Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2003)
Accielife: Spare change for a ring • Page 3 Opinion; Genetics are not to blame • Page 9 NEt I HE BAXIAL! in Ira iship THE BATTALION nine 109 • Issue 126 • 10 pages Texas A&M University w\v vv.thebatt.com Friday, April 4, 2003 U.S. closes in on Baghdad, more troops killed By David Espo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS All smiles proud as a far s able to becoG :ause that's on: ie wanted to do honored," Li lis foster sister, ated Press, wm :z\s body m In a day of advances and losses, i Delaware ij s. forces fought their way to ots between /igjjn sight of Baghdad’s skyline - (| uate Vednesday, but Iraqis shot down an zct * ,iinills ymerican helicopter and warplane. ^ .At least seven soldiers were killed, 21, ot Costa fk T . , ■d March 1 ' he Penta g° n said - south of Bag!. 9 s - officials claimed the native of k; estruction of a pair of menacing ose family mov^ e | u U* can Guard divisions and States when he aid other Guard units were moved ■ibay joined o the south in an apparent effort to ■e years ago an hoie up Iraqi defenses, the 1 st Batu 2nd Mr Regiment, . M a r i t Expeditiot Brigade, at 0 Lejeune. N.C Garibay’sl ily was aw* the return of remains. Q returned, the| ily will memorial in Costa Mea Several i phone calls Camp Pendki which is coa itizenship reque imed. 4aj. Brian Dot >een helping t imily, told I inty Register' ps facilitated process ai mother, Sitnoi nit it was her so :ome a citizen, at on as someth: rould help out w ight thing." Dot g that Gahba o in the process itizen. died fighting' so I certait warranted that! citizenship ami \merican citizf S i u i) i n i Hop vT ELECTIOW %,,Trrrci 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 thousands of troops within the so- called red zone — an imaginary line on the map near the capital where Iraqi use of weapons of mass destruction 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 soldiers 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 offi cials 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 Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old prisoner 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 spe cial forces who rescued her also found 11 bodies. The U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the war, said it was investigating reports that war planes had bombed a Red Crescent maternity hospital in Baghdad. Despite the gains on the battle field, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others cautioned that some of the toughest fighting of the military campaign may lie ahead. SlWAff IbWt ftweff KtWtf* Matt Josefy 4,770 votes Stoney Burke 3,567 votes Junior Yju. Rumhi Risums Ryan Bishop Paul Terrell 5,208 votes 4,811 votes PHA Rminm Run*Of i JO sr ns Chris Mahaffey 1,065 votes on ( oMpf rn i t ist i: wvt, v. .tm itt tins t't %ri ts HA 1 f OM Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION Source: ELECTION COMMISSION Aussa Hollimon • THE BATTALION ? refon Newly-elected Student Body President Matt Josefy cele brates with supporters after hearing the results of the runoff elections early Friday morning. Josefy won with 57 percent of the votes over fellow candidate Stoney Burke. WHO searches for origin of disease By Audra Ang THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GUANGZHOU, China — A team of international scientists landed Thursday in this city just west of Hong Kong and set to work hunting clues to the origins of a fatal flu-like illness as the worldwide death toll rose. Officials in Guangdong province on China’s southern coast gave the World Health Organization team figures indi cating that fewer people in the hard-hit region are getting sick from severe acute respiratory syn drome, or SARS, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for the team. The investigators, who expect to stay in the provincial capital of Guangzhou until Tuesday, planned to talk to doctors and visit hospitals and the nearby town where the first case of SARS was reported in November. “This is a virological mystery that needs to be solved,” Powell said. “There are still new cases — which is very sad — but the number of cases from what we’ve seen is going down.” The investigators were clos eted all afternoon with provin cial health officials, who provid ed a battery of data, including “very detailed information” about people in Guangdong who got SARS, how they got sick and what kind of treatment they received, Powell said. The Chinese moves toward openness come after foreign criticism of the communist gov ernment’s reluctance to release information about SARS. The illness has killed at least 80 people in Asia and Canada — 46 of them in mainland China — and sickened at least 2,200 in more than a dozen nations as infected travelers board planes and reach other continents in hours. In the United States, there were 100 suspected cases in 28 states. The U.S. Centers for Disease-Control and Prevention said they now have a test to bet ter diagnose the disease. Health authorities in Toronto said Thursday they believed a seventh person had died from SARS, but they had not con firmed the cause of death. A cancer research conference expected to draw 15,000 to Canada’s largest city was can celed for fear oncologists might spread SARS to their already weakened cancer patients. ay or will wort :cause if “hetf_ — • /* I • • (jay students strive tor tolerance or said rates! J average 45 pet hile customers ■! en 22 percent By Rob Phillips >s coverage. Sf : THE BATTALION have test! J <ers that theirt ,\y| ien Noel Freeman voluntarily left the Corps of :l much more^ a( j cts in October 2000 after admitting he was gay, he not mly walked away from his friends, he