Aggielife: From the outside driving in • Page 3
forum: Out of service • Page 8
NATION
THE BATTAL
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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.
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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