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Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Budget cuts jeopardize journalism program
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By Melissa McKeon
THE BATTALION
The recent cutbacks in the state budget have
Vietnam-6; fcrompted the College of Liberal Arts to consider
possibly cutting the journalism department.
The journalism department at Texas A&M,
which at one time was the Liberal Arts College’s
Control and Prevention i| second largest department, has been struggling in
perts continued 8 recent y ears an ^ now ^ College of Liberal Arts
tossible animal cot- ma y close the department altogether,
the virus Exueit ^ r ' Charles Johnson, dean of the College of
^ Liberal Arts, said that because of state cutbacks,
the journalism program is being targeted for a
huge cut.
“I don’t see substantial investment in the pro
gram at this point.” Johnson said at a recent meet
ing with former journalism graduates, according
to The Bryan-College Station Eagle.
Johnson said students already enrolled in the pro
gram would be allowed to finish their degree course
work in the event the department is eliminated.
Johnson also said he cannot speculate on the
fate of the program until the College of Liberal
Arts has more information concerning the finan
cial situation and University planning.
“The budget situation is very fluid and we are
in the planning stages trying to consider a range of
options and strategies,” Johnson said.
Loren Steffy, president of the Former
Journalism Student Association and Dallas bureau
chief for Bloomberg News, said that nothing has
been decided for sure, but an external auditing
service examined the department in 2001, to look
for areas that needed improvement.
Areas the team’s evaluation included were
budgets, faculty background and courses offered.
The audit team found that enrollment was too
high, which stretched the faculty too thin across
the department.
One of the options included dissolving
the department entirely. But its recommen
dation called for strengthening the depart
ment by increasing the number of experi
enced faculty, making plans for a new build
ing and trimming enrollment figures to 400,
a loss of approximately 400 students in the
program at the time.
The yearly budget for the journalism
department is $1 million, of which 40 per
cent would be cut.
“We are in the planning mode and in our
plans the projected budget cut for the department
of journalism would be $400,000,” Johnson said.
That will be the budget for each year beginning
Sept 1,2003, Johnson said. That budget will be in
effect for two fiscal years.
Steffy said the cuts will further weaken the
journalism program.
Journalism Department at a glance
iBudgetnow: $1 million
Projected Budget: -S6()(>,()()()
Total students in program: 700
7 Number of faculty: 6
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT
“This is the only department in the college
looking at a cut of this size,” Steffy said. “A cut
of this size will put the future of the department
into question.”
The other colleges in the department are looking
See Journalism on page 2
Bucket o’ flowers
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Senior agricultural development Katie Scott adds dried
flowers to her floral design in preparation for Perspective 03,
a sculptural floral design gallery. The exhibition will show
case student floral designs April 17 through June 1.
Moment of silence
may pass Senate
By Natalie Gott
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Public school
students would be required to
observe a minute of silence
each day to pray, meditate or
reflect after reciting both the
U.S. and Texas pledges of alle
giance under legislation given
preliminary approval in the
Senate on Tuesday.
Under current law, school
districts have the option of
holding a period of silence,
during which students may
reflect or meditate.
“I personally believe it’s a
good idea for all Texas stu
dents uniformly, throughout
the state, to say the Pledge of
Allegiance to the United
States flag, to say the Pledge
of Allegiance of the Texas
flag, and then to have 60 sec
onds during which, at their
option, they can reflect, they
can meditate, they can pray,
they can worry about the next
math exam,” said bill sponsor.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San
Antonio.
Students could be excused
from saying the pledges if they
had a written request from
their parent or guardian under
the legislation.
The bill was given tentative
approval without debate.
Lawmakers are expected to
take up the bill for final
approval Wednesday.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
said the bill was important.
“I can’t imagine anyone
that would be opposed during
these very tough times to let
our youngsters take a moment
of silence in schools and have
silent prayer,” Dewhurst said.
While he did not speak out
against the bill on the Senate
floor, Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-
McAllen, later was critical of it.
“It’s a camouflage. It’s a
smoke screen,” Hinojosa said.
“The real purpose and intent of
the bill is to allow school prayer
in the public school system.”
He said prayer is an issue
that belongs with families and
churches. He also said students
were not mature enough to
respect other people’s religions.
“They’ll make fun of each
other,” Hinojosa said.
Wentworth said the bill
does not provide for audible
See Silence on page 2
Fish drill team suspended
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By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
Operations of the Fish Drill Team
have been temporarily suspended while
Corps of Cadets officials investigate an
| incident in which a group of cadets
allegedly ransacked another cadet’s
dorm room.