lost the one thing ittle the state | ia j; sipped his college identity. control the n TThe Corps of Cadets is the only reason I came to it 95 perceni- exas a&M University,” said Freeman, who left after his insurance pi^nnouncement caused an uproar within part of his outfit, tten by insut-wnliout the Corps there was no reason for me to be at t rate-regula\&M;” rds of autoin ; in December 2000, Freeman, a senior political science es are regul#najor, became the first student in A&M history to be dis- ould change Charged from the Air Force ROTC under the U.S. military’s npanies wo#Dou’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bans homosexuals le their propO'rom serving. with the insurf “The financial impact for losing an ROTC scholarship is who would Substantial,” he said, r s to approve Freeman said he returned to the Corps in August 2001 s or the new because he disliked being a non-reg and missed being part set. )f one of A&M’s richest traditions. He said on the whole he Corps has been supportive and credits Lt. Gen. John "■“Afan Alstyne for his success in the Corps. “They really care about what people have to offer, regardless of their background or sexual orientation,” he said. Freeman, who wants to create a scholarship for other discharged gay and lesbian cadets, is part of the gay student community striving to increase the awareness and tolerance of homosexuals at A&M. This week marks Gay Awareness Week at A&M, an effort to educate students about homo sexuality and offer support for gay and lesbian students. Chelsey Jones, president of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Aggies, said progress is slowly being made to increase tolerance of gays and lesbians at A&M. “People are a lot more willing to listen, not necessarily accepting because of their moral stance or religion or what not, but to be educated,” said Jones, a junior industrial engineering major. “Just the fact that they are listening is a step in the right direction.” Dr. Carol Binzer, interim coordinator of Gender Issues Education Services, said student protests of Gay Awareness Week have been “very quiet” to her knowledge. A pro-heterosexuality rally took place Thursday in the free speech area at the Academic Plaza, but there have been no reports of physical confrontation this week, Binzer said. See Tolerance on page 2 Albright plans to address foreign diplomacy tonight By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION Against a backdrop of war and tur moil in the Middle East, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright will address foreign diplomacy as part of the Memorial Student Center Wiley Lecture Series tonight at 8 p.m in Rudder Auditorium. Albright is the first female secretary of state and was the highest-rank- ALHRK,in ing female in the U.S. government. “We have been working to get her here for a long time and the Middle East is her specialty,” said Steven Pena, direc tor of marketing for Wiley Lecture Series. “We are glad she could come speak at this point in time.” In the panel discussion, “Peace Process in the Middle East,” moderated by Charles Hermann from the Bush School, Albright will be joined by former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria, Edward P. Djerejian. In addition to his knowledge of the Middle East, Djerejian is an expert in Soviet and Russian affairs and is one of the founding directors of the James Baker Institute of Public Policy. The panel will accept questions from the audience, but they must be written and submitted prior to entering the audi torium, Pena said. Tickets are still available, priced at $5 and $7 for students and $10 and $12 for non-students. ™ Student Senate returns GPR resolution \ sene ts of‘94 -5?" t i!!* itions!!* i! hriified GPR Calculation Resolution - Proposed bill -Students could choose not to apply grade Of F or D toward overall GPR up to three times - Students could retake the class they received Sin F in and only new grade would count ^ - Modification would be noted on student's ^ iffanscript 8 HB c - Bill approved by Faculty Senate Mar. 17; Currently in Student Senate Committee O Travis Swenson • THE BATTALION Source: STUDENT SENATE By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION The Student Senate returned a resolution to committee Wednesday night that could boost future students’ grade-point ratios. A second vote resurrected the resolution after it was voted down earlier in the night. The Modified GPR Calculation Resolution would allow students to omit a grade of F or D from their overall GPR, although a note would be made on transcripts signifying the modification. The resolution would also allow students to retake a class they had failed and and replace the failing grade with the new grade. All changes would need to be made within 15 days of the next semester to not include a grade. Matthew Wilkins, a sophomore philosophy major, said the plan would lead to grade inflation, which is already a serious problem at Texas A&M. “The honors program.is considering raising its GPR requirements because all the honors classes are full,” Wilkins said. “This is the most important academic issue we have considered in this cham ber this year.” Kevin Capps, a junior history major, said he is against the resolution because it will not motivate people to study hard. “You’re telling people it’s OK to fail,” he said. Grade inflation is a valid concern, but one to be dealt with by a later committee, said Cassandra Patterson, a junior history major and co-author of the resolution. “If they (administration) don’t see a lot of stu dent support, I don’t see them going ahead with it,” she said. The Faculty Senate approved a similar resolution See Student on page 2