Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 2003)
NATIOl MTTALIi ACGliUFii Wearing the red ribbon • Page 3 OPINION: DREAMing big • Page 9 :als fai levote late night !. Census voters have ie last three sters Volume 110 • Issue 49 • 10 pages Foreign families receive sparse aid HTT TT? I ric A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattalion.net By Bart Shirley THE BATTALION presidem. Dear ration Dea: parties, professii raise ,SOii put. arils hasp year of reshmen« ve their a jrs a wed .\' r International civil engineering graduate students Prithviraj Chavan and Prashant Jadhav are currently in critical condition following an automobile accident that killed fel low graduate student Chiang Cheng-Hsien on Oct. 25. The Department of Student Life 1 International Student Services are working with the families of the two students to facilitate the process of coping with their diffi culties. The families of the injured are trying to visit their children, but entering the United States is a difii- and expensive undertaking. Although ISS provided some assistance for the families to enter Bryan-College Station, the organi- culi zation has no provision for finan cial assistance to families in this situation, said Suzanne Droleskey, executive director of International Student Services. “At this time, there has not been any . consideration,” Droleskey said. “Our role is to facilitate and (to) make sure peo ple are taken care of.” ISS’s biggest concern is coordi nating the efforts to pay for the stu dents’ medical bills, Droleskey said. All international students get a certain type of medical insurance when they enter the United States, but this is a difficult situation because the medical insurance provider is having to sort things out with the three automobile insur ance providers involved with the accident. “There’s a lot of complexity involved with this,” Droleskey said. While the ISS maintains a supervisory and indirect role in all of these functions, the India Association, a student group comprised of primarily graduate students who were raised in India, has been the most active in caring for the families and friends of the two graduate stu dents, Droleskey said. The Department of Student Life expressed a similar aim in the care of the students’ families. Unfortunately, Student Life, like the ISS, is unable to provide financial aid to the fami lies, said Carol Binzer, associate director of student life. “For the most part, we would not offer to do that,” Binzer said. Any assistance Student Life could give would be from the Student Welfare Fund, which is part of a coordinated effort with the Aggie Mom’s Club, Binzer said. “It’s a gift account,” Binzer said. The Student Welfare Fund can be used primarily to help house the families and friends, Binzer said, but it would not cover travel costs. However, she said Student Life does have many other resources to help. “My suspicion is that, if they get here, we would house them,” Binzer said. This incident falls under the jurisdiction of the Student Life’s Critical Incident Response Team. These events foster a team effort from everyone involved, Droleskey said. “(We’re) trying to work together as a team,” she said. “Everybody has a role, and we all just need to work together.” Wednesday, November 5, 2003 Helping International Students The Department of Student Life and International Student Services aids the families of international students once they get to the United States. The ISS helps provide housing once mmm they get to Bryan-College Station. t Student Life offers some assistance through the Student Welfare Fund, a coordinated effort with the Aggie Mom's Club. B Neither the ISS nor Student Life can provide significant financial aid to families of international students. RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE • ISS AND DEPARTMENT OF STUDENT LIFE young vote nterluec. the Vote,; I tries : /olvemeni: a 90-irr. with then The sessk IN. i leader (i nd a 25-year rizona SB ididatesnfc /oung adult >1 a sign Ik' volved. kitchens,#; ; because#; hange wet lid. ink leen counee ) show tin: usiastic s Student Senate to see Campus Master Plan By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Associate Vice President for Administration Mary Miller will present Texas A&M’s Campus Master Pkm to the Student Senate in the governance room of the Koldus Building Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Miller has chaired the Campus Master Plan committee since the designers from Michael Dennis & Associates and Barnes Gromatzky I farek Architects first set foot on campus in August 2002. The plan is a long-term design for the College Station campus put together over the course of the 2002-2003 aca demic school year by the two firms. The finalized plan, including blue prints and medium-sized color illus trations of what the campus will look like once all recommended changes have been implemented, is on display in Rudder 101, across from the MSC Box Office, and is also accessible at www.tamu.edu/campusplan. Students, faculty and staff are free to attach notes with questions or comments to the designs in Rudder. One note already attached to the parking plans asked why on-campus parking was necessary and suggest ed moving everyone to a bus system. The plan encompasses such issues as parking, demolition plans, plans for working around the rail road and improving the overall look and feel of the campus. When: Tonight at 7:35 p.m. ►College of Liberal Arts report by Dean Charles A. Johnson ►Campus Master Plan presentation by Associate VP for Administraton Mary ►Recall amendment SETH FREEMAN • THE BATTALION SOURCE:STUDENT SENATE Buildings targeted for demoli tion include residence halls and buildings the designers found blocked their paths or were too unattractive to remain. The plan has attracted the atten tion of administrators. At the Sept. 24 Student Senate meeting, University President Robert