Aggielife: Old school cool • Page 3 Opinion: Missing the Target • Page 9
THE BATTALION
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
Volume 110 • Issue 24 • 10 pages
www.thebattaIion.net
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Johnson delays journalism decision
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
Next fall, Texas A&M will no longer offer high
school students the chance to earn a degree in
journalism.
Earlier this year. College of Liberal Arts Dean
Charles Johnson recommended the Department of
Journalism be cut due to budget constraints.
Johnson has been delayed in finalizing his decision
tocut the journalism department by his impending
trip to Qatar the week of Oct. 6-12 to help A&M’s
west branch get its feet off the ground, said
Leanne South, director of college relations.
Johnson has received a preliminary report from
thecommittee he appointed in August to look into
“alternative pathways" for student journalists
attending A&M. but that information is not yet
available for release, she said.
Senior journalism major Bernhard Hall said he
w surprised when Johnson announced on July 10
liisrecommendation to cut the journalism department.
“I never thought they would actually do it," he said.
Though Johnson has said the student newspaper
and yearbook. The Aggieland, could serve as an
outlet for aspiring student journalists, Hall said a
lot of journalism majors are not interested in news
paper writing.
“Newspaper writing is just a small part of the
department,” he said. “(Students in journalism) also
want to do public relations or broadcast journalism.”
Senior journalism major Cheryl Kempe
agreed. Students interested in magazine, news or
broadcast journalism need a background educa
tion, she said, and can apply what they learn at
A&M to any type of job.
Loren Steffy, Dallas bureau chief for
Bloomberg News and president of the Former
Journalism Students’ Association, said the A&M
journalism department has always been a diamond
in the rough.
Over time, the biggest impact of the journal
ism’s departure will be on laboratory settings such
as The Battalion, he said.
The University will have a significant decline
in student journalists because most potential jour
nalists would rather go to a school offering a jour
nalism degree, he said.
Johnson said all current journalism faculty
members will retain a position somewhere in the
College of Liberal Arts. Also, after the current
journalism professors retire in about 10 years, new
professors will be unwilling to come to A&M to
join a program that doesn’t exist, Steffy said.
However, without the full educational experi
ence to provide a framework, “the quality (of The
Battalion) is definitely going to deteriorate,”
Steffy said.
Directly following the announcement of
Johnson’s recommendation in July, Steffy, the
FJSA and the summer editing staff of The
Battalion organized a letter-writing campaign and
online petition, using the Web site www.savejour-
nalism.com, to illustrate to the administration and
the regents how many students and professional
journalists are opposed to limiting journalism
education.
Hall said once the journalism department is
gone. The Battalion could be forced to hold its
own newspaper writing classes for non-journal
ism majors unfamiliar with the style required for
Journalism Update
The future of Texas A&?M journalism Is being contemplated
before the decision to close the department is finalized.
j Liberal Arts Dean Charles
Johnson sent a recommendation
to President Robert M. Gates to
close A&?M's Department of
Journalism.
; Johnson charged a Committe to Effect Change
in Journalism to identify issues related to the
department's closure.
i Gates announced that he will not consider
closing the department until "alternative
pathways" for journalism at A&?M are found.
Johnson charged a Committee to Recommend
New Initiatives in Journalism Education to
suggest alternative pathways for students
interested in a journalism career.
The committee turned in a preliminary report to
Johnson, but it is not yet available to the public.
SETH FREEMAN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE ; TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
reporting.
Hall also expressed concern about future employ
ers who have heard about the recommendation.
“What are they going to say when I walk into
an interview?” he said.
See Journalism on page 2
Clowning around
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
Marcia Lightsey, of Bryan and a balloon artist also known as "Twister,"
waits as College Hills Elementary School fourth grader, Lyndie Ruesink
of College Station picks out a balloon design and color in front of Gatti-
Town off of Texas Avenue Tuesday afternoon. The 'Twist for Love" event
is part of "Balloons Around the World 2003", where hundreds of bal
loon artists across the globe tie thousands of balloons for kids for free
or exchanged for a donation to a charity. Canned foods and other
donations were accepted to benefit the Brazos Food Bank.
ODP research gets
$450 million grant
COLLEGE STATION, Texas
(AP) — Texas A&M will continue
its world-renowned role in explor
ing the ocean’s floors after signing
a new research contract worth
$450 million on Tuesday.
The 10-year deal is the largest
research contract in
the school’s 127-year
history.
A&M and Lamont-
Doherty Earth
Observatory of
Columbia University,
two key partners in
the research endeavor,
will join the Joint
Oceanographic
Institutions to form
the U.S. implement
ing organization for
the new Integrated
Ocean Drilling
Program, funded by
the National Science
Foundation.
The new endeavor
replaces the Ocean
Drilling Program. A&M had
been its science operator for
nearly 20 years.
“We are honored to be selected
again to have a key leadership role
in carrying out this program that
has such profound scientific signif
icance,” said A&M President
Robert M. Gates. “We look for
ward to a continued strong working
relationship over the next decade
with our colleagues at Lamont-
Doherty, and with all of the partic
ipants — U.S. and international —
in IODP.”
