:
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Battalion
iiiliime 110 • Issue ( >S • 12 pages
A Texas A&M ITaclition Since 1893
Sports:
A&M’s
Equestrian
team takes the
reins.
Page 6
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE
udge: Students’ due process rights denied
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
ite District Judge Rick Davis said Monday
fiat Texas A&M needs to hold a rehearing of the
[irsin’s Mounted Calvary hazing case before the
pd of the semester because the University pro
ved little due process.
Davis said, on the whole, A&M was slow on
[etting law enforcement and prosecutors involved.
An internal Corps of Cadets investigation,
rompted when Unit Commander Ty Keeling
sported hazing to the Corps Commandant Lt.
ten. John VanAlstyne in October 2002, found that
juniors had been hazing sophomores by hitting
Beni with axe handles and forcing them to per-
lormexercises in urine and horse manure.
Disciplinary hearings began last April.
“I hope that in future instances where stu
dents are suspected of hazing, Texas A&M offi
cials report the matters to the police immediate
ly,” Davis said.
Hazing is a Class A misdemeanor and is pro
hibited by University rules.
Ronald Hole, a McAllen attorney representing
his son and another student, said he was pleased
with the ruling.
Hole said the University should not be allowed to
rehear the case because it did not do it right the first
time. He said the University did not notify the stu
dents of the charges and assumed the students were
guilty and did not comply with due process laws.
“(The University was) not just making a cou
ple of mistakes ” he said. “The judge paid good
attention to evidence found and came up with
Id scholarship
offered statewide
By Jason Hanselka
THE BATTALION
The Young Conservatives of
|iias at Texas A&M is now
nlfering an equal-opportunity
Warship open to students in
ill Texas uni-
Uties.
Mark
K YCT
tommunica-
is director, said the scholar-
is meant to protest race-
1 admissions and affirma-
action policies of universi
ties across the state.
“This scholarship is com-
stel) colorblind,” he said.
taM of any race or back-
www.thebatt.com
ground can apply.”
McCaig said the scholarship
will be awarded based solely on
essay submissions from a contest
that is currently being conducted.
Authors of the top three submis
sions will receive $5,000, $3,500
and $1,500,
respectively.
Full-time stu
dents in two- or
four-year institu
tions in the state are eligible for
the scholarship.
“This scholarship is open to
all students, not just at Texas
A&M ” he said.
Applicants are asked to write
See YCT on page 7
YCTscholarship essay
^irst place s econd place ^^hird place
$8,000 $3,500 $1,500
How have you or a family member
overcome institutionalized discrimination and/or
stigma imposed by policies giving preference
to particular racial or ethnic groups?
conclusions.”
Hole said student rights were violated six or
seven times and any one of those times could have
proved the University’s wrongdoing.
The University had also violated students’ free
speech rights when they were asked not to talk
about the investigation. Hole said.
Assistant Attorney General Russ Harris told
The Battalion in January that A&M had complied
with due process laws and that students under
stood the University rules they had broken.
Harris declined to comment Monday night say
ing that he needed to talk to his communication
officials first.
Davis said since A&M is a world-class
University, that it must adhere to the law.
Calls to Executive Director of University
Relations Cynthia Lawson were not returned
Around he
Monday night.
Davis stated in the ruling that, upon rehearing,
A&M is required to give each plaintiff notice of
specific charges against him, the names of the wit
nesses against him, and at least seven days prior to
the hearing to make at least an audio recording of
the proceedings.
Specific hearing officials will also need to be
assigned, which includes VanAlstyne and David
Parrott, dean of the Department of Student Life,
appointing specific people to be these officials,
Davis said.
“(Davis) trusts that they won’t influence any
one beforehand,” Hole said, “which gives reason
that they might.”
Parsons Mounted Cavalry is a specialized
See judge on page 2
tf r>
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : YCT
Junior biomedical engineering major Dick Watson spins around on
the gyro ball Monday in the Academic Plaza. The bungee run,
obstacle course, cotton candy, gyroball and other fair activities are
the beginning part of Engineers Week held by the Student Engineers
Council (SEC). Throughout the week, SEC will provide students with
fun activities, free food and an art gallery.
i Forum With Dr. Gates
A&M President Robert M.
Gates will be holding an
I open forum to answer
questions about the closing
ofreisdence halls. All stu
dents are welcome to
offend.
Wednesday Feb. 25.2004
2:30 p.m.
