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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2003)
Aggielife: Sweatin' it out at summer school • Page 3 Opinion: Lone Star Showdown • Page 5 I • THE BATTALION Park. Activities and pony rides. rp T T yv yt rp>-p 4 Y T/'Y 1 ilii oAl 1AL1U Volume 109 • Issue 145 • 6 pages 109 Years Serving Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Tuesday, June 3, 2003 Field narrowed in VP for diversity search By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION The 26-member committee appointed by Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates to fill newly created position of Vice President and Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity has narrowed the list of more than 120 candidates. After several months of exten sive phone interviews and paper work, co-chairs of the search committee Rodney McClendon and Linda Parrish have invited three candidates for a campus visit. The first scheduled visit is Dr. James Anderson, who currently serves as vice provost for under graduate affairs at North Carolina State University. He is currently visiting A&M. Dr. Sylvia Hurtado, the second of the three candidates, currently serves as education and associate professor at the University of Michigan, and will be on campus starting June 8. On June 11, Dr. Ronald Rochon, interim director of the school of education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, will visit A&M. The committee will continue the search until a successful can didate is found, McClendon said. “These individuals have the highest caliber and have a nation al reputation in this area,” he said. “A&M will be fortunate to have any one of them.” Parrish said all three candi dates are familiar with A&M and have experience in the field of diversity. “That is always a plus,” she said. “We want them to learn from their experiences in the field.” Parrish said presidents at other universities have told the commit tee that A&M is conducting the selection process the right way by establishing a position in diversi ty rather than an office. “This is a bold step at this level,” she said. All candidates will interview extensively with various University officials and con stituent groups, including Gates, Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. David Prior, faculty, staff and students, and will give a 30-minute presentation with the broad topic of “Vision for Institutional Diversity.” Following each candidates’ presentations will be a University reception where stu dents, faculty and other atten dees can ask questions. The committee welcomes the entire University to participate in the selection of the new position by attending each presentation. Visiting VP and Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity Candidates See Diversity on page 2 Ruben Deluna • THE BATTALION Source: Vice President for Diversity Search Committee Event Date June 14 June 15 June 1/ June 20-22 June 28-29 ;beard's cruise i and treasure June 2nd: $20/team $40/team $20/feam $2 0/team FREE Teens Charge FREE @ 7:00 p.m, 'et a great job FCC eases limits on i media ownership JL nation source. Student Affairs VP search extended By Natalie Younts THE BATTALION Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates announced last month that he will extend the search for a. vice president for student affairs into the fall. The final four candidates. Dr. William Kibler, Dr. Leellen Brigman, Dr. Juan Gonzales and Dr. Charles Fey, were brought to campus for interviews and described by Gates as more than qualified. However, after talking with commit tee members, Gates said in a statement that he decided to extend the search. Kibler, associate vice president for student Airs, will serve as the interim vice president t forsmdent affairs until a new one is found. Dr. Jane Conoley, dean of the College of 'Education, and Brandon Hill, a senior agricul tural business major, headed the search adviso ry committee during the spring semester. “We just didn’t find the right match,” Conoley said. She said the search has been suspended and a new committee will be formed sometime in August. She did not know if she would head the com mittee in the fall, but said she would be happy to do it again. “(Gates) is considering the composition of a committee that will begin its work in the fall when the student body is back,” said Dr. David Prior, executive vice president and provost. “The importance of this position to students is obvi ously great. Therefore, we believe it’s important to have the student involvement both in terms of the committee and of the interview process.” Conoley said there were many characteristics the committee was looking for. “We’re looking for people with great leader ship skills with experience in student affairs,” she said. “A person who understands the con nection between student affairs and academic affairs, and who will commit to moving the University toward Vision 2020 goals.” More than 80 people applied for the position, Conoley said. See Student Affairs on page 2 A&M projects near completion dates l?*t , :: ■ ■ ■ nw mj ii ii mm imip mu mm iUID! Stilt Photos By Joshua Hobson • THE BATTALION Above: Viewed from the south end of Kyle Field, the new Athletic Complex will bring an athletic academic service and expanded areas for football team meetings and coaches' offices clos er to the field the ath letes play on. The com plex is scheduled to open Oct. 27. Left: Students may be able to walk to West Campus traffic-free as soon as August, when Texas A&M officials expect the underground passageway to be complete. By Jodi Rogers THE BATTALION Two construction projects, the West Campus Parking Garage along with the Wellborn Underground Passageway, and the new Athletic Complex, located in the South End of Kyle Field, will be completed by the fall, officials said. Transportation Services is now accepting reservations for parking spaces in the garage for on and off campus students. The new garage will include more than 3,700 parking spaces, making it the largest garage on campus. The passageway will be connected to the garage and run under Wellborn to alleviate pedestrian traffic along Wellborn. Doug Williams, assistant director of Transportation Services, said the passageway