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Sports: Aggies pitch shutout against Sam Houston • Page 5
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Volume 109 • Issue 99 • 10 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
A&M free-speech zones will not change
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M is not reevaluating its
campus free-speech policies despite a
recent conflict between protesters and
students and the University of Texas’
recent designation of its entire campus
as a free speech area.
“We have not officially discussed
anything recently about this,” said
Dennis Busch, manager of the
University Center at A&M. “It is not
on any upcoming agenda.”
A&M’s current regulations desig
nate three areas as free- speech zones:
Rudder Fountain, the Lawrence
Sullivan Ross Statue area in front of
the Academic Building, and the West
Campus mall area. Rudder Fountain is
the only location where sound equip
ment is allowed.
Individuals or groups who wish to
publicly express their views on cam
pus must submit a request to the
Scheduling Office at least two days
before the event, according to
University Scheduling.
“Two of these three locations are
the most highly visible areas on cam
pus,” Busch said. “We felt we were
being very fair.”
UT is already operating under new
rules developed by the Task Force on
Assembly and Expression and
endorsed by the UT Faculty Council
in January.
The policies abolish the free-
speech zone concept, said Douglas
Laycock, UT law professor and chair
of the task force.
“The idea of free-speech zones is
wrong,” Laycock said. “We decided
that the only part of free speech that
needed to be confined was amplified
sound during weekdays.”
A conflict between A&M’s Ross
Volunteers Honor Corps Organization
members and antiwar protesters
occurred Feb. 3 in front of the Sul
Ross statue when protesters perceived
the Corps of Cadets members’ drills
and exercises around the area as offen
sive. The Ross Volunteers were
cleared of any wrongdoing last week
after a Corps-led investigation.
A&M political science professor
William Anthony said the current
A&M free-speech policies are not
unconstitutional.
“The courts have said you can
designate where you can hold free
speech and where you can’t,” he
said. “The purpose of A&M’s rules
are to keep free speech away from
where students are and where it
doesn’t interfere with the school.”
See Speech on page 2
Free Speech
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Travis Swenson • THE BATTALION
Source: the University Center
Pizza, anyone?
Sharia Wisialowski, a sophomore mechanical engineering Engineers' Council. National Engineers Week con mu
major, adds another box to the pile as students devoured today with free snow cones in Zachry Lobby and a bow mg
450 pizzas during a free lunch sponsored by the Student tournament at 7 p.m. at Triangle Bowl.
Many countries
demand more
Iraq inspections
By Edith M. Lederer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS (AP) —
While the United States and
Britain worked on a new resolu
tion that would authorize military
action in Iraq, many countries
spoke out Tuesday against a rush
to war and demanded more
weapons inspections to disarm
Baghdad peacefully.
Speaking on behalf of 115
mainly developing countries in
the Non-Aligned Movement,
South Africa urged the Security
Council to strengthen inspections
and “redouble its efforts to bring
about the peaceful resolution to
the situation in Iraq.”
The message from Friday’s
council briefing by top weapons
inspectors Hans Blix and
Mohamed ElBaradei “is that the
inspection process in Iraq is
working and that Iraq is showing
clear signs of cooperating more
proactively with the inspectors,”
South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador
Dumisani Kumalo said.
The Non-Aligned Movement
asked for the open council meet
ing to give countries that aren’t
on the 15-member council a
chance to present their views on
the Iraq crisis, and 60 signed up
to speak on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Kumalo, the leadoff speaker,
noted that over the past two
months inspectors have verified
information provided by a num
ber of countries but so far have
turned up no weapons of mass
destruction.
“None of the information pro
vided "thus far would seem to jus
tify the Security Council aban
doning the inspection process and
immediately resorting to the
threatened ‘serious conse
quences,”’ he said. “We believe
that resorting to war, without
exhausting all other options, rep
resents an admission of failure by
the Security Council in carrying
out its duty of maintaining inter
national peace and security.”
Kumalo urged Iraq to cooper
ate fully with inspectors to avoid
war — a plea echoed by two of
Iraq’s closest neighbors —
Kuwait, which Saddam Hussein’s
See U.N. on page 8
A&M students continue
work in Texas colonias
By Lauren Smith
THE BATTALION
In Mexico, a “colonia” is simply a
neighborhood, yet just across the border in
this country, the word takes on a whole
new meaning of communities with dirt
roads, no running water and self-built
housing.
In 1999, representatives from Texas
A&M and the University of Texas, along
with federal and state officials, signed an
agreement signifying their mutual commit
ment to bettering the health, living envi
ronment and nutrition of the residents in
Texas’ 1,800 different colonias.
