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Volume 109 • Issue 139 • 20 pages
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, April 24, 2003
SBP Coventry reflects on administration
By Melissa Fowler
THE BATTALION
Zac Coventry is no stranger to complications
from rain.
Not only did showers interfere with the first
Spring State of the University Address held
Wednesday afternoon in the Academic Plaza,
but Coventry attributes poor weather to the fail
ure of the Farmers Fight Festival in November
that was a centerpiece of his agenda as student
body president.
Looking back on his term and his accomplish
ments before a crowd of 25 people, Coventry said
the Fall Activities Council was concerned with
what events students wanted to participate in, and
that the Farmers Fight Festival did not succeed
because of circumstances beyond his control.
“It (the Farmers Fight Festival) was a great idea
and a great concept, but the weather didn’t coop
erate,” said Coventry, a senior agricultural devel
opment major.
Coventry’s predecessor, Schuyler Houser, cre
ated the Fall Activities Council to poll the student
body about potential fall activities. Coventry used
survey results from the FAC to construct his goals
of promoting unity and rallying spirit, which were
major aspects of his agenda as SBP.
Critics claim the Farmers Fight Festival was a
failure that marred Coventry’s administration.
Luke Cheatham, a senior civil engineering
major and organizer of last
semester’s off-campus bonfire
Unity Project, said the festival’s
low attendance showed it was a
poor substitute for Aggie
Bonfire.
“When you make that (the fes
tival) the biggest part of your cam
paign and come up so short, it’s
hard to get away from that,” Cheatham said.
Coventry said the events organized by the FAC,
including the Reveille Ball, a formal held in Reed
Arena, and the Farmers Fight Festival, were not
intended to replace Bonfire.
Coventry reflected on his administration’s
assistance with the Bonfire memorial, which is
COVENTRY
scheduled to be completed in November 2004 and
will include input from the families of the 12
Aggies who died in 1999, he said.
In keeping with his platform goals, which
included unity, accountability and communica
tion, Coventry said his administration was proac
tive and. accomplished much through program
ming committees such as CARPOOL.
By placing more than 150 students on
University committees, Coventry said his admin
istration worked to give students a voice. Getting
student members to serve on various search com
mittees and a student co-chair on the search com
mittee for the vice president of student affairs has
See SBP on page 2A
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Travelers cautioned
away from Toronto
By Barry Brown
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO — Global health
I officials warned travelers
I Wednesday to avoid Beijing and
I Toronto, where they might get
I the SARS virus and export it to
I new locations.
Canadian officials angrily
I said they would challenge the
I health advisory and declared
I their nation’s largest city still “a
1 safe place.” Toronto is the first
I location outside of Asia targeted
| in efforts to contain the disease.
In Beijing, Chinese officials
said all public schools would
| close Thursday for two weeks,
I affecting 1.7 million children.
I Thousands of people trying to
I flee the outbreak packed the cap-
I ital city’s train station and airport.
A major medical center in
China’s capital, the People’s
I Hospital of Peking University,
I was closed Thursday amid a
j SARS outbreak. More than 2,000
T employees were under observa-
I tion for the disease while the hos-
[I pital was being disinfected.
Dr. David Heymann of the
f World Health Organization said
I the new travel alert, which
) includes China’s Shanxi
\ province, was necessary because
“these areas now have quite a
high magnitude of disease, a great
risk of transmission locally ... and
also they’ve been exporting cases
to other countries.”
The advisory, which says any
unnecessary travel to those loca
tions should be postponed, will
be reviewed again in three
weeks, he said. Previously,
WHO warned against non
urgent travel to Hong Kong and
the Chinese province of
Guangdong, where the virus was
first reported last November.
Dr. Paul Gully, director gen
eral of Health Canada, said he
would challenge WHO’s asser
tion in a letter.
“Toronto continues to be a
safe place,” he said.
And Toronto medical officer
Dr. Sheela Basrur said the out
break, while serious, “is con
tained — largely in hospitals
which is, frankly, where it
belongs. So we don’t have wide
spread community spread.”
But Heymann, WHO’s com
municable disease chief, said
Toronto had not contained the
disease. A major reason for
WHO’s action, he said, is that a
cluster of SARS cases among
health workers in another coun
try was traced to the Canadian
city in the last week.
Need for speed
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Hillenbrand Racing Team sponsor and rider Mike low speed wind tunnel to improve the aerodynamics of his
Hillenbrand performs a set of wind tests in the Texas A&M racing with the help of John Cobb from Bicycle Sports.
Students submit plans for Boston facility
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Building designs prepared by Texas A&M
architecture students could be incorporated in a
soon-to-be constructed 157-acre planned commu
nity for the elderly near Boston.
