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Volume 109 • Issue 131 • 14 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Friday, April 11, 2003
Board names Mays chairman
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M Board of Regents chose
media mogul L. Lowry Mays as its new
:hairman Thursday after Gov. Rick Perry’s
ecent appointees to the board, Erie Nye and
(ohn White, were sworn in.
Mays, 67, is the chairman of Clear
Channel Communications, a San Antonio-
jased conglomerate that owns more than
1,200 radio stations and 36 television sta-
ions. Mays was appointed to the Board in
2001. A&M’s college of business is named
after Mays.
The biggest challenge facing the A&M
Jniversity System during the next two
years. Mays said, will be coping with sub
stantial reductions in funding without cut
ting vital academic programs.
“With the economic recovery, the state
may see an increase in revenue,’’ Mays said.
“I hope this isn’t a long drought.”
Mays said tuition deregulation, which
would allow the regents to raise tuition with
out approval from the state Legislature, is
key to maintaining academic excellence at
A&M. University officials are supporting a
bill that would allow the Board of Regents
to raise tuition by as much as three times
what is currently charged.
The board chose Nye, the former chair
man, as the new vice chairman. Nye was
first appointed to the Board in 1997.
Perry has not yet chosen a replacement for
outgoing regent Anne Armstrong. Because
the Board’s bylaws call for electing a new
chairman after all three positions have been
filled, the regents voted to suspend that provi
sion. Regent Susan Rudd Wynn was not pres
ent at the meeting, but Nye said he had spoken
to Wynn and she agreed that the Board should
move ahead with electing new officers.
Mays was elected unanimously by the
seven other regents present.
“(Mays) is a special guy, a wonderful
Aggie and a great American,” Nye said.
Regent Phil Adams said Mays was the
“most powerful man in radio” who had rev
olutionized the industry, and A&M is lucky
See Mays on page 2A
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Safety technician, Dale McCord of Bryan, at Texas A&M's
Environmental Health and Safety Center, supervises senior
animal science major, Karly Newbern, as she extinguishes a
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
controlled fire at Spence Park Thursday afternoon as part of
her Health 221 class. The organization maintains some
8,000 fire extinguishers on main campus alone.
JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION
John D. White, with his wife Daisy, takes the oath of office to
become a regent in the MSC Thursday afternoon. Honorable
John L. Hill, former chief justice of Texas swears him in.
Senate bloc set to
work with SBP
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
A newly-elected Student
Senate bloc that campaigned to
make student government more
responsive to students will
work closely with recently-
elected Student Body President
Matt Josefy, said bloc organiz
er Kerri Ward.
Ward, a freshman marketing
major, said the 28 senators who
ran under the slogan
“Commitment to Change through
Action not Words,” supported
former student body president
candidate Luke Cheatham during
the first round of elections, but
will work well with Josefy.
“I am very excited at Matt
being elected. Out of the two can
didates in the runoff, Matt is the
one more open-minded,” Ward
said. “I feel that we do have issues
that pertain to students and he will
be willing to work with us.”
Josefy said he plans to devel
op a close relationship with
members of the newly-elected
Senate and doesn’t see a voting
bloc as a deterrent.
“Regardless of whether there
is or isn’t a voting bloc in the
Senate, it is my desire to work
closely with each and every sen
ator to make positive changes
for this campus,” Josefy said.
Matthew Wilkins, speaker of
the 56th Student Senate, said that
a bloc exists but the recent officer
elections of Natasha Eubanks and
Jessica Newhouse, who beat bloc-
affiliated candidates, show that
senators will act as individuals.
“There is no single dominant
group in the Senate and the offi
cers elected reflect the diversity
of viewpoints of Student
Senate,” said Wilkins, a sopho
more philosophy major.
There is no single
dominant group in the
Senate and the officers
elected reflect the diver
sity of viewpoints of
Student Senate.
yr
— Mattew Wilkins
56th Student Senate Speaker
The bloc will represent its
constituents and will not vote
together on all issues or hold
organizational meetings outside
Student Senate, Ward said.
