THE BATTALii
as unlikely to be a
g force.
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ustration with Saddam’saS
to turn France andotheri
sainst the resolutionjustafi
onths after a similar meast
issed 15-0 in the
auncil, aides said.
Though he said there*
me hope for peace,
peatedly spoke in the p;
ise about Saddam’s
oid war — leaving the imps
rn that war was imminent
“I don’t like war,” he si
sh that Saddam Husseinh
tened to the demands ofi
rrld and disarmed.
/ hope.”
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ish joked a few times he
sorters. He grew teary-ei;
rile saying it was a “hunt
perience” to know thatpeopi
\s never met “have lifted
el my family up in prayer,
en a comforting feelin;
ow that.”
Asked how his faith*!
iding him through the
liberations, Bush said:
ty daily, 1 pray forgufc
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ops into war, “1 would]®
their safety and I il
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Aggielife: Typing the day away • Page 3 Opinion: Eliminating voter apathy • Page 9
109 * Issue H
IHonday, March 17* 2003
Parsons members may face school sanctions
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
& CDs
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jreat prices!
Backstreet Boys-Millennium
Msync-Nsync
Matchbox Twenty-
Yourself or Someone Like You
CelineDion-LetiMMLw
Shanla Twain-Comeon Over
SpaceJam-Sounblrack
Wallflowers-
Bringing Down the Horse
lackstreetBoys-
Backstreet Boys
fill Smith-Big Willie Style
ten in Black-Sounillracli
humbawamba-MIhumper
onditions.
A games:
Parsons Mounted Cavalry members will not face
criminal hazing charges, but the future of the Corps
of Cadets unit remains uncertain with 30 cadets fac
ing possible disciplinary sanctions from Texas
A&M.
After a five month criminal investigation that
included a grand jury inquiry, Brazos County
Attorney Jim Kuboviak told the Bryan-College
Station Eagle March 14 that even though he
believed hazing occurred, he would leave it to
A&M opens
San Antonio
student center
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
The University’s third regional prospective stu
dent center opened February in San Antonio,
allowing area high school students to learn more
about Texas A&M without traveling to Aggieland.
Regional student centers in Weslaco and Dallas
opened last year.-
“We want to plant the A&M flag in communi
ties and have a presence and a place where we can
work from,” said Executive Associate Provost Dr.
William Perry.
The center is manned by Angelica Melendez,
an A&M admissions counselor, and is housed in
the Texas Engineering Extension Service South
Central Texas Regional Training Center.
To keep the cost of the centers down they lease
space from other A&M system members for rea
sonable rents, Perry said. The Weslaco center rents
office space from the Texas Agricultural Research
and Extension Center.
The regional centers offer many of the services
available at the Prospective Student Center located
on campus in the Koldus building, Melendez said,
providing potential students with one-on-one
admissions counseling and information on hous
ing, financial aid and transfer guidelines.
Melendez said she will also visit area high
schools and meet with community groups and
school superintendents to let them know what the
See Center on page 2
University officials to discipline the students.
Kuboviak could not be reached for comment
Sunday.
Operations of the cavalry unit have been sus
pended since October.
An internal Corps investigation, prompted when
Unit Commander Ty Keeling reported hazing to
Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne in
October, concluded that juniors had been hazing
sophomores by hitting them with axe handles and
forcing them to perform exercises in a pit of urine
and horse manure. Van Alstyne said.
A disciplinary panel in the Department of
Student Life will hold hearings for each of the
cadets, and then may hand down sanctions which
u
In general, anyone
\ who has violated the
i University's hazing
rules will not be
i allowed to continue. ”
VAN ALSTYNE
could range from a warning to expulsion from the
University. Once Student Life concludes the disci
plinary hearings. Van Alstyne said he will personal
ly interview each of the 60 cavalry members to
determine if they should remain in the unit.
“In general, anyone who has violated the
University’s hazing rules will not be allowed to
continue,” he said, but added exceptions could be
made under certain circumstances.
After interviewing the cadets and deciding
which ones will remain in the unit. Van Alstyne said
he will determine whether the cavalry should con
tinue.
“The future is very uncertain at this point,” he
said.
Although the unit’s operations are suspended,
cadets still- care for their horses and maintain the
cavalry’s facilities at Fiddler’s Green. Also, 27
sophomores in the unit are conducting equestrian
training.
May I have your autograph?
