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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2003)
V WORM F. BATTALI® twc ed Sports: Houx riding high for equestrian team • Page 1 B Opinion: Daschle's partisan agenda • Page 5B THF RATTAT TON JHLft JKLm JKLm tML j£L. Jhl* JKLm JKLm Volume 109 • Issue 125 • 16 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Thursday, April 3, 2003 ction at monthly pending Perry appoints Nye, White as A&M regents By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION ov. Rick Perry appointed Houston attorney John White and reappointed Erie Nye to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on Wednesday. ■Nye, first appointed in 1997, has served as chairman of the board since 2001. Nye is the chairman and chief executive officer of TXU Corp., a Dallas-based energy conglomerate. White, a 1970 A&M graduate and a 1972 graduate of the University of Texas Law School, is an attorney with the Jones Walker law firm and serves on the board of directors of the Association of Former Students. Glenda Mariott, a College Station businesswoman and past president of the Association of Former Students, said White would bring the integrity, commitment and love of A&M he demonstrated on the board of NYE the Association to his work as a regent. “He’s been wonderful to work with, and we’ll miss him, but we’re thrilled for him,” Mariott said. As a student, White was a member of the Ross Volunteer Company and a wing commander in the Corps of Cadets. Nye received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from A&M and a law degree from WHITE Southern Methodist University. Nye is also an active Republican Party fundraiser. According to Texans for Public Justice, a political watchdog group, TXU gave $168,000 to Perry’s 2002 bid for governor, making it the 14th largest donor to the campaign. Nye was also a “Pioneer” for the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign, an elite fundraising group that each raised at least $100,000 for Bush. The terms of Anne Armstrong and Dionel See Regents on page 2A O N 0 2(k: Bird’s-eye view ent of CofTimerc* lex rose 7.13, to 1.348.30.1 ’oor's 500 m 10, or 1.2 percf IN BRIEF astronaut jy Astros \P) - In a ce h tears and er the seven a? ied in Febn shuttle Coluir: Tuesday by; ; before theE eason openei Columbia's p threw ceremr before the stall ime against t :kies at Mm tribute, NAS md astronair the field, many; a large America' atti La Belie pe p There," a soil RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION The Texas A&M football team stretches before practice in a shot taken from a Cessna Airplane piloted by senior Texas A&M Flying Club president Andy Fay. The team is in the heat of spring training under Head Coach Dennis Franchione. exploration iioned last ye; ages and phot huttle crew we eball park's Bonfire site to open in 2004 By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Construction on the Bonfire Memorial will begin in Fall 2003 with a scheduled comple tion date of Nov. 18, 2004. University President Robert M. Gates has also set aside Nov. 18 on the official University calen dar as Bonfire Remembrance Day for Fall 2003. Texas A&M has set aside $5 million for the Bonfire Memorial, said Dr. Wynn Rosser, assistant vice president for student affairs. The projected figure includes both design and construction. Overland Partners, a San Antonio-based design firm, won the design competition in Spring 2002 and was put under contract that fall, said Bob Shemwell, team leader and Class of 1984. Overland Partners has worked with an advisory committee to bring the project to where it is today, Rosser said. Students on the advisory committee include a representative from the Residence Hall Association, the Traditions Council, the Student Government Association and the Corps of Cadets, Rosser said. The memorial will consist of 12 portals representing each student who died in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse, and the portals will face each stu dent’s hometown. The doorways are larger than life, standing 16 feet tall, each with a smaller bronze doorway inside. Inscribed on each doorway will be a quote by or about the student, chosen by the family, as well as the student’s name and a cameo from the shoulder up. Shemwell said two individ uals in the College of Architecture, Dr. George Rogers and Dr. Martha Rani, have been deeply involved in the design process. Rogers said the design team felt the representations of a per son’s face, name and the words See Memorial on page 2A VP for diversity search to intensify at month’s end By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION family membe tears as tbf ages. will we; ssion patch £ A search committee will begin narrowing right sleeves f (i own candidates for the new position of Texas season. A&M vice president and associate provost for diversity on April 28, with a final decision being t land- mat ^ e * n July- , The person appointed to the position will begin atl6aSt work in August, said search committee co-chairs Linda Parrish and Rodney P. McClendon. Indonesia The new vice president and associate provost gered by ft for diversity will articulate a vision and provide tern Indones , n designing and implementing a cam- ' people andt p US _ w jd e p r0 g ram support diversity, said >ing, police si McClendon, A&M’s chief of staff. ; i “We want someone who has a proven record of success and who is a facilitator and knows the skills to build an alliance,” he said. The search committee placed advertisements in and landslip louses on Floii 100 miles east; Jakarta, si lead of the loc higher education reports and began accepting nominations two weeks ago. McClendon said the committee will conduct an extensive review of academic qualities and records of success in academic areas, and will check references thoroughly when choosing final ists. The committee will then compile a list of 10 to 15 qualified candidates who it thinks should be examined further and who would be interested in visiting campus, McClendon said. “We don’t really care what the person looks