The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 10, 2003, Image 1
Sports: Embarrassed • Page 5 Opinion: Bowling for truth • Page 9 THF RATTATTOM JL lTlEj JDiil JL Av^/Ii 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 qE- A: «pp«ren(/y Well never Kna ~ 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