^ T-'t Wednesday, March 24, 2004
The Battalion
ime 110 • Issue 114* 10 pages
A Texas A&IM Tradition Since 1893
SPORTS:
Aggie football
players in
trouble with
the law.
Page 5
www.thebatt.com
PAGE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE
HA endorses non-reg Scher for junior yell
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Residence Hall Association has endorsed
Scher, a non-reg, or not a member of the
] of Cadets, running for junior yell leader for
[ring 2004 student body elections.
since Boo Boo Davies was elected as a
yell leader in 2002, there has not been a
^candidate elected to the position, but this
hat trend could change,
her, a sophomore marketing and manage-
|major has been involved in many programs
apus, including Aggies of OAK, Caring
are Watching Over our Lives (CARPOOL),
Weekend, Fish Camp counselor and the
Texas A&M Sophomore
Leadership Academy.
Although in previous years
there have been numerous candi
dates running for yell leader who
were non-regs, none since Davies have actually
been elected.
Scher said non-regs should be given a fair
chance to represent Texas A&M, and that he
would love nothing more than to be a yell leader.
“I love the spirit and tradition of A&M; being
a yell leader is the epitome of representing
A&M,” he said.
Chris Mahaffey, president of RHA and a senior
civil engineering major, said he is surprised the stu
dent body has not elected more non-reg yell leaders.
“It’s odd that yell leader is
such a figurehead role, yet we
have few non-Corps yell leaders,”
Mahaffey said.
Scher said he wants to raise
awareness among students that it is OK to vote
for non-regs.
“I respect the Corps (of Cadets) greatly, but the
whole student body is not equally represented by
yell leaders,” Scher said.
Justin Woods, public information officer for
the Corps of Cadets and a senior communica
tions major, said he feels the five students in the
Corps running for yell leader positions are the
best qualified.
Woods said it was not just because they are in
the Corps, but because they have good work ethic.
“Anyone can lead a yell,” Woods said. “But (the
one elected) is the one who will serve the University
best, and I feel the five from the Corps will do it.”
Matt Laue, a senior economics major who
helped with non-reg yell leader candidate Matt
Geise’s campaign in 2001 and 2002, said he thinks
it is great to see different people having an inter
est and passion in wanting to represent the
University and its students.
“Because our yell leaders are a representation
of our student body, its composition should reflect
that of our student body; one that is rich in tradition
See Scher on page 2
to relocate offices
off-campus location
IB
.
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
THE Mil
exas A&M’s Transportation
ices will relocate its offices
; marking the beginning of
years of planned departmental
to make room for 447 new
members that A&M plans
by 2008.
relocations were planned
|the Council for the Built
ironment, a group of 10
isers to A&M’s president in
tiofiJuiiicelrge of finding space for the
oming faculty.
What we’re trying to do is, by
iving administrative offices to
edge of campus, make room
wgh the central part of the
lupus for faculty to join us,” said
(fai Perry, vice provost and
|ylainfthe CBE.
Calk department is scheduled to
w »se today so employees can
^■f*Cr ve fr° m t * ie J°h n J- Koldus
^ J JJilding to its new space at 702 E
liversity Drive, Building E,
lind Golden Corral restaurant.
A customer service center will
oain in Koldus 108. Students can
chase parking pennits and pay or
)eal parking citations at the cen-
saidTS Director Rodney Weis.
Weis said being off campus will
a temporary inconvenience, but
ts,
HI
long-term plans.
TS will move to Agronomy
Road, where transit and fleet oper
ations are currently located, in 18
months to two years, Weis said.
“That will be a huge benefit to
the department because it will
help communication and coordi
nation,” he said.
Weis said TS could have a
drive-up window and a more
enhanced, efficient customer serv
ice area after it moves to
Agronomy Road.
The Office of the Registrar will
also be temporarily moving off
campus in May.
The office will move from
Heaton Hall to 3833 South Texas
Avenue, said Donald Carter, an
A&M registrar.
“I hate leaving campus,” Carter
said, “but I understand why we
have to move.”
Dave Parrott, dean of the
Department of Student Life, said
he is also looking forward to hav
ing his department consolidated
into one location.
Student Life currently has
offices at five locations, including
the Grove, Koldus and the east
wing of Sbisa Dining Hall.
Parrott said Student Life will
move to Cain Hall in June.
dsthal
said he is looking forward to the
See TS on page 2
idude
ughts.
ion
or
oving Right Along
asportation Services
Departments
Where Moving
When
11 move to a location off
liversity Drive to make
om for 447 new faculty
Office of Vice
President for
Student Affairs
Koldus
April
jns
003
jutes.
tier departments
iming to move during
e following months
ilude:
Office of the
Registrar
Off Campus
May
Zolot
32J
Department of
Student Life
Cain Hall
June
>rozac
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SOURCE:
G RAC IE ARENAS • THE BATTALION
COUNCIL FOR BUILT ENVIRONMENT
18
jtSBP candidates set campaign goals for 2004 election
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RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Senior mechanical engineering major Lucas Krammjleft to right) sen
ior agricultural economics major Thomas Wynn and sophomore agri
cultural systems management major Conrad Davis and members of
the Young Conservatives of Texas protest the possible tuition raise
across from the Chemistry Building Tuesday. If approved, an increase
from $55 per credit hour to $74.50 per hour would be implemented.
