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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2003)
Sports: March Madness could head to Texas A&M • Page 7 AGGIELIFE: Culture talk • Page 3 Volume 109 • Issue 88 • 10 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Tuesday, February 4, 2003 Perry backs off student funds By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION Gov. Rick Perry backed off Monday from a proposal that would lave used a portion of the fees paid iy Texas college students to help lalance the state budget. Public university officials began icouring their budgets for spending nits after Perry's Jan. 23 directive ;o state agencies to slash 7 percent : rom this year's budget. But on Jan. 19, a policy analyst for Perry nformed university officials that he 7 percent cuts applied not only o the state funds schools receive, but also to the tuition and fees paid by students — a move that dramat ically increased the amount univer sities would have had to cut. “We were shocked,” said Bob Wright, spokesman for Texas A&M System Chancellor Howard Graves. “We’ve never considered (tuition and fee money) as general revenue. Students pay that money for servic es, not for the state government to spend.” Perry later decided not to cut from tuition revenue, just from fees. His original decision would have forced the A&M System to cut an additional $1 1 million, Wright said. For A&M, which must cut $16 mil lion from its budget this year, that could have resulted in at least $4 millio more in spending reductions. Perry reversed course Monday and University officials were told that the state would not lay claim to fee money, and the cuts would apply only to a school’s state appropriations. Student tuition and fees will stay at A&M and be used as they were previ ously, to maintain the University sys tem. Perry’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment Monday. A&M receives about one-third of its $800 million budget from state funds. Early estimates from state budget officials suggest even deeper cuts are in the works for next year’s budget. A&M may have to slash 12 percent from its 2004 fiscal year budget, which begins in September, Wright said. With only six months remaining in the 2003 fiscal year, finding the 7 per cent in cuts mandated by the state will be especially daunting. “It’s almost like a 14 percent cut because we’ve already spent half the year’s budget,” Wright said. A&M President Robert M. Gates has imposed a staff hiring and travel freeze and must submit a complete list of budget cuts to the state by Thursday. kMMmi Brandon Charles Falls General Studies Gokul Lakshmon Petroleum tnglneering Klshoro Shlvdas Nalk Aerospace fnqtneerfno Jacqueline Roquemore Education-Teachincj, Lecirnlnq Si Culture Rajiv Saha Chemistry 10:30 p.m. ACADEMIC PLAZA RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION Students protest war with Iraq RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Junior international studies major Chris Young protests a war with Iraq Monday afternoon by the statue of Sul Ross in the Academic Plaza. Young, along with about 20 others from vari ous campus organizations stood in the plaza encouraging support from people who passed by with signs and chants. The events drew more than 150 signatures in protest. By Esther Robards- Forbes THE BATTALION Shouts echoed across the Academic Plaza Monday afternoon as students gath ered to protest the possible war in Iraq. “Bush, Exxon, Mobil, Shell! Take your war and go to hell!” was the call taken up by the group of more than 30 students, faculty and staff. The group carried picket signs declaring, “Give peace a chance!” and “Disarm Bush!” The anti-war protest was the first on Texas A&M’s campus in a long time, but it will not be the last, the pro testers said. The protest was organized by residents Karen Glover, Marie Leonard and Christina Morales, who invited commu nity groups such as the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and student groups such as the Aggie Democrats and the Green Party to participate. Protesters obtained more than 150 signatures from stu dents who supported the peace movement, according to Jonathan Steed, president of the Aggie Democrats. “I see nothing to be gained by going to war,” said Bob Presley, an oceanography pro fessor who has taught at A&M for 32 years. “We don’t want (Iraq) developing weapons, but with the inspec tors there, that is unlikely to happen. Killing thousands of civilians is not the way to solve this problem.” The protest was organized mainly to raise awareness on campus about the issues sur rounding President George W. Bush’s plans for war, Leonard said. Steed said he is worried the war with Iraq will be motivated by the wrong rea sons. “Bush’s administration has been bought and paid for by See Protest on page 2 TX-TFl deployed to help find debris By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION Twenty-seven members of Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TFl) had to leave their families and jobs with only hours notice after being deployed to Lufkin on Monday to aid in the search for debris from the space shut tle Columbia. TX-TFl spokeswoman Marilyn Martel 1 said members of the task force knew they might be called after Nacogdoches County officials confirmed more than 800 reports of debris scattered across the county. “Odds are if there is a disas ter