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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2004)
The olume 111 • Issue 18 • 10 pages Tuesday, September 21, 2004 A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 OPINION: Spoiled bats page 5 www.thebatt.com PACE BY: LAUREN ROUSE ounseling Services requests funds increase By Jibran Najmi THE BATTALION The Student Service Fee Advisory Board (SSF AB) :gan its deliberations Thursday lor the allocation o more then S12.8 million annually in next year’s dent service fees with a request for an increase in mdsfrom Student Counseling Services (SCS). Every year, the SSFAB makes recommendations to vice president of student affairs in regards to the ount of student service fees. “Every department receives 30 minutes to pres- t their budget, and we have a liaison w ho meets ith departments after the presentation,” said Jim rlson, chairman of SSFAB. “When we get to the liberation process, we go through each individu- request and try to determine whether the request valuable to the student body.” As part of the allocation process, each depart ment requesting funds from SSFAB is required to make multiple presentations to the board defining their initiatives, goals and uses for the funds. One of the departments requesting funds from SSFAB was Student Counseling Services (SCS). “One of the reasons the suicide rate at A&M is so low compared to other colleges is due to many of the programs we’ve started including helpline using student service fees,” said Dr. Maggie Olona, director of SCS. “It is absolutely unacceptable to us to have three suicides in the past six months.” SCS has started several programs to address the issue of suicides including Question, Per suade, Refer (QPR). “QPR teaches students what questions to ask a person who is suicidal, where to get help and how to deal with the situation over all,” Olona said. “Training only takes an hour, wouldn’t you give an hour to save another Ag’s life?” Olona said SCS serves approximately 11 to 12 per cent of A&M students and that it needs more money to be able to serve the students who request SCS services. “One of the things we would like to do this year is to hire an additional psychologist and another academic career counselor,” she said. Olona said that if her request is not approved, students will suffer. “We will ultimately serve fewer students, and we’ll have to cut things such as individual counsel ing sessions,” Olona said. “We have 25 professional staff and 45,000 students, you can do the math.” Among the other organizations requesting funds from SSFAB were The Battalion and Graduate Student Council (GSC). GSC President Cassandra Rutherford did not request an increase in the allo cation of funds for GSC, nor did The Battalion. See Funds on page 2 STUDENT SERVICE FEE SUMMARY Each student taking at least 12 hours pays $ 145.80 per semester. I □ I The rate is $12.15 per semester credit hour The fee only charges up to 12 credit hours The fee funds Student Counseling Services, MSC, SGA, study abroad programs and more WILL LLOYD - The Battalion SOURCE - JIM CARLSON Furniture finds [reshman biology loll major Dana Pappalardo tests out lie residence hall furniture options at an exhibit held by leslife at the Memorial Student Center. Students have the ALEJANDRA MARTINEZ - The Battalion opportunity to voice their opinions on next year's furniture options. The exhibit will be open until Wednesday in MSC 225 and MSC 226. tBS apologizes for ‘mistake in judgment’ By David Bander THE ASSOCIATED PRESS I NEW YORK - CBS News apologized Monday for a “mis- ^takc in judgment” in its story questioning President Bush’s [National Guard service, claiming it was misled by the source bfdocuments that several experts have dismissed as fakes. ■ The network said it would appoint an independent pan el to look at its reporting about the memos. The story has ushroomed into a major media scandal, threatening the putations of CBS News and chief anchor Dan Rather. also has become an issue in the presidential campaign, e White House said the affair raises questions about the con- ctions between CBS’s source, retired Texas National Guard Ifficer Bill Burkett, and Democrat John Kerry’s campaign, i Rather joined CBS News President Andrew Heyward in suing an apology Monday. “We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry,” athersaid. “It was an error that was made, however, in good and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradi- Pon of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.” I Almost immediately after the story aired Sept. 8, docu ment experts questioned memos purportedly written by Bush’s late squadron leader, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, saying they appeared to have been created on a computer and not on the kind of typewriter in use during the 1970s. CBS strongly defended its story. It wasn’t until a week later — after Killian’s former secretary said she believed the memos were fake — that the news division admitted they were questionable. Burkett admitted this weekend to CBS that he lied about obtaining the documents from another former National Guard member, the network said. CBS hasn’t been able to conclusively tell how he got them, or even definitely tell whether they’re fakes or not. But the network has given up trying to defend them. “Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only accept able journalistic standard to justify using them in the report,” Fleyward said. “We should not have used them.” CBS said it approached Burkett initially about the docu ments. Rather said Burkett was well known in National See CBS on page 2 Hu’s new military status as commander ould strengthen Chinese economy By Joe McDonald THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — President Hu Jintao’s H new status as commander of China’s |Military should strengthen efforts to ■ Ight corruption and control a surging Bgconomy, forcing resistant lower-level ■ ■ficialsto recognize 