Opinion: Slave for you • Page 5B
8 ATT.H]|
Sports: Ags heading to Sweet 16 • Page 1 B
TIJI7 D A TT A T TAM
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I (Volume 110 • Issue 70 • 14 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattalion.net
Monday, December 8, 2003
r eis to present new parking plan
PROPOSED PARKING
PLAN f
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
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Transportation Services Director Rodney
eis will present a new parking distribution plan
|o Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates
uesday. The Student Senate endorsed the pro
sed plan at its Nov. 19 meeting.
“When Mr. Weis takes (the plan) to Dr. Gates,
ehas the student body behind him with it,” said
fared Janacek, a student senator and freshman
;eneral studies major. “It reiterates to Dr. Gates
at the students have gone over it and we’ve
DivkhtcwAnalyzed it and critiqued it and we’re happy with
to we’re getting out of it.”
The plan is to change how A&M’s current
arking resources are utilized. There are 34,000
arking spaces, including garages and lots, on
ampus. Weis said this is adequate, but people
Stacy Ld ave difficulties finding parking because the
i LindaAi paces aren’t allocated properly,
as, remtr; Weis’ plan proposes that parking gates be
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removed, reserved numbered spaces be eliminat
ed or reduced and boundaries be redrawn.
“A lot of students are worried about losing
their garage spots,” Janacek said, “but I don’t
really foresee that being a problem because
nobody will lose any spots, you just won’t have
an assigned spot.”
In the new plan, people would request where
they wanted to park. Faculty would get first pick,
then staff, followed by graduate students, seniors
and the rest of the student body.
If approved, the plan would be implemented
in the fall of 2004. Students would pick their
parking choices when registering for fall classes
during the spring semester.
People would pick, in order, their top six
choices: They could choose any of the garages
and/or lots. If a person gets, his third choice, he
would remain on the waiting lists for their first
and second choices.
People could park anywhere in the lot or
garage that their permit is valid in, and there
would be no free parking. Thirty-minute spaces,
free event parking and University business per
mits would be eliminated or reduced.
Weis said there are currently 3,700 permits
that allow faculty or staff members to park for
free, including University business permits.
“The University permit allows you to come
into the Koldus visitor area and park free,” he
said. “I don’t agree with that. Because I’m a
University employee and I’m consuming that
service, I should have to pay for that as part of
my departmental expense.”
The number of permits sold for a lot or garage
would exceed the number of spaces — a process
known as overselling. Lots would be oversold
under the direction of TS Associate Director
Peter Lange, who Weis said is a nationally rec
ognized oversell expert.
Lange said he is careful about overselling
and takes many factors into consideration. First,
See Parking on page 2A
TS Director Rodney Weis has
proposed a parking plan that WEIS
will redistribute the University's
34,000 parking spaces to more efficiently
serve faculty, staff and students. The plan
includes:
• removing parking gates and reserved
numbered spaces
• letting faculty, staff, graduate and
undergraduate students request parking
locations on campus in order of seniority
• eliminating free parking and reducing
30-minute spaces, free event parking and |
University business permits
• overselling permits for designated lots
and garages
CRACIE ARENAS • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DIRECTOR RODNEY WEIS
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Santa, played by College Station resident Dwight McKenzie, adver
tising editor of The Eagle, waves during the 77th annual Holiday
Parade held Sunday afternoon near Texas A&M. Santa's helpers
)P BEATO III • THE BATTALION
collected letters from children along the route. The Hollywood-
themed parade had 109 entrants and traveled two miles down
Texas Avenue in Bryan.
Regents approve new
admissions policy
By Sarah Szuminski
THE BATTALION
Standards for automatic admis
sion into Texas A&M have been
raised, allowing the University to
consider a larger portion of prospec
tive Aggies on a variety of factors
starting in the fall of 2006.
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents unani
mously approved the new admis
sions policy for the University at its
meeting Friday.
The plan, announced by
University President Robert M.
Gates at a forum Dec. 3, will not
screen students by race or ethnicity,
but is aimed at admitting a larger
number of minority, low-income and
first-generation college students.
The new policies are expected
to increase the percentage of
A&M’s student body that is com
posed of minority students.
Currently, minorities make up only
18 percent of the University’s
undergraduate population.
“Texas A&M will make new and
significant efforts to encourage
minority students to apply for admis
sion to the University,” Gates said at
the Dec. 3 forum. “We want them to
know of our interest in having them
consider Texas A&M as the place to
continue their education.”
First-generation college students
will also be eligible for a $5,000
REGENTS ACTIONS
The Texas A&M Board of Regents
took the following actions at its
meeting last Thursday and I riday:
Approved University President
Robert M. Gates' proposed
admissions requirements and
policies
Approved a concept for the
establishment of a Mexican
American / Latino Research
Center
Approved a new research
division between the Texas
Transportation Institute and the
George Bush School of
Government
Approved funding for the new
Robert M. Gates chair in the
Bush School
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : TEXAS A&M BOARD OF REGENTS
annual scholarships, totaling $20,000
over four years, if their household
income is less than $40,000.
Regents Chairman Lowry Mays
praised the proposal, saying it is “an
extremely strong initiative to
increase diversity; a remarkable
See Regents on page 2A
Bubba trades comfort for donations
By Joaquin Salcedo
THE BATTALION
While many of the big glass windows
f various stores in the Post Oak Mall
irovide shoppers with an opportunity to
tke a closer look at what they would
ike to purchase, some windows will
resent shoppers with a chance to give.
William “Bubba” Fowler Moore Jr.
as been living inside a glass house at
te mall since Nov. 3 in an effort to col-
ect $150,000 for Habitat for Humanity.
I The project, called “Bubba-tat for
iHiimanity,” is honoring Habitat for
iNumanity’s 15th anniversary in Bryan-
Kollege Station. Moore, a local pub
lishing house owner, said he decided
that after years of giving free advertis
ing and publicity it was time to help in
a more direct manner.
“I first presented the idea to the
local Habitat board,” Moore said.
“When the Habitat International Office
heard about it, they jumped on it. No
one had ever done this before.”
Habitat for Humanity was founded by
Millard Fuller in 1976 and allows people
without homes to purchase a home for
their families at a reasonable cost.
Trish Burke, executive director of
the Bryan-College Station Habitat for
Humanity, said the organization does
not give away free houses but helps
people buy their own homes.
“It takes 400 hours of sweat equity
work on other people’s houses and
proof that they can pay mortgage,
taxes, insurance and still be able to pro
vide for their families before they can
qualify to receive a home,” Burke said.
Moore has promised to remain in
the glass house until he meets his goal
of sponsoring five homes for “Bubba-
tat.” It costs $60,000 to build a home,
but only $30,000 to sponsor one.
Habitat for Humanity has agreed to pay
for the rest of each of the homes that
Moore gets sponsored.
Moore has raised $42,000 and is
expected to stay another three to four
months — much longer than he had
anticipated — if donations continue to
come in at this rate.
See Donations on page 2A
|P BEATO III • THE BATTALION
W.F. "Bubba Moore" works on publishing his TV Facts magazine from inside his 16x20 ft. plex
iglass house in front of J.C. Penny in Post Oak Mall on Thursday. Moore, who has been locked
inside since Nov. 3, hopes to raise $150,000 for Habitat for Humanity by Christmas.
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Institutions struggle to curb
spread of computer spam
By Bart Shirley
THE BATTALION
The U.S. Senate recently approved a
law that will require the U.S. Federal
Trade Commission to create a no-spam
registry within six months, but Texas
A&M officials are trying to respect stu
dents’ rights while battling spam.
Under the law, spammers can be
sued for up to $2 million. Fines and jail
time are also possible punishments for
spammers who send deceptive or
pornographic spam.
Tom Putnam, director of A&M’s
Computing and Information Services
(CIS), said many of the spammers
move offshore to defeat the legislation.
Putnam said CIS only combats spam by
spamtagging, an identification program
that allows users to specify what they
consider to be spam.
CIS does not otherwise fight spam,
Putnam said, because doing so could
See Spam on page 6A
Bush Library hosts ‘Holiday in the Rotunda’
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M students and members
of the Bryan-College Station communi
ty can celebrate the holiday season at
“Holiday in the Rotunda” at the George
Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
The festivities, sponsored for the
past three years by TXU
Communications, will be held in front
of the 19-foot Christmas tree in the
rotunda of the museum.
“Holiday in the Rotunda’ began to
inform the community of what the
Bush Library has to offer,” said
Sharon Merrell, programs coordina
tor at the Bush Library.
The museum’s classroom has
been transformed into Santa’s work
shop, where children will have the
opportunity to create their own
Christmas tree ornaments. A repre
sentative from the Storyteller’s Guild
will also be on hand to tell Texas
Christmas stories to the children.
“We encourage parents to partici
pate in the activities with their chil
dren,” Merrell said.
“Holiday in the Rotunda” began
last week and will continue through
Thursday, Dec. 11. While the pro
gram caters primarily to young peo
ple, there will be something for guests
of all ages. Entertainment this
Tuesday will come from numerous
groups from the Bryan-College
Station area, including Canticle Bells
from United Methodist Church, the
Sanctuary Choir and Covenant Praise,
third graders from Pebble Creek
Elementary singing songs from
“Christmas on Candy Lane” and the
Brethren Church Choir.
Activities and entertainment are
held from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is
free and refreshments will be served.