like as long as they will lead us aggressively to success,” he said. The vice president and associate provost will report directly to A&M President Robert M. Gates for the first two years to formulate work with organizations that have diversity interests in their name, Parrish said. After two years, the new vice president will then give any ideas to Gates of what will happen after they have been at the University for a few years, she said. “They will always have direct access to the provost as well as work with the deans, faculty and students,” McClendon said. The job also includes provid ing regular reports on progress made toward reaching the University’s diversity goals. Committee members looked to other universities, such as the University of Indiana and the University of Michigan, as mod els because of their successes in achieving diversity, but McClendon said A&M has a spe cial culture. “You have got to make sure the person applies values, traditions, patriotism and honesty to the job,” he said. “We can’t just pick up someone Vice president and associate provost for institutional diversity Job description: Provide leadership in establishing campus-wide programs supporting diversity Work with existing offices to infuse diversity goals into every aspect of A&M Provide regular reports on progress toward reaching diversity goals Work with the president and provost in assessing future resources for meeting diversity goals SOURCE: UNIVERSITY RELATIONS else’s model.” TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION See Diversity on page 2A earching forth sday. N ?re immediatf landslides hat >eople on seve lands since th lason began U.S. troops inch closer to Baghdad ainmg rough waf stan - Riding* merican seal Islamic extrefl that were rout S.-led war if D01 are makiaj n Pakistan sts appears t; t/lilitant leaded se arrest haV' ? mosques If il against tin are feeding of war in Iraq If i/italize, raisiaj re anti-U.S. tef e world. By David Espo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In a day of advances and losses, U.S. forces fought their way to within sight of Baghdad’s skyline Wednesday, but Iraqis shot down an American helicopter and warplane. At least seven soldiers were killed, the Pentagon said. U.S. officials claimed the destruc tion of a pair of menacing Republican Guard divisions and said other Guard units were moved to the south in an apparent effort to shore up Iraqi defenses. Bombs shook the capital as Army and Marine armored columns took separate, converging paths toward the city from the south. “The dagger is clearly pointed” at the heart of Saddam Hussein’s regime, said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. The rapid advances brought thou sands of troops within the so-called red zone — an imaginary line on the map near the capital where Iraqi use of weapons of mass destruc tion is most feared. Troops in some lead Army units donned chemical protection suits, and Marine helicopter pilots were ordered to be prepared to do so. An Army Black Hawk helicopter was downed by small-arms fire near Karbala, site of fierce fighting between the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and Iraqi troops, including Republican Guard forces. Seven sol diers were killed and four were wounded and rescued, officials said. Iraq shot down a one-seat Navy F/A-18 Hornet with a surface-to-air missile Wednesday, military officials said. There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot. It was the first American fighter jet shot down during the war. The military campaign unfolded as WHO investigates illness KRT CAMPUS U.S. Marines take Iraqi prisoners as the troops advanced north on Tuesday. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old pris oner of war freed in a daring nighttime rescue, was flown to Germany for medical treatment. But the joy over her freedom was tempered by word that the special forces who rescued her also found 11 bodies. “We have reason to believe some of them were Americans,” said Navy Capt. Frank Thorp. Increasingly, there were signs that Iraqi civilians were eager for the arrival of invading forces. Some smiled and waved as Marines See Baghdad on page 6A By Audra Ang THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — Under escalating global pressure, China agreed Wednesday to let international health investigators visit the place where the mystery illness apparently began the southern province of Guangdong. Officials also updated the nation’s death toll by a dozen to 46 as they revealed the illness had spread to other regions and sickened far more than they initially reported. China’s move comes after days of crit icism over its secretiveness about the dis ease. Worldwide, at least 78 people have died and more than 2,200 are believed to be sick with severe acute respiratory syn drome, SARS, the World Health Organization said. There is no medicine to treat the ill ness, and scientists still have not con firmed which virus causes it. The WHO health investigators believe Guangdong offers valuable clues to the disease. As China agreed to more openness, the Geneva-based WHO advised travel ers not to go to Hong Kong and Guangdong — the first time the agency has issued such an advisory in at least a decade. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recom mended postponing nonessential trips to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam. For months after the disease began sickening people in Guangdong in November, China kept the details quiet. On March 16, as the WHO was issuing a global health alert, the China Ministry of Health reported “the epidemic situation has been controlled and the patients are being cured one by one.” Initially, the government reported only five deaths and 305 cases. On Wednesday, the number of reported Chinese cases swelled to 1,190. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that “more pressure” would be applied on China and he hoped to talk with China’s health minister soon. The same day, The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial under the headline, See SARS on page 6A