he Battalion
ume 110 • Issue 176 • 6 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
AGGIELIFE:
Home on
the ranch
Page 3
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY: RACHEL SMITH
exas A&M affiliates with Folger Institute
By Suzy Green
THE BATTALION
« Texas A&M will begin an affiliation in fall 2004
: th
Folger Institute, a Washington, D.C.
sed center for advanced study in the humanities,
e Folger Institute attracts scholars from across
mum; tjountry to its programs where participants use
extended literary collection to research humani-
Bstopics while receiving feedback from others.
JS“The Folger Institute is a Mecca in the United
ajfs for communities of like-minded scholars to
and work together on projects about similar
pics,” said Kathleen Lynch, executive director
of the Folger Institute.
The affiliation will give A&M faculty and grad
uate students easier access to academic and educa
tional programs at the institute, Lynch said.
The Folger Institute is sponsored by the Folger
Shakespeare Library, the world’s largest collection
of Shakespeare’s printed works. The library also
has Renaissance books and manuscripts and serves
as a museum that chronicles Shakespeare’s life.
The institute’s programs, usually led by promi
nent scholars, promote and encourage the use of
the library’s collection, said Steven Smith, as
sociate dean for advancement and director of the
Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.
Faculty and students from affiliated universities
have priority for admittance to programs, do not have
to pay individual program participation fees and are
eligible for individual travel grants, Lynch said.
“We will attract and develop students and facul
ty of a much higher caliber because of our affilia
tion and the opportunities that affiliation will offer
for research, learning and teaching,” Smith said.
Working with the Folger Institute and with other
participating scholars provides a way for projects
to get polished before publishing or presenting,
Lynch said.
“We’re a crossroads where early modernists
come together to meet and work out issues about
works in progress,” Lynch said.
Melissa Martin, a senior journalism major and Eng
lish minor is excited about the affiliation and thinks it
will add to A&M’s overall educational strength.
“The more resources accessible to the faculty
and graduate students, the better equipped they
will be to share their knowledge with other stu
dents,” Martin said. “Being affiliated with such a
renowned research facility is sure to strengthen the
liberal arts department.”
Participants are admitted individually to each
program at the institute, Lynch said.
See Folger on page 2
Identity theft
a growing threat
to consumers
By Chelsea Sledge
THE BATTALION
Becoming a victim of an Internet hoax was the last thing on
David Zantop’s mind as he checked his e-mail one Saturday
morning in February of 2004. He received an e-mail message
informing him that his e-Bay user account had some problems
that needed to be resolved or his account could be tenninated.
“People always say they would never fall for something
like this,” Zantop, a senior animal science major said. “I’m
telling you it looked real. They had copied and pasted the e-
Bay logo on the e-mail and everything.”
Without a second thought, Zantop followed the link to the
Web site on the e-mail. There, he was prompted to enter his
e-Bay user name and password. Like five million other Ameri
cans each year, Zantop had fallen prey to online identity theft.
Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal in
formation, such as your name, Social Security number, credit
card number or other identifying information without your
permission. Each year, the cost of identity theft approaches
$48 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
In addition to stolen or lost wallets, identity thieves can
compile information from Internet records and hoaxes, stolen
See Theft on page 2
iral votes
BRIAN WILLS • THE BATTALION
IDENTITY CRISIS
tin Cruz fills a hole with dirt while working on Clark Street between the Memorial
1 vof
" . ^ ent Center and Cain Hall. Cruz has been working on reconstructing the street for about
P P ‘/Minth and plans to have it finished before the fall semester begins. The construction
on Clark Street is a part of a campus-wide revitalization project that includes renovations to
the MSC, the new Jack E. Brown engineering building and the Bonfire Memorial, which are
scheduled to be completed in the next couple of months.
eople. Is
states i
s are wf
ry conso!
states.
Democi
elects
ash’s c(
the elii
mployment Services to relocate office
By Emily Guevara
THE BATTALION
e Texas A&M Employment Services of-
moved to suite 110C in the College Sta-
Village Shopping Center Monday to bet-
five ll »erve job seekers and hiring supervisors,
i ^ BJhe Employment Services office, which
>. eludes the Classification and Compensation
lb 1111 ! 1 ' Tice, is responsible for receiving applications
Istaff and research positions, said Virginia
il v0tes l:er, associate director of human resources.
.lusan Irza, director of human resources,
its lasfl this j s a “good place for us, (it is) on the
mll! usline, it’s visible and there are other Univer-
ise,v ty|operations in the same area.”
^ a ,phe office, previously located in the Creek-
’* lb T Plaza on University Drive, will now be at
700 E. University Drive.
Parker said the previous “space did not fit our
needs” and that the new location will better meet
the needs of the services the office provides.
Irza said there were several needs Employment
Services had in mind when looking for a location.
We were looking for a place “relatively
close to the Texas Workforce Center and we
are, and we wanted to be on the bus line and
we are, so we’ll be easy to find.”
Irza said the requested location change went
through the chain of command for approval.
“It involved going to the (Texas A&M Uni
versity) System, bounced back to the purchas
ing department and then was signed off from
the division of finance,” she said.
Irza said the Employment Services office
provides bilingual personnel, shows job seek
ers how to find available jobs on computers,
and helps them turn in their applications.
