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THE BATTALION
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Sports: Aggies surrender home loss to Oklahoma • Page 5 Aggielife: Broken homes • Page 3
Volume 109 • Issue 107 • 10 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Monday, March 3, 2003
Corps commander, deputy chosen
Will McAdams, Aaron Kinsey to lead the Corps next year
By Melissa McKeon
THE BATTALION
Will McAdams and Aaron Kinsey were chosen as
Corps of Cadets commander and deputy command
er, respectively, for the 2003-2004 school year at the
Sam Houston Sanders Corps Center on Friday.
“I consider the candidates to be some of the
finest young men and women I have ever met,” said
Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne.
“The candidates were outstanding and it was not an
easy job for this (selection) panel.”
The two cadets were chosen among 27 candi
dates by an 18-member panel comprised of military
officers and current cadet leaders.
McAdams, a cadet in Company E-l and a jun
ior political science major, currently serves as
sergeant major of the Corps and will become the
highest ranking cadet in the 2,000-member organ
ization, which is the largest military officer train
ing institution outside of the U.S. armed service
academies.
McAdams is enrolled in Anny ROTC and is
seeking a commission as a second lieutenant in the
Army after graduation.
McAdams said he is thankful for the trust the
Corps staff and the senior cadets have given him
throughout his cadet career.
“I will work ceaselessly to further the cause of
the Corps,” he said. “And I will also work to pro
vide leaders for our military and our country.”
Kinsey, a cadet in Squadron 2 and a junior
accounting major, is currently the Corps public
relations sergeant. He is enrolled in Air Force
ROTC and will pursue a commission in the Air
Force following graduation.
“I am taken out of breath by this announce
ment,” he said. “I trust in Will and I to lead the
Corps and take it in the direction Lt. Gen. Van
Alstyne has set.”
As deputy commander, Kinsey will help
McAdams lead the Corps and will act as com
mander in McAdams’ absence.
“Next year will be a big year for the Corps and
I am looking forward to it,” McAdams said. “The
University is changing every day and the Corps will
make every effort to change with it.”
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
General Commandant John Van Alstyne (left)
shakes hands with the new Corps Commander
William McAdams (right) while new Deputy
Commander Aaron Kinsey (center) looks on.
Chokehold
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Computer engineering student Jaime Lazcano competes against morning. The competition was part of the 2003 Texas Collegiate
Weatherford Junior College freshman Joe Bob Adkins during a and High School Judo Championships that took place all day, with
Judo competition at the Student Recreation Center on Saturday different weight categories in the men's and women's divisions.
Pick-A-Prof
co-founders
discuss options
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
Pick-A-Prof co-founders
Chris Chilek and John
Cunningham participated in
the Conference on Student
Government Associations to
discuss how student govern
ments can make the Web site’s
service free for students.
“A lot of student govern
ments we work with ask us to
attend conferences to explain
our services to other student
governments that might be
interested in our site,” said
Karen Bragg, director of
University Relations for
Pick-A-Prof.
Pick-A-Prof (www.pick-
aprof.com) allows students to
post professor reviews and
rate professors based on their
workloads, lecture styles and
exam types. The site also
offers grade distributions for
each instructor.
When Chilek and
Cunningham, both Class of
1999, founded the site three
years ago, students could
browse and post information
for free. Accessing the Pick-
A-Prof site now costs $5 a
semester.
Texas A&M students can
purchase this membership
from the A&M Bookstore
located in the Memorial
Student Center and receive $5
back when they use the Pick-
A-Prof site to reserve their
textbooks online from partici
pating local bookstores. But
the service is free for students
at universities such as the
University of Maryland, where
the student government pays
for the Pick-A-Prof service.
Bragg said some student
governments pay the Pick-A-
Prof fee for students, while
others add it to student fees.
Brooks Landgraf, speaker
of the A&M Student Senate,
said no legislation pertaining
to Pick-A-Prof is currently
on its agenda, and declined
to comment on whether the
senate would take up the
issue in the future.
The Student Government
Association offers a grade dis
tribution system similar to
See Prof on page 2
Turkey rejects U.S. military
Bush re-examines war plan
By Robert Burns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Without Turkish bases to open
a northern front against Iraq,
the U.S. military could still
take Baghdad, but with more
difficulty and risk, officials
and analysts said Sunday.
