The Battalion
Volume 110 • Issue 86 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
Sports:
Get the scoop
on the new
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Page 4
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PACE DESIGN BY : EMILY HENDRICKSON
Former A&M student assaulted on Northgate
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
Matthew Bryan Rooney was assaulted Jan. 24,
]004,by two men on College Main at Northgate due
to his sexual orientation.
According to the College Station Police
Department news release, Rooney, who graduat
ed from Texas A&M in December, was confront-
y the young men, who yelled derogatory
remarks at Rooney and his friends about his sex
ual orientation. The men then assaulted Rooney,
hitting him several times in the head and face.
Rooney said the assault was unprovoked.
“I was walking down the street when people
rted yelling stuff,” Rooney said. “This has hap
pened before.”
Rooney said his roommate, Jocelyn Baron, began
yell back, and then the men quickly approached
rmfrom behind. Rooney then apologized for his
roommate and began to walk away, when one of the
began to punch him in the head.
Rooney said he did not fight back and instead tried
to call 91 1 while being assaulted.
“1 don’t believe in violence,” Rooney said.
"Violence doesn’t solve violence.”
Rooney said the men ran west on Church Street
when they noticed he was making a phone call.
Rooney suffered injuries to his nose and mouth
and was taken to the
emergency room the fol-
mri]61im;Ll(UIC=S lowing day for treatment.
WWW.th6batl.C0ni ^ Baron, who also grad
uated from A&M in
December, said she was shocked that Rooney was
physically attacked because of his sexual orientation.
“I never expected anything like this to happen,”
Baron said. “I've always thought of this town and
community as being safe and kind. 1 did not think
physical violence would be vested on one of my
friends because of who he is.”
Rooney said people passing by the attack made no
attempt to help him in any way.
“Cars were driving by, and egging the guys on,”
Rooney said. “Someone even drove by and yelled
something derogatory about me while I was being
punched in the head.”
Rooney said he has been verbally abused before in
College Station for being homosexual, but this is the
first time he has ever been physically assaulted.
Erin Collins, a senior English major and a close
friend of Rooney’s, said she is appalled and upset
about the attack.
“He’s a really nice guy and he’s one of those peo
ple who will take care of you when you need to be
taken care of,” Collins said. “And 1 know A&M is
conservative, but for something to happen that is an
outright hate crime on this campus is appalling.”
Chris Smith, president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bi
sexual and Transgendered Aggies (GLBTA) said this
attack was “an act of thoughtlessness and ignorance,”
and that although physical attacks like this happen
less frequently in College Station than they used to,
homosexuals still encounter verbal abuse.
See Assault on page 2
ON THE WATCH
College Station Police detectives are
investigating this case and asking
for help identifying the suspects.
CZEESB)
• White male
• Mid-twenties
• 5 feet 10 inches tall, thin build
• Short brown hair and goatee
• Tattoos on both biceps
• White male
• Mid-twenties
• 5 feet 10 inches tall, thin build
• Short blonde hair
If you have any information regarding
these suspects, please call:
979-764-3600
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
Source : CSPD
Candy land
four-year-old Katie Wall, of College Station, awaits her prize as grandfather Jerry Wall, of Bryan, wins a package of stickers
onJassorted candies from a crane machine at a local pizza place late Thursday.
Meyer takes the reigns
as assistant provost
By Erin Price
THE BATTALION
As Texas A&M’s new assistant
provost. Dr. Paul Meyer said he hopes he
can make a positive contribution to
A&M.
“It’s been very good so far,” Meyer
said. “I'm on the steep part of the learning
curve, but it’s exciting for me.”
Dr. Jeanette Phariss retired from the
position on Jan. 31, and this is Meyer’s
first week on the job.
“Jeanette was a legend on
campus, but I will do my best,”
Meyer said.
Duties for the assistant
provost include going over
new degree and department
proposals from colleges and
making sure the University
follows the rules and regula
tions set forth by the Texas
Higher Education
Coordinating Board.
Meyer spent the past 10
years working for the Texas
Higher Education
Coordinating Board and the last six years
as the board's director of academic affairs.
He also taught English at A&M from from
1985 to 1988.
“I still have friends here that were my
friends back then and it’s nice to get reac
quainted,” Meyer said.
Meyer also taught English at New
Mexico State University and the
University of Texas at Austin. He earned
a bachelor’s degree in English and
physics from Rice University in 1978.
He earned his master’s and doctoral
degrees in English from the University
of Texas at Austin in 1982 and 1985,
respectively.
Pierce Cantrell, associate provost for
information technology, chaired the
search committee for the new assistant
provost and said Meyer was among the
many qualified candidates for the job.
“Meyer had been at the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board since
1994, so we already worked closely with
him ” Cantrell said.
The search commit
tee consisting of mem
bers of the A&M facul
ty, Texas A&M System
and the Board of
Regents. The committee
posted the job listing on
many electronic lists for
higher education,
Cantrell said.
