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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2004)
i Thursday, September 16, 2004 OPINION: DEAD OR ALIVE? page 5B Volume HI • Issue 15 • 14 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 wvvw.thebatt.com ggie Honor System cracks down on cheating By Jib ran Namji THE BATTALION As Aggies returned to school this semester, a new addition was bund on every syllabus across campus, regardless of major or year: [Know the Code!” which will be emphasized during Academic Integ- Jty Week starting next Monday. With the creation of the Aggie 1 lonor System Office (AUSO), Tex- ;A&M now has a formal process for dealing with academic dishon- |sty. The AHSO officially opened this fall on Sept. 1. “Before the Aggie Honor System was created, the only honor sys- bm was the Aggie Code,” said Jeri Ann 1 lenry, academic affairs (hair for the Student Senate. ‘‘If someone was accused of cheating, liere was no process of appeal, no W a> to defend yourself or even to [learyour name. Everything was up to the specific departments and [ach individual professor. It was students who suffered and got the short end of the deal, llenry said. “Now, all faculty and students can anonymously report cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty to one centralized office,” Henry said. “Cheating is clearly defined, a formal appeals process is now in place, and students can anonymously report cheating incidents.” Henry said that during her freshman year at A&M, a girl in her math class was caught looking at her test. As a result, both she and the student who cheated received zeros. “I was a scared little fish. 1 thought I would get kicked out of school,” Henry said. “I tried talking to the professor, but she said that the zero would stand. I had no way to appeal her decision, and I had to eat the zero.” Former Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Kibler ran an anonymous survey among undergraduates last spring. More than 80 percent of those who responded to the survey admitted to participating in some form of academic dishonesty throughout their college careers. “If we want to be one of the top-10 universities in the nation, it is essential that we address this problem and fix it,” Henry said. “We Dog dodger : ~ iyp * ;* ■». ; * "A .%* * ■■ ■ w. , V. * M- ykM *••• r.. ; v - . \. A v '• -**5 <•!£ H. 4k * ' • ' C :; L -y. I... * • . •' ■ i r .* . ^ ' • ■ NKy PACE DESIGN BY: JEFFERSON LOTSPEICH ACADEMIC IN I ECfU I Y WEEK Academic Integrity Week will run from Sept. 20 to Sept 24 and will feature on-campus events for students and faculiy. c nr i- on- ^ pm Robert M. Gates and Marcarena Hernandez MSC 292 3:30 p.m. Faculty Event Faculty Club Sftpt 91 5 P m 'Leadership and Ethics" Kleberg 113 7 p.m. ’The Power of One' MSC 292 Snpt ?? ^ ^ o.m. Billy Gillespie MSC 292 3 p.m. David Callahan MSC 292 Sept. 23: 10 a m - Nick Rigsby MSC 292 Sept 2d: «»££ Student Faculty Panel with Dean Bresclanl MSC 292 Reception Stark Galleries k. J ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE: NICOLE BRADFORD, DIRECTOR OF ASHO See Honor System on page 6A Ivan slams Gulf Coast, two die in tornadoes By Garry Mitchell THE ASSOCIATED PRESS % ,, * " ^ v' o 4 « ■ ^ - * ^ v t ■ EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION tenior civil engineering major Adam Hughes watches his dog, Luke, swim after a duck in Research Park Wednesday afternoon. MOBILE, Ala. — Hurricane Ivan and its 135-mph winds churned toward this historic port city with frightening intensity Wednesday as the storm began its assault on the Gulf Coast, lashing the region with heavy rain and ferocious wind, spawning monster waves that toppled beach houses and spinning off deadly tornadoes. The storm was expected to make landfall early Thursday near Mobile and could swamp the coastline with a 16-foot storm surge and up to 15 inches of rain. Ivan offered a daylong preview of its destruction as it took aim at the coast: sheets of rain across the region, a series of tornadoes and escalating winds that shredded signs, knocked out power and made traffic lights and oak trees whipsaw. “We have never seen a hurricane of this size come into Alabama,” said Gov. Bob Riley, who earlier asked President Bush to declare much of the state a disaster area. An 1 Ith-hour shift turned Ivan away from New Orleans, but the sheer size of the storm could create catastrophic flooding in the bowl-shaped city. Officials warned that the levees and pumping stations that normally hold back the water may not be enough to protect the below-sea-level city. In the Florida Panhandle near Panama City, tornadoes produced by the storm killed two people and trapped others in the rubble of their damaged homes. Sev eral people were injured, and more than 70 homes were damaged. “We have a report from a deputy that it looks like a war zone,” said sheriffs spokeswoman Ruth Sasser. Hurricane-force winds extended out 105 miles from the Category 4 storm, threatening widespread damage no matter where it strikes. After reaching land, Ivan threatened to stall over the Southeast and southern Appalachians, with a potential for as much as 20 inches of rain. At 11 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Ivan was centered about 65 miles south of the Al abama coast and was moving north at 12 mph. The storm, which plowed through the Caribbean, has now killed at least 70 people in all. Ivan’s waves — some up to 25 feet — were already destroying homes along the Florida coast Wednesday. Twelve-foot waves boomed ashore at Gulf Shores, Ala., eroding the beach. A buoy about 300 miles south of Panama City registered waves more than 34 feet high. In Mobile, majestic oaks that line the streets swayed in gusting winds as the city of some 200,000 braced for a hurricane expected to be even more destructive than