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Sports- Longhorns dominate Ags • Page 1 B Opinion: Women can yell too • Page 5B
THE BATTALION
Volume 109 • Issue 76 • 14 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, January 16, 2003
A&M hosts Cheney question, answer session
What: Speech, question and
answer session
Tickets available at MSC Box
Office Monday, Jan. 20
Source: Bush Foundation
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is sched
uled to speak at Rudder Auditorium Feb. 3 at
11 a.m. to give students, faculty and staff an
opportunity to ask him questions about current
issues involving the United States.
Students who are interested may ques
tion the national leader on any issue ranging
from war with Iraq to problems with North
Korea, said officials at the George Bush
Foundation.
Cheney is the latest in a long line of dig
nitaries from the Bush administration who
have spoken at Texas A&M including First
Lady Laura Bush, former President George
Bush and President George W. Bush.
In 2002, China President Jiang Zemin
and British Prime Minister Tony Blair visit
ed and spoke at the Bush Library.
Cheney’s speech and question-and-
answer period are a part of the Twanna M.
Powell Lecture Series.
A&M students will have a unique oppor
tunity to create their own questions for the
vice president following his speech, said Dr.
Roman Popadiuk, director of the Bush
Foundation.
“Although the subject matter of Vice
President Cheney’s speech is his choice, we
do ask that speakers address current issues,
and presently our country is faced with the
threat of Iraq, (which is) a possible topic,”
Popadiuk said.
Cheney’s political career began in 1969
when he joined Nixon’s White House. He
soon moved from deputy assistant to the
president, to the White House chief of staff.
See Cheney on page 2A
A&M faculty
hiring may
be on hold
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
While a reduction in state funds for the
University is pending, Texas A&M may face a fac
ulty hiring freeze. Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan.
said in an interview at the Capitol last week.
In an article from the Austin American-
Statesman Monday, another member of the Texas
legislature said it is possible that the state will
implement a hiring freeze to save state money to
alleviate the state’s estimated debt.
Even though A&M has not officially stated it
has a hiring freeze, it already seems that one is in
effect, said Dr. Joe Townsend, associate dean for
student development in the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences.
Townsend said because A&M is admitting the
biggest freshman class ever this year, it can be dif
ficult for students to get into the classes they need.
“There are 26 majors in the College of
Agriculture alone. Some majors have it harder try
ing to register for classes than others,” he said.
Townsend said that if a student’s major does not
have a heavy math or science emphasis, they might
run into problems registering for classes.
Within the College of Agriculture, the majors
that have the most problems with overcrowding
are agriculture business, agriculture economics,
recreation, park and tourism sciences and ag devel
opment, Townsend said.
A&M has fewer professors now than 10 years
ago with a 3.8 percent turnover rate for professors
at A&M, according to the Dean of Faculties’
Office.
“It’s an A&M problem, not a professor or stu
dent problem,” Townsend said. He said possible
See Faculty on page 2A
Faked out
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M lecturer Wade Womack and A&M graduate student ulty and graduate students who play every day at the same time at
Michael Crow battle for the basketball Wednesday morning at the the rec center. Rec center staff said that it has been especially crowd-
student rec center. They were playing basketball with a group of fac- ed this week due to New Years' resolutions and the start of school.
Homeland security an A&M priority
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M Vice President for Research
Dr. Richard Ewing has appointed Dr. Paul
Carlton Jr. director of the Integrative Center
for Homeland Security (ICHS).
Carlton, a retired Air Force Lieutenant,
is a relative newcomer to the University,
coming to A&M in Fall 2002 as a special
assistant to the president of the University
Health Science Center. ICHS was estab
lished by the Board of
Regents in May 2002 in
response to the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
Ewing said Carlton’s
military career will make
him a competent director.
“Due to his experience
as surgeon general of the CARLTON
Air Force, Dr. Carlton is
the best person to take on the oversight and
administration of the Integrative Center for
Homeland Security for Texas A&M
University, and I look forward to working
together (with him) on homeland security
issues,” Ewing said.
