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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2002)
HE BATlm 5ac( me Sports. Aggies cage lady panthers • Page 4 Opinion: Finding a scapegoat • Page 7 TTHfln RATTATTri lAm, «ML» mJSLm jMm JtLm JKLm Volume 109 * Issue 67 • 8 pages 'svww.thebatt.com Wednesday, December 4, 2002 he Internal^ Kennedy Spas CaWomadi (orbitefnitij necessary, }* : P° r dispersal n •wersdown^ diter and purr^ oled air 4# W rolant transpfv ils from ffe fess i Shuttle s te' i area wners *d and damage er's protec,t Jniversity announces new By True Brown THE BATTALION BILL BYRNE Director of Athletics at the University of Nebraska Earned National Athletic Fiind-raiser of the year in 1985 1 FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS UNDER BRYNE: • $36.1 million Memorial ■Stadium Improvement ■ Project ■$29.53 million baseball i and softball complex $4.9 million track facilities renovations ■ Nebraska has Invested I more than $100 million I on facility improvements land upgrades in the past I decade MANDY ROUQUETTE • THE BATTALION Bill Byrne, the athletics director for the University of Nebraska, will assume the same role at Texas A&M, University officials announced Tuesday. Dr. Benton Cocanougher, who has headed A&M’s search for a new direc tor, said the committee contacted Byrne early in the process for recommenda tions and later asked if he would be interested in taking the position. “It’s customary (at the beginning of a search) to call some of the leading people and find out who they have noticed,” Cocanougher said. “We, in reflecting on that, said we needed to go back and say ‘Bill Byrne, we’d like to talk to you about this.’” Cocanougher said Byrne was the lone candidate to be interviewed on site for the position. Byrne was in College Station in late November for a meeting with A&M officials, according to a story by The Associated Press. Byrne, who has served as the athlet ics director at the University of Nebraska for the last 10 years, said he looked at the A&M job as a challenge. “It looked to me like there were great opportunities to build programs at Texas A&M,” Byrne said. “It’s tough to do things like that, and I can enjoy that. It looked to me as a big challenge, a new opportunity, a new adventure.” Byrne said he received the offer from A&M around noon Tuesday and made the decision after talking with his family. He expressed some discontent that news of A&M’s offer had leaked to the Texas media before he had a chance to discuss the deal with anyone in Nebraska. “As you get to know me, you’ll find that I have a routine that I prefer,” athletics Byrne said. “This is not the way I pre fer doing these types of things.” Byrne said he had no role in the fir ing of former football head coach R.C. Slocum. University President Dr. Robert M. Gates fired Slocum on Monday, three days after the Aggies finished the regu lar season with a 6-6 record. “I must confess that we’ve been making some coaching changes around here (in Nebraska) as well,” Byrne said. “I really have been focusing on that rather than what’s been going on in College Station. We’ve had our own difficulties in football this season.” Nebraska football head coach Frank Solich fired three assistant coaches, including his defensive coordinator, Monday. Neither Cocanougher nor Byrne said if the monetary details of the con tract had been agreed on. “It will be a multi-year contract, director which is customary for leading athletic directors in the country,” Cocanougher said. While in Nebraska, Byrne was in charge of several facility upgrades, including a $36.1 million project on Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. The university also broke ground in 2000 on a new baseball/softball complex. When Byrne signed with Nebraska in 1992, the Athletic Department was faced with a $2.5 million debt, which Byrne has erased. The Cornhuskers won several national titles during Byrne’s tenure, including three in football and two in volleyball. The baseball team advanced to the College World Series in 2001 and 2002 for the first time in school history. Earlier this year, he was given the John L. Toner Award, which goes See Byrne on page 2 nes. spacewi malic. A n tion cons® n iis track io antenm e first Ak :e, removs i sot the a Professor emphasizes lervice in — jiealth care airports (MS By Eric Ambroso itruction in I nes in Mew I the battalion ilanation. | lures in placei Health care is our most impor- pt service economically and in , |rms of its impact on the quality jy lOrmfl at life, said Dr. Leonard L. Berry, plw jgt IF distinguished professor of J Marketing at Texas A&M the three-s!« ues day at the George Bush let Enron (wosidential Conference Center, wasdelibetatil Dr. Berry shared his views ■out health care as a service in which was “Improving Health ial for$3.9T are S erv * ce in America,” the unday. | eco nd of three lectures in ont dootolf A&M’s Distinguished Lecture leries of the 2002-2003 ason. Berry took a faculty develop- |em leave in 2001 -2002 to con- ict research in the service [tflity of health care at Mayo linics in Rochester, Minn, and ottsdale, Ariz. During a five- onth period Berry interviewed .approximately 1,000 Mayo v(t | linic P at ' ents * doctors, nurses, ^ ^ ■]' e d health professionals and ministrators. He also partici- lte d in hospital rounds, inter red with patients, rode in Urgency helicopter rescues id observed 14 surgeries. T ■ Berry used the information , v Bat was collected to determine 16 ideal customer service in Nth care and what prevents 18 paradigm from being Fomplished. Medical services are the KW fascinating services I’ve studied,” Berry said, here is no other service that Quires us, as consumers, to j; ar °urselves emotionally and Physically.” ■ Berry said the experience at a patient has with a health , are se rvice influences patient 7%, confidence care- _ IVe r and the outcome of the re atrnent. Patients ven ec ^ve health benefits from nat- ra * light, connection to nature, 0 °r and quietness. Berry said. concluded that hospi- ( s . a Hd to the stress of the i? lei }t with noise, crowdedness, '^lighting and messiness. People do not come to the °spital to have a good time,” err y said. “But buildings that _ e designed well, buildings 1 a heart and soul, can help )e °Ple get better.” I err y’ s research was alsos I cerned with the interaction ctween patients and physi- 'ao' 8 ^ 0r .' nstance ’ patient satis- L 10n significantly increases e n the doctor sits down, Ty said. Taking the time to sit L n and talk to patients gives T* if deling that the doctor 'at- a y wants to be there - 0 lent ? Hke to feel like the 0r !s a partner in their health for ter loy er 331 See Berry on page 2 All I want RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Four-year-old Olivia Flores talks to Santa of Holidays in the Rotunda which also includ- Claus at the George Bush Presidential Library ed performances from choirs around the area Tuesday night. Pictures with Santa were part and an arts and crafts workshop. Athletics director to help choose new football coach By True Brown THE BATTALION New Texas A&M athletics director Bill Byrne said Tuesday he expected to play a major role in deciding who the Aggies’ new football coach will be. “I intend to be very much involved in finding a replace ment for R.C. Slocum,” Byrne said. “We will make it our top priority to hire a great coach at Texas A&M. Like other athlet ics directors, I have a short list of coaches that I watch and admire. I haven’t talked to any one though.” Byrne, who was in his 11th season as athletics director at the University of Nebraska, was announced as A&M’s new director Tuesday evening. Dr. Benton Cocanougher, head of A&M’s athletics direc tor search committee, said the search for R.C. Slocum’s replacement will be carried out in a quick manner. “I can’t get into any names but we are actively engaged in that search,” Cocanougher said. “We will close this as quickly as we can identify the right person and come to an agreement. We recognize that there are some very good reasons for this not to be a long, drawn out process.” A majority of the speculation about A&M’s new head coach has centered around current Alabama head coach Dennis Franchione. Franchione signed with Alabama before the 2001 season and has found himself as a possible candidate for the A&M job. Byrne declined to name any possible candidates Tuesday night, but said there are some qualities he will look for in a new head coach. “One of the things I look for is people who will be part of the culture,” Byme said. “I look for people who are great teachers. I want people who stand by and do the right thing with their stu dent athletes. Of course, you have to have someone who treats their assistant coaches with respect too.” In his 10 years at Nebraska, Byrne has made 15 head coach ing hires, including current foot ball coach Frank Solich. Last See Search on page 2 A&M competes for second Bush library By Rob Phillips THE BATTALION While the Texas A&M Board of Regents is pushing for a father-son package that would bring an additional Bush Library to campus, the University faces stiff competition from several Texas universities. Board of Regents Chairperson Erie Nye said. Southern Methodist University, first lady Laura Bush’s alma mater, is a strong contender for President Bush’s library, Nye said. Other Texas universities competing for the library include Baylor, Texas Tech and the University of Texas, he said. As host of former President Bush’s library and museum, the University has visions of multiple Bush libraries. The Board of Regents has already invited President Bush to place his future library on the A&M campus, Nye said. “The feeling was that it would be a unique and powerful opportunity to spotlight not only the accomplishments of this President, but also to celebrate an unequaled period of public service and leadership by a father and son and, in fact, a family, Nye said. . Nye said the Board of Regents is following the matter but a decision may not come for several years. A&M President Dr. Robert M. Gates and former President Ray M. Bowen declined to comment. Other regents could not be reached for comment or declined to speak. According to a November article in The Dallas Morning News, SMU is widely considered the front-runner in acquiring the library due to the first lady’s connections with the University and funds for the museum that could reach $200 million. Brian Blake, public relations specialist at the Bush Library, said the total cost of the library was $83 million, less than half of what SMU may have access to. Blake said the library museum cost $43 million, with private funds from the Bush Foundation, while the library conference center and the Bush School of Government and Public Service cost $40 million. The funding, he said, came from state and A&M money. See Library on page 2 Inspectors search Iraqi palace SOURCE: GlobatSecurity.org. Digita! Globe AP BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — International weapons hunters went straight to the heart of Saddam Hussein’s regime on Tuesday, searching the rooms of an opulent presidential palace in a show of U.N. power, just when Washington was openly ques tioning their ability to do the job. A senior Iraqi official, mean while, said Baghdad will reaf firm in a crucial upcoming U.N. declaration that it has no weapons of mass destruction despite U.S. and British claims to the contrary. Melissa Fleming of the U.N. nuclear control agency in Vienna, Austria, said the Iraqis were expected to submit their report to the U.N. office in Baghdad on Saturday — one day before the deadline mandat ed by the Security Council. The unannounced visit to the Al-Sajoud palace was the biggest test yet of the arms monitors’ authority under a new U.N. reso lution, which led to resumption of inspections here last week after a four-year break. Seven minutes after the inspectors rolled up to the palace entrance, the towering front gates swung open, allowing them access to the palm-lined compound. Inside, they found a sprawl of ostentation and luxury, but there was no word they found anything else. “Our inspectors were able to inspect every comer of the pres idential palace,” said their spokesman ? Hiro Ueki. The chief Iraqi liaison, Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, said the Iraqis were cooperative and “the inspectors were happy.” Video from inside the palace, obtained by Associated Press Television News, showed inspec tors, clipboards in hand, quickly moving through darkened rooms with flashlights, stopping occa sionally to peruse, for example, a utility room or a refrigerator. “Marmalade,” one announced after looking over a jar. The visit by 17 U.N. inspec tors lasted just 1 1/2 hours, hard ly enough for an exhaustive search of scores of rooms and the vast grounds. But it bore a symbolic mes sage: that this time, unlike in the 1990s, the U.N. teams have a free run of Iraq, under a Security Council mandate requiring Baghdad to shut down any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs. President Bush alleges the Iraqis have retained some chem ical and biological weapons — missed during previous inspec tions — and haven’t abandoned their nuclear weapons program. See Iraq on page 2