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Volume 110 • Issue 16 • 10 pages
A Texas A&Xi Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattaIion.net
Friday, September 19, 2003
A different drum
Downfall 2012 drummer Josh Pazada performs with fellow band Thursday before the rain arrived. The band is promoting their new
members for 20 minutes of their one-hour show at Rudder Fountain album, "The Fuse is Lit."
Corps sets GPR
above average
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
The Corps of Cadets is seeking
to improve the academic stand
ings of its members, a process
that includes raising the required
grade point average for Corps
leaders from a 2.6 this fall to a 2.8
in the spring.
The GPR requirement for a stu
dent leader in most University
organizations is 2.3.
“When a leader of an outfit
makes good grades, he or she tends
to emphasize good study habits
with the entire outfit,” said Col.
Rick Mallahan, assistant comman
dant for academics and discipline.
The Corps is also setting high
er goals for the overall average
GPR. According to the 2003-2004
Corps Scholastics Policy, the goal
for the fall semester is a 2.95, and
a 3.0 GPR is set for the spring. If
these goals are reached. Corps
leaders hope to score 2 percent
above the University’s average
GPR, which is 2.9.
The average Corps GPR last
spring was a 2.7. Mallahan said
this is not an accurate picture of
the Corps, because it is tough to
identify who is still in the Corps
and who has withdrawn from the
Corps but still has grades includ
ed in the cadet figures.
“There is always room for
improvement,” Mallahan said.
To meet the goals spelled out by
the Corps Scholastic Policy, free
tutoring will continue to be provid
ed to cadets.
“There has always been free
tutoring,” Mallahan said. “Now it
will just be a special emphasis.”
David Macicek, a senior
mechanical engineering major and
Corps scholastics officer, said that
based on test grades, freshmen
may be required to seek some sort
of tutoring.
“The number one focus of the
Corps is academics, and freshmen
need to develop their study skills
now,” Macicek said.
This fall, freshmen began their
academic training during Freshman
Orientation Week the week before
school started, Mallahan said. One
day of orientation was set aside to
emphasize academies and intro
duce the College Student
Inventory, a program that identifies
high risk students who will most
likely need help later.
In the past, this program was
never introduced during FOW.
See Corps on page 2
Republicans
halt fining of
Democrats
By Kelly Shannon
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The Texas
Senate approved a
Republican proposal
Thursday to hold off on
enforcing thousands of dol
lars in fines against
Democrats who fled the state
to block a GOP-led redis
tricting plan.
However, the Republicans
placed the Democratic sena
tors on probation until
January 2005. If the
Democrats leave again to
break a quorum, they were
told, they would have to pay
the $57,000 apiece in fines
that Republican senators
already imposed on them.
Under the proposal by
Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston,
the 11 Democrats will be
able to again have access to
their office privileges,
including postage and cellu
lar phone use, and they will
get to use their Capitol park
ing spaces. If any of the sen
ators are absent without a
sufficient excuse for more
than 72 hours, when atten
dance has been required in a
“call” by the rest of the
chamber, the fines and sanc
tions would be reinstated.
The vote was 13-10 in
favor of the plan. Not all sen
ators were present. The vote
fell almost entirely along
party lines.
Hurricane Isabel downgraded to tropical storm
Storm barrages East coast
By Emery P. Dalesio
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.
— Hurricane Isabel plowed into
North Carolina’s Outer Banks
with 100 mph winds and pushed
its way Thursday up the Eastern
Seaboard, weakening to a tropi
cal storm by evening but not
before swamping roads and
knocking out power to more
than 2.5 million people.
Isabel was blamed for at least
two traffic deaths and the elec
trocution of a utility employee.
The storm that had once
threatened 160 mph winds and a
12-foot storm surge rolled in
around midday just south of iso
lated Ocracoke Island with a 5-
foot surge and gusts that rattled
plywood boards spray-painted
“Bring it on Izzy.”
“A lot of trees are down —
there’s one down across the
garage,” Rudy Austin said as he
looked out on his yard in
Ocracoke surrounded by a knee-
deep soup of sea water and
debris. “There’s a lot of stuff
floating around: boards and
buoys and boxes and
young’uns’ plastic toys.”
The storm downed trees,
snarled air traffic and knocked
out electricity — more than 2
million customers were without
power in North Carolina and
southeastern Virginia alone.
More than 430,000 customers in
Maryland, 78,000 in the District
of Columbia and 10,000 in New
Jersey also lost power.
In North Carolina, a utility
employee was electrocuted
while restoring power, and the
storm was blamed for the deaths
of two motorists in Virginia and
Maryland.
Isabel’s top sustained wind
eased to around 70 mph by late
evening. It continued to weak
en, though it was still expected
to produce hurricane-force
gusts of at least 74 mph in parts
of northern Virginia and
Maryland.
National Hurricane Center
Director Max Mayfield said
fast-moving Isabel still posed a
threat because of its dimen
sions — about the size of
Colorado — and its potential to
bring 6 to 10 inches of rain and
flooding to an East Coast
already sodden from one of the
wettest summers in years.
“This is certainly not over
for people experiencing
Hurricane Isabel,” he said.
“This hurricane will not be
remembered for how strong it is.
It will be remembered for how
large it is.”
The storm spread rain across
North Carolina and Virginia and
into Maryland, Delaware and
parts of West Virginia and
Pennsylvania.
