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Volume 110 • Issue 49 • 10 pages
Foreign families receive sparse aid
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A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattalion.net
By Bart Shirley
THE BATTALION
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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
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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