Ward said Cheatham, who
was backed by the group for
student body president, will
have no role in the bloc besides
being a constituent.
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Proposed bill would
require cultural class
Kurds sweep north Iraq and seize oil
By David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
A bill introduced to the Texas
House of Representatives would
require students in undergraduate pro
grams at public universities statewide
to take a three-hour multicultural or
gender studies class.
The bill comes at a time when
more women and minorities are
entering the upper level positions of
business and government than ever
before. Many in the state say they feel
that Texas’ public universities are
leaving students ill-equipped to han
dle this changing environment.
Rep. Norma Chavez, D-EI Paso,
introduced House Bill 2555 in the
wake of recent racial tensions at cam
puses across the state. Incidents range
from the egging of the Martin Luther
King Jr. statue and “gin and juice” par
ties on the University of Texas campus
to the Walton Hall “ghetto” party at
Texas A&M, which was planned and
subsequently cancelled in January.
Chavez said having a specific
requirement to study other cultures
would alleviate these kinds of problems
See Culture on page 2A
Opposition forces crumbled in northern Iraq on
Thursday as U.S. and Kurdish troops seized oil-
rich Kirkuk without a fight and held a second city
within their grasp. U.S. commanders said signs
pointed to a last stand by Iraqis in Saddam
Hussein’s birthplace of Tikrit.
Despite the gains, one Marine was killed and
22 injured in a seven-hour battle in the Iraqi capi
tal. Four more were wounded in a suicide bomb
ing. “Baghdad’s still an ugly place,” said Maj.
Gen. Gene Renuart.
Widespread looting persisted 24 hours after the
city celebrated the regime’s fall.
Striking anew at the regime leadership, coali
tion aircraft dropped six satellite-guided bombs on
a building where Saddam’s half-brother, Barzan
KRT CAMPUS
See Iraq on page 2A
Two Iraqi men express their joy by pounding a statue of Saddam
Hussein with their shoes after U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish
peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk, Iraq, Thursday.
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Parent
X V X A S A & VI
Friday, April ti
Aggies prepare for weekend with parents
- Midnight Yell Practice, Kyle Field
Saturday, April 12
Bevo Burn BBQ
11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Simpson Drill Field
• Maroon and White Football Game
2 p.m., Kyle Field
All-University Awards Ceremony
9 a.m. -11 a.m., Rudder Auditorium
Source; Parents' weekend Committee
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
By Hedish Connor
THE BATTALION
Thousands of Aggie parents who bleed
and wear maroon will travel to Texas A&M
this weekend for the 84th annual Parents’
Weekend.
Parents’ Weekend, an A&M tradition
dating back to 1919, starts today and will
end Sunday.
Parents’ Weekend is dedicated to the par
ents and families of students and is sponsored
by the Student Government Association and
the Parents’ Weekend committee.
Heather Augustine, chair of Parents’
Weekend committee and a senior nutrition
major, said this weekend is a chance to say
thank you for the support parents and fami
lies have given to students.
“Parents’ Weekend is a long-standing tra
dition and a way to show our guests how
A&M has developed and what’s going on in
the lives of Aggies,” she said. “It’s also a way
to express the spirit and traditions of A&M to
parents, alumni and guests to the University.”
The weekend activities include
Midnight Yell Practice at Kyle Field Friday,
the Bevo Burn Barbecue at the Simpson
Drill Field, the Maroon and White game at
Kyle Field on Saturday and the All-
University Awards Ceremony at Rudder
Auditorium Sunday.
The Maroon and White football game will
end the spring practice drills for the Aggie
football team, and fans will have a chance to
see the team play as well as participate in an
autograph and picture session with coaches
and players from 9:30 a.m. to 1 la.m. in the
Memorial Student Center Flagroom.
The first 3,000 fans inside the gates at
Kyle Field will receive a collector’s edition
puzzle, according to an athletic press
release. The gates will open at noon and
kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
In an e-mail sent to all students by Head
Football Coach Dennis Franchione,
Franchione said the team has been split as
evenly as possible, and the game should
See Parents on page 2A