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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2004)
i uliliiies ernet lAPliS isnts^l wished, f ^ Monday, March 8, 2004 The Battalion room Volume 110 • Issue 107 • 12 pages Texas A&1V1 Tradition Since 1893 Sports: Aggie tennis overpowers Houston. Page 7 www.thebatt.coni iainvife| Jacobs is, 2 iOO/mo. (omen’s Week 2004 IMMV |l1:30a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Reed Arena, Room 301 Kick-off luncheon with Dr. Nancy Dickey, bresident oftheTAMU Health Services Center Nice.) whom I (11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cain Hall, Maroon Room Athletics panel conversation f'Title IX: Our Stories” Ticketed event ■**—*»*— H1:30a.m. to 1 p.m., 225 MSC Speaker: Dr. Susan Golden, distinguished professor, biology l:30a.m. to 1 p.m., of Cadets Center, Dashed Room panel discussion about women in i Corps Fora complete schedule, log onto www.thebatt.com RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE : WOMEN'S CENTER PACE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE Celebrating the power of women Women’s Week recognizes accomplishments ofA&M women By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION Several history classes taught at the high school and college levels decline to incorporate women’s history and its contributions to society into the curriculum, said Brenda Bethman, direc tor of the Texas A&M Women’s Center. “We don’t learn enough about women’s histo ry,” Bethman said. “You learn about Susan B. Anthony, and that’s it. Women’s history is not integrated into history classes; you have to take a separate class for that.” In honor of Women’s History Month, A&M will be holding Women’s Week, with a variety of panels and speakers beginning today through Thursday. Women’s Week was created in 1994 to cele brate the many accomplishments of women at A&M, and it is A&M’s answer to Women’s History Month, Bethman said. Former Gov. Ann Richards officially pro claimed Women’s Week after a recommendation was made by the campus task force, Bethman said. The speakers this year will be discussing the week’s theme, “Title IX: 32 Years of Progress,” said Brandy Peebles, a member of the planning committee and business coordinator for the jour nalism department. “This year will keep with a very diverse picture of what Title IX is,” Peebles said. “Most people think it only deals with sports, but it also deals with equal opportunity in education to get in schools and equality in the workplace.” Bethman said that had it not been for Title IX, women would not be allowed to attend most high er-education institutions. A&M has a different situation as far as women are concerned because of the Corps of Cadets and the late integration of women, Peebles said. “It was a great thing when women were inte grated into the University,” Peebles said. “It was a very traditional male institution and organization.” Some women attended A&M in the early 20th century, even though they were unable to obtain degrees, Bethman said. Peebles said it is important to commemorate Women’s History Month and Women’s Week at A&M because it highlights the diversity of women in our own population. Women’s Week is important for A&M because the female population is growing every year, said Rose Robards-Forbes, a junior journalism major. Forbes said this week is about awareness and that it is definitely important to get that word out. “It also raises awareness of women who don’t get benefits of American women,” Peebles said. “Around the world, like in Afghanistan, women See Women on page 2 e Preys bonfire-related merchandise ypingir Kite flying i, and tig le. fleas 1 It ^makes a campus comeback tom weK tom,as! I with Operato ta. Big? (group tons t-8J SkT IASE By Sonia Moghe THE BATTALION Texas A&M President Robert M.Gates lifted the moratorium on ilie sale of Bonfire-related mer- or Tcr|ciiandise Friday morning and will $50,000 a year from all University merchandise sales building a Visitor Center andaBonfire museum. am lifting the moratorium in the hope that the memorial i Bonfire will help keep ilm's fresh in the minds of Aps...and also to help ensure the Bonfire Memorial will always be tended,” Gates said in Bis statement. ^ The moratorium, which didn't TV allow the sale of Bon lire-related ly merchandise, was enacted to pre sent people from profiting from .-0 he 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse. Ilv Alex King, chair for the Bonfire Coalition for Students, said he is pleased with Gates’ statement. “(Lifting the moratorium) is pretty much the next-to-final step to getting Bonfire back,” King said. “It was the number two platform on our goals for getting Bonfire back — now all we have to do is actually get it back on campus.” In April 2003, the moratorium was lifted for the Aggie Moms Club to sell merchandise at Parents’ Weekend. In Gates’ statement, he requires that all vendors who plan to sell Bonfire paraphernalia sub mit samples of their designs to be approved before the merchandise can be sold. Luke Cheatham, founder and director of Student Bonfire Unity Project, said he thinks Gates’ move isn’t noteworthy. “This is a small step in terms of an on-campus Bonfire,” Cheatham said. “We’ve played the waiting game since 1999. Being able to sell something is nothing compared to what we want and really has nothing to do with what we want, which is an on-campus Bonfire.” King said the lifted moratori um is essentially allowing the University to be associated with Bonfire again. “Having the name association — the words ‘Aggie Bonfire’ — back out in the public all around town and on campus just gives students and former students a lot of hope for (Bonfire’s) return,” King said. Gates plans to put $50,000 of the money earned from University merchandise sales toward building a Visitor Center and a Museum at the Bonfire Memorial. The money will also be used for maintenance of the memorial. “The administration continues See