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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 2003)
STATE THE BATTALION >rts Texas Sports: Washington coach should be fired • Page 3 Opinion: Mr. Virtue craps out • Page 5 1 HE BATTALION (Volume 109 • Issue 148 • 6 pages unday night, thewesi lorthern parts of it 'e received as mucl . in South Plains; mil Tuesday night,tmi rly to tell whetherc«- >. particularly were damaged heavik /ays looks a day after so you have a few days,” de, spokesman forthe|ic Cotton Growers, appraisers will wait a o see if the likely to recover he said. Daws County has lost about 15,0 acres from stoo in recent days. Cotton fan ers could repla their fields wi grain sorghum the cotton caw By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION Tuition increases for the fall are expected to be small, despite state Legislature giving pub- universities more power in letting tuition rates, Texas A&M afficials said last week. A&M will receive as much tney from the state for the 04-05 school year as it did for 02-03. Chancellor Howard Graves, head of the A&M University recover. “Some of gets to be a jut rnent call « whether (the ton) will comt Wade said. “It's >t, o.’ vuth in Webb County, is 500 homes were >wer in 100-degref 'sday after overnight ie area m carried winds ot mph, causing some mage. A Head S provides meals : children was oof tops were •s at the Laredo I Airport and some commercial jets were es were reported, /ere roofs that wete through the air*! ocks away,” Comt) is Bruni said.4j ne of the move len you’d see co»s gh the air. Well, ilants.” 109 Years Serving Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Tuition raise should be small System, told The Bryan-College Station Eagle last week that A&M will still receive a cut and the figure does not take growth, health care costs and technology cuts into account. “We are just grateful we did n’t have the train wreck we start ed with,” he said. A&M President Robert M. Gates said he does not foresee tuition rates “skyrocketing” and the University will decide where the unexpected expenditures will go. “We will keep (tuition) at the lowest level we can and keep the increase as low as possible,” he said. In January, at the start of the legislative session, system offi cials predicted a possible 12.5 percent cut, which is $167 mil lion over two years. Tuition deregulation was passed by the Legislature last week partly because public uni versities lost money due to the state’s $9.9 billion budget debt. The law is meant to let univer sities charge students more to make up for the lost funds, increase graduation rates, encourage efficient use of facili ties and enhance employee per formance. The bill will allow for a $23 per-credit hour increase over the next two years. That amount is near the ceiling, how ever, and certain campuses may not choose to increase tuition by that amount. Graves said tuition at A&M will most likely increase the See Tuition on page 2 u p D A Monday, June 9, 2003 A&M tuition and budget Tuition increases will be small A&M will lose $3 million during the next two years A&M faces a $3 million deficit from the current fiscal year A&M will move $20 million from weaker programs to stronger ones RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE: PRESIDENT ROBERT M. CATES High with a little help riming in San i Galveston reported ling. The Coast i 47-foot rescue in helicopter, two inty patrol boats il watercraft from Beach Patrol pat- i search, officials also spent ig searching for n who fell from a about 18 meron, La. TERESA WEAVER • THE BATTALION Sophomore psychology major Chelsea Garrett and senior agricultural economics major Amy Mitchell walk across the Aggie Shuffle 35 feet in the air at the Texas A&M chal lenge course on Saturday. The Aggie Orientation Leaders spent the day participating in both high and low elements that focused on teamwork and communication skills. dation 'S umpaicn Regents approve airport repairs Board of Regents MEETING approued: By Rob Munson THE BATTALION The Texas A&M System Board of Regents authorized construction of a hangar ramp for Easterwood Airport and changes to plans for a residence life build- ; Friday. Ninety percent of the $1.6 million air- 1 project will be funded by an entitle- nt grant from the Federal Aviation ministration, while the remaining 10 per il will come from airport operating income, said Tim Donathen, A&M versity System executive director of facilities, planning and construction. Repairs to taxiway “E” are covered under the FAA grant, and future construc- fsnon two new airport aprons will be based cnhow much funding is left over, Donathen said. “A new hangar built for Texas Task Force 1, the urban search-and-rescue team, will not be cov ered under the FAA grant,” he said. Construction is expected to be com pleted by summer 2004. Changes in the plans for a $13.2 million residence life building exceed ed the original pro jected cost by $1.9 million and needed the Board of Regents’ approval before moving forward. A&M President Robert M. Gates said the new building will be the “first fruits” of R $1.6 million construction project for a hangar and ramp at Easterwood Rirport Changes to plans for a new residence life building that will cost an estimated $ 13.2 million RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM the campus’ master plan. “(The building) will be a much more attractive, appropriate use of space in terms See Regents on page 2 Poland votes to join European Union By Colleen Barry THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WARSAW, Poland President Aleksander Kwasniewski told cheering ^porters Sunday that Poland ^fulfilled its aspirations to r etum to Europe, after