Students can voice their opinions at the Board of Regents meeting this
Thursday in MSC 292.
YCT ‘Tuitionville’ protests tuition increase
By Michael Player
THE BATTALION
In a scene reminiscent of 1930s
Hoovervilles, the Young Conservatives
of Texas have established a temporary
encampment called “Tuitionville” locat
ed in the fountain area across from the
Chemistry Building in protest of the
future tuition increase.
Tuitionville was constructed Monday,
and will be occupied on a 24-hour basis
until 4 p.m. Wednesday. The town con
sists of cardboard box houses with signs
bearing statements such as “The end is
near” and “Already work for tuition.”
“We want to get the word out about
the drastic increase in tuition and draw
attention to the Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents meeting that
will take place on Thursday,” said Weston
Balch, director of the Tuitionville demon
stration. “The main reason that we are
doing this is that we believe that the stu
dent voice has not been heard.”
Balch said A&M President Robert M.
Gates is proposing a 33 percent increase
in tuition from last fall, and that is not
the gradual increase that was promised
by administrators.
Balch said Gates has commented on
the lack of student attendance at the pre
vious tuition hearings held earlier in the
semester, and that this demonstration is
one way the YCT can get the attention of
the student body and try to get more stu
dents to attend.
“The hearing held on Jan. 27 was very
well attended by students, and most of us
felt that the questions and concerns voiced
by the students were adequately and
appropriately addressed,” said Rodney
McClendon, chief of staff for Gates. “It is
important to note that the $19.50 raise
comes after the cuts we made and more
administrative cuts will be made to ease
the burden for students and parents.”
Balch said the e-mail that was sent to
students’ neo accounts prior to spring
break concerning Gates’ hearing on
Thursday was probably overlooked by
many students, so the YCT chose this
kind of demonstration because it felt that
it would draw more attention to its cause.
See Tuitionville on page 2
Hildebrand aims to maintain traditions
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
eens.
09 f
ide-f^
dies
jd s
entscifl Jack Hildebrand said the cor-
^erefll nerstones of his campaign for
student body president are to
last.® 1 ! focus on ways to maintain Texas
A&M’s traditions and increase
efficient communication
between students and the
d# administration through the stu
dent government.
“I want students outside of
student government to under
stand what’s going on; commu
nication is definitely impor-
t,” he said.
Hildebrand, a senior
accounting major and the vice
president of Student
Government Association’s
finance committee, said he not
only wants incoming students
to come to A&M for a great
h education, but also to come
HILDEBRAND
here for addi
tional reasons.
“Academics
is important,
but I would like
to make sure
that people
come in and see
the University’s
uniqueness; I
don’t want A&M to be just
another state school,” he said.
Hildebrand said all student
money should be accounted for.
“We need to see results and
evidence of where and what stu
dent money is going,” he said.
When it comes to diversity
and admissions, Hildebrand
said the merit system that is in
place right now is the right way
to go, but there are other ways to
increase diversity on top of the
admission process. He said the
idea of diversity has developed a
negative connotation, and he
hopes he can change that.
“I would like to see collabo
ration of resources to speed up
the process. It is the job of stu
dent government and other stu
dent organizations to educate
students on diversity,” he said.
Hildebrand said he would
like to see Bonfire back on
campus to
keep tradi
tions alive,
and he
would like
to see
every stu
dent at the
opening
c e r e -
monies of the Bonfire
Memorial Nov. 18.
“I am all about what the tra
dition is all about,” he said, “As
long as it is done the right way,
See Hildebrand on page 2
Carter to focus on community outreach
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
Narietha Carter said that if
elected student body president,
she would focus on community
outreach, finding solutions to
pressing parking problems and
emphasiz
ing glob
alization
o v e r
diversity.
“I want
to have a
lot more
of the stu
dents to reach out and affect
change on campus and in the
Bryan-College Station area,”
Carter said.
Carter, a senior English
major, said she would install a
mentorship program where fac
ulty and administrators would
CARTER
mentor stu
dents, and
then those stu
dents would
go out into the
community
and mentor
families and
other students.
“I feel like
students can really go out and
affect change in the communi
ty,” Carter said.
Carter also plans to alleviate
campus parking problems by
working with Transportation
Services to get every student an
assigned parking lot where they
could park every day. Carter
said the parking assignment sit
uation would work on a senior
ity system, with seniors having
the first pick of parking lots.
“Every student should be
promised a parking spot,”
Carter said.
Carter said she will work to
change 30-minute parking spots
to 45-minute parking spots, and
will attempt to change some 24-
hour reserved parking areas that
are never filled into 45-minute
parking areas, especially near
the Memorial Student Center
and the Academic Building.
Carter said she wants to
focus on globalization within
Texas A&M and push the study
abroad program.
“I think that globalization is
definitely going to take the
place of diversity,” Carter said.
“Globalization is much more
important, because globaliza
tion allows our students to be
more marketable and more
accepting when its time to go
into the work force.”
Carter said A&M is currently
See Carter on page 2