mmmm
\* ■" Wednesday, June 2, 2004
The Battalion
olume 110 • Issue 145 • 6 pages
EIHmeiTY mini Mmi:
hese percentages illustrate how Texas A&M
compares to the rest of the country.
100 census: (taking into account people who
lalm more than 1 othnicityl
□ White: 71%
Black: 11.5%
jHispanic: 32% FI Asian: 2.7%
lass ot 08 enrollment figures:
□ White: 80.6%
B Black: 3.1%
M Hispanic: 12.2%
□ Asian: 3.9%
□ Other: 0.2%
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
SPORTS:
Equestrian team wins
third consecutive
collegiate title
Page 3
www.thebatt.com
PAGE DESIGN BY: RACHEL VALENCIA
‘In the right direction’
Gates reports rise in number of minority students admitted
SOURCE
WILL LLOYD • THE BATTALION
2000 CENSUS, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
By Shawn Millender
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M President Robert
M. Gates reported a rise in the
number of minority students admit
ted to Texas A&M for fall 2004 to
the Board of Regents in a meeting
on May 27.
Gates told the Board of Regents
that A&M will see a rise in the
number of minority students admit
ted in the fall and that the graduation
rates of minority students for the lat
est 6-year term (1996-2002) were
also the highest in the state accord
ing to the U.S. Department of
Education.
Freshman admissions were up 57
percent for African-Americans, 24
percent for Hispanics and 14 per
cent for Asian-Americans.
Gates was unavailable for com
ment.
James A. Anderson, vice presi
dent and associate provost for insti
tutional assessment and diversity
said he sees the newest figures as a
step in the right direction.
“I think the new numbers suggest
that A&M is becoming an institu
tion of choice,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he sees the
increase in attendance of minority
students in the fall as a promising
sign for the future.
“If A&M continues to improve
the climate for all students and show
a commitment to diversity then the
numbers will continue to improve,”
Anderson said.
Anderson said the University has
put forth the effort to see these
promising results.
“We are appealing to a broader
array of students, and it speaks to
the commitment the University has
made in terms of resources and
bringing in a more diverse class
while still focusing on academic
See Gates on page 2
a™
ourt says A&M is not
iable in Bonfire lawsuit
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
Federal Judge Samuel B. Kent dismissed
laims against Texas A&M officials on May 21 for
rveral lawsuits arising out of the 1999 Aggie
nea I onfire Collapse that killed 12 students and
truck injured 27 others.
This is one of six lawsuits con-
)olict feming the Bonfire collapse that are
^irrently before the Court.
According to the summary judg-
ent from the Southern District
burt of Texas Galveston Division
d United States District Judge
ent, the plaintiffs alleged that
&M officials violated the Bonfire
etims’ 14th amendment right of
due process by placing those vic
tims in a “state-created danger.”
® According to the court’s sum
ary, the plaintiffs alleged that
niversity officials failed to ensure
onfire's structural integrity and
■lowed unqualified students to
U TW • K
This is by no
means a final blow
to the litigations.
I guess it's just
one more step
on the road to
concluding the
matter.
work on the Bonfire stack without
p aper supervision. University offi-
c als defended their case, stating
t at they “passively continued the status quo” by
blowing students to do as they wished and they
never could have known that Bonfire might col-
1 pse. Therefore, they argued, A&M cannot be
held liable for the disaster. The University offi
cials claimed that the suits should be dismissed
because they are “entitled to qualified immunity
against the suit.”
According to court documents, the court con
cluded that the “state-created danger theory of
substantive due process” was not clearly estab
lished at the time of the Bonfire collapse and ruled
in favor of dismissal.
Roger Abshire, a senior political
science major and the chair of
Bonfire Coalition for Students, said
this ruling does not significantly
affect the proceedings.
“All it really does is get us back
to where we were a year ago,”
Abshire said. “It is hard to tell what
its impact on the return of Bonfire
will be.”
Bonfire Coalition for Students
believes that the ongoing litigation
is the main barrier to Bonfire com
ing back, Abshire said.
“This is by no means a final
blow to the litigations,” Abshire
said. “I guess it’s just one more
step on the road to concluding the
matter.”
Abshire said that Bonfire
Coalition for Students can be part
ly optimistic.
“It’s either one more step to getting it finished,
or it can be one more thing (dragging out) the
process,” Abshire said.
— Roger Abshire
chair of Bonfire Coalition
for Students
Wax off
Sophomore biology major April Barrera and her
boyfriend wash their cars at his house in Bryan Tuesday
EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
afternoon in the 92 degree weather. High temperatures
are predicted to continue throughout the week.