Seven-year-old Lockhart native Ryan Vogel (top) and College Station
native 7-year-old Sam Crenshaw get autographs from an Aggie base-
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
ball player Sunday afternoon. More than 4,000 people enjoyed the
favorable weather Sunday at Olsen Field.
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JOHN C. LIVAS AND TRAVIS SWKNSON • THE BATTALION
Source: TIMOTHY DONATHAN, DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES PLANNING AND CON
STRUCTION FOR TEXAS A&M
By Melissa McKeon
THE BATTALION
Construction on the new
chemical engineering building
is proceeding at a steady clip
and will be complete by June
2004, University officials said.
The new building will be
located across from the Zachry
building off of University Drive.
“The building’s furnishings
will be installed and it will be
ready for people to move into by
Fall 2004,” said Timothy
Donathan, director of facilities,
planning and construction for
A&M.
The total cost of the project
is $3.9 million, which includes
construction costs and furniture.
The building’s seven levels
will feature lecture halls,
research labs and other facili
ties, Donathan said.
“The lower level will be
mostly lecture halls and the sec
ond floor will house computer
labs,” he said. “Faculty offices
will be further up and the upper
most levels will include teach
ing and research laboratories.”
Plans for the new building
began on a smaller scale in
1990 to expand the chemical
engineering department’s
space, but the project did not
take shape until three years
ago, said Dr. Kenneth Hall,
head of the chemical engineer
ing department.
“This (project) will move our
program to the next level
because there will be extra space
for joint projects with other
departments such as chemistry
and physics,” Hall said.
Junior chemical engineering
major Angela Smith said she
and fellow chemical engineer
ing students are looking forward
to moving into the new building,
“Having a new building for
the department will add some
appeal to the curriculum
because we will have an area
that is made for us to use,” she
said. “It will be great and (it
will) benefit students as well as
faculty to have our department
in one central location.”
The chemical. engineering
department currently uses space
in Zachry, Richardson, and the
University Services building.
See Building on page 2
Mysterious lung illness spreads
Vve S.
By Emma Ross
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A deadly, mysterious respira
tory illness spread largely among
health care workers in Asia could
be a new strain of flu or even an
exotic virus passed from animals
to people, a health official said
Sunday.
Probably the most feared by
health experts, however, would be
a new and deadly strain of flu.
The illness, which carries flu
like symptoms, has killed nine
people — seven in Asia and two
in North America. Its rapid
spread in southeast Asia in recent
weeks caused a rare worldwide
health alert to be issued on
Saturday.
Health officials say it may be
several more days before they are
able to identify the disease.
However, they said several of its
features suggest it is caused by a
virus, which can often be difficult
to pinpoint quickly using stan
dard lab tests.
“Certainly influenza is on the
minds of many people,” said Dr.
David Heymann, communicable
diseases chief for the World
Health Organization.
Lab tests have ruled out some
varieties of flu as well as some
viruses that cause hemorrhagic
fever. However, many other pos
sibilities remain, Heymann said.
Those include “a new strain of
influenza” or such exotic diseases
as the closely related Hendra and
Nipah viruses — both newly rec
ognized, causing flu-like symp
toms and capable of being spread
from animals to people.
“If it really is the flu, it could
be we have a new organism that
could cause a pandemic,” said
See Illness on page 10
C!>C investigating mysterious illness
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Bush and summit leaders
set U.N. deadline for today
By Ron Fournier
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAJES, Azores Islands — On the
brink of war, President Bush and sum
mit partners from Britain and Spain
gave the United Nations a Monday
deadline to endorse the use of force to
compel Iraq’s immediate disarmament.
“Tomorrow is a moment of truth
for the world,” said Bush, commander-
in-chief of 250,000 troops ringing Iraq
and ready to act with or without U.N.
approval. He spoke Sunday after an
Atlantic island summit with British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Though the leaders pledged to seek
compromise with U.N. foes through
the night and all day Monday, they
offered little hope of a diplomatic
breakthrough. Even if a compromise
plan somehow secured approval of a
U.S.-Britain-Spain resolution at the
U.N., it would delay military action
only a week or so, officials said.
Bush suggested the resolution
might not even be put to a vote.
“If Saddam refuses even now to
cooperate fully with the United
Nations, he brings on himself the seri
ous consequences,” the leaders said in
a joint statement. They went on to list
their plans for Iraq after hostilities,
including repairing damage that might
be caused by Saddam Hussein and pre
serving oil and other natural assets.
The leaders gathered with more
than 250,000 troops, a naval armada
and an estimated 1,000 combat aircraft
See Deadline on page 10