in the state, they will be activated,” Martell said. Task force members work other jobs besides TX-TFl. Martell said eight members were notified at 10:30 a.m. Monday and will arrive in Lufkin Tuesday afternoon. Four more members were acti vated at 3:30 p.m. Monday and are expected to arrive in Lufkin Tuesday evening, she said. The remaining 15 members assisting in the search are K-9 units that have been arriving in East Texas since Sunday. A spokesman at the Joint Information Command Center in Lufkin said TX-TFl is the first Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Urban Search And Rescue(USAR) team to be acti vated, and will assist the 300 National Guard Members already conducting a search that spans 250,000 square miles across Texas and Louisiana. The 12 non-K-9 members of TX-TFl are only a small part of the entire task force, which is made up of three 70- member teams of elite emer gency responders. “It is a very selective process to make the team,” Martell said. Martell said only a few members of the team were sent because the debris search is across mostly rural terrain, and TX-TFl is designed for urban search and rescue missions. A team of 70 members from TX-TFl was sent to New York City five days after the Sept. 11 attack. The 15 units make up the largest group of K-9 units ever used by the task force. Each K- 9 unit includes a specially- trained dog and its human han dler. Though the human/dog teams are not usually part of TX-TFl, they will be instru mental in finding pieces of the space shuttle. “This mission is pulling in additional resources under the See Force on page 2 Franchione speech at A&M sold out By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION Head Football Coach Dennis Franchione will address 600 Texas A&M community mem bers and answer questions fol lowing his speech at the George Bush Presidential Conference Center on Thursday, communi cating publicly with students for the first time since arriving on campus in December. Franchione said his speech was unprepared but is likely to include his thoughts about build ing sports programs and improv ing leadership. Signing day falls on Feb. 5 this year, the day before Franchione’s speech. On signing days, high school athletes make official commitments to the col lege program of their choice. Franchione said because sign ing day falls so close to his speech, he may also discuss new recruits coming to A&M in Fall 2003. The 400 student tickets held at the MSC Box Office for the speech are no longer available. The Bryan-College Station Eagle ran out of its 100 tickets Friday afternoon. The remaining 100 available were given away by WTAW. By Monday afternoon, 12 tickets remained at the radio station. The Bush Foundation will host the event. Rod Thornton, deputy direc tor of the Bush Foundation, said Franchione’s speech was given a bigger venue to accommodate Franchione’s popularity. Franchione’s speech will be open to a crowd of 600, while most of the Foundation’s speeches are designed for only 150. “It is not anticipated that the event will be moved to Rudder (Theater) unless several thou sand people come to us within the next few days,” Thornton said. Thornton said the Foundation would prefer to maintain a more intimate setting for the speech. The smaller setting will also be important during the question and answer session following Franchione’s speech. Future discussion topics include range from horticulture to the potential war with Iraq, and all speeches will include a question and answer session, Thornton said. Franchione Speech - Thursday, Feb. 6 AM - 6 p.m. 'PvRHjfl - George Bush v;; Presidential Conference Center M - 12 tickets remain at WTAW radio station — TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION B-CS tops Texas’ low unemployment rate By Melissa McKeon THE BATTALION Bryan-College Station once again has the lowest unemployment rate of any metropoli tan area in Texas, according to a survey con ducted by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). Clayton Griffis, labor market analyst for TWC, said Bryan-College Station typically has the lowest unemployment rate out of the 27 metro areas studied, which include Waco, San Antonio and Austin-San Marcos. The current unemployment figure of 1.7 percent for December 2002 is up from 1.4 percent a year ago. Those figures pertain to the people who actually live and work within the metro area, Griffis said. “The economy (in Bryan-College Station) is generally stable and cyclical because of having such a large university there,” Griffis said. The survey indicates that Bryan-College Station experienced a gain of 200 jobs in state employment. “That sheds light on the impact Texas A&M has on such a small metro area,” Griffis said. “Thirty percent of the non-agricultural jobs in Bryan-College Station are state gov ernment jobs, and that is mostly because of the University.” The second highest employment sector in the community is concentrated in service areas, such as car repairs and dry cleaners, he said. Lane Stephenson, deputy director of University Relations Texas A&M, agrees that the University is a strong part of this area’s economy. “A&M has long been a driving force in the economy of Bryan-College Station and the Brazos Valley,” Stephenson said. “For the 2001 fiscal year, the A&M system based in Bryan-College Station had an economic impact of 2 billion dollars.” See Rate on page 2