rr\ Friday, September 10, 2004
The Battalion
L
olume 111* Issue 11 • 10 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
OPINION:
Right to fight,
page 9
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY: LAUREN ROUSE
/II remembrance marks A&M weekend
Red, White and Blue
Towel Out canceled
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
I On Sept. 22, 2001, about 70,000 Aggies donned red, white and
Blue T-shirts for the “Red, White and Blue Out” during the first foot-
ftall game after the Sept. 11 attacks. This movement was deemed
■ the greatest act of symbolic patriotism in the history of organized
Iports” by senior history and political science major Kevin Capps,
whose parents — Debbie and Oral were in the Twin Towers
when the planes hit, but managed to escape.
I The 12th Man Student Foundation planned to initiate a similar
Bvent — a Red White and Blue Towel Out — for Saturday’s game
■gainst Wyoming, but after an overwhelmingly negative response
■rom polls taken on Texags.com, as well as individual input from
Survivors of the attacks, the Foundation changed its mind, said Lin-
Ha Salzar, vice president of publicity and promotions for the 12th
wlan Student Foundation.
1 "It's just not something you can do if (...) 100 percent of people
Idon’t participate)," Kevin Capps said. “We’re very afraid of tar-
pishing the memory of (the original Red White and Blue Out,) but
Tve have supreme confidence in the ingenuity of the Aggie family
|hat we can come up with something else that expresses our feelings
does not harm the cherished moment in our school’s history.”
Debbie Capps said she was on the 16th floor of the World Trade
tenter when the first plane crashed. Her husband, an agricultural
Iconomics professor, was scheduled to have a breakfast meeting on
Ihe 102nd floor, but the meeting had been moved to the lobby in-
Itead. After the planes crashed, she and her husband escaped, leav
ing behind all of their belongings — including Debbie’s wedding
ing — and it took the couple almost a week to travel back home to
Texas from New York City.
"The Red White and Blue Out game that occurred in September
See Towel on page 2
After Debbie and Oral Capps were rescued from the Twin Towers on Sept
111 by firefighters of Ladder 12 Engine 3 in New York City, they started a
fund to help pay for one student's firefighting training every spring.
f Donations can be mailed to:
The Capps Family Firefighters' Education Foundation w
9204 Sunlake Ct.
College Station, TX 77845
■’sac
'MW4
BRANDI DUNN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : DEBBIE CAPPS
Student Senate
elects new chairs
By Jibran Najmi
THE BATTALION
he Student Senate elected a
By external affairs chair and a
tew rules and regulations chair
Wednesday after the former
hairs simultaneously resigned
his past weekend,
fcorey Nichols, a sophomore
;eneral studies major, was elected
ha a of rules and regulations fol-
H^ing exten- •
ive debate.
■dent Servic-
■ Chair Scott
■ith moved
B the vote be
■ducted by
■et ballot,
■ the motion
k immedi-
■y seconded.
K final tally
ft 24-16-6 for
ftator Nich-
I Senator
■in Foley and
Bator Wil-
am Dugat re-
ftctively with
ft abstention.
■I think
/e’re going to
le a great of-
ftr team this
ear that will accomplish several
oals, and I think we will repre-
ftt the students of Texas A&M
ftetively,” Nichols said.
Owen Taylor, a senior animal
lienee major, was elected ex-
tfnal affairs chair after defeat-
tg junior political science major
IjRaimond. Academic Affairs
'hair Jeri Ann Henry moved for
ie vote to be conducted by se-
ret ballot, and the motion was
ain immediately seconded,
he final tally was 26-18, in fa
vor of Senator Taylor.
“I’m thrilled to have this op
portunity, and 1 realize the huge
responsibility that has been
placed on my shoulders. I am
going to do my best to effec
tively represent the students of
this University,” Taylor said. “I
won’t let them down.”
Taylor said his committee
would be addressing three major
issues this year, including tuition
deregulation, the top 10 percent
law and affir
mative action.
Taylor also
stressed that
the commit
tee needed to
focus on local
issues and not
overlook the
local needs of
students.
“In order
to get a cap
for tuition de
regulation, we
need to form a
coalition with
other universi
ties across the
state,” Tay
lor said. “We
can’t do it
ourselves. We
have strength in numbers.”
Senior management major
Logan said he Renfrew urged
students to become involved with
Senate and to get to know their
representatives.
“I’m very excited about this
year,” said Renfrew. “I can’t
wait to see what Senate is going
to accomplish for the students of
Texas A&M.
Renfrew also said he urged
See Chairs on page 2
Students will be
able to see a more
visible Senate that is
gathering feedback
and opinions from
the students and
representing those
issues and concerns
to the Administration
and others.
— Logan Renfrew
Student Senate speaker
Douglas Menarchik. director of the George Bush Presidential Library,
shows Katherine Armstrong a steel gerder from the World Trade
EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
Center Thursday night. The twisted steel will be on display in the Bush
Library rotunda until Nov. 14.
WTC steel structural beam comes to Bush Library
By Lacy Ledford
THE BATTALION
A steel structural beam from the World
Trade Center made its way to the George
Bush Presidential Library Museum on
Wednesday and will go on display Satur
day as part of the museum’s new “Com
memorating September 11” exhibit.
The exhibit, on display through Nov. 14,
is part of a special ceremony open to the
public on the rporning of Sept. 11. Doors
open at 8:30 a.m. and the ceremony will
begin at 9 a.m.
