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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2003)
THE BATTALI R.DeLm oaM if win Sports: 'Stros finish first half atop NL Central • Page 3 Opinion: End of an era • Page 5 Volume 109 • Issue 168 • 8 pages 109 Years Serving Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Monday, July 14, 2003 “The bottom line is how we can serve students’.’ — Charles Johnson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts Journalism gets the ax EWS IN BRIEF on won't talk ss judge orders WORTH, Texas teammate of a missi University basketballp^r not talk to police le is ordered to byajuffi e of how Waco author*: idling the case, bis at j Wednesday, n Dotson has beenfii once by a Waco detect ant to Virginia Beach,t trick Denneh/ssportuti de was found in a lot two weeks had already returnee:; lock, Md., home r. lidentified informanttii| *e authorities that Dow: ousin he shot Deniieli|iJ i as the two argued# l guns near Waco, accod ) court documefi y, a 6-foot-10,230-poc't aas not been heard ta d-June. Waco policed otson a "person of lit charges have ise. two days. aned Charfi's, j all the beautiful gihs nd hip buggers.... and platform shoes.. Celebrate with us. sand lots of fun!. card ?9th your birth date Johnson recommends eliminating journalism By Rob Munson THE BATTALION Dean of Liberal Arts Charles Johnson sent a rec ommendation to Texas A&M administrators Thursday asking that the Department of Journalism and all associated degree programs be cut during the next few years. “After more than a year and a half of work ing in issues related to Johnson journalism, and after the past legislative session, it has become apparent that the most effective way to address our students’ needs in journalism is to make a change in the current situa tion,” Johnson said in a statement. The journalism depart ment was formed in 1948 and has been an accredited program since 1956. About 500 students are enrolled in the program and the depart ment houses eight full-time faculty. No students currently enrolled in the journalism department will be forced out of the major, and no tenured, tenure track faculty or permanent staff will be laid off, Johnson said. If the recommendation is approved by A&M officials, current faculty and staff will be shifted to other depart- TP'i L‘> Students and professors question reasoning behind department’s loss By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION Fallen debris from a second story ledge is blocked off Sunday evening outside the Reed McDonald building, in which the journalism department is housed. ments. “Cutting a program is never easy, that is not the bottom line,” Johnson said. “The bottom line is how we can serve students.” Johnson said 55 students entering A&M’s journalism program this fall will be the last class to major in jour nalism pending approval by Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. David Prior, A&M President Robert M. Gates and the A&M University System Board of Regents. Gates said he defers to deans on matters concern ing operations within each college. “I felt it was important to find an alternative by which we can have Aggies going See Johnson on page 2 As news of Liberal Arts Dean Charles Johnson’s recommendation of the journalism department reached current journalism students and faculty, ques tions still remain as to how the program reached the chopping block. Students currently in the program said they under stand where the administra tors are coming from, but they still cannot believe the journalism department will not exist in a few years. “I think the fields of journalism and communica tions are so vital in today’s world that something else could have been done,” said senior journalism major Abby Woller. “I know Vision 2020 is such a big thing, but I don’t see how cutting a department can be a step in the right direction.” Some students said when they first enrolled in the department there was no indication there was a problem and they -continued to pursue- a degree from Texas A&M. “I never thought they were going to do away with it,” said Courtney Potter, a sophomore journalism major. “When I visited A&M during my sen ior year (of high school), I visited the journalism department and they said the College of Liberal Arts is the fastest growing college at A&M and a lot of students want to do journalism.” Potter said if she could have fore seen the department’s closing she would not have majored in journalism. Dr. Douglas Starr, professor of journalism, said despite the troubles the department has been facing, he did not expect Johnson’s decision. Starr said courses will still be (Formed in 1948, with aprox. 500 students and eight full-time faculty (Dean Charles Johnson sent recommendation to administrators Thursday asking the journalism program to be cut over the next few years (No students will be kicked out, nor will any faculty be laid off (Dr. Julia Kirk Biackwelder will assume the title of department head ■ 55 students were admitted into the program for the fall i ffuftcling The Services Depa » Student Media f Department of Journalism RUBEN DELUNA & JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE DEAN OF LIBERAL ARTS taught in journalism and from what Johnson said, the department will pro vide a background to supplement another major. “It is entirely possible, feasible and not unusual,” Starr said. “I don’t need an administrative office to teach.” Students preparing to graduate have expressed concerns about finding a job, now knowing the future of the department. “A journalism degree from this University is still accredited,” Starr said. Johnson said a journalism degree from A&M leads to successful careers and the action is not meant to detract See Reaction on page 2 ur first kiss.... scream.... umber 29.... bial 29 forever! r.... I card and get 29% of iodise! 