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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2003)
NEWS E BATTALIOS Sports: Aggies head to Nebraska • Page 5 Opinion: Two birds with one stone • Page 9 THE Volume 109 • Issue 75 • 10 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Faculty quality Gates’ top priority Gates ' New Goal * By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION Improving the quality of Texas A&lVTs faculty sthe University’s top priority and will be pursued :ven if it results in budget cuts in other areas, said \&M President Dr. Robert M. Gates. Gates said he has decided to focus on four of ■he 12 imperatives in Vision 2020, the University's long-term plan to join the ranks of the nation’s tlite colleges by 2020. “We don’t have the resources to move forward m all 12 imperatives at once,” Gates said. ‘Time + Line’ With the state facing a $10 billion budget deficit, A&M is unlikely to get an increase in state funding this year, and Gates said the University must prioritize use of the funding it does receive. Gates’ three other high-priority goals are improving graduate and undergraduate programs, increasing the racial diversity of the faculty and student body and improving campus facilities with more classrooms and new buildings. Last year, A&M dropped out of the top 50 best universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, and Gates said that could be attributed to the decline in the number of tenured faculty during the past decade. To attract a better-qualified faculty, A&M must improve professors’ salaries. Gates said. Full pro fessors at A&M make an average of $10,000 less than their counterparts at the University of Texas. Expanding the faculty members would immedi ately improve the quality of undergraduate pro grams by reducing class sizes. Gates said. With A&M’s resources already stretched to the limit and a possible reduction in state funds looming. Gates said A&M will have to cut other programs to hire more faculty at higher salaries. See Gates on page 2 • THE BATTALION Realistic exhib- Michelangelo's I February 23. Jorth Korea had i a secret nudeai ;ram. erman 04 ial race Conn. (AP)- >h Liebermar he 2004 race mday, criticizing ,h while promis- straight to the ople" and shov different kind o' also reminde: ; and Gore ate in 2000 wher vice presidentie Kendra Wetterling, a freshman international business major, takes a moment Tuesay afternoon to enjoy “Time + Line.” The exhibition by JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION Jane Miller will be on display in the MSC Visual Arts Gallery through the week. ie hina offers to mediate N. Korea crisis By Joseph Coleman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS China offered Tuesday to host Iks between the United States and North Korea in a bid to end their standoff, and the North warned it was running out of patience with Washington, threatening to exercise undefined “options.” A vaguely worded statement from Pyongyang did not specify what options it was considering, but sug gested the isolationist communist nation was prepared to escalate the crisis over its drive to develop nuclear weapons. I The White House welcomed diplomatic efforts but did not com ment specifically on the China offer. President Bush said Tuesday that nations in the region should “bind together” and tell the North Koreans “we expect them to disarm — we expect them not to develop nuclear weapons.” If the North does so, then Washington would consider new talks about food and energy aid to the impoverished nation. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who arrived in China from Seoul on Tuesday night for meetings on North Korea and its nuclear-weapons program, said Wednesday morning he was “very reassured” at how his talks with Asian nations about the issue are unfolding. On Wednesday, the U.S. military said North Korean soldiers have stepped up patrols in one area of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. “Over the past week, we have some increased activity,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Margotta, who com mands a combined battalion of U.S. and South Korean soldiers stationed near the border village of Panmunjom. He described the activ ity as “not alarming, just unusual.” In Seoul, Kelly reassured South Korean officials that Washington would stick to diplomacy to seek a peaceful settlement to the crisis. He also held out the prospect of energy assistance to the North if it verifiably gives up its nuclear ambitions. North Korea suffers an acute energy shortage. “I had excellent meetings in (South) Korea,” Kelly said, leaving his hotel for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday morning. “I’m very reassured. We have to keep talking with each other to make sure that things are done in the best possible way.” In a statement Tuesday, however, North Korea accused Washington of being insincere about prospects for dia logue. It insisted it was not moving to reactivate its nuclear facilities in order to wrest concessions out of the West. The North defended its decision last week to withdraw from a global See Crisis on page 2 lj Improve quality of faculty 2j Improve graduate and undergraduate programs 3j Increase racial diversity