The U.S. war plan calls for
attacks on Iraq from two direc
tions, Kuwait in the south and
Turkey in the north. That
approach would complicate
Iraq’s defense planning and
ease U.S. logistical problems.
In a weekend move that
surprised U.S. officials, the
Turkish Parliament rejected a
motion that would have grant
ed a U.S. request to position
tens of thousands of ground
forces for the assault into
northern Iraq and to station
about 200 additional strike air
craft at two other bases.
Defense officials, speaking
Sunday on condition of
anonymity, said Gen. Tommy
Franks, who would command
a U.S. war in Iraq, had not yet
decided to give up on Turkey.
Franks said in an Associated
Press interview last week that
his war plans are flexible and
take into account such prob
lems.
If Turkish bases were not
available to U.S. ground
forces, Franks could opt to air
lift a force into northern Iraq
from Kuwait or elsewhere in
the Persian Gulf. Instead of
having the Army’s 4th Infantry
Division — a heavily armored
force — roll into northern Iraq
from Turkey, Franks might
choose to use the 101st
Airborne Division, a lighter,
air mobile force.
a
It’s a huge
setback for our
purposes. It
stunned me.
— jay Rockefeller
Sen. D-W Va.
It was not clear whether
that was Turkey’s last word on
the matter. Reconsideration
could come as early as
Tuesday, but the head of
Turkey’s ruling party said
Sunday there are no plans in
the “foreseeable future” to
seek another parliamentary
vote.
Still, a senior U.S. official
said the administration was
evaluating the situation but did
not regard the vote as neces
sarily final.
Several senators were less
sanguine on the Sunday televi
sion talk shows.
“It’s a huge setback for our
purposes. It stunned me,” Sen.
Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.,
ranking Democrat on the
Intelligence Committee, said
on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
“We spent the last 50 years
defending them in NATO. And
along comes this opportunity,
and by three votes they decline
the opportunity to allow us to
come in through the north.”
Securing the peace once
President Saddam Hussein’s
government had fallen also
would be more problematic
without Turkey, depending on
the extent of the Turkish mili
tary’s move into Kurdish areas
of northern Iraq, said analyst
Anthony Cordesman at the
Center for Strategic and
International Studies.
“We can work around it,
but it does increase risk”
before, during and after the
fighting, Cordesman said.
Local child is diagnosed
with bacterial meningitis
By Molly Cain
THE BATTALION
A local sixth-grader was hospitalized Friday
after being diagnosed with a case of bacterial
meningitis.
The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported
March 1 that the unidentified student from Sam
Rayburn Middle School was taken to a doctor
Wednesday with a rash and a high fever. A spinal
tap conducted at a local hospital confirmed the pres
ence of the infection.
Bacterial, or meningococcal, meningitis is an
Bacterial Meningitis
Symptoms
- Severe headache
- High fever
- Stiff neck
- Nausea
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
inflammation of the tissues covering the brain and
spinal cord. State health officials estimate that the
bacteria that causes the infection lives in the throats
and noses of nearly 15 percent of the population
without making them sick.
If meningitis is diagnosed early and treated
properly, the majority of people affected make a
complete recovery, according to the Texas
Department of Health.
The disease can be spread by coughing, sneez
ing, kissing or sharing utensils. It is not as conta
gious as the common cold and cannot be transmit
ted by casual contact or breathing the breath of an
infected person.
Dr. Richard Conklin, a College Station physician
who specializes in infectious diseases, said that
although meningitis is not unique to college stu
dents, they should be wary of the symptoms.
“Don’t wait around to see what develops, see
your doctor immediately if you show signs of any
symptoms,” he said. “It is not a really big issue if it
is caught early, but it will be if you let it go too
long.”
Brazos Valley physicians have reported an aver
age of only one local case of bacterial meningitis
each year. Statewide, there were 119 cases reported
last year, a decrease from 198 in 2001, the Eagle
reported.
The Texas Department of Health recommends
certain at-risk groups such as college students, par
ticularly freshmen living in dorms or residence
halls, be vaccinated.
Statistics affirm that the highest group at risk for
meningitis is between the ages of 2 and 18.
However, there is a risk for meningitis in all age
groups.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention
recommends that travel, school and large group
attendance may continue as planned without fear of
contracting meningitis.