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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2004)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 he Battalion olume 111* Issue 3 • 10 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 OPINION: What they really think Page 9 www.lhebatl .com PACE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE egistrar’s office moves off campus Registration Relocation The Office of the Registrar has now moved off campus to: By Luke Jackson THE BATTALION ■The Texas A&M University Office of the Regis- trar informed students via e-mail last Friday that it had moved to an off-campus location on Texas Av enue and that a shuttle bus will provide transportation to the office from campus. ■The Office of the Registrar, formerly located in Heaton Hall, deals with student information, class schedules and transcripts. ■As part of A&M's Faculty Reinvestment Plan, which aims to hire 447 new professors tenure or tenure track by the fall of 2008, the Office of the Registrar was moved off campus for the purpose of creating room. “In order to make room for others on campus, we’ve moved off campus in order to make space,” said Registrar Donald D. Carter. “For example, the College of Education’s staff was given some of Hea ton Hall after we moved out.” Transportation is an issue on many Aggies’ minds concerning the new move. “I’m not in favor. It’s a hassle to move around on and off campus,” said Megan Makarenko, a junior engineering technology major. “I don’t think it’s a big deal overall, (but it might be) for people doing things their first week of school,” she said. A shuttle bus labeled “Metro Centre” was assigned to take students to the new office. “I don’t think it will be too bad as long as my friends without cars can catch the shuttle,” said Tra vis Allen, a freshman meteorology major. Students can catch the bus at the Asbury bus stop Monday through Friday every 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Internet accessibility played a role in student reac tion to the news. “If you can still handle a lot of school business on line, then it shouldn’t be a big problem,” said coun seling psychology graduate student, Karlen Moore. “Almost all registrar business can be handled through the University Web site.” Carter said the move caused some confusion ini tially in May, which was to be expected. “Complaints have dropped off since then,” Carter said. Metro Centre at 3833 S. Texas Ave Web Site: www.tamu.edu/registrar Phone: (979) 845-1184 Metro Centre shuttle available at the Asbury bus stop ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE : WWW.TAMU.EDU/REGISTRAR lexual assault leports increase, mt still low By Elizabeth Knapp THE BATTALION I In the past two weeks, the College Sta tion Police Department has released four reports of sexual assaults, the most recent of which occurred Monday and involved a 15-year-old girl. lA sexual assault is a/W sexual activity without consent and is a second-degree fel- oiy punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $ 10,000, according to the College Station Police Department. I Reports of sexual assault started to in- c ease during the summer months, but are mw diminishing, said Melanie Scarpace, coordinator of volunteers for the Brazos County Rape Crisis,. I “We have a noticeable increase in calls when students are back, but it could be just because we have more people in town,” Scarpace said. I Sgt. Allan Baron of the University Po ll :e Department said there is no real trend in sexual assaults in the area because the nimber of assaults that are reported is still low, despite the recent increase. I “One trend is that 80 to 95 percent of I pes on college campuses are committed by Imeone the victim knows,” Baron said. I Many groups statewide have come to- ther to research sexual assaults and help lose who are in need and want to talk. The Texas Association Against Sexual ssaults (TAASA), along with the Texas &M Public Policy Research Institute and leTexas School of Social Work, conduct- 1 a statewide study and found that one in ve women and one in 20 men have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. The numbers only include those as- iults that were reported, but there are still many that are not, said Chris Lippin- |)tt, public affairs director for TAASA. The number one best safety tip that we tell people is to be aware of your surroundings. Trust your instincts, and go with your gut. — Melanie Scarpace Brazos County Rape Crisis coordinator of volunteers I “Only about 18 percent have been re ported to law enforcement,” Lippincott Slid. “I think that it is difficult to say that tiere is an increase or decrease of the prevalence of violence in the state, but I 'hat I have seen anecdotally is that there ran increase in people talking about it.” I There are various organizations that are available for victims to turn to including |)cal rape crisis centers, support groups Ind others like TAASA. I “More and more people are interested II accessing services, and that is a real ositive thing,” Lippincott said. “Not all exans, not even half, know there are ser- Tces available to them.” I Scarpace said there are many tips that can help someone avoid being lexually assaulted. “The number one best safety tip that k tell people is to be aware of your sur- pundings,” Scarpace said. “Trust your pstincts, and go with your gut.” There is no one specific thing that can parantee that a person won’t be sexually ssaulted, but people can help minimize See Assault on page 2 EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION Love Bugs swarm the Brazos Valley By Shawn C. Millender THE BATTALION Over the last week, Brazos Val ley residents have been forced to share their home with a new invad er: The double-headed insect Plecia nearctica, also known as the Love Bug or March Fly, which has set tled in the area for mating season. The term “Love Bug” is a mis nomer, said Roger E. Gold of Texas A&M’s center for urban and struc tural entomology. The insects are actually made up of two animals that are classified in the same order, Diptera, as the common housefly. Each Love Bug