■w-^ Wednesday, April 14, 2004
he Battalion
olume 110 • Issue 128 • 10 pages
A Texas A&1Y1 Tradition Since 1893
OPINION:
Troops should
return home
from Iraq.
Page 9
www.Uiebatt.com
erry takes student questions
mdidate addresses college student concerns, rising tuition
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
^^Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
! Inn Kerry held a conference call with
allege newspaper reporters Tuesday
, afemoon to answer questions and make a
stitement regarding President Bush’s eco-
nomic policies.
U “In effect, Bush’s tax cuts to the
ralthy are a tuition increase to students,”
K:rry said. “The Bush administration
nude the choice to cut taxes for the
wealthiest Americans and (in effect) cut
assistance that goes to states.”
i|ll The conference call had 130 partici-
■ p;nts and was part of Kerry's “Change
Surts with U” college campus tour, where
YnnJOrry addressed issues important to
Anerica’s youth.
I Kerry said colleges’ tuition rates have
imreased 28 percent over the past year
bi cause of tax cuts that reduced the
anount of money going toward states and,
a a result public, four-year universities.
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KERRY
Weston Balch, a
freshman history major
and co-chair of the
Young Conservatives of
Texas A&M, addressed
the YCT’s views on Bush
and its vocal objections
to the tuition increase.
“The organization
(YCT) has not officially
come out and endorsed Bush, but in com
parison to Kerry he is the most conserva
tive,” Balch said. “It was the Texas A&M
System Board of Regents and their loose
fiscal policies and how they refused to look
at students needs (that raised tuition).” 1
James E. Anderson, A&M political sci
ence professor, said the discrepancy
between the YCT’s support for Bush and
its objection to tuition increases might be
attributed to disjointed ideals.
“I think they’re reacting to two differ
ent things,” Anderson said. “They like
George W. Bush, and they don’t like
tuition increases. They don’t really make
any connection between the two.”
While economic policy was the main
focus of Kerry’s discussion, he also
addressed his plan to create two new
divisions for the U.S. military that
would be paid for out of the existing
Pentagon budget by shifting funds from
other areas.
“(I want) more sensible policy where
young people don’t feel as if their lead
ership is making irresponsible decisions
based on their presence in the military,”
Kerry said.
He also assured students that there
would be no draft.
Kerry said the main purpose of his cam
pus tour is to raise interest in the youth.
“We want students to begin to recog
nize their power in helping to decide the
outcome of this election,” Kerry said.
“During the 60s and 70s, it was mostly
young people that drove movements. We
need to make issues that matter to people
issues again.”
Donations accepted
• Red Cross
American Ke
Blood Services
EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
ensei
^■net Stouder, left, and freshman history major Sarah Lester sign
u people to donate blood Tuesday afternoon near Rudder
f untain. The American Red Cross will be set up to collect blood
Wednesday near Rudder Fountain from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
There will also be donation facilities outside of Wehner and Sbisa
dining hall.
'anAlstyne seeks to lead student affairs
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Lt. Gen. John VanAlstyne said that if
jointed vice president of student affairs,
will not support a Bonfire that resem-
s the stack that fell in November 1999.
“You don’t kill 12 young Aggies and go
>ut things things the same way you were
ng then,” VanAlstyne said. “Every time
Bneone says they want to have another
Bijnfire like the one in 1999, you need to
show them the pictures of what 12 field-
shrouded bodies looks like.”
VanAlstyne, currently commandant
for the Corps of Cadets and candidate for
the vice president of student affairs,
addressed a crowd of more than 50 peo
ple Tuesday afternoon in the last of four
open forums designed for the campus
community to meet the candidates still in
the running for the position.
VanAlstyne said that even though he
comes from a military background, he will
not show favoritism toward the Corps.
“In the Department of Defense, all the
people I worked for and most of the peo
ple I worked with were not in the military,”
VanAlstyne said. “Let me assure you, it is
not my objective to be vice president of the
Corps. If I am given the responsibility, I
will be responsible for all students.”
Student Body President-elect Jack
Hildebrand said that VanAlstyne, if elected.
See VanAlstyne on page 2
PAGE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE
Court: Hildebrand
not to be disqualified
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M Judicial
Court unanimously voted
Tuesday to not disqualify Student
Body President-elect Jack
Hildebrand for improperly dis
closing campaign finances and
prorating unused materials, but
said that changes need to be made
by the Election Commission
before next year’s election.
Jonathan Platt, a senior
political science major and
member of Will McAdams’
campaign team, said
Hildebrand failed to disclose
shipping and handling costs of
stickers and wristbands pur
chased online from a Lubbock-
based company that were used
in the campaign.
According to finance reports,
Hildebrand purchased 1,000
wristbands for 22 cents apiece
and 1,000 stickers for 6.89 cents
apiece from Scarborough
Specialties Inc. in Lubbock.