The Big Event receives leadership award
' he Ruthe Jackson Youth Leadership Award
Presented every year, the
Ruthe Jackson Youth
Leadership Award
recognizes outstanding
efforts by young people
to achieve "environmental
excellence."
The award advocates:
• committment to litter
prevention
• illegal dumping
enforcement
• the education and
publicity of
environmental issues
• community
beautification
m
OURCE
GRAPHIC BY RUBEN DELUNA* THE BATTALION
PHOTO BY EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
CECELE CARSON, KTB COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M’s “The Big Event” will receive
the first-place college award for its work in lit
ter prevention, beautification and recycling,
said Stacy Cantu, Keep Texas Beautiful execu
tive director.
Keep Texas Beautiful is a non-profit com
munity improvement environmental organiza
tion that awards the Ruthe Jackson Youth
Leadership college award to schools for work in
achieving “environmental excellence” once a
year, said Cecile Carson, communications coor
dinator for KTB.
The Big Event will receive $100 and a cer
tificate for winning the 2003-2004 Ruthe
Jackson Youth Leadership college award June
16 at the annual KTB conference in Austin, said
Laura Tankersley-Glenn, executive director of
Keep Brazos Beautiful.
The event is one day per year when thou
sands of A&M students perform various tasks,
such as painting and yard work, for people who
live in the Bryan-College Station community.
Some people who request work are physical
ly incapable of doing it themselves, while some
simply don’t have time, said Richard Kamprath,
a senior electrical engineering major who has
been involved with The Big Event since his
freshman year.
“Big Event is our way, as college students at
Texas A&M, to say ‘thank you’ to the commu
nity for putting up with us the entire year,”
Kamprath said.
Keep Brazos Beautiful, a local community
improvement organization, nominated The Big
Event for the state award, Glenn said.
“We’re just so impressed with what A&M
students are able to come together and accom
plish each year,” she said.
This year more than 8,000 students worked
on more than 2,000 projects around the com
munity, she said.
“It’s an outstanding program,” she said,
“They’ve started Big Event activities all over
the United States, and now they’re trying to go
See Award on page 2
ilyl!
(Fear premium’ pushes
oil, gasoline prices higher
By Josef Hebert
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A “fear premium” is driving up gasoline prices well
jast $2 a gallon.
Motorists may be paying as much as 36 cents a gallon more at the pump
Ijecause of the petroleum industry’s anxiety that terrorists might disrupt oil
|supplies, a fear that increased with two murderous rampages by al-Qaida-
| linked gunmen at oil compounds in the heart of Saudi Arabia.
Estimates vary, but some energy economists said as much as $10 to $15
being added to the cost of every barrel of crude oil because of fear that
terror in Saudi Arabia, violence in Iraq or unrest elsewhere could disrupt
future oil supplies.
The fear factor went up a notch over the long holiday weekend with the
attack in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, that killed 22 people, mostly foreign oil
ivorkers. It was the second attack in a month against oil workers in the
pslamic kingdom.
Oil prices surged more than $2 a barrel Tuesday, the first trading day
|since the Khobar attack. The price of gasoline jumped 6 cents a gallon on
See Gasoline on page 2
More families bank on loans
to pay for college, study finds
By Ben Feller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — More full-time stu
dents from higher-income families are tak
ing on debt to pay for college, reflecting ris
ing costs and greater loan options.
The share of full-time college students who
borrowed to pay for college expenses rose
from 30 percent in 1990 to 45 percent in 2000,
a federal study released Tuesday shows.
College grants — which, unlike loans, do
not have to be repaid — also increased over
the decade. But the grants were not enough
to cover jumps in tuition and fees, which
outpaced rises in inflation and family
income during the period.
So, to make up the difference, more peo
ple relied on loans.
“Students are left with a lot of under
graduate debt, which is the price that’s being
paid,” said Susan Choy of MPR Associates,
who wrote the financial aid analysis for the
National Center for Education Statistics.
The average loan in 2000 ranged from
$5,200 for low-income students to $7,400 for
high-income students, covering a range of
public and private colleges and universities.
At four-year public schools, the average
loan was $5,300, up from $3,300 in 1990.
The study focused only on full-time stu
dents considered financially dependent on
their parents. Full-time students account
for about half of four-year public school
enrollment.
The greater reliance on loans is tied in
part to changes in federal law that raised
loan limits and opened unsubsidized feder
al loans to all students, regardless of finan
cial need.
See Loans on page 2
More families opt
for school loans
Recent statistics show that
regardless of income, more
dependent undergraduates and
their families are taking on school
loans to pay for college.
Percentage of full-time
dependent undergraduates
who received loans, by average
yearly income of family
M 1999-2000 L J1989-90
Lowest-$18,800/yr.
Highest-$124,600
35%
SOURCE: National Center for
Education Statistics
AP