Construct new campus buildings TRAVIS SWENSEN • THE BATTALION Senator Ogden criticizes Gates’ diversity plans By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION A leading state legislator sharply criticized Texas A&M President Dr. Robert M. Gates’ recent diversity initiatives, saying he fears they could be little more than backdoor racial quotas. “I don’t like the way this buzzword ‘diversity’ is taking our colleges and universities,” state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said. Gates has said that increasing the racial diversity of the student body and faculty is one of his top priorities, but he said this would best be accomplished by reaching out to qualified minority students, not through preference pro grams. However, Ogden expressed skepticism regarding Gates’ focus on race. “I don’t think it’s A&M’s job to go out and jam people into the school when they aren’t going there already,” said Ogden, the co-chair of the Senate’s committee on higher education. Ogden questioned the need for the University’s diversity initiatives, saying the A&M students he spoke to during a recent graduation commence ment address were a diverse bunch. “Diversity means no artificial barriers prevent ing any Texas student from attending A&M,” Ogden said. “It’s about making A&M a more wel coming place, not filling quotas.” Ogden also said that while A&M should not deny students based on race, admissions should not enforce racial quotas. Gates said the current ethnic mix of the student body, which is 85 percent white, is unacceptable. “The real world is a very diverse place, and if we haven’t prepared our students for it, we have failed,” Gates said. Gates emphasized that the University’s efforts to increase the number of minority students would not involve giving applicants an edge on the admissions process based on race. The problem. Gates said, is that even though many minority students are admitted to A&M, many choose to go elsewhere because they per ceive the campus environment as unfriendly towards minorities. Diversity is not about racial preferences, but creating a more welcoming environment. Gates said. He said failing to achieve a more diverse student body will have repercussions in the legislature. “It will create problems with the legislature if we don’t show we’re serious about making A&M look more like Texas,” Gates said. This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court will con sider a case involving the University of Michigan and involving the issue of racial preferences in admissions. Such preferences have been prohibit ed in Texas since 1996 by a federal appellate court ruling. However, Gates said he had not decided whether to support reinstating preferences if the See Ogden on page 2 28 l today! icrosoft extends agreement to A&M departments By Lecia Baker THE BATTALION ip All departments at Texas A&M now have the opportunity to participate in the agree- nient between Computing and Information Systems (CIS) and the Microsoft jCorporation. Since A&M signed the agree- ; merit with Microsoft in the summer of 2002, all faculty, staff and students have been able to purchase software for personal use at dis count prices as low as $5. j: Negotiations between the two parties have reopened the doors for departments that did not sign up before the fall deadline. ‘1 “This is a wonderful opportunity for j departments that were undecided,” said Pete Marchbanks, associate director of customer sales and services for CIS. I Microsoft does not usually allow additional people or departments to sign up for the soft ware agreement after deadlines have closed, he said. Marchbanks said he recently sent a personal invitation to all University depart ments that did not take advantage of the deal before the deadline. Thomas Putnam, director of CIS, said the agreement saves departments administrative costs and headaches and will also make licens ing issues easier to deal with. “They don’t have to worry about who is using what software on what computer,” he said. The new departments will not receive a dis count on software, Putnam said. Instead, participating departments will pay a prorated cost to have access to the software, Marchbanks said. Departments have eight months left to inquire about the agreement, because it is more expensive for a department to make the purchase than a student, he said. A&M signed up for the work-at-home rights option, which allows departments to purchase software for personal use on their home computer as long as it does not cost A&M, Marchbanks said. The department must sign up and pay to use a certain program for individual members of that department to have the option to buy the software for home use, said Romona Stites, information technology team leader. Microsoft allows departments to tailor their programs to specific departmental needs. After the department orders selections, CIS burns the department a copy from its master, Stites said. “The department can sign up everyone in its department or no one,” she said. “This is not a pick and choose situation.” The deadline to sign up for the opportunity is today at 5 p.m., Marchbanks said. Iif /1 icrosoft Agreement il iiE3— for Departments Source; CIS RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