Pat Hurst, cash facility manager of Rumours
Coffee House & Deli and Hullabaloo! Food
Court, said, “I do recommend the human resourc
es employment office quite often to people that
are looking for a full-time or part-time position.”
Hurst, who applied for her job at the office
six years ago, said she does not believe mov
ing the office will affect job seekers.
“I think if someone is seeking out a job they
are going to find the location where they can
find out about the positions,” Hurst said.
The Employment Services office will open
at the new site at 8 a.m. today.
Besides the new physical address, all contact in
formation remains the same. Visit http://hr.tamu.
edu/employment for employment information.
j|oogle announces public stock offering
By Matthew Fordahl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AN JOSE, Calif. — Google announced plans Monday to sell about
lillion shares at up to $ 135 each when it goes public as early as next
ith — giving the Internet search engine a total market value of as
as $36 billion, on par with the likes of McDonald’s and Sony,
would be the eighth-largest initial public offering in history, big-
Ithan most of the IPOs that took place during the dot-com craze of
11990s.
le details of one of the most highly anticipated stock offerings in
fs were spelled out in a filing with the Securities and Exchange
imission.
tn exact date for the IPO has not been set yet. But when it happens,
foil should fasten your seat belt and have oxygen nearby,” said Barry
1, portfolio manager of the First American Technology Fund at
S Bancorp Asset Management in Minneapolis,
toogle stock, once issued, could rise — or fall — with frighten-
speed.
Jnlike some of the hot stocks of the ‘90s, Google — a search engine
ddely used that its very name has become a verb meaning to “con-
an Internet background check on someone of something” — is
leymaker. In the first six months of 2004, Google earned $143 mil-
1, up from $58 million from the same period last year,
roogle plans to offer just 9 percent of its stock at a price range of
to $135 per share. At those prices, the company would have a
|ket capitalization of between $29 billion and $36 billion,
he average in the S&P 500 is $21.25 billion. Google rival Yahoo! has
Largest initial public offerings
As much as $3.3 billion in Google stock could be sold at the
company’s IPO, making it the eighth largest in U.S. history.
ISSUER
DATE
AMOUNT (IN BILLIONS)
AT&T Wireless Group
April 26, 2000
$10.6
Kraft Foods Inc.
June 12, 2001
8.7
UPS
Nov. 9, 1999
5.5
Citigroup Inc.
July 1,2002
4.6
Conoco
Oct. 21, 1998
4.4
Travelers Property
Casualty Corp.
March 21,2002
3.9
Ager© Systems Inc.
March 27, 2001
3.6
Google
Expected 2004
3.3
Charter Com
munications Inc.
Nov. 8, 1999
3.2 ;■ ■■
Goldman Sachs
Group Inc.
May 3, 1999
3.2
NOTE: Does not include overallotments
SOURCE: Thomson Financial AP
a market capitalization of nearly $38 billion.
The company’s plan calls for selling between $2.66 billion and $3.32
billion in stock in the initial public offering. However, the amount the
company itself expects to raise is $1.66 billion, because some of shares
being offered are being sold by existing stockholders.
Once trading of the shares begins on the Nasdaq Stock Market,
Google expects to have the ticker symbol GOOG.
While the IPO will be big, it is not expected to generate the kind of
hysteria that surrounded tech offerings during the 1990s boom, when
See Google on page 2
Identity theft is a growing problem among American consumers.
Here are some tips to prevent being victimized:
URLs that read "https:’' instead of
"http:"guarantee that information
will be encrypted and safe
Never use debit cards for online
purchases
Order a credit report twice a year
Memorize passwords
Never give out a Social Security
number to identify yourself
Write state and federal legislators
for stronger privacy protection
Will Lloyd • THE BATTALION
Source: A&M COMPUTING INFORMATION SERVICES
Report says Saddam
writes poems in prison
By Robert Barr
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Saddam
Hussein spends his time in
solitary confinement tending
a garden, writing poetry and
reading the Quran, according
to published
reports Mon
day that de
scribed him as
depressed and
demoralized.
One of Sad
dam’s poems is
about George
Bush, though
it wasn’t clear
whether that
referred to
President Bush
or his father,
Saddam’s foe
in the 1991
Gulf War.
The Guard
ian newspa
per in Britain and News-
day in New York quoted
Bakhtiar Amin, the human
rights minister in the new
Iraqi government, who said
he visited Saddam’s cell on
Saturday. Amin said he did
not speak to the former
Iraqi leader.
Bakhtiar said Saddam ap
peared “in good health and
being kept in good condi
tions,” but he “appeared
demoralized and dejected,”
The Guardian reported.
Saddam’s air-conditioned
cell in a U.S. military pris
on is 10 feet
wide and 13
feet long and
contained a
fold-up bed,
a table and a
single light
bulb, Amin
said. Saddam
is not allowed
to mix with
other prison
ers, and has
no television,
newspapers
or radio.
“Mostly
he reads the
Quran to
day,” News-
day quoted
Amin as saying. “He feels
more afraid for his life.”
Amin had little to report
on Saddam’s poetry. “One
of the poems is about George
Bush, but I had no time to
read it,” Amin said.
See Saddam on page 2
His apparent
care for his
surroundings is
ironic when you
think he was
responsible for
one of the biggest
ecocides...
— Bakhtiar Amin
Iraqi human rights minister