THE BATTALI
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SPORTS: Legendary Cowboys owner Tex Schramm dies • Page 3
Opinion: Perils of the Atkins diet • Page 5
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jVolume 109 • Issue 170 • 6 pages
Tow interest rates spur financial aid requests
l! JL A.
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
By Jodi Rogers
THE BATTALION
Interest rates for federally guaran-
eed student loans are at their lowest
evel in the program’s history, accord-
ng to Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest
itudent-loan provider.
Federal Stafford and Parent Plus
.oans for Undergraduate Students vary
in interest rates and on July 1 every
ear, interest rates are reset based on
the 91-day Treasury-bill from the previ
ous May, plus a margin of interest set
by federal regulation, said Erin
Korsvall, a Sallie Mae spokeswoman.
“Rates on Federal Stafford Loans
issued after July 1, 1998, were reset to
2.82 percent during in-school, grace and
deferment periods, and 3.42 percent dur
ing repayment,” she said.
Korsvall said the need for and
availability of financial aid continues
to increase.
“Sallie Mae serves more than seven
million borrowers nationwide,” she said.
“As tuition continues to increase, it is
likely that students will continue to turn
to student loans to fund their education.”
According to the College Board’s
Trends in Student Aid, the amount of
financial aid paid to parents and students
last ye^r reached more than $90 billion.
In the last three years, interest rates
dropped 4.77 percentage points,
Korsvall said.
Jennifer Loftis, a senior journalism
major, secured Stafford and subsidized
student loans as a safety precaution.
“We got the student loans to advance
our credit. It looked good that we paid
off our loan,” she said. “I think it’s wise
for students to take advantage of low
interest rates to build their credit.
Especially for young, married couples to
have a good credit rating when it’s time
to buy a home or a car.”
Korsvall said the most important
thing parents and students should
remember when applying for financial
aid is that education is an investment in a
student’s future.
“Even though tuition has been
increasing, financing higher education
has never been more affordable, given
today’s low interest rates,” she said.
Texas A&M students can contact
Student Financial Aid for more informa
tion at 845-3236 or visit its Web site at
http://fmancialaid.tamu.edu.
Foam party
Firefighter Bryan Hughes of Narrows, Va., smoth
ers a fire with foam spray at the Texas Engineering
Extension Service Tuesday morning as part of the
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
41st annual Industrial Fire School. More than 800
students from 25 states and eight countries
attended the fire school.
Claudette slams into Texas
By Mark Babineck
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALACIOS, Texas — Hurricane
Claudette sloshed ashore on the mid-Texas
coast Tuesday, barely a hurricane but still
packing 80 mph-plus winds powerful
enough to peel roofs, knock out power and
leave low-lying coastal areas under water.
One person died in the aftermath.
“The windows are flexing, it’s howling
and I’m wondering what ... I’m doing
here,” said Ed Conaway at the South Texas
Project, the nuclear power plant just north
of where Claudette cruised up Matagorda
Bay and made landfall between Port
O’Connor and Palacios late Tuesday
morning.
Claudette, the first hurricane of this
year’s Atlantic season, became a Category 1
hurricane after midnight Monday when sus
tained winds reached 74 mph.
By the time it came ashore about 12
hours later, 88 mph gusts were reported at
Wadsworth, where Conaway was among a
handful of workers keeping the power plant
running to help provide electricity to a
broad area of south and southeast Texas.
A 33-year-old woman died in Victoria,
40 miles inland from Port O’Connor, after
she was hit by a limb from a storm-weak
ened tree as she and her husband assessed
Claudette strikes Texas
-^ARK,
With whistling wind and heavy rain Hurricane • Dallas
Claudette roared onto the Texas Gulf Coast
Tuesday near Port O'Connor. Texas
o too mi
TEXAS
v Austin
Houston
MEX N ern e nt San Antonio
Position: 28.5 N, 96.7 W
Sustained wind 80 mph r
Movement: WNW 14 mph
: As af1 p.m EOT Tuesday
SOURCES: AccuWeather; National, Weather Service; Associated Press; ESRI
damage to their residence, Victoria County
Sheriff Mike Ratcliff said.
Claudette toppled radio and television
towers in Victoria, knocking radio and TV
stations off the air.
“Seventy percent of the city is without
power. We have no Internet, no e-mail and
limited phone capabilities,” said Scot
Walker, editor of the Victoria Advocate.
“It’s difficult to assess the damage
because the streets are covered with power
lines and tree limbs. We had winds of 98
mph. That’ll knock down a lot of trees,”
Walker said. “We have tin roofs, all kind of
See Claudette on page 2
Perry considers extra session
By Natalie Gott
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick
Perry is expected to call
another special legislative
session to address congres
sional redistricting if a plan
is not approved during the
current session, Lt. Gov.
David Dewhurst said
Tuesday.
Perry said he was leaving
the option open but would
not say for sure if he would
call lawmakers back to the
Capitol to redraw congres
sional districts if they fail to
adopt a plan.