The World Trade Center beam was donat
ed through efforts of the Texas Engineering
Extension Service’s national urban search
and rescue team, Texas Task Force 1.
More than a year ago, representatives from
the Bush Museum told the Director of Emer
gency Response and Rescue for the Texas
Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Bob
McKee that they wanted to display a piece
of World Trade Center steel.
“McKee worked with his contacts within
the New York City Police Department and
the New York mayor’s office, as large pieces
of steel from the World Trade Center became
increasingly difficult to obtain,” said TEEX
Communications Director Jason Cook.
Cook said that after many months, McK
ee obtained the steel on behalf of the Bush
Museum, arranged for its transportation to
College Station and then coordinated the
display of the steel.
“There was no charge for the steel, only
the cost of shipping,” said Bush Library
Public Relations Specialist Brian Blake. “It
cost $3,000 to have the piece shipped here,
and that was paid for by the Arts Council of
the Brazos Valley.”
The beam, weighing in excess of 2,000
pounds, has been prepared with a protective
coating that will allow visitors to touch it.
“We are a historical museum,” said Direc
tor of the Bush Library Douglas Menarchik.
“It is our purpose to bring history alive so
you can touch, feel, smell and see it.”
The steel beam is among many other
items included in the exhibit. Photographs,
respirators, pieces of unifonns and com
mon tools used by search teams at the World
Trade Center will dtSb be part of the exhibit.
Before being deployed to the World
Trade Center site to aid in recovery efforts
after the Sept. 11 attacks, Texas Task Force
1 received a teddy bear from children af
fected by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
See WTC on page 2
30 years of women cadets celebrated
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
As a freshman coming into the Corps of Cadets, Roxie Prang-
lin. Class of 1978, didn’t know what to expect. The problem was,
neither did anyone else.
In 1974, Pranglin and 70 other women made A&M history as
the first women to be admitted into the Corps. Thirty years later,
Pranglin said being one of the first females in the Corps was an
experience that changed her life.
“1 don’t think anyone knew what was going to happen that first
year,” Pranglin said. “People say, ‘I don’t know how you could
ever do that,' but you would be surprised at what you can do.”
Pranglin joined the Corps to follow in the footsteps of her dad
and uncle, both members of the Corps in the 1940s.
“All my life, all I wanted to go to was A&M, and for me A&M
was the Corps,” Pranglin said. “At freshman orientation, they an
nounced that we (women) could join, and I thought it would be a
good opportunity to be involved in a group.”
Pranglin said the friendly atmosphere at orientation didn’t pre
pare her for the challenging year that was to come in outfit W-l,
which was created solely for female cadets.
“1 didn’t realize what was going to happen,” Pranglin said. “The
people at orientation were fairly polite. It wasn’t until school start
ed and we formed as a unit when the harassment began. It wasn’t
just other male cadets that didn’t want us there. We got comments
Wsy 30th Anniversary: Women in the Corps
The Anniversary Planning Committee urges all students to attend the
events planned for the 30th anniversary of women in the Corps this
weekend.
Saturday
• Breakfast: Col. PaulettaBlueitt,Classof1981 ( will speak about the Corps'role in
her professional life
• Pregame: Opening of the Women's Exhibit in the Corps Center
• Dinner: Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne, Class of 1966, will speak at Duncan Dining Hall
Sunday
• Memorial service and dedication of memorial bricks
BRANDI DUNN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : KIMBERLY CURRENS
from other students, both male and female, saying that we didn’t
belong, that we were breaking tradition and ruining the Corps.”
Pranglin said the first year was the most challenging for the fe
male cadets. She said women didn’t get uniforms or a dorm on
the Quad until the second semester and were forced to spend the entire
See Women on page 10
New documents shed light on Bush military record
By Terence Hunt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — New documents
unearthed in the midst of the presidential
campaign fill in some blanks but raise other
questions about the sometimes mysterious
and spotty story of President Bush’s mili
tary service during Vietnam when he won
a coveted spot in the Texas Air National
Guard and avoided the war.
Reviving issues that have shadowed his
political career, the documents show Bush
ignored a direct order from a superior of
ficer and lost his status as a Texas Air Na
tional Guard pilot more than three decades
ago because he failed to meet military per
formance standards and undergo a required
physical examination.
The disclosures marked the second time
in days the White House had to backtrack
BUSH
from assertions that all
of Bush’s records had
been released. It also
raised the specter that
Bush sought favors
from higher-ups and
that the commander of
the Texas Air National
Guard wanted to “sugar
coat” Bush’s record af
ter he was suspended from flying.
Less than two months before the election,
the documents turned the spotlight on Bush
after weeks of political attacks questioning
John Kerry’s military service in Vietnam.
Overshadowing issues such as jobs and the
economy, that controversy raised doubts
about Kerry and hurt him in the polls.
Kerry, campaigning in Iowa, refused to tal k
Thursday about the new Bush documents.
“That’s for the White House to answer,”
he said in an Associated Press interview.
Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan
said, “1 think you absolutely are seeing a
coordinated attack by John Kerry and his
surrogates on the president.”
Yet, it was the White House — not
Kerry’s campaign — that distributed four
memos from 1972 and 1973 from Lt. Col.
Jerry Killian, now deceased, who was the
commander of the 111th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron in Houston where Bush served.
The White House obtained the memos from
CBS News, which said it was convinced of
their authenticity, and the White House did
not question their accuracy. There was no
explanation why the Pentagon was unable
to find the documents on its own.
The key questions about Bush’s service
are whether or where he trained in late 1972
See Record on page 2