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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2004)
i I mmmrnrn run nrl Tuesday, July 20,2004 .The Battalion olume 110 • Issue 172 • 8 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 OPINION: Preserving tradition Page 7 www.thebatt.com PACE DESIGN BY: RACHEL SMITH lag Room gets face-lift after 31 years of use G ca By Erin Price THE BATTALION After 31 years of use, the Memorial Student nter Flag Room is finally getting a face-lift and my students are excited about the change. “It’s about time they updated the place,” David gory, a senior economics major, said. “I practi- y live there during the school year, and so do my other students.” The “living room of campus” is home to many students during the school year for relaxing and studying. Gregory said it is no surprise that the Flag Room is undergoing some change. Steven Hodge, director of special event facili ties, is heading up the project that started in May, and said he hopes to finish renovating the “living room of campus” by the fall semester. “All the furniture and benches were worn out,” Hodge said. “We are also putting in new carpet and refinishing the floors.” Hodge said the planning for this project started in 1999 when University officials began speaking with student organizations like the MSC Council to find out what needed to be done. “The flags are staying but we are putting in a new base for them,” Hodge said. “The globes and lighting fixtures are also staying the same.” Hodge said they are adding tables so students do not have to drag coffee tables around for their lap tops. They are adding seven tables, 19 sofas and 45 easy chairs, Hodge said. The renovation also extends to the hallway and foyer around the Flag Room, Hodge said. Granite flooring is also being added around the elevator, he said. “We are looking forward to coming back and seeing the finished product,” Hodge said. Funding for this project came from the student center usage fee and Hodge said the total cost of the renovation is around $700,000. Mary Katherine Slocum, a senior communication See Flag Room on page 2 Researchers wish to revisit site of Rudder’s heroism By Shawn C. Millender THE BATTALION The action surrounding Pointe du Hoc on the beaches of Normandy is well known among students of Aggie lore. The heroics of Gen. James Earl Rudder, 16th president of Texas A&M, have vaulted the story to almost mythical proportions, helping to place Rudder on par with figures such as Lawrence Sullivan Ross, J.J. “Pinky” Wil son and Gen. James Hollingsworth. Rudder scaled the nearly vertical 100- foot cliffs to disable the German guns overlooking the English Channel, sustain ing two wounds and losing over half of his famed Ranger company in the process. Almost 60 years later, a team of re searchers from Rudder’s alma mater, want to revisit the historic site to find out what it has left to tell us about June 6, 1944. A&M professors Robert Warden, as sociate professor of architecture; Mark Everett, professor of geophysics; Rich ard Burt, assistant professor of construc tion science; Bruce Dickson, professor of anthropology and James Bradford, as sociate professor of history comprise the interdisciplinary team. “The Germans constructed what amounts to a small city at Pointe du Hoc, with large underground bunkers con nected by tunnels,” Warden said. “No one knows what is inside these bunkers. We’d like to find out.” The team is seeking permission from the French government through the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) to dig at Pointe du Hoc. The ABMC was “established by Congress at the request of Gen. John J. Pershing to honor the accom plishments of the American Armed Forces where they have served since World War I,” according to its Web site. “This is a very interdisciplinary proj ect, the most we’ve been involved with each other,” said Burt, who has previously surveyed Sam Houston’s residence in In dependence, Texas and the abbey at Val- magne in France. Burt is a specialist with expertise in dig ital photogrammetry, a process that allows measurements of a building to be taken from photographs. “Digital photogrammetry uses a cali brated digital camera to take pictures; by lining up common points you can extrapo late measurements,” Burt said. Burt said he hopes that after the re search is completed a complete set of maps would be available to the American See Rudder on page 2 POINTE DU HOC REVISITED Texas A&M researchers wish to investigate the underground bunkers located within the 100-ft. cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. The World War 11 Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial is located on a cliff eight miles west of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial ► H [ The monument honors the American Second Ranger Battalion under the command of then-Lt.Col, James E. Rudder ios lion fire dancer showcases the art of flaming poi swinging at a wedding ition in Navasota Sunday. Poi is the Maori word for a ball attached recc| .I to a cord that is swung around the body. The Maori, natives