“Meyer had the expe
rience of knowing how it
worked on the other
side,” Cantrell said. “He
is well-respected around
the state.”
Diana Sousares, administrative assis
tant for the provost’s office, said Meyer
has big shoes to fill, but is familiar with
certain aspects of his job.
“I think he will do a great job,” she
said.
Meyer said he is glad to be at A&M
with the reinvestment in faculty and devel
oping new research and degrees by A&M
President Robert M. Gates.
“This is a very exciting time for Texas
A&M,” Meyer said. “I’m glad to be
back.”
This is a very
exciting time for
A&M.J'm glad to
be back.
— Paul Meyer
A&M assistant provost
Prairie View A&M students
file voting rights suit
By Juan A. Lozano
THE ASSOCIATED PRES6
HOUSTON — Civil rights groups and stu
dents from Prairie View A&M University filed
a federal lawsuit Thursday asking that Waller
County District Attorney Oliver Kitzman stop
what they claim are threats by his office to pre
vent students from voting in local elections.
The lawsuit comes a day after Attorney
General Greg Abbott issued an opinion saying
Prairie View A&M students may vote in their
university town if they simply designate Waller
County as their residence.
Students have expressed anger and fear after
learning that Kitzman last year said Prairie
View A&M students weren’t automatically eli
gible to vote in county elections because of
state-mandated residency standards. Hundreds
of students from the predominantly black
school marched in protest last month.
State requirements for voter eligibility say,
among other things, a person must be an 18-
year-old U.S. citizen and resident of the coun
ty at least 30 days before the election.
In a 15-page legal opinion issued
Wednesday, Abbott said it is well established in
Texas law that college students can vote local
ly if they designate their campus address as
their residence.
But Abbott’s ruling is not enough to ease
students’ fears, said Jon Greenbaum, with
the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Under Law.
“We approve of the attorney general’s
opinion but this issue goes beyond that,” he
said. “This goes to how the students feel
when they go to vote. Students still feel the
threat of prosecution.”
The deadline to register to vote in the March
9 primary is Monday.
In the 1970s, the Waller County registrar
required Prairie View A&M students to com
plete a residency questionnaire, something oth
ers did not have to do. In 1978, the Supreme
Court said this violated the students’ right to
vote and ordered the registrar to determine stu
dent eligibility the same way it did for all other
individuals.
“We want to extend what the Supreme
Court did in the 1970s to the district attorney,”
Greenbaum said.
The civil rights groups and some local offi
cials, including U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, D-
See Suit on page 2
Interfaith donates 100 meals
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
The Interfaith Dialogue Students’ Association
(IDSA) along with Twin City Mission will donate
100 meals to anyone that stops by on Friday in
honor of the Muslim holiday, Eid al Adha.
“(The donation is) not only for the homeless, it’s
for the community in general,” said Renat
Shaykutdinov, vice president of IDSA. ’’It’s some
thing that on one hand has a religious purpose, but
on the other hand (helps provide) an environment
for the common understanding of people of differ
ent backgrounds.”
The IDSA, a Texas A&M organization, has
donated approximately $ 1,500 in sheep to be sacri
ficed and cooked for the occasion. The food will be
served at 500 North Main in downtown Bryan at the
Twin City Mission dining hall at 4:15 p.m.
“We’re trying to make (the food) as
Americanized as possible but still incorporate fea
tures of both (Arabic and American) cultures,”
Shaykutdinov said.
The feast will be in celebration of an event in
which the prophet Abraham dreamed three times
that God told him to sacrifice his son Ishmael. He
didn’t want to sacrifice his son, and the angel
Gabriel brought a sheep to him which he sacrificed
instead, said Isil Durma, Class of 2004 and member
of IDSA.
“The religious holiday started on Feb. 1, lasts
four days and is known as a feast of sacrifice,”
Durma said. “So we’re going to cook rice and meat
for about 100 people. We anticipate a lot of people
coming.”
The IDSA was founded in the summer of 2001
to bridge gaps
between stu
dents of differ
ent religions.
It is open to
anyone of any religion, although it was estab
lished mostly by Muslim students. It holds week
ly discussion groups at the Barnes and Noble
Bookstore on Texas Avenue on Mondays
evenings.
The Twin City Mission, a Christian charity, is
working closely with the IDSA by donating its din
ing hall facilities, according to Taner
Sumeshaglan, president of the IDSA and graduate
student at A&M.
“We have invited ministers from local
churches just to introduce the interfaith and
basically understand the commonalities between
each other,” Shaykutdinov said. “There will be
differences, but we stress commonalities. The
purpose of the group is to come together to share
experiences.”
Sumeshaglan said it was a tradition for
Muslims to share, especially during this important
holiday.
“We have such a small Muslim community in
Bryan,” Sumeshaglan said. “We wanted to share
our food with poor people especially.”