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I Volume 109 • Issue 135 • 18 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, April 17, 2003
eflections display added to Muster tradition
By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
Muster 2003 begins a new traditiion
in honoring deceased Aggies this year
ith a Reflections display accompany-
ngeach name on the Muster roll call.
During Monday night’s campus cer-
mony in Reed Arena, each name on
he roll call will have an item or picture
to change^their v: )n ^piay j n Memorial Student
enter Flagroom representing their life
lay, but flight at
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a day.
Those being honored who did not
«11 have a candle and name card on a
able for visitors to view.
In past campus ceremonies. Aggies
,vho died the previous year in the
Brazos Valley were remembered by
friends and relatives who lit a candle
and answered “here” during the roll
call of the honored.
Senior marketing major and Muster
committee member Shannon Vogt said
officers read the idea for the
Reflections display in an application
from someone applying to join the
committee, which plans the annual
Muster ceremony.
“One of the questions in the applica
tion was, 'What would you do to make
Muster 2003 a memorable experi
ence?’” Vogt said. “Someone came up
with that idea and we thought it was a
good idea.”
But because this marks the first year
for the new addition to Muster, some
friends and family members were
unaware of the Reflections display.
Vogt said she has received touching
feedback from family members and
students.
“We’ve gotten several notes in with
the pictures saying that it was really
tough to go through all the pictures and
stuff again,” she said. “Most of the fam
ilies think it’s a really good idea.”
One student being honored this year
is former Aggie football player
Brandon Fails, who died last November
due to complications from a blood clot
in his leg. His parents, Charles and
Valerie Fails, allowed Vogt to use pic
tures of their son for the display. The
Athletic Department is also allowing
Fails’ A&M football helmet to be dis
played.
/VI ster At a Ance:
- Camaraderie Barbecue in Academic Plaza,
I i a.m. - 3 p.m.
ritMiAl
- Roll call for the absent in Reed Arena at
/ p.m.
Monday April 21, 2003
- Absences from classes after S p.m. will be
University excused
Charles Fails said he thought it was
a good idea to add the Reflections dis
play and said the support from the
University community has helped to
ease the pain of losing a son.
“It’s tough when you see his dorm,
the school, the athletes,” Fails said.
“(But) it is comforting because it shows
SOURCE: MUSTER COMMITTEE • Travis Swenson
that he’s not forgotten there in the
hearts and minds of the students. It
helps to ease the pain.”
The Reflections display will be open
to the public from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Monday, before items are returned to
the families at Reed Arena later that
night.
Looks like spring
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er
Skin Renewer
Pink
full size
Spray
bag
Randal Ford • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M employee Eddie Velasco waters a
section of yellow pansies planted near the
Academic Plaza on Wednesday afternoon.
The yellow pansies have been recently plant
ed all over campus and should continue to
bloom until the end of June.
Memorial planners say
site to be ‘uplifting’
By Bernhard Hall
THE BATTALION
With the Bonfire Memorial
set to be dedicated on Nov. 18,
2004, project designers held an
open forum Wednesday to dis
cuss their progress and the
details of the memorial.
The completed memorial
will be the culmination of
months of work by a team that
says it has strived to memorial
ize the 12 Aggies who lost
their lives and the 27 who were
injured, and to honor the tradi
tion of Bonfire and the spirit
and unity it represented.
“We want the memorial to
be not just a downer, but also
uplifting,” said Bob Shemwell,
speaker for the group from
Overland Partners, Inc. the
firm designing the memorial.
The memorial will consist
of three components: the
Traditions Plaza, the History
Walk and the Spirit Ring,
Shemwell said.
The Traditions Plaza will
be a visitor center as well as a
museum containing memora
bilia and artifacts from past
Bonfires, he said. The plaza
will also contain poems and
other material, including “The
Last Corps Trip,” which was
traditionally read at each
Bonfire.
The History Walk is a path
from the Traditions Plaza to
See Memorial on page 5A
Media Board retains students
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
The Student Media Board discussed but did
not vote on a proposal to bar student leaders
from sitting on the panel that selects The
Battalion editor in chief each semester, with
most board members expressing opposition to
the measure.
Brady Creel, a former Battalion editor in
chief, proposed amending the bylaws of the
Board to prohibit officers of student organiza
tions such as the Student Government
Association, Memorial Student Center and the
Corps of Cadets from serving on the body. The
Board, which oversees The Battalion, consists
of three student members nominated by the stu
dent body president. Faculty and staff comprise
the other five voting members, and any decision
to hire or fire an editor must be approved by the
Provost.
In the past, the student body president has
nominated himself, members of the SGA exec
utive council, the MSC council president or
other high-profile student leaders. In a state
ment submitted to the Board, Creel said this sit
uation compromises the independence of The
Battalion by subjecting editors to pressure from
the student leaders they cover.
But most Board members said the participa
tion of student leaders on the Board has not led
to conflicts of interest.
“I see the potential problem, but I’ve yet to
see any evidence this problem has occurred,”
said Leroy Dorsey, chair of the Board and inter
im head of the journalism department.
Prakash Krishnan Nair, a student member of
the Boad and an officer in the Graduate Student
Council, said it is unlikely the Board could exer
cise undue influence on The Battalion’s editori
al decisions since the group only meets once a
semester and does nothing more than hire the
editor in chief.
Barbara Gastel, a Board member and jour
nalism professor, said the proposal raised legit
imate concerns about student leaders who are
covered by The Battalion selecting the newspa
per’s editor in chief.
“I can remember some situations when some
people (on the Board) had personal agendas,”
she said.
Creel was not present at the meeting but said
later that he was disappointed by the Board’s
decision. The continued presence of student
leaders on the Board could have a chilling affect
on Battalion staff, who may fear retribution
from student members of the Board for a con
troversial or critical story, Creel said.
In other business, the Board nominated
Sommer Bunce to be editor in chief of The
Battalion for Fall 2003. On April 4, the Board
nominated True Brown as editor in chief for the
summer semester and Heath Taylor Crawford as
editor of the Aggieland yearbook. The nomina
tions must be approved by the Provost.
aj. Rodriguez educates
students on military life
U.S. forces capture airfield near Baghdad
By Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M Naval ROTC Program
irector and 20-year Marine Corps veteran
aj. Justin C. Rodriguez discussed com-
on misconceptions and the reality of mil-
jitary life Wednesday night at the Stark
allery as a part of the Memorial Student
Center Current Issues Awareness series.
While many myths exist about the mili-
life as a soldier is nothing like the
ovies, Rodriguez said.
A common misconception of enlisted
soldiers is that these personnel are “dumb
igh school drop outs,” he said. In reality,
U.S. military requires a high school
diploma as a condition of enlistment.
Rodriguez described the military’s
teamwork in all aspects of life, from train
ing to home life, with families coordinating
child care schedules. He also spoke about
the kinder, gentler side of the military,
describing a caring environment in which
officers look out for enlisted personnel and
enlisted personnel look out for one another.
Rodriguez also discussed the enormous
responsibility of commanding soldiers in
dangerous situations.
“We’re in the people business,” he said.
“I have ordered America’s finest young
men to do things that I knew might get
them killed, but I would not have done that
if 1 did not have full confidence that they
were the best trained people in the world. I
also made sure that before we left on that
mission that their families were fully taken
care of.”
Rodriguez declined to speak about the
current conflict in Iraq and said that
because he was not there, he could not
address the topic.
When asked for his opinion on the patri
otism of campus protesters, Rodriguez
called their demonstrations “the sound of
freedom,” and said that while he did not
agree with their stance, he believed they
were still patriotic and had a right to exer
cise their freedoms.
Rodriguez has a degree in political sci
ence from A&M and teaches naval science
at the University. He lives with his wife and
seven children in Bryan.
By John Sullivan, Peter
Smolowitz and Carol
Rosenberg
KRT CAMPUS
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The war is not
quite over after all.
U.S. Forces from the 4th Infantry
Division captured the Taji Army
Airfield northwest of Baghdad on
Wednesday after sporadic fighting and
bombing from U.S. warplanes.
Soldiers found large caches of
rocket-propelled grenades, missiles
and artillery rounds at the military
facility about 15 miles northwest of
the Iraqi capital.
A U.S. Kiowa helicopter fired mis
siles into a bunker laden with muni
tions, triggering thundering explo
sions and billowing mushroom clouds
for 10 hours. Shock waves from the
explosions could be felt for miles as
detonated rockets and blazing debris
landed hundreds of yards away.
U.S. warplanes also spotted seven
surface-to-air missile sites around the
airstrip, destroying five with 500-
pound bombs. Hundreds of Iraqi civil
ians hoping to catch a glimpse of the
spectacle gathered too close to the
remaining two sites, which prevented
U.S. forces from destroying them.
Soldiers from the 10th Cavalry,
which took the brunt of the fighting,
also detained about 110 men dressed
in civilian clothing found walking
along the road or driving trucks near a
military compound. Ten were held for
further questioning.
No U.S. troops were injured.
Elsewhere, American troops killed
seven Iraqi civilians in the northern
See Capture on page 2A
Erik Campos • KRT CAMPUS
Members of the 404th Aviation Support Battalion join in fueling their vehicles
with other units from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division near Camp Udairi
in northern Kuwait on last Friday.