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Opinion: One nation, under God? • Page 11
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A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
Volume 110 • Issue 39 • 12 pages www.thebattaIion.net
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
UTSA students hope to form gay fraternity
By Eric Ambrose
THE BATTALION
A group of students is attempting to establish
the first gay fraternity at the University of Texas at
San Antonio.
Alpha Lambda Tau met with UTSA’s
Interfraternity Council Oct. 15 to apply for an
inclusion of their organization. The group must
also receive approval from the national chapter of
Alpha Lambda Tau before becoming an official
fraternity. If approved, the UTSA chapter would
become the third Alpha Lambda Tau chapter,
along with chapters at University of Nevada-Las
Vegas and Arizona State University.
“This is just another diverse group at
UTSA,” said Linn Gosnell, associate director of
communications at UTSA. “The response has
been fairly welcoming, there has been very lit
tle controversy.”
The IFC’s decision on whether to establish the
Alpha Lambda Tau chapter will be based upon the
contribution the fraternity can make to the univer
sity, Gosnell said. The council will consider the
fraternity’s organization, community service plans
and policies before making a recommendation to
university officials, who will make the final deci
sion. The council is expected to vote on the matter
no later than Nov. 5.
“There is already diversity on campus in
many different forms,” Gosnell said. “I think
this is an organization that some students will
find appealing.”
No students have attempted to organize a gay
fraternity or sorority at Texas A&M. The
University has historically been labeled as a
conservative school, said Justin Joyce, an A&M
Interfraternity Council representative.
“The IFC is all for diversity, however, I don’t
forsee a gay fraternity wanting to organize at
A&M,” Joyce said. “As long as they followed
our policies a gay fraternity could petition for
admittance to IFC. We would definitely not dis
courage that.”
Some members of the greek life community at
A&M say they feel it would be a struggle for a gay
fraternity to become accepted.
“I think that A&M might still be too conserva
tive for a gay fraternity or sorority,” said Matt
Lowrance, social chair for Beta Theta Pi. “It
would be hard for a gay fraternity to get along
with some of the people at Texas A&M.”
Whether or not the Alpha Lambda Tau chapter
is accepted at UTSA, Joyce said it will prove
interesting to see how IFC and Greeks handle the
situation. The chapter could become the example
to which other universities refer when considering
how a gay fraternity would fit, perhaps in their
own Greek life system, he said.
“I think it’s a good experience for their
Interfraternity Council to see how UTSA handles
the situation,” Joyce said. “It will be a learning
experience to see how a gay fraternity assimilates
into Greek life at UTSA.”
Conflicting views
arise over airstrikes
By Josef Federman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — The Israeli
military and Palestinian witness
es offered conflicting versions
Tuesday of an airstrike in Gaza,
as thousands of mourners called
for revenge for the deaths of
seven Palestinians purportedly
killed in the attack.
Palestinians said the seven
dead were civilians killed by an
Israeli missile fired into a crowd
at the Nusseirat
refugee camp. The a
army said the
majority of those
killed were mili
tants, releasing part
of a video indicating
teerw no one on
the street near the
vehicle when it was
hit by two missiles.
The Palestinians say
a third missile
caused the deaths.
Brig. Gen. Ruth
Yaron, the army spokeswoman,
acknowledged there were civil
ian casualties, but added that
“there is no doubt that the
majority of those killed yester
day were terrorists.” She held
the militants ultimately respon
sible, saying they were using
bystanders as human shields.
The airstrikes revived debate
inside Israel over targeted
killings in populated areas, and
the Palestinian prime minister,
in a rare criticism of
Washington, complained that
the United States was doing
nothing to stop what he said are
Israel’s “ugly crimes.”
In Washington, State
Department deputy spokesman
Adam Ereli expressed regret
over the deaths of civilians and
said Israel should consider the
consequences of its actions.
However, he said, if the
Palestinians had stopped mili
tants from firing rockets at
Israel, “then perhaps Israel
would not feel the need to act
unilaterally in this way in its
defense.”
In Nusseirat, the flag-
wrapped bodies
of the seven
Palestinians
were carried on
stretchers
through the
shantytown
Tuesday.
“Sharon,
wait, wait, you
have opened
hell’s gate,” the
crowd chanted
in a threat of
revenge. Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
said Monday that Israel’s war on
terror would not let up.
Explaining the Nusseirat
airstrike, the Israeli military said
helicopters fired two missiles at a
car carrying Hamas militants, and
that two men inside were killed.
It said the helicopters had
chased the car after the men
dropped off two other militants
near the border with Israel.
Those attackers, who were
killed by Israeli ground troops,
See Airstrikes on page 2
... There is no
doubt that the
majority of those
killed yesterday were
terrorists.
— Brig. Gen. Ruth Yaron
army spokeswoman
Smooth sailing
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Junior nuclear engineering major and member of the Texas A&M Sailing Club has more than 60 members and hosts events at Lake Bryan, Lake
Club Adam Hoffman tries to attract new members near Rudder Fountain Somerville and Lake Conroe almost every weekend. Some boats they use
Tuesday afternoon while standing on top of a sail boat. The TAMU Sailing include Sunfish, Catamarans and Raner 22's.
Study: Senior citizens prefer
family presence over gifts
interviewed in July and August of 2003 said
having family with them is what would make
the holidays the most special.
David Gest, owner of the Home Instead
Senior Care serving the Bryan-College Station
area, said the poll results make sense.
“What do you buy someone who’s had 75 or
80 Christmases and birthdays?” Gest said. “In
the course of a lifetime, what do you give them
anyway? We found what they really want is the
presence of their family and to be surrounded
by family and friends.”
See Presence on page 2
By Jenna Jones
THE BATTALION
Students planning for the holiday season
should cross their grandparents off their gift
lists because, as the findings of a recent sur
vey illustrate, all most grandparents ask for is
quality time.
A holiday survey conducted by the nation
al company Home Instead Senior Care
revealed that senior citizens value family time
significantly more than presents during the
holiday season.
Eighty-four percent of the 500 individuals
PRESENCE OVER
PRESENTS
A recent survey shows
older people value family
time over presents
• 98.6 percent of senioi
citizens remembered
who they spent the
holidays with
• 42.4 percent
of seniors
said they
do not know
what their
favorite
holiday
gift was
• 91 percent
of seniors
plan on spending time
with loved ones this season
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE
Iran says it will suspend enrichment
Iran announced Tuesday that it will suspend uranium enrichment
and allow spot checks of its nuclear program, but set no timetable
for the steps. The country faces an Oct. 31 deadline which was
set by the International Atomic Energy Agency to prove it doesn’t
have a nuclear weapons program.
Kara] Caspian Sea
$ Alleged
i uranium —i
ienrichment ■——
? facility —* *
Kalaye
Alleged site of gas
centrifuge tests
i Heavy water
'-i production
l facility
Traces of weapons- u
grade uranium "■
found at facility
4 / uranium processing
m S plant under construc-
lion; reactor
. operational
Light water reactor
SAUDI ARABIA
SOURCES Inmnaliooel molitulo fc* Slrateste Studlw;
^AAalSecurlty.org; Associated Press
Iran to suspend uranium enrichment,
allow spot checks of nuclear program
By Ed Johnson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran agreed
Tuesday to suspend uranium enrichment
and give inspectors unrestricted access to
its nuclear facilities as demanded by the
U.N. watchdog agency, a step that could
ease the standoff over fears Iran is seek
ing to build nuclear weapons.
The announcement came after weeks
of pressure on Iran to meet an Oct. 31
deadline to come clean on its nuclear pro
gram, which Washington believes aims to
build a nuclear arsenal. The United States
— which has led the charge for the U.N.
Security Council to take action against
Tehran — gave a cautious welcome.
If Iran follows through with its promis
es, it “would be a positive step in the right
direction,” White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said. “Full compliance by
See Iran on page 2
Dems want leniency
for airline prankster
By Leslie Miller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and
other Democrats criticized federal
authorities for prosecuting a 20-
year-old college student who the
FBI says acknowledged smuggling
box cutters and other banned items
onto commercial planes.
Nathaniel Heatwole of Damascus,
Md., could spend up to 10 years in
prison if convicted of taking a danger
ous weapon aboard an aircraft.
According to an FBI affidavit,
Heatwole told the Transportation
Security Administration he carried
the items on planes to alert authorities
to holes in aviation security.
“I don’t think he had criminal
intent,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “I
think what he was trying to do was
to show how exposed we are and
what our vulnerability was, and he
tried to tell TSA — he gave a trail to
them. Maybe he should do some
community service.”
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., agreed
he should do community service with
the TSA. Agency officials should lis
ten to him “so they know exactly
how to prevent a terrorist from doing
the very same thing,” Markey said.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chair
man of the House aviation subcom
mittee, said prosecutors should con
centrate on people who actually
pose a threat.
“I think he shouldn’t be the fall
guy, but he did violate the law and
there Has to be consequences,”
Mica said.
Under federal sentencing guide
lines, even if he’s convicted,
Heatwole could serve no prison
time because he has no prior record
and it would be difficult to prove
intent to do harm.
According to TSA records, 1,018
people have been arrested since Feb.
19, 2002, for attempting to bring
banned items onto planes. The
agency .doesn’t have figures on how
many were charged or convicted.
Heatwole hid bags containing
the box cutters and other items on
two Southwest Airlines planes. He
sent the TSA an e-mail saying he
had done so, but it was never
passed on to the airline or the FBI
to investigate. The result was the
items stayed on the planes for near
ly five weeks.
Many people believe the govern
ment’s decision to prosecute
Heatwole is “more to cover the fact
that the government dropped the
ball,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
said at a Judiciary Committee hear
ing. He added that the security
breach was “not one of the brightest
things we’ve seen.”