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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
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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