MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
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Vanessa Pena — THE BATTALION
Renderings (left)
show the planned ^
$40 million Music *
Activities Center that
will replace the E.V.
Adams Band Hall
(above).
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■ Photo by Cody Franklin —THE BATTALION, renderi
Band marches toward new hom
West Campus
apartments
on way for
Fall 2015
By Sam Scott
Apartment-style student living units on
West Campus are on track to be fin
ished for the Fall 2015 semester.
“Everything that I’ve heard and seen is
that they’re right on track for that comple
tion,” said Timothy Broderick, president of
the Residence Hall Association and poultry
science senior. “Transportation is working
on the parking lot and they’re going to be
done at a similar time.”
Broderick said the planned 1,200 new
beds are just the start of plans to make West
Campus more accommodating for students.
The Department of Residence Life plans
to have a mock apartment-style room ready
for viewing sometime this spring semester
for students interested in living at the White
Creek Apartments.
Broderick said the apartments should
be similar to the University Apartments
located on the north side of campus, only
with some larger models that allow more
students to a single suite.
Located on the corner of University
Drive and Discovery Dnve, White Creek
Apartments is the result of a public-private
partnership between Texas A&M and Bal
four Beatty Solutions and Construction.
Broderick said the Board of Regents also
approved the construction of a common
area, a building with food options, study
spaces and recreational activities for West
Campus students.
“Phase 1, which is being built right
now, is the apartments, and then part two
of that is going to be a commons building
WEST CAMPUS ON PC. 2
By Katy Stapp
Fundraising underway for music
center to replace band hall
o keep pace with size increases in the
Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band and other
music programs on campus, univer
sity officials are seeking donations to
update the long-outdated and hazardous E.V.
Adams Band Hall.
Brig. Gen. Joe Ramirez Jr., commandant
of the T exas A&M Coips of Cadets, said a $40
million Music Activities Center will replace
E.V. Adams.
“We’ve got a commitment from the uni
versity of $20 million, so what we’re doing
now is looking at trying to find major donors
who would be willing to contribute that kind
of money to allow us to name the building in
their honor,” Ramirez said.
Timothy Rhea, director of Bands and
Performing Ensembles, said E.V. Adams was
built at a time when the Texas A&M mu
sic program was smaller, but said the facility
was too small even then. He said about 250
students used the hall when it first opened in
1970, while today roughly 1,000 students use
the facility.
“The fire marshal gave the building a maxi
mum capacity of around 200 people,” Rhea
said. “Well, they broke that number the day
the doors opened in 1970.”
Ramirez said the Aggie Band is not al
lowed to practice in E.V. Adams primarily
due to safety concerns.
“It’s an old building, and has become un
safe to use,” Ramirez said. “It has no fire
alarms, no sprinklers, not enough exits and it’s
acoustically unsafe. It would be negligent of
us to allow the Aggie Band to practice in it.”
The new facility would include three re
hearsal halls, one of which will hold 400 peo
ple, more than the maximum capacity of the
BAND ON PG. 2
W. BASKETBALL
ARCHITECTURE
SWIMMING
Unseating nation's top
team next task for A&M
Cody Franklin—THE BATTALION
Senior forward Achiri Ade rises above LSU defenders.
By Brandon Wheeland
Winless in 14 attempts,
the Texas A&M women’s
basketball team looks to win
its first game against the No.
1 team in the AP poll in pro
gram history as the No. 10 Ag
gies take on the South Carolina
Gamecocks 6 p.m. Monday.
Gary Blair has his A&M
squad amid a five-game stretch,
featuring four-road contests
sandwiched around a Feb. 1
matchup against Auburn at
Reed Arena.
“This is the way it’s going
to be all year long,” Blair said
after a 54-51 loss Thursday to
the No. 22 Georgia Bulldogs
to kick off the road-game
heavy slate of the schedule.
“It’s nearly going to be the
first team that hits 50 is prob
ably going to win.”
Three Aggies scored in dou
ble figures in the defeat, led by
Courtney Walker with 12.
A&M has never beaten a
team ranked higher than No.
6 in the AP poll while on the
BASKETBALL ON PG. 4
Lectures probe
problems seen
in healthcare
overseas
By Sarah Medrano
^ If College Station had the same number of
^ medical doctors as Colombia, there would
be just over one for every 10,000 residents — a
fact that-Jorge Vanegas, dean of Texas A&M’s
College of Architecture, used to highlight the
different challenges architects need to solve in
designing healthcare facilities throughout Latin
America.
Vanegas’ lecture Friday kicked off the Ar
chitecture For Health lecture series, which will
explore health environments and facility design
in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Spring
2015 lecture series will range from new hospital
proposals in Honduras to case studies in Mexico
and Brazil.
Vanegas, who is a registered architect in Co
lombia, discussed the multiple dimensions of
healthcare in Colombia and how it differs from
the United States. He highlighted several statis
tics, such as the disparity between the number of
doctors in Colombia versus the United States,
to discuss the challenges that must be addressed
through healthcare design.
“Healthcare is a problem around the world for
everyone,” Vanegas said. “But the health envi
ronments and designing of these facilities in the
context of Latin America and the Caribbean is
very different in how you would approach those
two topics in the US.”
Vanegas’ talk reviewed the social, political
and technological dimensions of healthcare in
Colombia, while bringing College Station into
the mix.
“You have to take all those factors into ac
count, and healthcare must respond to those
dimensions,” Vanegas said. “Through a propor
tional perspective, if there were as many doctors
ARCHITECTURE ON PG. 2
PROVIDED
Freshmen Mauro Castillo (left) and Brock Bonetti have
won back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week awards.
Pair of freshmen
making a splash
Swimmers snag weekly
honors 2 straight weeks
By Brandon Wheeland
Saturday’s swim meet
played host to Senior Day
against the LSU Tigers at the
Student Recreation Center,
but two freshmen have already
shown signs that the success of
the A&M swimming and diving
program will continue in years
to come. *
In the last two weeks, fresh
men swimmers Mauro Castillo
and Brock Bonetti have earned
SEC Freshman of the Week
honors on their way to a No.
16 ranking for the program.
“It’s nice to get recognized
for that kind of stuff and see
that people actually care about
swimming a little bit more than
sometimes is put out there,”
Bonetti said. “It definitely helps
us train harder. It was nice to
follow [Castillo up] because we
got to take [the weekly honors]
two weeks in a row.”
Castillo said they are already
planning what times they hope
to beat.
Bonetti has plans to set re
cords in both the 100 and 200
backstroke while the duo wants
to help break the 200 and 400
medley school-records. Castillo
has already began to make his
mark in College Station.
Just days after making his in
tentions known, Castillo set a
school-record Saturday against
the Tigers in the 200 breast
stroke with a time of 1:55.65.
Bonetti claimed victory over
the SEC opponent as well with
a 48.69 in the 100 back.
“We recruited both of those
guys knowing they could come
SWIMMING ON PG. 4