Bonfire on page 2 itewart jurors swayed by assistant RD STEWART NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors io convicted Martha Stewart of iWying about a stock sale said they feved the key prosecution wit- lesses against the homemaking ;uru and were surprised that her earn didn’t mount a more aggres- iive defense. They also said Stewart’s repu- ation as a stickler for detail belied let claim that she did not remember receiving a nessage from her broker warning her the price of a lock she held was about to fall. “That wasn’t really believable. ’Cause this is a voman who pays attention to details,” juror losemary McMahon told Dateline NBC in an inter- iew with six jurors that aired Sunday. A jury of eight women and four men deliberated 2hours over three days before returning guilty ver- licts Friday on all four counts against Stewart — onspiracy, obstruction and two counts of making se statements. Stewart was expected to meet with her probation ifficer as soon as Monday. the charges relate to an accusation that Itewart lied to cover up the reason she sold 3,928 hares of ImClone Systems stock on Dec. 27, 2001 - avoiding a hefty loss when the company nnounced bad news the next day. Prosecutors had offered Stewart a chance last April to plead guilty to just one of the four charges against her — making a false statement — in exchange for a probation sentence, Newsweek reported Sunday, quoting several unidentified sources close to the case. But a defense source told the magazine that prosecutors could not guarantee that Stewart would avoid jail time completely and Stewart refused the offer, Newsweek reported. Jurors said while they spent days exhaustively going over the evidence, they always came to the same conclusion. “We tried five ways Friday to take it from differ ent angles,” juror Meg Crane said. “To work it through. And — and that was it. We were...we just could not have done anything else.” Jurors said they were surprised the defense spent less than an hour presenting its side, after the prose cution took four weeks to make its case. “We thought there was going to be more from the defense,” said juror Jonathan Laskin, 48, a paralegal and translator. “We...were hoping they would put up more of a fight or something. Or give us more to chew on. But it wasn’t there.” Jurors said the most compelling testimony came from Stewart’s assistant Ann Armstrong, who testi fied that Stewart sat down at Armstrong’s desk to change a message from her broker, Peter Bacanovic, that informed her that he thought the ImClone stock See Stewart on page 2 JOSHUA L. HOBSON • THE BATTALION Three-year-old David Countryman III and his afternoon. Sunny skies are expected this mother Christine, of College Station, attempt week, through Wednesday, with temperatures to get a kite off the ground behind Texas A&M reaching a high of 80 degrees in College Offshore Technology Research Center Sunday Station. Delta Gamma event makes a splash By Lacey Barlen THE BATTALION Delta Gamma, raised $10,000 for Service for Sight at the seventh annual Anchor Splash Saturday, a fund-raiser aimed at rais ing money for local schools for the blind and visually impaired, said Mandy Blackman, a senior ag economics major and director of Anchor Splash. Fifteen male organizations competed in swimming pool events at the Student Recreation Center Saturday, which included inner tube relay races, synchronized swimming routines and a Mr. Anchor Splash contest. “The Mr. Anchor Splash contest is always the most entertaining event,” Blackman said. “The audience really gets a kick out of it.” One representative from each organization spun a wheel to determine which karaoke song he would sing and then answered a series of questions from the judges. Student Body President Matt Josefy and Kim Franchione, head coach Dennis See Anchor on page 2 Student fund-raising efforts help leukemia patient oh 101 -—’ do By Jason Hanselka THE BATTALION Clayton English wants the freedom to be a lormal 10-year-old boy. English, who lives in College Station, is lot physically restrained in any way; he has no iroken limbs, and he does not have overbear- ng parents. Leukemia is preventing this 10-year-old rom living a normal life. Melanie English, who home-schools her m,said leukemia has prevented Clayton from ioing everything he wants to do. “He really can’t handle school even though he thinks he can,” she said. “However, he’s very intelligent and very blessed.” “It’s very hard for him, because he has an identical twin brother who gets to go to school.” English said trips to the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and certain creams and injections are not covered by her family’s medical insurance. The Children Facing Adversity Organization recently held a silent auction to raise money for English and his family. Lauren Osborne, co-founder of CFAO and a senior elementary education major, said she was eager and excited to help when she found out about English’s financial situation. “We were looking to help the Children’s Hospital in Houston when someone there told us about a child in this area we could help,” she said. “Once we realized we would give the money locally, we were excited.” Osborne said CFAO’s goal was to raise $1,000, but it ended up raising $4,700. English was first diagnosed with leukemia in June 1999, and he underwent two-and-a- half years of chemotherapy until he showed signs of improvement, Melanie said. “The doctors thought he was cured,” she See Student on page 2 The Battalion Online Weekly Poll Last Week's Results: "Should the administration make decisions affecting students without consulting them, such as closing residence halts?" 70% l] N°, students’ interests should come first 23% [7J Yes, because they are looking out for the University as a whole 7 % [U It doesn't bother me This Week's Poll: "What are you doing for Spring Break?" Take this poll at: www.thebatt.com RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION