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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2004)
The Battalion Sci/Tech: Tracking the habits of squir rels on campus. See YVYvvv.the- battalion.com SCIENCE Alf dI llifei lee '.hnoloqy Volume 110 • Issue 7N • 14 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 w w w.ihebaualiiui.nei PAGE DESIGN by • EMILY HENDRICKSON &M’s first cloned deer is progressing well 'oe-i duplicate m John C. Livas • THE BATTALION , Wildlife & Exotic Animal Center Gavin Eastep scolds white-tailed buck clone Dewey for unwanted jSupervising technician r e ^ scold Dewey for rubbing antlers on any of the volunteers and students who study him. Dewey is IWwviortoteprnakesa poi^ ^ expected to be larger than any other deer the Wildlife & Exotic Animal Center has raised. Born on | 23 200° ^ C ^ is studied for his body and antler growth. No experiments are currently being conducted on Dewey By Jason Hanselka THE BATTALION The Yvhite-tailed deer dubbed Dewey, Texas A&M’s most recent clone, is doing well since he was cloned last month, said researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers at the college announced in December that they had successfully cloned Dewey, named after Dr. Duane Kraemer, one of the lead researchers on the project. The announcement was made seven months after the fawn was born to a sur rogate mother. During that time, researchers performed DNA tests to prove the fawn was an exact genetic replica of its donor. Along with Kraemer, Dr. Mark Westhusin of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Charles Long of Viagen Inc., worked on the project. “He was born naturally,” Kraemer said. “He seems to be growing quite nicely.” A&M is the first academic institution in the world to clone five different species. Previous cloning projects pro duced calves, pigs, a goat and a cat. “The basic procedure is the same to clone all the animals,” Kraemer said. Cloning involves a process called nuclear transfers which isolate genetic samples from the nucleus of a donor cell and transfers the genetic material to the nucleus of an egg cell. The college chose to clone a deer, Kraemer said, to study certain diseases that plague the animal to understand them and develop a form of prevention. Researchers also wanted to study antler development to see how similarly a cloned deer’s antlers grow in com parison to its donor. “Dewey will stay at A&M for a while so we can study his antler development,” Kraemer said. “Some people might want to use this research to produce a superior quality buck.” Dr. Alice Blue-McLendon, a veteri narian at the College of Veterinary Medicine who is in charge of caring for Dewey, said that the deer is exhibiting normal growth patterns. “He’s excessively tame,” Blue- McLendon said. “His mother rejected him so we’ve had to raise him.” Jose Escobedo, a graduate student in science and technology journalism, said that cloning is beneficial as long as it solves problems affecting everyone. “It’s great that cloning is possible as long as we are not doing it to play around and spend money,” he said. “If a deer dis ease affects people then we should first look at the disease and see how bad it is.” Kraemer said that there are no current cloning projects to produce any new ani mals. “What we’re doing now is studying the process and learning ways to perfect it,” Kraemer said. Overall public approval, Kraemer said, has been favorable. “There are always people who will object to what we’re doing,” he said. Blue-McLendon said no experiments are currently being conducted on Dewey. “We’re just watching his growth,” she said. “Other than that, he lives just like a normal deer.” reak-in spree causes alarm for College Station By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION A spree of car break-ins across ( ollege Station last weekend has the College Station Police )epartment (CSPD) urging residents to lock and pro- ect their cars. Mark Langwell, public information officer for TSPD, said with the new semester beginning, there are lore students with cars. “When they were home for Christmas some were |iot used to locking their stufl up," he said. CSPD Sgt. Gary Vick said more than 10 break-ins ccurred in different parts of the city. Areas where the break-ins occurred ranged from the .astlegate Subdivision to the Woodstone Shopping Center and Balcones fourplexes. “That tells you that there is more than one person or ^roup doing it,” Langwell said Langwell said the cars were parked at houses and apartments. Vick said there was no specific pattern for the break-ins. “From what I have seen, entry was just by breaking the window," Vick said. Sgt. Allan Baron of the University Police Department (UPD) said the A&M campus has not seen a problem with break-ins, but that does not mean cars on campus are not at risk. Baron said 89 cars were broken into on campus last year, which is roughly seven a month. “That number is relatively low compared to the number in College Station,” he said. Baron said UPD patrols several parking lots on campus with a number of officers on foot or on bicycle. Cameras installed by Transportation Services last year aid UPD in monitoring particular lots, he said. “By building a surveillance, it says ‘watch out at TAMU, there are cops everywhere,'” he said. Kerry Stout, a recent A&M graduate, said he caught a persop breaking into his car after a night out last semester. “Me and girlfriend were coming back from Northgate and we were parked at the Catholic church parking lot in the first spot,” he said. “The driver's side door was wide open and we heard an alarm going off, and I was like ‘that sounds like mine,’ I then saw the guy hanging out of my door." Stout said he chased him all the way to McDonald’s on University where he was caught by the police. Stout said