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.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
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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.
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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