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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The Residence Hall Association (RHA)
decided to promote voter registration among
on-campus residents and set a date for a fo-
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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