BATT
THE BATTALION I THEBATT.COM
A fresh, Young take
^ INSIDE: THE
^ BATTALION
EDITORIAL BOARD
ARGUES THE
EXCITEMENT
AROUND NEW
PRESIDENT
DISRUPTED BY
MOVING YOUNG
OFF CAMPUS
President-to-be touches base with campus,
chancellor says Young will not live in on-
campus president's house
By Trey Reeves
ichael K. Young, the sole finalist for
the university president position,
fielded questions Monday ranging
from his policies, practices and be
liefs to his reason for uprooting from
his previous home in Seatde to re-plant in College Sta
tion.
Young, the former president of the University of Wash
ington and the University of Utah, will bring with
him experience in academic leadership to the
office vacated by former president R. Bow
en Loftin.
Sharp announced Young will not live in
the president’s home — occupied by every
president since Earl Rudder, according to
a university website. The home will in
stead be used to host visiting dignitaries,
former students and donors. Young
and his wife will find a home off
campus.
YOUNG ON PC. 3
BATTASKS
What are your thoughts
on moving the president
off campus?
“It is a free choice that he doesn't want
to live on campus, and at the same
time it's really cool that they’re going
to open up the house for visitors."
Nada Radwan, nutrition senior
. ^ ' -^4
"He wants to show that ‘Hey I'm here
to change the academia of the school
not live in this house,’ and maybe he's
trying to show,'Hey I’m
different."’
Brandon Lee,
agricultural
communications and
journalism senior
Shelby Knowles - THE BATTALION
TlmtaT—-ThF haTTaUUN
TRADITION
Class of 2015 looks
to follow up cannon
Class Councils solicits funds
for potential second gift
By Lenae Allen
Having paid off a new can
non for the Corps of Cadets,
the Class of 2015 Class Councils is
seeking more funding for second
ary class gifts.
Using the slogan “Fifteen for
T5,” Class Councils and the As
sociation of Former Students
have created a donation website
so graduating students can donate
$15 toward the cause and register
as a member of the Association.
“The main idea behind ‘Fifteen
for MS’ is that we’re trying to get
every student to feel more own
ership in the class gift than they
ever have before,” said 2015 Class
President Paul Smith. “The end
goal is that everybody would be
come a part of what we’re trying
to do.”
The original class gift was the
105 mm Howitzer cannon, re
stored by the Museum of The
American G.I. The Howitzer
has been on campus since last se
mester, and was used by Parsons
Mounted Cavalry for announc
ing touchdowns at home football
games this past season.
Made for a 105 mm shell, the
cannon was primarily used in
World War 11 in both the Europe
an and Pacific theatres and, when
loaded, has a range of seven miles.
For possible secondary gifts,
Class Councils is looking into op
tions that were listed on the ballot
for the original class gift but that
did not win, such as funding im
provement to Student Counseling
Services waiting areas or improv
ing the crisis waiting areas in Cain
Hall.
CT^ASS GIFT ON PG. 4
Parks Walker, Roily Moreno and Thomas Wiggins pose with
the 105 mm Howitzer, donated by the Class of 2015.
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Route 6 is the first to incorporate the new busses
into the transit system as part of an initiative to
phase out older buses like the one seen above.
10 new buses to
replace old models
By Lindsey Gawlik
The first of 10 new transit buses hit the road
Monday morning, giving riders of Route 6 the
Cadillac bus treatment.
Transportation Services ordered 10 new buses last
spring in an effort to begin phasing out five older
buses and increase the number of buses on the busi
est routes.
Travis Walters, biomedical sciences senior and
student services chair in Student Senate, said the new
buses are slightly larger and lower to the ground to
allow easier access for riders. Walters said the new
buses would look to go on Routes 5, 6 and 36 be
cause they are the busiest routes.
In September 2014, Kenneth Kimball, assistant
director of fiscal affairs and compliance for Trans
portation Services, said the buses are an effort to help
ease the transportation needs of an increasing student
population.
“[The spring of 2014], 10 new transit buses were
ordered and should be delivered in April ’15,” Kim
ball said. “This will allow us to take five failing, small
er buses out of service and replace them with larger,
higher-capacity transit buses.”
In October, Peter Lange, executive director of
Transportation Services, said Transportation Services
is aware of the long lines for riding the buses and has
been working to alleviate them and hopes to work
better to do so through future funding requests.
“We need buses and drivers and fuel to make this
happen,” Lange said.
ENERGY
Tanner Garza—THE BATTALION
A&M researchers Gregory Cause
and James Griffin released a study
advocating that the U.S. lift the current
ban on oil exports.
A&M study
adds a voice
to oil export
ban debate
Researchers argue restriction is
contrary to market's global nature
By Lindsey Gawlik
Despite low U.S. oil prices, U.S. produc-
^ ers are still pushing to end a four-decade-
old export ban on crude oil and natural gas.
And according to a recent study by two Texas
A&M researchers, it’s time for the ban to go.
The ban was enacted by lawmakers in
the 1970s to keep production domestic after
American aid to Israel caused OPEC, an in
tergovernmental agency in the Middle East
that aims to unify petroleum policies, to im
pose an oil embargo on the United States,
leading to skyrocketing gas prices and fuel ra
tioning. Lawmakers also imposed price con
trols on crude oil to combat inflation.
By executive order in 1981, former Presi
dent Ronald Reagan put an end to the price
controls on crude oil in the United States, but
did not put an end to the ban on exportation.
Reagan said he wanted to ease the situation
by letting freedom solve the problem through
the “magic of the marketplace.” Since then,
no president has made any move on the ex
port ban until Barack Obama.
Those who support lifting the ban saw
a glimmer of hope in December when the
Obama administration allowed select com
panies to ship lightly processed oil in an at
tempt to help compete in a world market
with cheap crude oil.
With Obama’s move again stirring talk
about the ban, A&M researchers Gregory
Cause and James Griffin, professors at the
Bush School of Governance and Public Ser
vice, have released a study titled, “Free Trade
in Oil and Natural Gas: The Case for Lifting
the Ban on U.S. Energy Exports,” arguing
the ban hurts the United States both from a
security standpoint and an economic stand
point.
In the study. Cause and Griffin said sup
porters of the energy export ban insist the ban
serves a number of domestic interests, such
as keeping gasoline prices low, supporting
the profits of domestic refiners and keeping a
steady supply of liquefied natural gas for U.S.
petrochemical plants.
However, in the study Cause and Griffin
argue these arguments do not hold up be
cause they ignore the global nature of energy
markets.
Cause said the export actually increases
the likelihood of allowing any oil embargoes
against the United States again by adding our
own oil to “the bathtub,” or the world supply
of oil, keeping oil prices low.
“With prices low now, the leverage of oil
exporters like Russia and the OPEC coun
tries is down,” Cause said. “Having American
oil potentially on the world market — even
potentially, doesn’t have to be a lot of Ameri
can oil on the market — makes it less likely
that these oil producers can regain leverage.”
Griffin said fracking, or the process of ex
tracting oil from shale deposits with water
pressure, in the United States has unlocked
OIL ON PG. 4