Paul J. Fox, director of the
Ocean Drilling
Program at A&M,
calls the new agree
ment “historic”
because of its long
term benefits.
“We will now be
able to read and
record the Earth’s
history and plane
tary change the
same way the
Hubble spacecraft
has allowed us to
look into space,”
Fox believes. “The
IODP is of true fun
damental impor
tance in many
aspects. It will place
A&M faculty on the
center stage of many new discover
ies and it will be of tremendous
benefit to the university in many
areas of research.”
The Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory is based in Palisades,
N.Y., and is a leading unit of
Columbia University’s Earth
Institute.
We will now be
able to read and
record the earth’s
history and plane
tary change the
same way the
Hubble space craft
has allowed us to
look into space.
— Paul J. Fox
director of ODP
Sharon wants security fences
for W. Bank Jewish settlements
By Jason Keyser
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
wants to shield several large Jewish settlements by
extending Israel’s security barrier deep into the West
Bank, but he would leave gaps in the section in hopes
of defusing U.S. objections that the fence could mark
a permanent border, a Sharon adviser and a settler
leader said Tuesday.
The plan, denounced by Palestinians as a land
grab, comes up for approval before the Cabinet on
Wednesday and is likely to pass.
In its bid to stop Palestinian suicide bombers and
other attackers, Israel has already built almost 100
miles of the barrier that will eventually stretch,
depending on the route, up to four times that distance.
Portions of the barrier — a network of fences,
walls, razor wire and trenches — run on West Bank
land, but to date it has largely kept to the Israel-West
Bank dividing line known as the “Green Line,”
diverting in some places a few miles into the West
Bank to enclose Jewish settlements.
Under the new proposal the barrier would veer
almost 20 miles into the territory, cutting the northern
section of the West Bank in two for much of its width.
The new section will take several months to build
and would incorporate on the “Israeli” side a bloc of
settlements — Ariel, Kedumim, Karnei Shomron and
Emmanuel — where some 45,000 Israelis live, said
Ariel security chief Eli Shaviro.
The United States backed the Palestinians’ opposi
tion to the barrier’s extension when the idea was first
raised several months ago. But excluding Ariel —
See Sharon on page 7
Sharon seeks
barrier extension
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon wants to shield several
settlements by extending Israel’s
security barrier deep into the
West Bank. The fence would
include the settlements of Ariel,
Kedumim, Kamei Shomron and
Emmanuel.
— Separation barrier
~ “Green Line”
Israeli settlement
Palestinian controlled areas
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tel Aviv 1
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SOURCES: B’tselem; AP
Associated Press
House, Senate limping toward map agreement
By April Castro
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — House and Senate
^publicans remained at odds on congres
sional redistricting Tuesday and one of the
bd negotiators said he hopes a fourth spe-
c ial session won’t be necessary for both
Cambers to agree on a new map.
It appeared Tuesday that Gov. Rick
Kerry’s preferred Wednesday deadline
would be missed.
“Obviously we want to get it done before
the end of session so the governor doesn’t
have to call a fourth one,” said Rep. Phil
King, R-Weatherford, the House point man
for negotiations. “But, I’ve done it three
times now, 1 guess I can do it again.”
Democrats successfully fought the meas
ure during the regular session and the first
two special sessions. The third special ses
sion has been marred by a stalemate
between Republicans over the design of
West Texas districts. Through Tuesday, the
Texas Legislature has been in session a
record 215 calendar days this year.
Members of the House and Senate, nego
tiating team have had fruitless meetings
behind closed doors several times this week
to find middle ground in the roadblock.
“I’m fairly encouraged,” King said.
See Agreement on page 7
Boeing continues
alliance with A&M
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
Boeing, the world’s leading
aerospace engineering compa
ny, announced its second-year
support last week for its inter
disciplinary curriculum part
nership program with the
Dwight Look College of
Engineering and the Mays
Business School.
Boeing initiated this partner
ship last year as part of an over
all $245,000 gift to Texas A&M.
The program is the first
interdisciplinary initiative
across colleges at A&M specif
ically tailored for engineering
design curriculum. The goal of
the program is to prepare stu
dents for real-world industry
teams where engineering and
business professionals depend
on each other to make design
and cost decisions.
“Boeing is developing a
closer relationship with a few
schools around the country, and
Texas A&M is fortunate to be
one of those schools,” said
David Lund, director of the
Aerospace Vehicle Systems
Institute, part of the Texas
Engineering Experiment
Station.
Thirty seniors from three
engineering departments —
aerospace, mechanical and
electrical — will work in “inte
grated product development
teams” and follow engineering
project management processes
to accomplish the design, sim
ulation, test and evaluation
cycle of a complex aerospace
system, Lund said.
With sponsorship from
Boeing, funding is included in
the project to ensure a useful out
put that creates value, Lund said.
Along with Lund, Dr. Clair
J. Nixon, professor and associ
ate dean of the Mays Business
School, was asked to develop
the original proposal for the
program.
The business school’s part
of the program is still under
construction, but Nixon said
A&M students should benefit
from it in the future.
The business school is cur
rently providing lectures and
insight to the financial and
global aspects of engineering
See Boeing on page 7