In Harlowe, a small commu
nity about 25 miles inland from
the Outer Banks, about 30 to 40
homes were destroyed, either by
winds, falling trees or flooding,
said Jeremy Brown, chief of
Harlowe’s volunteer fire depart-
Isabel makes
landfall by noon
Position: 33.7 ’ N, 75.2° W
Movement: NW at 15 mph
Sustained winds: 100 mph
As of 8 a.m. EOT Thursday
Predicted path
Pittsburgh
Pa.
N.Y,
Ohio • Wash., Philadelphia
\ D C ^ J 40 N
W. Va.
Va
o —• Del.
; — Md.
V Richmond
\ • Norfolk
Raieigh ★ Cape
N.C. **Hatteras
Wilmington" i *
35
Potential area
of movement
Fla.
Atlantic q
Ocean
30
300 mi
0 300 km
• Miami BAHAMAS
o Nassau
80 W 75 25
SOURCE: AccuWeatber
ment. He estimated about 200
homes were flooded.
Firefighters rescued a moth
er and her two children who
were stranded by the Hood
waters, Brown said. But the
flooding receded quickly, said
resident Joe Fernandez, who
watched the water rise over his
street and yard.
“It was like a toilet flushing.
It just came up and went down,”
Fernandez said.
On the Outer Banks, the
storm destroyed the 540-foot
Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head,
See Storm on page 2
Fans brave harsh weather
By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
Hurricane Isabel smashed
into the coasts of North Carolina
and Virginia Thursday afternoon,
but it wasn’t enough to keep a
few thousand Aggies away from
Thursday night’s game.
Some made the 18-
hour drive from
College Station while
others flew into airports
in surrounding cities on
Wednesday, which turned out to
be lucky for many traveling
Aggies. Most flights into
Virginia and North Carolina
were cancelled on Thursday.
Brian Herbst, an agricultural
economics Ph.D. student, met
up with his family in Raleigh-
Durham, NC, Wednesday night
before driving to Blacksburg
Thursday morning.
Herbst has seen his share of
bad weather before and said he
never considered changing his
plans because of the storm.
“I was hoping (Hurricane
Isabel) was going to stay far
enough east and avoid the
game,” he said. “But
I’ve been in weather
like this before. The
‘97 Texas game was
quite wet and the 2000
Independence Bowl was quite
snowy. The wind and rain will
play into the ballgame but it
wasn’t going to affect my
plans.”
While the weather didn’t
See Fans on page 2
See page 5 for
more game
coverage.
John Livas • THE BATTALION
A&M 2000 graduate Mike Palm celebrates after a touchdown in the first
half by A&M running back Courtney Lewis Thursday night in Blacksburg, Va.
Bicycle thefts increase
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
Campus-wide bicycle thefts
have increased by 8 percent in
the past two years, costing vic
tims a total of $138,392,
University Police Department
officials said.
UPD statistics show that
during the 2001-2002 school
year 289 bikes were stolen.
During the 2002-2003 school
year 312 bikes were stolen,
said UPD Sgt. Alan Baron.
During the first three weeks
of the current school year, eight
bike thefts have been reported
to the UPD, with an average
value of $223.63 per bicycle.
But, not all bike thefts are
reported to UPD, and less than
1 percent of all stolen bicycles
are returned to their owners,
Baron said.
Baron recommends students
record the serial numbers of
their bikes and, more impor
tantly, get their driver license
numbers carved on the frame of
their bikes.
“The University Police
Department will engrave bikes
for free,” Baron said. “It makes
See Thefts on page 2
BIKE SAFETY TIP
In the past 2 years, bike thefts
have increased by 8%. UPD
offers the following advice to keep
bikes safe:
- Engrave your drivers license
number on your bike. You can
get this done for free through
UPD or a residence advisor.
- Lock the bike's frame
and not just the
wheels.
- Record your
bike's serial
number.
SETH FREEMAN • THE BATTALION
Source • UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
A&M fall enrollment
Texas A&M officials
reported Wednesday that
overall enrollment figures for
graduate students have
increased by 442 students to
8,281 from last year.
The increase in graduate
students applies to both doc
toral students and Master’s
degree candidates. Twelfth
class day numbers show that
Master’s degree candidate
enrollment has increased by
175 and doctoral students fig
ures have increased by 241.
The trend of increases did
not carry over to undergradu
ate enrollment, which is
down by 180 students this
year, for a total of 36,595 stu
dents. Last year’s number of
undergraduate students stood
at 36,775.
While graduate student
numbers have increased, total
enrollment figures for the
University as a whole
dropped by 267 to 44,876.
Frank B. Ashley III, acting
associate provost for enroll
ment, said the decrease in
undergraduate enrollment is
representative of a normal
fluctuation.
stays level
STUDENT ENROLLMENT TOTALS
While the mam campus enrollment total is
267 less than last year, graduate enrollment
has reached an all-time high at 8,281
40000 r-
35000
36.229
36,603 36,775 36.595
30000
25000
20000
Hi Undergraduate totals
■ Graduate totals
15000
10000
7,291
7,518 7,815 8,281
5000
Fall Fall Fall Fall
2000 2001 2002 2003
ruben deluna • THE BATTALION
source • OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL
STUDIES AND PLANNING