nothing was taken. “He chose the wrong truck to break into,” he said. Both CSPD and UPD police departments warn stu dents and residents not to leave valuable items, such as purses, cell phones and CDs in visible view. If car stereos have a detachable cover, CSPD and UPD advise that it be taken off. Baron said just because the number of break-ins are low on campus, that does not mean students should not take action when at school or at home. “Things can change overnight,” he said. Precious ©atrgo UJL CSPD and UPD urge students and residents to protect their cars by following these tips: O Do not leave valuable items in the car. O Take detachable face plates off of radios. O Park in well-lit areas. Andrew Burleson • THE BATTALION Source : UPD & CSPD Blinn journalism dasses canceled By Eric Ambrose) THE BATTALION Two months after Texas A&M announced its decision to can cel the journalism program, Blinn College in Bryan temporarily canceled all journalism classes for the 2003-04 school year. Nancy Wright, chair of the humanities division at Biinn, said the program was canceled shortly after the announcement at A&M because the program was largely based upon co-enrolled students, and the enrollment numbers had been declining. Wright said she wants to bring journalism classes back to Blinn, but said there have been problems finding qualified pro- I lessors. “I give it a great deal of importance because I think there are a lot of students out there that want to go into some kind of jour nalism,” she said. “But we’re doing everything we can to get it I back in the fall.” Journalism professors must have a master's degree and ade- j quate experience in the field, Wright said. There is currently only one journalism professor at Blinn, but Wright said if she can find additional qualified teachers that two or three journalism classes will be offered at Blinn next fall. “As a teacher, I value journalism and realize how important it is in society,” said Nequoia Elsey, communications instructor and faculty adviser for the student newspaper at Blinn. “I would | hope that the programs would be revived.” Wright said even though she is uncertain of the future of | journalism at A&M, that one of her major goals for the next few years is to rebuild the journalism program at Blinn. “Even though I’m not a journalism major, I think it’s impor tant to offer some kind of journalism classes at any college,” said Luke Mintzas, a sophomore at Blinn. “The media plays such a- major role in every aspect of our society that understanding jour nalism could help students in any field.” Aggie Code gets a boost from staff By Rhiannon Meyers THE BATTALION Spoils management professor Dr. George Cunningham said he begins each semester with a lecture on plagiarism. This is because in each of the two semes ters he has taught at A&M, he said he has caught someone cheating. “The thing that surprises me is that (stu dents) don’t know what cheating is,” Cunningham said. Nicole Bradford, director of the newly- formed Aggie Honor System Office, said this sort of misunderstanding is something the office hopes to change. “We want to make students aware of aca demic integrity,” she said. “We’re not setting up another police force — we’re here to edu- BRADFORD cate.” The office, a recom mendation from the Academic Integrity Task Force, was formed last fall in response to high levels of cheating on campus. The force determined the levels of cheating through surveys and student reports. “The cheating levels were as high here as the national levels,” said Martha Loudder, accounting professor and chair of the Academic Integrity Task Force. “We always thought we were better, but we have a lot of people not honoring the Aggie Code of Honor.” The Aggie Honor System Office, located in the Academic Building, will be the first ever centralized location on A&M’s campus to deal with academic dishonesty and infrac tions of the Aggie Code. The office will be responsible for keeping a record of cheating incidents and educating students on the definition and consequences of academic dishonesty. The Aggie Code of Honor states Aggies will not “lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate those who do.” “We want students to know the code and know their rights,” Bradford said. The office is also responsible for organiz ing an honor council, effective Fall 2004. The council will consist of two undergraduates, one graduate and two faculty members from each college who will review cases of See Honor on page 2A A&M’s first woman prof speaks out See Blinn on page 2A Joshua L. Hobson • THE BATTALION Betty Unterberger, the first woman to teach at A&M, speaks Monday night at George Bush Presidential Library. By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION Minorities were regarded very differently at Texas A&M in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Betty Miller Unterberger and Fred McClure said Monday at the George Bush Presidential Library Conference Center as part of “Campus with a Dream” week. Campus with a Dream has been a weeklong event sponsored by students, faculty and staff at A&M in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unterberger, a history professor at A&M and regents professor, shared anecdotes of her experi ences and struggles at A&M when she first came to the campus from the University of California at Irvine. “I felt very much alone at Texas A&M, but it wasn’t strange to me,” she said. Unterberger said that at that time there were only three women professors in Southern California. “I had been told that I had no reason to be tak ing the bread out of the mouths of deserving male grad students,” Unterberger said. “I learned that these people who treated me and all women at that time as they did, that if they knew better, they would do better.” See Prof on page 2A