Sports: Embarrassed • Page 5
Opinion: Bowling for truth • Page 9
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Volume 110 • Issue 52 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattaIion.net
Monday, November 10, 2003
Kennedy receives Bush award
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
|P BEATO III • THE BATTALION
in. Ted Kennedy and former President George Bush shake hands after a
given by Kennedy Friday in Rudder Auditorium. Kennedy is the third
ipient of the George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Affairs.
jpeech
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of
Massachusetts accepted the George Bush
Award for Excellence in Public Service at
Texas A&M on Friday, despite a controver
sial and conservative atmosphere, and
encouraged debate of political issues to
ensure the strength of the nation.
Former President George Bush selected
Kennedy to receive this award based on
Kennedy’s 41 years in the U.S. Senate, his
contributions to Americans with disabili
ties, his strong leadership and his commit
ment to his beliefs, said Brent Scowcroft,
president of the Board of Directors for the
George Bush Presidential Library
Foundation. Scowcroft, who was also
Bush’s National Security Adviser, read the
citation of the award at a private dinner cer
emony in the Bush Presidential Library
Museum Rotunda shortly after Kennedy’s
address in Rudder Auditorium.
“We are not here to celebrate a partisan
ideology,” Bush said. “But rather the stead
fast public service of a seminal figure in
the U.S. Senate — and by extension his
remarkable family.”
Kennedy was joined by several mem
bers of his family, including his wife
Victoria, his children Kara, Edward,
Caroline, Curran and Michael Allen, his
niece Caroline and his sisters Ambassador
Jean Kennedy Smith, Ethel Kennedy, Pat
Lawford and Eunice Shriver.
“Having these family members here
gives us a wonderful chance to salute all
Kennedys, past and present, for their self
less service in uniform, their service in pol
itics and their service as points of light,
helping others,” Bush said.
Bush and Kennedy focused on the sim
ilar ambitions and successes of their fami
lies as a common ground in which political
differences were set aside. The two recog
nized the various achievements of their
politically prominent families, asserting
that the rivalry between them was merely a
difference in political ideology.
Bush pointed out that degrading comments
See Kennedy on page 10
'avalry members
egin testimonies
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
Friday marked the third day
|of testimony in the civil suit
members of the Parson’s
Mounted Cavalry have brought
against Texas A&M, and former
Cavalry member Drake Prowse
testified University documenta
tion outlining the allegations
against him were unclear.
The Parsons Mounted
Cavalry students are seeking
legal action to dismiss them
selves of the hazing punish
ments they are receiving, which
they deem to be unfair and ille
gal. The Cavalry was suspended
in October 2002 by Lt. Gen.
I " John Van Alstyne, the Corps of
Cadets commandanT, foralleged
hazing violations. In April, dis
ciplinary hearings were held for
the students involved.
The first witness to provide
testimony at the Brazos County
Courthouse Friday was
Charlotte Magruder, mother of
senior A&M yell leader John
Magruder. Magruder testified
concerning her son, a member of
Parsons Mounted Cavalry, said
attorney Ronald Hole, represen
tative for the student plaintiffs.
i Magruder was part of the
“second three,” a group of the
Cavalry’s upperclassmen who
discipline the sophomore mem
bers, Charlotte Magruder said.
“The pre-hearing was more
of an inquisition, yet they found
(Magruder) guilty,” Hole said.
Prowse also testified Friday.
He was the first student witness
in the hearing. Prowse had not
been a Cavalry member since
the 2001-2002 school year, he
said. At this time, a different
commandant was in charge of
the Corps.
Attorneys for the students
said Prowse was alleged to have
violated five University rules.
The allegation documents did not
include specifications pertaining
to what part of these rules were
violated or what year they were
violated in, Prowse said.
“It just lists that I received
violations,” Prowse said.
A&M attorney Natalie Gray
had indicated in opening state
ments that students should be
able to identify any statements
pertaining to them.
“It took me about an hour and
a half to review what I was look
ing at. None of it seemed to per
tain to me,” Prowse said. “My
prime concern was 1 didn’t know
what anything was based on.”
Prowse said he had been out
of the Cavalry when members
received their violations, and
there had been no circumstances
he had been involved in.
Punishments received could
have put jobs and plans to
become engaged and married on
hold, said Prowse, who is sched
uled to graduate in December.
The final witness called to
testify Friday was Jacquie
See Cavalry on page 2
No joke
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SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
University of Oklahoma fans hold up signs supporting the No. 1 - game held Saturday in Norman, Okla. The Sooners defeated the
ranked ranked Sooners during the Texas A&M v. OU football Aggies 77-0. See more coverage on page 5.
ITS: Bikes must obey traffic laws
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Lindsay Mosley, a senior English major, col
lided head-on with another bicycle during the
first semester of her freshman year.
