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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2003)
) W0R1| HE BATTALIA Aggielife: Feeling the burn • Page 4A Opinion: Malpractice makes perfect? • Page 5B r ene nglrof in Iraq that many nation lited States goest val. ver th inspectors; says to use military fora xindl must authors •elieves council ms: sing force, but has xie k; hinted it might action out veto powet noundng position support U.S.-led o position regards oncing position vention, even if its position regarding ght support military ciidomatic resdutrr military interven&cr s should be lifted mg up unless w tg sensational ini tave not hadsuclii lix said, zed Iraq for bloci- is from using i -2 spy plane it ghdad’s weapon! e areas where« ted and the U-28 Blix said, s were a mainsii) hunt for Iraoi mass destruciffl 1998. Ameticffi ;m. from page 1 rrington said tit lie ip improve tit :c Center. said he does nJ ncrease to be ate : Aggies and ptf it options to eat said if it does nfl I be several const' iding a decrease; perating hours £ to replace broke ements are set tok 2006. lusiness, sen# onfusion regard if social seed •uld actually coif Is office get d so people cant* 1 ;ir informatioc 112133ml rea agree ible solute Jth Korea (AP)' agreed Friday t: south Korea |: olve the inteflif andoff ov« luclear programs Korean govern Hedged that tits I short of comm® it from the Notf linet-level talks a ration, the / had "sufficient! iositions on tits 006 Council ting application s office of e President will be available Dpen House and :udent Program! r online at -tamu.edu/2O0d ns will be due th by 5:00 p.m- > THF RATTAI TONT JL JL JL H j M, JrjL jl* 1 JL JTjLjLj JL JL ^1 Volume 109 • Issue 82 • 14 pages Texas A&M University wwvv.thebatt.com Monday, January 27, 2003 2006 class president removed By Esther Robards-Forbes THE BATTALION Freshman Class President Grant Soderberg was removed from office because he gave misinformation to other officers and failed to communicate with officers and team members of the Freshman Class Council, according to a written statement from Class Vice-President Cinnamon Hodges. Hodges, a history major, said “The offi cers determined that his removal would be in the best interest of the freshman class.” Memorial Student Center (MSC) offi cials, who oversee the Class Councils, have made no public announcement regarding his dismissal, and the circumstances and reasons for Soderberg’s removal are still unclear. MSC Director Jim Reynolds and Director of Class Councils Rusty Thompson both canceled appointments with The Battalion and did not return phone calls. Katie Hanselka, the adviser for the Class of 2006, said Soderberg was removed from office, but declined to comment on when the removal occurred. Every A&M student pays a student service fee of about $150 for 12 hours a semester, from which the MSC received $2.5 million this year, according to MSC Council President Barry Hammond. He said the total MSC budget is $6.2 million, with the remaining $3.7 million being generated by MSC programs. Hammond said he is unsure how much each Class Council receives from the stu dent service fees. “Class Councils do a lot of fundraising and are supported by some endowments,” he said. Former class president Soderberg, a busi ness major, said “I’m not able to discuss my presidency at this time.” Hodges has assumed the office of fresh man class president. “I didn’t know they could remove our officers without telling us,” said Amy Rabb, a freshman mechanical engineering major. “They have us elect the officers, and there fore give up the right to withhold informa tion about them.” See President on page 2A File Photo • THE BATTALION New Freshman Class President Grant Soderberg gets hugged by friend Greg Kay after hearing he had won. Football 101 Courtest of KRT Campus • THE BATTALION SAN DIEGO, CA - Oakland Raider, Charlie Garner (25) covers his face after quarter of Super Bowl XXXVII. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Oakland missing a pass near the fifty yard line against Tampa Bay in the second Raiders 48 to 21. Story on page IB. Inspectors unsure Iraq is rearming By Dafna Linzer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS — Iraq’s arms declara tion is incomplete, its scientists aren’t cooperating with inspections and Baghdad is obstructing the use of a U-2 plane which could be helpful in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. After two months on the job, the chief weapons inspectors, who will issue their current assess ments to the Security Council on Monday at 10:30 a.m. EST, can’t confirm claims by the Bush administration that Iraq is rearming. Inspectors still don’t know what happened to Iraq’s stock piles of biological and chemical weapons or how much time they have left to find the answers. Still, with all the open questions, the reports by Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei will likely be key to Washington’s efforts to bolster internation al support for a war on Iraq, or efforts by skeptics to avert one. According to Security Council Resolution 1441, crafted by the Bush administration and adopted in November, inspectors don’t need to prove Iraq is rearming. Any false statements or omissions in Iraq’s arms declaration, coupled with a failure to comply with and cooperate fully in the implementation of the resolution, would place Baghdad in “material breach” of its obligations — a finding that could open the door for war. For the Bush administration, that has already happened and time is now running out for Saddam See Iraq on page 2A Polo fields to be main site for drainage plan By Lecia Baker THE BATTALION Texas A&M is working on a project to eliminate drainage problems that have periodically affected the campus on rainy days, forcing students to wade through the standing water to get to their classes.. “Texas A&M needs an effective drainage system because the basement of Zachry floods and so students don’t have to wade through water to class,” said Ben Hawkins, a freshman chemistry major. The project, “Main Campus Streets Campus Construction Dates Polo Fields regraded for better drainage Completed by mid-February 2003 Ross Street construction Completed by January 2005 Bonfire Memorial Construction to begin September 2003 Source: Texas A&M Physical Plant RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION and Area Drainage Improvements,” came as a result of a Storm Water Management Plan that was approved in 1997 by the City of College Station, said Les Swick, associate executive director of the Physical Plant Department. “During heavy rain events, the University was susceptible to flooding in the basement of Zachry Engineering, the area around Wisenbaker Engineering Research Center and Bizzell Street because storm water would exceed capacity,” Swick said. The project includes an effort to slow the rate at which water from campus flows into Wolf Pen Creek and the recon struction of New Main Drive and Bizzell Loop, said Swick. The area north of New Main Drive is the central focus of the plan. A large part of the polo fields will be at a one foot slope to allow water to drain into an earth berm, a trench-like structure, that will run along the north side of New Main Drive, said David Godbey, assistant director of Engineering and Design Services of the Physical Plant Department. He said the construction should be complete by the middle of February 2004. The berm will allow water to drain into Wolf Pen Creek at a slower rate, Godbey said. Also, the berm will cause storm water to trickle down into the sewer and then take it past the golf course into the College Station drainage system, Godbey said. The regraded section of the polo fields See Drainage on page 2A Education is focus of conference By Nicole M. Jones THE BATTALION About 450 high school students were on the Texas A&M campus this weekend to participate in the Minority Enrichment and Development through Academic and Leadership Skills (MEDALS) con ference. The conference, sponsored by the Department of Multicultural Services, is designed to “instill in (minority high school students) the need for higher education,” said Roy Johnson, associate director of MEDALS 2003. MEDALS hosted the students, as well as their parents and counselors. said Bianca Goodrum, associate director of programs for MEDALS 2003. A large part of what makes MEDALS run is the student advis ers, Johnson said. About 50 A&M students volun teered as peer advisers for the high school students, parent advisers for the parents and chaperones and to help out with other aspects of the conference, Johnson said. The students came from all across Texas, from cities such as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Goodrum said. During the two-day conference, they attended work shops and other activities designed to inform them about possible avenues to pursue after high school. she said. Entertainment included a talent show and the “MEDALS shuffle,” a group dance used as an icebreaker to get the students excited about the conference. In the closing luncheon held Saturday afternoon, MEDALS awarded more than $10,000 to deserving high school students who submitted essays for the scholarship contest. Jan Milton, the parent of a student involved in Club Generation Success from Plano High School, said she was impressed with undergraduate A&M students having significant roles in planning the conference. See MEDALS on page 2A Students, staff pick parking lots in 2004 By Melissa Fowler THE BATTALION Parking, Traffic and Transportation Services (PTTS) has a new name and a new way of conducting business, said Rodney Weis, director of Parking and Transit Services. The newly named Transportation Services will focus more on the customer wants and needs indicated by sur veys collected at the beginning of the semester. By Fall 2004, Transportation Services hopes to change parking on campus by allowing faculty, staff and students to select the parking lot they would like to park in rather than using the red, blue and yellow lot system which sepa rates traffic by residents, commuter and staff. “This plan will make more efficient use of all parking spaces and provide closer, reliable access to all customer groups,” Weis said. Students who frequently drive to school said finding a parking space in a commuter parking lot is not as hard as finding or fighting for a space in a resi dent lot. “I think people who live on campus should choose lots close to their dorms,” said Amy Melendi, a sophomore political science, major. Assigning customers to a specific parking lot will reduce traffic and increase bicyclist and pedestrian safety, Weis said. Transportation Services is also considering adding metered parking to areas of campus where people need short-term parking for brief business transactions. See Parking on page 5A