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