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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2004)
Monday, April 12, 2004 Battalion hi n£j oluim.' 110 • Issue l2o • lo pu^es \ Texas \*^M Tradition Since 18^3 AGGIELIFE: Students team up to help improve English skills. Page 3B w v\ w jhebatt.eoin PAGE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE ildebrand elected student body president By James Twine THE BATTALION Jack Hildebrand emerged Friday as the 2004- 05 student body president, defeating Will Adams in the runoff elections. Hilbebrand, a senior business administration m[jor, said he was appreciative of the support he eived in the voter turnout, as well as from those his campaign team. “I just couldn’t be more thankful,” Hildebrand said. The runoff election results were presented at th Academic Plaza early Friday morning to a sparse crowd of supporters. Hildebrand received 4,174 votes (69 percent), while McAdams received 1,860 votes (30 percent). McAdams said he was in good spirits after receiving the results, and that it was an exciting election. “I think it was one of the proudest experiences I’ve ever had,” McAdams said. Hildebrand said the campaigning was hard, but that he and his campaign team remained focused HILDEBRAND on trying to run a good, clean campaign. Hildebrand said that now he has been elected, he is ready to work hard right from the beginning. “Starting from day one I am taking my plat form and working as hard as I can for the rest of this semester, to make sure that students know that I am serious about serving their interests,” he said. McAdams acknowledged the long road ahead of Hildebrand and the future concerns of the stu dent body president. “There is a lot to be determined from the future of these elections,” McAdams said. Hildebrand’s father, Bruce, said that he was proud of his son and that he believes Jack will do a great job as student body president. “He'll do a good job; he really enjoys it, and he doesn’t mind working hard when he is having fun,” he said. Now that the election is over, McAdams said, he is looking forward to graduation in December. “I am going to front-load my classes, graduate in December and become a lieutenant in the United States Army,” he said. In other races, Justin W. Griffin was elected Class of 2007 vice president, receiving 946 votes (73 percent), while his opponent Anthony Woolstrum received 334 votes (26 percent). keeping the Dream Alive’ \wards given for diversity promotion By Natalie Younts THE BATTALION Mandy Lacombe won a diversity iard without intending to be diverse. I“I didn't set out to do something in p;rticular,” she said. “I didn’t make a for- mil presentation and force (people) to be di 'erse.” | Lacombe, a sophomore general stud- major, said she has been a quadriple- gtsince breaking her neck in a car acci- dmtwhen she was in her mid-20s. I “1 just became involved in activities 1 lis interested in, and nobody else para ded was involved with them,” she said. 1 o people were exposed to paralysis, ;iidthey had never been exposed to that h fore.” I Lacombe received one of 18 Keeping t iDream Alive Diversity Awards April 5 it the Memorial Student Center. I Lacombe came to Texas A&M in fall 2102, and said she is considering apply- ilgtothe Lowry Mays Business School. I Lacombe said she has been a coun selor for Howdy Camp and T-Camp and itved on the Student Government Jwowation Development Team. I This year, she is going to be a Muster Pst and serves on two rodeo committees the Houston Livestock Show and ideo. Lacombe said diverse groups are not j it groups of people who are of a differ- race or religion or have a disability. “For some reason, people just tend to flits on smaller groups as being Diversity Awards went to: Gzmro Yakut Gazi Graduate student in education Mandy Lacombe Undergraduate student in general studies John Scroggs Graduate student in science and technology journalism Jennybeth Zambrano Undergraduate student in international studies For a complete list of groups, faculty and staff awards, go to: www.thebatt.com RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE : DIVERSITY AWARDS diverse,” she said. “Diversity is so much broader than people think.” Lacombe said every person is diverse because every person is different in his own way. “We’re all diverse in our personality. See Diversity on page 2A ii F ebate continues over the re-Sept. 11 memo to Bush By Pete Yost THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CRAWFORD, Texas — For two years, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice ill Americans with the impression that President George W. Bush’s pre-Sept. 11 ter- rlism briefing focused on historical information dating to 1998 and that any current tfreats mostly involved overseas targets. Yet the release, under public pressure, of the president’s briefing memo from Aug. 612001, showed that Bush had received intelligence reporting as recent as May 2001 an! that most of the current information focused on possible plots in the United States. I Bush insisted Sunday