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Accielife: Bluelight special • Page 3A
Opinion: Moving beyond stereotypes • Page 7B
blume 110 • Issue 5 • 20 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattalion.net
Thursday, September 4, 2003
urveys show conflicting University ratings
&M seeks 450 new faculty positions
By Sarah Szuminski
THE BATTALION
I Despite dropping in U.S. News
H World Report’s 2(X)4 rankings,
Bexas A&M is making progress
toward its goal of becoming a top
lublic university.
I The University announced
Wednesday that it will hire nearly
■?0 new faculty members over the
lext five years, helping rectify the
Broblem of a high student-to-facul-
B ratio.
I Class size is a major determin-
lig factor of a school’s score in
H.S. News’ rankings and is one of
Be biggest strikes against A&M.
I The University didn't fare well
B class size, with 33 percent of its
(lasses having 50 students or more
and only 18 percent of its classes
having fewer than 20 students.
“The key is in the faculty,” said
Vice Provost William L. Perry.
“The way a university gets to be in
the top 10 is through its faculty.”
A&M currently ranks 27th
among public universities, while
the University of Texas-Austin
comes in at 17th.
The U.S. News ranking system
uses 15 indicators of academic
excellence on which each school
is scored. Factors are assigned
varying weights reflecting their
judgment of how much each
measure matters.
“Because of the way it’s struc
tured, we’ve suffered in the rank
ings,” Perry said, citing a minor
dip in faculty numbers yielding a
larger drop in rank.
A&M fell last year as well, he
said, having placed 18th in 2002.
Perry said the University’s dip
in the rankings is a result of a grad
ual increase in student enrollment
coupled with recent decreases in
faculty. Faculty losses are due to a
reduction in state funding, he said.
Although A&M’s Vision 2020
plan aims to bring the University to
top-10 status. Perry said rankings
do not dictate decisions made by
the administration.
“The rankings can give us a
heads-up or bring our attention to
issue, but we don’t make decisions
to tweak the rankings,” he said. “We
do what will give the best possible
See Faculty on page 2A
t
The University plans to hire
i447 new tenured or
tenure-track faculty by 2008
The plan will cost at
least $40 million ,,
$20.5 has already been
reallocated from internal
cuts
The current faculty count of
1,636 will be increased by
25 percent
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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|A.g Education
eopens majors
By Justin Smith
THE BATTALION
The Department of Agricultural Education over-
lurned a week-old decision on admissions caps
’ednesday and reopened the department’s majors to
ny qualified student.
Now, students may enter the degree programs of
Agricultural development, agricultural journalism and
Agricultural science.
The reversal came when the department learned of
Mm increase in funding that will allow two new facul-
ItY members to join the department to help alleviate
problems such as overcrowding.
“We are committed to working with these stu-
ients,” said Dr. Edward Hiler, vice chancellor and
lean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[The department is committed to serving all of their
Students.”
I The original freeze on admissions into the majors
Tas due to a growing enrollment that came without a
Corresponding increase in faculty to teach these
gmwing classes. New teachers could not be hired
Because there was a teacher salary budget deficit of
t ore than $57,000.
But, Hiler said, funds within the College of
Agriculture have been reallocated and an additional
•85,000 is coming from the provost’s office to be
psed to hire the necessary faculty.
In a decision that will be officially announced next
veek, 44 new teachers will be hired by the college
|)ver the next four years, and the search to fill the two
[pots in the Department of Agricultural Education has
already begun.
Gary Shinn, head of the department, said a nation
al search will be conducted to find the best two can
didates for the job.
“It will take six to eight months to find and hire
)ple to fill those position,” Shinn said.
To help lighten the load, five temporary lecturers
11 be hired to teach some classes.
“We will have to bite the bullet in the spring,” said
See Ag on page 2A
Rainy days
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Rainy weather hit Bryan-College Station early Wednesday, slowing down traffic, covering the streets
and inconveniencing students. Thunderstorms are expected to continue throughout Thursday evening
and clear up for the weekend.
A&M ranks high
in new Gallup Poll
By Lindsay Broomes
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M rockets its way to the top as a new
Gallup Poll ranks it as one of the best universities
in the country. The University fell just short of
Vision 2020 as it tied for 11th place along with the
University of North Carolina, Ohio Sate
University, Penn State University and the
University of Texas-Austin.
“This recognition will help recruit the best
students across Texas with the University holding
that type of stature in the public eye,” said A&M
President Robert M. Gates.
The rankings are based on telephone interviews
of 1,003 adults that were conducted on July 1,
according to the Gallup Web site. The method cho
sen enabled surveyers to sample the target popula
tion randomly.
“The object is to present the opinions of a sam
ple of people which are exactly the same opinions
that would have been obtained had it been possible
to interview all adult Americans in the country,”
the Web site said.
Participants were presented with an open-ended
question asking their opinon of the best university
or college.
Lane Stephenson, deputy director of University
Relations, said he agreed with the Gallup Poll’s
findings.
The rankings didn't differentiate between pub
lic and private schools. A&M measures itself
against other public schools, he said. Some of the
schools ranking above A&M included Harvard,
Yale and Stanford.
“Gaining national stature and representation
will continue to move us forward to our vision
2020 goal,” Stephenson said. “We are obviously
delighted to be recognized.”
Vision 2020 originated with former A&M
President Ray Bowen on Oct. 10, 1997, according
to A&M’s Web site. He laid out the groundwork for
a plan to be followed that would place A&M
among the top 10 public schools in the nation by
the year 2020 while maintaining and enhancing its
distinctiveness.
“Texas A&M is already perceived as one of
the best,” Gates said. “450 faculty members will
be hired to ensure greatness; no other university
in the country is doing that.”
Stephenson said he was not surprised that the
University was placed among with the elite, and
neither were students.
“This school has so many unique qualities and
incredible opportunities,” said senior psychology
major Leah Anderson, “I don’t see why it would
not be chosen to be among the best.”
Gallup Poll
:
® i
iT:
A&M tied for 11 th with UNC, Ohio State,
Penn State and UT
Harvard ranked #1, Stanford and Yale
tied at second.
Other top 10 schools were MIT,
UC-Berkely, Notre Dame, Princeton,
University of Michigan, Duke, UCLA
ANDREW BURLESON • ThE BATTALlhkj
SOURCE: WWW.CALLUP.COM
tudent sports pass prices
increase, students unaware
Sports pass price increases
o
ation
s!
due!
r
By Pammy Ramji
THE BATTALION
i The cost of student sports passes has
doubled since 1998, yet many students
arc unaware of the increases and where
the extra funds are going.
| The price of an All-Sports pass is now
$247.50, compared to $180 last fall.
Football passes also saw a significant
Increase from the previous year — they
arc currently $187.50, up from $132.50
in 2002.
s Even with these large increases, David
Roubion, financial manager for the
Athletic Department, said prices aren’t
expected to level out anytime soon.
I “We can expect the prices of sports
passes to increase due to the increase in
pi ices over the past five years,” he said.
■How much the prices will increase is
unknown.”
I The cost of an All-Sports pass and a
■ootball pass were left out in online regis
tration, allowing students to purchase
either pass without seeing its price. Many
students said they didn’t know the prices
had increased.
“Did they?” senior biomedical sci
ences major Jesse Flynn said when he
learned that the price of the sports passes
had gone up.
Alan Cannon, sports information
director, said Texas A&M is after a
championship and plans to compete at
the highest level with the help of a new
coach and new director, just two of the
many changes for this year.
“As far as where the money is going,
there are many answers. Scholarships and
the overall operating expenses have to be
paid for,” Cannon said. “For example, we
have been using the old locker room for
many years now and finally decided to get
a new one this year.”
Junior biomedical sciences major
Scott Lindsey said he will still buy a
sports pass, despite the price increase.
“I have always been, and will always
be a huge Aggie football fan, and will pay
whatever price to support my team,”
Lindsey said.
Open access labs try to
speed up log-on delays
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
All-Sports Pass H| Football Only
Prices:
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
All Sports
$125
$125
$135
$145
$180
$247.50
Football Only
$85
$90
$97.50
$105
$132.50
$187.50
ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: TAMU ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Trushar Bhakta, a senior accounting
major, said she understands the Athletic
Department’s need for increased funding.
“I don’t agree with the price increase,
but someone has to pay Bill Byrne and
Coach Fran’s salary somehow,” she said.
“They are here to make our program
ranked nationally, and nothing comes
free.”
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
Students returning to the Texas
A&M campus Monday who visited
the open access computer labs left
frustrated due to log-on times of up
to 30 minutes.
James Murray III, a senior
English major, said it took him
seven minutes to log on the first
time he tried.
Other students faced times of 30
minutes or longer, during peak lab
times of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., said
Tom Putnam, director of Computer
Information Services.
“The second time I tried the labs I
was late for class and needed to look
at my schedule on BONFIRE (the
A&M online student information
system) to see where my class was
and didn’t have time to wait,” Murray
said. “But the help desk workers
logged onto BONFIRE for me (on
their computers) to help me out.”
Putnayn said his staff is doing
everything within its power to speed
up the log-on progress for students.
“Things are pretty grim right
now,” he said. “I think you’ll see
things drastically improve within a
month, when we receive our new
filer (the hard drive that stores stu
dents’ roving profiles, currently
located in the Teague Building).
1 ’ve got an emergency order for the
newer, bigger and faster filer sitting
on my desk right now.”
For now, Putnam said, things are
improving significantly daily.
“Normally, things are pretty
heavy anyway when students return
to classes in the fall,” he said. “This
time, it’s a problem aggravated by
the profile conversion.”
The profile conversion Putnam
referred to is needed because of the
installation of the newest Microsoft
operating system, Windows XP.
See Labs on page 2A