The Battalion
Opinion:
Q-Drop policy
needs to be
revamped.
Page 9
Volume 110* Issue 99 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1S93
www.thebatt.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL BANKS
fisli Drill Team member Brion Nielsen tosses his rifle dur- place honors in the individual category and Fish Drill Team
ngiRe individual exhibition event at Tulane University's finished with four trophies, including first place overall
mnl Mardi Gras Drill Meet Friday. Nielsen took first among 55 schools nationwide.
PACE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE
A&M Fish Drill Team
wins national title
By Aerin Toussaint
THE BATTALION
Andrew Hietpas had never spun a rifle before
coming to Texas A&M.
Hietpas, a junior history major, said he
joined Fish Drill Team in 2002 as a way to test
himself in a harsh environment and challenge
himself to do something he had never experi
enced before.
On Feb. 20, Hietpas and other
upperclassmen advisers led A&M’s
Fish Drill Team to a national cham
pionship win at the 32nd annual
Mardi Gras Drill Meet at Tulane
University in New Orleans, La.
“Our goal out there is for per
fection and to do our personal
best,” Hietpas said. “Winning is
just an extra bonus.”
The Aggies won three out of five
events at the meet and took first
place overall, defeating about 50 other schools,
including military academies such as North
Georgia, the Naval Academy, the Citadel and
West Point.
The Tulane meet is the largest collegiate
drill competition in the nation. Last year, the
A&M team placed second at the meet, losing to
North Georgia.
“We just did what we were taught,” said
Ryan Geyer, a freshman aerospace engineering
major and Fish Drill Team commander. “We
had a lot less practice time than they did last
year, and we won. That’s a tribute to our upper
classmen.”
Connor Zier, a sophomore history major and
Fish Drill Team drill instructor , said the team
has come a long way over the past year.
“Winning first place was a major feat,”
Zier said.
Fish Drill Team is comprised of 41 freshmen
in the Corps of Cadets and is
open to any freshman in the
Corps who is willing to work
hard and accept the challenges
of being on the team.
Team members practice
four times a week during the
fall semester, but this semes
ter the team added two extra
weekend practices in prepa
ration for the Tulane meet,
Zier said.
.“This group of freshmen is
the best at what they do,” said Michael Tillis, a
senior agricultural development major and Fish
Drill Team senior adviser. “I don’t think anyone
can beat them. No one works as hard as this
group does.”
Tillis said the team works extremely hard,
and it was easy to expect a win.
“Tulane, for the freshmen, is a culmination
of hours upon hours of practice in the cold, rain
and heat,” Hietpas said. “There is no greater
feeling than hard work paying off.”
This group of
freshmen is the best
at what they do.
— Michael Tillis
Fish Drill Team senior adviser
A&M aims to increase
energy conservation
U/.\atalie Younts
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M Energy
Conservation Committee
began a campaign Tuesday to
increase awareness in the
importance of energy conserva
tion and ask the campus com
munity to become more
“Reaching students in this
campaign is going to be a high
priority,” he said.
To kick off the campaign, the
ECC also announced Tuesday a
campus-wide contest for creat
ing a mascot, logo and slogan to
be used in the campaign.
A&M faculty, staff and stu
dents are eligible to submit
A&M spends $30 million
peryear on electricity and natu
ral gas alone,
said Jim Riley.
A&M Utilities 111 1
and K www.ttiebati.com
ideas for the contest. The
reward for creating the winning
mascot or logo is $500. The
reward for
ECC chair.
“If we could just make a 1
percent difference in that 30
million," Riley said, “that would
he pretty significant savings.”
Riley said the A&M
Physical Plant is working
behind the scenes to run more
efficiently by improving equip
ment and making modifications
to buildings.
'But we want to make sure
we include the whole campus
community, whether it's turning
lights off, turning equipment
off or turning off space heaters
that people run under their
desks,” Riley said.
Lane Stephenson, deputy
director of University Relations
and member of the ECC, said
he was involved in two previous
energy conservation commit
tees, but this is the first one to
target individual members of
the campus community.
Broughton,
creating the
winning slo
gan is $250.
June
Transportation
Services communications coor
dinator and member of the ECC,
said the contest is a way to build
excitement and generate interest
in conserving energy.
“We needed an eye-catching
way to get people's attention
and to get them interested and
involved in energy conserva
tion,” Broughton said. “It saves
money, it saves energy and it's
just the right thing to do.”
The ECC also created a Web
site and a hot line as part of the
campaign.
If a person sees energy being
wasted, they can call the hot
line at 458-4150.
“A lot of times, the building
controls are keeping it too cold,
and so people have a space
See Energy on page 2
New law, machines
make voting easier
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
With the March 9 primaries approach
ing, student voters now have the benefit
of new provisional voting laws and new
voting machines.
