Sports: Singing for the moment • Page 3
Opinion: Questionable police work • Page 9
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lume 109 • Issue 121 • 10 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Friday, March 28, 2003
card of Regents approve tuition increase
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
he Texas A&M Board of Regents
roved a tuition increase of $2 per credit
ir and increases in parking and interna-
student fees and the Independent
idy Abroad fee Thursday.
Gates said the new $50 Independent
dy Abroad fee is a one-time fee for all
Idents. The fee will allow A&M students
A&M financial assistance while
nding study abroad programs not associ-
d with A&M.
■Gates said he asked the board not to raise
tk fees to show students that administration
is accountable to the student body.
Although the student service and
computer fees were voted down in a
February student referendum, the board
still had the power to raise the fees, said
A&M President Robert M. Gates.
“A lot of students feel administration
doesn’t listen to them. I wanted to send a
message that when students vote down a
referendum we will listen,” Gates said.
Gates said he hopes students realize
that there will be repercussions for not
raising the computer fee.
The international student fee increase
from $36 to $46 applies only to internation
al students and is necessary to cover the
implementation costs of the Student
Exchange Visitor Information System, a
federal computer tracking system mandated
by the USA Patriot Act.
“(Immigration and Naturalization
Services) just wants to make sure people
who get visas show up where they said they
would,” Gates said. “(Administration) feels
that once someone is here we will treat them
no differently than if they were from Texas.”
Resident and commuter parking fees are
now $141, an increase of $8.
Students had an opportunity Thursday
morning to voice their opinions about the
fee and tuition increases to the Board of
See Regents on page 2
President Robert Gates addresses the Board of Regents regarding
the fee increase Wednesday morning at the MSC.
1 ISSA HOLLIMON•THEBATH
s of two A&M divers heafel
impionships this weekend.
>out whether they will act;
compete in all of them.
“I think we are going lot
ise some people,” Nelan
Ve are young, but we
t of experience, and haveh
ice with our inexperience
enty of guys are ready
eakthrough swim.”
The meet begins lod
e Lee and Joe Jamail Ten
vimming Center, anc
ntinue through Sunday
ORTS IN BRIEF
lose to Baylori
Big 12 matchup
A&M women's tennis ten
). 44 Baylor University Bea
day evening at the
r.
I Aggies (10-7, 5-2)startc
iking two of three
won the first match in?
nior Jessica Roland daid
tory on court one.
laylor (8-8, 5-1)
m the next four
inch the victory.
had held a perfect
tie this season before tlif
? within a half game of fe
[-University of Texas conij
h.
;o 9-0 this season
>le to claim the
iow won five of the lasts
veen the teams and holt
in the Big 12.
team continues
r actice schedule
k&M football team rantin'
pring practices this week
oach Dennis Franchiont
en progress,
ilding a foundation, andl
ased with the attitudes ol
'anchione said,
nesday, the Aggies
II pads after working out
helmets on Tuesday.The
es are open to the f
are encouraged to
> to register and
mal information.
Beautiful bovine
Senior agricultural development major,
Glenna Pruitt, and her heifer, Miss Norman,
get ready for the Dairy Science 202
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
Showmanship Event at the Dairy Science
Center, this Saturday. The show is free and
open to the public and begins at 10 a.m.
U.S. airborne seize airfield,
troops move closer to Iraq
By David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Army airborne forces parachuted into north
ern Iraq on Wednesday, seizing an airfield for a
new front against Saddam Hussein. U.S. and
British warplanes bombed an enemy convoy
fleeing the besieged city of Basra in the south,
and sandstorms cleared to ease the advance
toward Baghdad.
One week into the war, the
possibility of a major battle
loomed within 100 miles of
Baghdad as another convoy —
this one made up of elite
Republican Guard forces —
moved in the direction of
American troops aiming for
Saddam’s seat of power.
Jumping from low-flying
planes into the Iraqi night, an esti
mated 1,000 paratroopers from
the Army’s 173rd Airborne
Brigade landed near an airstrip in
Kurdish-controlled territory less than 30 miles
from the Turkish border.
a
There will be a
day of reckoning for
the Iraqi regime y and
that day is drawing
near.
— President George W. Bush
Hundreds of miles to the south, the unchallenged
bombing of Iraqi forces leaving Basra raised hopes
that U.S. ground troops could soon enter the city,
feared at risk for a humanitarian crisis.
The military developments unfolded as the first
food aid convoy rolled into southern Iraq, greeted
at the border by hungry children.
With American and British forces massing to
the south, west and now the north of Baghdad, the
Iraqi regime kept much of the news from its own
people. Instead, it emphasized a claim that two
American cruise missiles had killed 14 civilians in
Baghdad and wounded dozens more.