1 lu as their undis- ■ pitted leader, analysts said Monday. | Former President Jiang Zemin’s de- | cision to hand over his last post as mili- | ary chief on Sunday, almost two years h [iter Hu succeeded him as Communist I arty leader, ended tensions over con- ■ lol that had let local officials resist I iressure to cut spending and carry out I ainful reforms, the analysts said. ■ “This is a very significant event,” I Said Kenneth Lieberthal, a China spe- I lialist at the Brookings Institution in |Washington. “Hu really has the future in his hands at this moment.” The consolidation of China’s top party and military posts in Hu’s control is expected to give him and his premier. Wen Jiabao, a freer hand to act as they wrestle with huge challenges rang ing from rural poverty to fighting rampant cor ruption that is undermin ing public acceptance of communist rule. It also could help a government auster ity campaign aimed at cooling off an economy that is growing by more than 9 percent a year, threatening to ignite politically dangerous inflation and weaken China’s fragile banking industry. Despite repeated orders from Bei jing, local officials have balked at or ders to cancel major construction and Hu really has the future in his hands at this moment. other big spending projects — auster ity moves that could cost local jobs and reduce opportunities to line their pock ets. EJu and Wen report edly have been forced to visit Shanghai and other areas to compel obedi ence in person. “As long as there was the impression that there was political infighting at the top, there was a rea son for local officials who didn’t like the changes to hold out in hopes of get ting a different option,” said Lieberthal. But now, he said, “at lower levels it will be seen that the wave of the future is the Hu Jintao leadership, and that should tighten discipline.” See Hu on page 2 - Kenneth Lieberthal Brookings Institution China specialist Bush Library director moves to new post in D.C. By Matthew Wilkins THE BATTALION A national search for a new direc tor of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is already un derway, outgoing Director Douglas Mcnarchik said Monday. The selection process, which is overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration, may only take a few months, he said. Mcnarchik has already begun the transition to his new position as as sistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International De velopment. He spent Thursday and Fri day being briefed in Washington, D.C. Mcnarchik was re cently nominated by President Bush for the post and expects confirmation from the Senate before adjournment in early October. Because of the nonpartisan na ture of the position, he would be sur prised if any opposi tion surfaced. “I’m not a political person,” he said. However, he said his connec tions with former president Bush likely influenced the nomination. An expert on terrorism and low-in- tensity conflict, Mcnarchik served as a military adviser to Bush dur ing his vice presidency. Bush later recruited him for the presidential library position and they continue to interact on a monthly basis. Mcnarchik said that if the confir mation proceeds as expected, he will leave the Bush Library with pride of its growth under his watch. After taking over as second di rector in 2001, Mcnarchik worked to keep local visitors coming back for more with new programs such as the Classic Film Series and through cooperation with Univer sity groups such as the MSC Wiley Lecture Series. John Jackson, a senior political sci ence major and pres ident of the College Republicans, said those efforts have been successful. “Dr. Mcnarchik has made valuable contributions to the Bush Library, and his efforts to bring in po litical speakers have enriched the commu nity,” he said. Nick Anthis, a se nior biochemistry major and publicity director for the Ag gie Democrats, said the library’s willing ness to sponsor programming with out bias has been positive for the University community. “It was obvious to me (when I arrived) that what I needed to do was take the library into the local community,” Menarchik said. “I think that has happened under my watch.” Dr. Menarchik has made valuable contributions to the Bush Library, and his efforts to bring in political speakers have enriched the community. — John Jackson senior political science major Storm sail A&M sailing team hosts regatta, competes despite hurricanes By Elizabeth Knapp THE BATTALION The Texas A&M-Galveston sailing team hosted a district regatta this week end, despite the recent hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico. “We were not sure if Tulane and the University of South Alabama were com ing because they were evacuated due to Hurricane Ivan,” said Maureen Frerichs, a junior maritime systems engineering major. With competitions occurring during the hurricane season, coach Gerard Coleman said sailing can be affected by the weather, especially when hur ricanes come through. “If they come within 100 miles, it is probably too windy to sail and we have to pack up the boats and bring them to Pelican Island,” Cole man said. The team hopes to go to nationals again this year after ranking 20th in the Sailing World College Rankings in May 2004 — the end of last season. “Hopefully, we will rank nationally again,” Mclnnes said. “The team is on an upward trend and I hope that we can continue going.” As of the Aug. 18 rankings, the sailing team was not in the top 20 ranked teams, which currently include University of Southern California, Harvard and Dartmouth. Texas A&M-Galveston is in a district that includes schools competing from the Florida panhandle area as well as all across the Southern states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and north of Texas including Oklahoma and Kansas. “The big disadvantage of a large district is that schools are so far apart, whereas in the northeast, the schools are so close so they can compete more,” Coleman said.