6B
Thursday, October 9 , 2003
NEWS IN BRIEF
rt: China
send its first
en into orbit
JG (AP) — The shaped
first manned space mis-
ime into sharper focus
;day with reports that a
crew will orbit the Eartli
ext week after a live-tele-
tunch trumpets the gov-
:’s accomplishment to its
and the world,
ionesia, Premier Wen
said the craft, the
>u 5, would take off will)
crew “soon, very soon.'
aunch is completed sue-
China would join the
States and the former
inion — now Russia-
mly countries that have
wed craft into space.
:t. 15 date of the inaugu-
h — a 90-minute flight
orbit the planet once -
iorted Wednesday by
nvnark, a
engagement
•own Prince
IHAGEN, Denmark (AP)
Prince Frederik was
to Miss Mary Elizabeth
n, the first Australian-
nan to stand in line to
European queen, the
:e said Wednesday,
iple will be wed May 14
iltal, Copenhagen,
ate council meeting at
org Castle in
gen where the royal
as, Queen Margrethe
'anish government that
ar-old son and heir to
of Europe’s oldest rul-
archy would marry
a 31-year-old from
jstralia.
the Constitution,
popular 63-year-old
and the government
their formal approval
to marry. Last month,
nister Anders Fogh
m said his government
the engagement.
man arrested
1 yogurt
lurders
(AP) — An Austin
peared in court
on federal charges
tion with the 1991
p robbery and arson
r teenagers dead.
)rris Davidson, 37,
oted Tuesday on
accessory after the
to report a felony,
se statements to a
ial and obstruction of
wvicted, he faces a
ienalty of 28 years in
51 million fine,
was released on
after the hearing,
to the indictment,
isposed of the pistol
James Scott and
ad the I Can’t Believe
nop and set it on fire,
three others were
state charges years
ir teenagers, includ-
worked at the store,
gagged and shot in
c. 6, 1991.
rontinue
for missing
boy
— Authorities con
ing Wednesday for a
mdocumented immi-
egedly was taken by
smuggler angry that
nis father didn’t have
' for their trip from El
go.
do Medrano, 16, was
3:50 a.m. Tuesday in
rk blue tractor-trailer
Mange, spokes-
Texas Department
ty-
police reported
wd his father were
nrted by an immi-
sr, who stopped in
asked for $2,000.
nd out they could
it into a scuffle with
drove away with
le said.
as wearing a blue
and baggy jeans,
ilack hair and brown
-feet-8 and weighs
h information is
Dallas police at
sports: BU bringing hot streak to Kyle • Page 7 Opinion: Prior restraint • Page 9
BATTALION
Mime 110 • Issue 31 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattalion.net
Friday, October 10, 2003
Student Senate approves SGA Diversity budget
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M Student Senate found itself in
ikmiddle of a pull between student opinion and the
Executive Council of the Student Government
Association Wednesday when one interested indi
vidual found he was denied access to budget infor
mation recently obtained by senators.
Mark McCaig, Young Conservatives of Texas
communications director and a junior marketing
major, said he found it unconscionable that the
Senate would not disclose financial information to
students outside SGA, especially during Senate
Listens Week, when senators are trying to get more
intouch with their constituents’ wants.
“The student body has a right to know where the
money is being spent,” McCaig said when address
ing the senators on the floor. “This reeks of crony
ism and corruption, and smacks of Tammany Hall. 1
implore you to do everything within your power to
make this information public.”
Senate leaders filed an appeal last week to obtain
a copy of the SGA’s line-item budget plan.
When senators received the budget information
Oct. 3, an attached memorandum by SGA’s Vice
President for Finance Jackson Hildebrand requested
that the Senate leaders distribute the information
only to other senators.
Hildebrand said SGA is not allowed to release
its financial information without the proper
approval. To obtain that information, individuals
must contact the University’s legal counsel, he said.
“Line-item budgets have never been released
before" Hildebrand said. “Nobody has before
requested (that information).”
