The Battalion
toliimc 110 • Issue 115 • 22 pages
A Texas A&IM I radition Since 1893
www.thehiiU.eom
PACE DESIGN BY: EMILY HENDRICKSON
Gillispie named
basketball coach
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill
Byrne suffered through a miserable 0-
17 men’s basketball conference season
before former head coach Melvin
Watkins resigned.
It didn’t take Byrne long, however,
to find a replacement as Byrne named
Billy Gillispie the new head coach
Wednesday, exactly two weeks after
Watkins’ resignation.
“We wanted someone with a strong
Texas connection that could actively
recruit the best and brightest Texas has
to offer,” Byrne said. “We also wanted
someone with a winning attitude. When
we started looking around the country
and the state of Texas, we heard one per
son’s name, and that’s Coach Gillispie.”
Gillispie comes from the University
of Texas-El Paso where he just finished
his second year as head coach. In his
first season, the Miners suffered a 6-24
season, but in 2003-04 Gillispie led
UTEP to a 24-8 record, a co-Western
Athletic Conference championship and
an NCAA Tournament appearance,
where it lost to the University of
Maryland 86-83 in the first round.
Gillispie’s Texas ties run deeper
than his ties to UTEP. He grew up in
Graford, Texas, a small town of just
more than 400 people and graduated
from Southwest Texas State University.
Gillispie began his coaching career
at Southwest Texas State as a graduate
assistant before moving on to eight
years in the Texas high school ranks.
In 1993-94, Gillispie was taken on
as an assistant coach at South Plains
Junior College. A year later, he was at
Baylor University as an assistant coach
and recruiting coordinator.
Gillispie then moved on to the
University of Tulsa where he became
an assistant under head coach Bill Self.
Gillispie spent five seasons with Self,
three at Tulsa and two at the University
of Illinois, and he credits Self with giv
ing him the tools that have made him
the coach that he is today.
“Bill Self has been the most influen
tial coach in my life,” Gillispie said.
Self, the current head coach at the
University of Kansas, said Gillispie is
hard working and a great hire for
A&M.
“Billy did a great job for us at
See Coach on page 2A
Student affairs VP
candidate visits
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By Joaquin Salcedo
THE BATTALION
The second of four candi
dates vying for the position of
vice president for student affairs
at Texas A&M was introduced
to students, faculty and staff at
an open forum at Rudder
Exhibit Hall Wednesday.
Joseph Paul, currently the
vice president
for student^Mgggiiip
affairs at v www.ttiebatt.eom
University of
Robert M. Gates.
The terms for selecting the
candidates, according to the
division of student affairs,
include having a doctoral
degree (or extraordinary expe
rience) in student affairs
administration or other related
field of study, understanding,
appreciation for and commit
ment to providing consistent
access to the
Southern Mississippi, said he
wants to join the A&M staff
because it has the best student
affairs program in the nation.
Paul expressed his attrac
tion toward A&M as he com
mented on the Aggie attitude at
football games and addressed a
series of questions regarding
issues such as residence life,
Bonfire and student activities.
“In terms of my philosophy,
my ideal form for an institution
of higher learning is that it is a
seamless learning community,”
Paul said. “Not this education or
that education, but one holistic
education. A lot of engagement
with students marks my style.”
To aid in the selection of a
new vice president for student
affairs, a nine-member search
committee composed of faculty,
students and alumni was
appointed by A&M President
students and
|engaging stu
dents in multi
ple forums.
Craig Rotter, coordinator of
leadership development for the
Department of Residence Life,
said Paul is going to reach out
and understand the University.
“We need a vice president
for student affairs who under
stands Aggie traditions and
what Aggie values are all
about,” Rotter said.
The position has been
vacant since May 2003 follow
ing the retirement of J. Malon
Southerland who held the
position for nine years.
Robert Strawser, chair of the
vice president for student affairs
search advisory committee, said
three candidates were selected
to interview for the position in
the spring of last year.
However, the committee did
See Candidate on page 2A
Laptop thefts surge across campus
The University police,Department
urges students, faculty and staff to
be cautious when taking a laptop
around campus.
Helpful tips:
- Carry your laptop in a non
descript carrying case.
- Engrave laptops with your driver
license number
- Back up information on disks and
store the disks at home.
Andrew Burleson • THE BATTALION
Source : UPD
By Brian D. Cain
THE BATTALION
Thirteen laptops have been stolen on the
A&M campus since the beginning of the
spring semestet; totaling more than $15,000
in value, said Sgt. Allan Baron of the
University Police Department.
“Some stolen laptops were the personal
property of the students, and some were
University property,” he said.
Baron said there is no pattern to the thefts.
“It’s completely random,” he said.
“Thefts have been scattered all over campus
in dorms, offices, libraries and Cafeterias.”
