NE^Iir ■' Tuesday, June 15, 2004
tThe Battalion
jlume 110 • ] 52 • 6 pages
\ Ie\as A&M Tradition Since 1893
OPINION:
King-size mistake.
Page 5
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PACE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE
Book Buyback Conditions
Several factors affect the
price you will receive.
^ Whether or not the book
has been readopted for
the upcoming semester
^ New editions by the
publisher
t^The condition of the
book
fe* The national demand for
the book
The current inventory on
hand
ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : TRADITIONS BOOKSTORE
Buyback changes proposed
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M Student
Government Association mem
bers are trying to help students
get more money back for their
used books by encouraging pro
fessors to turn in their book
orders before final exams.
Students can receive up to 50
percent of the new price of a
book during textbook buyback if
the professor has specified that
the book will be used again for
the following semester.
If a professor has not
informed bookstores whether or
not the book will be used again,
students can only receive up to
10 percent back for the book.
Student senator Scott Smith,
a senior chemical engineering
major, informed deans, depart
ment heads and professors of the
problem and asked for their help
during dead week in May.
“When tuition is raised 21
percent in a single semester,
you’ve got to look to these
things to find new ways to save
students 4 money,” said Smith,
the student services chair for the
Student Senate.
Joanna Koliba, assistant
manager of the MSC Bookstore,
said professors should turn in
their orders before buyback goes
into full swing so that students
can get up to 50 percent back.
“The sooner they turn in an
adoption, the sooner we can
begin to pay 50 percent for the
book,” Koliba said.
Professors’ textbook adop
tion records, or a list of books
that will be used the following
semester, are first sent to the
MSC bookstore.
Representatives from off-cam
pus bookstores can then get a
copy from the MSC.
Shri Parchure, Loupot's
Bookstores general manager,
said professors not turning their
book orders in on time are not
the only reason that students
would not get 50 percent back
for their used books.
Buyback amounts also
depend on how many books the
store needs and the timing of the
buyback. Some students don’t
sell their books back until after
the last day of finals, and by that
time, no more books are needed,
Parchure said.
Parchure said 70 to 75 per
cent of professors turn their
book requests in before finals.
“There are some professors
who are lazy,” Parchure said.
“But for a lot of classes, they
have not decided who is going
to teach the class.”
In the future, Student
Government Association mem
bers will encourage deans and
department heads to assign classes
to instructors earlier, Smith said.
He said assigning classes
earlier would reduce the amount
of book orders that are turned in
late because it is unknown who
is teaching the class.
Student Government
Association members would also
like for deans to encourage fac
ulty members to turn in adop
tion records before full-swing
See Buyback on page 2
iates honors
ewly admitted
GATES
By Shawn Millender
THE BATTALION
A&M President Robert M. Gates
attended a banquet Monday in
Brownsville to honor south Texas
high school seniors who will attend
A&M in the fall.
The banquet, hosted by the
Brownsville A&M Club, was a
send-off for students from five area
counties who have been admitted to
A&M.'
B Rachel Hernandez, an administrator for the
Brownsville Independent School District, was glad to
uwe Gates in town for the banquet.
B “The banquet was wonderful,” Hernandez said. “We
tai about 150 people there — every table was full.”
Gates attencied a reception hosted by Brownsville
iSD Assistant Superintendent Johnny Pineda before
he banquet hosted by the Brownsville A&M Club.
1 “We’re delighted to have him,” Pineda said. “The
Iblic should thank him down here. The Brownsville
1SD has enjoyed a great relationship with A&M with
tes at the helm.”
I Pineda said student interest in attending A&M has
;p ked recently due to intensified recruitment of Rio
jiande Valley students.
I B “In the last couple of years, A&M has done a really
jreat job down here because of its president and alum-
■ ti foundation. We are really fortunate to have them
lown here,” Pineda said.
B “We're real excited here. Any time Dr. Gates and his
:rcw comes down it’s a reason to celebrate, but this year
ve have so many kids to recognize,” Hernandez said.
B Hernandez said that Brownsville ISD sent 78 appli-
:a ions to A&M for the fall and will be sending at least
10 students in August.
B“When we first started this we had 25 people show
tp. but this year it has grown to over 150,”
Hernandez said.
■ The Brownsville ISD will send the valedictorians
ft m two of its five high schools to A&M as well as one
;a utatorian.
“I like to think we send our best and brightest to
Hernandez said.