Frederic, which killed five people 25 years ago. At least 11,000 people crowded into 95 shelters across Alabama, and thou sands more went to homes of relatives and friends. Betty Sigler, a 57-year-old substitute teacher, evacuated her home in Mobile and found shelter in a high school cafeteria. “Say a prayer, say a prayer, say a prayer that I’ll have some place to go when I See Ivan on page 2A kJ onstruction begins for new Rural Public Health complex By Pammy Ramji THE BATTALION Six years ago, the Texas A&M School Rural Public Health (SRPH) depart ment had four rooms, which have since e\olved into offices rented from Univer- |ty Plaza and the Wells Fargo building. I Wednesday morning, a groundhreak- |g ceremony marked the unification of fie scattered buildings in a new SRPH Bomplex that will open for occupancy in January 2006. This complex is the Jlrst facility built for the SRPH. ■ “This is an important step not only ■)r A&M but also for the state of Tex- said Benton Cocanougher, interim chancellor for the A&M University sys tem. “The school is making a profound impact in Texas.” Dean of SRPH, Giro Sumaya, is anxiously awaiting the completion of the complex. “Even though the ground has already been ‘broken,’ we wanted to host a for mal groundbreaking ceremony,” Suma- ya said. “We just started a 4+1 program that attracts even more students. We are growing, and we need more space.” The 4+1 program allows students to complete four years plus an extra year to receive their masters in Public Health as well as their undergraduate degree. “1 am proud to say that we just beat the University of Texas by building a MPH degree program,” Sumaya said. The new complex is close to the Veterinary Medicine Administration Building, Mays School of Business and Reynolds Medical Science building. A tunnel will connect the new SRPH building to the Vet School. SRPH of ficials say they also want to build an auditorium, not only for SRPH’s use, but for all life sciences. President of the Health Science Cen ter and Vice Chancellor for Health Af fairs, Dr. Nancy Dickey, said this is exciting not only for the SRPH but also for A&M. “The sky is the limit, and this is the next step,” Dickey said. The new complex is 100,000 square School of Rural Public Health im wmMmf ’-L- W in iiiiMifltffrP' The new SRPH complex will contain three buildings with a total of ioo,ooo square feet. » A tunnel will connect the complex to the vet school. ® An auditorium might be built for the use of all life sciences. a The complex will be ready for occupancy in January 2006. ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE: GIRO SUMAYA, DEAN OF SRPH feet and is made up of three buildings — one for administration and faculty, one for laboratories and the last for ful ly equipped classrooms. The complex is divided into three buildings because a “clustered” look was desired and it would help with air conditioning and noise problems. See SRPH on page 2A RHA backs student voting is not a C Yahoo! 0Sl ,; The Residence Hall Association (RHA) decided to promote voter registration among on-campus residents and set a date for a fo- 12 m° ntli n rum on the closure of the Commons Dining dicing avaP jditionalciif n Ethernet« ilted-timeo 1 vho subset )ther condiW ?s DSLtransp 0 ;, nd/or regisj d tradema rK ' By Sara Foley THE BATTALION Center at its meeting Wednesday night. RHA Director of Affairs Kristin Mc- Clenny and RHA Director of Public Rela tions Kyle Sanchez have teamed up with MTV Rock the Vote and will visit as many residence halls as possible before the voter 'egistration deadline to encourage residents to vote in the upcoming election. “We are in a little bit of a time crunch. Ev erything has to be dated by October 3, so we have to do this right away,” McClenny said. Sanchez contacted Rock the Vote to get information about registering vot ers in residence halls and decided to register voters himself. Eligible voters must become registered at least a month before they are able to vote. RHA and SGA will hold a forum Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in the area formerly used as the Commons Dining Center to gather student reaction to its closure. RHA President Mi chael Vargo said there has been mixed reac tions among residents about the closure. See RHA on page 6Ai WMD terror exercise held in Houston By Emily Guevara THE BATTALION The National Emergency Re sponse and Rescue Training Center (NERRTC) conducted a weapons of mass destruction ex ercise in Houston to test Harris County’s ability to respond to weapons of mass destruction. The NERRTC is a part of the Texas Engineering Extension Ser vice (TEEX), which is a part of the Texas A&M University System. The exercise took place at Reli ant Park on Wednesday and Thurs day and involved anyone in the Har ris County departments who wanted to participate, said Frank Gutierrez, operations coordinator for the Hams County Office of Homeland Securi ty and Emergency Management. Jason Cook, communications director for TEEX, said there were 458 participants from a variety of Harris County agencies. “These are the people who would respond to a WMD event. (This exercise) puts all the training that they have been involved in into action,” Cook said. Cook said there were two exer cises during the two-day event. “The tabletop, or simulated, exercise guided the participants through the process of identifying the (bacterial) agent and then deter mining the number of the affected population,” he said. Gutierrez said the participants were given a scenario and then had to determine the appropriate responses. Cook said the scenario involved dispersing a bacterial agent through the ventilation system at 22 high schools during a baseball game. The scenario continues with people going to hospital emergency rooms a few days later with flu-like See Exercise on page 6A