Rudder Theater
Hotard hall to close
GRAPHIC BY: ANDREW BURLESON •
THE BATTALION
PHOTO BY: SHARON AESCHBACH •
THE BATTALION
SOURCE : SHAUN SHAIKH, HOTARD HALL
COUNCIL PRESIDENT
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
Jason Marshall, Class of 1992, lived
in Hotard Hall the entire time he attend
ed Texas A&M. He spent his three and a
half years in the same room because he
said the dorm was conveniently located
and that it was small enough to know
everybody.
Hotard Hall, built in
1939 to house food serv
ices personnel, has been
a residence hall since
1958. It is the smallest residence hall on
campus with close to 100 residents and
has the highest return rate, Marshall said.
“The community environment found
in Hotard doesn’t exist outside of the
Corps of Cadets,” Marshall said. “It had
a fraternal feel that wasn’t exclusive.”
On Feb. 16, William L. Perry, chair of
the Council on the Built Environment,
told the Hotard residents that they would
have to find new living arrangements for
fall 2004, said sophomore mechanical
engineering major Austin Main, project
manager for “Save Hotard.”
Ron Sasse, director of dormitory
administration, said this is all part of
A&M President Robert M. Gates’ plan
for campus.
Hotard may be
turned into a student
retention center,
Sasse said.
“We hate to lose
residence hall space, but we must be
supportive of the University’s goals,”
Sasse said.
Cain Hall and Hotard Hall will be
used to accommodate the 450 new facul
ty and staff the University hired for next
See Hotard on page 2
A&M, UT faculty senates meet,
discuss race-based admissions
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Diversity was the focus at Texas A&M
faculty Senate and the University of
Faculty Council’s annual joint
on Monday
Texas Rep. Fred Brown said A&M
and UT faculty need to work together to
ract more students.
“We need to work on telling everyone
w great our institutions are,” Brown said.
The recent deregulation of state univer
sity tuition prompted concern among some
of the faculty in attendance of the meeting.
Brown acknowledged the growing
number of students who have demanding
school and work schedules as well as
how the tuition increase will make it nec
essary to work more and have less time
for school.
“We need to expect more from our
kids,” Brown said.
Brown suggested offering more
See Faculty on page 2
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Janet Staiger, University of Texas
director of women's and gender stud
ies, addressed the necessity of a posi
tive campus climate projected toward
minority students at the annual joint
meeting of Texas A&M University
Faculty Senate and University of Texas
- Austin Faculty Council.
National Forest Service
to teach Bonfire cut class
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
After four years of waiting, the
first remnant of Aggie Bonfire will
officially return to campus. Bonfire
Coalition plans to once again wear
pots, wield axes and cut down trees
after spring break.
Bonfire Coalition for Students
— the on campus organization — is
planning to offer a “cut class”
taught by the National Forest
Service and hopes to eventually
begin clearing land for agricultural
use, said Alex King, a senior
finance major and Bonfire Coalition
for Students chair.
“(Cut class) is not meant to
replace cut,” King said.
Kevin Jackson, director of the ,
Department of Student Activities, said
the final plans need to be reviewed by
the student activities department
before the project goes ahead.
“We have not made a final deter
mination on the alignment of the cut
class with the mission statement of
the organization,” he said.
Jackson said the student activi
ties department reviews ideas for
group events but does not give or
deny approval.
“We facilitate a review of the
event to determine if it is within the
mission and scope of the organiza
tion,” Jackson said.
The Bonfire Coalition also wants
to clear land so that it can cut trees.
King said the land clearing proj
ect will be a service project to ben
efit people who need land cleared.
“First off, we wanted to give our
members experience of cutting
down trees by hand,” King said. “We
also wanted to bring back the serv
ice aspect of clearing land for use.”
Nikolaus Knappick, a senior jour
nalism major, said the project sounds
like the cut he worked on in 1999.
“(Land clearing) sounds like a
good start,” Knappick said.
Knappick said he worries about
knowledge of Bonfire being lost as
the gap grows between those who
experienced Aggie Bonfire and
those who have not.
“If you ask a freshman or sopho
more what cut is, they’ll just say,
‘Huh?’” Knappick said.
King said land clearing this
semester will be limited to existing
members of Bonfire Coalition,
although without crew chiefs or red
pots, but plans are to open the proj
ect to all students once it gets safely
underway.
“It is not going to be structured
like cut,” King said. “We don’t claim
to be Aggie Bonfire at all. We want to
show we are mature enough to do cut
again so when Bonfire comes back, it
won’t be just a stack of logs.”
Chair of Bonfire Coalition Ryan
Kirkpatrick, a graduate student and
Class of 1999, said the project
upholds the bonfire tradition of clear
ing only land that needs to be cleared.
“There’s not a lot of money in
agriculture,” Kirkpartrick said.
See Bonfire on page 7