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Sports: Ag swimmer overcomes with faith • Page 7 Opinion: Blame the parents • Page 11
THF RATTAT TO
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IVolume 109 • Issue 119 • 12 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
andstorms slow U.S. advance on Baghdad
By David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
I American infantry troops fought
iff a desert attack by Iraqis on
ijliesday, inflicting heavy casualties
i a clash less than 100 miles from
aghdad. British forces battled for
control of Basra, a city of 1.3 million
sliding toward chaos.
Defense officials said between
150 and 500 Iraqis were killed in the
battle near An Najaf, adding there
were no immediate reports of
American casualties.
Iraqis launched their attack on a
day of howling sandstorms —
tar.
■
m
the
KRT CAMPUS
i. Marine Sgt. Louis DeMarco fuels a tank in preparation for an advance to
north of Iraq on Tuesday as a dust storm rages.
weather bad enough to slow the
U.S.-led drive toward the Iraqi capi
tal. After the sandstorm lifted in
Baghdad, pre-dawn explosions
struck the city.
Warplanes bombed targets in the
northern part of the country and
briefly knocked government televi
sion off the air in the capital. And
U.S. troops in control of a vast Iraqi
air base sealed 36 bunkers, designat
ed as possible hiding places for
weapons of mass destruction.
American officials also issued
fresh cautions about the possible use
of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops,
although none has yet been used in
the 6-day-old war — or even found
by the invading troops.
As the pace of combat quick
ened, American and British offi
cials sought to prepare the public
for something less than a quick
campaign, and predicted difficult
days to come.
Still, President Bush forecast vic
tory. The Iraqi regime will be ended
....and our world will be more secure
and peaceful,” he said after receiving
a war update at the Pentagon.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
saw it differently. State television
carried what it described as a mes
sage from him to tribal and clan
leaders, saying, ‘‘Consider this to
be the command of faith and jihad
and fight them.”
If confirmed, the initial reports
of fighting near An Najaf would
make it the biggest ground clash of
the war, as well as the first
encounter between advancing
American infantry and the Iraqi
units guarding the approach to
Saddam’s seat of power.
A senior military official said
the U.S. troops had hunkered down
against a sandstorm when Iraqis —
either Republican Guard or para
military Iraqi troops traveling on
foot — opened fire with rocket-pro
pelled grenades.
Some of the 7th Cavalry’s equip
ment was damaged in the attack, the
official said.
The unit is part of the Army force
driving on Baghdad. Some elements
of the force are farther north, near
Karbala, with only the Medina
armored division of the Republican
Guard between them and Baghdad.
Muslim clerics in Iran warned
See Baghdad on page 2
Winds top 50 mph y
sand clogs weapons
Tiny grains of sand in the Middle East can
produce trouble for both man and machine in the
area: sandstorms.
The swirling winds that often rake the area can
produce some of the most severe sandstorms on
Earth, storms that are fairly easy to predict but
ones that can bring any kind of activity to an
immediate halt, says Texas’ chief weatherman.
“This time of year can be a rough time in Iraq
because the winds tend to pick up and when they
do, the result is a sandstorm that can make condi
tions unbearable and stop almost any kind of
movement,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, profes
sor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M and
Texas State Climatologist.
Sandstonns are caused by strong winds that
occur in desert or semi-arid regions, and they carry
thick clouds of dust and sand, often reducing visi
bility to near zero.
Winds ranging from 20 to 50 mph are not
uncommon in the region, and the resulting sand
storms can last from several hours to a full day,
Nielsen-Gammon said.
“Most of the time, sandstorms affect only the
See Sandstorms on page 2
ay tolerance brings
controversy to faculty
r decided
?m with a
imet will
en he is
Soloists.
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
A bitter controversy that erupted
last month in the College of
Education regarding a proposed tol-
rance statement for homosexuals
as prompted faculty members to
ccuse each other of bigotry, and
ome to question whether Dean Jane
bnoley is imposing her political
iews on the college.
The college’s faculty advisory
ommittee will meet
today to vote on a
final draft of a diver
sity statement it first
troposed Feb. 4.
light professors,
ncluding Stephen
-rouse, associate
dean of the college, conoley
signed a letter object
ing to the statement, which says fac-
alty must “celebrate and promote
all forms of human diversity” and
lists sexual orientation as a protect
ed status, along with race, gender
and other categories. The letter sug
gests the committee adopt a general
[non-discrimination statement simi
lar to that of the University, and said
Christian faculty should not have to
“celebrate and promote” a lifestyle
they believe is immoral.
At least one faculty member
accused the signatories of the letter
of bigotry and urged Conoley to fire
Crouse from his administrative posi
tion. Conoley refused to fire Crouse,
and in a Feb. 26 memo sent to the
college’s faculty and staff, rebuked
the arguments Crouse and others set
forth in their letter.
“I generally consider distinctions
that call us to love the sinner while
hating the sin to be empty, rhetorical
gestures at best and covers for perse
cution at worst,” Conoley stated in
the memo, adding that those who
signed the letter objecting to the tol
erance statement were acting upon a
mistranslation of a Biblical verse.
Conoley also instituted a new pol
icy that states the college “celebrates
and cherishes GLBT (gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered) people.”