“Oh, I never rule it out,”
Perry told reporters earlier.
Dewhurst said Perry
told him he would call
another session.
The state’s top two offi
cials made their comments a
day after Sen. Bill Ratliff,
R-Mount Pleasant, joined
10 Democrats in opposing
attempts to take up redis
tricting, a potentially devas
tating blow to efforts to
redraw congressional
boundary lines.
The special session
began June 30 and can last a
maximum of 30 days. Perry
could convene another spe
cial session immediately at
that point, or before then if
legislative leaders decide to
adjourn early.
“The preference is for
the Senate to finish its work
and get out a map that is
fair and that members can
support in this current ses
sion,” Perry spokeswoman
Kathy Walt said.
See Perry on page 2
icts can
hnent!
jpteil
th limits!
Loss of journalism affects current, former Ags
Agprogram could encounter
long-term effects, officials say
By Jodi Rogers
THE BATTALION
Although the agricultural
journalism program will not
likely be negatively impacted in
the short run by the closing of
the Department of Journalism,
there will be some negative
long-term effects, Glen Shinn,
department head of agricultural
education, said.
Long-term negative effects
will likely come in the form of
a lack of collaboration between
the Department of Agricultural
Education and the Department
of Journalism, he said.
“Anytime you have a coop
eration or a partnership and the
environment shifts for one of
those partners, it affects the
other partner,” Shinn said. “It
will be harder for us because
now we have to maintain visi
bility to our publics. Where we
the Department of
Journalism maintaining part of
our visibility and we were
maintaining part of their visi
bility we were able to share in
each other’s success.”
Shinn said it is unlikely that
many journalism students
would transfer over to agricul
tural journalism.
Tracy Rutherford, assistant
professor for agricultural com
munications and journalism,
said she has not received an
increase in phone calls from
journalism majors wanting to
change their major to agricul
tural journalism as a result of
the Department of Journalism’s
closure.
“It’s not really a logical
move for journalism students in
their upper level years to trans
fer to agricultural journalism
because they would prolong
their degree by taking the
required ag electives,” she said.
Shinn said students may not
want to emphasize the agricul
tural aspect of the degree.
“A student who is very inter
ested in political science and
journalism probably will not be
as successful in a program that
focuses on food and technolo
gy,” Shinn said.
The College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences has always
Agricultural
Journalism
P rog ra m
Currently 78 students
Program employs
three full-time
faculty members
Program expected
to cap out at 200
to 250 students
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
supported agricultural journal
ism with faculty salary and
operating resources, he said.
“We’ve had a long relation
ship with journalism and ag jour
nalism, and that relationship got
closer as we saw the need for
more nurturing in agricultural
journalism,” Shinn said.
Shinn said that about four
See Ag on page 2
Former students to meet
with liberal arts dean
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
Members of the
Former Journalism
Students Association, The
Associated Press and
other news organizations
will meet with Charles
Johnson, dean of the
College of Liberal Arts,
today to get more details
about why Johnson rec
ommended closing the
journalism department.
Despite a belief that
Johnson wants to close the
department, EISA wants to
do what it can to under
stand Johnson’s decision,
said EISA President Loren
Steffy.
“In all honesty, I don’t
expect a lot from the
meeting,(because)
Johnson is determined to
kill the program,” he said.
“But I don’t agree with
some data he is using to
justify his decision.”
Steffy said Johnson’s
view that students can
enter the journalism field
without a journalism
degree is not realistic.
He acknowledged
Johnson’s statement that
news organizations will
hire graduates who have
a background in political
science, rather than a
background in journal
ism.
“I want people to be
able to write a lead and
cover meetings; we can
teach them economics
and balance sheets later,”
Steffy said. “Having a
journalism degree
increases your chances
of getting a job and this
view is shared by other
editors.”
Newspaper editors
who make employment
decisions are attending
the meeting and they will
stress how important a
degree in journalism is,
he said.
Kelly Brown,
managing editor of the
See IJSA on page 2
U.S. troops face
open-ended stay
in postwar Iraq
By Hamza Hendawi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — For the first time,
the U.S. administrator linked the U.S. occu
pation in Iraq to the political process, say
ing Tuesday that American forces would
remain in the country until Iraqis agree on a
new constitution and set up a democratic
government.
American soldiers grumbled when told
they would have to stay longer in a country
where U.S. forces say they are coming
under an average of 12 attacks each day.
“I’m tired of going to bed wondering if
I’m going to wake up in the morning,” said
Spc. David Myers Jr. of the 3rd Infantry
Division’s 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry
Regiment in Habaniyah, west of Baghdad.
The new Governing Council, mean
while, decided to set up special courts to try
former members of Saddam Hussein’s
regime who are accused of involvement in
mass executions, torture and other human
rights violations.
But the New York-based Human Rights
Watch challenged the council’s plan, saying
justice would not be served if victims of
Saddam’s regime judge their tormentors.
The U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer,
said the process of rebuilding the Iraqi
See Iraq on page 2