exit Ms showed an overwhelming 'Me in favor of joining the European Union. “We are coming back. We are coming back to Europe,” Kwasniewski said at the presi dential palace after kissing his wife, Jolanta, and hugging for mer Solidarity activists. Concern that voter turnout would fall below the 50 per cent required to make the ref erendum valid spurred many to the polls on the second day of voting Sunday, encouraged by their priests, family and friends. Turnout reached 56 percent of the registered 29.5 million voters Sunday, according to exit polls, after an 18 percent vote on Saturday. The polls, by the private PBS polling agency, said 82 percent voted “yes” for membership. The referendum gives Kwasniewski the popular mandate needed to ratify Poland’s treaty with the EU, signed at an Athens summit in April. The first official results were expected after midnight. With 38 million people, Poland would be the largest country to join the 15-nation bloc, leading the largest wave of EU expansion and holding voting power equal to Spain and behind only Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. Hungary, Slovakia, See Poland on page 2 First diversity VP candidate visits By Justin Smith THE BATTALION How people behave toward one another, treat one another and whether they display tolerance and respect one another is how Dr. James Anderson said he defines diversity. “(Diversity) is a well-reasoned philosophy, or ethos, that an insti tution has that speaks to how it perceives itself and its institutional image,” he said. Anderson, the first of three can didates coming to College Station vying for the new vice president of diversity and associate provost for Institutional Diversity position, gave a presentation last Thursday on his views of diversity and what Texas A&M, as well as other schools, can do to become more diverse. Anderson’s plan to diversify any school is a multi-pronged strategy that includes getting fac ulty and departments involved by way of incentives and having classes on diversity. ANDERSON He also wants to engage sopho mores and juniors in high school by bringing them to the University. Enrollment and retention of a diverse population are important, he said. “The benefits that diversity has for underrepresent ed students are equally beneficial for majority stu dents,” he said. Anderson, cur rently the vice provost for undergraduate affairs at North Carolina State University, is well versed in diversity and human nature, having grown up on the streets of Washington D.C. and receiving his formal education in psychology at Villanova University and Cornell University. During the past 15 years Anderson has researched the bene fits and roadblocks of diversity. He has also given numerous speeches and written many scholastic essays See Candidate on page 2 Power outage traced BRYAN (AP) — Multiple mechanical failures at a single substation triggered the electricity outage that darkened the Bryan-College Station area on April 15, local and state power officials have determined. The findings by the Texas Municipal Power Agency, which controls the Gibbons Creek substation, were submitted recently to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported in Sunday’s editions. ERCOT continues to compile reports on the incident from transmis sion companies affected by the outage, but said the power agency’s find ings will play a large part in its final report. The outage affected about 68,000 power meters in the region and brought the area to a standstill that day, forcing the closure of Texas A&M University and other schools and businesses. Officials said ERCOT has been in preliminary talks about the pos sibility of a second power line feeding the area, which could have pre vented an outage caused by the Gibbons Creek shutdown. Short-term leases prove hard to find, officials say By Megan Orton THE BATTALION December graduates may encounter difficulties finding living arrangements for the fall due to the lack of six-month leases available, apartment officials said. Mike Pishner, manager of Pontalba Apartments, said it is wrong to turn so many Aggies away with no place to go. “I take care of my residents who have lived here for a year and are graduating in December,” he said. Pishner said residents of other apartments in the area, whose leases are up in May or August, have been forced out and have come to him begging for a place to stay during the fall semester. However, some local apartments will make special exceptions for res idents who have been faithfully pay ing rent for the past year. “What most apartments are doing is issuing semester leases for a limited number of students,” said Risa Bierman, coordinator of Adult Graduate and Off-Campus Student Services “If you’ve lived there before, the complexes are some times softer on their limits.” Hayley Griffin, apartment leas ing agent, said Sterling Apartments has set a renewal date during the month of February for students wanting to renew their leases for an extra six months. Their usual limit on the number of six-month leases is 15; however, 20 are being allowed to renew this fall. The Exchange at Luther Street also allows a certain number of six- month leases to students who gradu ate in December. “We have done our best to try and accommodate everyone,” said Adam Miller, The Exchange’s leas ing professional. Other apartment complexes allow students to rent an apartment for an additional six months, but charge an extra monthly fee per per son ranging from $25 to $80. “We had to make a deal with them,” said senior journalism major Melissa Fowler, a resident of Rosewood Villa. “We’re paying an additional $70 per person per month, but it was the only way to avoid a sublease.” See Leases on page 2