The statement, which is enforced as
the college’s policy and is separate
from the faculty committee’s state
ment, grants homosexuals on the fac
ulty “special access to protection and
support” and states that any decision
See Tolerance on page 2
Fire at Doux Chene
Members of the College Station Fire Department check the
Doux Chene Apartments for isolated fires after containing a
bigger blaze there late Tuesday. Bart Humphreys, public infor
mation officer for the CSFD, said lighting may have started the
. John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
fire at approximately 10:05 p.m. At least two apartments were
damaged and no one was home or injured when the blaze
started, Humphreys said. As many as eight apartments were
evacuated due to minor damage and smoke.
Gates reports funding progress
Mystery illness spreads
By Lecia Baker
THE BATTALION
b
Prague,
c history
rmafice i»
^YC
all.
The One Spirit, One Vision
[fundraising campaign will formally
[kick off Friday with University
President Robert M. Gates reporting
that the campiagn has raised $490 mil
lion of its goal of a $1 billion.
Gates will speak at a public hearing
sponsored by the Texas A&M Board
of Regents, and will discuss the cam
paign’s progress and goals.
“One Spirit One Vision is Texas
A&M’s multi-year fundraising cam
paign aimed at helping A&M reach its
Vision 2020 goals,” said Rose Ann
McFadden, director of public relations
for the Texas A&M Foundation.
The campaign includes all private
gifts donated to A&M by individuals,
foundations and corporations through
Texas A&M Foundation, The
Association of Former Students and
12th Man Foundation, McFadden said.
“All of the campaign planning
done up to this date has been for a bil
lion dollars,” said James Palincsar,
senior vice president for development
for the Texas A&M Foundation.
One Spirit One Vision is a seven
year campaign, scheduled to end Dec.
31, 2006, Palincsar said. The first
phase of the campaign, known as the
One Spirit, One Vision campaign
|Goal: $1 Billion
Start date: Jan. 1,2002
End date: Dec. 31, 2006
Money used to help
reach University's
Vision 2020 goal
- Amount raised:
$<490 million
SOURCE: TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION
leadership phase, began Jan. 1, 2002.
“Any gifts made from that date for
ward count toward the campaign goal,”
McFadden said.
In the leadership phase of the cam
paign, A&M recruited volunteer leaders
and sought large gifts from prominent
donors, she said.
Friday marks the beginning of the
second phase, the public phase of the
campaign. During this phase, the
University will publicize One Spirit One
Vision to the entire state of Texas, select
cities across the United States, and to all
former students, Palincsar said.
“The greatest quantity of gifts and
pledges will come from the Aggie
Network, the tens of thousands of for
mer students who give through the
Association of Former Students’
Century Club,” McFadden said.
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Even with the economic recession
and the war, the One Spirit One Vision
campaign has so far been deemed suc-
ccessful, McFadden said.
Increased giving during the next 20
years is vital in A&M’s pursuit of its
Vision 2020 goals, McFadden said.
“Texas A&M receives just one-
third of its total budget from state gen
eral revenues, and research shows that
the best universities nationally receive
twice as much state funding at Texas
A&M,” McFadden said.
This is the reasoning for the ambi
tious goals of raising state and private
support of the University, she said.
A campaign celebration is planned
for Friday evening at Reed Arena,
where donors from the first phase of
the campaign will gather to celebrate
its success, Palincsar said.
By Dirk Beveridge
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONG KONG — Adding to fears that
a deadly flu-like illness is being spread
by air travelers, Hong Kong officials said
Tuesday nine tourists apparently came
down with the deadly disease after anoth
er passenger infected them on a flight to
Beijing.
The World Health Organization
insisted air travel is safe but said its sci
entists are investigating each case to
make sure the disease is not spread
through ventilation.
In recent weeks severe acute respira
tory syndrome, or SARS, has spread
beyond hospitals, where dozens of
health care workers became infected,
into at least one workplace, to air travel
ers and some schools have been closed
as a precaution.
Hong Kong officials said the nine
tourists became sick after a mainland
Chinese man with SARS infected them
on a March 15 Air China flight to Beijing.
If SARS can be more easily spread
through the air — rather than by close
contact with infected people who cough
or sneeze — it could force travel and
other restrictions to contain the disease.
“We would want to be sure that it was
people sitting next to that person and not
the ventilation system in the airplane
which was spreading the disease,” said
Dr. David Heymann, head of communica
ble diseases at WHO. “We have no evi
dence of the latter right now.”
For one thing, he said, health investi
gators have followed thousands of pas
sengers who flew with SARS-infected
travelers and did not become sick.
However, he said that if they find there
are cases that did not involve close con
tact with someone sick or at high risk,
“we will then be very concerned that this
might have become airborne.”
The airplane cases seem similar to
how the disease got its start here — from
one hotel guest who spread it to six
stranger staying on the same floor. One
expert theorized it might have spread
through the air-conditioning system.
From the Hong Kong hotel, the
exposed tourists took the disease to
Singapore, Vietnam and Canada.
The disease has spread most rapidly
through Asian hospitals, some of which
lacked the surgical masks and goggles
needed to prevent catching the disease
from patients. WHO has been distributing
such equipment.
The U.S. State Department has
warned citizens not to travel to Vietnam
because it lacks medical facilities to deal
with the disease.