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Volume 110 • Issue 7N • 14 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
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PAGE DESIGN by • EMILY HENDRICKSON
&M’s first cloned deer is progressing well
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duplicate
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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