“This war is far from over,” President Bush said
in a quick trip to the Florida headquarters of U.S.
Central Command, which is overseeing the war.
Still, he said victory was only a matter of time,
adding, “There will be a day of reckoning for the
Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing near.”
Bush later flew to the Camp David presiden-
—tial retreat for a meeting
Thursday with British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, his partner
in the Iraq invasion.
Swirling sandstorms that have
hampered American units over the
past two days abated early
Thursday. The swarming dust had
also been crimping the bombing
campaign, although U.S. airstrikes
did manage to knock out Baghdad
television for several hours, and
explosions were heard near the
oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the
north.
American forces moving toward Baghdad
clashed with Iraqi troops outside Karbala, 50
miles southwest of the capital, under sunny skies
Thursday. Small groups of Iraqi armored person
nel carriers tested Army defenses but were hit by
U.S. warplanes before getting within 10 miles of
American troops.
Coalition troops were making their way toward
See Iraq on page 2
Tuition deregulation discussed in forum
Srnoi nt Bom
By Janet McLaren,
Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
s/Leasing for 2003!
. Don't settle for anything le?
dryer
With budget cuts and tuition hikes loom-
ig, less than 20 students showed up to
arums held Wednesday and Thursday night
d discuss proposals for tuition deregulation
with University officials.
Student Body President Zac Coventry and
jeveral student government representatives
were on hand to answer questions and
ixplain the situation surrounding budget cuts
and possible deregulation.
Coventry, a senior agricultural develop-
nent major, said there is currently a shift
iway from state responsibility for public uni
versity funding.
“The atmosphere in the legislature is that
the cost of education is being passed to the
students,” he said. ”1 don’t like that, but what
we have to do now is decide how to deal with
it.”
Six bills that deal with tuition deregula
tion have been filed with the state legislature.
These bills would remove the cap on tuition
and place it in the hands of a university’s
board of regents.
Some of the bills propose deregulating
tuition for out-of-state or summer school stu
dents, while others propose total deregula
tion.
Because of state funding cuts Texas A&M
will be forced to give up more than $56 mil
lion during the next two years. The adminis
tration has attempted to streamline opera
tions and trim where it can, but it is not
enough.
Associate Executive Vice President Dan
Parker spoke about the possible conse
quences of budget cuts without tuition dereg
ulation Wednesday night.
“The president has asked us to prepare a
plan of a 15 percent cut in non-academic and
10 percent in academic budgets for next
year,” he said. “We hope it won’t happen, but
it will if there is is no deregulation.”
Even with this streamlining, some pro
grams may have to be eliminated, Parker said.
One victim of the proposed cuts may be the
Dairy Science Center, he said. The struggling
Dairy Center has been facing the chopping
See Tuition on page 2
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£■ la L la 1 1 U 111 73 H||
Student body President Resuits
Stoney Burke 2,665
Matt Josefy 2,573
Ed “El Ramos” Brown 600
Kyle Carlton 1,518
Luke Cheatham 2,472
Karl Pfluger 1,949
I OH ( OlYlri l H I I I ( TlON KI SH 1 IN
VISI I : YVYVYV. I III K VI I .( OIM
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
French consul discusses European Union
Senior Yell Results
ice
students
J.P. BEATO III • THE BATTALION
[The Honorable Denis Simonneau, Consul General of
[France, speaks at the MSC Stark Gallery on Thursday.
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
As the war with Iraq continued
for the eighth day Thursday,
France’s consul general assured an
audience at Texas A&M that the
country remains “friends and allies”
with the United States.
Wearing a pin displaying the
French and American flags on his
suit jacket, the Honorable Denis
Simonneau discussed the enlarge
ment of the European Union with a
crowd of about 50 people in the
Memorial Student Center’s J.
Wayne Stark Gallery.
Although Simonneau’s speech
focused on the European Union, he
began his speech talking about the
current situation in Iraq.
The EU is comprised of 15 mem
ber states including France, Belgium,
the United Kingdom and Italy.
According to the EU Web site
(http://europa.eu.int/), the union start
ed with just six countries after World
War II when France proposed the cre
ation of a “concrete foundation of a
European federation.” To join the EU,
countries must apply and prove that
they adhere to a set of criteria requir
ing the stability of institutions guaran
teeing democracy, the existence of a
functioning market economy and the
Tim Bailey
Jonathon Lusk
John Magruder
8,330
8,231
5,968
Junior Yell Results
Ryan Bishop
Keith Lane
Paul Terrell
Mike Winn
5,426
1,796
4,771
1,731
See Consul on page 2 ‘These four will compete in runoffs next week