Frank Ashley, assistant provost for enrollment, will
tcfcompany Gates on the trip along with seven other
le egates.
Ashley said last year’s event was cancelled due to
ravel difficulties brought on by inclement weather.
See Gates on page 2
Furry friends
BRIAN WILLS • THE BATTALION
Christine Veade, a senior biomedical science major, gives Jessica, a calico cat, and The Center, which currently houses eight cats and 12 dogs, is in the process of adding
Chip, a terrier mix, attention at the Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center. a new wing that will make room for more animals and two student residents.
Supreme Court keeps ‘under God’ in pledge
By Anne Gearan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on
Monday allowed millions of schoolchildren to
keep affirming loyalty to one nation “under
God” but dodged the underlying question of
whether the Pledge of Allegiance is an uncon
stitutional blending of church and state.
The ruling overturned a lower court deci
sion that the religious reference made the
pledge unconstitutional in public schools. But
the decision did so on technical grounds, rul
ing the man who brought the case on behalf of
his 10-year-old daughter could not legally
represent her.
It was an anticlimactic end to an emotion
al high court showdown over God in the pub
lic schools and in public life. It also neutral
izes what might have been a potent election-
year political issue in which the Bush admin
istration argued strongly that the reference to
God should remain part of the pledge.
The outcome does not prevent a future
court challenge over the same issue, howev
er, and both defenders and opponents of the
current wording predicted that fight will
come quickly.
For now, five justices said the court could
not rule on the case because California atheist
Michael Newdow does not have full custody
of his daughter.
“When hard questions of domestic rela
tions are sure to affect the outcome, the pru
dent course is for the federal court to stay its
hand rather than reach out to resolve a weighty
question of federal constitutional law,” Justice
John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
Newdow, who has fought a protracted cus
tody battle with the girl’s mother, was angered
by the decision and the basis for it.
“She spends 10 days a month with me,” he
said. “The suggestion that I don’t have suffi
cient custody is just incredible.”
Three other justices went along with the
outcome, but seemed to accuse the majority of
using Newdow’s legal standing as a fig leaf to
avoid the harder constitutional issue. The
three, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and
See Court on page 6
Survey finds U.S. gas prices
drop for first time this year
By Paul Chavez
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — A boost in gasoline
trbduction and a dip in oil prices has led to
year’s first nationwide drop in gas
>r|:es, an industry analyst said.
The weighted national average price for
three grades of gasoline fell 6 1 /2 cents to
04 per gallon Friday after rising more
han 59 cents since mid-December, analyst
;5 Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semi-
nonthly Lundberg Survey, said Sunday. The
■urvey regularly polls nearly 8,000 gas sta-
ions across the United States.
The average price for all grades on the
last survey May 21 was slightly above $2.10
per gallon.
Crude oil prices, which have been hover
ing above $40 a barrel in recent weeks,
closed last week at $38.45 a barrel,
Lundberg said.
The lower oil prices can be attributed to
oil production above the official quota set by
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, and OPEC’s recent announce
ment that it would increase production this
summer to stabilize prices, Lundberg said.
See Gas on page 2
Texas A&M student killed in car crash
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Kathryn Marie McLellan, a senior nutrition major
at Texas A&M, was killed in a car crash after her Jeep
Grand Cherokee collided with a pickup truck.
McLellan was killed on U.S. 77 near Victoria
while driving to her hometown. Corpus Christi, for a
doctor’s appointment Wednesday afternoon.
Twenty-two-year-old McLellan was a member of
the Pi Beta Phi sorority. She was also involved with
Young Life, a non-profit organization whose mis
sion is to introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and
help them grow in their faith.
Kelli Morris, a senior early childhood education
major and president of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, said
that Katie was a person who had strong Christian val
ues and would be missed very much.
“It’s shocking when someone this close to you and
someone this young passes,” Morris said. “We’re
missing a friend.”
Morris said she hopes that the Aggie family will
pray for Katie’s family during this time of grief.
McLellan graduated from Carroll High School in
Corpus Christi, where she participated in sports and
was in the National Honor Society.
McLellan is survived by her parents, Mike and
Donna McLellan, her brother Keith McLellan, and
grandparents Don and Joyce DeKock and John and
Marie McLellan.
The family is accepting donations to the Katie
McLellan Young Life Camp Fund. Donations can be
sent to Frost Bank, attention Alan Wilson, P.O. Box
749, Corpus Christi, Texas, 78403-0749.