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Battalion
Volume 110 • Issue 94 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
Sports:
Aggie women
face No. 8
K State.
Page 5
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE
:"GSC supports FCIC
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By Aerin Toussaint
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M Graduate
Council (GSC) said at
meeting Tuesday that it
Id support Wednesday’s
diversity march.
The Rally and March for
Diversity is being held by the
Faculty Committed to
Inclusive Campus (FCIC) to pro
mote diversity on campus.
The Student Government
Association (SGA) withdrew i ls
support for the rally based on
opposition to the FCIC’s stance
onmethods of obtaining diversity.
Josh Peschel, GSC president
and a graduate student in biologi
cal and agricultural engineering,
said the GSC is respectful of the
SGA’s decision, hut desires to
maintain support for the spirit of
diversity that is being encouraged
hythe march.
"Bypassing the resolution, the
GSC has officially voiced its sup
port for the spirit of the march as
abody,” Peschel said.
Matt Wilkins, a legislative
affairs chair and a graduate stu
dent in aerospace engineering,
said GSC was formed to better
represent A&M’s graduate stu
dents in student affairs, so diversi
ty is an important issue.
“The diversity in this body is
very pronounced with people
from different countries, differ
ent parts of the country and with
lots of different perspectives,”
he said.
The diversity march will be
held Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m.
at Rudder Fountain Phiza. James
Anderson, vice president for
diversity, will speak at 3 p.m., and
the march will begin at 3:15 p.m.
“It is important for students to
understand and support the idea of
diversification and to get faculty
and students to understand the
importance of diversity,” said
Eberhard Laepple, GSC vice pres
ident and a doctoral students in
architecture. “People have biases
because they aren’t informed, and
information helps people make
good decisions.”
Topics of discussion at the
GSC meeting also included the
lack of opportunities for gradu
ate students to get involved in
extracurricular activities and
receive scholarships and
awards.
The meeting ended with the
appointment of a subcommittee
to look into possibilities for
awards and scholarships for grad
uate students.
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Kerry 5
Prairie View students
fie another voting suit
By Juan A. Lozano
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON (AP) — Prairie
View A&M University students
embroiled in a voting rights fight
ia Waller County filed another
lawsuit Tuesday in what they are
calling efforts to preserve their
ability to vote in local elections.
The second lawsuit, filed in
federal court in Houston, is in
response to a decision by coun
ty officials to reduce the num
ber of days and hours for early
voting at a satellite location: a
community center on the
Prairie View campus.
Jonah Goldman, an attorney
with the Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law,
said students would like early
voting at the center to take
place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
over two days. But Waller
County officials have approved
only one day, Feb. 25 from 9
a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tuesday’s
lawsuit comes
nearly two
weeks after
Prairie View students filed one
against Waller County District
Attorney Oliver Kitzman, who
last year said they weren’t auto
matically eligible to vote in coun
ty elections because of state-
mandated residency standards.
That lawsuit, also filed in
Houston, came on the heels of
an opinion by Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott, who said
Prairie View students may vote
in their university town if they
simply designate Waller County
as their residence.
Goldman said any voting
change in Texas is covered
under Section 5 of the Voting
Rights Act and must be
approved by the U.S.
Department of Justice in order
to show that it does not worsen
the position of minority voters.
“During other times they
precleared other plans that had
different amounts of early vot
ing,” he said. “This change has
not been precleared.”
According to students’ attor
neys, the last change approved
by federal authorities was for an
election in March 2002, when
two days of early voting were
allotted for the campus center.
But Waller County Elections
Administrator Lela Loewe, one
of the lawsuit’s defendants,
said she submitted paperwork
to the Justice Department on
Friday and again on Tuesday
regarding the recent change.
The change was approved by
Waller County Commissioners
Court last week.
Loewe said the change is an
increase in the number of days
allotted for early voting at the
campus center because the loca
tion was not used in 2003 for
early voting for the state consti
tutional amendments election.
The change in use of the
campus center from two days in
2002 to zero days in 2003 was
approved by the Justice
Department, she said.
Officials with the Justice
Department did not immediately
return a telephone call from The
Associated Press on Tuesday.
“A request was made to me
verbally for
three days at
Prairie View
and I didn’t
see wasting
the county money on that,”
Loewe said. “You don’t fix a
problem before you have it.
When you show me you will
have that many people voting
in (more than one) day, I will
do that.”
The students’ attorneys have
said their clients ability to par
ticipate in the March 9 primary
election would be limited
because students don’t have
time to go to other locations
because they are preparing for
midterm exams and spring break
is the week of the election, when
many of them will be gone.