3 in store s old 5, □ ■6:00pra (979)764-1814 i MM mm mm**\ IE, OIL! : ILTER | 5 95 V OOil •MoslCorstlijlill^ lud«d •SyntheticOilExW ot time of puictwa. Notjixxl** . otmg shop only. Offa «w 08/31) Fall football shuttle service expanded to Post Oak Mall By Jodi Rogers THE BATTALION Transportation Services will offer a free express shuttle route from Post Oak Mall to Aggie football games at Kyle Field this fall. Eleven “Get to the Grid” express shuttles will run continuously from the park ing lot near the Sears entrance and Throckmorton Street 2 1/2 hours before game time and two hours after, said June Broughton, communications director forTS. “We want to take a proactive approach to the game-day parking and traf fic challenges by offering fans an alternative to searching for a parking space near Kyle Field and fighting the traffic,” she said. “This will also help in alleviating some of the traffic congestion for those fans who have reserved spaces on campus.” Broughton said Texas A&M shuttle buses do run to the mall but make sever al stops and are not specif ically express game-day shuttles. TS will adjust how many buses run the express route based on how many people ride them. Broughton also said the express service isn’t a part of students’ transportation fee. “It’s good for people who don’t already live on a bus route,” said Molly Mlod, a senior economics major. “It would be good for people who are from the visiting team and don’t know where to park.” Broughton said TS, Post Oak Mall management and the Athletics Department will work together to pro vide the new service. “Shuttle riders will have the opportunity to register for mall gift certificates See Shuttles on page 2 GET TO THE GRID' EXPRESS SHUTTLES Direct route from Post Oak Mall to Kyle Field Leave from Sears parking lot and drop off at Throckmorton Street Shuttles run two and a half hours before the game, and two hours after u RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE: TRANSPORTATION SERVICES Legislators support A&M’s employee retirement stance By Karen Yancey THE BATTALION Sen. Steve Ogden and Rep. Fred Brown expressed support for Texas A&M’s position on the question of new requirements for A&M and University of Texas employees seeking retirement, said Mike O’Quinn, A&M’s vice president of governmental affairs. The office is hopeful that Attorney General Greg Abbott will quickly rule in its favor to help employees make informed decisions regarding their retirement, O’Quinn said in an e-mail. “I do know that Rep. Fred Brown has sent a letter to (Abbott) expressing his support for the A&M position,” he said. “Sen. Ogden has also expressed support in favor of our interpretation of the statutes. At the end of (last) session, we felt that Senate Bill 1652 grandfathered our employees. However, the UT System lawyers feel differently, and since the statute being affected only deals with A&M and UT Systems, clarity is need ed to administer the retirement programs according to the law.” In June, A&M sent a letter to Abbott ask ing him to decide whether a clause that appears to grandfather A&M employees from the new requirements overrides another law that does not contain a grandfather clause but makes the same changes. The two laws were passed during the spring session of the Texas Legislature. The bills change eligibility requirements for retirement benefits for work ers in the A&M and UT Systems to make them more consistent with other state agencies. Both bills change the minimum retirement age from 55 to 65 years and the number of years of service to the state from five to 10 years. Mike Gross, vice president of Texas State Employees Union, a lobbyist group for state workers, said three systems of healthcare exist in Texas. There is one for A&M, one for UT and one for the rest of the state. In the past, all Texas universities had sepa rate health care systems, but they were merged into the Employee Retirement System. SB 1652 was authored by Sen. Florence Shapiro and is the bill with the grandfather clause. The other bill, SB 1370, was authored by See Legislators on page 2 Hurricane watch posted as heads for By Lynn Brezosky THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — A hurri cane watch was posted Sunday along the South Texas coast as Tropical Storm Claudette crawled across the Gulf of Mexico, and campers packed up and left low-lying South Padre Island. The storm was expected to make landfall at near hur ricane strength as early as Tuesday, said Miles Lawrence, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A hurricane watch was in effect along the Texas Gulf Coast from Port O’Connor, about 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, to Brownsville and south along the Mexican coast to Rio San Fernando. By 7 p.m. CDT, the cen ter of Claudette was about 330 miles east of Brownsville, with maximum sustained wind blowing at 60 mph, 14 mph shy of hur ricane strength. Slow strengthening is expected over the next 24 hours. It has been almost sta tionary, but is expected to resume moving toward the west-northwest on Monday, Claudette S. Texas Claudette stronger in Gulf of Mexico Position: 25.3 N, 92.4 W Sustained winds: 60 mph Movement: Stationary As of 5 p.m. EOT Sunday SOURCE: AccuWeather AP the hurricane center said. The National Weather Service said swells were approaching the Texas coast and could create dangerous surf conditions. “The circulation is strengthening,” meteorolo gist Jesse Haro said at the National Weather Service in Brownsville. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to move any faster toward us, it simply means that it’s becoming a stronger storm.” Owners of about 900 See Claudette on page 2