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.
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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.
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- George Bush
v;;
Presidential Conference Center
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- 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