Goldman said he doesn’t
believe the action taken by
Waller County officials on the
early voting location is in
response to the lawsuit filed ear
lier this month.
“It’s another indication of
systematic problems Waller
County has in addressing the
rights of minority voters at
Prairie View,” he said.
Loewe said her decision was
based on prior use of early vot
ing locations and how many the
county could afford to open this
election.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Above: "Barbara Bush: A Memoir," released in September of 1995, was sold at Rudder along with her newest book entitled
"Reflections: Life After the White House." Below: Barbara Bush responds to questions from the audience at Rudder Auditorium Tuesday
afternoon. Bush read from "Reflections" released October 2003. Bush also addressed family experiences including the inaguration of
her son George W. Bush.
Bush recounts
family memories
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Barbara Bush never imagined that
any of her children would grow up to
become president. Although most
mothers would like their children grow
up with presidential ambitions, she
said she just hoped her children would
grow up.
“But there we were, waiting for our
son George W. to be sworn in as the 43rd
president of the United States of
America,” she said.
The former first lady spoke about her
book, “Reflections: Life After the White
House,” in front of a filled Rudder
Theater Tuesday.
Bush is slated to be the center of the
exhibit “The Year of the Woman” at the
George Bush Presidential Library start
ing in April.
Bush shared with the audience
excerpts from her book which contained
family stories and other experiences
from the end of her husband George
Bush’s presidential term to the inaugu
ration of son George W. Bush-as- current
U.S. president.
Barbara Bush was introduced by for
mer President George Bush.
“Some of you know her as the for
mer first lady, some of you know her as
the mother of the current president,
some of you know her for her work as a
literacy advocate, but everyone in the
family knows her as the enforcer,” her
husband said.
Barbara Bush took the stage to a roar
of laughter, undermining her husband’s
attempts to portray her as the enforcer,
and admitted to the crowd that she was
nervous.
“I dreamt that I was giving this
speech, and someone in the crowd told
me to sit down and shut up,” she said.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Barbara Bush shared humorous fami
ly stories with the audience to give peo
ple another look at the Bush family.
She said her two sons, Jeb and
George Jr., called her after a town meet
ing in Florida one night last year.
George said he was asked by an audi
ence member if the Bush family believed
that family dinners were important, and
See Bush on page 2
Under the Sea
CRACIE ARENAS • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : COLLEGE OF GEOSCIENCES
IODP brings research
opportunities to A&M
By Kristin Kemp
THE BATTALION
Junior geology major Andrew Fair
said research employment is one of the
advantages of being a geology student at
Texas A&M.
While Fair does not know what his long
term career goals are, the College of
Geosciences has several opportunities avail
able to its students.
Many of these opportunities are provided
by the college’s participation in innovative
programs such as the recently-implemented
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).
The College of Geosciences has teamed
up with Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory at Columbia University and
Joint Oceanographic Institutions Inc. to
form the JOI Alliance.
This partnership of scientists and
research institutions was organized to
explore the history and structure of the
earth through scientific ocean drilling.
This type of teamwork makes joint
research projects available, and opens new
research opportunities with Lamont-
Doherty scientists, said Paul Fox, profes
sor and director of IODP.
IODP is the largest contract A&M has
ever undertaken. Fox said.
Replacing the current ocean drilling
program, the new contract plans to bring
$450-500 million to the University during
the next 10 years, Fox said.
IODP, he said, is the largest earth science
See IODP on page 2
Kerry pulls narrow victory out of Wisconsin primary
By Ron Fournier
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Kerry squeezed out victory in
Wisconsin, barely holding off hard-
charging rival John Edwards who
established himself as the front-run
ner’s sole rival as the Democratic pres
idential race thunders toward a 10-state
showdown March 2.
Howard Dean trailed far behind, win
less in 17 contests, his candidacy doomed
less than a month after he stood atop the
Democratic field. The fallen front-runner
retreated to Vermont, where he will con
sider several options, including endorsing
one of his rivals, advisers said.
Close race or not, Kerry said, “A
win is a win.”
Edwards, his dream of a head-to-
head matchup now a reality, declared,
“We’ll go full-throttle to the next
group of states.”
He pledged to campaign in each of
the 10 states holding primaries or cau
cuses March 2, including California,
New York and Ohio, and awarding 1,151
delegates, more than half the total need
ed to claim the nomination.
The North Carolina lawmaker’s
breakout was fueled by the highest
Republican turnout of the primary season
See Kerry on page 2