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Aggielife: On the road again • Page 3 Opinion: Questionable intelligence? • Page 5
A&M fine arts budget cut by $86K
By Sarah Szuminski
THE BATTALION
The Department of Performance
Studies will lose $86,000 of its
budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal
year, as Texas A&M administrators
respond to a decrease in state fund
ing coupled with increases in other
expenses.
College of Liberal Arts Dean
Charles Johnson said performance
studies was not singled out for a
budget cut; rather, all departments
and offices within Liberal Arts faced
cuts to make up for the $1.5 million
reduction in the college’s budget, a
4.3 percent decrease.
“The effect on music and theater
arts majors will be minimal since we
are not canceling any classes,” said
Peter Lieuwen, professor and head
of the performance studies depart
ment. “We do not intend to limit the
enrollment of new majors as a result
of the budget reduction.”
Although $10,000 will be taken
from performance studies’ produc
tion fund, Lieuwen said, theater
majors will still have adequate
opportunities to perform. In past
years, this fund has ranged from
$7,000 to $20,000.
“The theater program in the
Department of Performance Studies
will be able to produce several plays
next year due to funding from stu
dent activities and box office rev
enue,” he said. “Normally, we pro
duce two to four main stage produc
tions in Rudder Forum and several
smaller shows in the Wenck Fallout
Theatre in the Blocker Building.”
The remaining $76,000 will
come from reduced administrative
costs, the departmental operating
budget and a faculty departure,
Lieuwen said.
In a June memo, A&M President
Robert M. Gates outlined the
University’s budget issues and
explained the need for cuts and a
tuition increase.
“Even after taking into account
See Performance on page 2
Department of
Performance Studies
Will exprience an $86,000 reduction in
its budget
Will still produce
several plays next
year
No classes will be
cancelled
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMANCE STUDIES
igence
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IE. Oil
FILTER
Task force seeks
student opinion
in energy push
By Karen Yancey
THE BATTALION
Student input is vital when beginning the campus
energy awareness program, said John Weese, a
regents professor who leads the temporary Energy
Task Force.
A campus energy awareness program was recom
mended in a report from the task force, a group
appointed by Charles Sippial, vice president of oper
ations, to come up with ways to reduce energy con
sumption on the Texas A&M campus. The report
said the campus energy awareness push should be a
multi-faceted communications program that comes
up with creative ways to gain people’s interest in
energy conservation.
Weese said the program will involve everyone
on campus, but the program needs student opinion.
“Students will inherently come up with ways of
communicating that do not occur to faculty,” he said.
“If we work together with students we will come up
See Energy on page 2
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: ENERGY TASK FORCE
Shopping for beginners
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Two-year-old Hunter Anderson of Bryan rings up plastic fruit from his Children's Museum that allows children to paint, make music, learn
shopping cart Monday afternoon at the Children's Museum of the to shop and be a doctor. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brazos Valley. The grocery store is one of the stations set up at the Monday through Saturday.
African peacekeeping troops
begin Liberia rescue mission
By Alexandra Zavis
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONROVIA, Liberia — Hoisting a Nigerian
army officer on their shoulders, Liberians
cheered Monday’s arrival of the first soldiers in
an international rescue mission that will try to
end 14 years of carnage and see warlord-turned-
president Charles Taylor into exile.
By late in the day, 198 Nigerian soldiers
armed with machine guns and assault rifles had
been ferried by U.N. helicopters to the airport 30
miles outside Monrovia as the vanguard of a
3,250-man intervention force promised by West
African nations.
Civilians poured onto the rain-slickened tar
mac by the hundreds, waving white handker
chiefs and chanting: “No more war! We want
peace!”
“I think the war is over,” said Fayiah Morris,
who was in the throng swarming around
Nigerian soldiers in camouflage and flak vests
as whirring helicopters touched down, unloading
troops and 16 tons of equipment, including one
armored vehicle carrying a machine gun.
The sound of gunfire and black smoke rising
from Liberia’s ruined capital made clear the war
was far from over.
For much of the day, Liberian rebels and
Taylor’s troops fired automatic weapons and
rocket-launchers across the Old Bridge, separat
ing the capital’s rebel-held island port and the
government’s downtown stronghold.
At one point, rebels taunted their foes, danc
ing with brooms, doing back flips and waving at
Taylor’s men. The government troops fired a
.50-caliber machine gun mounted on a pickup
truck in reply.
Smoky plumes rose from the rebel-held side
of the bridge. Residents said warehouses were
Countries sending forces
J CHAD
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NIGERIA f
BENIN }
TOGO /
Peacekeeping —ghana .gabon
forces enter Liberia
More than 190 Nigerian troops arrived in
Liberia on Monday, the first of an eventual
3,250-strong deployment charged with helping
end 14 years of civil war.
CENTRAL
AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
CONGO
SOURCES: ESRI; Associated Press
smoldering from fires started by mortar shells
Saturday.
Taylor’s troops accused rebels of looting
before peacekeeping force move in, but argu
ments over goods among Taylor’s AK-47-armed
fighters suggested they were doing the same.
Watching the clashes, a 16-year-old govern
ment militiaman named Victor was among those
pinning his hopes on the peace force. “Help us
stop the killing. I’m very tired,” he said, standing
See Liberia on page 2
Episcopalians delay vote on church’s first openly gay bishop
Openly gay candidate for bishop
Rev. V. Gene Robinson, 56, is the first openly
gay clergyman to advance through the process
of becoming an Episcopalian bishop. His
candidacy has stirred controversy throughout the
global Anglican Communion.
Robinson
Experience - Canon to the ordinary of the
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire since
1988; executive secretary of the Episcopal
Province of New England since 1983; on the
Board of Trustees of the General Theological Seminary in New
York City since 2001; founding director of Sign of the Dove Retreat
Center in Temple, N.H.
Education - B.A. in American Studies/History, University of the
South, 1969; M.Div., General Theological Seminary, 1973
Family - Partner Mark Andrew; two daughters, Jamee and Ella
from first marriage
SOURCE: American Anglican Council
AP
By Rachel Zoll
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — Plans
by Episcopalian leaders to
vote on confirming the
church’s first openly gay
elected bishop were thrown
into turmoil Monday when
allegations emerged that he
inappropriately touched a
man and was affiliated with a
youth Web site that had a link
to porn.
Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold, head of the
Episcopal Church, released a
statement announcing the
delay as debate was about to
start on whether to confirm the
Rev. V. Gene Robinson as New
Hampshire’s bishop.
“Questions have been
raised and brought to my atten
tion regarding the bishop-elect
of the Diocese of New
Hampshire,” Griswold said.
Griswold said that
Robinson, the current New
Hampshire bishop and repre
sentatives of his diocese decid
ed together “that a thorough
investigation be undertaken
before we proceed.”
Mike Barwell, a spokesman
for Robinson, has said he
planned to release a statement
later Monday.
James Solheim, a church
spokesman, said the allega
tions of inappropriate touch
ing had been e-mailed to bish
ops. In the e-mail, a man who
identified himself as David
Lewis from Manchester, Vt.,
said Robinson “does not
maintain appropriate bound
aries with men.”
Solheim said “some of the
bishops have talked to the
accuser” and vetted the
accusation.
See Church on page 2
Dems, Dewhurst
continue impasse
By Natalie Gott
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A week into
their holdout in New Mexico, the 11
Democrats who are boycotting the Texas
Senate said Monday they are more resolved
than ever in their mission to block congres
sional redistricting.
“To quote John Paul Jones, ’We’ve only
begun to fight,”’ said Sen. Royce West, D-
Dallas. “We’re strong, we’re determined and
we’ve been reinvigorated by the overwhelming
support that we have received from the public
in telling us that we are doing the right thing
for all of Texas.”
In Austin, Republican Lt. Gov. David
Dewhurst also stood firm in his effort to push a
new congressional map through the Senate
chamber.
“I’m still optimistic that we’re going to be
able to have this resolved on a prompt basis.
But it really depends upon our colleagues and
our friends who are out in Albuquerque,”
Dewhurst said.
The Democrats have been in New Mexico
for a week, after a fast escape from the Capitol
on July 28, just before Republican Gov. Rick
Perry called a second special legislative session
on redistricting. The issue failed to pass during
two previous sessions.
Republicans, led by U.S. House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay, are pushing for lawmakers
to redraw congressional district lines.
Democrats have a 17-15 majority in Texas’
congressional delegation, but Republicans say
based on the state’s voting trends the GOP
should hold the majority in the delegation.
The Democrats have said they will not
return to the Capitol unless Perry removes
redistricting from the agenda of the current
See Impasse on page 6