Carlton said he would not implement
major changes in the administration of the
ICHS.
“I will continue the great work my prede
cessor started as we work on the practical
application for difficult problems facing us in
homeland security,” he said. “Our key focus
will be on the practical application that will
be delivered quickly and efficiently.”
Ewing said he will work with Carlton to
See Homeland on page 2A
SBSLC brings black leaders to campus
By Lauren Smith
THE BATTALION
Black college students
nationwide will travel to
College Station this weekend
to attend the annual
Southwestern Black Student
Leadership Conference
(SBLC) hosted by Texas A&M
and the Department of
Multicultural Services.
“Students from schools
ranging from Indiana
University to Notre Dame, as
well as numerous historically
black colleges and universities
will be in attendance at this
year’s conference,” said
Jetonne Butler, director of reg
istration for the conference.
SBSLC, a student-run confer
ence held every January at A&M,
unites more than 1,000 students
and advisers, Butler said.
Now in its 15th year,
SBSLC attempts to encourage
leaders to look to the future.
“(We want to) inspire and
motivate the intellect of young
black collegians to be produc
tive leaders of tomorrow,” said
Anverly Black, director of the
Advanced Leadership Institute
for the conference.
The conference will consist
of various workshops focusing
on career planning, leadership
skills, a career fair, a vendor
fair and seminars with promi
nent keynote speakers Dr.
Kervin J. Smith and Patricia
Russell-McCloud, said Erika
Kelly, assistant director of pro
grams for the conference.
Kelly said Smith, who will
speak Friday morning, is the
founder and president of
Kervin J. Smith Ministries, an
international and multicultural
ministry that spread its prophe
cy around the world.
Russell-McCloud, named
by Black Enterprise magazine
See Leaders on page 2A
Annual Southwestern Black Student
Leadership Conference
-HI"
- Patricia McCloud
dve performances by:
HBO's Def Party Jam - Friday at Rudder Tower
- Hip hop artist Amerie - Saturday at Reed Arena
Source: Department of Multicultural Services
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Bush to challenge
affirmative action
By Ron Fournier
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Bush plans to chal
lenge a University of Michigan
program that gives preference to
minority students, telling the
Supreme Court there are better
ways to promote diversity,
administration officials said
Wednesday.
Justice Department and
White House attorneys, acting
on Bush’s orders, were prepar
ing a brief arguing against pro
grams that gave black and
Hispanic students an edge when
applying to the university and its
law school.
Without confirming Bush’s
plans. White House press secre
tary Ari Fleischer said the presi
dent was meeting Wednesday
with his advisers to review the
brief which is due Thursday and
would shortly publicly reveal
his conclusion.
“He seeks ways to encourage
diversity and do so in a way that
does not rely on either quotes or
racial preferences,” Fleischer
told reporters. “Quotas and
racial preferences do not serve
to lift up our country and to help
the average American. Instead
they have a tendency to divide
people, to separate people who
are deemed to be worthy of
something and have it taken
away from them not on the basis
of merit.”
Senate Democratic leader
Tom Daschle called it “a water
shed moment for the administra
tion. They have to decide
whether they’re for civil rights
and diversity or not.”
Rep. Richard Gephardt of
Missouri, a graduate of the
University of Michigan law
school who says he’ll seek the
Democratic presidential nomi
nation in 2004, said he planned
to file a brief in support of the
university’s program. “I believe
affirmative action is an essential
tool in expanding educational
opportunities to minorities,” he
said.
Fleischer vehemently dis
agreed that an administration
brief challenging the universi
ty’s affirmative action program
would define Bush as an oppo
nent of civil rights.
“When people view people
who have different opinions on
the basis of principle as being
opposed to civil rights — that’s
excessive,” he said.
The lawsuit brought by three
white students is the biggest
affirmative action case in a gen
eration, a political lightning rod
as Bush struggles to increase his
See Bush on page 2A