“We didn’t say a word to each other,”
Mosley said. “We just rode off. We were just
embarrassed.”
Although Mosley was not injured in the acci
dent and did not report it, she has a friend who
once broke her collarbone after her bicycle col
lided with an automobile.
Transportation Services Director Rodney
Weis said he would like accidents such as these
to be prevented by having bicyclists observe
traffic laws, drive defensively, slow down and
use common sense.
“I would hope that all motorists and pedestri
ans would drive, bike or walk Texas-friendly,”
Weis said.
Weis said the biggest bicycle-related problem
he sees on campus is when bicycles traveling too
fast on sidewalks or around heavy pedestrian
See Bikes on page 10
Disobeying traffic laws can cause
a biker to get fined up to $500.
Here are some tips to stay safe on
campus:
■ Follow the same rules as
automobiles, such as
stopping at stop signs.
■ Drive at a safe speed.
Spring semester class
focuses on terrorism
Use headlights at night.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE :TS/UPD
U.S. steps up military operations after recent attacks
By Slobodan Lekic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Soldiers arrested 18
people in a deadly missile barrage last month
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
narrowly escaped, officials said Sunday. U.S.
warplanes bombed near a center of Iraqi resist
ance, and the military said it was intensifying
the fight against insurgents after increasingly
bloody attacks.
The U.S. command also announced the
death of another soldier, killed late Saturday
when his vehicle struck a land mine in
Baghdad. A senior Iraqi official warned that
mounting violence may delay steps toward a
new constitution, considered a major condition
for returning the country to full Iraqi rule.
Lt. Col. George Krivo, spokesman for the
U.S. command, said the 18 suspects were
arrested in Baghdad by the 1st Armored
Division but gave no further details. The missile
attack Oct. 27 against the Al-Rasheed Hotel
killed a U.S. colonel and injured 18 others.
■ Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq
war, was staying in the hotel but escaped
injury. The barrage was part of a
series of escalated attacks over the
past two weeks, including the
downing of a Chinook helicopter
Nov. 2 in Fallujah in which 16
soldiers were killed and 21
injured.
The downing of the Chinook
and the crash Friday of a Black
Hawk helicopter in Tikrit made
the first week of November the
bloodiest for American forces
since President Bush declared an
end to major combat May 1.
With the start of the holy
month of Ramadan on Oct. 27 in Iraq, U.S.
forces lifted curfews in Baghdad and Tikrit and
scaled down nighttime raids to avoid angering
ordinary Iraqis at a time of heightened religious
a
We have picked
up the intensity of
our offensive
. ff
operations.
— Lt. Col. George Krivo
spokesman for U.S.
command
sentiment.
But after the wave of attacks that began around
the start of Ramadan, the military now appears to
be returning to a more robust operation.
The military has launched a
new, massive response tactic
aimed at taking the fight to the
insurgents, officials said. Krivo
said there was a “new focus” in
the north and west of Baghdad
to find areas where Saddam loy
alists “and other noncompliant
forces are operating.”
“We have picked up the
intensity of our offensive opera
tions and this is specifically
manifested with the larger num
bers of troops in the 82nd
Airborne and other forces to the
west,” Krivo said, without giving details on the
See Operations on page 2
By Dan Orth
THE BATTALION
Due to the attention on
terrorism issues following
the 9-11 terrorist attacks,
the Department of
Geography will again be
offering a Geography of
Terrorism class this spring.
The class will cover the
regions and places of ter
ror, tragedy and counter
terrorism.
It will also focus on the
role terrorism plays in the
world today, events follow
ing 9-11 and other terrorist
acts before it.
Erik Prout, a visiting
assistant professor, teaches
the class. He said the class
made an impact on the stu
dents who took it last spring.
“I received a very positive
response from students about
the class and it was some
thing they said they needed
to talk about,” Prout said.
Jana Sheffield, a junior
geography major, took the
class last spring and said
she enjoyed the discussions
on terrorism.
"In our class, students
led discussions on topics of
terrorism, and I found class
involvement very reward
ing," Sheffield said.
The class is made up of
half discussion and half lec
ture. Prout lectures on top
ics such as the motivations
of people who commit sui
cide bombings and the pos
sibility that increased glob
alization has led to more
terrorism.
Sheffield believes taking
the class will benefit her
future career as well.
"I plan on going into the
Air Force upon graduation,
and this course gave me a
useful background on ter
rorism and relevant
issues,” she said.
Prout said the class
focuses on what terrorism
means, and in lecture he
works to help students bet
ter understand terrorism.
“My goal is to define ter
rorism and what it means. I
work to get students think
ing about it critically. I
inform students of post-
September 11 issues and I
have them intensely read
articles on the subject of
terrorism,” Prout said.
Kyler Arnold, a sopho
more international studies
major, said she would take a
class on terrorism and said
taking it would benefit her
See Class on page 2