he was satisfied that federal agents were on top of the terrorist tl :at when he read that memo, which detailed Osama bin Laden's intentions on U.S. soil. 1 “I was satisfied that some of the matters were being looked into” and had any spe- c ;c intelligence pointed to threats of attacks on New York and Washington, “I would I 'e moved mountains” to prevent it, Bush said during a visit to Fort Hood in Texas. i l But he said the document, which the White House released Saturday night, con- t< led “nothing about an attack on America. It talked about intentions, about some body who hated America — well, we knew that.” I Should the memo — a leading topic of the Sunday talk shows — have raised 1 lore of an alarm bell than it did? I think in hindsight that’s probably true,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. He said the Clinton and Bush administrations bear responsi- bj ity for Sept. 11. The existence of the president’s briefing memo was disclosed to the public at a news conference in May 2002. The “overwhelming bulk of the evidence” before See Memo on page 2A In memory ' V Rev. Steve Chappell, left, and Rev. Bill Libby lead the casket of 1 st Lt. Doyle M. Hufstedler III to its final resting place in Elmwood Memorial Park Friday, in Abilene, Texas. Hufstedler was one of JOSIE LIMING • ABILENE REPORTER NEWS five soldiers of the 1 st Engineer Battalion killed in Iraq on March 31, 2004. Hufstedler was a 2002 A&M graduate and industri al distribution major and a member of the Corps of Cadets. Mays’ MBA program makes improvement in rankings By Rhiannon Meyers THE BATTALION The Lowry Mays Business School’s MBA program was ranked as the 23rd best graduate business program in the nation in the April 12 edition of U.S. News and World Report, after ranking No. 51 last year. The business school tied for the 23rd spot with the University of Illinois, Indiana University and the University of Texas. The magazine determines rankings using input from the business school staff and faculty, and also from hiring professionals. The magazine also looks at the average undergraduate grade point average, aver age GMAT score, the percentage of students accept ed in 2003, the average starting salary and bonus, the number of 2003 graduated employed at graduation and three months after graduation, out-of-state tuition and fees and the number of students who are enrolled full-time. In comparison with the top-50 ranked schools, the Mays business school had the highest number of grad uates employed at graduation with 86.5 percent, and the highest number employed three months after grad uation with 95.9 percent. Carroll Scherer, director of the business school’s MBA program, said the primary reason the school yyj HIGHLY RANKED The L.owry Mays Business School’s MBA program was ranked 23rd by U.S. News & World report in its April 12 edition. • Tied with University of Illinois, Indiana University and the University of Texas - Highest number of graduates employed at graduation with 86.5 percent and 95.9 percent employed three months after graduation * Ranked 51 st in 2003 WILL LLOYD • THE BATTALION SOURCE : US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT & CARROLL SCHEVER, DIRECTOR OF MBA PROGRAMS rose in the rankings is because the percentage of stu dents employed after graduation increased over the past few years. “I believe it is a really terrific employment situation our students were able to attain,” she said. Scherer said several programs have been initiated since 2002 to help students find employment after grad uation, such as employer outreach, training students in See MBA on page 2A rHRRATTAUONPWfflTaMliW-fflll lis Week’s Results: "What are your plans for th® summer?" 48% □ Summer school 17%ill Internship 16% iH Part-time job 7% HI Relaxing at home 4% [_] Study abroad 3% f 1 Traveling 3% [|3 Research 2% | Work abroad t Week’s Poll; liat’s stressing you out the most right now?” Take this poll at: www.thebatt.com RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION American helicopter shot down by insurgents near Baghdad, two die By Abdul-Quader Saadi & Lourdes Navarro THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FALLUJAH, Iraq — A fragile cease fire held between Sunni insurgents and U.S. Marines on Sunday in the besieged city of Fallujah, where Iraqis said more than 600 civilians were killed in the past week. Near Baghdad, gunmen shot down a U.S. attack helicopter, killing two crewmembers. Also, the military suggested it is open to a negotiated solution in its showdown with a radical Shiite cleric in the south. Most of the Iraqis killed in Fallujah in fighting that started last Monday were women, children and elderly, the director of the city hospital, Rafie al-Issawi, told The Associated Press. A U.S. Marine commander disputed that, saying most of See Insurgents on page 6B DAVID SWANSON • KRT Members of Echo Company bow their heads in silence at a memorial service at Combat Outpost in Ramadi, Iraq, Sunday. Second Battalion, 4th Marines Echo Company has lost 12 marines in the last week.