Sixteen students, 13 undergraduates and three
graduate students are submitting nine project pro
posals for different aspects of the Hebrew
Rehabilitation Center for the Aged.
The center has hired a professional architecture
firm to prepare final designs, but wanted to review
more options before commissioning a final plan,
said Dr. George Mann, the Ronald L. Skaggs
Endowed Professor of Health Facilities at A&M.
“What (the HRCA) wants are different ideas,
and students offer that,” Mann said.
Tiffany Rogers, a junior environmental design
major, said she is confident that her ideai for the
nursing care unit will be considered by the profes
sional architects.
“There are schools in Boston they could have
used. To (pay to) bring up 17 people from Texas,
they are very serious,” Rogers said. “In a firm, you
get set in your ways, and students offer fresh ideas.”
Mann said A&M was chosen instead of
renowned Boston area universities because
A&M is a leader in architectural designs for
health care facilities. j
“We have graduates across the country leading
firms in design,” Mann said. “Altogether, firms
with (A&M) graduates have designed thousands
of health facilities.”
The sprawling $100 million community will
include an elementary school, playgrounds,
playing fields, assisted living and nursing care
for the elderly, healing gardens, nature trails and
picnic areas.
Mann said the half-million square foot facility
is much larger than most student projects.
Designing a facility for the elderly and for an eth
nic group students were unfamiliar with also
posed challenges.
Junior environmental design major Zachary
Inman said his designs had to take into account
Jewish culture and its special needs, such as a
divided “kosher” kitchen, eastern alignment of
religious buildings and inclusion of small outdoor
meeting areas called Sukkahs.
JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION
Students submitted model structures for the
Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged.
“(Mann) made sure we didn’t forget the little
things,” Inman said. “He kept saying, ‘Where’s
your Sukkah?”’
Senior environmental design major Thomas
See Architecture on page 2A
Iraqi oil flows for first
time since war began
By Tini Tran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BASRA, Iraq — Engineers began
restoring the lifeblood of Iraq’s shattered
economy Wednesday, pumping crude oil
for the first time since the war. Although
the oil is not for export, the quick startup
means one of Iraq’s largest fields could
be back to prewar production levels with
in weeks.
U.S. Brig. Gen. Robert Crear turned the
tap at a storage facility outside the southern
city of Basra and watched as slick black
crude dribbled from the spigot and oozed
between his fingers.
“Now we’re in the oil business,” Crear
said, laughing.
The oil will be used for domestic pro
duction only, and the meager flow sprang
from just four of hundreds of wells in
Iraq’s southern oil heartland.
But the rekindled petroleum production
is a sign that Iraq is already capitalizing on
its biggest natural resource and top eco
nomic hope.
Once transformed into refined products
such as fuel oil, the petroleum will be dis
tributed throughout the southern part of the
country for use in vehicles, power plants
and generators, officials from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers said.
Twelve wellheads in the Rumeila oil
fields were believed to have been sabo
taged by retreating Iraqis, who blew up
some and set fire to others. The fires are
out, but workers are still assessing which
wellheads can be salvaged.
See Iraq on page 2A
Oil flowing in Iraq
Crude oil from Iraq’s southern
fields begain flowing through
pipelines Wednesday, the first
time since the start of the war.
^ Other oil field Oil pipeline
’•fc Supergiant oil field
(5 billion barrels in reserves)
0 100 mi
0 100 km
Kirkuk
IRAN
SYRIA
IRAQ
Rumeila
North—
Rumeila
South
JORDAN
SAUDI
ARABIA
KUWAIT
SOURCES: United Nations; CIA
Student Senate appoints
three to new VP positions
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
The Student Senate unanimously
approved Student Body President-
Elect Matt Josefy’s three nominees
for executive vice presidents.
Trisha Derr was approved as
EVP of operations, Megan
Stephenson as EVP for policy and
Andy Herreth as EVP of communi
cations Wednesday night along with
senate caucus leaders.
Having three executives in the
legislative branch of the Student
Government Association is a new
structure Josefy has initiated to fit
his goals and style of leadership.
“There is no set structure for
executives in the legislative branch
of SGA. It changes from year to
year depending on the student body
president,” Josefy said. “What I
have done is a more drastic change,
but I think it will fit my style and
my platform during the election,
which is to branch out more to
students.”
The EVP of communications, a
new position, will be occupied by
Herreth, the only SGA outsider of
the three candidates.
Josefy said the Office of
Communications will oversee two-
way communication between SGA
and students and will be the main
contact between the SGA legislative
branch and The Battalion. The new
office will also set up a mentor
See Senate on page 2A