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Tuesday, June 29,2004
The Battalion
/olume 110 • Issue 160 • 8 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
ite people to become minority
By Suzy Green and
Shawn C. Millender
THE BATTALION
White people are likely to be the
liinority in Texas by spring 2005,
jccording to a report on population
fiends released June 21 by Steve
jflurdock, Texas state demographer.
The white population is growing
rhore slowly because the 1990s flood
If newcomers to Texas has declined,
v'hile the Hispanic birth rate has kept
a fast pace, Murdock said.
The new population numbers use
birth and death records and govern
ment records indicating where peo
ple are moving to estimate the popu
lation and the trend for future years.
The shift in Texas’ racial and eth
nic diversity means the state will
have to find ways to improve educa
tion, access to health care and job
training to remain competitive eco
nomically, researchers said.
“A company doesn’t want to put
itself in a place where it has to hire
from a population with more health
and education problems,” said
Mitchell Rice, director of the Race
and Ethnic Studies Institute at Texas
A&M. “This affects how we compete
not only with the other 49 states but
within the global arena.”
If official counts could estimate
the number of undocumented immi
grants, whites would probably
already be a minority in Texas,
Murdock said.
Improving the education of
Texas’ Hispanic children should be a
top priority, said Terry Clowder,
associate director of the Center for
Economic Development and
Research at the University of North
Texas in Denton.
“We’re going to have to work on
giving students of all colors the kind
of multicultural skills needed to
work in an increasingly diverse
See Minority on page 2
AGGIELIFE:
A test
of faith
Page 3
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY: RACHEL VALENCIA
Texas' Demographic Shift
Last week, the Texas State
Deinographer released a
repWj^gard i Texas'
ethnic diversity. ']
☆ By spring 2005 whites
will be the minority
☆ The rate of people
moving to Texas has
declin^Kince the 1990s
☆The Hispanic birthrate
has'kept a fast pace
Andrew Burleson • THE BATTALION
Source: STEVE MURDOCK, STATE DEMOGRAPHER
OCUIK'
'Ote, if
Vince Shepherd, a senior mechanical engineering major, tightens a nut to
secure the cover that goes over the chain on a Yamaha YZF-600 engine.
Shepherd's Formula SAE team is using this motorcycle engine to test the
intake and exhaust in order to create a fuel injection map to be used in
future engines. The team finished second in this year's championship tour
nament in Detroit, Mich.
io a* ;
State Senate meets
to discuss future
of top-10 plan
By Shawn C. Millender
THE BATTALION
The Texas Legislature met Thursday to hold a hearing
on Texas’ top 10 percent plan.
The policy grants any Texas high school senior who
graduates in the top 10 percent of his class automatic
admission to the public university of his choice.
Representatives from Texas A&M, The University of
Texas and interest groups around the state gave their opin
ions on the matter in a meeting with the Senate subcom
mittee on higher education.
Troy Johnson testified as the previous president of the
Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
officers. He said the rule is valuable because it provides
hope for students no matter where they’re from.
“One of the main problems is that we only have two
flagship universities to send these top 10 kids to,” Johnson
said. “California has eight. Two just isn’t enough for every
body to feel like they’re going to a first-rate school.”
A&M Assistant Provost for enrollment Frank Ashley
told the committee that the law has had little impact on the
demographics here at A&M.
“The bottom line is that before the rule, 99 percent of
those kids were admitted anyway,” Ashley said.
“The official stance of the University is that we’re not
looking to do away with the law,” Ashley said. “We think
it could be an effective tool, but I don’t know if we have
utilized it effectively.”
Ashley said the rule is flawed because high schools do
not have a unified curriculum or ranking system.
“If everyone had to have the exact same courses it
could really put some teeth into (the rule),” Ashley said.
“We’ve had schools with graduating classes of 150
See Top 10 on page 2
-Jazeera claims that militants have killed U.S. soldier
t for
tie
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi militants killed
an American soldier they have held hostage for
nearly three months, saying the killing was because
the U.S. government did not change its policy in
, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday.
News of the killing of Spc. Keith M. Maupin,
2f), of Batavia, Ohio, came hours after the United
States returned sovereignty in Iraq to an interim
government. The report did not say when
Maupin was killed.
I Maupin was captured during an ambush on a
convoy west of Baghdad on April 9.
The Arab satellite station aired video showing
a blindfolded man sitting on the ground. Al-
Jazeera said that in the next scene, gunmen shoot
the man in the back of the head, in front of a hole
dug in the ground. It did not show the killing.
Maj. Willie Harris, public affairs spokesman
for the Army’s 88th Regional Readiness
Command, said the videotape is being analyzed
by the Department of Defense.
“There is no confirmation at this time, that the
tape contains footage of Matt Maupin or any other
Army soldier,” he said, adding that the Maupin fam
ily was briefed “as to the existence of a videotape.”
Al-Jazeera said a statement was issued with the
video in the name of a group calling itself “The
Sharp Sword against the Enemies of God and His
Prophet.” In the statement, the militants said they
killed the soldier because the United States did not
change its policies in Iraq and to avenge “mar
tyrs” in iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
The bodies of four civilian employees of
Kellogg Brown & Root — a subsidiary of Vice
President Dick Cheney’s former company
Halliburton — were later found in a shallow grave
near the site of the attack. The body of Sgt. Elmer
Krause, of Greensboro, N.C. was later found.
One civilian driver, Thomas Hamill of Macon,
Miss, was kidnapped but escaped from his captors
nearly a month later. The others are missing.
Maupin was promoted in absentia on May 1
from private first class to the rank of specialist,
said Maj. Mark Magalski, a spokesman for the
633rd QM Ballation, based in Cincinnati.
See Related Story on page 8
ggie women finish strong
n Miss Texas USA Pageant
,10’
By Chelsea Sledge
THE BATTALION
I Many young women are attracted to the glitz,
glam and beauty of pageant life. But some, like
Elizabeth Jones, have an entirely different reason
for wanting to compete.
I The loss of her mother to breast cancer at a
ydung age was one of the driving reasons Jones,
a [senior communication major, was inspired to
mpete in pageants.
“She just wants to reach a lot of people,” said
Starla Sorrell, a senior education major and
Jones’ roommate. “Her platform was breast can
cer, and this is her way to get the word out for
Women to prevent breast cancer.”
I Jones was one of two Aggies represented at
the Miss Texas USA Pageant on Sunday night
in Laredo. Jones placed in the top 16 and
C; ssandra Meyer, a senior journalism major,
finished in the top 10.
I “We were all watching (Jones) last night and
she did really well,” said Casey Brown, a senior
finance major.
Brown said she has
enjoyed watching beauty pag
eants for years.
After the loss of her moth
er, Jones was raised by her
father. She credits her strong
moral beliefs to her father,
Sorrell said.
“You know some people get
caught up in pageants, but
Elizabeth is not like that at all,”
Sorrell said. “She is a nice,
1 fun, outgoing, Christian girl.”
® Jones has been competing
in pageants for five years. She
was crowned Miss San
Antonio in 2003 and Miss
Aggieland in 2004.
Young women from all over the state com-
See Pageant on page 2
MEYER
Howdy!
BRIAN WILLS • THE BATTALION
Vice President of Student Affairs Dean L. Bresciani
began his first day of work at Texas A&M June 28.
Formerly interim vice chancellor for student services at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Bresciani has been recognized nationwide for his suc
cess in furthering faculty-student relations.