Laptop computers, known for their small
size and portability, are targeted by thieves
for the same reasons. Because they are small,
they can be easily stolen and concealed. The
stolen items are then fenced at pawn shops
and used computer stores, Baron said.
Laptops are also attractive targets because
the legal consequences of a property crime
such as theft is less severe than a crime
against a person, such as robbery, and
can often be more lucrative, Baron said.
“The problem with laptops is, peo
ple often leave them unattended,”
Baron said.
Baron said most laptop owners don't
realize the cost of a stolen computer until
they become victims. In addition to los
ing their computer, they have also lost
peripherals, such as modems and net
work cards, installed software and the
cost of replacing all of this equipment.
UPD advises that all laptops should
be within sight of the owner, and unat
tended laptops should be locked in a
cabinet or closet if possible. If a laptop
must be left in a car, owners should
make sure to lock it in the trunk where the
computer is out of sight of potential thieves.
However, these precautions won't always
guarantee protection against theft, Baron said.
“The thing is, even if it is locked up, that
doesn’t mean it can’t be stolen,” Baron said.
Baron advised laptop owners to engrave
a name and a driver license number on the
See Thefts on page 2A
Kibler takes position at Miss. State
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
Bill Kibler, interim vice president for stu
dent affairs, has accepted the position of vice
president for student affairs at Mississippi
State University effective in June.
Kibler took over for J. Malon
Southerland in June 2003 and has been with
Texas A&M for more than 20 years.
“I have had lots of opportunities here,”
Kibler said. “And I have enjoyed the
opportunity to do this and to be engaged in
many things.”
Kibler came to A&M
in 1980 and has served in
several professional posi
tions, including president
of the Association of
Student Judicial Affairs,
president of the Center for
Academic Integrity and the
national conference chair
of the National Association
of Student Personnel Administrators.
Kibler said he applied for the position of
vice president for student affairs at A&M
last year but decided to take the job at MSU
when he was not chosen as one of the four
finalists for the A&M job.
“It will be difficult to leave here; it’s a
great place,” Kibler said. “I love the campus
and students. I raised my family here and we
have deep roots here.”
Kibler said A&M and MSU have similar
attributes, which include being land grant
schools with strong backgrounds in agricul
ture and veterinary medicine.
Although MSU has a smaller population
with only 17,000 students, it has a rich his
tory of traditions, Kibler said.
See Kibler on page 12A
SBP candidates focus effort on campaigns for 2004 election
Herreth strives for unity, communication
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
Andy Herreth, a senior
political science major, is run
ning for student body president
with a campaign slogan of
“Standing with Students.”
“Our slogan brings about
ideas of unity, working together,
communicating, staying there
and representing students’
views to the administration,”
Herreth said. “And that’s exact
ly what I want to do next year.”
Herreth said his campaign
focuses on two main areas: sav
ing students money and perpet
uating Aggie traditions. Herreth
said he would maintain Aggie
HERRETH
traditions by
developing a
plan to bring
Bonfire back
on campus in
five years.
Herreth said
he does not
like off-cam
pus bonfires
because they
hurt the University.
“What we need to strive for
is more on-campus unity, and
not tearing the University
apart,” Herreth said. “There’s a
solution out there. We just need
to work together to find it.”
To save students money,
Herreth said he would seek to
lower ticket prices to A&M
football games.
“It seems ridiculous to me
that at (University of
Oklahoma), a top-ranked foot
ball team every year, their stu
dents pay $15 to go to the game,
and our students pay $37.50 if
they didn’t
have a
sports pass,”
Herreth
said.
Herreth
said he is
also work
ing on a plan
where the Student Government
Association would run on
endowments and not Student
Hernandez aims to increase campus diversity
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Royd Hernandez said that if
elected student body president,
he would create a diverse and
unified student
government and
push to maintain
academic excel
lence at Texas
A&M.
“I want to
make sure every
one is represented
and I am going to work with the
administration and student
organizations to create more
diversity,” said Hernandez, a
See Herreth on page 7 2A | senior biomedica/ engineering
HERNANDEZ
major. “I want
to hear stu
dents voice
their concerns
about aca
demics.”
Hernandez
said he would
like to see Q-
drop exten
sions and a grade forgiveness
system offered to students.
“I think that just because
you make a mistake on one
grade in one semester, you
should not be jeopardizing your
future,” he said.
Hernandez said he knows
the administration agrees that
A&M should be pushing for
diversity, and said he will work
with A&M President Robert
M. Gates, the administration
and the students to increase
diversity.
Hernandez said he supports
Vision 2020 and the recent
tuition increases as long as they
are advantageous for A&M and
for the good of the students, but
stresses the importance of
knowing where the fee increases
are going.
“We need to make sure we
are fully aware of what
increasing fees are being used
for,” he said.
Hernandez said Vision 2020
See Hernandez on 12A