M. Gates said the planners found that most buildings added after the 1970s, including Rudder Tower and the Oceanography & Meteorology Building, were not attractive. See Master Plan on page 8 Sound of Music Chanlu Wu, a pipa musician from Houston, plays the Zheng, a string instrument The program also had performances by the Texas A&M Chinese American originating in China more than 2,300 years ago, during "An Evening of Music Association vocalist and its children's dance academy. This event was sponsored and Dance" at the George Bush Presidential Conference Center at Texas A&M. by the Asia Society of Texas and is part of the celebration of China Week. Committee to seek student affairs VP By C.E. Walters THE BATTALION nd he SM Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates estab lished a nine-member committee to search for a new vice president for student affairs to replace J. Malon Southerland, who retired this summer. Bill Kibler is currently serving as interim vice president for student affairs. The committee will be chaired by Robert Strawser, Texas A&M System Regents professor and an accounting professor. The committee will include three student leaders: Student Body President Matt Josefy, Graduate Student Council President Josh Peschel and Student Government Association Vice President of Diversity Pablo Rodriguez. Martha Loudder, a search committee member, speaker of the Faculty Senate and an accounting pro fessor, said the committee has no firm plans yet. Loudder said she will strive to appoint the best qual ified candidate for the job, but the committee has not yet determined what those qualifications will be. “I’m keeping an open mind,” Loudder said. Josefy said students are looking for a vice presi dent for student affairs who has a vision, but who will also be respectful of traditions and be able to relate to students and their needs. “Ever since Dr. Southerland retired, students have been talking about who they want to see (as vice president for student affairs),” he said. Josefy said Gates had said past experience with A&M is important. “(It is) a huge, huge plus,” Josefy said. “This is a crucial position.” Loudder said the committee will meet in the next few weeks to determine the selection process. ‘Good’ cholesterol can clear plaque Infusions of a synthetic component of “good" cholesterol, or HDL, reduced artery disease in just five weeks in a small study that could have bigger implications for treating the nation’s leading killer. Infusing the blood - HDL that has a component that contributes to" larger-than-nonnal sized particles" is infused Into the blood. It is especially ' effective at removing plaque. Cleaning the arteries HDL enters the arterial wall and pulls cholesterol from Ihe lining. Eliminating plaque Excess cholesterol is removed and transported back . to the liver for elimination. N. Rapp. C. New ZAP Experimental treatment works like ‘liquid Drano’ for coronary arteries By Lindsey Tanner THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO — Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of “good” cholesterol reduced artery dis ease in just six weeks in a small study with startlingly big implications for treating the nation’s No. 1 killer. “The concept is sort of liquid Drano for the coro nary arteries,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who led the study. Larger and longer studies need to be done to deter mine if the experimental treatment will translate into fewer deaths, but the early results are promising, said Dr. Daniel Rader, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an unusually effective form of HDL, the good choles terol that helps protect against heart disease by remov ing plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream. “This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will have far-reaching implications,” pointing the way toward a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The surprisingly quick results, though prelimi nary, shatter a long-standing belief that heart disease is a slow-progressing disease that takes a long time to undo, said Rader, who wrote an editorial accompanying See Treatment on page 2 U.S. compound in Baghdad comes under mortar fire By Robert H. Reid THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents struck Tuesday at the center of the U.S.-led occupation, firing mortars after sundown at the heavily guard ed district that includes major American facilities. Three people were wounded, the Pentagon said. Spain, a close U.S. ally, with drew many of its diplomats because of escalating violence. Huge explosions thundered throughout central Baghdad about 7:45 p.m. as the insurgents targeted the 2-square-mile “Green Zone,” which includes coalition headquar ters, the military press center and other key facilities. Iraqi police said two mortars fell in the zone, but U.S. officials said the headquarters itself, located in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces, was not damaged. However, the huge detonation sent coalition staffers running into the hallways. It was the second mor tar attack against the Green Zone in as many days. At the Pentagon, spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Cassella said three people were wounded in the attacks but it was unclear if they were military or civilians. Cassella said there appeared to have been three explosions, possibly from mortars or rockets. The attack underscored the pre carious security situation in the city. Late Monday, three mortars explod ed in the center of Baghdad. U.S. officials said one struck a camp of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which provides security in the palace district. Officials said there was no damage nor casualties. The deteriorating security situa tion* has prompted the United Nations, the international Red Cross and other international organiza tions to reduce their foreign staffs. See Compound on page 8