He said he is working within the limits of his job.
“It is by no means a process of hiding numbers.
I understand it is the Senate’s job to respond to
their constituents, but having self-generated funds
(within SGA) makes those funds irrelevant,”
Hildebrand said.
The Senate must approve the SGA budget
annually.
Hildebrand said while senators may have already
obtained permission to view the specific financial
information that they are responsible for passing,
non-senators will have to go through a process to
find out about the committees’ spending.
“I am ready and willing to work with anyone
who deems it necessary to obtain the numbers,”
Hildebrand said.
SGA receives 35 percent of its funding from
Student Service Fees, he said.
“Students deserve access to (how that money is
spent) by all means,” Hildebrand said.
Since the other 65 percent is self-generated, he
said, it is up to the discretion of the committees to
reveal those line items.
“That’s not where student service fees are
going,” he said. “That’s not student money
being spent.”
The SGA Diversity committee’s line-item budg
et was distributed to the senators in a handout from
the meeting, after the allocation of $8,500 to the
committee within the 2003-2004 budget plan elicit
ed some controversy during its first reading in the
Senate Sept. 24 meeting.
Early in Wednesday’s meeting Vice
President for Diversity Pablo Rodriguez out
lined the committees’ hierarchy, mission and
programs for the senators.
See Senate on page 5
Workshop to boost
potential admissions
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
High school students and their parents
will be on campus this Saturday to leam
few to increase the students' chances of
being admitted to Texas A&M.
Hie Prospective Student Center has
initiated “The Top 10 Ways to Increase
k Chances of Getting Admitted,” a
pkshop aiming to give high school stu-
ints tips on how to be admitted to
A&M, said Kelly Colbert, an admissions
counselor in the center.
This is a general program created for
anyone interested in attending A&M,
Cota said. The workshop was sched-
itlalfor this weekend to take advantage
of prospective students and alumni being
crcampus for the A&M vs. Baylor foot-
lull game.
“The purpose of this workshop is to
increase knowledge of the admissions
process among applicants," said
Cynthia Gay, associate director of
admissions. “We don’t want the process
to be mysterious.”
Gay said increasing knowledge of the
admissions process will increase the cal
iber of applicants, improving the student
population at A&M.
More than 50 students, along with
their parents, are expected to attend the
seminar, which has been publicized on
the A&M Web site, the jumbotron at
Kyle Field and through local media out
lets. Infonnation was also sent to high
school counselors through a listserve
facilitated by the admissions office.
Colbert said most of the students are
Texas residents who are juniors and sen
iors in high school.
“We are currently doing these ‘top 10
ways’ workshops throughout the state of
Texas,” Gay said.
Some of the top 10 ways to increase
possibilities of admission include visiting
the A&M Web site, scoring well on stan
dardized tests, beating deadlines and fill
ing out the admission application in its
entirety.
The workshop will take place from
9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING APMI ■ ■
Admissions information day for prospective students of
Texas A&M is Saturday, Oct.
Look at A&M Web site
and A&M publications
Take appropriate
class work
Take the ACT and SAT
Be involved in extra
curricular activities
Visit the campus
11 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Visit the admissions
staff
Submit your credentials
prior to deadline
Complete the
application thoroughly
Be an academic admit:
1300 SAT, 30 ACT and
top half of the class
Graduate in top 10 percent
Source• TEXAS A&M OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
Downpour
Randal Ford • THE BATTALION
Freshman political science major Greg Kwedar walks through walk took him near the Blocker building, which was Hooded
the rain on Thursday afternoon beneath a giant umbrella. His after heavy rains throughout the morning.
Vision Plan promotes campus unity
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
The Residence Hall Association’s Vision
Plan is part of RHA President Chris
Mahaffey’s plan to make the group a top lead
ership organization on campus.
For the RHA to live up to its full poten
tial and make the greatest impact on the
on-campus community, Mahaffey said he
spent a month of his summer drawing up a
Vision Plan.