The elite freshman rifle squad was
reinstated last year after being disbanded
in 1997 for hazing violations when a
freshman member accused older cadet
advisers of beating and cutting him.
Criminal charges were brought against
nine students accused of hazing the
freshman or knowing about the hazing
and failing to report it.
Col. Anthony Groves, the Corps’
assistant commandant for operations and
training, said the unit’s drill practices
were suspended Saturday when officials
were notified of the incident, which
occurred Friday. Groves said the investi
gation thus far points to an isolated
instance of misbehavior by five cadets
and not an organizational problem.
Groves said five freshmen cadets in
the unit went to confront another drill
team member who had not been getting
along with others in the unit. Finding the
cadet’s room empty, the group ransacked
the room, emptying the cadet’s closet and
drawers and leaving the items strewn on
the floor.
“We’re very sensitive about things
connected to Fish Drill Team, and we
(suspended the unit’s operations) until
See Drill team on page 6
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
Leadership strike
Coalition bombs aimed at top
Iraqi leadership, possibly
including Saddam Hussein and
his sons, devastated a residential
complex in the Mansour district
of Baghdad Monday afteroon.
Four 2,000-pound bombs
struck a residential complex,
leaving a 60-foot-deep crater.
U.S. troops seize military
airport in Baghdad
[Mansour
district
Information
"Ministry
Iraqi "Al-Rashid Hotel
A Intelligence „
HQ, .y Presidential
N ew " I Palace
Presidential Baath
Palace Party HQ
HIV student shares story
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SOURCES: National Imagery and
Mapping Agency; Omni Resources;
Associated Press
0 1 mi
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AP
By Chris Tomlinson
and David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces bat
tled the tattered remnants of Iraq’s army
for control of downtown Baghdad on
Tuesday, crushing a counterattack and
seizing a military airport. Saddam
Hussein’s fate was unknown after an
attempt to kill him from the air.
Inside the capital to stay, some Army
units routed Iraqi fighters from a
Republican Guard headquarters. Others
discovered a 12-room complex inside a
cave, complete with white marble floors,
10-foot ceilings and fluorescent lighting.
U.S. Marines battled snipers as they
fought deeper into the capital from the
east. They seized the Rasheed Airport
By Molly Cain
THE BATTALION
Doctors originally said he would
never reach the age of 30. When he
reached that milestone, Brian, who is
HIV positive, decided to fulfill his long
time dream of going to Texas A&M.
Brian, who asked that his last name
not be used, tested positive for HIV in
1991. He recounted his experience in a
presentation titled “Living with HIV: A
Student’s Perspective” at the Stark
Gallery in the Memorial Student Center
on Tuesday. The event was sponsored by
Student Health Services as part of a week
of activities intended to raise student
awareness about HIV/AIDS.
Although his future is uncertain,
Brian, now 34, said he is upbeat and
determined to succeed.
“I will always be an Aggie,” he said.
“I’m graduating on May 9 and you’re all
invited.”
According to the Texas Department of
Health, HIV is a virus that causes AIDS,
a disease that disables the body’s ability
to fight off infection by destroying white
blood cells.
Throughout the ordeal, Brian said the
support he has received from family,
friends and his faith helped him cope
with the illness and strive for success.
See HIV on page 6
KRT CAMPUS
A palace under construction near
a bomb Tuesday, as troops from
Airborne division worked to clear
Baghdad International Airport is hit with
both the 3rd Infantry division and 101st
the surrounding grounds.
■ ■ > ■■
and captured enough ammunition for
an estimated 3,000 troops. Ominously,
they also took a prison where they
found U.S. Army uniforms and chemi
cal weapons suits possibly belonging to
American POWs.
The toll on civilians from four days
of urban combat was unknown. But the
World Health Organization said
Baghdad’s hospitals were running out
of supplies to treat the burns, shrapnel
wounds and spinal injuries caused by
the fighting.
Two cameramen were killed and at
least three others wounded when an
American tank fired a round into the
Palestine Hotel, headquarters for hun
dreds of journalists. Commanders said
hostile fire had been coming from the
building, although the journalists said
they witnessed none.
Separately, the Arab television net
work al-Jazeera reported that a U.S. war
plane attacked its office on the banks of
the Tigris River, killing a reporter.
On the city’s northern side, Army
forces set a Republican Guard barracks
ablaze. Warplanes flew their bombing
runs unchallenged, and smoke poured
out of the Ministry of Planning building
in the city’s center.
“We are continuing to maintain our
ability to conduct operations around and
in Baghdad, and remove them from
regime control” said Capt. Frank Thorp,
a spokesman at U.S. Central Command.
State-run Iraqi television was
knocked off the air, depriving the regime
See Baghdad on page 6