and garage cost more than $31.6 million and should be completed by August. “The garage will be especially use ful to accommodate events that would normally overwhelm the University Center Garage,” Williams said. “In the past, there was no place to direct guests and visitors to park when the University Center Garage became full.” Williams said the automated park ing control equipment will accept Aggie Bucks, have seven elevators, more than 100 security cameras and six automated pay machines. The hourly parking rate will be half of the regular hourly parking rates for other garages. Transportation Services Assistant Director Debbie Hoffman said the parking spaces will not be individually assigned and that all cus tomer groups will be accommodated. “We’re excited about the grand opening because we feel the passage way will be a key element in uniting both west and main campuses,” she said. “It will be a significant improve ment in increasing pedestrian and See Projects on page 2 Mass media metamorphosis Tim Fttderai Communicahotts Commission eased awn ;j newsfsoper and television or radio station in decactes-dd restrictions on media ownership Monday, the same market. Sonre of the largest media permitting companies to buy more television stations companies who will be affected by these changes (reaching up to 45 percent of U.S. households) and already own key communication outlets. A&M, UT geology profs remembered after deaths By David Ho THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Federal regulators voted Monday to v companies to buy televi- stations reaching nearly lialf the nation’s viewers and to own newspaper-broadcasting combinations in the same city, relaxing decades-old rules against media concentration. The 3-2 vote by the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission brought strong criticism from opponents, including one law maker who predicted an “orgy of mergers and acquisitions” ng a few giant companies in control of what most people see, bear and read. Many media companies favored the move, saying cur rent restrictions hindered their ability to grow and compete in a market changed by cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the Internet. Rather than squelching diverse viewpoints and local control in news and entertain ment, the companies say, free dom from old restrictions will allow them to provide better news coverage in more commu nities. The broadcast networks say the changes will help keep free TV alive by helping them compete with pay services for quality programming. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the FCC achieved its goal of “building modern rules that take proper account of the explosion of new media out lets for news, information and entertainment.” The commission’s Democrats, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, said the changes give too much power to media giants. In the largest mar kets, a single company will be Company Matworks Cable Motion Pictures Magazines . Newspapers (toUl deity) Station* owrved Walt Disney Co. . ABC : ESPN. Disney Charnel Touiiotooe, Mirwita* 10 TV 59 Radio General Electric Co. NBC MSNBC. CNBC. Bravo : 14 TV VV*o«<h lne„ CBS, ■ URN MTV, NicMocteoti. : Paramount Showtime. SET : 39 TV 183 Rmto News Corp FOX ; Fox News Channel. FX. 2Wt Century Fox ; TV Guide Fox Sports Net ; New York Post (mom Ilian 175 international) 30 TV AOL Time Warner WB CNN. TBS. HBO . Warner Bros.. Time. People. New Une Cinema Sports BlustRitwt 7 TV (Local news) Paxson : PAX Communications Corp. 65 TV TnSxjne Co WGN La* Argotes Tmes. Chicago Tribune {12) 26 TV GatrollCo. : USA Today (100) (17 ki Shlair;) 22 TV New York Times Co, New York Times, Boston Globe 119) 8 TV 2R*fc Knight Ricidef Phrlade^phra Inquirer, Miami Horald (31) Huarst Corp. San Franctetxj Chrontei* (12) ! 27 TV 2 Radio Cox Enterprises Inc. *1# Atlanta Constitution (17) ; 15TV 79 Radio Top television broadcasters Company Viacom tiicv. News Corp. Genarsf Electric Co. Cortvnunieatioos Corp. Triune Co. Wait Disney Co. Number of of housetiotd 39 .im 35 37.8% 33.8% 30.9% 30.0% 23.6% Top radio broadcasters Number of 2001 revenues «t»tk>ns <kl TTfiJlK**} Cicar Channel U238 $3.2654 VUmm tnc.. (infWiy) Cox Inc. 183 $2,081.1 $431.4 $407.9 Newspaper companies Number of Circulation' Company newspapers nailers? Gaw.ttCo. 100 7.7 Knight HkJder 31 51 ThbunoCo. 12 5f New Ycrt Titnw Co. 19 3.2 HaarstCorp. 12 2.4 'Larijert c-it«**en SOURCES: The compsnisa: The Center for Puttfc Integrity: Audit Bureau of Circutstion*; BlA rfner.a* Nefwarft; NUrisan Me jia Research; Assosated P able to own up to three TV sta tions, eight radio stations, the cable TV system, cable TV sta tions and a daily newspaper. “This is the most sweeping and destructive rollback of con sumer protection rules in the history of American broadcasting,” Adelstein said. See FCC on page 2 By Karen Yancey THE BATTALION University of Texas geology professor Dr. Robert Goldhammer was killed last Monday, along with one of his students, when the van he was riding in hit the median of a road and flipped over. The same tragedy struck the Texas A&M Department of Geology six years ago with the death of Dr. Norman Tilford in November 1997, who died after losing control of his air plane and crashing in central Texas while en route to meet his students. “Both professors were lost in a transportation-related accident while leading a geology field trip,” said Dr. Christopher Mathewson, a professor of engi neering geology at A&M. Tilford spent time working for Harza Engineering Company and Ebasco Services Inc., while Goldhammer worked for Exxon, Shell, Texaco and Sonat. They brought international profes sional experience into the class room. “Norman Tilford and Robert Goldhammer left industry for the express purpose of being a teacher,” Mathewson said. “They both were dedicated teachers who incorporated their real world experience into their teaching and they led popular field trips that were rated high ly by the students. This was a tragic loss of a person who knew what the real world was about and could bring it to his students.” This is the first death of a faculty member while on a field trip that the UT geology department has experienced. However, during the past 40 See Geology on page 2