unit is made up of a male mating with a larger fe male. Adult bugs only have an adult stage of a few hours, Gold said. The young Love Bugs favor wet climates such as roadside ditches where they feed on de tritus, or decaying plant matter. Gold said the swarm is made up of more than one generation of the creatures. “We happen to be having a ban ner year for these things,” Gold said. “Since it was such a wet summer, it’s been absolutely horrendous.” Gold said that although they are a nuisance, the bugs are an integral part of the food chain. “They’re very innocuous,” Gold said. “But if you don’t scrape them off your truck, they have a chemical in them that will eat through your paint.” Gold said there is not an effective method of controlling the bugs. See Bugs on page 2 The 11th Plague Attracted to exhaust fumes, heat and vibration Mating swarms last 4 weeks Can infiltrate engines and cause overheating Love Bugs fsj 0 effective way to control (Plecia Nearctica) them Two dipterans, plecia nearctica commonly which originated in Central America, spend five known as Love Bugs, mate on a crape myrtel to seven months maturing and then emerge Andrew Burleson • the battalion in Bryan on Monday afternoon. The Love Bugs, twice a year to mate. source : univ. of Florida agricultural extension Republicans assail Kerry Task force investigations on convention’s opening day suspended by DA Turner By David Espo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Republicans belittled Democratic Sen. John Kerry as a shift-in- the-wind campaigner unworthy of the White House on Monday, opening their national convention four miles from Ground Zero of America’s worst terrorist attack. “We need George Bush more than ever,” said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “We need a leader with the experience to make the tough decisions and the resolve to stick with them,” agreed Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He called the invasion of Iraq “necessary, achievable and noble.” The president, locked in a tight race for re-election, campaigned in New Hampshire and Michigan. But he triggered an instant campaign stir that muddled the convention’s carefully scripted message when he told an interviewer he doubted victory is possible in the war on terror. “I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create the conditions that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world,” Bush said on NBC. Kerry re sponded that the struggle was “absolutely” winnable and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said Bush’s remark amounted to a concession of defeat in the war that terrorists launched in 2001. White House spokesman Scott McClellan hastened to clarify the president’s remarks, saying Bush meant the war was not a con ventional one, and neither would be its ending. There was no misunderstanding Giuliani’s meaning as the former mayor recalled the See Convention on page 8 By Jibran Najmi THE BATTALION Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates released a statement Monday night stating that the Presidential Task Force, which has the duty of investigating maintenance and safety proce dures at the University Apartments where a fire occurred on July 31, will suspend its investigations at the request of Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner. Turner contacted the A&M University System Office of General Counsel on Aug. 26 to request that all documents relating to the University Apartments not be released, pend ing the completion of a criminal investigation by the District Attorney’s office. Gates said the task force would commence and complete its review within 30 days of clearance from Turner. Neither Gates nor Turner could be reached for comment. “The University will comply with Mr. Turner’s request,” Gates said. “When I am informed by the District Attorney that we may proceed, it is still my intention that the task force com mence and complete its review within 30 days.” Campus master plan wins design awards By Rhiannon Meyers THE BATTALION Texas A&M’s campus master plan, which was drafted last spring, has recently won two awards for design excellence. The plan, which was approved by the Board of Regents in July, provides guide lines and a layout for how the 5,200-acre campus will be developed over the next 50 years. The plan won the Campus Planning Award from the Boston Society of Architects and a 2004 design award from the Texas Society of Architects. Carl Gromatzky, the principal for Bames, Tro- matzky, Kosarek Architect and a key consultant who worked on the campus master plan, said the A&M plan was one of 11 winners selected from a pool of nearly 300 entries for the design award, and that it is rare for a master plan to win this award. “It’s not a small achievement,” Gromatzky said. “I think it validates the plan, as people from archi tectural communities saw that it had value.” Gromatzky said the plan has also been chosen for presentation to the Society of University and Planning on Oct. 25. Gromatzky said this presentation will al low other universities to view and study A&M’s plan as an example of a ground-breaking master plan. Mary Miller, the associate vice president of ad ministration and the chair for the campus master plan steering committee, said the recognition is exciting and unprecedented. Miller said the plan, which took three years to develop, was probably awarded because it is so extensive. “It is so comprehensive and because it looks so far into the future, it’s a much more complete plan than you would expect from a university,” Miller said. The plan, which caused some controversy when it was released in the spring 2004 semester, includes four components: It is a long-range plan with ideas for the next 50 years, it outlines what buildings should look like, it features a landscaping plan for open spaces and it details the process for how to develop the campus for the future. Miller said the plan is the physical representation of Vision 20/20, and the theme of the plan is connectiv ity. Miller said the University will use this master plan to connect West Campus and Main Campus into one. See Plan on page 2