Only 750 of the wristbands
and only 704 stickers were
used, Platt said.
Platt said a petition was
filed because the Election
Commission was interpreting
rules the way it wanted to and it
was not being fair.
Platt said the only reason
Hildebrand was mentioned in the
hearing was because the Election
Commission audited his finance
report due to his involvement in
the runoff election.
Daniel Jones, chief justice of
the court, said the court decided
that it was wrong of the
Election Commission to tell
Hildebrand that he did not need
to include the shipping and han
dling costs in the finance report.
“It wasn’t fair to disqualify
Mr. Hildebrand from the race
because he would not have
spent the money if the Election
Commission told him not to,”
Jones said.
Corbett Walther, vice chief
justice and a senior finance
major, said the Election
Commission also erred in
allowing the practice of prorat
ing unused election materials,
even though no candidate was
at a serious disadvantage.
“The main thing to stress is
that Mr. Hildebrand did noth
ing wrong,” Walther said. “He
followed suggestions exactly
like he was given.”
The court also unanimously
denied an appeal brought by
See Hildebrand on page 2
‘Phishy’ e-mail scam
deceives consumers
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Students should beware of e-mails that appear to be from legiti
mate companies because the e-mails may have been sent by crimi
nals “phishing” for personal information, said David Sustaita, sen
ior information technology staff for Texas A&M’s Computing and
Information Services.
Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam to deceive con
sumers into disclosing credit card numbers, bank account informa
tion, Social Security numbers, passwords and other sensitive per
sonal information, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The e-mails often appear to be from eBay, Citibank, Paypal or
AOL, Sustaita said.
“Those are the most targeted companies because they have the
largest population of users,” Sustaita said. “So they can send out all
these e-mails, and it’s more likely that they’re going to hit somebody
that actually does have an account there.”
Sustaita said the e-mails usually say that the company lost a per
son’s personal information, such as credit card numbers or Social
Security numbers.
“You’ll never get an e-mail from a legitimate company asking
you to update lost information,” Sustaita said. “They never do lose
this information.”
If a person sends them his personal information, it could lead to
identity theft, which is the number one crime reported by the
Federal Trade Commission, and it is growing, Sustaita said.
CIS is not aware of any major problems caused by phishing at
A&M, said Debra Dandridge, CIS assistant technical writer.
“It’s a problem statewide, it’s a problem nationwide, it’s a prob
lem worldwide,” Dandridge said. “It’s not insidious yet that we
know of on this campus.”
Jeff McCabe, associate director of CIS, said CIS is educating
students by working with the residence halls to pass out pamphlets
about identity theft.
Sustaita said the practice has been going on for years by differ
ent means of communication.
“Before e-mail was widely used, people were doing this on pen
and paper,” Sustaita said.
Dandridge said an operation has existed in Nigeria for years,
where criminals send mass e-mails worldwide. The criminals get
[72«di District Court Judge
Candidates;
lick Davis and Shane Phelps
For complete election coverage,
log on to www.thebatt.com
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : BRAZOS COUNTY
Davis wins district court seat
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
Incumbent District Judge Rick Davis
pulled out a victory in a close runoff race
over Shane Phelps for the 272nd District
Court Judge position Tuesday evening.
During the first round of elections
held in March, Shane Phelps was only
55 votes away from winning the posi
tion without the need for a runoff, but
Rick Davis won the runoff election by
only 275 votes.
“It feels great that we’ve won, but we
are truly exhausted,” Davis said.
Davis received 4,723 votes (51 per
cent) and Phelps received 4,448 votes
(48 percent) in the runoff election.
Davis said he and his campaign team
ran a grassroots effort and encouraged
many voters who did not vote in the ini
tial March election to vote this time.
“We got a lot of people out to vote
that didn’t vote before; we had a diverse,
broad-based group that supports the
work that I do,” Davis said.
Phelps said he was the better candi
date, and that the people were unsure of
Davis’ rocky three years as judge.
“I have an even temperament; I believe
that I could have brought maturity and
temperament to the position,” Phelps said.
Davis said he wanted to let Aggies
know that they should have an interest
in who is the district judge because
Aggies may have to present their cases
or concerns to him.
“The students should have an interest
in who is judge, because they need to
know that the judge is going to be fair
and even-handed,” Davis said.
Also on Tuesday night, Arlene
See Davis on page 8
See Phishy on page 2
Spam Scam
Computer Information Services is
warning students of e-mails being sent
out by criminals looking for personal
information.
• E-mails often appear to be from
eBay, Citibank, PayPal or AOL
The e-mails will state the com
pany has lost its personal
information
If a person is skeptical, call
the company and ask if
it sent the e-mail and why
GRACIE ARENAS • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : DAVID SUSTAITA, CIS