban affirmative
action in higher education or say
how much weight universities
may assign to an applicant’s
race. The stakes are high
because many public and private
colleges have race-conscious
admissions policies.
In other action Monday the
court:
— Said it will consider a
Texas case over whether states
can punish homosexuals for
having sex, a case that tests the
constitutionality of sodomy
laws in 13 states.
— Agreed to decide if
inmates have constitutional
rights to jailhouse visits from
young relatives and others, in a
case that could have far-reach
ing implications for prisons
around the country.
— Turned down an effort to
block specialty car license plates
in Louisiana with the slogan
See Race on page 2
Poultry Science degree online
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
The poultry science department will accept
applications this spring for the world’s first online
master of poultry science, set to begin Fall 2003.
The degree was designed for students with
other commitments, such as a career or a family,
or live too far away from campus to attend tradi
tional classes, said Dr. Alan Sams, head of the
poultry science department.
“Poultry science is a very large industry across
the whole country and the world,” Sams said.
“People want to further their education and
improve their job qualifications.”
The program offers courses such as nutrition,
food safety, physiology, and animal waste manage
ment, he said. Though its hard to estimate how many
people are interested in the program, he said 20 to 30
students by the fall would be a good first year.
“It is not the size of a business MBA program.
but we expect a mixture of students who want to
further their education,” Sams said.
Four courses will be offered next fall, said
See Degree on page 2
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION