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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 2003)
Aggielife: From the outside driving in • Page 3 forum: Out of service • Page 8 NATION THE BATTAL ways r 9-11 ty’s editions. ■ volunteers plan t mi and chicken to while others will f plant trees and perfonr nmunity service, o’t think people are eve g to forget, and quite hoi estly they shooi not,” said Glee: White, a New Yod born Dallas polk; officer who lost fot childhood friend! when the M Center collapsed. The anniversary! especially meaning in North Texas, wiki is home to Araencr , e Airlines and to te sands of airline wort ers and ex-militar personnel. can lost 17 pilots an; •ndants and the sube mp in the travel indii; a major factor in tlx brush w'ith bankrupt;;. is year. Johnson’s sister Heidenberger, was* on the Airlines Flink crashed into tlx . She has tried to gen (port for a memom It at the site. THE BATTALION Volume 110 • Issue II • 10 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattalion.net Friday, September 12, 2003 CORPS RETENTION RATE Last year, the percentage of freshmen staying in the Corps was at its lowest point in five years. Number oil Number ol ■ p cfc( , |lti](|e Irusliuiufi ■ freshmen cadets on ■ cadets al ■ <| |, or (||s j first class I Final I y)1(ir dav I Review 1998 776 571 73.5% 1999 564 418 74.2% 2000 668 516 77.2% 2001 665 488 73.4% 2002 710 508 71.5% Corps to emphasize academics By Dan Orth THE BATTALION RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE • OFFICE OF THE COMMANDANT Last year, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets’ freshman reten tion rate was at a five-year low, with only 71.5 percent of fresh men who began the year making it to Final Review in May. The overall goal is to retain 90 percent of freshmen entering the Corps, said Col. Shady Groves, assistant commandant. This per centage will not be met this year, he said, because 68 cadets have already resigned. The Corps is putting a new pro gram into action this year to focus on academics in an attempt to improve the low freshman reten tion rates. The retention rate for freshmen cadets has dropped over the last two years from 77 percent in 2000-01 to 73 percent in 2001-02 to last year’s low of 71.5 percent. The Corps’ goal is to reach a total of 2,600 cadets, including 900 freshmen, according to the Corps recruiting Web site. Of the 710 freshmen who joined the Corps last year, 202 dropped out throughout the course of the year. These numbers fail short of the Corps’ goal of begin ning each year with 900 freshmen. Lt. General John Van Alstyne, beginning his first full year as Commandant of Cadets, has directed a change emphasizing academics, more positive leader ship and improving qualities in the individual cadet. Groves said the two main fac tors attributed to why students drop out are concerns about grades and cadets being unprepared for the structured lifestyle of the Corps. Groves said he believes grade improvement will aid cadet reten tion. Justin Woods, a senior cadet and Corps public relations officer, said he has noticed a change as the focus has moved more towards academics and a higher grade point ratio requirement for people in leadership positions. Sophomore cadet Derek Rosson said the Corps has been encourag ing more active participation in extracurricular activities and aca demics. “Last year when I was a fresh man, academics and getting involved on campus were not stressed as much,” Rosson said. Another change initiated this year is easing the freshmen into Corps life by postponing training until the second week of school, allowing them more time to accli mate to college. Numbers for female cadet retention have only been on record since last year, but show lower rates than overall cadet retention at only 61 percent. essel. ly loaded ship was )r Canada, haulios i coke, when it tas cal Storm Grace, it step was to “mini- ivironmental risk,' I to Walker, who saic ding of the fuel was ate Tuesday. Kt step is to unloa: /vhich is stuck abou! south of the Sabine Faculty increase to aid Vision 2020 Young patriot By Jenna Jones THE BATTALION Texas A&M will take a step toward achieving top-10 public university status with the hiring of 447 new faculty members over the next five years, said University President Robert M. Gates. “The goal of this plan is not to continue the growth of the stu dent body but to reduce class size and enhance the learning experience for the student,” said Dr. G. Kemble BenneTt, dean of the College of Engineering. “This is the most exciting step forward 1 have witnessed in my 18 years at A&M.” The faculty reinvestment ini tiative will increase the A&M’s faculty by 25 percent. “(This) is as big of a step as one can take because it is a very unusual move for a university to increase faculty size by 25 per cent,” said Dean H. Joseph Newton of the College of Science. The decisions of where to dis tribute the planned faculty hires Propowd Faculty lncr««t#s ( iaI*". t>l*n!! t'» .1(j{l fac tll»V t<> I rillrvjf!'. ,>iid jitoiiil* unit'. •!< foss > 112 - Engineering 70 - Science 64 - Liberal Arts 46 - Agriculture and Life Sciences . 37 - Veterinary Medicine 34 - Business 32 - Education and Human Devebpment 23 - Geosciences 18 - Architecture 8 - Bush School of Government 3 - Libraries Andrew Burleson • THE BATTALION Source • TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY were made during a proposal period in an all-day retreat with Gates, Provost David Prior and 10 deans of colleges at the University. The deans put together a plan that met the resources the University has. “New positions will be invested in areas where Texas A&M can become No. 1 ” said Richard Adams, dean of the College of Veterinarian Medicine. “A halo will be encir cled around the whole University to advance stature and See Faculty on page 2 SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION Three-year-old Tyler Flowers of Bryan patiently glues together stars and stripes of an American flag Wednesday afternoon at the Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley. The museum day program, "United We Stand - Families Hand in Hand," included a visit from the Bryan police and fire departments promoting safety and also teaching children about the various emergency vehicles. I J Children remember 9-11 By Larry McShane THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Two by two they stepped for- i ward at ground zero Thursday, the sons and daugh- ; ters, nieces and nephews, grandsons and grand daughters of the Sept. 11 victims, mournfully recit ing the 2,792 names of the World Trade Center | dead. “My mother and my hero,” 13-year-old Brian Terzian said after reading the name of his mother, i Stephanie McKenna. “We love you.” For a second straight year, the nation paused on a bright September morning to recall the day when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, ; killing more than 3,000 people in the worst terrorist I attack in U.S. history. In New York, 200 children led the mourning, ; showing extraordinary poise as they read the enor mous list of victims for 2 1/2 hours. Church bells ( tolled at the moment hijacked Flight 93 crashed ; near Shanksville, Pa. A moment of silence was observed at the Pentagon for the 184 victims there. And President Bush stood in silence on the White House lawn. “We remember the heroic deeds,” Bush said. | “We remember the compassion, the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day. We pray for the husbands and wives, the moms Lind dads, and the sons and daughters and loved ones.” The relatives at ground zero appeared in various sad pennutations: Police Sgt. Michael Curtin was represented by his three daughters, Jennifer, 17, Erica, 15, and Heather, 13. Kristen Canillas, 12, stood alongside 8-year-old Christopher Cardinal!; both had lost a grandparent. “I love you and I miss you,” Kristen said after reciting the name of her grandfather, Anthony Luparello. The children — the youngest was 7 — offered poignant messages to their lost loves ones, their emotions laid bare before a crowd that held aloft pictures of the victims, dabbed tears from their eyes, and laid flowers in temporary reflecting pools rep resenting the towers. The two years since the attack seemed to disap pear as speakers surrendered to their emotions. “My daddy, Gerard Rod Coppola,” said Angela Coppola, 20, her voice cracking. “Your light still shines.” Brannon Burke, 13, and her 10-year-old sister Kyleen wore matching blue Engine Co. 21 sweat shirts with buttons bearing the face of fire Capt. William Burke Jr. — their beloved Uncle Billy, a See Children on page 2 Tiffany tompkins • KRT CAMPUS A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker flies over a flag suspended by local fire departments on the Green Bridge in Bradenton, Fl. on Sept. 11. Americans united across the country Thursday to remember 9-11. Baseball, softball fields to gain improved turfs By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION Texas A&M’s baseball and softball fields will be upgraded from artificial to sand-based turf next summer, an improvement that has already been imple mented at Kyle Field and A&M’s soccer field. In January 1996, Aggie ath letics were changed forever when a new form of turf was introduced to Kyle Field, said Leo Goertz, athletic field main tenance manager. Seven years later, the bene fits of this state-of-the-art grass and drainage system have been introduced to other athletic fields and have had positive effects on athletic performance and recruiting, Goertz said. Craig Potts, assistant athletic field manager, said the renova tions to the softball field would take three to four weeks and cost approximately $200,000, and Olsen field upgrades will take four to five weeks, costing $600,000. “Although the costs may be substantial, the benefits will be significant,” Potts said. Kyle Field was originally designed with artificial turf, an endeavor which cost the University $1 million, said Richard Duble, a professor of soil and crop sciences. When it was changed to sand-based grass in 1996, the drainage system was dramati cally improved and was also See Turf on page 2 Federal panel hears redistricting arguments By T.A. Badger THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAREDO, Texas — A three-judge federal panel heard arguments but didn’t immedi ately make a ruling Thursday in a lawsuit brought by state Democrats hoping to derail a new round of redistricting in Texas. But if the tone aixl intensity of questioning by the judges is any indication, the Democrats may be facing uphill odds in getting the panel to rule that Senate rule changes by Republicans to further the redistricting effort violate fed eral law. The three judges, who lis tened to two hours of oral arguments Thursday, made it clear that they were reluctant to step into the summerlong polit ical battle that included I I Democratic senators fleeing Texas for more than six weeks to avoid redrawing the lines of the state’s 32 congressional districts. “We have a duty as a feder al court to walk gingerly into state issues,” said U.S. District Judge George Kazen. He was joined on the panel by Patrick Higginbotham, an appeals court judge from Dallas, and Lee Rosenthal, a district judge from Houston. Higginbotham said a decision could come as early as Friday afternoon. The GOP, which controls the Texas House and Senate, wants redistricting to increase the number of Republicans in Congress. Democrats opposed to the plan fended off the change in the regular legisla tive session, as well as two spe cial sessions this summer. A third session is to begin Monday. Some of the senators expressed bitterness at Democratic Sen. John Whitmire of Houston, who spent weeks with them in New Mexico and whose return to Texas last week provided enough members for a quorum. “We’re very angry because he unilaterally made the deci sion to break ranks,” said Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo. “He literally lied to us.” The judges closely ques tioned the Democrats’ attorney, Paul Smith, who argued that dropping a Senate rule requir ing two-thirds of the 31 mem bers to agree to debate a bill violated the federal Voting Rights Act, enacted to protect minority voters. “This is a very significant piece of how the Legislature operates,” Smith said of the long-standing two-thirds rule, which was eliminated by Lt. See Panel on page 2