of New Zealand, use poi in choreographed dances and in training of warriors. itudent affairs VP to host open house By Suzy Green THE BATTALION (After a recent relocation and the hiring of a new vice presi- br student affairs, the Office of the Vice President for Stu- Int Affairs will host an open house for students, faculty and iff in Koldus 1 17 on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. Visitors will be able to tour the office facility, enjoy refresh- m nts and meet the new vice president for student affairs, Dean fjresciani, and his staff. V “We’re having the open house because our office is in a new ll.ation,” said Patty Kelley, an assistant to the vice president tii student affairs. “We’re eager to show the campus commu nity our new suite of offices in Koldus and to give everyone a chance to meet the new vice president.” Bresciani formally began working in his new position on June 28. “The main purpose of the open house is to show where we’ve moved to and make people feel comfortable and welcome here,” Bresciani said. The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs was pre viously located on the 10th floor of Rudder Tower. The offices were moved to its current location in June. “Our new Koldus location is in the ebb and flow of campus, See VP on page 2 uicide blast wounds 60 in Baghdad By Jamie Tarabay THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — A fuel tanker rigged a| a massive bomb hurtled toward a Baghdad P lice station and exploded Monday, killing nne people, wounding 60, and leveling a li|ge section of an industrial neighborhood. The suicide bombing was the fourth in ■string of deadly attacks on police and vernment facilities in the last five days, nee the new government took power June , at least 75 people have been killed in Militant attacks. Monday’s blast collapsed the roofs of auto r ^air shops, destroyed electrical workshops and crushed cars under concrete and bricks. It tore open a 32-foot-wide crater and damaged buildings hundreds of yards away. In response to the kidnapping of a Filipino truck driver, the last of the Philippines’ 51 peacekeepers left Iraq and drove into Ku wait. The withdrawal has been criticized by other coalition members, including the United States and Australia, as a dangerous capitula tion to terrorists. An Egyptian truck driver also held hostage was freed Monday evening and taken to his country’s embassy. Alsayeid Mohammed Al- sayeid Algarabawi was abducted from a truck Explosion kills nine A car bomb blast rocked a police station in a Baghdad suburb Monday, killing at least nine people and wounding 52. TURKEY y -■"V SYRIA 0 100 mi 0 100 km JORDA J \ Jr c 1 t IRAN Car bomb rocked southwest Baghdad suburb SAUDI ARABIA See Suicide on page 2 source: esri p Baghdad c IRAQ \ rw X ■ KUW. AP Will Lloyd • THE BATTALION Photo Courtesy of: ABMC.GOV Source: AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION Bush ponders CIA chief By Terence Hunt THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The White House reserved judgment Monday about whether to establish a Cabinet-level national intelligence chief. President Bush said he was “still taking a good, hard look” at candidates to lead the CIA. A major reorganization of the intelligence community and creation of a Cabinet-level intelligence agency are expected to be among primary rec ommendations of the independent commission that investigated the terror ist attacks of Sept. 11,2001. The commission announced it would release its final report Thursday at an 11:30 a.m. EDT news conference, culmination of nearly 20 months’ investigation into the nation’s worst terror attack. “The terrorist threat to the United States has not disappeared since Sep tember 11,” said Lee Hamilton, the commission’s vice chair. “Future at tacks are expected. We hope that the president and the Congress study our recommendations with care and act on them quickly.” Bush said he would await the commission’s report before commenting. “Some of the reforms, I think, are necessary: more human intelligence, better ability to listen or to see things and better coordination amongst the variety of intelligence-gathering services,” the president said. “And so we'll look at all their recommendations.” He also said he was not ready to nominate a new CIA chief to replace George Tenet, who stepped down earlier this month. “Still thinking about it,” the president said. “Let you know when it’s going to happen. I know there’s intense speculation over time, and people get their hopes built up.” He said he was “still taking a good, hard look.” Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said Sunday he thought there was no need for a Cabinet-level national intelligence chief. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said McLaughlin was speaking for him self, not the administration. Since its inception in the 1940s, the director of the CIA also has held the title “director of central intelligence.” As the nation’s intelligence industry grew hugely over the years, however, the director’s authority largely was See Chief on page 2