“These communities are home to
around 400,000, and some believe the fig
ure is more like a 500,000 population,”
said Kermit Blake, director of the Center
for Housing and Urban Development.
"Our role is to help these people become
less isolated and more resilient families.”
The average colonias family has five
members and an average income of
$10,000 a year, he said.
Currently, 16 community resource cen
ters service the colonias, in which 400 to
$00 public and private entities are provid
ing health care and educational services to
residents.
Along with these community centers
providing aid, A&M students are also
given the opportunity to earn credit,
research what the people in the communi
ties need and live with a family in the colo
nias for the summer. The setting for this
summer’s courses is Weslaco.
CHUD, a part of the College of
Architecture at A&M, runs the Colonias
Program. A special item in A&M’s budget
from the Texas Legislature allots $900,000
to the program, and $5 million of external
support also comes in annually.
“There are several University-colonias
partnerships we are developing through
collaborative, community-based research,”
said Dr. Marlynn May, director of field-
based research and learning for CHUD.
“Through integrating research into the
communities, residents are very involved
in the process. It is not just researchers
going in and jotting figures down.”
Octavios Bonaquiste, an A&M gradu
ate and current graduate student at UT-
Arlington, lived in a colonia with a family
of five in a two-bedroom home. He said a
lot can be said for living what you are
studying.
“Actually living in the home with a
family had the most profound impact on
my life,” Bonaquiste said. “The family I
stayed with had so little yet gave me so
much. There was a complete warmth
about them.”
Signora Bernal, the mother in the home
Bonaquiste resided in, served as a “promo-
tora”, or promoter, in her colonia.
Promotoras are residents who are
recruited, trained and supervised as
knowledge resources for their
neighborhoods.
“These promotoras are an essential
part of the program because they can
disseminate information throughout the
community much more rapidly than any
other kind of employee by going door-
to-door and letting residents know
about free immunization going on at a
community center or a threatening
health issue like mosquito infections,”
Bonaquiste said.
See Colonias on page 2
Local police upgrade vehicle lights
By Bernhard Hall
THE BATTALION
Following the lead of the
University Police Department, the
College Station Police Department
is replacing the old light bars on top
of their cars with new, thinner ones
that are more difficult for drivers
to see.
UPD replaced all of its patrol
cars last summer, and its new vehi
cles include new, slimmer
light bars.
UPD’s primary jurisdiction
includes all property under the con
trol of Texas A&M.
So far, only five CSPD patrol
cars have the lights, but eventually
all of them will, said Lt. Rodney
Sigler, CSPD’s public information
officer.
The light bars are added when each
vehicle is replaced, Sigler said.
The upgrade is not intended to
trap unsuspecting motorists but to
give officers added safety, said UPD
officer Matt Joseph.
The lights are brighter, making
them safer for officers, he said. He
said while there has been no signif
icant increase in the amount of traf
fic stops, the lights are less
conspicuous.
“Something different is added
every year depending on what tech
nology is out there,” Sigler said.
Adam A. Krazer • THE BATTALION
A University Police Department vehi
cle with the thinner light bar.
The new lights are also more
reliable and require less mainte
nance than the old ones, Sigler said.
Some students said they do not
See Police on page 2
New department head faces challenges
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
Dr. Tim Davis, newly named horticulture sciences
department head, said he has never been an 8-to-5,
Monday-through-Friday type of
employee.
Since his appointment Feb. 1, Davis
follows a unique schedule, dividing his
time between his duties in College Station
and his position as resident director of the
Texas A&M Research and Extension
Center in Dallas. Usually Davis is in
College Station three days a week to fulfill
his role as department head.
“I also do a lot of department head responsibilities
while I am in Dallas,” he said.
Through e-mail and video-conferencing capabilities,
he said his location is less of a factor in his role of over
seeing all teaching, research and extension functions in
the horticulture department.
After he accepted his new position in College Station,
Davis was unable to relocate due to a family conflict, and
continues to live in Plano with his wife and three children.
“This dual role is not meant to be a model for the
future or a permanent arrangement. It probably will only
last a couple of years and then I will relocate to College
Station,” he said.
To accommodate the demands of his jobs, Davis relies
on the help of others. An associate resident director posi
tion was recently created at the Dallas Extension Center
to assist Davis with daily operations.
“We will have competent leadership teams in place at
both locations to make sure all business is tended to,” he
said. “My approach has always been team-oriented, so
this aspect is nothing new for me.”
See Davis on page 2