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Sports- Super conference may not be far off • Page 3 Opinion: Financial irresponsibility • Page 5
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Volume 109 • Issue 178 • 6 pages
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com Wednesday, July 30, 2003
TABS deputy director dies
By Brandi Foster
THE BATTALION
Charles J. Scifres, associate dean for
agriculture and life sciences and deputy
director of the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station, died at his home
Monday of an apparent heart attack. He
was 62 years old.
Scifres’ colleagues remember him as a
great leader, mentor and friend.
“He was a lot of fun to work with,” said
Mary Pletzer, an administrative assistant
for the TABS. “He demanded efficient
work, but he always made it a lot of fun.”
Pletzer said one of her fondest memo
ries of Scifres was from an office meeting.
The discussion had become heated and
Scifres went over to a computer, everyone
thought, to look up some information.
When he turned around, he was wearing a
red clown nose. After that, the tension dis
solved, she said.
He always knew how to make a situa
tion fun, Pletzer said.
Frank Gilstrap, associate director of
the TABS, said Scifres was easy to get
along with.
“He was an absolute delight to work for
because you worked with him, not for
him,” he said. “I have never been around a
leader like he was and I don’t expect I ever
will again. He was a great mentor, and
those he mentored truly appreciated him.”
Scifres held administrative positions at
Oklahoma State University, University of
Arkansas-Fayetteville and the University
See Death on page 2
Dr. Charles J. Scifres
Deputy director of the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station
Received his master's and
bachelor of science
degrees from Oklahoma
State University
First Thomas M. O'Conner
professor of range science
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: • TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
New majors
prepare for
closed dept.
By Jacquelyn Spruce
THE BATTALION
Incoming freshmen journalism majors
should not face many problems while
completing their degree plan, said Dr.
Edward Walraven, coordinator of under
graduate advising and student services for
journalism.
Charles Johnson, dean of the College of
Liberal Arts, sent a request to administrators
two weeks ago, recommending the journal
ism department be closed during the next
three years because of budget issues.
Walraven said many students will be
laced with a decision of whether to stay in
the journalism program. Some freshmen
may opt to change majors. However, he said
lie believes a journalism degree from Texas
A&M will still be well-accredited, regard
less of the department’s status.
“Students will get very strong training
rithin the journalism department,” he said.
“I think they will be able to take the
strengths of the degree and use it to their
befit.”
Walraven said it may still be possible for
students to transfer into the department.
Students who will be considered for transfer
will be those with experience in journalism
in high school or college, or those who have
bn attempting to get into the department
fora number of semesters, he said.
“We’ll review some students on a case-by
case basis, but ultimately, the college will
decide if they would be qualified,” he said.
“But that will only be a very small number.”
Walraven said the department is trying
to provide future students with the same
quality of education that former students
received, while some classes may be dis
continued.
“As of now, it doesn’t appear that we’ll
still be able to offer broadcast classes in the
kiture,” he said. “Nobody knows what the
budget will be.”
Sonia Moghe, an incoming freshman
journalism major, said she believes the clo
sure of the journalism department may force
some students to disregard A&M as a poten-
lial school.
See Journalism on page 2
New American Talent
Junior environmental design major Hollie
Lawler brushes away dust and grime Tuesday
from the pancake art “\ Say So Many Things"
created by Krista Hoefle and on display until
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Aug. 20 at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries. The art
work is part of a New American Talent show
case organized by the Texas Fine Arts
Association.
Dems continue
quorum buster
in New Mexico
By Kelley Shannon
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Democratic and Republican sen
ators dueled across the Texas-New Mexico state
line Tuesday as each camp tried to score politi
cal points in the intensifying battle over con
gressional redistricting.
Republicans urged their Democratic colleagues
to end their boycott and return from Albuquerque,
N.M., to work on a fair redistricting plan.
“No Texas problem has ever been solved in New
Mexico,” said Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, chair
man of the Senate Republican Caucus.
But the 11 Senate Democrats who left the
Capitol to break a quorum Monday just as
Republican Gov. Rick Perry was about to call a sec
ond special legislative session, gave no indication
they would give in. The senators said they’re pre
pared to remain out of state — beyond the reach of
Texas law officers sent to arrest them — up to 30
days, the maximum length of a special session.
“There’s nothing fair about a partisan redis
tricting effort that turns a deaf ear to the over
whelming majority of Texans and turns it back on
the minority opportunity,” Sen. Leticia Van de
Putte of San Antonio, chairwoman of the Senate
Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday at a news con
ference in New Mexico.
The Senate walkout comes less than three
months after a similar move by House Democrats,
who broke a quorum in their chamber and killed a
redistricting bill by fleeing to Ardmore, Okla.
The Senate Democrats said they were paying for
the trip themselves but did not give further details.
GOP-backed redistricting proposals could
cause more than 1.4 million minorities in Texas
to lose effective representation in Congress, Van
de Putte said.
But Republicans denied that minority represen
tation would be hurt under their plans. Staples, chief
architect of the Senate’s Republican proposals, said
the maps would protect minority voting rights.
The Senate met briefly Tuesday, but without a
quorum no business could be conducted. The
Senate is to meet again Wednesday morning.
Across the Capitol, the House struggled to
achieve a quorum, which means the presence of
two-thirds of its 150 members. Once enough legis
lators showed up, the Republican-controlled House
pushed through a redistricting bill, the same one the
See Democrats on page 2
Iraq leaders chosen, tape discusses sons’ deaths
By D'Arcy Doran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TIKRIT, Iraq — In a new audio-
tape attributed Tuesday to Saddam
Hussein, a calm voice acknowl
edged the deaths of the ousted dic
tator’s two sons and called them
martyrs. U.S. forces searched for
clues to Saddam’s whereabouts in
documents and photo albums
seized in his hometown.
If confirmed, the tape — the
iliird attributed to Saddam this
month — could put to rest any
mmaining doubts among Iraqis that
Odai and Qusai Hussein were
idled in a firefight with U.S. sol
diers in the northern city of Mosul
on July 22.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, Iraq’s
U.S.-appointed Governing
Council of 25 prominent Iraqis
Appointed a nine-member presi
dency, failing to agree on a single
leader for the beginnings of a new
Iraqi government.
The audiotape was broadcast
Tuesday on the Arab satellite sta-
lionAl-Arabiya, five days after the
U.S. military released grisly photos
of their bloodied bodies in an effort
to convince Iraqis that the sons
were dead and to weaken support
for an anti-American insurgency.
U.S. forces on Tuesday interro
gated 12 suspects arrested in
Saddam’s hometown, Tikrit, and
examined identity cards, bound
notebooks, Baath Party records and
other documents found in their
homes to try to fill in the picture of
his desperate flight.
In the nine-minute audiotape, a
voice resembling Saddam’s said he
was glad Odai and Qusai Hussein
were killed because such a death
“is the hope of every fighter.”
“Even if Saddam Hussein has
100 sons other than Odai and
Qusai, Saddam Hussein would
offer them the same path,” said
the calm, even voice. “That is the
hope of every fighter for God’s
sake, as another group of noble
souls of the martyrs has ascended
to their creator.”
The tape also referred to
Mustafa, Qusai’s teenage son, who
was killed in the gunfight in Mosul.
“Odai, Qusai, and Mustafa died in
Jihad field ... in a brave battle with
See Iraq on page 2
Iraq’s Governing Council
elects leadership
The nine members named Tuesday to the
presidential panel of Iraq’s Governing Council:
1. Ahmad Chalabi 5. Massoud Barzani
Shiite Muslim: leader of Sunni; leader of the
Iraqi National Congress Kurdistan Democratic Party
2. lyad Allawi 6. Jalal Talabani
Shiite; secretary- Sunni; leader of the
general of the Iraq Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
National Accord 7. Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim
3. Adnan Pachachi Shiite; leader of the
Sunni Muslim; foreign Supreme Council for the
minister in government Islamic Revolution in Iraq
ousted in 1968 Baath 8. Mohsen Abdel-Hamid
Party coup Sunni; secretary-general of
4. Mohammed Bahr the Iraqi Islamic Party
at-Uloum 9. Ibrahim at-Jaafari
Shiite; highly Shiite; spokesman for the
respected cleric Islamic Dawa Party
Members of Iraq’s Governing Council pose following a meeting on July 13.
Officials warn of
further hijackings
By Leslie Miller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Federal officials are warning
of the possibility that al-Qaida will attempt new sui
cide hijackings but said Tuesday they have no plans to
raise the nation’s terrorism threat alert level.
The Department of Homeland Security sent a
warning to airlines and law enforcement agencies on
Saturday. Officials said the credibility of the threat is
still being evaluated, and there was no precise infor
mation on when or where such an attack could take
place.
A copy of the warning, obtained by The Associated
Press, says terrorists may use five-man teams to take
over airplanes just after takeoff or before landing and
crash them into buildings, just like in the Sept. 11
attacks.
It suggests an attack could take place by the end of
the summer.
“The hijackers may try to calm passengers and
make them believe they were on a hostage, not sui
cide, mission,” it says. “The hijackers may attempt to
use common items carried by travelers, such as cam
eras, modified as weapons.”
It suggests cities on the east coast of the United
States and in the United Kingdom, Italy and Australia
See Warning on page 2