“I want the RHA to be the premier leader
ship organization and be just as good as other
large organizations,” Mahaffey said. “I am
looking forward to the end of the year to see
if we accomplished our goals.”
The goal of the plan is to develop an out
line so that everyone in RHA can be focused
on one series of goals and see them to the end,
Mahaffey said.
In his plan, Mahaffey outlines barriers to
growth he saw in previous years in RHA,
such as lack of involvement, professionalism
and preparedness. RHA has been in a slow
process of regrouping in the last few years,
and Mahaffey said he hopes his Vision Plan
will help with that alteration.
The number one barrier he has observed is
a lack of community in some residence halls.
“It takes a lot of building to build any com
munity, and RHA cannot do it alone. People
in the dorms must get involved and help out,”
Mahaffey said.
Adam Longarzo, a sophomore business
major, said he does not participate in hall
activities because he thinks nothing his hall
does is exciting.
“I would get involved if there were more
interesting events, and if the hall was more
specific about what the events were,”
See RHA on page 2
FRESHMAN ELECTION RESULTS
The Class of 2007 voted in runoff elections
Wednesday and Thursday to elect a class
president and vice president.
Class of 2007 President
I CANnIDATEs'lHBHryOTis
Prochaska, Conner
Young, Mark Alexander
625
376
iraillTI
Bryan, Justin Neal
Matthews, Rebekah Leigh
Winner
For election coverage, visit:
www.thebattalion.net
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
source: TEXAS A&M ELECTION COMMISSION UNCERTIFIED
Voting district map set after
months of bitter negotiation
By April Castro
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN —The Texas Legislature
may have a congressional redistrict
ing map to vote on before lawmakers
skip town for the Texas-Oklahoma
football game.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said
Wednesday that a tentative agreement
had been reached after months of bitter
negotiations on a map designed to put
more Republicans in the Texas con
gressional delegation. A final map
would be unveiled Thursday morning,
Dewhurst said.
The announcement appeared to end
weeks of squabbling between
Republicans over the shape of West
Texas congressional districts. The
party battle followed months of fight
ing between Republicans and
Democrats, who forced the calling of
three special sessions.
House Speaker Tom Craddick, a
Republican, has been adamant about
See Agreement on page 2
Suicide bombing kills 9
at Baghdad police station
By Hamza Hendawi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A sui
cide car bomber crashed a white
Oldsmobile into a police station
in Iraq’s largest Shiite Muslim
enclave Thursday, killing him
self, nine others and wounding
as many as 45. Earlier, gunmen
— one dressed as a Shiite cleric
— shot and killed a Spanish
military attache.
The violence, six months to
the day after Baghdad fell to
American forces, underscored
the predicament of a capital
whose deliverance from
Saddam Hussein’s tyranny has
been repeatedly undennined by
terrorism, attacks on U.S. forces
and sectarian unrest.
The ancient city’s landscape
is now lined with massive con
crete blast barriers and coils of
barbed wire outside hotels, gov
ernment departments and along
stretches of road near U.S. mili
tary bases.
As in previous attacks,
there was no claim of responsi
bility for the 8:30 a.m. bomb
ing in Sadr City, a Baghdad
district with an estimated 2
million Shiites.
“It was a huge blast and
everything became dark from
the debris and sand. I was
thrown to the ground,” said
Mohammed Adnan, who sells
watermelons opposite the
police station.
Vegetable seller Fakhriya
Jarallah said two of her sons
were repairing the outside wall
of the compound.
“I ran across the road like a
madwoman to find out what
happened to my sons. But
thanks to God they are both
safe,” she said.
Policemen and some in the
crowd that gathered outside
the police station after the
explosion offered an assort
ment of possible culprits that
ranged from non-Iraqi Arab
militants to Saddam loyalists
and Shiite radicals angry about
a cleric's arrest.
The killing of the Spanish
military attache happened
across town in the upscale
Mansour area about 30 minutes
before the car bombing.