The Texas provisional voting law went
into effect Jan. 1 and allows all eligible
voters to vote in elections, regardless of
whether their names appear on the regis
tered voters list.
This will give the Brazos County
clerk’s office three days to decide
whether the voter is registered and if the
vote should be counted.
Many times, students register to vote
in a county, but their names do not show
up, said Jaime Kelley, elections clerk for
Brazos County.
Voters will also get-to uV the new
eSlate voting system that cost Brazos
County approximately $1 million.
The system uses an electronic
machine to count votes — replacing the
problem-ridden punch card system that
caused a controversy in the 2000 presi
dential election.
“We’ve had punch cards for the past 40
years,” Kelley said. “(The new eSlates
are) not computers; they’re not linked to
the Internet or a modem. They're just a
computerized version of a voting system.”
All Texas counties will be required to
switch to electronic voting systems by
2006, Kelley said.
“The voting system is now owned by
the county,” Kelley said. “We’re going to
See Voting on page 2
you
Student voters
now have
benefit of new
provisional
voting laws
and new voting
machines for the 2004 elections.
VOTERS MUST
Register at least 30 days prior
to the election
Bring a driver license
Bring a voter registration card
POLL HOURS
Feb. 23 - 27
Feb. 28
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Feb.29
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
March 1-5
8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : JAMIE KELLY, ELECTIONS CLERK FOR
BRAZOS VALLEY
Visiting artists share ideas with students
By Pammy Ramji
THE BATTALION
Six internationally-acclaimed experi
mental multimedia artists are slated to
make weeklong visits to Texas A&M
this semester as part of the College of
Architecture’s spring 2004 artists in resi
dence program, RE+VISIONS,
Communication Director for the College
of Architecture Phillip Rollfing said.
This week Marcia Lyons, head of
Digital Media Fine Arts at Cornell
University, will be the guest artist.
Participants will combine the images
and sound with software and video nota
tions in her workshop, “Feeling a Space:
Future Inhabitable Walls.”
Her lecture, titled, “Doing the Math:
Skinning a Space,” will explore multime
dia video animation and motion graphics
to develop “vibe interiors,” Rollfing said.
“Marcia Lyons is an experimental
media-maker interested in developing a
synthesis between traditional media and
digital processes,” Rollfing said
Lyons uses computer programming to
create DVD paintings that are shown on
plasma screens, Rollfing said.
“It really is a great opportunity for
everyone,” Rollfing said.
The artists’ visits are funded by a grant
from the A&M Academy for the Visual
and Performing Arts, Rollfing said.
Each artist will conduct workshops
and lectures introducing participants to
the vanguard of the multimedia world.
Rollfing said the artists were chosen
based on faculty recommendations and a
group of faculty members got together
and picked the artists.
He said that there would hopefully be
a panel set up next year to decide which
artists will lecture next spring.
See Artists on page 7
Shakespeare festival encourages cultural education
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Mary Floyd Wilson said William
ilakespeare’s plays have the capaci-
tomove modern audiences while
oviding a window to culture that
iy seem strange to us.
“We return to plays because they
Resent familiar emotions,” Wilson
H “We-' also return because
ipeare grapples with ideas and
Juicems that have almost faded
fom our view.”
son and other Shakespeare
fr&is will be on campus March l -4
e 7th annual Shakespeare
festival, hosted by the Memorial
Student Center Literary Arts
Committee to celebrate the life of
Shakespeare.
Wilson will be giving the opening
lecture, and she will discuss her
book “English Ethnicity and Race in
Early Modern
Drama,” with a
specific concentra
tion on how the
argument plays out
in Shakespeare’s dramas.
Wilson said she was inspired to
write about Shakespeare and ethnic
ity after lecturing about his play
“Othello.” She said she found the
depiction of the Moor race in the
play closely resembled the common
thoughts about race today.
“I wanted to discover what were
the unfamiliar or undiscovered ideas
about racial and ethnological differ
ence in the 16th century that would
help us read this play in a new light,”
she said.
Jim Harner, pro
fessor of English at
A&M, said reading
Shakespeare’s
works invites peo
ple to think.
“That is why there are so many
competing interpretations of the
plays,” he said. “Shakespeare has the
ability to appeal to a broad range of
audiences.”
The correct interpretations and
meanings of Shakespeare’s plays
have been debated for many years,
Harner said.
Douglas Brooks, faculty adviser
for the MSC Literary Arts and profes
sor of English, said it is important to
learn about Shakespeare and read his
works because it represents intellec
tual accomplishments in our society.
“You can’t be culturally educated
without being educated in
Shakespeare,” he said.
The Shakespeare Festival’s fea
tured play this year is “Not Without
Right: The Story of William
Shakespeare,” performed by Will &
Company.
See Shakespeare on page 4
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CRACIE ARENAS • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : MSC LITERARY ARTS COMMITTEE